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New to meditation, a bit confused
Hello!
I never ever considered the idea of meditating. More recently, I got into a situation where there really was nothing left for me to do
, so I got started. There are several aspects of meditation that confuse me:
1. I read a Taoism book in which the author argues against meditation, saying it "narrows" the mind, is anyone familiar with this idea in Tao and why it would be as such?
2. I understand that martial arts encourage the use of meditation but in a different form than what buddhism would encourage, in martial arts meditation is a little more forced into you (by putting yourself in difficult situations on purpose), are some people familiar with this?
3. How to meditate..? I have done some research on the internet, and am wondering what are the most reliable tools to measure one's progress in meditation (an EEG?). Also, what method of meditation has worked the best for you, how did you realize it was working?
Thank you very much!
I never ever considered the idea of meditating. More recently, I got into a situation where there really was nothing left for me to do
, so I got started. There are several aspects of meditation that confuse me:1. I read a Taoism book in which the author argues against meditation, saying it "narrows" the mind, is anyone familiar with this idea in Tao and why it would be as such?
2. I understand that martial arts encourage the use of meditation but in a different form than what buddhism would encourage, in martial arts meditation is a little more forced into you (by putting yourself in difficult situations on purpose), are some people familiar with this?
3. How to meditate..? I have done some research on the internet, and am wondering what are the most reliable tools to measure one's progress in meditation (an EEG?). Also, what method of meditation has worked the best for you, how did you realize it was working?
Thank you very much!
0
Comments
Let me jump straight into the questions:
1. I'm not familiar with this idea, but I can tell you that it's nonsense
2. Not familiar.
3. Let me start with explaining how you can realize meditation is working. It's working if meditation gives you a peaceful, contented feeling. Your overal peacefulness is also the way to measure your progress, which is much more reliable than any EEG will ever be. So right there you have the goal of meditation: To become peaceful.
This peace can be achieved through multiple ways, but it basically comes down to slowing the mind through contentment and kindness. Making it silent, slowing it more and more, becoming more peaceful and alert. One way of doing this is by remaining with your attention on the breath. It sounds easy, but it's not. You will probably notice this is very hard to do in the beginning. But it'll get more easy if you stick with it. Anyway, you will benefit from starting with attention on something more easy, like your body.
I personally learned a lot from this teaching style of meditation:
http://www.dharmaweb.org/index.php/The_Basic_Method_of_Meditation_by_Ajahn_Brahmavamso
This 'Basic Method' actually goes all the way to the very end, which is very hard to achieve. And so it is quite a read. But take it slowly. Along the way you will learn and progress.
Hope you can benefit from it as much as I did, or even more.
With kindness,
Sabre
Read a little about the different schools of Buddhism. Contact the one that you have the most affinity to and they can give you the appropriate meditation instructions.
All meditations have results. It's really a question of just doing the one makes the most sense to you.
There are many things to be said for meditation, but among them is this: You cannot know anything until you find out for yourself. No amount of advice or opinion or analysis -- however good or bad -- can settle things satisfactorily. It's like asking a man what it's like to ride a bike when you, yourself, don't know how... he may say some very reassuring and perhaps exciting things, but how much could you possibly know? What someone else says will never answer your serious questions.
That said, there are a variety of ways to meditate. Here is a pretty clear and pretty direct (with pictures) description of Zen practice, which has been my preference. I have been practicing for 40 years and I have never -- EVER -- found a way to measure anything called "progress." I just, honest injun, don't know: Something happens, it's true, but what it is I haven't got a clue.
Let your own good patience and courage and doubt guide you.
Best wishes.
As for meditation criticisms, probably all of us here meditate to one degree or another, so we're kinda biased. There's Zen schools and Tibetan schools mostly and we might debate the relative merits of various techniques, but it's one of our main tools in our practice.
I'd recommend meditating at a time when you are already somewhat calm. Probably in the morning. I've tried meditating when I am somewhat hyper and it was really hard to reach any kind of peace. Sometimes it even brought on anxiety and sadness.
So it has both things in common with and differences from traditional, Buddhist meditation
Here's a few more tips you may find useful -
http://www.wildmind.org/blogs/on-practice/ten-tips-for-setting-up-a-meditation-practice
Best of luck with it!
