A Guide to Meditation

Discussion in 'Religion, Beliefs and Spirituality' started by Androgenicx, Jan 10, 2009.

  1. #1 Androgenicx, Jan 10, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 25, 2009
    I have received a number of pms asking for assistance on meditation and how to go about it, I thought I might as well make a thread with whatever knowledge I have.


    What IS Meditation?

    Meditation is simply an active attempt to control your mind and reduce its inner chatter, with the goal of the complete cessation of the inner chatter. Inner chatter is what causes all our suffering, and without it we are peaceful and serene, for our reality forms within us, not outside, it is our perception and response to our reality that is our consciousness and our experience of existence, not the substance of that which is being perceived.

    There are various kinds of meditation with various intentions. There is no set 'level' or degree of mastery that validates you doing a specific kind of meditation - some might prove more noticeably beneficial when you are newer to spirituality and conscious exploration of your inner space, but all will help at various levels and you can do whatever calls your fancy. Be sure to try different ones when you feel plateaued or bored with one kind.

    First, there is emotional meditation. The purpose of this kind of meditation is to sooth the anxious, vexed, confused, or grievous mind. Do not take these meditations to be 'beginner only' or 'superficial' meditations as I used to, they are very useful at any level, but especially good as an introduction to one who has never actively meditated before. These are usually guided meditations in the form of audio, with soothing ambient music and sounds such as the ocean or birds and crickets. These can also be in the form of text that you memorize. They have a voice that guides you through your emotions, and helps bring you to your 'happy place', to a serene, calm, relaxed state of mind. Use these as a beginner especially, but take my word when I say that even the advanced meditator can gain alot from them, especially when caught in a frustrating meditative rut. These can be find as mp3s everywhere on the internet, CDs are available (I would recommend these if you can/want to spend the money as the quality of sound makes a difference), and can be found on youtube. Find one that meets your fancy, and go with the directions.

    Then there is energy meditation. We all have subtle energy bodies that govern our physical existence and state of mind very profoundly, more than you would be able to believe. They govern our physical well being to a large extent as well, influencing the corrosponding organ to the corrosponding chakra, or energy center.
    We have thousands of chakra centers all over our subtle energy bodies, these are energy nodes. The goal of chakra meditation is to become aware of the different chakras and guide energy to and from them in an attempt to balance them and add energy where they are deficient or reduce and re-distrobute energy if they are relatively excessive. There are seven that are especially important and that are the ''main'' chakras. These are:

    - The crown chakra, at the top of the head. The corrosponding color of the energy in this chakra is pure white. This chakra is responsible for spiritual connection to the universe and according to some new age philosophies to your 'higher self'; for your connection with divinity. Excess energy in this chakra in relation to other chakras causes a lack of grounding in physical reality, frequent experiences of god, excess thought of a spiritual nature, 'having your head in the clouds'. A lack of energy. A lack of energy in this chakra causes a complete disbelief in anything over and above science and what one can see with ones eyes plainly, a disbelief in miracles and miracle related things, the ultimate experience and path of spirituality is impossible with a deficient crown chakra.

    - The third eye chakra, a half inch above the center of the forehead between the eyebrows.Its corrosponding energy color is indigo. This chakra is responsible for intuition, the developement of psychic abilities, and is the gateway into 'seeing' divinity. It is responsible for the degree to which your inner voice or guidance is present to you and how much it speaks out over the inner chatter of compulsive thought. Excess energy in this chakra causes one to fall into trances frequently, excess and unintentional psychic experiences. A lack of energy in this chakra causes one to not see reality as it is, get lost in ones false perceptions of what is going on, causing fear, doubt, anger, confusion, and a general lack of alignment with reality. It can also cause a subtle fuzziness in perception and awareness that few can notice. Visually, you are strongly aware of less in your visual field than if this chakra had more energy and was being used.

    - The throat chakra, near and around the adams apple in your throat. The corrosponding color of the energy at this node is blue. This energy center is responsible for creative expression, especially musical, and is responsible for expressing yourself verbally to people around you. It is responsible for your truthful and integrous expression of yourself to others (and to a degree, to yourself) An excess amount of energy in this chakra can cause you to talk too much and stifle other people. A lack of energy causes you to feel stifled.

    - The heart chakra, in the middle of your chest. The corrosponding color of this chakra can be green or pink, or both. It is the energy center that governs the sense of love, connection, compassion, empathy, and acceptance for yourself, your fellow beings, and for the visible world of manifested existence around you. Pink leans more towards romantic love, while green towards a larger, more all-inclusive love of existence. Excessive pink energy causes one to become hopeless involved romantically and ignore other aspects of existence. An excess of green energy causes one to love too unconditionally and get hurt often in the process. Important note: This is only a problem due to relative excess of energy. When there is more energy in the heart chakra than in others, one will continue to shower people with love, but the lack of reciprocation causes hurt. When one garners large amounts of energy in this chakra but other chakras are energized as well, one can love unconditionally, without feeling hurt in the process. A lack of energy in this chakra causes a lack of feeling connected, feeling isolated, lack of self acceptance, a lack of joy and love and a feeling of being abandoned.

    - The solar plexus chakra, just below the rib cage. The corrosponding color of this chakra is golden yellow. This chakra is responsible for your sense of self, self confidence, and sense of superiority, inferiority, or equality when it comes to society and your social circles. Excess energy in this chakra causes one to be domineering and oppressive. A lack of energy here causes you to feel inferior, withdrawn, and quiet. A balance causes you to feel perfectly equal, which is where social interaction is the best experience.

    - The navel chakra, an inch to two inches below your navel in the higher abodminal region. The corrosponding color of this chakra is a deep orangish yellow. This energy center is responsible for your self expression, will power, creativity, and acceptance and expression of your sexuality. Note: This is not your sex drive, your sensuousness, rather your acceptance and expression of your masculine and feminine traits. A relative excess of energy in this chakra causes an imbalance in sexuality and expression of sexual traits, causes one to become too serious and driven not stopping to smell the roses. A lack of energy here causes inacceptance of ones sexuality, a lack of will power, and a lack of general self confidence. Note: This is not self confidence in relation to your peer circle, but self confidence about you as a person in life and your place in it.

    - And the root chakra, which is located at the base of the spine, in between your anus and prostate (in the case of males). Its corrosponding color is blood red. This chakra is responsible for your sense of grounding in reality, your ability to deal effectively with reality, your general physical energy levels, and your sex drive. A relative excess of energy in this chakra causes restlessness, excessive sex drive, and materialism. A lack of energy or grounding in this chakra causes lethargy, low sex drive, and an inability and lack of will to deal with immediate reality.

