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Meditation
Hi everyone!
After lots and lots of searching to find the right tradition I've finally chosen the Thai Forest Tradition. I say "finally" because it's taken me two years to decide.
Right now I'm focusing on Ajahn Chah and his teachings and for the first time I've finally come to understand why it's so urgent to get a regular meditation practice going. For two years I've been reading teachings urging us to meditate regularly but for some reason it just never sunk in to my thick head. But Ajahn Chah has really lit a fire under me and I get it.
It's one thing to read and study Buddhism, to come to an intellectual understanding of the practice, and that's an important part of it, obviously. But if we're not meditating as often as we possibly can we're not advancing along the path. We have to meditate. No excuses. We can't let anything prevent us from meditating at least once a day. More is always better. Meditation is the key to everything. Without it we're just going through the motions. We're not getting the benefits. We have the prescription from the doctor and we've even filled it. But if we don't actually take the medicine we won't get any better. So take your medicine!
Just thought I'd mention it.
Love,
Boo
After lots and lots of searching to find the right tradition I've finally chosen the Thai Forest Tradition. I say "finally" because it's taken me two years to decide.
Right now I'm focusing on Ajahn Chah and his teachings and for the first time I've finally come to understand why it's so urgent to get a regular meditation practice going. For two years I've been reading teachings urging us to meditate regularly but for some reason it just never sunk in to my thick head. But Ajahn Chah has really lit a fire under me and I get it.
It's one thing to read and study Buddhism, to come to an intellectual understanding of the practice, and that's an important part of it, obviously. But if we're not meditating as often as we possibly can we're not advancing along the path. We have to meditate. No excuses. We can't let anything prevent us from meditating at least once a day. More is always better. Meditation is the key to everything. Without it we're just going through the motions. We're not getting the benefits. We have the prescription from the doctor and we've even filled it. But if we don't actually take the medicine we won't get any better. So take your medicine!
Just thought I'd mention it.
Love,
Boo
0
Comments
I am glad that you have found a tradition and/or method pf practice that appeals to you. My own introduction to the Thai Forest Tradition of Theravada Buddhism was with Ajahn Chah's Food for the Heart. In addition, I know someone who is ordained in the Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah, and if you have any questions regarding this particular tradition, he may be able to answer them for you. His name is the Venerable Gavesako, and he is currently staying here, but he has a profile here and here.
Jason
Thanks for the links! I'll check them out right now.
My first meditation teacher was a Forest Tradition monk. Without him, it would have taken me much, much longer to make even the small amount of progress that I have.
I've never had that particular problem myself but I've known a lot of people who feel uncomfortable with silence. Perhaps it's an indication of the loud, overstimulated culture in which we live. I don't know. But it would probably be a very good thing to look into.
Part of meditation is realizing what is going on around us - maybe you could find finding out what is going on around "you" when there is nothing else to block out during meditation.
-bf
My house is next to a busy 2 lane highway (80km/50mph) and there's a lot of noise. I started thinking of them as rising and falling waves.
::
Speaking of Ajahn Chah, you be interested in this.
Jason
I've been having some difficulty with my sitting practice lately. I haven't been sleeping well for a while because I've developed a tolerance for my pain meds and they're not working as well as they used to. I really don't want to increase the dose so my doctor and I thought I could use the extra pain for my practice. Losing sleep because of the pain hadn't occurred to me, though. So the trouble is that if I meditate for long periods I sometimes fall deeply asleep and wake up a few hours later in the same position I was in while meditating. So I stopped meditating while sitting up in bed and started using a chair. It happened in the chair, too. So I decided to sit on the floor with my back resting against this big chest I have in my room but the pain was too distracting while sitting on the floor.
Normally, if I'm feeling drowsy while meditating I just fight it and keep going. But I must be really tired because now I fall asleep before I even realize I'm drowsy so I have no chance to fight it. I'm going to have to figure something out soon because this is ridiculous.
First of all, are you quite sure that what you are experiencing is sleep? I know it may seem obvious but there is a state which is very similar to deep sleep.
Secondly, is it a problem? If so, what?
Of course, these may be daft questions. If so, please ignore.
But, yes, I'm sure it's sleep. Another funny thing is that when I wake up hours later it's as if I've had a black out because I don't remember when I fell asleep or what I was doing when I fell asleep. It's only after I think about it or if I wake up sitting cross legged that I remember. When it happened while I was sitting up in bed meditating I woke up lying down and it took some effort to recall when and what I'd been doing when I fell asleep.
It's a problem because I don't want to train my mind to fall asleep every time I meditate, you know? I'm fine with 20 or 30 minutes but any more than that and I'm passed out completely. It's frustrating. But I think what I'm going to do is sit on the floor and use the pain for training. I think that's the only choice I have right now. Whatever happens, I have to meditate. That takes precedence over anything else.
One solution may be to limit your meditation to 20 minutes. Less can be more.
Both Fr Bede Griffiths and Thich Nhat Hanh told one of my priest friends this and it made all the difference.
Make no mistake, either, Brigid, the 'sleep' that you describe may be more than you imagine. Have trust.
Simon,
I think you may have hit the nail on the head. I will limit my time to 20 minutes but sit 2 or 3 times a day instead of just once. What a simple solution! Why didn't I think of it? I guess that's what sangha friends are for.
Arctic,
I actually had thought of holding my crystal bell while sitting. It makes a good, sharp noise very easily. When I was in college (post high school and pre-university in Montreal) I was studying theology and had a 2 hour class at 8am with Sister Duffin Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I'm a night person and an 8am class was more than I could handle. I used to sit at my desk with my right hand up at my brow as if resting my head on my hand. My eyes were shielded and I would use this technique to catch a few Zs while the Sister lectured. She caught on pretty quickly though so I had to go to bed earlier from then on. I was deeply religious at the time and meant no disrespect to the Sister. I was just lazy.
Hi Brigid,
You did better than me. I took me eighteen years to really start meditating, as opposed to just doing other stuff. It was a free book about 'The Anapanasati Sutta' by this monk that kick-started my interest and I've never looked back:
http://www.dhammasukha.org/Study/books.htm
It's not too different from the Thai Forest tradition (which I also like).
Kris
And a warm welcome to you!
I, by the way, am STILL looking....