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What does meditation mean to you?
namarupa
Veteran
Thought I'd throw this question out there just to see what experiences people have come across.
Meditation is where my mind can rest and regain energy. It is where I get a sense that my mind becomes more grounded and focused. I basically do "nothing", but for some reason there is a feeling of value in it. Theres only so much I could say about it. Thats pretty much it. So what does it mean to you and how do feel about it?
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Comments
Well and simply said @namarupa
My experience/practice is similar. Meditation does not polish me, I make use of my cutting edges but ideally from an increasingly effective center.
Will the persona dissolve completely or just soften? My experience is 'emptiness is form and form is emptiness'. In other words, 'meditation is real and the real is Nothing' ...
Time for me to sit ... still ...
I mainly practice analytical meditation - it points me in the right direction and settles my deluded mind.
Peace of Mind.
Stillness and insight?
Familiarisation ...Observing thoughts, feelings, arise and depart-the self coming together (forming) and drifting apart (emptying) ....Zenergy in motion ....
The stars are all out in the daytime, but we can't experience them because the daylight is so noisy.
A rest, being in stillness... An attempt to move away from the mind... Time spent with the breath... A moment to gain insight and let the mind rearrange itself... Reconnecting with the body energy.
A similar analogy is clouds in the sky.
It means breathing in and out! And it feels full of air, then empty of air, then full, then empty, etc. etc!
Meditation is life and life is meditation! Meditation is like our balancing pole in walking the tightrope of life. Any unseen truths uncovered in meditation, such as the four noble truths, and living by those truths, is walking the path. So it seems to me that life, meditation, practice, and living by the truths ( the 4 noble) are all interconnected. So much for not having much to say about it.
Perhaps as one awaken to Buddhism , he realize he is the mind and the mind is constantly travelling in a natural process into nothingness as such he no longer hold on to the mind ......and each moment as he travel in the journey known as life , he is constantly living with the mind and such awakening is perhaps closely described as " meditation"....so in my current mind as one awaken to Buddhism , he will be in a constant condition of realization of the nature of his existence as such meditation is no longer out of emotion but is the condition of the mind itself
I know this may sound opposite of meditation, but I do study meditation if that makes sense. I'd read a sutra verse, chant, meditate on what I read maybe a verse or two, reflect, and apply after bowing. That's my meditation. It's a full present awareness of each action you do rather than thinking of "what I need to get at the store" or "I need to go to the back." Keeps your mind focused on what you are doing at the moment.
I used to practice Zen and how you described meditation is similar if not the same as how I used to practice. The action of just siting clears the mind. I'll try to add that in but I think it's best with me to do it throughout the day rather than during my prayer times. Keeps me in tuned until I can do my full meditation as described above.
Pretty much meditating all day. Helps me keep my emotions in check too.
Those of you who have gotten to the point where you are shifted into a state of meditation all day, I have to be honest, this seems a very advanced practice. 1) I'm in a kind of awe. 2) How do you maintain that level of peaceful focus? 3) do you still consider it meditative if you're at work, or if you're having an intense conversation about something less than pleasant, etc?
I think of that as maintaining mindfulness, or re-establishing mindfulness at regular intervals.
@RuddyDuck9
just observe the 5 agregates, sometimes we are angry, sad, happy, tierd and so on. Peace will come when we can accept each moment as it is.
Iam trying to observe when my mind are trying to judge, controll, and switch between likes and dislikes in the present moment, and dosent accept what happens,
our mind are always dicrimenating and judging each moment, this is bad this is good.
Be the observer and try to accept it as it is, both good times and bad times, then peace will come
@Namada , from what I understand being at peace and being in meditation are not the same. Being mindful and being meditative are not the same. I understand walking meditation can be had, but all day is what hangs me up. I mean, is it really meditation if you're simply observing the 8NT all day?