    There are various guided meditations that can be found for chakra meditation. Chakra meditation need not be guided, you can simply get into meditation and bring all your focus and awareness to the position of these chakras to energize them. To know which chakra needs energizing, assess your personal traits based on the excess/deficit symptoms listed. To add energy simply bring your focus to it and visualize light or energy flowing there. To remove energy, focus on the chakra, and visualize energy moving out of there. Eventually, you will actually be able to see or feel the energies a little depending on whether you are a kinesthetic or a visual person. Eventually, it will no longer be imaginary visualization, these energy centers will be felt VERY intensely, think the feeling of very strong electric buzzer at the energy center.
     
  2. Thank you very mmuch for posting this. I will be trying it tonight.
     
  3. #3 Androgenicx, Jan 10, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 10, 2009
    Then there are more spiritually directed, transcendental meditations. The goal of these meditations is self discovery, spiritual growth, control of the mind, and to have glimpses of 'satori' - a brief half second where you unclutch from all things worldly and experience the infinite, the nothingness - a half second of nirvana.

    There are two essential kinds of spiritual meditations - Absorption through Concentration (Or Object Meditation, and Formless Meditation (Or Objectless Meditation). Absorption through concentration has endless meditations within it, and one can come up with ones own to add. There is only one kind of formless meditation, that is its nature.

    Absorption Through Concentration

    Here one sits specifically in an upright posture. The absolute most preferable seated position for this is the full lotus position. A guide to this can be found here. The second best position is the thunderbolt position, which can be found here. This can be performed without any cushioning, on a cushion or mattress, or with a small cushion under the ankles. The third most preferable position is a half lotus position, which is a modification of the full lotus where you use just one leg over the other. Then one can sit in a cross legged, indian style position. Finally, if you cant do any of these, sitting on a flat chair with a back rest that allows your back to be straight is acceptable. The purpose of this is to keep the mind attentive and to prevent one from becoming drowsy, inattentive, and from falling asleep. When the spine is straight, energy flow down the primary energy channel through the body, called the sushumna nadi which is along the spine, is unobstructed and flows freely to the brain.

    Then one chooses an object of meditation. It can be open eyed and one may choose a spot on the wall, a lit candle, any object, preferably something that invokes no memories and that is simple and does not invoke much thought about it. It can be close eyed, and this is often better for deeper meditation, though both closed and open eye meditation are very useful. When the eyes are closed, one can meditate upon ones breath; the physical sensation between the upper lip and the nose, or the feeling of airflow in the nose itself. This is called vipasanna meditation. One can also meditate upon a spoken mantra, such as the cosmic sound "Aum". This sound is the primordial sound of existence and causes extreme energization. You will likely find your third eye becoming very energized and active as a by product of this meditation. One can also meditate upon a repeated thought.

    Here, you simply choose the object of meditation, then focus all your attention on it, come what may. Your mind will keep wandering. Do not get angry with yourself or restless and upset, do not even acknowledge or think about the distraction, simply bring your attention back to the object of your meditation. Emotions might arise, physical sensations or pain might arise and distract you. Do not acknowledge them, calmly return your attention to the object of your meditation. Do this for as long as you can.

    Initially, this meditation will simply cause a quietening of the internal chatter in your head, and a sense of peace from having your attention more involved in a neutral object than in thoughts, which are usually compulsive, very many, and helter-skelter, or in emotions.

    After awhile, deeper into meditation, suddenly you will require little to no effort to bring your attention back to the object of your meditation as you keep getting distracted in between, it will seem effortless. This is the initial stage of what is called one-pointedness of mind. Calm and serenity will be experienced.

    Still deeper into meditation, time dilation will appear to start occuring, and the frequency of distractions and thoughts will reduce very significantly. If one is meditating upon ones breath, each breath might seem to take 5-10 times longer than usual to complete. While the breathing is likely to have slowed down from relaxtion, it is the lack of distraction and thought that causes one to feel this time dilation experience. Great calm is experienced.

    Even deeper, one will acheive complete one-pointedness of mind. The distractions will stop, all that there will be is the object of meditation. Great calm will be experienced. A physical sensation of bliss might be experienced somewhere in the body. There are two things one can do now: Change the object of meditation to this sensation. It will grow, and as it grows, meditate upon the larger sensation. Suddenly the sensation will engulf the body and the meditator will be catapaulted into a state of extreme physical and emotional bliss. In buddhism, this is known as the first jhana. One can go even deeper into various jhanas by simply observing this bliss without getting involved in it or getting attached to it. Great, deep, previously never experienced, soul-level peace and calm will be experienced. Simply observe this and stay in meditation. The third jhana will be an experience of infiniteness, and so on and so forth with the various jhanas. A good read on the jhanas can be found here NOTE: Going into the jhanas beyond the first jhana requires VERY VERY deep meditation and ALOT of meditative experience and is not likely to occur easily for most. Many will never get past the first jhana in their lives, because the bliss of the first jhana is so intense that one cannot help but get involved in it. This does not mean dont try, keep striving, but do not get dismayed or discouraged if it doesn't happen.

    Alternatively, do not change the object of meditation after you get into complete one-pointedness of mind where thought ceases, ignore any physical sensations and keep meditating on the object of your meditation. At some point, suddenly, the object of meditation and the observer will cease to exist as seperate entities and will be experienced as one. This is 'Absorption through concentration', the self is absorbed into the object of concentration. This is a no mind state, you are likely to lose you 'usual' awareness at this point. Note that this is not unconsciousness, your body will remain in meditation position, it will self regulate and you will keep breathing. No bliss nor anything is experienced, for the self is temporarily suspended - there is nothing that can experience anything. This experience has very very profound impacts on the general level of compulsive thought your mind has in your day to day life and on your spiritual growth. Great spiritual energy is bourne of it that enters your being and cleanses you on all levels: physical, emotional, subtle energy, and soul. Note that this level of meditation is also very difficult and takes a long time to reach, do not get discouraged, all levels of meditations are beneficial and whatever you can achieve at any given point is the best for you at that time.
     
