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Returned to my Practice
Hey y'all 
For the past month or two I haven't been meditating, after some frustration I had been having with it - and decided to simply maintain the five precepts as best I could. I recently bought 'Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond' by Ajahn Brahm - which brought me back to it. He explains the different stages of meditation - with the two preliminary ones being awareness of the present moment, and silent awareness of the present moment. He says that these should be developed well in order to create a strong foundation from which one can go on to focus on the breath etc.
So I have been doing this - trying to be aware of the present moment in both meditation and in daily life (when I remember o.o)
Should I be focusing on everything that I notice happening in the moment? or one particular sense?
After a while the main thoughts in my mind, the main discussion of what I was experiencing - died down a little, but there is this constant, quiet discussion in the background. If I were to become more present in the moment would this chatter disappear eventually?
For the past month or two I haven't been meditating, after some frustration I had been having with it - and decided to simply maintain the five precepts as best I could. I recently bought 'Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond' by Ajahn Brahm - which brought me back to it. He explains the different stages of meditation - with the two preliminary ones being awareness of the present moment, and silent awareness of the present moment. He says that these should be developed well in order to create a strong foundation from which one can go on to focus on the breath etc.
So I have been doing this - trying to be aware of the present moment in both meditation and in daily life (when I remember o.o)
Should I be focusing on everything that I notice happening in the moment? or one particular sense?
After a while the main thoughts in my mind, the main discussion of what I was experiencing - died down a little, but there is this constant, quiet discussion in the background. If I were to become more present in the moment would this chatter disappear eventually?
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The meditation that the Buddha taught is actually 100% based on the four noble truths. What are the four noble truths? The four noble truths are suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way leading to the cessation of suffering.
When you sit down to meditate, you are effectively training your mind to understand how the process of dependent origination works, how you get involved in this impersonal (Anatta) process, how you getting involved in this process creates suffering for yourself, and then to stop causing that suffering for yourself.
Let me guess. You have been practicing one pointed concentration for a while, and it hasn't gotten you anywhere, and in fact it could even be said that it has been detrimental to your spiritual progress (level of happiness) than it could be said to have been beneficial. Is that right? The thing about one pointed concentration is that it is a good thing, the last factor in the eightfold path is 'conducive concentration'. That means that when you develop sufficient concentration in conjunction with sufficiently developing all of the other factors of the eightfold path, it will conduce to Nibbana.
What you need to do now is add one extra step to your meditation. You need to relax. Why is it important to relax? Because craving, which is the cause of suffering, as stated in the second noble truth, always manifests as tension and tightness in your mind and in your body. Effectively what we are trying to do when we meditate in conjunction with the teachings of the Buddha is develop a mind that is concentrated, relaxed, and aware of your mind as it moves from one object to another. When you start to see how your mind goes from craving to feeling to thoughts to action (dependent origination), you can begin to let this go, and when you let this go, you will begin to enter into blissful states, otherwise known as the Jhanas.
If you want to attain Nibbana, you have to have an effective practice. What is an effective practice? Well, the Buddha described it to us in the eightfold path. He said we need the following; conducive view, conducive intention, conducive speech, conducive action, conducive livelihood, conducive effort, conducive mindfulness, and conducive concentration.
I will break all of these down for you so that you understand what it is exactly that you will be needing to practice.
1) Right view: Knowing and understanding the four noble truths. Knowing and understanding dependent origination.
2) Right intention: The intention of renunciation, and the intention of loving kindness.
3) Right speech: To refrain from lying, insulting, yelling, slandering, gossiping, divisive speech, hurtful speech.
4) Right action: To refrain from killing, stealing, raping, molesting, adulterating, fornicating with prostitutes.
5) Right livelihood: To support your life force in a way which is not harmful to any living being.
6) Right effort: Applying your mind to to the practice of the meditation at all times.
7) Right mindfulness: Learning to observe your minds tendency to jump from feeling to craving to thinking to action. Effectively learning to see dependent origination as it occurs. Mindfulness of the body as a body, mindfulness of feelings as feelings, mindfulness of mind as mind, and mindfulness as mind objects as mind objects.
8) Right concentration: The Jhanas.
The practice that the Buddha taught is really a simple and effective one. If we can learn to understand how the process of dependent origination works, learn to stop taking it personally, to let unwholesome states go, and cultivate wholesome states, then we are practicing his path, and we are practicing it well.
What you really need to do is:
1) Learn and understand dependent origination, along with all the other teachings of the Buddha (Right view). Easy.
2) Apply your mind to liberation for yourself and others (Right intention). Easy.
2) Keep your precepts (Right speech, right action, right livelihood). Easy.
3) Meditate (Right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration). Easy.
I promise you, if you learn dependent origination, and keep your precepts, and practice this enough, every time you sit you will get into Jhana. The more you sit and get into Jhana, the further into the Jhanas you will progress. When you have experienced all of the Jhanas you will attain Nibbana.
Good luck.
Im a little confused about the meaning of dependant origination, I haven't looked into this properly before
So how can I 'be present in the moment'?
The last words that the Buddha spoke before he died were "All composotory phenomena are ephemeral. Work diligently on your salvation." Effectively what that means is that all dependently originating phenomena are impermanent. And that to work diligently on your salvation means that you should apply great effort towards understand how this process works.
Strive, my friend. Strive.
-Tikal206