I'm not sure I 'do' meditation and if I do, then I don't do it very well...thing is, I was onto mindfulness practice pretty much before I tried to meditate. But, whatever the combo of Buddhist stuff that I do, has meant a lot to me. It gives me insight that never came when I needed them most - but better late than never. All the practice that I do muster, helps big time in the clarity department.
Meditation to me is a time to detach, wind down from 'stress' and rise above trivia....
Figuratively speaking meditation is like, balancing, maintaining, stilling, calming, focusing, energizing, seeing clearly etc...etc...
Yes its meditation, you can divide 8 nobel path in to three diffrent categories to make it more easy to understand:
Sila Samadhi Panna
Ethics, Stillness, and Wisdom
Ethics is about keeping the pricepts which will protect you from bad kamma and help you to develop peace with the world.
Stillness/Focus mean that you are bringing your mind back home to your meditation object for example your breath.
Wisdom means you see things as they really is, they are impermanent, not self and unsatisfactionary.
You can do this in all four postures, sitting, laying down, standing and walking.
Its easier to stay focused if you sit on the cushion in a quiet room ofcourse, but thats only for 1 hour or 30 minutes .
What happens with rest of the day?
Yep you bring your awarness and mindfullness with you, staying in the moment observing what happens just like you did on the cushion...
And then you are cultivating sila, samadhi, panna which is the way to enlightenment (what ever that is)
There is often a tendency to use spiritual practice to try to rise above our emotional and personal issues—all those messy, unresolved matters that weigh us down. I call this tendency to avoid or prematurely transcend basic human needs, feelings, and developmental tasks spiritual bypassing.
http://tricycle.org/trikedaily/stupid-meditation/
Ay caramba! I been trying to improve? Time to sit in the naughty corner again ...
As a semi human being [yep that's me], it is natural to 'expect or want better' AND it does come with spiritual practice, including increased mindfulness (not to be confused with empty headed bliss outs).
also from the above link:
Over and over again, I see students whose secret goal in practice is the extirpation of some hated part of themselves. Sometimes it is their anger, sometimes their sexuality, their emotional vulnerability, their bodies, or sometimes their minds that are blamed as the source of suffering. “If only I could get rid of . . .”
extirpation incidentally is the meditation used by Daleks, 'Exterminate! Exterminate!'
That "Stupid Meditation" article made me think what is the point of meditation then, if not numbing us to the pain? (End of suffering, anyone? Not synonymous but probably the closest an ordinary human can get?)
Is there really people whose deepest, sincere intention is "to be present", rather than being free from pain and suffering?
(I do know that I am wrong about this but I just don't know how I'm wrong .
)
The purpose of being present is to understand how suffering arises, and how it ceases.
@Shim I know that meditation and dharma will make us smarter, calmer, more emotionally stable than the average Dalek. Even if we for example, use Pureland chanting to enter la-la-lands purelands ...
It is why even bad or stupid meditation and mad, bad or limited teachers will lead those so inclined to move on ... Most teachings and teachers obviously have increasing understanding as their primary motivation ...
We do have to calm down - especially if we are a Dukkha Dalek - quite simply because we are too disorientated, monkey minded, dukkha enthralled to face the very real difficulties of our condition [lobster goes to head of sedating queue].
@Shim. Your question is very important. The only answer to me that makes sense is reading and speculating are not the equal of direct experience. To that end on the path is patiently waiting for knowledge to yield its wisdom. I might be reluctant but not ashamed to admit to how little of that wisdom I understand.
Interesting question. It seems that a lot of dhukka arises in the mind, and by quieting the mind through meditation there is a temporary release from it. Mindfulness is the thing I think you are referring to, that is a kind of presence which many people aspire to perfect.
But I do think that once you bring awareness truly into the mind, to recognise and explore the sources of your suffering, then they often vanish and resolve themselves.
Now having read these replies I noticed I still consider meditation to be some kind of medicine (it can be that too but that's not all, right?) rather than a means to awakening/understanding suffering/whatever one might be aiming for.
