Meditating on a particular item/topic?

karasti

I have seen many references to people saying "I should meditate on it" and I'm curious how that works. I meditate every day, and I have decent success with keeping focused on my breath. But I don't understand how people meditate on something. If I'm having a dilemma I cannot resolve, how do I meditate to possibly come to an answer without all the thoughts about that dilemma flowing through my head? Do you just set an intention prior to beginning meditation, and then meditate as normal with a clear head? Or do you actually think on one particular thing as you meditate?

A friend of mine is involved in an abusive relationship, and I've wanted to meditate on it but all I end up with is my mind going in circles the same way it does when I'm not meditating, which of course does no good

PrairieGhost

karasti

I don't understand how people meditate on something.

No, neither do I. I think it means let it be, and answers may come later.

how

The answers for all of us have never been hidden by anything else but our own attachments. Meditation is just a diet program for those attachments.

Asking a specific question before formal meditation gives that question some inertia. Some forms of meditation would make that specific question the object of your meditation in place of following ones breath, following a mantra, visualization, etc.

In most of the meditations that I suspect that are practised here, a question asked before meditation is dropped during the formal meditation. The inertia of the question initially asked and ones meditative objectiveness immediately following formal meditation can merge to provide a clearer perspective of that question.

In reality though, as meditation starts to become a more pervasive life experience beyond it's formal time periods, this all occurs naturally..

Most of the times when people say they should meditate on it, they are saying that meditations equanimity should allow them to later revisit a question with less ego belaboured eyes.

Tosh

I think this is called a 'Contemplation Placement' meditation. Try a death meditation, for some fun. Contemplate your own death; imagine you're dying, imagine you're dead, imagine your funeral if you like; and just see what happens.

Maybe you'll gain some realisations about what has been important in your life. When I do this, it's generally my A.A. work - helping others - that seems to have been the really meaningful stuff I do.

And when you have a realisation of this nature, hold it (this is the placement part of the 'contemplation placement' meditation); and if you lose it, go back to the contemplation.

But you could even just read something you like, hold it in thought, and see if you find something a little deeper in it.

Play about with your meditation; experiment.

Jeffrey

Without thoughts coming in you can't have insight. Absorption into an object builds concentration, and thoughts can also still come in so it is possible to have insight. Waiting for a specific insight is like fishing a pond for one specific fish.

Sabre

I have seen many references to people saying "I should meditate on it" and I'm curious how that works. I meditate every day, and I have decent success with keeping focused on my breath. But I don't understand how people meditate on something. If I'm having a dilemma I cannot resolve, how do I meditate to possibly come to an answer without all the thoughts about that dilemma flowing through my head? Do you just set an intention prior to beginning meditation, and then meditate as normal with a clear head? Or do you actually think on one particular thing as you meditate?

A friend of mine is involved in an abusive relationship, and I've wanted to meditate on it but all I end up with is my mind going in circles the same way it does when I'm not meditating, which of course does no good

Hi!

Meditating "on something" is what is called contemplation. It's good to do this with a still and steady mind, but often contemplation itself can lead to this still mind. So in my eyes, it is not such a linear process as some people try to convey.

Indeed the Buddha offered various topics for contemplation. But these were not to answer questions about daily life, about any kind of thing we want to figure out. These topics always have to do with the dhamma, with our own happiness and suffering. It's on topics like virtue, death, renunciation, non-self, etc. I of course don't know what your dilemma is exactly, but chances are meditation is not the best approach for that particular thing. Or it may be, I don't know. You have to decide.

But as I said, usually contemplation on the right subjects brings peace. This can be a bit of an indicator.

Metta!

person

I basically agree with @Tosh. Another term for this type of meditation is analytical meditation. Its similar to a metta meditation in that in metta you say phrases or contemplate the kindness of others so a feeling of love and compassion arises then you rest your mind upon that feeling. Analytical meditation uses basically the same process but usually with certain philosophical topics such as death or emptiness. One analyzes or thinks through the reasons why these things are true, at some point a direct realization can occur and a certain feeling associated with that realization arises, you then stop your analysis and focus your mind directly on the feeling until it fades then you go back to your contemplation. The greater the level of your concentration the longer you can hold onto that feeling and focus your mind on it. Slowly this type of meditation takes intellectual concepts and lets them soak into your character so that they become a natural part of how you think and behave instead of just an idea you know about.

DairyLama

Without thoughts coming in you can't have insight.

Yes you can. And thinking about something isn't insight.

Jeffrey

@porpoise, we might be talking about the mind in different ways. My teacher said not all the jhanas are useful, because some there is no thoughts. That's what I recall, I might have misheard.

I agree that thinking isn't insight. What I mean by thought is some kind of content. If there is no content, then nothing could be noticed.

DairyLama

I agree that thinking isn't insight. What I mean by thought is some kind of content. If there is no content, then nothing could be noticed.

But thinking is only one kind of ( mental content ). There are mental and bodily feelings and sensations. You can observe impermance simply and directly in the breathing process for example.

Jeffrey

Oh that makes sense. I was just assigning 'thinking' to any evaluation one could have. I have done pure absorptions where it is just a good feeling.