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How to practice Vipassana Meditation correctly?
DaltheJigsaw
Mountain View Veteran
How to practice Vipassana Meditation correctly?
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I guess not watching would be incorrect. But what is aware of you not watching. Lol. See how it's impossible to suck at meditation.
So watching breathe or anger, pain, jealousy and so on? Just being present? Isn't that mindfulness?
Leon, do you think you're doing something incorrectly?
Someone, please correct me if I am wrong.
mindfulness leads to insight, thus they are still distinct concepts.
P
Practice the video meditation exercise and read the article below to learn simple Buddhist meditation techniques.
http://www.deepermeditation.net/oceanicmind/buddhist_meditation_techniques_mindfulness.html
I get real deep and sometimes I am not.
I am having problems at times as I tend to itch, or crack my body as it feels uncomfortable.
I am having problems at times as I tend to itch, or crack my body as it feels uncomfortable."
That happens to everybody, experienced or not.
If it itches, scratch it and go back to your meditation. If your neck needs to be cracked, crack it and go back to your meditation. Don't expect to "get real deep". Don't expect anything. It takes some people years to "get real deep", and some never do. It took me more than 20 years, and I have no expectation that it will happen every time.
Just let it be what it is.
1 non-judgement
2 patience
3 beginners mind (freshness)
4 trust
5 non-striving (taking things as they are rather than projecting)
6 acceptance (rather than denial)
7 letting go (no big deal)
That's 7 principles, not 4. :dunce:
P
How does this fit with "non-striving"?
P
Or you are trying to lose weight and because you have a setback you get discouraged instead of being in the present and letting today be what it is. And then waking up fresh and dustiing yourself off. We have to dust ourselves off a heck of a lot and if we have no joy and loving for who we are rather than what we become its an obstacle. In fact sounds like the 12 links craving -> becoming -> death
So its two separate meanings of non-striving.
Sorry I didn't explain that better earlier.
Another way is to focus on the breath but focus on the actual breath itself. How cold is it, how hot is it, how slow or fast is it, how does i feel against your nose or throat.
There are variations on the counting method, but also there is a method where you watch the breath go in thrugh your mouth, into your lungs and out. The imagine it going in your mouth and down through your arms. Then down to through your legs and so forth. I sometimes combine all of these techniques, but find the counting technique the best for me. I have never really tried to much to just sit and be as I do not focus much. 'letting go' is also a good thing to be mindful of in meditation, let go of the past and future and be in the moment only.
The important thing I think is to keep at it and not to label yourself or anybody as a good or bad meditator
Good luck, tom
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The example would be archery. In order to get the arrow to go to the target, you have to let go of it. But you have to make the Right Effort to practice how to do that.
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Anyway thats my understanding from dharma talks.
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Vipassana is a technique that can be teach fairly easily.
The mediator then goes through a series of insights, in a particular order.
As experienced by hundreds of thousands of meditators over the millenniums.
here is two books you should read. only 60 pages each, pretty much all you need to know.
http://books.google.com/books?id=M2S-7-lWzHIC&lpg=PP1&dq=mahasi&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=YnedD2Jj3IIC&lpg=PP1&dq=inauthor:"Mahasi Sayadaw"&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false
Here is somewhere you can go to ask questions to Vipassana teachers and expert directly.
http://www.dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discussion
enjoy.
[edit] In the Theravāda
Vipassanā as practiced in the Theravāda includes contemplating Buddhist teachings, including the Four Noble Truths, as well as more experiential forms such as deep body awareness. In the latter forms it is a simple technique which depends on direct experience and observation. It can be related to the three trainings taught by the Buddha as the basis of a spiritual path: adherence to a sīla (Sanskrit: śīla) (abstinence from killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct and intoxication), which is not an end in itself but a requirement for the second part, concentration of the mind (samādhi). With this concentrated mind, the third training, in the context of this technique (paññā, Sanskrit prajñā), is detached observation of the reality of the mind and body from moment to moment.
