Basic Questions

PremaSagar

Just felt like posting some review questions

What is meditation ?


What is it's (Whether it be walking, sitting, or eating meditation) purpose within the context of Buddhism ?


What are your top five tips on proper meditation ?


---------Peace---------

Dakini

Tips:
1. Don't beat yourself up if you have trouble stilling the mind. Just keep practicing. All in good time.
2. Breathe deeply and slowly into the diaphragm, and release the breath equally slowly. This quiets the nervous system, which helps still the mind.
3. Keep at it. At least 5 mins. 2 x/day in the beginning. When you're able to keep the mind focussed on the breath (or an image) 5 minutes, kick it up to 10. 20-30 minutes is your eventual goal.
4. Be patient with yourself.
5. If your mind wanders, just bring it back to the breath. If emotions come up, label them, and watch them pass. Arising and passing, everything that arises will pass.

Jason

What is meditation ?

What is it's (Whether it be walking, sitting, or eating meditation) purpose within the context of Buddhism ?

Mediation, which is the most common translation of bhavana, is the process of mental development. In Buddhism, two forms are stressed, the development of tranquility and concentration (samadhi) and the development of insight (panna).

Certain ancient commentaries, as well as contemporary teachers, tend to treat them as two completely separate things, but in reality it seems almost impossible to differentiate between the two when looking at how the Pali Canon itself treats them. For example, there's this passage from the Dhammapada:

There is no meditative concentration for him who lacks insight, and no insight for him who lacks meditative concentration. He in whom are found both meditative concentration and insight, indeed, is close to Nibbana.

Many of the mindfulness meditations can lead to insight as well concentration, while many insight meditations can lead to states of concentration. Right mindfulness consists of developing mindfulness in regard to the four frames or objects of reference, i.e., the body in and of itself; feelings in and of themselves; mind in and of itself; and mental qualities in and of themselves (DN 22). The type of concentration that the Buddha is referring to in the context of right concentration is called jhana or meditative absorption, which can ultimately lead to the "ending the mental fermentations" (AN 9.36). The basic quality here is that there's only one object or focus of mindful-awareness. This focus can eventually lead to states of rapture or joy (piti), which is a factor of the first jhana, all the way on through to the formless attainments—the highest of which is called "the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception."

The most popular method of achieving this type of meditative awareness is mindfulness of breathing, although the four frames of reference can be used as well, especially when coupled with mindfulness of breathing. As Thanissaro Bhikkhu points out in his introduction to DN 22:

At first glance, the four frames of reference for satipatthana practice sound like four different meditation exercises, but MN 118 makes clear that they can all center on a single practice: keeping the breath in mind. When the mind is with the breath, all four frames of reference are right there. The difference lies simply in the subtlety of one's focus. It's like learning to play the piano. As you get more proficient at playing, you also become sensitive in listening to ever more subtle levels in the music. This allows you to play even more skillfully. In the same way, as a meditator gets more skilled in staying with the breath, the practice of satipatthana gives greater sensitivity in peeling away ever more subtle layers of participation in the present moment until nothing is left standing in the way of total release.

The practice of concentration itself has many benefits. It gives the mind a comfortable place to rest and can help to lower blood pressure. It can also help to make one more empathetic. The most important benefit, however, is the ability of concentration to temporarily subdue the five hindrances (nivarana), which the Buddha calls "overgrowths of the mind that stultify insight," i.e., sensual desire, ill-will, sloth and drowsiness, restlessness and anxiety and uncertainty (AN 5.51). SN 47.10, for example, briefly details how directing the mind towards an inspiring object can act as an antidote to these unskillful mental states, and AN 3.100 lists five methods for dealing with unskillful thoughts in the course of meditation. Once the mind is calm, clear, focused, concentrated and temporarily free of the five hindrances, it's then better able to perform the next mode of training—discernment.

