Meditation Blog

zag

Hi lads,

After years of himming-and-hawwing about meditation and buddhism, I have finally committed myself to a daily practice.

With the encouragement of Asiaprod, I have set up a blog, where I will be posting my two daily meditation experiences.

PLEASE NOTE: It may not be the most eloquent or intrigueing read.
WARNING: You may fall asleep reading it!

But please feel free to comment, and suggest new techniques, attitudes or anything you think might help.

It's at http://kenob-self.blogspot.com/

I'll get enlightened one of these days

Asiaprod

zag wrote:

Hi lads,

After years of himming-and-hawwing about meditation and buddhism, I have finally committed myself to a daily practice.

Way to go zag:)

zag

Asiaprod wrote:

Way to go zag:)

Asiaprod, I hope you don't mind. I have put a link on my signature to the basic meditation comment that you made. Thank you.

Asiaprod

zag wrote:

Asiaprod, I hope you don't mind. I have put a link on my signature to the basic meditation comment that you made. Thank you.

No problem, and do try that approach. Take it from me it does work and makes the whole experience that much more enjoyable and meaningfull.

zag

Asiaprod wrote:

No problem, and do try that approach. Take it from me it does work and makes the whole experience that much more enjoyable and meaningfull.

I will. I think I will meditate a little earlier in the evening aswell. I'm getting tired quite early(getting old!)

Goodshape

This looks like an interesting idea

Good work zag, and cheers for sharing it.

zag

Goodshape wrote:

This looks like an interesting idea

Good work zag, and cheers for sharing it.

Thanks Goodshape.

I'm glad that you like it. Hope people won't be put off meditation when they read it!

Asiaprod

Here is a great lesson on meditation and letrting the mind settle, enjoy

Letting the Mind Settle
A beginner's mind is often compared to a big waterfall with thoughts tumbling down like rushing water, but there's no need to get upset or frustrated. Through regular practice it will gradually settle, become as gentle as a quiet river, and finally as deep and peaceful as an ocean without waves.
We shouldn't get impatient or angry if our mind keeps wandering and we have to bring it back every second. Anyway, mind cannot be subdued by anger; it can only be tamed with love and kindness. We should not, in the name of meditation, punish or upset ourselves. We should treat our mind the way a very tolerant and loving mother would treat her naughty child. The child has so much energy that it jumps and messes around all the time and tries to run out of the room. The mother doesn't get upset or angry, she doesn't beat it up. She lets it play, but within the confines of one room. Slowly, the naughty child will use up all his or her energy and come to rest. We should also allow our mind to jump anywhere it wants to jump, but watch it constantly and bring it back every time, a million times if necessary. We should not be judgmental, get impatient, discouraged or angry, otherwise our meditation will become very tense, difficult and painful. We give total space to our mind and let it wear out its own energy.[FONT=ＭＳ Ｐゴシック] [/FONT]
If we experience the big waterfall and cannot control our mind, some breathing exercises might be quite good.Breathing is part of us. If you are a beginner you can close your eyes and use mental counting. With each in and out breath you count one. You count up to five, then start from the beginning again. We completely engage our mental activity in the breathing without thinking about anything else.[FONT=ＭＳ Ｐゴシック] [/FONT]
As we are now really trying to discipline our mind, it may react and reject it. If we try hard, we will become very tense and start complaining about headaches. Headaches come because we are getting too uptight. Mind has been able to do whatever it wanted for so long and now we are telling it to stay here quietly, so it gets angry.[FONT=ＭＳ Ｐゴシック] [/FONT]
If you start to get uptight while counting, stop counting and instead discuss with your mind: OK, now, I'm asking you nothing, so you have no good reason to complain. We can discuss like this because we are talking all the time in our head in much the same way, and we really have to find ways and means to make our mind understand why we are doing what we are doing.[FONT=ＭＳ Ｐゴシック] [/FONT]
Sometimes people want a lot of information and, accordingly, Lamas give them a lot of information, but I think this may create obstacles. If people asked less, I would give them less information and they would have a simple meditation. This would be the best. As far as Mahamudra is concerned, the great Indian Master Tilopa put it very simply: Don't speak, don't think, don't meditate! So simple! I am following this tradition but find myself giving students a hundred different methods! Students meditate and then come to me, Lama Yeshe, this breathing technique is not working for me, it's giving me a hard time. I then explain to them how to focus on an object. Then they look at it and it gets strange, changing form and colour.[FONT=ＭＳ Ｐゴシック] [/FONT]
If we become very rigid in our meditation or put too much effort into it, we will get these kinds of hallucinations. When this happens, we should stop focusing on the object and just relax. We should apply effort very gently. So, when this happens, they come to me again and say Lama Yeshe, this is driving me crazy, please give me another method. And I give them something else.[FONT=ＭＳ Ｐゴシック] [/FONT]
This is why we live in a world of abundant methods - because there are abundant needs and wants. People keep asking me for different methods and I keep giving them what they ask for, because that's the only way we can have some communication going on, but in the end, the same people complain, I don't like Tibetan Buddhism because it is so complicated. Why do we have to do all this? But I never asked them to do all this. I always taught them how to be simple. I told them from the very beginning that it must be simple.[FONT=ＭＳ Ｐゴシック] [/FONT]
So, to start with, make no complications, just sit at ease, completely relaxed physically and mentally. Do not engage in past or future, do not even count your breathing. Just do nothing[FONT=ＭＳ Ｐゴシック] [/FONT]

