How Long Can One Meditate For?

DaltheJigsaw

I mean...
Is there a time limit?
Can one meditate for 2 hours at one sitting?
Is it okay to meditate longer than that?
Less than that?
Can one meditate for a full day?
Buddha meditated for 48 days straight and Bodhidharma for 9 hours?
Are these metaphors? Or is this true?
Do we know?
Or we assume this is true?

Thanks,
Leon

ShiftPlusOne

When it comes to Buddha, we don't know anything. Sure, you can meditate until you die of dehydration if you want, there's no limit.

DaltheJigsaw

ShiftPlusOne wrote: »

When it comes to Buddha, we don't know anything. Sure, you can meditate until you die of dehydration if you want, there's no limit.

I see.
How long do you meditate?
My goal is to break my ego and calm my mind.
I hear that the longer you meditate the better?
Or is it about quality?
Not quantity?
I guess that goes for everything...

ShiftPlusOne

15 minutes works great for me.

The idea is to start at something like 15 minutes and then when you're comfortable with it, increase it by 5 and when you're comfortable with that, increase it by 5 again.

If you start with 45 straight away, chances are you're just going to meditate for 15 and daydream for 30.

There's no better or worse, there's only what works for you.

DaltheJigsaw

I have been meditating at 15 minutes for a while now.
I have increased it to 20 min, which seems ideal.
However, I been trying to do it 20 min, twice a day.
That also has worked out pretty well.
I was wondering if an individual can go for a few hours a day?
If it's bad or not?

Thanks,
Leon

Joshu-sDog

LeonBasin wrote: »

I see.
How long do you meditate?
My goal is to break my ego and calm my mind.
I hear that the longer you meditate the better?
Or is it about quality?
Not quantity?
I guess that goes for everything...

Why do you wish to 'break' your ego? There's really nothing there ro be fought, nothing there to be defeated or broken.

I started out thinking the same thing. When I finally decided to make the plunge into practice I vowed to overcome my self, however long it took. In my mind at that time my self/ego appeared huge and threatening like an unscalable mountain.

So I meditated. And the more I meditated the more I understood about myself. Suddenly my ego appeared smaller, more manageable, yet still a great obstacle like a large, but scalable mountain.

I kept meditating, and I began to see that what I thought was a huge obstacle wasn't as big a problem as I thought it was, being mindful of it reduced its effects in my day to day life. Now the mountain was just a hill.

And I came to realise that my self grasping and ego was just a mode of thought, just like any other. It comes and goes, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, sometimes not there at all.

It's like passing mist on the hillside.


Meditation is not something that can be forced through by an act of willpower. All you can do is just sit back and see what arises in the mind. A person could meditate for 3 hours and see nothing of value, just as another person could meditate for 3 minutes and gain great insight.

What I would recommend more than length of meditation session is regularity of meditation session. At least once a day for however long is feasible. It's that continuity of practice that will help you see what is happening in your mind more clearly, and adjust your life accordingly.

Good luck with your practice, I wish you well with it.

_/|\_

ShiftPlusOne

I was wondering if an individual can go for a few hours a day?
If it's bad or not?

Based on the information provided, indeterminable.

DaltheJigsaw

Joshu's Dog wrote: »

Why do you wish to 'break' your ego? There's really nothing there ro be fought, nothing there to be defeated or broken.

I started out thinking the same thing. When I finally decided to make the plunge into practice I vowed to overcome my self, however long it took. In my mind at that time my self/ego appeared huge and threatening like an unscalable mountain.

So I meditated. And the more I meditated the more I understood about myself. Suddenly my ego appeared smaller, more manageable, yet still a great obstacle like a large, but scalable mountain.

I kept meditating, and I began to see that what I thought was a huge obstacle wasn't as big a problem as I thought it was, being mindful of it reduced its effects in my day to day life. Now the mountain was just a hill.

And I came to realise that my self grasping and ego was just a mode of thought, just like any other. It comes and goes, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, sometimes not there at all.

It's like passing mist on the hillside.


Meditation is not something that can be forced through by an act of willpower. All you can do is just sit back and see what arises in the mind. A person could meditate for 3 hours and see nothing of value, just as another person could meditate for 3 minutes and gain great insight.

What I would recommend more than length of meditation session is regularity of meditation session. At least once a day for however long is feasible. It's that continuity of practice that will help you see what is happening in your mind more clearly, and adjust your life accordingly.

Good luck with your practice, I wish you well with it.

_/|\_

Wow!
That was really helpful!
Thank you so much;)

DaltheJigsaw

ShiftPlusOne wrote: »

Based on the information provided, indeterminable.

Thank you!

Joshu-sDog

_/|\_

chanratt

Joshu's Dog wrote: »

Why do you wish to 'break' your ego? There's really nothing there ro be fought, nothing there to be defeated or broken.

I started out thinking the same thing. When I finally decided to make the plunge into practice I vowed to overcome my self, however long it took. In my mind at that time my self/ego appeared huge and threatening like an unscalable mountain.

So I meditated. And the more I meditated the more I understood about myself. Suddenly my ego appeared smaller, more manageable, yet still a great obstacle like a large, but scalable mountain.

I kept meditating, and I began to see that what I thought was a huge obstacle wasn't as big a problem as I thought it was, being mindful of it reduced its effects in my day to day life. Now the mountain was just a hill.

And I came to realise that my self grasping and ego was just a mode of thought, just like any other. It comes and goes, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, sometimes not there at all.

It's like passing mist on the hillside.


Meditation is not something that can be forced through by an act of willpower. All you can do is just sit back and see what arises in the mind. A person could meditate for 3 hours and see nothing of value, just as another person could meditate for 3 minutes and gain great insight.

What I would recommend more than length of meditation session is regularity of meditation session. At least once a day for however long is feasible. It's that continuity of practice that will help you see what is happening in your mind more clearly, and adjust your life accordingly.

Good luck with your practice, I wish you well with it.

_/|\_

Great post josh!

I myself do 25-30 once a day. if i go to the zen center in the mornng it's2x25min sits