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question about vipassanna
ok so when doing insight meditation you say to yourself for instance thinking....thinking...thinking.... or rising.....falling....rising ect.
well do you say it periodically or 1 after another with now counts in between? also what are some other meditations I should look into?
well do you say it periodically or 1 after another with now counts in between? also what are some other meditations I should look into?
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Comments
So I'm also not sure what you mean by counts... counting what? Thoughts? I've never heard of this so I don't know what you're referring to.
Thinking/conceptualizing is never the goal in Buddhist meditation (not in any kind of meditation I have heard of anyway). It's our thinking and conceptualizing that get in the way of progress.
The goal is to be fully present in the moment (mindfulness). If something arises and we think about it then we are not in the moment, but in the past. We are spending time on the last moment, not the current one
The goal is for bare awareness to 'see' that which has arisen and to 'know it'. Thinking and conceptualizing what has arisen makes it impossible to see the object as it is. It just leads to getting lost in our thinking and having the concepts about the object masking what it really is.
Now, I am aware that some teachers do advise using labeling what arises while others advise against it. However, of those who recommend it, that I am aware of, they also advise doing it until you start to 'get it' in terms of what it means to examine the object with pure awareness. Then drop the labels as they will only get in the way.
Hopefully this has been at least a little clearer than mud
Otherwise you end up caught up in the thought "oh crap I was just thinking....I blew it"
Stay with the awareness. That stays constant and all else are constantly coming and going, thoughts, feelings, sensations etc.
Notice the gaps between the thoughts and with practice the gaps increase as your thoughts become less and less. The silence becomes more and more obvious.
This is our natural state before we get pulled by our thoughts and feelings.
There is more than one type of meditation.
Vipasanna focuses on insight, and thus one is contemplating a particular topic. The difference is that one is not mindlessly running after thoughts but mindfully thinking, sitting in pure awareness.
This technique is different from meditations where one uses an object like the breath to bring awareness to thoughts, and instead of engaging or entering these thoughts, constantly bring the awareness back to that one point. The object is a tool for observing the effects of the mind on awareness, allowing one to observe the rising and falling of these thoughts in the mind.
Whereas in vipasanna the awareness is still brought back insight, in this case one is trying to actively experience the topic of insight with awareness.
Do you sit there and think "Well, death is certainly unavoidable. Hmmm", "Death happens to all of us", "I wonder when I'll die?". Stuff like that? just have thoughts about it? It would seem that doing this is a distraction from the present moment and mindfulness, but then again, I know nothing about this kind of meditation.
The reason I still haven't read or researched about it, is because I have my hands full with only concentrating on the breath and I find that hard enoughm, without going into deep thought about something.
I still think Vipassana is too advanced for my puny mind, because I am pretty sure I wouldn't be able to maintain awareness while harboring any sort of insightful thought in my mind. Kudos to those who can practice it fruitfully.
Sorry if my ignorance and thick head made you frustrated.
There's no need to be nervous; if a sangha is open to the public then I'd hope that their goal would be to help others who wish to follow the teachings of the Buddha. If they have an email address or phone number you could ask them if they offered instruction for beginners or similar classes.
After I read your reply I googled vipasanna and saw what (I think) you were referring to. I have read critical reviews of the SN Goenka school, and one of the main concerns was the school appearing to be a "cult." There was a thread about it on the forum recently, but I can't seem to find it. I don't have enough information to know if it's true, but I'm just sharing what I've read.
I definitely wouldn't recommend it as a beginners meditation. While I have done insight meditation I mainly use calm abiding (samatha) as this is the first technique I learned. Both are useful practices, but I think it's important in the beginning to focus on the basics.
Not at all! I'm not frustrated, I'm sorry my reply gave you that impression. If anything I feel I must continue to practice so that I can learn to skillfully teach others.
The book "Mindfulness in Plain English" is a book about insight meditation. "Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English" is another that is meant to be read after the first is read and some practice done.
I think one of the reasons that intro writings on Vipassana stop with a focus on the breath meditation or shortly after is that they have to for beginning meditators. In the book the author discusses concentration and mindfulness. Concentration (the ability to focus the mind on one object and hold it there) being the first skill requiring development. Without concentration insight meditation is impossible. So, first develop some minimum degree of concentration through a breath meditation practice.
The author gives an indication on how to move from the breathing to other objects, but it is clear this should not be done until a reasonable stillness of the mind is achieved otherwise moving to another object will likely just lead to getting lost in thought due to lack of concentration.
The gist of it, as I understand it, is that once a usable degree of concentration is achieved then whatever comes up during the meditation can be used as an object of meditation or one can choose the object such as the various metta mediations or some other object such as a teaching or what have you.
The trick is to observe the object rather like a scientist observes through a microscope noting what is there rather than think about it. The idea is to observe what the mind does with the object. The deeper the concentration, the deeper into the psyche one can go with this.
I think you can see how this type of meditation can be very powerful, but also pretty much impossible for one still suffering from monkey mind
The author does seem to stress that in the beginning developing concentration should be the goal of the meditator and after that mindfulness gets a slight emphasis over concentration as mindfulness will automatically improve concentration.
As I understand it, Vipasanna is keeping the "head" but dropping the "tail". Which results in the contemplation of the topic without actual thoughts about the topic.
not at all
we have heard about five aggregates in Buddha's Teaching
if we try to understand by analysing what form (rupa) is, what perception (sanna) is, what feeling (vedana) is, what kamma formation (sankhara) are, what consciousness (vinnana) is then we are contemplating on five aggregates and we are in vipassana meditation vipassana
this sort of contemplation is called dhamma-anupassana
specially this is called investigation of dhamma (dhamma viccaya)
same goes with trying to understand by analysing dependent origination, six internal sense bases and external sense bases, four basic elements, five hindrances, four noble truth
we always taken for granted such dhamma like five aggregates but we hardly try to understand them by analysing them
we can contemplate on these dhamma terms until we grasp the real meaning of them and that is a sort of vipassana meditation
so if we have learnt Buddha's Teaching it is never too late to start vipassana meditation and never think it is for those who master the samatha meditation
heres the sangha that I was talking about. seems to me like they just want money.
http://www.meditationintexas.org/
Insight meditation retreat
Joeseph Goldstien & Sharon Salazberg
This is by far the easiest and most intense training i've encountered in a while. Comes with 2 CD's a book and flash cards. Awesome
( im not affiliated or wish to endorse anyone specifically for profit or promotion)