[FONT='&#65325] [/FONT]

zag

Good morning(or good night??).
That makes sense. Some people have a tendancy to over-complicate meditation, sometimes I do too. It is a simple practice. It keeping awake I am having difficulty with at late. I get very tired in the late evening, and first thing in the morning(when I am to go to work) I'm finding really hard!
My main aim in the morning is getting up at the right time, then, sleepily drunk, trying to keep the back straight, and get some mental calm! It's tough going at the start!

Asiaprod

zag wrote:

It's tough going at the start!

Yes it is very. by the way, just noticed the Blog stopped on the 5th, what happened to 6,7,8,9,10,11, and 12th?
I know it is hard, but you got to keep at it. Maybe you need to pick a better time to do it. Maybe just once a day in the evening and a special effort at the weekend.:)

zag

Thanks Asia, I fell off the wagon:(

Having a bit of a desperate time. Started a new job, and really tired in the evenings. I am going to get back on tonight.

Thanks for the prod!

Asiaprod

zag wrote:

Thanks Asia, I fell off the wagon:(

Having a bit of a desperate time. Started a new job, and really tired in the evenings. I am going to get back on tonight.

Thanks for the prod!

Really man, meditation is surpossd to be enjoyable, well eventually it is.
Do not push it. If you can do it everyday, fantastic, I can't. Do what you can when you can. This is all about quality. 10 mins of quality meditation is infinitly better than 1 hour of on/off meditation. I really mean it, you do not have to do it every day. This is something you do because you enjoy it. Make it an enjoyable experience by being selective when and how long you do it for. There is no falling off the wagon. This is a pleasure activity, its life thats the bitch:D
Besides, if you don't do it you can't have any of mine an HH's Swedish Choco, mmmmmmmm.:)

zag

I'll just have to have a Turkish Delight so...!

god's toy

This is a very good idea! best of luck with your meditations zag

Asiaprod, very good post, it is best to be still an empty your mind, you will get there.




Got my hands on this book and DVD a few days ago, paid only €6.95 (RRP is $24.95 in US) in a book store in Dunloaghair (CO Dublin)
Very happy with it

(PRACTICAL MEDITATION)

Asiaprod

god's toy wrote:

Asiaprod, very good post, it is best to be still an empty your mind, you will get there.

Thank you, the bit i find the most insightfull is " I always taught them how to be simple. I told them from the very beginning that it must be simple.
So, to start with, make no complications, just sit at ease, completely relaxed physically and mentally. Do not engage in past or future, do not even count your breathing. Just do nothing"

That really says it all. No gimicks, you already got every thing you need.

The book and DVD look like a real steal, let us know how you get on with them and what difference they made ?

zag

How ya. Been away for a while, I just haven't had much time in work lately. I started my meditation practice again. I updated my blog with the latest meditation.

Do you think it's ok to drink coffee before meditating? It really helped me stay alert during the meditation, but am I cheating?

Asiaprod

sag wrote:

Do you think it's ok to drink coffee before meditating? It really helped me stay alert during the meditation, but am I cheating?

