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Struggling - How to get started?
Hi all, I'm brand new here and very interested in studying Buddhism. I have always had a keen interest in Buddhism and am curious on how to get started. I have read several techniques on Breathing Meditation...and am unsure on how to start. I tried last night, and found myself just too distracted. Granted, I understand that in the beginning a cloudiness of the mind is natural. I haven't decided to convert to Buddhism just yet, but I feel that Buddhism is the closest thing to what I have felt all my life. I struggle with alot of the precepts, the ideas and teachings of Buddha. I have no nearby meditation groups or temples to go to for guidance, I'm afraid. Please help!
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As with any problem about which anyone might be seriously concerned, the first thing to do is slow down and exercise your patience. One step at a time is fast enough.
So, for starters, read some books. Don't be too concerned about what you don't understand. Just read and notice what you notice. What's attractive, what's not, what draws you forward, what not. Take your time. The Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path form the underpinning of all schools of Buddhism. You might chew on those a bit. Do what you can under the circumstances you find yourself in. Trying out meditation is a good step, but it's no overnight salvation: It takes patience and false starts and trying again ... and again...and again...and again. If 20 minutes is too much, try 10. If once a day is too much, try every other day or once a week. Whatever promise you make about when and how long to meditate, just keep your promise.
Always keep your promise.
And be patient.
Best wishes.
As @genkaku says, don't be in a hurry and don't get wrapped up in all the strange sounding words and concepts you don't understand (I don't understand most of them either). Just try to understand the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path and that'll be more than enough to get you started.
Meditation is like the old Nike commercial - just do it!
Peace
Most everyone struggles with the precepts, the ideas and teachings of Buddha. That is quite normal too and not good or bad. Think of it like this. It's like going to school. When you are a freshman, you have a great struggle with senior level mathematics. But, that's only because you are still a freshman. As you practice that struggle becomes easier and easier because the actual practice causes you to graduate to a higher grade, so to speak. For a senior, senior level mathematics is much easier than it is for a freshman.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ajahn+brahm&aq=f
Mindfulness In Plain English by Henepola Gunaratana http://www.urbandharma.org/pdf/mindfulness_in_plain_english.pdf
Noble Eightfold Path by Bhikkhu Bodhi
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Noble-Eightfold-Path-Way-Suffering/dp/192870607X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316188034&sr=1-1
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Miracle-Mindfulness-classic-meditation-revered/dp/0712647872
As you progress you'll find your own favourites but these are some that helped me. Have fun
... Go at your own pace. If you have an iPhone, there is an application where you can track your chanting. It helped me (just like a food journal) to be aware of how often I was practicing. I forgot the goal (set by a local group I attend) of chanting twice per day AT LEAST, among other things.
I realized this is not about competing with myself or others. It's about learning when I need it. Forget the rules, everyone has a different life and different schedule.
Where I really started to enhance my understanding is when I started a Yoga Class at the college. This is much different that taking a class at a gym. We study the history, and are required to do so. It's all linked together. And in class, a guided meditation helps with my private meditation at home. I was actually able to obtain Dhyana just recently (and this is two years after practicing at home alone. It's really a way of life... I can email you a book (written by my professor) all about the Yoga we practice and it goes hand in hand with the practice of Buddhism. It really spells it out and helps to understand the 'whys'. Hope this helps! Dana (dana.calhoun@hotmail.com)
Just saying that things start out as intellectual or emotional constructs -- beliefs, hopes, etc. -- that are then, as you suggest, more fully informed by a meditation practice.
In meditation no experience is right. No experience is wrong. You just sit: Be present, perceive clearly, sit with the difficult experiences, and make no big deal out of the whole affair.