Buddha Meditation Instructions

HookahCaterpillar

Hi guys,

Does anyone know where Buddha talks explicitly about meditation techniques?

Thanks

BhanteLucky

He kinda doesn't really. The most explicit he gets are these two suttas,
The Anapanasati Sutta where breath meditation instructions start half way through.
And the Satipatthana Sutta, which talks about how to do general awareness meditation.
But neither of them are very specific unfortunately. You'll get clearer step-by-step instructions from recent teachers, and how-to-meditate books.

gaurav

dear friend HookahCaterpillar if you want detail study and experience about pure meditation education please visit http://www.dhamma.org/ ........be happy

HookahCaterpillar

ya i was wondering about the claim that Vipassana Meditation is what the buddha taught. how can they claim this when we dont have a record of Buddha teaching it?

BhikkhuJayasara

James has it right.. Those two suttas Mahasattipatthana and Anapanasati are the pinnacle of Buddhist meditation techniques taught by the Buddha.

Bhante G and Bhante S at Bhavana Society learned how to meditate from these two suttas and teach how to meditate using only the methods in these two suttas.

Concentration(Samatha) and insight(vipassana) meditations work together. Intact there is part of the suttas the monks chant after meditation that goes like this.

There is no concentration without wisdom, no wisdom without concentration, those who have both wisdom and concentration are surely on their way to the deathless.

also who says the Buddha didn't teach vipassana? It was this method, the development of insight, that brought him to his goal. The other methods of meditation like Samatha had existed before that period, so that was not new, insight meditation was.

BhanteLucky

HookahCaterpillar said:

ya i was wondering about the claim that Vipassana Meditation is what the buddha taught. how can they claim this when we dont have a record of Buddha teaching it?

The Satipatthana Sutta, is vipassana meditation, and that's where the Buddha teaches it. So we do have a record of the Buddha teaching it.
There are other flavours of vipassana, but they all come from the same root... Goenka emphasises one aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta and teaches Goenka Vipassana. Mahasi Sayadaw emphasises a different approach to the Satipatthana Sutta and teaches the Mahasi Method.
And so on, with each modern teacher.

HookahCaterpillar

thanks guys. this helps. i recently read this critique of vipassana. what do you think of it?
http://daophatnguyenthuy.wordpress.com/phản-biện-của-cac-trường-phai-vipassana-khac-nhau/a-critique-of-vipassana-meditation-as-taught-by-mr-s-n-goenka/

BhikkhuJayasara

HookahCaterpillar said:

thanks guys. this helps. i recently read this critique of vipassana. what do you think of it?
http://daophatnguyenthuy.wordpress.com/phản-biện-của-cac-trường-phai-vipassana-khac-nhau/a-critique-of-vipassana-meditation-as-taught-by-mr-s-n-goenka/

Thats a critique specifically of the Goenka method, not necessarily vipassana in general. I cannot make a judgement because I know little of that specific method. hopefully someone here who does can answer.

all I can say is 10+ hours of meditation a day... WOW... I struggle with the 6-7 I do at Bhavana on retreat.

ThailandTom

By books, really, we can give you help here but I have come to see that the next best thing to an actual teacher is a decent book. We cannot write passages and passages, chapters upon chapters which within them each sentence may help and give you advice or encouragement. Sure what people can say here will help to an extent, but I strongly advise seeking a teacher and or getting hold of some books. You may have to get them from a library, the Buddhist foundation or simply buy them, but it will help. Good luck.

BhikkhuJayasara

ThailandTom is right.. and I highly suggest these two books By Bhante G

Mindfulness in Plain English
http://www.urbandharma.org/pdf/mindfulness_in_plain_english.pdf

and The 4 Foundations of mindfulness in plain English
http://www.amazon.com/Four-Foundations-Mindfulness-Plain-English/dp/1614290385

There is also "Beyond Mindfulness in plain english" but that is a bit more advanced and not for beginnings.

ThailandTom

The book that has helped me the most with meditation (and after practicing Buddhism for 5 years and my longest sitting being 25 minutes), has been a recent one called 'Mindfulness In Plain English' by Ven H.Gunaratana Mahathera. It is directed towards Vipassana meditation but explains how concentration in meditation is also a key factor and goes hand in hand with this meditation which is insight meditation. He states there are many decent books on the philosophy of Buddhism, but also many not so good ones, but this one is dedicated totally to Vipassana meditation and I have found it to be very helpful indeed. Easy to pick up, easy to read and follow and from all of the books, links and things I have heard about meditation techniques, this has taught me the most.

I just noticed that @Jayantha has linked this book hehehe, oops.

seeker242

HookahCaterpillar said:

thanks guys. this helps. i recently read this critique of vipassana. what do you think of it?
http://daophatnguyenthuy.wordpress.com/phản-biện-của-cac-trường-phai-vipassana-khac-nhau/a-critique-of-vipassana-meditation-as-taught-by-mr-s-n-goenka/

Sounds like the person who wrote it does not have much experience with it. For example he says:

"As the mind becomes unattached and equanimous towards sensory experiences, it can experience the non-sensory, timeless bliss which will lead to freedom from the cycle of birth and death."

and calls that "Belief in the Mystical", when in fact this is something that can be directly experienced first hand. But since the person has never experienced it first hand, he instead calls it a "mystical belief". The fact that the person is judging something that they have never experienced, makes me suspicious of his comments. Goenka retreat style is not for everyone and obviously not for this person. But that alone does not mean that it's a "bad technique".

HookahCaterpillar

Thanks again all - Im gonna look at mindfulness in plain English. @ThailandTom did it help extend your sittings past 25 min?

BhanteLucky

HookahCaterpillar said:

thanks guys. this helps. i recently read this critique of vipassana. what do you think of it?
http://daophatnguyenthuy.wordpress.com/phản-biện-của-cac-trường-phai-vipassana-khac-nhau/a-critique-of-vipassana-meditation-as-taught-by-mr-s-n-goenka/

It's garbage. It's a biased piece of propaganda and misinformation. It's long and detailed, but here's just one of many examples of how the writer demonstrates he is either mistaken... or deliberately misleading people... when he says Goenka Vipassana teaches that:
"There is suffering and sorrow in life, and nothing but suffering and sorrow in life. (Biased Perception)"
In no way does Goenka's vipassana teach that. If the writer honestly thinks Goenka teaches that, he has either not attended a course, or he has not been paying attention during the course. The writer says he has attended several courses, so I guess it must be the second option.

ThailandTom

HookahCaterpillar said:

Thanks again all - Im gonna look at mindfulness in plain English. @ThailandTom did it help extend your sittings past 25 min?

It brought me to sitting almost everyday and to 25 minutes from normally getting bored and feeling I have to get up after 10-15 minutes :P Some of us find it really difficult to sit still!! I get pins and needles very easily, I think I have a circulation problem, but I have a lot of physical problems so it wouldn't surprise me.

HookahCaterpillar

ya I think the critique is a bit over the top. almost criticism for the sake of it. The 'cult' type accusations just make me nervous to some degree.

BhikkhuJayasara

HookahCaterpillar said:

ya I think the critique is a bit over the top. almost criticism for the sake of it. The 'cult' type accusations just make me nervous to some degree.

the cult thing is a common critique of goenka..and to an extent they have a point as there are a few weird/Shady things that have been reported, but these goenka retreats go on world wide with people other then goenka so who knows what people do.