Welcome back. I do not think, or know, of any restrictions other than alcohol, which I think is pretty obvious and does not need to be explained. In Nepal the monks are never far from a cup of steaming butter tea. I read that the Dalai Lama keeps a pot of it on hand wherever he is 24 hours a day.The only worry I would have with coffee would be the possibility of the caffeine setting your mind racing as it kicks into gear. That would make it hard to settle your mind. How about trying tea. What I myself would do is buy some kind of exotic tea that is drunk with no milk or sugar. Not green tea as it is loaded with more caffeine than coffee. Chinese Oolong would be good. Also buy yourself a small decorative teapot and cup. Using these create for yourself a private tea ceremony that you would use ritualistically prior to meditating. It would not take more than 5 mins to do. Do the whole thing with respect for he tea (slowly and carefully concentrating on what you are doing) This is similar to the original purpose of the Japanese tea ceremony. And it sure beats slopping around the kitchen with a cup of instant coffee. The preparation and drinking should give you a real lift in the morning and the careful preparation will help to awaken and focus your mind. This is an ancient trick that is used to combat these types of situation.
Let me know how it goes.

zag

Asiaprod wrote:

Welcome back. I do not think, or know, of any restrictions other than alcohol, which I think is pretty obvious and does not need to be explained. In Nepal the monks are never far from a cup of steaming butter tea. I read that the Dalai Lama keeps a pot of it on hand wherever he is 24 hours a day.The only worry I would have with coffee would be the possibility of the caffeine setting your mind racing as it kicks into gear. That would make it hard to settle your mind. How about trying tea. What I myself would do is buy some kind of exotic tea that is drunk with no milk or sugar. Not green tea as it is loaded with more caffeine than coffee. Chinese Oolong would be good. Also buy yourself a small decorative teapot and cup. Using these create for yourself a private tea ceremony that you would use ritualistically prior to meditating. It would not take more than 5 mins to do. Do the whole thing with respect for he tea (slowly and carefully concentrating on what you are doing) This is similar to the original purpose of the Japanese tea ceremony. And it sure beats slopping around the kitchen with a cup of instant coffee. The preparation and drinking should give you a real lift in the morning and the careful preparation will help to awaken and focus your mind. This is an ancient trick that is used to combat these types of situation.
Let me know how it goes.

Asia, that's a great idea. I'm going to have a look for the different teas that you mentioned. Carlow wouldn't have the most culturally diverse shopping experience, so I might have to see if I can find a shop that sells Chinese products in Dublin. I'm looking forward to it already!

zag

god's toy wrote:

This is a very good idea! best of luck with your meditations zag

Asiaprod, very good post, it is best to be still an empty your mind, you will get there.




Got my hands on this book and DVD a few days ago, paid only €6.95 (RRP is $24.95 in US) in a book store in Dunloaghair (CO Dublin)
Very happy with it

(PRACTICAL MEDITATION)

Hey, how did you get on?

hairyheretic

Asiaprod wrote:

Using these create for yourself a private tea ceremony that you would use ritualistically prior to meditating. It would not take more than 5 mins to do. Do the whole thing with respect for he tea (slowly and carefully concentrating on what you are doing) This is similar to the original purpose of the Japanese tea ceremony.

I was at a tea ceremony once. It was quite impressive (well, to me at least ).

Asiaprod

hairyheretic wrote:

I was at a tea ceremony once. It was quite impressive (well, to me at least ).

Where? Did you have the real Green Tea where it is whipped up into foam and they give you the sugar cake to eat with it cause its so sour? The caffeine hit just about lifts you off your feet. Now I know how the samurai could do what they did. Those guys must have been wired to the nines:)

god's toy

zag wrote:

Hey, how did you get on?

Ah yes hi zag!
,

A great little box set indeed, 64 page full-colour book with some really nice pictures to enjoy and easy to follow tips, also has some Buddhist teaching and background stuff too, I like to look at the pictures as I meditate.

The 34-minute DVD is professionally done with nice text interludes of wisdom between each of the meditations he does, step-by-step instructions are provided and you can choose to do one at a time or play the DVD from start to end.
Also features a message by the Dalai Lama himself!

It’s a really good way of getting to know ‘how to meditate’ from a beginners point of view as well as a bush up of skills for those who have been doing it for years.

I fully recommend this book and DVD set, best bargen that ever came my way

LOL I just pop it in to the DVD player and let it just play the lovely background music over and over, you can meditate to that on its own!

Asiaprod

I found this fasinating account of meditation today in a place I least expected to find it. For your enjoyment, here is Marlon Brado giving an account of his experience of Satorii, the state of consciousness that Zen masters consider one of sudden enlightenment. The interesting point for me was the account of using a Biofeedback machine to induce the state. Still, it is interesting reading.


