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How long did it take you to understand Buddhism
Mingle
Veteran
A little information can be a dangerous thing. This is definitely true in Buddhism, I learn the basics then my mind makes up the rest then my mind is in constant conflict with itself trying to fit what I believe with reality. I was walking through town and my mind was full of so much doubt "how am I feeling, am I suppose to think that, am I being mindful, I'm aware I just thought that so I must be being mindful, what is mindfulness anyway, just more thinking, oh wait now I'm analysing, is this helping, probably not, this is so unpreductive" so much doubt. Sometimes being mindful I easy and sometimes it feels like I'm looking for a needle in a haystack. What do I do with these times of mind chatter. Just ride them out?
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Smile! Because, irrespective of what you think is happening, what is happening is something beautiful and profound beyond your wildest dreams. So, first of all, smile. It's all good, however it might seem.
The way I was taught to look at it when I started, was that you have had a lifetime to learn bad habits of the mind. It will take time to unlearn them. We practice in order to get better at it. Look at it this way. When you first started kicking a football around a field, you were lucky not to fall on your face and made lots of mistakes. But you practiced and while you didn't stop falling down, you slowly got better at it. Think how long and how much practice it took those great players, and how discouraged they must have been sometimes when they had a crappy day.
And nobody stops learning. I look at stuff I wrote years ago, and see where I still needed work. The future me will do the same.
"What do I do with these times of mind chatter. Just ride them out?"
-If you want to stop monkey mind chatter, count your breaths. But, make sure it really is monkey mind chatter and not productive thought as counting your breaths will shut it down...
@Mingle just welcome the thoughts and they will pass away...all a thought wants is to be acknowledged....So you're right...Just ride them out and don't try to force them out...
When in doubt, I breathe.
If the monkey mind is too restless, if a Buddhadharma text is getting too complex, or I feel overwhelmed by seemingly contradictory information from different traditions, I breathe.
Since the beginning of Spring, I have engaged in long walking meditations out in nature, and that time alone with myself, or with my breathing, has emptied my cup a lot as to what really matters in our practice.
My conclusion is: the less I overintellectualize it all or search for a meaning, the closer I am to some glimpse of truth.
When my mind chatter gets too much, I focus on my breath and visualize the thoughts floating away, then they are gone. Sometimes I use some of TNH's little mantras that I find helpful. "Breathing in, I am at peace. Breathing out, I let go of stress" and so on. It only takes a few breaths to bring me back.
As far as long how it took me to understand Buddhism? Well, I am more focused on what things mean than I was several years ago, but I'm not sure I'd say I understand it. I guess I don't worry about understanding it, so much, I try to let go of the intellectual side of things more and just focus on my actual practice. It's easier to just be, or be mindful, when you aren't thinking about whether you are or aren't.
1) Mindfulness in and of itself isn't the whole of Buddhism
2) Mindfulness isn't supposed to be easy all the time. Welcome to impermanence, another nifty Buddhist concept!
Keeping at it would be considered Right Effort. More Dhamma education!
I've practiced for 10 years with a sangha and for 5 years before that without a sangha. Even popular books many of them or parts of them I do not understand fully.
Yes, I think it's about allowing the non-conceptual mind some space.
In my practice, it is/was not a case of "Ah Ha!, Now I get it!". It has always been a process of growing, of deepening my understanding day by day. While I practice Nichiren Buddhism, some of you are Thervadic, others Tantric, some think Zen is the kittens purr, etc. What we have in common is the seeking of the truth, the Way, the Law - however one wished to "label" it. That said, understanding or the awakening of understanding is a process which does not end. When does a tree become a tree? From a certain standpoint, a tree has always been a tree. In the process of going from latent seed to seedling to sapling to, ultimately, a full grown tree, we see the reflections of our growth in understanding. On a day-to-day basis, we do not see our growth. Over time we become aware of our growth. Out understanding, our growth never stops so long as we continue to seek, so long as we continue to strive, so long as we continue to live. Buddhism is life. Life is a wonderful, beautiful, sometimes painful enigma. Buddhism is serious; life is serious is such a delightfully delicious way that we can't help but be amazed at it's immensity, it's complexity and it's sheer joy.
But watch where you step. It still hurts when you fall.
"Everyone deserves to be happy. But, you must first give yourself permission"
Take it easy Mingle or you will do yourself a mischief and end up French or worse a Zenith ...
http://www.buddhistmedia.com/televisie/modern-monks-1
Yeah everybody.......It takes a little time to get used to politely and happily holding the front door open for your thoughts (worries, frustrations, etc.) and then holding the back door open for them to parade on out.
It will take my whole life. In other words to develop patience ... as an example, takes time.
As @silver says, the mind parades its best monkey mind range of arisings. In through the door, out through the door. That is continuous. It slows down. It changes. It is dependent on our life circumstances, karmic and practice efforts BUT we need to be open to gentle as well as hard effort.
A little information is dangerous. So is a lot.
Not only are we looking for a needle in a haystack but looking at the haystack through the eye of a needle. First we need to hold the needle up. This is where the right practice comes in.
So the question for me is not 'how long' but 'how so' ... and that is to do with dedication and gentle persistence.
Here is a little something to reinforce what @DhammaDragon mentions, the returning to the breath ...
I think I have always felt that I understood Buddhism... until I learned that I didn't, then I thought I did. So I think I do now, but predict that I wont.
Every once in a while I think I get it.
But looking back, I didn't.
I think it's a life-long journey.
It took me 5 years to understand what it was. Then it took me 20 years to understand that I had understood it. And implementing it will probably take the rest of my life...
Silence the mind. You dont always have to think. Just be in the moment.
@Mingle - Until I still have likes and dislikes, I can't say I understand buddhism. I am still in the process of letting go. There is no deadline, there is no timeline, just trying with out pulling or pushing. Good luck to your practice.
"What do I do with these times of mind chatter. Just ride them out?"
No. Ride them in. Deeply in.
I like that [seems I failed again?]
Nobody need to push their mind into mindfullness or pull their ass to a cushion. Our monkey mind will do that once trained.
No way Jose
It needs a bit of discipline! Bring back national service!
Consistent and maneagable training is the key.
People try and get from zero to Nothing/Emptiness in a couple of weak weeks of faddish fervour. Especially when hearing about 'beginner mind'.
What does it mean for us where we are to be consistent, commited and disciplined? Truthfully? Realistically?
http://dharmawisdom.org/teachings/articles/starting-mindfulness-meditation-practice
20,000 billion years. :P
Is that all? Luxury!
I seem to understand that I will never completely understand but I think that's part of the beauty of it.