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meditation 101

patbbpatbb Veteran
edited May 2010 in Buddhism Basics
there seem to be much confusion about how to meditate, what to do when you sit down, why sitting down, what does it mean to "let go" etc...

"should i pay attention to the thought and come back to the breath?"
"should i stop thinking?"
"should i pay attention to all of my environment and sensations?"
etc...

So i will attempt to explain exactly what to do with a metaphor that everyone should be fairly familiar with.

Imagine you are driving a car.
!!!This is a metaphor, I'm not suggesting you actually meditate while driving!!!

Imagine you are driving a car.
So you look at the road, your attention is on the road.

A leaf fly in and land the windshield, so you look at it, then you notice there is a scratch on the windshield next to the leaf, then you notice another leaf in the corner of the windshield, then you notice a farm by the road...
All of a sudden you realize that you haven't paid attention to the road in a while, so you go back looking at the road.

leafs = thoughts.
I use an image of the leafs to help you visualize the thoughts that pops in your head when you are meditating.

This should be enough instruction for beginners. That's it. That's all you've got to do.


For the beginner, at first you will be distracted by everything.
There will be hundreds of leafs falling in the windshield.
So you are driving the car, looking left at one leaf, looking right at another leaf, the seat belt is creating pain in your chest so you pay attention to that, the phone is ringing, people are talking in the car, there is an annoying sound in the engine... You spend only 1 second every once in a while looking at the road.
You pay attention to everything and it is frantic, like a ADD kid on speed, monkey mind is going insane!
Now imagine yourself truly driving like this, how exhausting it would be.

What you must do to change this and improve your focus is simply to go back to the road every times you catch yourself being distracted by a leaf, a sound, a sensation, a pain, whatever.

Everytime you catch yourself looking at a leaf "oh, i've been looking at this leaf for 5 minutes", just go back to the road.

At first, you will only be able to keep your attention on the road for 1 second before being distracted. That's okay, that's perfectly normal.
After practicing "catching yourself and refocusing on the road" for a while, you will be able to stay 2 seconds on the road.

Eventually, you will be able to stay focussed on the road for 1 minute.
Leafs still fall and land on the windshield, but your attention stay on the road. Perhaps you see them with your peripheral vision but you don't pay them any attention. Eventually they fly away without you notice it.

After you are able to stay focused on the road for long period of time, your mind will calm down quite a bit and there will be far less leafs falling on the windshield.

Then and only then should you try to analyze thoughts or teachings of the Buddha, but it will take much practice to get there.

But you don't need to get there to benefit from meditation.
The ability to focus and not be distracted by everything will have a great impact in your life.


again !!!This is a metaphor, I'm not suggesting you actually meditate while driving!!!

If you are doing "present moment awareness" meditation, then the present moment would be the road in the metaphor.

If you are doing breath meditation, then breath would be the road in the metaphor.


If you have any comments about this, if it is not clear or you disagree, please discuss!

Hope this post can help you on your path.

Comments

  • ValtielValtiel Veteran
    edited May 2010
    So i will attempt to explain exactly what to do with an analogy that everyone should be fairly familiar with.

    Imagine you are driving a car.

    Ok, you lost me. I don't drive. Jabberwocky. :screwy:
  • patbbpatbb Veteran
    edited May 2010
    Valtiel wrote: »
    Ok, you lost me. I don't drive. Jabberwocky. :screwy:
    I know you are trying to be funny

    but just replace the word car with bicycle if it make it easier for you.
    Or just imagine you are driving a car, can you do this?
    You never play a video game where you drive a car?
  • upekkaupekka Veteran
    edited May 2010
    if i were you, at the beginning i would do this type of thing when i do walking

    then

    we all (including the third party) are safe

    why should we put others lives in risk because of our meditation?

    the best thing as a beginner,

    listen to the sound with closed eyes when you are sitting
    or
    doing house chores, gardening etc.
  • patbbpatbb Veteran
    edited May 2010
    upekka wrote: »
    if i were you, at the beginning i would do this type of thing when i do walking

    then

    we all (including the third party) are safe

    why should we put others lives in risk because of our meditation?
    WHAT WHAT WHAT??

    NONONONONO!!

