New answers tagged meditation-practicalities
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Allow me to point out the possibly obvious... If you sit because you 'like' it, then you have a goal: 30 minutes or so enjoying yourself. It may not be a particularly high-minded goal, but it's still a goal.
Just sayin'...
Meditation is a practice; we practice putting the thinking mind down. The thinking mind is a tool for dealing with dukkha (discontentment,...
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I think it's worth distinguishing between the method of meditation, and the purpose of meditation.
So for example, "just sitting" is a method, while developing shamata is a purpose. The ultimate purpose of these methods is liberation, of course.
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If we are truly sincere with ourselves, there isn't a goal, but that takes quite an exceptional individual to understand this at the outset.
I do it because I like sitting down for 30 minutes or so without reacting to my thoughts.
This is quite telling. In fact, I know practising Buddhist who have been banging away at this for decades who have still not ...
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For basic insight meditation (vipassana) based on the mindfulness of breathing, you can consider starting with Ven. Yuttadhammo's "How To Meditate" series for beginners, which is available as a YouTube video playlist and as an online book.
This meditation is based on the four foundations of mindfulness (satipatthana). It comes in the varieties of ...
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I started meditating observing the breath & relaxing thoughts because i heard that it's good from friends and did it to improve concentration & mental faculties. I also liked it even tho nothing spectacular happened.
I did it for 3 years, eventually i became willing to focus on that training more, started to learn buddhist texts, cleared up views and ...
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While eating on either form, sound, smell, taste, bodily touch, yet not aware of it, that, what the Sublime Buddha called "household-equanimity" may be present at such time, equanimity which has not gone beyond sensuality. As it is a very dangerous one it's very needed to leave home first before engaging in higher paths, good householder. May he ...
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the space between thoughts is a technical term used in yogachara and madhyamika it doesnt refer simply to the stopping of thoughts which happens at the end of the 4th of the 9 stages of shamata (aka access concentration, and which by the end of the 8th results in being able to sustain vivid extended uninterrupted attention on the spacious luminous ...
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Immediately the longer sitting is more difficult. Sitting for a second is generally easier than sitting for two.
However if one trains then one will enjoy sitting longer and his longer sittings will be easier than the earlier short sittings but is really not a fair comparison because the longer were sat up by the shorter.
If one master's meditation then the ...
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Can long sits be easier than short sits?
Sometimes yes, and other times no.
It's more about quality of mind than quantity. If you sit for 1 hour but are only mindful 10% of the time it's better to have a shorter and more "productive" session and do many of them daily.
Quality of mind is always above everything else. The time one is not mindful the ...
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In the suttas, the night is broken up into three watches that can be devoted to practice. For example:
AN8.20:1.4: “Sir, the night is getting late. It is the first watch of the night, and the Saṅgha has been sitting long.
AN8.20:1.5: Please, sir, may the Buddha recite the monastic code to the mendicants.”
From the above, one may infer that a watch is quite ...
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