Questions tagged [meditation]
For general questions about what is meditation, what is it for and what types of meditation are.
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Is meditation really about right brain vs. left brain?
I kind of snuck up on the back door to meditation and mindfulness. It started with me reading "The Master and His Emissary" by Iain McGilChrist, about eight years ago while camping on the ...
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Metta Meditation
When we say the phrase may I be healthy may I be free from suffering? Isn’t that kind of not accepting where we are if we are suffering or in pain or not healthy? Can someone help me understand what ...
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Doubt regarding correct meditation technique
I have been doing meditation for around 20-30 minutes a day for 5 years. One thing I have noticed is I absorb my mind in both the awareness of my whole body (as in physical sensations such as pressure ...
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Meditation to simulate Near-death Experience
Namaste, Namo Buddhaya.
I'm here in my personal pursuit to understand death and soul from various perspectives.
A few days back I was reading texts on life, death, and reincarnation and got to know ...
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Stiffness in body during vipassana
I am undergoing a strange period during vipassana meditation (sn goenka guruji tradition). When I am scanning my body there is an extreme stiffness that travels almost throughout the body as my ...
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Is it good for the mind to be excited?
Meditation can bring peace to the mind. And meditation doesn't end after leaving the cushion, so the peace of mind should be brought into daily life.
But I do not always want to feel peaceful, ...
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Are there any differences between living in a meditation centre vs a monastery?
With all due appreciation for all positive interventions and with apologies for a seemingly dilettantish question, does anyone have any insight on the differences as well as on the commonalities of ...
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Narcissism insights in Buddhism
I've been recently observing that I am surrounded by a lot of narcissistic people which include all kinds of relationships friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances. Having been surrounded by these ...
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“Working” meditation?
Is there a type of meditation which involves actively working or doing some task? Beyond just doing it mindfully, a type of meditation that requires you to be actively involved in some activity, and ...
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Feeling scared/ having aversion to looking at "pretty" women
I have been doing buddhist practices and trying to keep the precepts for a few months, after an intensive retreat. I have been noticing recently that I have automatically started to avoid looking at ...
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Stress and suffering felt when I touch the right frontal lobe of my forehead
I was wondering if this could be scientific or dhamma proof of the eminence of suffering coming from a physical and mental root. If you touch and rub the front right part of your forehead you can feel ...
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Different approaches to Metta Meditation
I'm interested in learning more about Metta Meditation, and wondering if there are different approaches to this style of meditation.
I understand that the history of this practice is quite long, and ...
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Inferiority and being judged by other
I have been all my life judged by people, especially women including my sister and mom. I have also been rejected badly by some women or at least I made wrong judgements to feel that way.
My question ...
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Anyone experiences with psychedelics and meditation? [closed]
I know that the usage of drugs are a contradiction to the teachings the Buddha gave. But I wonder whether it could be helpful to use LSD or Psylocibin to gain profound insights. I read a lot about ...
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Where to go after Meditation apps
I’ve gone through quite a few periods of meditation everyday, but usually something happens and I tend to off the rails stop for a long period to bad effects.
I started learning with Headspace and ...
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length vs number of times of meditation
Is doing 10 min meditation 6 times same as doing 1 hour meditation? Or is doing 30 mins 4 times same as 2 hour meditation ?
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Heart, mind, brain domination
What is effect of heart on mind in reality?
Is it the effect due to coziness felt across the walls of heart (similar to the one felt by a child sitting in the parent's lap) leading to the change in ...
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Who is the artist that painted the '9 Stages of Samatha Meditation' painting?
The following Tibetan Buddhist (thangka) painting is a visual representation of the 9 Stages (~11 stages) of Samatha meditation. Who painted it?
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Side effect of audio
How exactly, if can be defined exactly otherwise in parts & pieces, hearing to audio effects one's brain during meditation?
For the organisms/living-beings not having brain, how would they be ...
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Is there any buddhist meditation technique to connect to Nature?
There is a theory that our planet might actually be alive. The sun, moon, atmospheric cycles, geological plates, etc constitute the life of our planet. Or for that matter the Universe actually might ...
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How to get away from the desire to become a Buddhist Teacher or some influencer followed by many?
My mind creates this desire or a dream that I will get enlightened and become some sort of Guru who teaches Buddhism to many, I will become someone like Bodhidharma or Milarepa etc.
I want some ...
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Find the motivation to meditate
I know that when I meditate I become very efficient and quick in my work. Do you have any tips for motivating yourself to meditate during the day? I had thought about putting an alarm on my cell phone ...
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Will aiming for emptiness instead of awareness of breath help attaining meditative absorption states?
I am finding it difficult to focus on the incoming-outgoing breath. Whenever I become mindful of my breath, the Mind kicks in. I cannot even focus for 5-10 breaths, the mind activates. Giving the mind ...
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Can open monitoring meditation lead to states of Jhana?
I have read about the states of Jhana through Focused Attention Meditation by focusing on breath in Ajahn Brahm's book Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond. But I find it extremely difficult to focus my ...
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Can Meditation lead to Suicide?