    This was a metaphor. I do not mean to actually meditate when you are driving!!

    ps: i added one line in the original text to make sure no one else make this mistake.
    upekka wrote: »
    listen to the sound with closed eyes when you are sitting
    or
    doing house chores, gardening etc.
    see in the metaphor, the sound that you are listening in your example would be the road.

    If you are doing "present moment awareness" meditation, then the present moment would be the road in the metaphor.

    If you are doing breath meditation, then breath would be the road in the metaphor.


    etc...
  • lightwithinlightwithin Veteran
    edited May 2010
    Great post patbb. I found it helpful that you wrote the disclaimer to not meditate while driving, but it's funny someone would even THINK of doing that.

    I still place a lot of focus on those damned leaves on the windshield, but there ARE some nice times when I'm able to look at the road better. It doesn't last as long as I'd like, but it does happen, and this is what keeps me going.
  • patbbpatbb Veteran
    edited May 2010
    Great post patbb. I found it helpful that you wrote the disclaimer to not meditate while driving, but it's funny someone would even THINK of doing that.
    yes, something can be interpret a hundred different (and sometime surprising) ways!
    i think this is why some people waste so much time arguing and debating the old Buddhist texts.
    I still place a lot of focus on those damned leaves on the windshield, but there ARE some nice times when I'm able to look at the road better. It doesn't last as long as I'd like, but it does happen, and this is what keeps me going.
    it can only get better light.

    and when the wheel start rolling, you gain momentum and walls begin to crumble...


    with practice, progress with meditation is inevitable. :)
  • aMattaMatt Veteran
    edited May 2010
    Do you describe anywhere in the metaphor what driving on the road is like?

    I think it works well, the way you depict the dancing mind, but if it is 101 you might need to clarify how to drive on a road.
  • edited May 2010
    Yes, good metaphor! I'm definitely a beginner and I found it useful! Now if only I would stop making dumb excuses not to meditate!
  • ValtielValtiel Veteran
    edited May 2010
    WHAT WHAT WHAT??

    NONONONONO!!

    Bwahaha see, you did lose some people. XD

    And no, I wasn't trying to be funny. I thought what you said was funny. ;P

    I agree it's a very workable analogy.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited May 2010
    What if there is a racoon or a squirrel on the road? In some places they have opposum?! What if there is an opposum on the road?

    sorry:lol: couldn't resist.

    I'd just add one more component to beginner meditation..misery.

    You are on your first retreat. Everything is so Dharmic. You feel Dharmic, or maybe Dhammic. There are moments of peace....of...sheer beingness....aahhhh yes. Now its lunch and you are hungry because there is only one meal at midday and a couple of cookies with tea at 4, ....but thats ok, you are at peace. Then.. the guy in front of you takes the last piece of apple crumble. He knows there are still people in line behind him...he knows it! But he is only thinking of himself. You say to yourself "..anger" but it doesn't work, you send him Metta through gritted teeth, but you still just want to kill that greedy greedy guy. Then lunch is over and you go back to the meditation hall. So far you have been physically quite comfortable, but now suddenly your knee EXPLODES in searing pain. You dont want to be a wuss and crawl to a chair, so you stay put with your eyes watering. Then that greedy man sits down beside you and his stomach is gurgling and gurgling and gurgling. You can hear the wheezy apple crumble breath straining through his beard. You want to go home.

    Now you are meditating:)
  • GuyCGuyC Veteran
    edited May 2010
    What if there is a racoon or a squirrel on the road? In some places they have opposum?! What if there is an opposum on the road?

    sorry:lol: couldn't resist.

    I'd just add one more component to beginner meditation..misery.

    You are on your first retreat. Everything is so Dharmic. You feel Dharmic, or maybe Dhammic. There are moments of peace....of...sheer beingness....aahhhh yes. Now its lunch and you are hungry because there is only one meal at midday and a couple of cookies with tea at 4, ....but thats ok, you are at peace. Then.. the guy in front of you takes the last piece of apple crumble. He knows there are still people in line behind him...he knows it! But he is only thinking of himself. You say to yourself "..anger" but it doesn't work, you send him Metta through gritted teeth, but you still just want to kill that greedy greedy guy. Then lunch is over and you go back to the meditation hall. So far you have been physically quite comfortable, but now suddenly your knee EXPLODES in searing pain. You dont want to be a wuss and crawl to a chair, so you stay put with your eyes watering. Then that greedy man sits down beside you and his stomach is gurgling and gurgling and gurgling. You can hear the wheezy apple crumble breath straining through his beard. You want to go home.