  4. #4 Androgenicx, Jan 10, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 10, 2009
    Formless Meditation

    Here there is no object of meditation, no concentration. The opposite - you will NOT concentrate or get even remotely involved in ANYTHING. Reduction in inner chatter does happen to some extent, but this is not the goal, and this usually has nowhere near the impact of concentration meditation on your normal waking inner chatter levels. The goal is to bypass the process of concentration meditation, to bypass everything and experience the no-mind state directly. It is a greatly calming and most liberating experience even if the state is not achieved in the meditation session. But unless the meditation is carried on into Sunnata waking meditation immediately after (Sunnata meditation is discussed a few posts down), the experience lasts only for the period of the meditation and for a few minutes after. Trust in the universe and that everything is truly alright, and there exists a space of complete liberation become deeply embedded through repeated practice of this meditation. It is a superficial, subtle experience of enlightenment directly.

    Here you simply attempt to observe everything without acknowledging or getting involved in it. Thoughts will come and go, ideas will come and go, physical sensations will come and go, emotions will come and go, physical embodiments of emotions will come and go (aching in the chest from grief or love, flutter in the stomach). Simply let them come and go, do not follow them. Let them be. Let the sounds and sights in your internal visual screen be. Let physical sensations of pain come and go. Simply observe. When you get involved or distracted or pulled into an emotion or thought, do not acknowledge it, do not get upset, simply disconnect from it.

    First perform object meditation of some kind to get into a meditative, calmed state of lower thought activity, then drop the object of meditation and proceed with objectless meditation.

    This meditation is hard to do initially, it will feel like you are not meditating and will feel fruitless initially. As you go deeper, great calm will be experienced as you get detached from everything. The experience will increase in quality as you go deeper. Suddenly, at some point, an inner click will occur. The naked observer will suddenly realize that nothing is worth paying attention to, the mind is useless, and will drop it. Here a brief second of enlightenment will occur, a glimpse of nirvana, 'satori'. This experience is too intense to be embodied permanently except by the very spiritually pure, or those 'ready' for enlightenment, and will be dropped immediately after. This half second causes great energy to be bourne, and great spiritual growth and cleansing on all levels of the being. You will not be able to remember what it was like, but for a few seconds after you will be in surprise, shock, awe, and joy, knowing that you just visited the true home of all existence.

    This can be done lying down or seated or in any way. They all have their own uses. Just before sleeping can cause the 'click' to happen more easily due to the natural slowing of your thoughts and the natural relaxation as you fall asleep, or it is possible you will be so relaxed and fall asleep before it happens, it is a gamble. It can also cause you to stay aware as your body falls asleep, and this is a method to experience lucid dreaming by going consciously into sleep. You will experience complete sleep paralysis and be aware of it, with a possible buzzing in your body. Do not be afraid, if you let it be and let go, this is a very rewarding, blissful experience in itself, as you are caused to surrender completely if you so choose to.

    This is a more advanced meditation to experience in its totality than Object Meditation and requires a degree of non-attachment latent in the meditator to be fully experienced, but is perfectly viable and useful for any person.
     
  5. #5 Androgenicx, Jan 10, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 10, 2009
    Insight Meditation

    This is a form of meditation that uses concentration meditation, ie: uses the deep meditative state to ask questions and to gain very very deep insight into truths of existence. There is little inner chatter, and so the truth to the answer shines out more truly and magnificently for you to behold and grasp. They cause tremendous growth and conscious transformation in the way you view the world, and to the purity of your inner space.

    Questions to Meditate On

    Here are some very good specific ones, but you can make your own up if you feel you have found something worth meditating on.

    Who Am I?

    Who are you? Ask yourself once you are in meditation, who am I? Say it over and over again. Then ask who is it that is asking, "who am I"? Who is having these thoughts? Who is experiencing these emotions? Who is asking all these questions? You will find at some point a faint awareness of the fact that you have a waking consciousness at some point.

    Then remember the last time you went to sleep. How it felt. Remember and realize that when you went to sleep, this "I", this waking consciousness that refers everything in relation to itself, had ceased. Your body existed, obviously, it tossed and turned, but this "I" vanished. How then, can I be my body? My body must just be something that houses this "I", temporarily. Keep meditating on this. Bring your awareness back to your body right now as you meditate and away from the memory of sleep time. Keep alternating between the memory and bringing back your awareness to your immediate body, while asking althewhile "who am I?". At some point, you will mildly dissociate from your body and stop caring and paying any attention to it.

    Then ask, am I my emotions? Meditate on the source of your emotions. You will find that they are physical. Fear essentially is the emotion of flutter in your stomach, a gripping feeling that overtakes your body and makes your hair stand on end, your heart beat faster. Joy makes your heart ache in a mild, pleasurable way, makes your lips smile. Anger is some kind of physical sensation that grips you in some kind of way. These are all connected to your body. You just realized that you are not your body a few moments ago. If you are not your body, and your emotions are part of your body, then you are not your emotions. You will at some point drop identification with your emotions.

    Then ask, am I my perceptions? Am that which can see, hear, speak, feel? Remind yourself then that the blind, deaf, dumb, body-burnt cannot do these things, yet the feeling of "I" does not vanish in them. Try to strongly imagine yourself first deaf, and disidentify from what you hear. Then from what you see. Then from what you feel physically. Then from your knowledge of spoken language altogether that speaks within your head. When you disconnect from all these, at some point eventually, you will disconnect from everything and go to the source of yourself for a second or two. This source is the very same experience as satori, infiniteness. You will have a glimpse of satori, and realize your true nature to be the same as the nature of everything. You do not exist in truth, you only feel like there is a seperate, palpable ''I" that exists due to identification with the body, thought, emotions, and sensory perception.


    Other Things To Meditate on

    - Compassion, love, connection. Meditate on the feeling of joy and love and how it makes you feel, how it makes the world around you feel, how it makes people around you feel. Bring forth memories where you or someone near you was joyful or when you were in love, and how the world seemed and how your joy and love seemed to positively affect and draw in others into it.

    - Suffering, pain, anger, confusion, negativity. Meditate on this feeling and how it makes you feel. Do you like feeling this way? Meditate on how it made the world around you feel, the very same world that when joyful seemed to so alive and wonderful, now seems like a hoax, like pointless rubbish, like a world of suffering. Meditate on how this influenced others around you, and how it seemed to bring them down as well. Meditate on memories of suffering, and how others' suffering brought YOU down.

    - Meditate on your bodily death. The key here is not to get emotionally involved but to simply observe the inescapable fact of the impermanence of all things. Recall memories of people who have died, and how they seemed so alive and naive of their own impending death, and how their once pristine, cared for, controlled, civilized bodies are now decaying six feet under and are strewn without care for being civilized or being dignified. Project your own death, imagine the moments before your own death, remind yourself of the candle-in-the wind nature of life, of the fact that you could die tomorrow. Can't seem to get around this feeling and really believe it? Meditate on various people who thought the same way as you do right now but died the next day in a car accident or similar. The goal of this meditation is not to get involved in the fear of death and to become scared of death, but to get grounded firmly in life and to feel the true value of every second of the existence of your body.

