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how to join a monastery?
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@federica and I think u r misinterpreting the his text,or.misinterpreting my comment.since I never implied or said anything on over exerting.but without exerting, nothing can be achieved, over exerting is problem,if u r not OK with exerting,I think it would be impossible to practice.pushing ones limits is only way to reach goal,of course.should not over exert urself in process,neither should u misinterpret his text and under exert or no exertion.
Quit pushing.
If you quit pushing and just relax, keep practising the dhamma, then things will develop and evolve as they are meant to.
"When the Student is ready, the Teacher will appear."
Clearly, the teacher you envisage has not manifested yet. So maybe you're not 'ready'....?
But every moment you spend in discussion with others is a 'teacher'.
And we are trying to teach you that your insistence and stubborn determination is your undoing, not your friend.....
@federica am relaxed,completely relaxed.whenever I close my eyes to meditate,I get distracted,but have to refocus my concentration towards breath,should I quit pushing when I get distracted by opening my eyes??now u get it.striving to achieve is necessaerynecessaery. When a student is ready,teacher is available?then why don't u say it to yound children who want to go school?and say them the same thing instead of making admission??be a little bit practical and yes philosophy is as important as understanding of practicality.and u r blaming my determination?u said that determination is necessary to do practice.
@federica and lets not play with vocabulary and have word games.lets address the issue directly.
@federica and we both know that the nuances of English language is not going to make sense in this particular conversation.so I agree u have good philosophy,but lets stop quoting Buddha and Proverbs and talk some sense,is it OK with you?my issue is direct friend.and u r diverting my question instead of providing a direct answer.I would appreciate it if u answer it directly.if you want to help me,which appears to be ur motive,I am interested in ur experience with Buddhism and ur first encounter with it.be honest and am not interested in ur personal affairs or am not trying to get to know ur private life,I want to get some experiences.and pls don't take it in a wrong way.
If I want to learn programming or find someone able to teach it, I know what to do. So do you. Where is the difficulty?
“A man sits down at a bar and notices that the person sitting next to him has a banana in their ear. He taps the person on the shoulder and says “You have a banana in your ear”. No response. He repeats the process several times. No response. Finally, the person turns to him and says “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you, I have a banana in my ear”
When thoughts arise gently return your attention to the breath. Rinse and repeat.
Indeed. And it's not just with attempts at meditating, either. When we quit pushing our own ideas and attitudes, then and only then can the truth finally begin to enter in. But the full ripening of those truths takes time.
So many thoughts, so many categories, so many hangups...
This thread and some comments in it rather remind me of the old Zen Master's Tea Ceremony. "Important" men come to see him and he fills their cups to overflowing and yet he continues to pour. They say, "Stop pouring, the cup is already full. You cannot get any more into it!" The Zen Master replies, "Thus it also is with you. What can one such as I possibly teach you?"
@SpinyNorman ,I know I said that to make a point if u read the line of thread u would know it
@Nirvana what does it have to do with pushing?doing one thing at a time focusing one task one thought at mind and pushing our limit is what am talking about.that example is to say that forget all the presumption that u have about the topic before u learn it,ie forget what other persons thoughts are on and what they said to u and the half baked knowledge u have on the topic.forget the half baked knowledge u have on the topic and the assumptions,learn the topic from teacher and then ur goal will be achieved.implications of such storiesust be understood clearly.pushing ur mind and limits are the base or roots of every technological growth and scientific growth.and meditation is a way to increase ur self awareness and knowledge about self,but u might have heard of people saying that they can't meditate for more than 5mins,they overcome that by pushing their limits limitations and staying calm and it takes a lot of initial effort to do such a thing and the very act describes the way the person moves past his limitation.and there are limits only because we should and can surpass them.
Sorry if I did not make myself clear. One needs to stop pushing oneself forward and needs to Relax. Some people, I believe, call it Emptiness. There is no self to be realized or pushed, really. There are just things to do.