[edit] Contemplative forms
Contemplations are rooted in mindfulness. Mindfulness of body, feelings, mind, and objects of mind. By seeing the arising and passing away of mindfulness and contemplations with regard to an origin, it follows that the self (related to the contemplation)arises and passes away, because the contemplation of the arising and passing away of the self is not a tenable position, the not-self arises.
One Abhidhamma method is that there are 40 topics that can be concentrated by the meditator such as anitya (Pāli anicca, impermanence), duḥkha (Pāli dukkha, suffering), roga (illness), and so on. The meditator can meditate on one of these until he sees the truth with its origin and cessation.
[edit]
That makes soo much sense!
Thank you very much!
Yea, I crack it and itch if I need to and I breathe even when I am scratching or itching myself:)
P
'forms' practice doesn't lead to the final liberation. the whole buddhist path is to build confidence for 'formless' practice.
At least according to my teacher :mullet:
If you complete the 16th insight (fruition), you are a stream enterer.
After completing the first path, you can achieve the second path.
If you achieved the second path, you are a once returner.
After completing the second path, you can achieve the third path.
If you complete the third path, you are a non-returner.
After completing the third path, you can achieve the fourth path.
If you complete the fourth path, you are a arahant (enlighten being).
The paths refer to this model of enlightenment.
Which is not some random objectives organized in some arbitrary way, but it a description of what naturally happen to mediators when they practice well.
Zen also uses this model, but since it is a natural process, they do not speak of it (as it will happen anyway).
The process is clear. Work hard and you will work your way through all of the insights of the first path and achieve the first level of enlightenment.
Since it is the science of the mind (and not some feel good new age thing), things are predictable.
What happen to you during the way has been documented and analyzed thoroughly over the millenniums and experienced over and over again by countless people.
read the books I linked to, it's a great start for a clearer understanding of the model, the paths etc...
In my tradition buddhism is systematized differently. Its in the Jewel Ornament of Liberation. But your right it is systematized.
quote from Daniel M. Ingram:
The notion that there are parallel tracks of enlightenment is one I categorically reject and love to fight hard against, and thus, from my point of view, the 5 Paths, 4 Paths, 10 Bhumis, and all other models of enlightenment are all describing the same territory, albeit sometimes with wildly different emphases and degrees of metaphorical and dogmatic augmentation.
So terrain may be the same but the method is different. Mahamudra is a tantra system.
Could you say what you mean by forms and formless practice?
P
Hello everyone,
It is truly amazing to find it is possible to answer your questions so that everyone on this Shenpentalk list can receive the benefit instantaneously without us all having to be gathered in same geographical space. We are, however, all in the same space in many other senses, including here online and ultimately in the sense of the vast expanse of Openness, Clarity and Sensitivity!
We will have to see how best to make use of this opportunity. A student has given me a question to start the ball rolling.
He asks:
"Is formless meditation another term for Dzogchen? If this is so, would we still call our practice formless meditation even though we were not living the natural state?"
You are putting your finger on a very real problem here, so it is an important question. When Rigdzin Shikpo was teaching us to meditate according to Trungpa Rinpoche's instructions, the terms that Rinpoche used were formless meditation or shamata. Neither of these terms is very satisfactory, so for a long time we called it sitting meditation, but that was not very satisfactory either. The problem is that shamata applies to all sorts of ways of calming and focusing the mind and any meditation might be practised sitting down. So what term refers to the specific practice that we do?
Well, the meditation itself is almost formless. It is not completely formless, since we still have the out-breath to focus on. The meditation is not merely shamata either, since it is combined with more and more insight (vipasyana) as our understanding deepens.
Dzogchen is actually a name for the Awakened state. We cannot say that our practice on the way to realising that state is 'Dzogchen' itself. However, one could perhaps call it meditation that is opening out into Dzogchen and so you could argue that it is all right to call it 'Dzogchen meditation' in that sense. It still sounds a bit odd to my unaccustomed ears ... because it sounds as if one thinks one has realized Dzogchen.