    - Meditate on divine equality. Everything that exists is of the same source, and will die and decay into the same mud. Accomplishments mean nothing, even if people who accomplish something are remembered for eons in history, they are no longer their to experience this feeling of glory, it is empty and meaningless. You are no better nor no worse, TRULY, REALLY, than celebrities, music stars, Jesus Christ, the buddha, worms, mosquitoes, even lifelless wood.

    - Meditate on how all your suffering comes from unfulfilled desires, or from attachment to things you once had but lost. Meditate on the fact that the only way to transcend all suffering is to not desire anything, and not be attached to anything that you have, or to anybody that you know, or to any emotion or to absolutely anything, including your own body. To be attached to something is to be attached to something impermanent, which will one day undoubtably cease to exist, and will surely cause suffering then, even if it does bring you fleeting joy right now.

    - Meditate on nature, amongst nature, and how pure and peaceful and pristine it is. How it evokes a sense of pristineness within YOU. How still a tree is, how radiant a flower is, how phenomenally calm and beautiful the flowing river is. Remind yourself that there is no "nature, animals" and a seperate "us, human beings". That this feeling of seperation has been brought about and invented by us, and that we are actually a part of this beauty! We ARE it! seek to return to your source in the nature of nature, to feel the same way about yourself and the human world as you do about nature, for it is inherently the same thing.

    - A meditation that is geared towards experiencing a glimpse of satori but is not really calming in itself is to try to imagine the unimaginable, or to try to imagine nothingness, or to try to imagine the infinitely vast.

    Imagine the biggest thing you can. Then bigger, then bigger, until you cant imagine anything bigger. At some point during some meditation you will click into satori.

    Imagine the smallest thing you can. Then smaller, then smaller, until you cant imagine anything smaller. At some point during some meditation you will click into satori.

    Try to imagine something that you cant imagine. It is not a form, nor formless light or formless darkness. It is not a color, nor transparent colornessness. It is not a feeling a sound, or an emotion. It does not invoke any emotion, it is not a great feeling, nor a small one. Keep bringing the opposite polarity of whatever you think it to be, and deny both poles. At some point, during some meditation, you will click into satori.

    - A meditation for intense, unbound, previously unexperienced compassion and acceptance for yourself: Meditate on the fact that you are the best version of yourself that there can be. Even though others might say that you have made a wrong choice or you might feel that you have 'screwed up', given your internal thought processes, circumstances, biological circumstances and deep rooted personality at the time you did exactly what you thought was the best choice for you at the time. This extends to your entire life. Nobody can ever be a better version of you, if hypothetically someone else was to live your life with exactly the same conditions, they would have lived it the exact same way. Extend it to your entire life: Your thoughts right now are a direct result of the first thought you ever had, and have been influenced by all the circumstances external and uncontrollable by you along the way. In truth, you have had NO control over your own thoughts and choices because they are part of a cause and effect chain that extends all around and is deeper and larger than you could ever imagine. There is nothing to feel guilty about, ever - you are the perfect version of yourself that you could be at any given time. Perfect

    - Extend the same meditation for compassion for the self to people you are annoyed or vexed or generally not positively aligned with. Extend it to everything that you hate, the world, the way it is. There is no other way that it could have been, given the infinitely complex web of cause and effect web that they are part of. Their choices and behavior seem perfectly right to them from inside, just as your vexation with them seems perfectly justified to you. What they are doing is a direct result of their circumstances and their programming and uncontrolled thoughts in relation to their circumstances, right from the moment of their birth.

    Mudras, Subtle Physical Positions and their Influences on Consciousness, and some Tips

    Mudras are your hand positions. There are a host of different mudras, and they all impact your consciousness differently by channeling the flow of subtle energy in different ways. I will discuss the most common ones that I find useful.

    - Guyan Mudra [​IMG]

    This mudra is best for chakra meditation, it stimulates and allows for better awareness and connection with ones subtle energy.

    - Shuni Mudra [​IMG]

    This mudra is best for insight meditation.

    - Surya Mudra [​IMG]

    Works well for clearing thought from the mind by redirecting energy to sensory perception and away from thought.

    - Buddha Mudra [​IMG]

    Good for objectless meditation. Causes a surrendering, open-to-receiving attitude in consciousness, allowing one to become a neutral observer more easily.

    - Hakini Mudra [​IMG]

    Best ''all round'' mudra in my experience, my most favored mudra during all meditations. Helps focus the mind and keep it from wandering, helps center you and your thoughts and emotions. Even flow of energy to both halves of the body. An experience where one stops feeling like one has two hands but feels a fused entity in their place is possible with this mudra.

    - Dhyan Mudra [​IMG]

    My second most favorable mudra, can be used in objectless meditation effectively. The connecting thumbs allow for concentration and focus, while the open palms allow for ease of mind and taking a surrendering, observer attitude.


    All these are my experience only, and different people will have slightly different experiences with the different mudras. Once you become aware enough to tell the difference it makes to your consciousness, experiment and see what works best for YOU.

    Head position

    Ideal head position for concentration meditation is perfectly straight, not looking up nor down. In formless meditation assume the most relaxing, neutral position for your spine and head.

    If you find your distracting thoughts to be of an excessively distracting self-directed nature, looking up slightly will redirect them outwardly somewhat and help counter this.

    If you find yourself thinking about other stuff too much and have your head in the clouds, looking down slightly will help bring your thoughts down closer to you and to the immediate moment.

    Some General Tips

    1) If you find yourself getting distracted by a sound of some sort, simply observe the sound for awhile without judgement and eventually the annoyance will disappear. Remind yourself that inner peace is inner and is not subject to any exterior influences, rain, storm, or an outright war, the peaceful mind will remain peaceful even in a battle field.

    2) If you find yourself getting distracted by thoughts about what someone else has been telling you that you disagree with, or find yourself thinking about how someone else is negatively influencing you, or find yourself thinking about what someone else is thinking about you, remind yourself that your internal consciousness is all that will stay with you till the moment of your death. These people will come and will go, in 10 years they might not even be in your life, is it worth compromising that which will stay with you till the end for someone who is only around temporarily?

    3) If you find your mind wandering outside of your meditation room too often, open your eyes and look around. Remind yourself that everything outside what you can see right now is simply abstract imagination. Your world, your universe is limited to what you can see and where you are RIGHT NOW, and right now it is HERE. None of the things you are thinking about, none of the people you are thinking about are HERE right now, there is only you and this room. This will help center you to the immediate area around you and your immediate intent in meditating.

