Is nothing a good focus for meditation

Redsaint

Hello everyone:)

I am very new to meditating, i have only done it for a couple of days. But something interesting happened on the 6th or 7th time i tried it, and was wondering if any of you have had a similar experience.

I was focusing on one thing, and held that focus for a while, and then i decided to change focus to something else. I was still focused on the first thing, and i tried to have complete focus on the second thing as well (tried to have 100% focus on each at the same time, if that makes any sense) and then something happened where i didn't have focus on either, and not only did i not have focus on either of those, but i had focus on nothing, and didn't have focus on anything. This lasted about 5-10 seconds before a thought came in a ruined it, and then i had to start the process over again to get back, focus on one thing, then the other, then nothing. But whenever i am in that state of focusing on nothing, it never seems to last longer than around 10 seconds because then a thought comes into my head that says "How can you be focused on nothing?" And then i am focused on that thought and the nothing becomes something.

Have any of you experienced this? Should i keep pursuing this "nothing" and trying to extend this, or should i go back to focusing on one thing and not try to clear the mind completely?

Jeffrey

My advice is to find a teacher who can teach you what they know about meditation.

In my method we lightly touch on the outbreath. And let go into space. When we have thougths we gently say 'thinking'. The goal isn't really to not have thoughts. The goal is to have a mind that you may work with. In order to work with your mind you will also have to have thoughts. You are always coming back to that point of 'awake' and letting the thoughts be. Without indulging or repressing.

jinzang

It sounds like what you experienced is a gap between your thoughts. Which is no big deal, but may be a new experience to you. Trying to force the experience is not a good idea. In meditation if thoughts happen, that is fine. If they don't happen, that is also fine. You should have no preference for one over the other. Talking to a teacher about how to meditate would be a good idea.

meme

In all my years of meditating I have never experienced 'no thought". I am impressed.
My advice would be to look high and low for a good teacher. It can take a while to find a genuine teacher. It seems to me us Westerners love being teachers and sometimes jump into that mode... a long time before we should

PietroPumokin

http://www.tricycle.com/new-buddhism/mental-discipline/tibetan-buddhist-meditation

this may help you somewhat. it talks of abiding in awareness without having a direct object which that awareness illuminates. keep meditating, and don't get discouraged.

Redsaint

Thanks for the replies everyone They are all greatly appreciated. I have watched a few youtube videos with Thich Nhat Hanh and they seem to be revealing some new things to me as well. I will probably read one of his books sometime, he seems like a really good person. And I can't really find a teacher, I don't even know any other Buddhists haha. Plus, the Buddha didn't have a teacher, right? So we are all capable without one i suppose. But i guess books and things will act as my teacher for now, i will take what i can use, and store what i can't in the back of my mind for a point in the future when maybe i can use it. Anyways, thanks again for the words, you have each been very helpful.

Love-N-Peace

Try to extend into the unfamiliar but don't get too uncomforable, stretch it slowly like you would a, em, *runs out of metaphors for first time ever*, a something, that's it, a Something:o
Love & Peace
Joe

Redsaint

Yeah, i think what i was doing before might have not quite been exactly right. I was looking at some videos of Tich Naht Hanh on youtube, and he talked about living in the now. I was thinking about that when i was eating a strawberry today. When i bit into the strawberry, it tasted really good, and i started thinking about that taste. But when i thought about that taste that i experienced a second before, i was missing out on the taste that was happening at that moment. I think that focusing on the here and now was a sort of meditation for me, and i was focused on the taste of the strawberry only in the present, i didn't think of how it tasted before, or how it will taste in the future, just that it tasted good then. This can be applied to every moment of our lives i think, because every breath is something good and enjoyable that we can focus on. No matter what is going on, there is always something we can focus on and be happy and content with.

Love-N-Peace

:thumbsup:

RichardH

Focusing on nothing? That means that there is a basic awareness of Body,mind, feelings as such, and environment? If that is so. and it seems right to you, then it is worthwhile to take your experiences and thoughts about your experiences to a Soto Zen teacher. What you describe may be a useful ground. Just this, if you have been reading Hahn and the like , remember that a pause in thought is just a pause in thought. "No Thought" or "no mind" is not a state of absorption, and does not refer to the an absence of the arising and passing of thought. It is a very good idea to seek out a qualified teacher.

Love-N-Peace

Hmmm, I think I read somewhere to let the occasional thought to drift past the mind like a fish in a vast ocean. (Yey! Got my metaphors back!!!) But ignore the thought, I focus on my breathing to start off with but I haven't been doing meditation long so I haven't really done much else.
Love & Peace
Joe

Redsaint

LoveNPeace wrote: »

Hmmm, I think I read somewhere to let the occasional thought to drift past the mind like a fish in a vast ocean. (Yey! Got my metaphors back!!!) But ignore the thought, I focus on my breathing to start off with but I haven't been doing meditation long so I haven't really done much else.
Love & Peace
Joe

Glad to see you have your metaphors back. And that is a nice one indeed, it has helped me, thank you.

With Love,
Redsaint

Dazzle

.

There's a very good series of meditation videos on YouTube with Ajahn Jayasaro of the Thai Forest Tradition. Here's the first which is an introduction - Buddhist Meditation (1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd7a9Ur2x0o



Kind regards,

Dazzle

Redsaint

Thanks so much Dazzle I really appreciate it.

Love-N-Peace

Glad you like it Redsaint Personally I feel sorry for the lonely little fish but when a metaphore is possible to be squashed into a sentence I'm there to squash it in!
Love & Peace
Joe

Redsaint

Hey dazzle, in those meditation videos, the fifth one talked about "Counting Breaths" and it said counting gives you a way to know when you have gotten lost in thought, because you can't quite remember the number you were counting on. Sometimes thoughts arise, and i seem to be taken away out of the moment really quickly, but i let them pass, and i can still remember what number breath i am on, and i am still concentrated on counting. Is this thought arising and passing a break in concentration, in which i should start back counting at one, or is it not a break in concentration, and i should keep going?

Love-N-Peace

I've read that too, it's what I try
Love & Peace
Joe