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Direct Experience Of Truth?
Tedimate
New York New
in Meditation
How does a beginner meditator who knows nothing go about achieving this?
1
Comments
Dogen said:
That helps me anyway. No achievement, no truth separate from ourselves. No self separate from others.
Also, try guided meditations if you want to, or find a Buddhist group in your local area.
"Beginners mind is good for meditation practice. Meditation is not based on how much experience you have or don’t have. Meditation is based on what are you doing right now. So all of meditation actually is based on what we call a “just now mind”. There are thousands of techniques to help you attain that just now mind. Those techniques range from the very simple, like paying attention to your breathing, to the very complicated. When you start to pay attention to your breathing you come into this moment. That is a very simple technique. That is the technique that the Buddha practiced. " ~Zen Master Dae Kwang
1) Learn about meditation
2) Do meditation
3) Keep doing meditation
4) Learn some more
5) Keep meditating
6) Meditate some more
7) Yada, Yada, a direct of experience of truth dawns
Until then you more or less have to trust that others who have put in the time aren't just deluded or making it up based on what they say and how they are in the world.
If you know nothing, you're home free.
Sometimes I really love the Zen approach.
Reality is impermanent and you and everyone you know and everyone alive in the world right now will die.
Your death might come today, tomorrow, or anytime in the future, but one thing's for certain: you will die.
Contemplate this until a feeling of insight arises.
Maybe you'll feel scared or maybe you'll feel liberated and free from your worldly attachments.
Focus single-pointedly on this feeling of insight until it fades away.
Then repeat the analytical meditation on death and impermanence and repeat the single-pointed concentration on the feeling of insight that arises.
As a beginner, I found the technique of labeling conducive to developing awareness of direct experience.
The labels were verbal commands directing attention and awareness. They were done continuously. After a time the commands no longer rose to the level of verbalization. Attention and awareness just followed direct experience. Following direct experience reveals the truth of impermance.
In small steps
It sounds like you’re more interested in meditation, Zen might suit you. A regular practice will really help you, you can start from as little as ten minutes a day, and slowly ramp it up until you feel capable of tackling a meditation retreat, which are more intensive and often last a few days or a week.
A live face-to-face teacher is useful, as well. Finding one can be hard or easy, depending on where you live and what resources are near you. The worst outcome is that you will have to reach out online, use forums, YouTube and so on.
"'The six classes of consciousness should be known.' Thus was it said. In reference to what was it said? Dependent on the eye & forms there arises consciousness at the eye. Dependent on the ear & sounds there arises consciousness at the ear. Dependent on the nose & aromas there arises consciousness at the nose. Dependent on the tongue & flavors there arises consciousness at the tongue. Dependent on the body & tactile sensations there arises consciousness at the body. Dependent on the intellect & ideas there arises consciousness at the intellect. 'The six classes of consciousness should be known.'
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/ati/tipitaka/mn/mn.148.than.html
"If anyone were to say, 'The eye is the self,' that wouldn't be tenable. The arising & falling away of the eye are discerned. And when its arising & falling away are discerned, it would follow that 'My self arises & falls away.' That's why it wouldn't be tenable if anyone were to say, 'The eye is the self.
Truth eh?
Do you mean facts? Do you mean some sort of Nibanna or cosmic consciousness or mind blowing? Do you mean the truths of meditation as in you have the mind of a monkey? Do you mean no-self, samadhi, jhana, right concentration? Neti-neti? Yab-yum?
Truth may be a lie. How true is That?
Maybe you would be interested in joining a Truth Cult?
http://tiny.cc/yinyana
Disclosure: The YinYana Cult does not exist ... and that's the truth ...