So I suppose I would say the instruction for the basic 'formless meditation' that we teach is instruction on how to recognise the nature of the chitta within the practice lineage of the Dzogchen tradition.
The first instruction and the final instruction on the path are identical - the complete relaxation of letting go into the spaciousness of experience. The difference is that for the beginner the instruction it is very rough and ready, very hit or miss. The student has to learn how to apply the instruction through continually bringing the heart and mind back in line with it, through reflection and through the play, beauty and skill of learning how to integrate insights and experiences into the fabric of one's being.
As a final instruction it is simplicity itself, the complete opposite of ego and the ego mandala; completely opposed to it with no concessions whatsoever. When the instruction says there is nothing to do, it really means it, and finally one sees clearly enough what the instruction means, to be able to apply it completely and perfectly, the Great Perfection, the Perfection of doing absolutely nothing. 'Doing' here includes even the most subtle forms of fixation or grasping. We cannot give up 'doing' in this sense until we have familiarised ourselves with those subtle forms of fixation and grasping and that is only possible through shamata and vipasyana.
The meditation itself that you are starting to practice could therefore be called a form of shamata-vipasyana using a minimum of form combined with instruction on how to recognise the nature of the chitta within the practice lineage of the Dzogchen tradition.
Since Dzogchen itself is the Awakened state in which our Awakened state and that of all Awakened beings is inseparable, it can only be realised by opening out to the power of the Awakened state of others. The way to more or less literally 'tap into' that power is to find a good tap. You can think of those who link you in, through a living connection, to the lineage of those Awakened in that way as 'Gurus' or 'Lamas'. So you have to find at least one tap and then do whatever is necessary to turn it on, get it working and then to place yourself in the right relationship to it so that the water can flow into you in a way that truly benefits you. There is so much that is up to you. You have to learn bit by bit how to relate to the instruction and how to value those people who can be the tap for you, the sources of the power to Awaken.
The instruction we give you when you first start is like an instruction on how to go about learning to relate to the tap and how to place yourself ready to start receiving the power. It could be that you 'twig' straightaway with no difficulty whatsoever. Then you could link immediately into the Awakened state, your teacher would have become your root guru, your practice would have become Dzogchen and you would have received the complete transmission, the Abhiseka.
That is so rare in the history of the tradition, that we do not have to wonder if that is our case or not. Even the most advanced and gifted practitioners seem to need to hear the instructions a good few times and practice a lot before they 'twig' and even to continue practising a lot after they 'twig' in order to stabilise the realisation. Most of us need to hear them repeated for the whole of our lives and gradually by reflection and meditation, trial and error, our understanding deepens by stages, each more wonderful than the stage before. A path good at the beginning, the middle and the end.
So the answer to the question is that it is not very accurate to call the form of meditation that you are being instructed in 'formless meditation' and if it is anything it is 'Dzog Rim': the stage in the meditative process that is associated with the dissolution of form.
At a personal interview with Trungpa Rinpoche at his residence, the Kalapa Court in Boulder Colorado, he told me to practice Dzog Rim and get good experience with that before moving on to the 'development phase' (Kye Rim) as it is called. In other words, the formless meditation that he got all his students to practice is a kind of Dzog Rim.
Usually the term Dzog Rim is applied to the practices that follow Kye Rim, so it would sound a bit odd to adopt the term for the initial practice instructions. Again it might sound a bit presumptuous to call our first excursions into meditation 'Dzog Rim' as if we thought we were practising at an advanced level of practice, when what we really mean is that we are opening ourselves to that advanced level of practice by learning to be more simple and direct about our experience, more present with it, more accurate and less manipulative. You could say open, clear and sensitive.
I think my Tibetan colleagues would simply call what we do Nyamshak: just resting in a settled meditative state. That would not sound pretentious I think, although in English it would just translate as something like sitting in meditation.
Rigdzin Shikpo and I have from time to time talked about a better name for the meditation we teach. So far we have not come up with anything we find better than simply 'formless meditation'.