As per title, focusing on Now feels very similar to mindful meditation where you focus on current sensations to stay in the now. Is there a difference I'm missing?

“You live in illusion and the appearance of things. There is a reality, but you do not know this. When you understand this, you will see that you are nothing. And being nothing, you are everything. That is all.”


— Kalu Rinpoche


To be nothing is to be one with everything.

We are already in heaven. The divine already lies within us. This has always been and will always be true. Each of us must simply stop reinforcing the fear that this is not so. Meditation helps us learn how to stop. By stopping, we can truly experience what we are and better understand our connection to the universe. Through the practice of meditation, one can witness the confluence of everyday consciousness and singular, pointed concentration.

“Meditation practice is regarded as a good and in fact excellent way to overcome warfare in the world: our own warfare as well as greater warfare.” — Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Transcendental Meditation is a secretive mantra meditation movement founded by an indian yogi/guru. Most research on meditation benefits is on TM. To learn it, one has to pay for and participate in a course led by a certified TM teacher.

Does anybody here have had experience with TM, participated in a course and received a mantra chosen by their teacher?

Do you really need a teacher to learn it? Is the course worth it or just profiteering? Anything else one should know before going to a course themselves?

I've been doing Vipassana meditation for over a year now, but I recently decided to experiment with some other forms. I have been trying the noting technique lately and each time I try it, I end up being overwhelmed with energy in the body, tightness in my chest and throat, and I begin sobbing quite hard. I cut my meditation short today because I was weeping too much.

Has anyone else experienced this? Should I stop this practice?

No u!

Hi all, how do you manage to sit for long periods of time ?

I'm having trouble staying still after 25/30mn. After that my right leg gets so numb, I've got to move it every once in a while. I'm not sure it really is an issue, but even if I try ti stay focused on my meditation while moving, it's always a distraction. Fyi : I sit crossed legs with my butt on a cushion.

Thanks !

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/3024344

This is a video I watched a while ago, but I remember enjoying it so thought I'd share it.

https://youtu.be/PYD-Gx_9K_M

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/3024344

This is a video I watched a while ago, but I remember enjoying it so thought I'd share it.

https://youtu.be/PYD-Gx_9K_M

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/2534576

Instant Zen #49: Sitting Meditation

Foyan, Cleary translation

The light of mind is reflected in emptiness;

its substance is void of relative or absolute.

Golden waves all around,

Zen is constant, in action or stillness.

Thoughts arise, thoughts disappear;

don't try to shut them off.

Let them flow spontaneously—

what has ever arisen and vanished?

When arising and vanishing quiet down,

there appears the great Zen master;

sitting, reclining, walking around,

there's never an interruption.

When meditating, why not sit?

When sitting, why not meditate?

Only when you have understood this way.

is it called sitting meditation.

Who is it that sits? What is meditation?

To try to seat it

is using Buddha to look for Buddha.

Buddha need not be sought,

seeking takes you further away.

In sitting, you do not look at yourself;

meditation is not an external art.

At first, the mind is noisy and unruly;

there is still no choice but to shift it back.

That is why there are many methods

to teach it quiet observation.

When you sit up and gather your spirit,

at first it scatters helter-skelter;

over a period of time, eventually it calms down,

opening and freeing the six senses.

When the six senses rest a bit,

discrimination occurs therein.

As soon as discrimination occurs,

it seems to produce arising and vanishing.

The transformations of arising and vanishing

come from manifestations of one's own mind.

Put your own mind to use to look back once:

once you've returned, no need to do it again;

you wear a halo of light on your head.

The spiritual flames leap and shine,

unobstructed in any state of mind,

all-inclusive, all-pervasive;

birth and death forever cease.

A single grain of restorative elixir

turns gold into liquid;

acquired pollution of body and mind

have no way to get through.

Confusion and enlightenment are temporarily explained;

stop discussing opposition and accord.

When I think carefully of olden days

when I sat coolly seeking,

though it's nothing different,

it was quite a mess.

You can turn from ordinary mortal to sage

in an instant, but no one believes.

All over the earth is unclarity;

best be very careful.

If it happens you do not know,

then sit up straight and think;

one day you'll bump into it.