Background - My sister's son did not work at all in his life and has been taking anti-depressants for many years now. My sister must be very sad and worried about him constantly, but she never talked ...
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Building discipline & willpower from scratch
I have been smoking for about 5 years now. I never really 'started' one day, but it just made my day to day life more enjoyable, and it did so consistently, so I never had a reason to stop. Recently, ...
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Experiences in Meditation: Am I stucked?
I meditate (Shamata) since a few years now. According to my meditation time I have 430 hours meditated. (Just for context related to my question). I stopped smoking weed a few months ago. Practicing ...
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Focusing on a visual object
I was often discouraged in the past years attempting shamatha meditation, because it seemed fruitless. However, I noticed recently that if I focus on the breath, I have the impression that I am ...
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how do I let go of everything?
Is there practice that I can do that will help me dissolve my attatchment to the world, my family, my life any hopes and dreams, its all transient and causes massive suffering for me. How can I let ...
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Why Buddhanussati practitioners seem so special?
Hardly a person practice Buddhanussati well. Yet those rare people seem very virtuous, wise and faithful than many others. I have seen few of them. What is the reason behind them to be so special and ...
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Posture for meditation
Is cross-legged sitting better than chair sitting for meditation. If yes why ?
What is the reason to keep ur back straight during meditation?
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How to apply Eight-fold path[Aaryashtangika marga] to each virtue action as a Vipassana Meditation? [duplicate]
How to apply eight fold path to the wholesome act as meditation of three marks of existence (Pali: tilakkhaṇa) of all existence and beings, namely impermanence (aniccā), non-self (anattā) and ...
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Best Meditation for Stress
I've been meditating using different types of meditation for years now. I've been feeling a lot of stress lately, and I want to calm down in the ideal way. I've been reading neuroscience studies ...
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How to begin to practice vipassana meditation?
I've been practicing meditation and studying buddhism for years, and I've always been curious about vipassana, but I never knew how should I practice it, on what should I focus, etc.
So my questions ...
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How many types of meditation did the Buddha teach in the Pali Canon?
I read that he taught many different kinds and that there are contradictions in the Nikayas on these meditation types. What are these, how many and why different types?
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How to prolong post meditation emotions, feelings and thoughts?
Whenever I get a good meditation, meaning pleasant feelings arise, they subside after some time. I know that's not the goal of meditation and I should let go of anything, not cling to anything. But ...
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Is repeating words in mind necessary to some meditations in Theravada? Why or why not?
According to Visuddhimagga, focusing on breath does't require repeating "inhalation, exhalation..." in mind (at least it seems that the book doesn't explicitly tell that) . However, the 10 ...
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What is "meditation on the deathless state (nirvana)"?
I have read in a Buddhist sutta that one should meditate on the deathless state. What does this mean? What is it?
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Does Abhidhamma explain how Attention Shift happens
Every cita has an Object associated with it. when we meditate on breath then the object of attention is breath.. and after some time suddenly a past memory image pops up..
can one explain in terms of ...
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Normal Deep Breathing vs Buddhism Basic Meditation
What is the difference between normal deep breathing that recommended by all western Doctors vs Buddhism Basic Meditation ?
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Feelings while meditating
During deep meditation, I start to feel waves of some sort of energy that's hard to explain, the best analogy I can find is "an electrostatic feeling, like an aurora borealis" around the ...
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Please explain loathsomeness in SN 46.54
If he wants, he remains percipient of loathsomeness in the presence of what is not loathsome. If he wants, he remains percipient of unloathsomeness in the presence of what is loathsome. If he wants, ...
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Multiple meditation practices
Would there be a conflict if I were to practice meditation from various schools? For instance mahasi insight meditation, Tibetan Samantha meditation, as long as the skills are kept separate?
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Better results when pausing meditation?
I meditate a few years now. Since 3 months circa 1h at 4 days a week. Sometimes I pause due to "worldly" obligations. Today I started again after a 2 weeks pause. I experience a better ...
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How not to feel helpless against the fact dukkha is everywhere?
While meditating today, I realized that I am very very far away from attaining any kind of relief from suffering. In particular, I am referring to suffering from the endless/insatiable human condition ...
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I have a question about meditation
My brain is constantly raising, I’m always thinking about new stuff. Does that affect my meditation?
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Motivation and long-term practice
I have been meditating (samatha-vipassana within the Theravada tradition) for many years now, and I see myself always falling in the same pattern:
(1) I have periods of very high motivation, which can ...
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Did the historical Buddha explicitly teach and/or endorse Kasiṇa (meditation)?
What are the Pali cannon references, if any, for the historical Buddha explicitly teaching and/or endorsing Kasiṇa (meditation of the type found in the Visuddhimagga or any type of Kasina meditations)?...
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Where should the eye be oriented during Vipassana (Anapanasati)?
Here is a general meditation technique of Anapanasati where one concentrates on the breath.
My question is during this meditation where should the eye turned.
Should they look up, or straight normally ...
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I've attained jhana literally once, should I try to pursue it further or just live a decent householder life?
Some background: I was born into a Buddhist family. I've always been intellectually interested in spiritual things like meditation and yoga, but I never really took it seriously until my early 20s, ...
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