Also, there are all sorts of monasteries. Hindu ones are called ashrams (a-shrama, not in the marketplace). I visit one frequently and in my own way, you might say I've "joined," as I stay there for a week or so at a time and am always welcome.
We each make our own way in the world as best we can, and monasteries -be they Christian, Buddhist, or Hindu- play very important roles in the spiritual life of the world. Let us not call Hindus idol worshippers, though, since that is as far from the truth as the sun is from the moon. Nor should we underrate the medieval Christian monasteries that gave us St Bernard Clairvaux and his ilk.
You can't push your progress in meditation. It will unfold according to the preexisting karmic causes and conditions same as everything else. However following some of the useful advice given in this thread will lay the ground for a future unfolding.
I was always trying to push myself to reach jhana or have a moment of vipassana. Then I studied shikantaza with Jundo Cohen over at Treeleaf Zendo for a while and took on the whole doing not doing idea and stopped pushing myself and found out it was truer letting go.
I try to bring that attitude to my samatha/vipassana sits these days.
@nirvana u don't know what u r talking about,am a hindu myself and they strictly are idol worshipper despite their own holy book saying not to indulge in idol worship.they waste useful resources like milk and curd and many other things on pouring it over a stone they call God and ignore or don't even have a thought that they could have spent the whole money they did on wasting on stones instead could have given a meal to the begged waiting outside the temple or donate it to people who r in need of money.I don't like such people who waste such things,at least they could spend it on their own gadgets at least govt could get tax money from it and it is useful instead of wasting resources.Hindus are idol worshippers,if u don't know that I don't know how to improve ur understanding on that.and for why join a ashram?what is the need to ?u need to strip urself of religious beliefs and instead take and pick the good and great things they offer and live a spiritual life without religion,Christianity,hinduism,Islam followers are die hard fans of their respective God that they don't stop once for understanding the message conveyed in "holy" books and instead fight each other on whose God is the correct one,without understanding that each one of their books says same things,and also some crappy fairy tales and stupid traditions.they fight each other on whose God is right.and pls don't think any of the religions u mentioned is "holy" since their follower have a bad rep and a very bad history and ar half baked idiots.if u want to know a ardent follower of Hindus mind,u would be disgusted by the way they think,I have been there and I have seen it.they think women are to be protected and gods are to be worshipped and is considered a sin if not and that public display of affection is a sin,if u don't believe me just look into a comment made by a hindu pandit Ajay gawtham made in news hour debate when asked about UP majnu operation,women don't need to be protected,they can protect themselves and they don't need a knight in a shining armor to save them,they are protected by law just like all citizens are and worship of God is no biggie.and of u see Islam they hold women under control,just see the conversation that Richard Dawkins had with those guys and Christianity,as usual very outdated,these guys were against everything,progress,science,,witch crafttrials(wtf),paegan gods,nudity, sblood transfer,organ transfer,gay marriage,other religions and that Jesus is only divine messenger and Christian God is true God and other are crappy and other believers would go to hell.and if u look at what followers of religions any religion,can do to other people and what their sick mindset is,u would be astonished.and there are such people even now and all u need to do is open ur eyes and switch on to different news channel around the world and see what is happening.God or path for higher consciousness is OK but don't be so ardent follower of holy books that you wouldn't even hesitate to beat up ur neighbour for being non believers.and yes it has happened many times.just google religious fights and wars in name of religion.u can see what people are capable of(in a bad way).and yes they do good things occasionally,but why not do it in name of humanity instead of Christian missionary,hindu charity,or whatsoever.why not drop"Christian,hindu"names out and just charity.
@Lonely_Traveller how many minutes you can focus on. Stretch?I mean how many mins can u meditate?
Sorry people. Enough is enough.
Clearly not getting through, and all attempts to clarify and reason with the OP have fallen on deaf ears.
Thread closed, matter ended.