This I humbly hope.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/2224312

Spirituality is an expression of our evolution in a universal sea of molecules.

It's a beautiful summer evening. You're sitting there peacefully, savoring the fresh air. Then, without warning, a handful of mosquitoes invite themselves. The itch is unbearable and demands our attention. Isn't this overwhelming need to scratch a mosquito bite strangely similar to those disruptive thoughts that invade our minds constantly?

When we give in to the temptation to scratch, we think we're alleviating our pain, but in reality, we're only intensifying the irritation and the urge to scratch. When we succumb to rumination, to the agitation of our mind, we think we are fixing our problems but we let ourselves be dragged into a downward spiral of worry and suffering.

The itch is an invitation to self-discipline. Don't scratch, it's an act of resistance. The bite will pass more quickly and you will make peace with the mosquitoes. Not scratching is a show of self-compassion, it is to prevent future pain. Not scratching is to recognize that the real relief is not this impulsive reaction, but detachment and calm.

Isn't it the same with our thoughts? To get carried away by the citta vrittis is like scratching a mosquito bite. It's giving in to an instinctive reaction, increasing mental agitation and feeding the ego. Resisting this impulse is resisting the urge to scratch. It is practicing letting go, it's cultivating tranquility of mind.

If you understand that rumination only worsens the situation, what would you choose to do? Whether it's a mosquito bite or one of your problems, the itch is only temporary and scratching solves nothing. Let's take a deep breath. Feel the pain, the discomfort, the turmoil of our thoughts, but don't scratch. Observe the itch, but don't let it define us. Pain is real, but we are merely the observer. So, the next time you're bitten by a mosquito, remember: it's not just a bite. It's an opportunity to keep control, to observe, and to learn.*

Photo by Langeveld on Unsplash

Now = here = awareness = you

or is there such a thing? should i just stick to some mantra, even if it doesn't necessarily feel "right"?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1331405

Tend to your fields and the spiritual harvest will be bountiful.

The power of not reacting.m

Has anyone tried this - or any aspect of it?

"Mindfulness is definitely in fashion these days. People everywhere report that it has changed their lives, and the scientific research on the practice is booming. But an interesting change is happening in the world of mindfulness. A different type of mindfulness – nondual mindfulness – is growing in popularity. Furthermore, trustworthy scientific people (like Sam Harris) are making incredible claims about it. They are saying it is superior to conventional mindfulness, that it gives you access to a profound form of happiness that is available at will, and even that it is synonymous with spiritual awakening and/or enlightenment! They also claim that this form of awakening can be learned."

P.S. Not 100% sure whether Sam Harris is a "Trustworthy, scientific person" or not. :)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1082995

Search for and reside in the still point of the mind. This point lies beyond the senses and truth and light await the searchers who arrive.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1047595

From 365 Tao: Daily Meditations by Deng Meng-Dao

I started mediating and studying buddha-dharma when I was incarcerated in 2015 and sustained a daily mindfulness practice for three years or so.

I was released just before covid and my practice fell off during the pandemic.

Over the week leading up to father's day I had a breakdown and some of the mental health issues that got me arrested in 2015 resurfaced. At the tailend of the breakdown I put on a body scan and had taken a small dose of psilocybin. I had also been working with a Buddhist therapist who has mentioned something about resting in the space between the end of the outbreath and the beginning of the inbreath.

The bodyscan starts by anchoring to the breathing and I let my attention rest completely in the breathing. And as the guided meditation was finishing up I noticed a vibration, like a snore but in consciousness itself, this vibration. Coarse. And I understood this is dukkha. And in the next moment, at the bottom of the breath, there was a moment where this vibration was absent.

The birds were still singing. My body was still on the mat. But for a moment, the intense suffering I had been experiencing over the previous week, was completely absent. And the moment was most defined by this contrast.

I experimented with it over the course of the night and was able to repeat the experience. At the bottom and top of the breathing, but also right in the middle. And I could tell a difference between clinching (trying to make the skip happen by holding the breathing or holding the thinking) and finding the skip by being aware of and letting go of dukkha.

My therapist is on vacation right now so I haven't had a chance to ask her about it.

But I am curious for other people's thoughts or experiences.

Thanks