    4) If you find yourself thinking too much about the past, ask yourself, is the past here? Is it here in the room with me right now? Does it exist at all anymore, or is it simply in my head? All that exists, truly is RIGHT NOW. Conversely, if you find yourself thinking about the future too much, ask yourself if the future has every turned out exactly as you thought? It has not, you are part of and subject to an infinitely complex web of cause and effect, and your future is largely determined by this and outside of your control, and certainly will not align with your imagination. the future will also always be in the NOW, the future does not exist except in your head, when it does come it will be in the form of the NOW, the very same NOW that you are experiencing right NOW. This will serve to bring you into the moment and away from distractions of the past or the hypothetical future.
     
  6. #6 Androgenicx, Jan 10, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 25, 2009
    Zazen Meditation

    What is zazen meditation? Zazen means to "simply sit". It is essentially a form of open eye formless meditation. It is especially effective at formless meditation because open eyes reduce internal dialogue and inner chatter so there are less distractions, but the experience is also much more 'numbed' and dialed down.

    When you open your eyes energy is directed outwards, and there is less to fuel inner chatter, and so inner chatter reduces. When eyes are closed, all the energy is directed inwards, and inner chatter increases significantly. But it is difficult to stay in concentration meditation with eyes open for very long and is much harder to get the full absorption with eyes open as the eyes will have to occasionally blink, and it is easier to get absorbed in an object of meditation that is 'closer home' such as the breath. The full effect of insight meditation can also not be had with eyes open. Energy meditation is harder and less effective with energy directed outwards rather than towards ones own body.

    The purpose of zazen meditation is to directly enter 'no mind' state.

    Traditionally one sits in a thunderbolt position and holds Dhyana Mudra. Then attempts to simply not think about anything and to 'simply sit' and let everything including thoughts just be, without getting involved.

    The eyes are not completely open, but are half open. This is not known by most including most buddhists, but by obvious conclusion this is why this is done: When the energy is directed equally between the outside due to the eyes being open and the inside due to the eyes being closed, or half closed, the no mind state is acheived.

    There is a Shiv Sutra Hindu meditation that uses a similar principle. You close your eyes and then touch your eyelids with the fingertips of one of your fingers - very softly, like a feather. It has to be VERY softly, just barely. At some point your awareness gets directed equally between the inside of the eyelids which you are looking at and are conscious of from the inside, and the ouside of the eyelids which directs the energy outwards, the no mind state clicks and satori is glimpsed.

    When the eyes are half closed and half open, the same principle occurs. People are not conscious of this. Make yourself conscious of it; become conscious of the dark, inner part of the half closed eyelid for 10-20 seconds. You will find your thoughts getting directed inwards as your energy and awareness gets absorbed mostly inside, with only a little remaining that is perceiving the outside. Then bring all your attention back to what you can see outside with your half closed eyes and observe the awareness get directed outside. Keep doing this, and reducing the time in between each alternation as you find yourself getting absorbed into either state alot faster each subsequent time. At some point it will take just a second or two, awareness will be directed equally inside and outside, and the state of no mind will occur, and you will glimpse satori.

    You can also try doing this by keeping one eye closed and one open, alternating your awareness between the closed and open eye.


    Day to Day Waking Meditation, or "Walking Meditation"

    This is not active meditation, you do not set aside time to meditate, but bring yourself into a meditative state during your usual activities. Do not worry that it will be distracting and that you will not be able to do your activity properly - Quite the absolute opposite, you will find yourself doing the activities phenomenally better and more enjoyably, for the light of awareness will be present and inner chatter will be reduced.

    The first kind is to simply do what you are doing with all your being and presence. Be present to what you are doing completely, ignoring other thoughts and distractions. While you are eating, don't have the TV and your music and your laptop in your lap simultaneously, can you imagine the turmoil and confusion and overdrive of different, unrelated thoughts you will be inducing in yourself by doing this? Simply eat, paying attention to your food, to it as you chew it, COMPLETELY, without thinking about anything else. You will find food tasting almost like you are high, it will taste so much better.

    When you are driving, just drive. No music, no thoughts, no cell phone. Don't think about the destination, or about work, or about anything else. Simply drive, bring your attention to your driving and to the car in front of you. You will find your driving improving dramatically, and a sense of calm and peace and intuitive control and enjoyment while driving.

    When you are washing the dishes, wash the dishes. Don't think about the fact that you would rather not be doing this - either do it or don't, what use is there in doing it but wishing you wernt? Be with it fully, ignore all other thoughts. You will find even cleaning dishes to be a very peaceful, enjoyable experience, and will become much more efficient at it.

    Whatever you do, do that, and only that.

    Another method of waking meditation, which can also be applied to formal meditation is the Buddhist concept of Sunnata, or emptiness.

    The inherent nature of everything is to have no inherent nature. It is only our words, our thoughts, our labels and our perception that gives it a nature in our minds. A tree is only a tree because we have labeled it so. Try to look at it without labelling it as a tree, as nature, or as beautiful or ugly.

    Do the same with everything. This is a beautiful, very rewarding experience, and is considered the heart of living enlightenment. It is not the full experience, not even close, but a very superficial, subtle taste of it. Nothing has any inherent nature other than what is given to it by you in your mind. Even what someone says to you is inherently just a sound, it is identified by your knowledge of the language it is spoken in and given meaning.

    Sunnata is very very rewarding and a beautiful experience. It is difficult to experience and get into the state of seeing things as they are, it takes months of practice. After you finish a formal meditation session is when you are most likely to be able to experience it. When you open your eyes, do not get up. Take a few more minutes to look at the objects around you, mirrors, windows, curtains, chairs, tables. Without your labels, they have no inherent nature. Let them be. Do not try to see them as they are, simply trying is an attempt to do something to your perception of them. Just let them be as they are, do not label them, do not try to see them as this or that, or as a conceptual 'im trying to see it as it is' - Do not try, let the object show you its true nature you simply sit back and be open and receptive with a blank slate. This is difficult initially until you have experienced sunnatta a few times. Try this method of guiding yourself to the conclusion of emptiness: remind yourself that the table in front of you is simply wood on a more basic level, and that it is only your mind that makes it a table. On a more basic level, it is not wood, it is simply atoms, it is your mind that makes it wood. On a more basic level, it is not even atoms, for it is your mind that makes it atoms, it simply is what it is. Then simply let it be what it is as you observe it.