    Now you are meditating:)

    hahahahahahahaha its funny cos its true!
  • edited May 2010
    Thank you for the metaphor. It is very helpful for me as a beginner. That is exactly one of the things I am struggling with. Should I appreciate the "leaves" which come in my sight or should I just come back and concentrate on the "road".

    Have a great day :)
  • lightwithinlightwithin Veteran
    edited May 2010
    MyJourney wrote: »
    Should I appreciate the "leaves" which come in my sight or should I just come back and concentrate on the "road".

    The way I meditate, calls for being aware of the thoughts (leaves) as they rise, acknowledge them without attaching a comment to them (like "there I go thinking again!" or "I just thought about -x-"), no labels, and then let them pass naturally.
  • edited May 2010
    Hi lightwithin,
    Thank you for your reply. I agree with you on the not attaching any comment.

    My open point is
    The way I meditate, calls for being aware of the thoughts (leaves) as they rise

    Should I be aware or should I suppress them. Or maybe it is just a question which everyone has to answer for her/himself. Since I am beginning, I am looking for a way which makes it easier to come back to the breath/road.

    Since I am trying both ways
    - be aware and have sometimes the problem to get caught into it or
    - suppressing it and have to keep it out of my mind
    I will have to see what works better for me.

    Have a great day
    MyJourney
  • patbbpatbb Veteran
    edited May 2010
    MyJourney wrote: »
    Hi lightwithin,
    Should I be aware or should I suppress them.
    just like I tried to explain in the original post

    would you even try to suppress the leafs from falling in your windshield if you were driving?

    Just every time you catch yourself being distracted by the leafs (thoughts) just go back to the road (breath or whatever else is the object of your meditation).

    once your concentration improve, you will be able to keep your attention on the breath and not being distracted by the thoughts.
    Thoughts will arise and thoughts will go without distracting you.
    Like keeping your attention on the road when leafs falls in the windshield.

    once you can keep your constant attention on your breath for a long period of time (maybe 5 minutes), without being distracted by the leafs or the physical pain or the sounds or whatever, then you can worry about other things like the Buddha's teaching, or observing the leafs etc...

    Suppressing the thoughts, pain, sounds, sensations etc... mean to attempt to control them. This is the exact opposite of what you want to do during meditation.
    To let go mean to let go of wanting and trying to control things.

    Does this answer your question?
  • edited May 2010
    Not to get you in trouble, patbb, but I thought about what you said while I was driving today :) I wasn't meditating (I saw your big disclaimer!) but I did try to focus more on my driving as a sort of mini-practice... and also to try to clear my mind of all the junk that happened today.
    patbb wrote: »

    would you even try to suppress the leafs from falling in your windshield if you were driving?

    This is true, we can't stop the leaves (or, bugs or pieces of dirt... or raindrops today, funnily enough...) from getting on the windshield. I shall have to remember this.
  • edited May 2010
    Hi patbb,
    Thank you for helping me on this.

    Lets run an example.
    I start my meditation on breath. Then there comes this thought about a task which needs to be done today. I realize that I am not focusing on the breath, so I go back and concentrate on the breathing. But there is still that "little voice" trying to come back and nagging about the task. I keep going and concentrate on the breath. The "little voice" will quiet down after a while and there might be the next "little voice" coming about something else etc.

    What I meant by suppressing in my previous post was an hard interrupt of the distraction and going back to the breath meditation without acknowledging of the interruption.

    Hope that makes it clearer.

