My practice
- jin..lin
- Topic Author
15 years 9 months ago #57159
by jin..lin
Replied by jin..lin on topic RE: My practice
" - does the progress of insight depend on practice, or does it have a momentum of its own ?"
For me, meditation has it's short term rewards: clearer mind, better mood. These states are my benchmark if I have been meditating or just sit there fooling myself. I don't worry about long term goals.
For me, meditation has it's short term rewards: clearer mind, better mood. These states are my benchmark if I have been meditating or just sit there fooling myself. I don't worry about long term goals.
- kennethfolk
- Topic Author
15 years 9 months ago #57160
by kennethfolk
Replied by kennethfolk on topic RE: My practice
"For me, meditation has it's short term rewards: clearer mind, better mood. These states are my benchmark if I have been meditating or just sit there fooling myself. I don't worry about long term goals."-jin..lin
Don't rule out the possibility of feeling worse after meditation. In fact, this is a common outcome at the initial and intermediate stages; people often report that meditation makes them feel raw and edgy. This is fine. It's all part of the process of learning to objectify and dis-embed from your experience. After enlightenment, your sittings will almost always be pleasant, both during and after. Meanwhile, you have to be willing to sit through anything.
At its best, meditation helps us be awake with whatever is happening in this moment. That means that you can be just as enlightened in hell as you can in heaven. To use meditation as a way to have more pleasant experiences and less unpleasant experiences is like stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.
Kenneth
Don't rule out the possibility of feeling worse after meditation. In fact, this is a common outcome at the initial and intermediate stages; people often report that meditation makes them feel raw and edgy. This is fine. It's all part of the process of learning to objectify and dis-embed from your experience. After enlightenment, your sittings will almost always be pleasant, both during and after. Meanwhile, you have to be willing to sit through anything.
At its best, meditation helps us be awake with whatever is happening in this moment. That means that you can be just as enlightened in hell as you can in heaven. To use meditation as a way to have more pleasant experiences and less unpleasant experiences is like stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.
Kenneth
- N.ga
- Topic Author
15 years 6 months ago #57161
by N.ga
Replied by N.ga on topic Flash of insight
Last night, I was lying in my bed and felt the softness of the mattress. Then it occurred to me, that it was the "suchness" of that object ( mattress). Likewise, I felt as if every thing in existence, animate or inanimate, from a grain of sand to a rock has a certain "suchness", as if that thing has a perfection of its own. Then I reminded myself of a person whom I thought was obnoxious, but even that person's obnoxious nature was somehow perfect on it's own ( my perception of that "suchness" is not perfect though)
Somehow, this insight gave me a sense of sympathetic joy, seeing how everything is perfect on it's own.
I don't think this is a state or stage, maybe an "aha !" moment. Anyone had experiences like this?
PS- haven't done any noting practices in a while.
Somehow, this insight gave me a sense of sympathetic joy, seeing how everything is perfect on it's own.
I don't think this is a state or stage, maybe an "aha !" moment. Anyone had experiences like this?
PS- haven't done any noting practices in a while.