    Everything becomes inexplicably more beautiful and feels more right when not filtered through the lens of labelling and perception but is allowed be the experienced as-it-is. You feel at home and so very connected to everything around you when you are in a space of sunnata.


    That is all I have to share for now, I hope some can find use for this and that it enriches some lives. I will add more as and when I experience, encounter, or remember something.

    I wish you all Peace and love and Light. Cheers














    The initial meditations were of a transitory and introductory nature. Here, introduction to meditative states and meditations for the new and feebly adept were discussed and pointed to. Once a level of meditative absorption is established, true meditation is possible. True meditation is simply abidance. From here forth we will talk in terms of abidance, in the three distinct states. Credit for these distinctions goes to Anadi Kristof, a modern day realized being who is an absolute grace to the modern seeker.

    First, we have the dimension of consciousness. Existence is essentially experiencing itself through infinite angles of perception through us. Our individual consciousnesses are reflections and individualizations of the ultimate consciousness. The experience of consciousness in the human emanates from the middle of the brain and is generalized in the center of the headspace. What is consciousness? It is the pure subjectivity of perception, before the mind, before identity. In its essence it is uninvolved, pristine, and is spaciously luminous. Lost in the subconscious flux of thought, most beings never even glimpse the state of pure consciousness that is abidance in this pristine beforeness. At some point, either by grace of your personal evolution, by transmission, or through initial meditation, you will glimpse this state. Once it is glimpsed, you are awakened to it.

    Most beings have a sense of “me” that is constantly in flux and is based upon opinions, the past, fantasy about the future, and general personalized perception of what they think existence is. This is a very unstable sense of me as it is based in the illusory world of thought, and is the root of human suffering. This is called subconscious me. When pure awareness is awakened to, the sense of me has a new place to relocate to. Though awakening to the state only means you are awakened to it and not abiding in it, the awakening of consciousness to its own pure nature allows the formation of a new sense of me – conscious me. The conscious me is then experienced as an observer – is capable of getting involved in thought and emotion or simply observing it. This me is more stable than the subconscious me, but is also false. The goal is now to cultivate the state of pure consciousness and keep abiding in it until it stabilizes fully, and the experience of existence relocates here. Cultivation in the initial stages is done by means of self remembrance, asking the question, “who am I”. This is not an intellectual question, but rather the goal is to go to the physical/energetic location from which the question “who am I” is asked. When you ask, “who am I”, further ask, “who is it that is asking who am I”, and attempt to locate the source. Over time, the state of pure consciousness becomes accessible without the repeated use of this mantra. Then, the state of consciousness is returned to by the horizontal pulling back of awareness, from the seen to the seer, from the experience to the experiencer. Forgetfulness and lack of energy in the headspace are the barriers to cross towards stabilization of the state of pure consciousness. The state is cultivated through general remembrance in activity, and in sitting meditation. With eyes open, this state is energetically felt at the back of the head and to a lesser extend in the headspace and around it. With eyes closed, it is experienced in the entire headspace. A common error is to cultivate conscious me instead of pure consciousness. Conscious me is experienced with eyes closed at the front of the headspace, and with eyes open abidance is experienced by absorption into the objects of perception around onesself, with a lack of abidance in ones own headspace. This is not a bad thing necessarily, as cultivating and crystallizing a sense of conscious me allows for freedom from compulsive involvement with thought, but is not the goal and must be transcended in favor of cultivation and stabilization of pure consciousness. Initially, the state of pure consciousness will be experienced as impersonal, and the state of conscious me as personal. Both are mutually supporting – conscious me awakens and crystallizes and is illuminated through pure consciousness, and pure consciousness is abided in through conscious me. Gradually, the state of conscious existence shifts such that the state of pure consciousness starts feeling more and more personal, and the state of conscious me starts feeling less and less personal. Upon complete stabilization, an existential shift occurs where the identity fully relocates into the realm of pure consciousness. Once full stabilization is achieved, enlightenment of consciousness is still not achieved. One must then integrate the conscious me's identity and ones innate intelligence into the pure consciousness such that all attachments to the consciousness of ego and conscious me are dropped. This is done by simply consciously abiding in the now stabilized state through sitting meditation. Enlightenment of the consciousness is achieved upon full integration of the stabilized state. One is fully present in a state of luminous spaciousness, spontaneity, and presence that can never now be lost. This is the zen enlightenment, which many mistake for absolute enlightenment. In truth, there is far more.

    There is then the dimension of being. The dimension of being is the collective, impersonal ground of Now. Unlike consciousness, it is not personal, but impersonal. The dimension of being can only awaken after the dimension of pure consciousness has been awakened to. The dimension of being is initially experienced as state of ease and relaxation and stillness and absorption into the now. This is the experience of being on this side of creation – the manifested. The Now is the secret gate between the manifested and unmanifested. At the deepest level, the state of being suddenly penetrates the now and one is sucked into the other side of creation – the unmanifested. This is called the absolute state. The experience is marked by the most intense of energies, and the complete dissolution of phenomenal consciousness into a bottomless “void”, although some sense of an experiencer is still maintained. Not all souls have it in their destiny to reach this state, less alone abide in it permanently through cultivation and stabilization. However, the dimension of being is important to simultaneously cultivate as it is one of the three aspects, apart from consciousness, that forms the inner space. The dimension of being, once awakened to, is cultivated by sitting meditation – simply doing nothing and surrendering and absorbing deeper into this state. If one is still not stabilized in the dimension of pure consciousness, one must maintain delicate remembrance of abidance in consciousness as the abiding in being sucks energy from the consciousness and weakens its state, unless and until the consciousness is stabilized fully. Enlightenment of being is experienced as stabilization of the absolute state, though is not possible for all.

    Then, lastly, there is the dimension of the heart. The heart space is where the soul, the child of the divine mother, resides. The highest point of evolution of the human is realization of the soul. In most people, the soul is dormant or sleeping. She has not awakened to herself. The awakening of the soul occurs through evolution and through the going through of lives. At some point, realization is achieved that there is more to life than being lost in desires, and seeking starts. Through the ego, initially, and then through pure consciousness, the soul starts a journey to realize herself. The heart dimension is also where the soul, after realization, realizes unity and oneness with her beloved mother, the divine. The divine is the supreme manifested. It has a will and a consciousness, and is constantly guiding and available for as much guidance as one is truly open to. The nlightenment of the heart, achieved in the heartspace, is marked by the dissolution of all negative intention and the permanent presence of a deep sense of sensitivity towards all of creation. In truth, enlightenment of the heart is the only enlightenment that is no final. The divine will is constantly evolving and unfolding and experiencing the mystery of existence. The heart will constantly grow and cultivate.
    This is not to be confused with the supreme unmanifested – which is nothingness, and is penetrated through enlightenment of the being. The nothingness is the unconscious void, it has no will, but it is the source of all creation, including the divine supreme manifested. The heartspace, after its energetic awakening, is cultivated through meditation upon it, cultivation of compassion, purification of intention, listening to “soul stirring” music, selfless service, and such. The heartspace is where the essential connection of love towards creation is experienced and cultivated, one all levels – emotional initially, then it enlarges to include all animals, beings, and such, and finally starts engulfing all of creation, and never stops growing.