As far as martial art goes can you imagine a scatterbrained martial art practitioner whose energy is scattered in many different directions? I would like to think a martial art practitioner may do meditation to collect all of one's energy in a single spot.
There are a few myths about meditation - search Google for meditation myths & several sites pop up!
Here's one -
http://www.dhamurian.org.au/modern/meditationmyths.html
Cheers
Thank you very much for all the information!
I've visited quite a few buddhist and zen centers, and all seemed to have very specific rules surrounding their meditation practices. I also participated in a dance course where the instructor would ask us to meditate using a wushu method. And I have found all those to yield very very different results.
Thus the question being, what result are we aiming for.. Maybe that's a personal question though, but i do feel that being able to measure one's progress is important (or maybe it's contrary to the buddhist philosophy, in which case i am really sorry!!)
I also agree that there is a 'merchandising' aspect to meditation nowadays... which is why i am asking your advice on this forum rather than believing all the TM (copyright) websites
The baseline I started with was - well... modifying at will the electromagnetic waves of the brain..
Thank you for sharing this information! Let me explain a little why I am nervous. A few years ago I got the opportunity of staying at a buddhist center. While I did not really participate in the daily activities, I watch other people do so. I was impressed by the teachings of the buddha (what i was able to hear and understand). But, I also witnessed some confusion on the part of the participants, and sometimes some of the monks themselves. I am thinking of a few participants, who would put themselves in endless meditative states and silent retreats - and find peace in isolation - yet were not able to function in the everyday world. This made me question the pursuit of meditation alone, and whether it was enough in itself, for all individuals (don't get me wrong, other people were doing wonderful
Very apt points.
The drive to find peace and security commonly creates attachments for Buddhists to their practises. These type of attachments can be amongst the most difficult for those caught in them to recognize. It is the compounding of delusion. The results are a separation between themselves and the world around them.
The plain practice solution is to consistently maintain a priority of attachment watch above all else . Above peace, security, knowledge, recognition, comfort, understanding, happiness, stillness or how others are practising.
If you need to measure your meditative progress (A dicey prospect in itself), see how you manifest compassion, tenderness, empathy, sympathy, benevolence and love in the world. Real practise towards sufferings cessation always results in a spaciously widening heart.
Concentration is developed because concentration is what allows one to "see things as they actually are".
For me, I can tell meditation is working because the spaces of silence versus the thoughts widens on a regular basis. Whereas I couldn't imagine sitting for 5 minutes, I can now sit for as long as I want, and enjoy every second of it. It helps me sustain peace in my life for the entire day, and doing a longer meditation in the morning, allows me throughout the day to build on it with shorter meditations if needed. It has made a vast different in not only my life, but the life of my family that has to live with me. My mind is anything but quiet
geting slowly better
http://www.meditationiseasy.com/mCorner/what_is_not_meditation.htm
slainte
yildun
I understand your worries. But I think, if you pay close attention to where your practice is going, there is no real risk. As long as you are honest when things work and when things make you worse off, it'll be fine.
There can be some explanations of why one wouldn't be able to function in the everyday world; there can be both wrong and good reasons for it. A wrong one is that one does wrong meditation practices, maybe very mechanical ones, losing the touch with emotions, pushing them away, in short, not practicing compassion. Some people do think this is taught and may not have the self honesty to see the effects, take it wrong or have a teacher who doesn't see this happening. I heard this happens sometimes, but to be honest I know nobody personally with such problems, while I know quite some Buddhists.
So I wouldn't worry about this happening. As I said before, if you already start out with the mindset you have, of taking care of yourself and willing to investigate what you are going into, you will be fine. You will have the capacity to see and understand what works and what doesn't.
Also know that people can seem very calm and in 'meditative states' on the outside, while in the inside they are not that calm. This'll happen much more often than you think, probably.
The second reason of not being able to function in the everyday world could be a good one. It is seeing that the everyday world can't bring happiness. The Buddha retreated out of that world for a reason, picking up the life of a monk. While this may be rare, there are certainly some people who leave the world for this reason. But those probably won't be the confused ones. They know why and what they are doing.
With metta!