    Thank you and have a great day
    MyJourney
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited May 2010
    MyJourney wrote: »
    I go back and concentrate on the breathing.
    This can stir things up. "Concentration" is a struggle between two. There is me trying to concentrate on the breath. A Theravadin teacher, Ajahn Viradhammo, use to warn us about "turning into a unicorn", in other words fixating on the tip of your nose. It is more a matter of open receptivity, of just recieving the presence of the breath along with everything else in an open sitution. There is this breathing. There are these thoughts stealing attention. There is this breathing. The presence of the environment is not excluded. One sign of getting caught in "concentration" will be tension in the head, between the eyes and so forth. This practice is not a struggle, it is a tensionless receptivity.
  • pegembarapegembara Veteran
    edited May 2010
    Different phenomena may contact the senses, or thoughts may arise. This is called initial thought (vitakka). The mind brings up some idea, be it about the nature of compounded phenomena (sankhara), about the world, or whatever. Once the mind has brought it up, the mind will want to get involved and merge with it. If it’s an object that is wholesome then let the mind take it up. If it is something unwholesome, stop it immediately. If it is something wholesome then let the mind contemplate it, and gladness, satisfaction and happiness will come about. The mind will be bright and clear; as the breath goes in and out and as the mind takes up these initial thoughts. Then it becomes discursive thought (vicara). The mind develops familiarity with the object, exerting itself and merging with it. At this point, there is no sleepiness.

    Aj Chah
  • TreeLuvr87TreeLuvr87 Veteran
    edited May 2010
    This is a great thread, thanks to all for the advice. I'm pushing to meditate more regularly right now.
  • patbbpatbb Veteran
    edited May 2010
    MyJourney wrote: »
    I realize that I am not focusing on the breath, so I go back and concentrate on the breathing.
    exactly.

    but like Richard Herman advised, make sure to re-focus your attention, not concentrate.
    MyJourney wrote: »
    But there is still that "little voice" trying to come back and nagging about the task.
    yes, even if you are paying attention to the road, the leaf will still be hanging out in the windshield for a little while. Eventually it will fly away without you even notice it.
    MyJourney wrote: »
    and there might be the next "little voice" coming about something else etc.
    this is the next leaf falling in the windshield.
    maybe the next-next leaf will be thoughts about some discomfort in your body.
    The one after may be about this thread right here.
    The next one may be about some sound that you are hearing.


    you seem to be doing great, good job!
  • patbbpatbb Veteran
    edited May 2010
    pegembara wrote: »
    Different phenomena may contact the senses, or thoughts may arise. This is called initial thought (vitakka). The mind brings up some idea, be it about the nature of compounded phenomena (sankhara), about the world, or whatever. Once the mind has brought it up, the mind will want to get involved and merge with it. If it’s an object that is wholesome then let the mind take it up. If it is something unwholesome, stop it immediately. If it is something wholesome then let the mind contemplate it, and gladness, satisfaction and happiness will come about. The mind will be bright and clear; as the breath goes in and out and as the mind takes up these initial thoughts. Then it becomes discursive thought (vicara). The mind develops familiarity with the object, exerting itself and merging with it. At this point, there is no sleepiness.

    Aj Chah
    Thank you for the note pegembara.

    but i do not think this was intended for beginners.

    This will certainly be very useful to confuse people.

    i believe it is a better idea to worry about building some muscles first.
    keeping it as simple as possible
  • edited May 2010
    For me that was very helpful PattB. Thankyou very much. In the kitchen is the place that gets me. Cleaning up and close observence (sp) of each step and what I am working on, cleaning a spoon, cleaning a cup, storing left overs. It is really hard to keep your mind focused on what u are actually doing. My mind wants to head off in its own direction of blather blather blather. Sheesh! But I am stiil trying. I have set myself a goal. To actually be mindful thru the clean up without once blathering.
  • edited May 2010
    Thank you guys and especially patbb for this thread. I am feeling that I am on the right track.

    Have a great day
    Myjourney
  • TreeLuvr87TreeLuvr87 Veteran
    edited May 2010
    PatBB, I would just like to say that this thread DID pop into my meditation last night - but I still did a really good job with it! It gave me a chuckle.
  • edited May 2010
    speaking of leaves ... :) today I tried a new way to concentrate. I was concentrating on my breath, but instead of watching the breath itself, I imagined processes in anture, eg. wind, water. When I breathe in, I imagine wind blowing the leaves of a tree to one direction, and when I breathe out I imagine the iwnd blowing to the opposite direction. I switch settings(to sea waves, to desert) every minute. And then later, when I felt concentrated enough I let go of the visualizations.

    What do you guys think of this method ? I found it to be very effective, actually.
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