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Mixing Meditation Methods-within Vipassana
Angus
Vietnam Explorer
A fusion of Vipassana/Anapanasati :Thai forest , Mahasi ( various) and Goenka vipassana meditation techniques is where my current practice is at.
Do you think it beneficial to have a multi method approach or should a meditator stick to one style exclusively?
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Comments
My experience with meditation techniques indicates the simpler it is, the better. It really depends on whether your fusion is simple and elegant.
But I am not a meditation teacher. Perhaps @how has something to say on this?
Is it beneficial to have a multi method approach or should a meditator stick to one style exclusively?
The traditional word of Buddhist caution about this is that it's reasonable and even advisable to explore the various meditative options available to you when first starting out. Eventually, though, it's advised to settle down on one, in order to take one's practice beyond the limitations of what we might like or dislike.
Every form of meditation has its strengths and weaknesses.
Each form of meditation has its own checks and balances in helping the practitioner address the limitations of the human condition found within that form.
Cherry-picking some aspects of one meditation form over others, into a fusion that better conforms to your liking, does little to teach one how to practice with all that you dislike.
Being governed by what one likes or dislikes, is a cause of suffering, whereas
a development of some transcendence in the face of one's likes or dislikes is a fundamental part of the Buddha's path towards suffering's cessation.
Typically all meditators eventually come up against states within that are intrinsically difficult to face. If one is exclusive in their meditation style, there is little wiggle room available to avoid facing those difficulties when they arise. If one is involved in a multi-method approach, such difficulties can be temptingly side-stepped by just switching from one form to another. Some meditators just do this forever, never seemingly arriving at the true crux of their karmic inertia.
This is one of the reasons why the majority of meditation teachers, tend to encourage exclusivity over the multi-method approach to meditative forms.
That.... and its a better business model.
Samatha and Vipssana are often used together - Samatha in a secondary role to still the mind, and then Vipassana built upon that as the primary practice.
I have been instructed in 4 or 5 different methods, but as the years go by, I go straight to my Samatha practice. It's enough.
If you use a different awareness technique, you will tie yourself up for a while. Technique is something very few abandon. My tactic is to abandon but meditation, breathing, chanting, feeling, awareness, study etc? Continuous!
… and breath out …