    The complete inner state is experienced once enlightenment of consciousness is achieved, and the being and heart are cultivated to sufficient depth and integrated into each other by simultaneous abidance in each. The inner state is enlightened upon enlightenment of all three dimensions, although in the case of most souls upon enlightenment of the heart and consciousness only, as enlightenment of the being is not in the blueprint of all souls.

    This is a path to the wholeness that all souls innately long for and are destined for.

    If one is not awakened to pure consciousness, awakening and cultivation of the other dimensions and the inner state in general is not possible. If this is your case, your goal is to have an awakening. Zen koan practice, general mindfulness, and observance of the mind are good meditations to cause this awakening. Alternatively, if you can find an authentic master, this state can be awakened through transmission. This state can also be awakened to at random by divine grace, as per your soul's blueprint.

    Awakening to being occurs after awakening of pure consciousness is achieved and to some level abided in. It is experienced through surrender. It is not hard to awaken to.

    Awakening of the heart occurs through cultivation of compassion, purification of intension, and can be awakened energetically. In truth, if one is relatively pure, cultivation of consciousness and being will most likely awaken the heart at some point.

    This addition is for serious seekers of the path, I have come across these teachings and they have given me tremendous clarity as there is such a dustbin of opinions, new and old, about what enlightenment is and how it is achieved. I share it with your with my love and gratitude for the available of these teachings, birthed through Anadi Aziz Kristof, by will of the divine. Thank you for reading this guide, I wish you the best in your inner journey towards wholeness.

    Love, Nitaant
     
  7. I haven't yet read through all of this, but you seem to be a pretty good authority on meditation. I've been learning more about Kashmir Saivism lately, and it fascinates me. This may be an ignorant question, but do you know of any Saivism-related meditation techniques? I'm not sure there are such things, since so much of this is interrelated, but I'm so new to it that I figured I'd ask somebody who has better insight :)
     
  8. I am not sure about kashmir saivism, but Saivism in general is centered around the worship of Shiv. The Shiv Sutras are all Shaivism meditations. You can google Shiv Sutras, or better yet, check out my soon to be guru's Shiv Sutra discourses/meditations here. The Shiv Sutras are some of the most powerful meditations.
     
  9. Thank you kindly. I will look into these when the time is right!
     
  10. I recommend a new method called the Energy-Control Meditation Technique. It was invented in 2001 by an American and is the only form of meditation that's based on the way that your mind actually works. In fact, the book "The Fabulous Energy-Control Meditation Technique and more..." might be the first body of text in history to explain the way the human mind works. I did Transcendental Meditation for many years until someone turned me on to ECMT and I never went back to TM again. Check it out:

    http://www.unintimidatedpress.com/ecmt.htm
     
  11. #11 Androgenicx, Jan 11, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 11, 2009
    All kinds of meditation are useful. This one charges money, I don't like anything that is in the name of spirituality that charges money, but im sure there is some use in it as it obviously has helped people.

    Ive read about it, and it seems like energy meditation combined with some healing. Nothing new or fabulous about this technique alone, but the effects that your energy levels and chakra balancing can have on you is indeed quite fabulous.

    This doesnt have any transcendental aspects to it. Doing any one meditation technique alone is highly short changing yourself, they are all important and very useful. I would recommend not dropping TM or "switching" from this and to that, within just a few sessions if you are doing the meditation intensely and not as a ritual the usefulness of the meditation at the time diminishes significantly, and you would be much better off cycling through the tens and tens of meditation techniques available.
     
  12. Very cool. More people need to learn how powerful meditation can be, and more effective than many medicine out there.
    You have a guide on Anapanasati meditation (Mindful breathing)?
     
  13. All I know about mindful breathing is using breath as an object of meditation. If there is more to it in the form of "Anapanasati" meditation, I am sorry I do not know about it.
     

  14. There's something like 4600 books on meditation for sale on Amazon.com. I don't think it's realistic to expect that author to give his book away. By the way, it might be for sale but it's easily the cheapest book on meditation that I've ever seen. He even sells a coil-bound version for a paltry $10.00.


    I did TM for decades. All it does is make you feel less stressed out and more relaxed. ECMT does that ten-fold and those are reaally only the minimum results that a person experiences with this technique.
     
  15. From what you say above I'm sure you'll already have it, but this is about the earliest text that lays out any kind of systemised Shivaism in the Svetasvatara Upanishad:

    http://www.bharatadesam.com/spiritual/upanishads/svetasvatara_upanishad.php


    Although obviously, Shivaism has a strong leaning towards Shiva almost exclusively as a central embodiment of ultimate reality, the practises contained in the other Upanisads are still relevant to what you're looking at, and many contain meditation methods that are useful, and even the Gita is source of similar methods. However, as you probably also already know too:), some of the instructions and messages contained in the Upanishads can be either literal, metaphorcal, or written with 'veiled intent' to prevent those who aren't ready to understand them from being able to interpret the text in its ultimate meaning.


    Hope this helps,

    MelT
     
  16. This thread is a great resource Androgenix. Are you going to post about the higher traditions beyond 'non-conceptual' and 'formless' meditation too?


    MelT
     
  17. Could you elaborate? I am not aware of any higher traditions. Everything falls into either object meditation, or objectless. "Higher" traditions can involve deeper meditations, adding physical distractions such as a burning pot of fire on your head.

    If your talking about Samadhi, those are simply stages of very deep meditation and almost as impossible to describe as Enlightenment itself. Sarvikalpa Samadhi is when you go deep enough into any form of meditation for the meditation to become effortless and for the flow of erratic thought to be dropped completely or almost completely. You don't feel aware of your own body anymore, only of the object but observer awareness is still there. Breathing and heartbeat slow down very significantly. Nirvakalpa Samadhi is the next and highest stage of meditation, it is complete absorption. There is no object-consciousness, no observer. Everything dissolves, breathing stops, heartbeat stops, and one is simply in divine bliss without being aware of anything. The body does not die as the energy of the divine that one has temporarily gained union with keeps the body alive.