"During one of my first sessions with [a] biofeedback expert, I put on some headphones and he played a tape with sound waves recorded at the same frequency as my brain waves... I lay back and relaxed, but before long I felt myself being pulled apart like a was of chewing gum stretched until it was an invisible filament. That's what was happening to my mind: I was splitting in two, and it scared me

The next time I put on the headphones, I didn't resist and allowed myself to glide past the feelings that had made me so fearful the first time, and to travel along with them. After a few moments, I suddenly felt like a supersonic plane hurtling through the sound barrier. But once I was past the initial turbulence of that panic, everything became smooth and I was in a state of mind that can only be described as ecstasy. It lasted forty-five minutes, persisting even after the doctor returned and turned off the tape machine. I was in a dream talking to God. I felt peaceful, serene, utterly in repose, and I told the doctor, who seemed a thousand miles away, "I've never had such a sense of quietness or of beaty, tranquillity and peace in my entire life. I feel as if I had died and gone to nirvana."
The doctor said I had experienced satori, a state of consciousness that Zen masters consider one of sudden enlightenment. In diminishing intensity, the experience continued for three days before I was again in a normal state of mind. Now I try to meditate twice a day for an hour or more. On only three occasions have I ever again achieved the sensation of satori, but it is always a pleasant, comforting experience. During the past few years, meditation has helped me enormously in dealing with a number of problems in my life. Through repetition, old emotional habits are replaced, and instead of getting excited, angry or anxious, I become calm. Repetition is as important to meditation as it is to many religious rituals. Catholic priests may order their parishioners to say ten Hail Mary's after confession; in Africa, Haiti and other places, religious masters put their followers into trances by exposing them to the repeated rhythms of drums so intense that the sounds go right through their bodies to become a part of them, and people surrender to the rhythm as they do during meditation. The mental processes are too subtle for me to understand or even to identify, and scientists haven't been very successful at deciphering them either. But in the theater I've seen how susceptible the human mind is to suggestion, and have wondered if there are related forces at play... As an actor, you try to use the power of suggestion to manipulate people's moods, and that's not a lot different from happens during a religious ritual. "

hairyheretic

Asiaprod wrote:

Where?

It was in the States. I was there a number of years back on holiday, and we visited a .. Japanese cultrual center? Something along those lines at any rate. I just recall seeing a variety of displays of samurai arms and equipment, a zen garden, and the tea ceremony, done in (what I presume was) a reproduction period house.

Asiaprod wrote:

Did you have the real Green Tea where it is whipped up into foam and they give you the sugar cake to eat with it cause its so sour?

We didn't take part in it, only watched.

When I was learning Japanese, abotu ten years ago now, at the end of our course, the teacher brought us in the green wheat tea, and small sugar treats, as well as some seaweed strips.

I think I could lose a lot of weight visiting Japan

Asiaprod wrote:

The caffeine hit just about lifts you off your feet. Now I know how the samurai could do what they did. Those guys must have been wired to the nines:)

I think the years of training and discipline, plus a lack of fear of death probably helped

Asiaprod

hairyheretic wrote:

I think the years of training and discipline, plus a lack of fear of death probably helped

I blame everything on the Green Tea.
The bus is late....Green Tea.
I slept late........Green tea.
I am still not enlightened..........definitely the Green Tea, drink coffee:)

Cabelo

I know this is off topic but what do you guys think of meditation through actions? I studied Japanese for two years and found that the attentiveness of the tea ceremony is a bit like Tetris.

I reckon at the fastest levels or tetris or lumines your brain is forced to let go of thoughts to just blip through hundred of shaps and puzzles. It's not a religious experience but I found it to be very much like longer meditation stints.

Asiaprod

Cabelo wrote:

I reckon at the fastest levels or tetris or lumines your brain is forced to let go of thoughts to just blip through hundred of shaps and puzzles. It's not a religious experience but I found it to be very much like longer meditation stints.

Hi Cabelo, I think there is something here to debate, but I need to know what you mean by "I found it to be very much like longer meditation stints". What experience do you have with meditation?

Cabelo

I've done meditation as part of both Yoga and Ninjutsu. In both cases I've been aimed more towards the "mpty mind" idea. I find that doing something simple that engages the mind helps mute other distractions.

I don't see mental work as being too different from the physical positioning needed for asanas.

The same frame of mind develops... I'm not sure how to describe it, I'm not down with fancy meditation lingo