The way you practice

Deshy

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to ask what types of meditation you all practice, how and for how long. I only do metta and breath meditation for about 1 hour in the night after coming from work and practice the present moment consciousness during day to day work. This is only on weekdays. During the weekend I do the breath meditation in the morning as well.

How about you all?

Thanks in advance for the comments.

shadowleaver

I mostly meditate on the breath.

On the weekdays I meditate while driving to and from work (about an hour on average but sometimes up to 1.5 hours). On weekends I do "normal" sittings at home, for 30-40 minutes a day.

(The driving thing doesn't always work out-- sometimes the noise and the shaking is too distracting. At other times, it's almost the same as sitting at home. I really feel that meditation practice shouldn't be confined to a quiet room but be done "in the world", that's why I'm doing that)

shenpennangwa

I try to "practice" Dzogchen.

Elliott

I practise a Samatha/Vippasana method of counting and following the breath ( I attend a class). And I try to be mindful of all thoughts and actions. I always find it interesting when you experience a nasty emotion like anger to annalyse it and see it for what it really is, a false feeling made up of signals in the brain experienced by self. Feelings are almost bizare when you see them for what they really are

Deshy

Elliott wrote: »

I practise a Samatha/Vippasana method of counting and following the breath ( I attend a class). And I try to be mindful of all thoughts and actions. I always find it interesting when you experience a nasty emotion like anger to annalyse it and see it for what it really is, a false feeling made up of signals in the brain experienced by self. Feelings are almost bizare when you see them for what they really are

Agree with this; thanks. I also have started this; analysing my feelings to see how empty they are sometimes. Most of them are just reactions to some unimportant incident which is better left alone than get sad or annoyed about.

Deshy

Thanks for the replies everyone

MaxH

I practice sitting focusing on the breath 2-3 times per week for 30-40 minutes. A yoga practice that I began 4 months ago also incorporates features of meditation. Breath control and relaxation have proven to be critical when encountering resistance in a pose. Yoga has also made sitting meditation much more comfortable.

jinzang

I do the Vajrakilaya sadhana and finish up with short completion stage practice (mahamudra). I average about an hour in the morning. My other practice is to leave stupid comments on other people's blogs.

Deshy

jinzang wrote: »

My other practice is to leave stupid comments on other people's blogs.

Lol, I do that too, apart from writing stupid blogs myself

Thanks for the replies guys

fivebells

There's a brief and probably unsatisfying description here.

skullchin

I sit for 22 minutes in the morning. I've been trying to sit twice a day, but when the evening comes I either don't think about it, or just don't do it

Nini

shenpen nangwa wrote: »

I try to "practice" Dzogchen.

Jinzang says: I do the Vajrakilaya sadhana and finish up with short completion stage practice (mahamudra).



How are they done? Please forgive my ignorance.

For almost a decade now, everyday, I do 30 minutes meditation focusing on a mantra.

Also, in between the hustle & bustle of life, when I feel bored and everyone is out and quiet, I sit or lie down on the sofa and watch the blue skies, listen to the chirping of the birds (I live in the suburbs but fortunately we still have them) and enjoy the flowers outside my window. Sort of like watching the passing of time or the successive frames of life, or contemplating the dualities in nature or the here and now. And sometimes in those instances I get important insights in life.

jinzang

Any sadhana practice goes like this. First you take refuge in the three jewels and promise to attain enlightenment to liberate all beings. You mentally generate an image of the deity either as yourself or in front of yourself (in this case both.) You mentally generate offerings to the deity and recite the mantra of the deity. Then you dissolve the visualization and rest your mind in emptiness (or as close to emptiness as you can manage). Everything except the last step is called development stage practice. The last step is called completion stage practice.

Dazzle

jinzang wrote: »

I do the Vajrakilaya sadhana and finish up with short completion stage practice (mahamudra). I average about an hour in the morning. My other practice is to leave stupid comments on other people's blogs.

It's worth noting that further details about Vajrakilaya practice aren't normally given on public forums.


_/\_

Deshy

Dazzle wrote: »

It's worth noting that further details about Vajrakilaya practice aren't normally given on public forums.


_/\_

Why? :d

Nini

jinzang wrote: »

Any sadhana practice goes like this. First you take refuge in the three jewels and promise to attain enlightenment to liberate all beings. You mentally generate an image of the deity either as yourself or in front of yourself (in this case both.) You mentally generate offerings to the deity and recite the mantra of the deity. Then you dissolve the visualization and rest your mind in emptiness (or as close to emptiness as you can manage). Everything except the last step is called development stage practice. The last step is called completion stage practice.

Thanks for your reply.

There is actually a commonality with your practice and mine; even the word sadhana is a term we use.

Dazzle

Deshy wrote: »

Why? :d

Because its a practice that can be completely misunderstood and misused by people who aren't Tibetan Buddhist practitioners.
I'm not meaning to be secretive or exclusive when I say this, by the way.
I'm familiar with this practice myself, and it does require teacher input and instruction.

Kind regards,

Dazzle

shenpennangwa

Nini wrote: »

Jinzang says: I do the Vajrakilaya sadhana and finish up with short completion stage practice (mahamudra).



How are they done? Please forgive my ignorance.

For almost a decade now, everyday, I do 30 minutes meditation focusing on a mantra.

Also, in between the hustle & bustle of life, when I feel bored and everyone is out and quiet, I sit or lie down on the sofa and watch the blue skies, listen to the chirping of the birds (I live in the suburbs but fortunately we still have them) and enjoy the flowers outside my window. Sort of like watching the passing of time or the successive frames of life, or contemplating the dualities in nature or the here and now. And sometimes in those instances I get important insights in life.

Hi Nini,
As you and Jinzang have stated, I also have a couple of daily sadhana commitments that I do and they are followed by the Dzogchen practice. On certain days Tsok is also offered and Chod practice is done.
The yogic exercises and practices that are related to Dzogchen are usually received directly from ones teacher so I am not at liberty to go into specifics but there are a couple of excellent introductory Dzogchen books available that might give you some idea about the practice. One of the books is Dzogchen Teachings by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu.
As Jinzang said about Mahamudra, Dzogchen can be catagorized as a completion stage practice (Tib. Dzog rim).

shenpennangwa

Dazzle wrote: »

Because its a practice that can be completely misunderstood and misused by people who aren't Tibetan Buddhist practitioners.
I'm not meaning to be secretive or exclusive when I say this, by the way.
I'm familiar with this practice myself, and it does require teacher input and instruction.

Kind regards,

Dazzle

unfortunately its often misunderstood by Tibetan Buddhist practitioners as well.
Like you said, a teachers guidance is absolutely essential.

caz

I take as my practise Lam rim meditation as according to tsongkhapa always practising mindfullness and breathing meditation as a preliminary, i also practise the yoga of buddha maitreya as my current yidam, and on a side note i always make sure to practise Hundreds of deities of the joyfull land combined with the invocations and prayers to dorje shugden.
Practise is good.

jinzang

Deshy wrote: »

Why? :d

I haven't been told to keep my practice secret. And you can buy the sadhana from KDK, like I did. But a practice like this is done by permission of your teacher. So you don't give a detailed description of how to do the practice to someone without permission. It's a question of the right practice for each student, which your teacher is the best person to decide.

Nini

shenpen nangwa wrote: »

Hi Nini,
One of the books is Dzogchen Teachings by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu.
As Jinzang said about Mahamudra, Dzogchen can be catagorized as a completion stage practice (Tib. Dzog rim).

Thanks shenpen nangwa, I'll try to get the book.