Discernment basically means seeing things as they are in relation to the three characteristics of existence (tilakkhana)—unsatisfactoriness (dukkha), inconstancy (anicca) and not-self (anatta). This development of insight is analogous to what many call vipassana or insight mediation, and is especially useful for the contemplation of the five clinging-aggregates — the most discernible aspects of our experience on top of which we construct our sense of self — as Sariputta, the Buddha's most trusted disciple, explains in SN 22.122:

A virtuous monk, Kotthita my friend, should attend in an appropriate way to the five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self. Which five? Form as a clinging-aggregate, feeling... perception... fabrications... consciousness as a clinging-aggregate. A virtuous monk should attend in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self. For it is possible that a virtuous monk, attending in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant... not-self, would realize the fruit of stream-entry.

The topics of discernment are numerous, however, and, being entwined with concentration practice, can include things like the contemplation the five subjects of frequent reflection, the contemplation of the body, the contemplation of death, etc. In essence, when the mind of an individual has acquired a solid foundation of virtue through observing the precepts, and after the mind has been calmed and settled to a point of focused awareness, it can then proceed to 'experience' life via the profound context of Dhamma:

There is the case where the disciple of the noble ones recollects the Dhamma, thus: 'The Dhamma is well-expounded by the Blessed One, to be seen here & now, timeless, inviting verification, pertinent, to be realized by the wise for themselves.' As he is recollecting the Dhamma, his mind is calmed, and joy arises; the defilements of his mind are abandoned, just as when the body is cleansed through the proper technique. And how is the body cleansed through the proper technique? Through the use of scouring balls & bath powder & the appropriate human effort. This is how the body is cleansed through the proper technique. In the same way, the defiled mind is cleansed through the proper technique. And how is the defiled mind cleansed through the proper technique? There is the case where the disciple of the noble ones recollects the Dhamma... As he is recollecting the Dhamma, his mind is cleansed, and joy arises; the defilements of his mind are abandoned. He is thus called a disciple of the noble ones undertaking the Dhamma-Uposatha. He lives with Dhamma. It is owing to Dhamma that his mind is calmed, that joy arises, and that whatever defilements there are in his mind are abandoned. This is how the mind is cleansed through the proper technique.

What are your top five tips on proper meditation ?

I only have two, really. Consistency and patience. Make your practice as consistent as possible, which is the key to progress; and be patient since results don't always appear right away.

weighted

@Jason's response is so detailed and wise I've saved it for my own use, when it's easy to let one's practice fall to the wayside.

I also agree with @Dakini: don't be so hard on yourself, and start slow. Gradually you'll find that you can build up your sitting time. Don't feel that you've meditating "poorly" because thoughts arise - they will. Just address them as thoughts and bring your focus back to your breathing.

Jason

@Jason's response is so detailed and wise I've saved it for my own use, when it's easy to let one's practice fall to the wayside.

Glad you found it helpful.

WallyB

What is meditation ?

Buddhist meditation is any kind of wholesome mental development (bhavana), such as reflection on non-harming, reflection upon one's [personal] good qualities, loving-kindness meditation, contemplation of death, etc

on its highest level, Buddhist meditation is to keep in mind (i.e., be mindful of) the Four Noble Truths & the Noble Eightfold Path

What are your top five tips on proper meditation ?

naturally, from the Buddha:

One is mindful to abandon wrong view & to enter & remain in right view: This is one's right mindfulness.

One is mindful to abandon wrong resolve & to enter & remain in right resolve: This is one's right mindfulness.

One is mindful to abandon wrong speech & to enter & remain in right speech: This is one's right mindfulness.

One is mindful to abandon wrong action & to enter & remain in right action: This is one's right mindfulness.

One is mindful to abandon wrong livelihood & to enter & remain in right livelihood: This is one's right mindfulness.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.117.than.html

these are the top five tips for stream entry, i.e., entering the Noble Right Concentration

metta

patbb

meditation

developing concentration (getting your mind to be stable on a object).

using that concentration to understand how the mind/consciousness work so we can understand who we truly are which is different from what we assume we are.

(when we develop concentration, great things happen, we begin to understand and see things differently just by having a better concentration.)