Practicing meditation as a remedy for soothing (or numbing) pain is surely more pleasant than observing suffering as it is. I haven't had guts to do that. Yet. (Maybe that is the reason I grew so disillusioned with Buddhism for a while... not even tasting "the real practice".)
Meditation can be different things. It can be a refuge from the mind and it's dhukka, it can also be a place to search for insight, or a place to generate loving-kindness, or a place to search for breakthroughs into the true nature of reality. It depends on how you practice.
As to getting disillusioned, that sounds like a classic case of the five hindrances or conversely a problem with right effort.
@Shim. When it comes to chronic pain which is part of my daily life I head for two topical agents which take some of the edge off. 15% methyl salicyate or 4% lidocaine HCL often come before watching those waves of pain arise,decay and pass away.
Meditation meant I learned to be still and breath. To not trust my thoughts and other signs of personhood. Meditation is my formal enactment/connection with awakening.
http://opcoa.st/0ncMv
Good point. I get a little frustrated when people define meditation as one specific method, when in fact there are many methods and approaches.
The medicinal properties of meditation are purely (be they very beneficial) byproducts ...However, since its popularity in the West, for many its practice/promotion has become more of a medicinal thing....Ie, to relieve stress, calm the mind, anti-anxiety, and as you have already mentioned pain relief...
You name it, the wonder drug medication know has meditation as the potential to fix it (or at the least relieve the symptoms)
The mind is a roaring ocean of thought. It's waves shaping our reality and who we are.
Who are we? We are the next decision we make.....
If you do not control the mind than you are unable to control yourself. It is like having a car with no breaks. How could you possibly go to a destination when you're unable to break?
Our thoughts are the painter to our destiny. When one does not have control of their mind they may pollute it. Polluted waters contain much disease. We are all a product of our decisions and thoughts. A clear mind enables you to take control of your future.
When I meditate I have complete emptyness of the mind. I can hold this emptyness for 24 hours in deep meditation. It feels like being reverted back to the factory setting. It feels like I am at the moment of creation. My desires, personality and emotions stripped away. I am able to be present in the now. I do not try to transport myself to another world. My goal is to be present in the now without the weight of the mind.
Sounds like unconsciousness.
I expect being at the moment of creation does not feel like much? Complete emptiness of mind and then from nowhere something pops back? Is this the 'bender' meditation advocated by Chogyam Trungpa? Surely not. What am I missing?
What on earth are you doing?
When I meditate I have no thoughts or mental pictures which enter my mind. It enables me to sharpen my mind and to take control. My mind reverts back to the moment of creation. Pure emptyness. When I open my eyes it is like being born into this world again.
Who advocates this meditation? I do not know. Maybe someone does advocate it but this is something I came up with.
Got it.
You came up with it. Very interesting.
How do you transition from 'thoughts or mental pictures' to their absence? Would you describe your 'meditation' as conscious, unconscious or trance like?
Why does an empty mind do anything? For example mind sharpening and control?
What you are describing is not part of any Buddhist Meditation I am familiar with, so what makes you call it meditation? I am quite baffled as to what you are up to? How long have you been doing this, when and how did you start?
I am fully conscious but my mind is empty. It allows you to control the thoughts which enter your mind. It turns the mind from a roaring ocean into still water.
I have been doing this for around eight years. I pretty much made it up myself.
So is it concentration?
What have you made up? What are you doing? Some of us, well me at least, are curious if this is similar to concentration, jhana, samadhi etc which we are familiar with as types of Buddhist practice that lead to 'still water' ...
What is the process of stilling?
Hmmm......I doubt it..... Speaking of 'still water'....What you are describing is a method of meditation practised for millennia. What makes you believe you 'pretty much made it up yourself' could I ask....?
Because I never took any influence neither did I read about this practice before doing it.
