Welcome!

No, seriously. Tonight is the night when everyone in Brazil goes to the beach to make offerings to the sea goddess and ask her blessings for the new year (even if the rest of the year they have no interest in nor involvement in the religions from which this practice originates). It happens to be that same sea goddess to whom I was initiated over a decade ago, so it will be a very interesting experience for me, to join millions of people, dressed in white, carrying flowers and candles down to the shore.

Wilber now has his own thread under General Dharma Discussions. Congrats Wilber!

Happy NOW to all my darling refugees. I so love you all for taking the freaking opportunity of your human lives so seriously, daring to be actually intimate with your life.

Hi everyone!

I'm Nadav. I'm a jazz musician and recent college graduate, currently living in Atlanta, GA. I was fortunate to be introduced to meditation by my mother at a young age, and I began a daily practice about two years ago. A year and a half ago I began studying with Kenneth Folk and using his noting tecehnique and conceptual framework. About a month ago I experienced a shift that I believe corresponds to 4th path in that model. (My practice is detailed on Kenneth Folk's forum.)

My practice lately is mostly in the body awareness / "just sitting" vein. The latest shift saw the end of the goal-oriented spiritual seeking that has driven me to this point. I have experienced varying degrees of this after each path moment, so it's too early to tell if it will return or not. For now, I'm glad to be able to engage in other aspects of my life without feeling like I'm wasting potential practice time (because everything is practice). It feels very much like a return to normalcy or a process of simplification. I believe that any deepening/development from this point will happen naturally (as it has all along), so it feels like a good time to start to let go of all the conceptual stuff about mapping, stages, etc. The Chan/Zen approach is making a lot of sense to me these days.

Yeah!

Welcome, Nadav! It's nice to have you here.

Yes, it's good to let go of mapping at times. Lately, I've been finding it more useful to consciously develop skillful qualities, which is more "what am I doing?" than "where am I at on this or that map?" In other words, it's not a bad thing to know what you're going for; but, once you know, you can take your mind off the result and keep it on the path.

Welcome Nadav! Good to have you here

Jake

Welcome! Nice to meet you.

Hi all!
My name is Duane Miller. I live in PA with my wife and two daughters. I am a musician, produce my own recordings and am ranked 7th lower level in a Southern Short Fist style of Chinese Kung Fu. I have a blog where I have some commentaries on my experience with Buddhism and meditation practice here. I have been reading about Buddhism for a number of years but only really came to understand what it was actually all about within the past year and am very excited to converse with some knowledgeable people. I've recently read Daniel Ingram's MCTB so most of my understanding is based on that reference point but I'm not going for that "hardcore" of an approach. I have a loose sitting practice but am mostly trying to focus on bringing these sorts of techniques into everyday life as often as I am mindful enough to do so. I enjoy insight practice the most so far but am interested in strengthening my concentration. I am currently focusing on calm abiding and working toward SE as a 6 month - 1 year goal.
Thanks for having me here and I look forward to learning with you:)


-duane_eugene_miller

Hello all! (Update)



I have started a new blog with the purpose of being specific
and precise about my meditation practice without all the extra commentary and
speculation. My previous blog
“Dreamlandnoise: Adventures and Meditations” will remain active because it documents
the first year or so of my experience with this and may be useful to someone or
even me in the future however I will not be adding much to it. The new blog is called “Embracing Samsara”
and can be found at the link below.
There will be practice notes, resources, my personal prayers and the
instructions that I follow. I do not
name names for the privacy of my friends but if you wish to be credited just
speak up on the blog. I will post links
to free web resources regarding the instruction/advice that I follow when
appropriate. If I post a link to your
site and you wish it to be removed please contact me and I will do so promptly. Please subscribe via email by clicking the
“Follow” button on the site if it interests you.



Thank you!



Embracing Samsara

'Are you listening, Universe? It's me, Chris...'

I can imagine your living here, Chris...

California is better than other places.

mooooove toooo caallliiiiifoooorneeeeeaaaaaaahhhh!

Was there a disagreement between Daniel and Kenneth that caused Kenneth to form KFD as part of the First Great Schism?

I was reading Kenneth's interview on Buddhist Geeks the other day. His contention that his cocaine addiction disappeared immediately after a spiritual experience I found very interesting. It reminds me of the woman who developed Dialetical Behavioral Therapy. She also had a spiritual experience, which she says immediately healed her worst symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. IMO, underlines the importance of incorporating spirituality in conventional therapies for addictions and mental illness.

Haha, It Does Feel Like It When We Capitalize Everything.

I have been meditating for decades without claim to any attainments: TM then Korean Zen then vipassana. For the last 2 years, this has involved detailed 4 Foundations Noting for around 1 to 1 1/2 hours a day. I added a mahamudra (mm) practice about a year ago using Kenneth Folk's listening for something that is not there. A session would go something like this: Accepting phase where I accepted whatever came in a sense door but turned my attention toward the next phase. A listening phase where I listened for the sound of the stars. Hopefully then my mind would go to a openness, still phase where phenomena would pop out and go away without disturbing the stillness. Then I could go to a surrender phase where I relaxed. Soon I would be pulled away from this phase and have to start all over again from the start. Then a month or two ago I went away from this sort of mm practice which involved some striving and to a Do Nothing practice where there was no striving. That works sometimes but most of the time I would daydream, a state where I could happily spend the whole session. Then I added slight nudges (doing) to try and get back that openness/still feeling. It hasn't been going so well for the last week or so so I am going back to just doing Kenneth's technique. I have been doing my detailed 4 Found. noting at a different session every day for at least an hour during this whole mm experiment.

So, I'm kind of stumbling around. Chris gave me some good suggestions and encouragement. He suggested I ask this group for advice.

Jack from Chicago

Nice to meet you. Welcome.

Perhaps start a separate thread with specific questions if/when you have them?

Glad to have you here!

Hi Jack Welcome