    Another open eye awareness meditation, often done with a Trishul or Trident, is to first meditate on the center spoke of the trident, then to try to expand your awareness to 2 spokes, then to all 3 - to see all 3 spokes of the trident without your eyes moving by only expanding your awareness.

    There are various practices, both somewhat known such as the Panch Agni (Five Fires) where you surround yourself with fire pots and place a 5th pot of fire on your own head, having a ditch dug and covered so that air can come in but the practioner of the meditation cannot leave the ditch until a pre-appointed time when the ditch is opened, and various various others that have been either lost over the ages or are known only in the orders of various monkhoods and Sanyassis in Tibetan and Hindu sects.

    If there is something else that you are talking about, please feel free to add to the thread, I do not have knowledge of them and would love to learn as well.
     
  18. You got a lot of information there, just going to bump this so i can find it easier later.

    Thanks for posting
     

  19. Could you elaborate? I am not aware of any higher traditions. Everything falls into either object meditation, or objectless.

    Yes, that's true for forms of meditation, but meditation in the usual sense is an intermediate practise that is eventually left behind. In later traditions it's referred to as a 'sickness' that's a barrier to realisation, and left for 'non-meditation conjoined with wisdom'.


    If there is something else that you are talking about, please feel free to add to the thread, I do not have knowledge of them and would love to learn as well.

    I think these methods should be added, but I thought I should ask first, as this thread is really yours and I didn't want to intrude. This really should take a few pages to explain properly, and I hope I can do it justice here despite having to speak in generalisations, but;

    In describing the branches of meditation, they're usually all seen as each falling under a basic heading within the '4 Yogas', each with its own aim. As you're showing with your first postings on the first yoga, the first goal is one-pointedness, in the second yoga the goal is non-conceptuality, both reached by meditation.

    1) One-Pointedness
    2) Beyond Concepts
    3) One Taste
    4) Beyond Meditation

    Speaking very broadly, any form of meditation that falls into the first two categories are 'cause and effect' meditations for those hoping to attain Kensho, the second two are 'non-meditation' for those who have reached it and want to rest within it as a permanent state. There are also two more subsequent levels of non-meditation after these for those who do reach satori, to help them broaden their state even further.

    We might also say that the first two yogas are 'gradualist' methods and are based on cause and effect; ie, you do X in meditation to take you hopefully to state Y. Once you've reached state Y, with a bit of luck it's effects last for a few months or years, and grow progressively deeper each time you return to the state. The trouble is that on the whole, you will leave whatever state you create or reach once you rise from meditation, so any attainment or experience in meditation is impermanent and simply a 'glimpse' of ultimate nature.

    In the second two Yogas though, the results are 'instant' (or cumulative), and the third is semi-permanent, with the fourth permanent - there is no entering or leaving it.

    In terms of kinds of meditation that are beyond object or object-less, we could also add in attaining 'reflexive', then 'essential', Rigpa to the list of methods, giving a subdivision to the fourth Yoga category; or add in contemplation of View and its subsidiary non-practises to the third Yoga. So, truthfully speaking there are many other methods other than those that can be covered by the terms 'object' or 'object-less' meditation.

    Method and Wisdom
    At first, students begin by using 'method' (meditation and its supports) to reach particular states, which they hope will contain knowledge of the nature of reality ('wisdom'). As time goes on and this knowledge is gained, less and less method is used favour of wisdom alone. Once using wisdom alone there is little recognisable meditation in any traditional sense, as the use of wisdom isn't applied through meditation - so little by little, meditation as most will know it is left behind in favour of simply knowing reality correctly. Make no mistake, realisation isn't just about reaching particular states of mind, but states where particular knowledge about reality is directly experienced - 'realised'.

    However, to some degree, once you've reached full knowledge there's no need to keep trying to experience it again and again in Kensho, there's no real purpose. You simply learn how to take what you've learned and apply it in a particular way that will lead to full Satori, leaving meditation and effort behind. Kensho, if deep enough, signals the start of non-meditation.

    To try and explain how some methods are slower than others, using the 4 categories above I'll roughly mark out the differences:

    1) One-pointedness - is 'method'. It's a form of 'doing' - ie, doing something and hoping for an effect, therefore thepractise contains subtle desire (for realisation) and intent (to continue to sit), which both go to make the state the practitioner seeks, and their sitting, less than pure.

    2) Beyond concepts - is again 'method', or if practised along with Vipassana, 'method and insight'. this is better than number 1, but still based on cause and effect. 'Insight' means understanding the true nature of reality, which at this point will tend to be either solely intellectual, or a mixture of intellectual and that gained via direct experience.

    3) One Taste - Wisdom (actual direct knowledge rather than insight) and some method.

    4) Beyond Meditation - Wisdom alone, instant and permanent. No meditation to enter or leave. The practice is the Fruit, the Fruit is the practice.

    As Androgenix rightly says above, Nirvikalpa Samadhi is the highest state of meditation, but it isn't the highest state of non-meditation, and there's a secret samadhi that's even beyond Satori/Nirvikalpa.

    As this was a bit of a potted history that may not make much sense to some, I'm happy to explain any point in more detail.

    MelT
     
  20. Thanks for this post, very useful. How could the thread be mine, when there is no "I" to attribute it to :)

    No right or wrongs, all methods, all religions, all philosophies have their own methods to realization, but meditation as "sickness" is I believe mostly Buddhist. Meditation can and does become a crutch, agreed, but doesnt necessarily have to be dropped altogether until complete attainment - realization that goes beyond the meditation and requires no further meditation. This realization can be come to during and through meditation, as it did for various enlightened hindu beings, and as it incidentally did for the Buddha himself.

    While it is certainly of utmost importance to point out and assimilate that meditative states themselves are not the end and that the goal is attainment in non-meditation, how does one go about these is inexplicable, cannot be guided, only be made aware of. Only after satori either by personal understanding of the being who has attained satori, or by direct transmission from an attained master can these states be entered and permanently resided in, there is no guide long or comprehensive enough that is possible to direct one into these states.

    Question, what do you mean by dropping meditation and carrying on the state of satori by wisdom itself? Waking dzogchen where in each moment you keep the realization and re-establish the truth of the wisdom? Or is it something else you are talking about here?

    Again, thank you for this addition, it is a very important part that was overseen in the first few posts, not only in the posting but I wasn't aware enough of it myself to realize its relevance and significance.
     

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