Will Meditation help with my 'thinking/seeking' ? I think my 'thinking' is causing my suffering!

zenmyste

Ok, here is my situation!

I want to state that i 'am' happy!
Ive got a good life, im a chilled out guy and got a top loving family! Im not necessarily 'seeking' something else other than the ability to LIVE IN THE NOW!

My problem is; im always 'searching 'amazon' for books, and going into waterstones to see if i cant find another interesting book to read!

Now there is nothing wrong with wanting to read books but its 'doing my head in'
Its like im always looking for 'that one book' ..

But what is funny is; i 'know' there is no such thing! Im already at the stage in life and practice where i fully understand everything is mind and i know that seeking 'elsewhere' will only cause me suffering! Everything is within !

So i know all this yet still i 'seek and search! (I think mainly out of interest really, its become more of a hobbie)

But like i said; its doing my head in so my question is; 'is this where meditation can help me????

If i meditate more will that help 'calm my thinking mind'

My ultimate goal is to "just be" and enjoy this very minute!
But at the moment i cant because it feels like reading books is preventing me from living in the NOW!

So whats your opinions??

Patr

Its still a passing phase.
Look up peter della santina, for some good Buddhist read.

pommesetoranges

Reading is a wonderful thing, especially when it helps you learn more about dharma , but for me it has always been that reading complemented practice, not the other way round. Increasing the time you spend on your cushion will definitely help. I try to be mindful all the time, always, every minute, no matter what I am doing and no matter where I am and the more I try the better I get at it (no surprise here really) and many similar dilemmas (writing pointless stories in my mind, inventing problems, ruminating and such) got ultimately solved as my practice developed. Anyways, I am sure that you knew the answer to your question before even asking it. YES! MEDITATE MORE! IT'S GOOD FOR YOU!

lobster

You are the most subtle book of all. Full of twists and turns. An interactive book. A book of mystery and empty pages. Read. :coffee:

ThailandTom

You read or listen about how to meditate, and then you start to meditate. People often want quick and easy results, I mean how hard can it be to simply sit and be quiet? Pretty difficult actually. The point of meditation, or Vipassana meditation anyway is to generate mindfulness which can be described in many ways. 'Thinking' as in contemplating things does lead to suffering and through practice you will be able to see why. Many things that occur during meditation cannot be put into words as words come from thought and such things cannot be thought as such, merely experienced.

You need to obtain concentration to be able to generate mindfulness and that is something that will come from meditation as well as mindfulness, they go hand in hand. When you meditate you can use this concentration as a tool where your awareness can chip away at walls of illusion we all create through thinking, from living this life. Over time you will gain further and deeper insights into the workings of reality, this can take years of practice however but subtle chances which in their own right are crucial can be seen early on.

One thing to be aware of is that meditation is not a chore, it is not something you should have preconceptions. Enter a sitting meditation expecting nothing to come from it. Also it is not a thing where you sit down to calm the mind, yes becoming calm is a bi-product of meditation often but one can get drunk to this and cause attachment to it, which in turn will cause suffering. Like putting a rock down on some grass, the grass will not die and the roots will remain, the grass may become flat and a little discolored, but it will grow back strong again. Meditation can act in the same way if you just see it as a way to calm down for a small amount of time during the day. The roots of your suffering will remain. Just sit, observe and give no negative or positive attachment to whatever arises just as it is.

DairyLama

zenmyste said:

But at the moment i cant because it feels like reading books is preventing me from living in the NOW!

I have something similar, like a craving for ideas or different ways of looking at things -and it can be very distracting in meditation. Maybe have a break from reading and focus more on meditation for a while?

genkaku

"I understand" has got to be one of the most over-employed and under-investigated phrases in the English language. It's so cozy and so protective and, as often as not, so full of shit.

I understand that all things change. I understand the Four Noble Truths. I understand compassion. I understand emptiness. I understand mind. I understand enlightenment.

When I catch myself doing this, I do what I can to stop and think, "If you understand so much, how come you're not happy or at peace?" and, "If you're not at peace, how useful can this 'I understand' actually be?"

Roughly speaking, Buddhism is about realization and actualization. It's about what you know in the same way you may know how to ride a bike. You don't 'understand' riding a bike or 'believe' in riding a bike ... you know how to ride a bike and put that knowledge to work as circumstances dictate.

"I understand" is a good inspiration, perhaps, or a good starting point. But it cannot compare with knowing how to ride a bike. This is where meditation comes in handy. Meditation actualizes in life what imagination understands on the tongue. Nothing happens over night, but a good meditation practice has a way of replacing "understanding" with actualization....

No "understanding" required.

zenmyste

Thanks all!

pommesetoranges

People have noticed a decrease in the importance of poetry to our
society. It has been said that our desire for more information, faster
images and quick sound bites is increasing. We are searching faster and
faster, perhaps at the expense of looking more deeply.
Rather than sitting with a Shakespeare sonnet for a few minutes, just
pondering the beauty and meaning of it, we might read ten of them
quickly and then feel a bit befuddled. Similarly, one might read though
a dense little work like this one without stopping to ponder each
paragraph along the way and thus perhaps get little out of it. Just so, we
may be constantly trying to find the next teacher, book, spiritual scene,
technique, incense, mantra, costume, or doctrine that will get us the Big
E. Quick results are actually possible, though there are no promises
about the speed of progress that can be given. Real progress will only
come when we settle into the basics, into this moment, and go deep.

CORE TEACHINGS
OF THE
BUDDHA
An Unusually Hardcore
Dharma Book
by
The Interdependent Universe
but conventionally attributed to
The Arahat
Daniel M. Ingram, MD MSPH

Something that I've just (oh irony!) read. I think he has a point about the information overload in the today's societies, which makes us forget the basics. It's a good read by the way.

"Attention," the articulate oboe was calling. "Attention."

"Attention to what?" he asked, in the hope of eliciting a more enlightening
answer than the one he had received from Mary Sarojini.

"To attention," said Dr. MacPhail

Island
by
Aldous Huxley

Jeffrey

If you are seeking then you have not completely found. Maybe there is something out there that can turn your world around? What would that be? What are you hoping for? What in your heart of hearts? It might be true that the answer lies within, but first you need clarity on what the question is.

zenmyste

Jeffrey said:

If you are seeking then you have not completely found. .

im not seeking anything spiritual or seeking an 'answer' like Siddhartha did or anything..

im seeking interesting BOOKS to read..(preferably Diarys, like anne franks, or marcus aurlieus's Meditations) I love diaries for some reason..

However , its starting to do my head in.. Im always searching book after book..

instead, i just wanna LIVE LIFE.. (books talk too much, but they have become my addiction) lol

Jeffrey

Oh I see. My mom is like that. First she collected dolls until she got tired of that. Now she is shopping for clothes.

It sounds like you are trying to strike a different balance between books and the rest of your life.

genkaku

@zenmyste -- My sense is that reading tries to tell readers that they are not alone, that there is a wider world and they have (in their reading of one book or another) a place in it. And in a limited way, it works. Problems only arise when the sense of being alone is no longer placated by relying on something else ... in this case, books.

sova

Reading is a wonderful thing, especially when it helps you learn more about dharma , but for me it has always been that reading complemented practice, not the other way round.

well said.



refuge in buddha
refuge in dharma
refuge in sangha

Deepankar

"LIVE AT NOW" did not leave you. I would guess that your wisdom is more than your stillness. And you may wish to balance it up with meditation class in the monastery near you.