Meditation is separate from daily life

betaboy

Daily life is a lower level of consciousnesss, which is why we meditate - so we can reach a higher level. So meditation and daily life must be kept separate.

how

The experience of meditation will just be a resounding NNNNNNOOOOOOOOO to these suppositions. If meditation is separate from daily life then you've knee capped one or the other.

seeker242

I've never heard of any Buddhist teacher teaching that they must be separate. They teach the opposite really.

genkaku

Anyone who surrenders to "lower" and "higher" levels of consciousness would probably be better served by digging boogers out of their noses.

Jeffrey

If that is your experience then that is what it is. It's like self. If you experience a self then that is just your experience.

It is likely that your experience will change because a lot of people say there is no boundary.

But from the perspective of you as a yogi it is just your experience (for now).

riverflow

Not a Buddhist story, but rather a Quaker one, but has some relevance here... For those who don't know Hicksite Quakers have what they call "unprogrammed meetings" which consist largely of an hour of silent sitting, listening out for the "inner light." For other Christians, this can seem quite strange and disconcerting.

So the story goes that a newcomer to Quaker meetings arrives and sits next to a Quaker. Five minutes of silence pass, then ten minutes. The newcomer, puzzled, turns to the worshipper sitting next to him and whispers, "When does the service begin?" The Quaker answered back, "When the meeting ends."

If the practice of meditation has nothing to do with all that messy "real life" stuff, why bother? That would reduce meditation to mere navel gazing and escapism. I would say that meditation aids in cultivating a way of engaging with life, not running away from it.

blu3ree

betaboy said:

Daily life is a lower level of consciousnesss, which is why we meditate - so we can reach a higher level. So meditation and daily life must be kept separate.

not if one runs a dharma clinic like they have in india whom helps people everyday.... obviously to be aware of your patients needs would be a huge benefit to all

it depends on the role in society one plays. meaning if your a car sales person or your job is to make fun of people that is low.

that kind of thinking gets us in trouble with the dharma

karasti

So if we are going to consider daily life a lower level of consciousness, then what? We're just going to meditate all the time and not participate in daily life? That doesn't make any sense to me. It seems that through meditation we can raise the consciousness level or rather our mindfulness of each moment in our daily lives. If we separate them, then they never come together in any way, and to expect that everyone can just give up having a daily life in order to live in a higher manner just makes no sense to me.

Jeffrey

It's just changing the mandala. That is like you put a new roll of film in the projector. Each mandala has a central principle and boundaries. As the meditation mandala closes another blooms. This even happens in the middle of your meditation as you spin out into day dreams. You can observe this and notice the ability of mind to focus on the energy dyanamic of one mandala and then a gate appears to another either at the periphery or even the center. Suddenly the thought is totally changed. Like "returning to the breath I remember I am meditating.

All of the mandalas are distinct so in some sense the sitting and daily practices are different.

But the central mandala of all things is the nature of awareness and mind and that is always present in every mandala.

pegembara

Daily life is a lower level of consciousnesss, which is why we meditate - so we can reach a higher level.

Meditation is like practising your scales and arpeggios. Why do we practise? - So that we can play beautiful music.

lobster

Daily life is a lower level of consciousnesss, which is why we meditate - so we can reach a higher level. So meditation and daily life must be kept separate.

. . . what if daily life was the 'higher level'.
In other words as @pegembara says, we play scales but the music is always in our head or ahead of us or played through us, or with us. We are the instrument etc. [must be time for some retuning] :rocker:

riverflow

"If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?" ~ Dogen

Citta

betaboy said:

Daily life is a lower level of consciousnesss, which is why we meditate - so we can reach a higher level. So meditation and daily life must be kept separate.

OK lets pretend thats true. Now what ?

DairyLama

betaboy said:

Daily life is a lower level of consciousnesss, which is why we meditate - so we can reach a higher level. So meditation and daily life must be kept separate.

You could say they're different activities, but isn't the point of meditation to raise the level of consciousness in our daily lives?

shadowleaver

My teacher always talks about going to the gym to train versus actually playing sports on the field. Yes, they are different, yet there is a clear relationship: you don't just go to the gym for the fun of it (even though that has its benefits) but rather so you can perform better on the field. In this analogy, meditation practice is like going to the gym and daily life is like playing on the field. He then often says something to the effect of: if your life "out there" is a mess and you're a "star" here in this center, then you may want to re-evaluate your direction.

In my own experience, I found that it is tempting to use meditation as a way to achieve a kind of a natural "high" and leave everyday life to its own devices. That's an easy trap for me to fall into, as the former is clean and orderly and the latter is messy, unpredictable. However, what I am seeking in Buddhist practice is transforming the entire experience of living, not just the several hours a week that I'm on the cushion. No doubt, the most challenging thing about meditation is bringing that state of mind into "the world" but if I don't even try to do that, then what's the point?

Certainly, meditation may have some desired effects in its own right, such as relaxation and bringing about altered states of consciousness. And maybe that's ok, but that's not Buddhism. Buddhism is about overcoming suffering in our entire lives and helping others do the same. So are meditation and every day life different? In some ways they are and in some ways they aren't. But the real question to ask is: *Why do you meditate?*

how

@betaboy
Each nano moment is all there is. The only possible time to awaken. A sliver of transcendence to open or close to.
IMO...Concepts that limit practicing to specific levels of consciousness are just dreams about practicing.

zenff

Okay I think I can say that everyone agrees that meditation and daily life are not separate.
So how do we integrate meditation and daily life?

My two cents:
The essential thing about meditation is an open accepting attitude. We don’t cling we don’t resist we don’t fight we don’t try to achieve anything in particular; we just sit with whatever there is. Meditation is okay in every possible way.

We take that attitude (or is it better to say lack of attitude?) with us when we get up from the meditation mat into our daily life. And then life is okay in every possible way.

Gui

So how do we integrate meditation and daily life?

Accept what is, be open. Keep a don't know mind.

Victorious

betaboy said:

Daily life is a lower level of consciousnesss, which is why we meditate - so we can reach a higher level. So meditation and daily life must be kept separate.

Nope! This is wrong. Rather the opposite.

Use an alarm in appropriate intervals in the beginning to remind yourself to "fall back" into mindfullness.

Peace!
Victor

SeaOfTranquility

What is a lower level of consciousness @betaboy?
Are you speaking of present moment awareness? If so it would seem either one is aware or not aware at any given moment.

To meditate, just be quiet by concentrating on your breath and pay attention to what arises. Without judgement and without being carried away by thoughts that arise. Not chasing after (or running away from) is letting go. Practice letting go again and again. Letting go is both challenging and calming. News flash: Meditation is relaxing. That's a good thing.

Meditation in daily life has a name and it's called Mindfulness. Patient, open, calm, non-judgmental awareness. Mindfulness sounds a lot like meditation off the cushion.

Best Wishes

DairyLama

zenff said:

So how do we integrate meditation and daily life?

I would say by practising mindfulness off the cushion as well as on it.

footiam

betaboy said:

Daily life is a lower level of consciousnesss, which is why we meditate - so we can reach a higher level. So meditation and daily life must be kept separate.

If daily life is a lower level of consciousness, keeping meditation separate from it, will ensure that it will always be of that low level. Shouldn't we use meditation to bring it up to a high level of consciousness? I have read before a book that says we could meditate in our daily life, even when we are working.