When you try this practice it is difficult to still the mind and have nothing inside of it. Your mind jumps from thought to thought. This is what is happening in our day to day lives. The mind is constantly a roaring ocean. Like a dog chasing cars. This practice has helped me turn a polluted ocean into still clear water. I am able to focus on tasks like never before and my level of discipline has heightened immensely. It also allows you to see your true nature behind your personality and everything the world has programmed into you.
Ever since a few years ago my perspective of life has changed. I know that I can die at any moment. Every word, Every action, every thought, every breath pushed out should be with purpose.
For me power, happiness, money - these are nothing to strive for. Nothing is permenent. Instead I have not desired to be happy. I have desired to be content with being neutral. Trying to achieve happiness is like balancing ones self on a log in a blistering storm. If one can be content with being neutral this is more sustainable. However my most favourite activities in life is making others happy. For me to focus on others happiness rather than my own is more of a sustainable activity.
One of my most favourite practices is sitting under a tree and doing this meditation for hours on end. 24 hours can be difficult but if you build up slowly than it is more achieveable. However I never 'desire' to meditate for a certain amount of time. As all desire for me can lead to suffering.
Well, truly, I'm very pleased for you, but given that this is one method of meditation, and it is well known, I would say that you may believe you made it up, but in fact, you join the ranks of others who do precisely the same. Let's not re-invent the wheel here...
I hate to say it, but in my opinion (and obviously, it IS just that) meditating for such prolonged periods of time can be both counter-productive and addictive.
While you say you can focus on tasks like never before' you don't elucidate what those tasks are. And such 'devotion' can begin to cut you off from social engagement and contributing constructively to a public life.
I take nothing away from what you say it does for you. But I fear there may be things it does TO you, that you might be missing.
I would hate to dedicate 24 hours to meditation.
I don't know of any serious, dedicated and devoted Monk anywhere, who would contemplate doing that.
Furthermore, I honestly don't believe it to be either healthy, or 'the point'.
For me long periods of meditation have allowed me to better contribute to a public life and improve my health. When I come out of such an intense meditation I have a sense of renewed focus and strength. It has allowed me to remove many hatred/negative thoughts from within me. This shows itself in my ability to help others and to keep pushing to make others even happier. Tasks such as completing long runs/challenges for charity or simply coping through difficult times in helping others. Although we are like stars in a huge galaxy. Each of us have our own course and motion.
It is good to see others have also used the same meditation. I like to think we are all dipping into the same fountain of knowledge and reeping its many benefits : )
Oh I gets it. Like sitting/laying on a beach chilling? Probably not.
When you are sitting under a tree, what is 'intense' about that? Are you a practiced yogi like the Buddha or just able to sit under trees? 
You don't seem very able, aware or focussed. A simple question is beyond your capacity. What you say does not relate to any experience known or described at NewBuddhist, that I am aware of. Sorry.
I have a feeling your mind is not as 'empty' as you imply. Just a thought. You have not made me happy. You are just talking cliches, such as 'dipping into a fountain of knowledge'. My feeling was and still is, you are deluded and ignorant ... [too harsh?]
Ah well. Ignorance is bliss as it says on the 'fountain of ambrosia' that sparkles like stars in a spiritual glitter pack etc ... [yawn ...]
Sadly I am only able to do this for 1 minute at most. I was told that it is nothing to strive for, and that it is not humanly possible to keep up for very long. However, I was also taught that it is quite productive to have a single-pointed focus on one object or keep a still minded concentration. And I have practiced that way since.
@namarupa this isn't sad, darling. It's fabulous that you can do this at all! What we are aiming for in Buddhism is pretty difficult to sustain, especially if you're a newbie like me. My best meditations still don't have this type of perfect emptiness. I'll leave those to the gurus. I'm happy with whatever I can get; some days better than the next. I'm proud of you, and so should you be.
Agreed. Concentration on an aspect or quality, for example 'emptiness' can be a technique, for example in cultivation of jhana
Also it emerges increasingly in more relaxed attentive meditations such as shikantaza