I have this problem that when I do Samatha meditation my thoughts or memories tend to get suppressed temporarily. It can become a problem at work, yet I want to do my Samatha as I feel it is important. Any ideas?
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Matheesha
Thought suppression by Samatha
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Thought suppression by Samatha
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Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
What exactly do you mean by suppressed?
Gain and loss, status and disgrace,
censure and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions among human beings are inconstant,
impermanent, subject to change.
Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don’t charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.
His welcoming and rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
do not exist.
- Lokavipatti Sutta
Stuff I write about things.
censure and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions among human beings are inconstant,
impermanent, subject to change.
Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don’t charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.
His welcoming and rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
do not exist.
- Lokavipatti Sutta
Stuff I write about things.
Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
What are you doing with your thoughts or memories that they tend to get suppressed temporarily?rowyourboat wrote:I have this problem that when I do Samatha meditation my thoughts or memories tend to get suppressed temporarily. It can become a problem at work, yet I want to do my Samatha as I feel it is important. Any ideas?
Metta
Matheesha
Just that! *smile*
...We Buddhists must find the courage to leave our temples and enter the temples of human experience, temples that are filled with suffering. If we listen to Buddha, Christ, or Gandhi, we can do nothing else. The refugee camps, the prisons, the ghettos, and the battlefields will become our temples. We have so much work to do. ... Peace is Possible! Step by Step. - Samtach Preah Maha Ghosananda "Step by Step" http://www.ghosananda.org/bio_book.html
BUT! it is important to become a real Buddhist first. Like Punna did: Punna Sutta Nate sante baram sokham _()_
...We Buddhists must find the courage to leave our temples and enter the temples of human experience, temples that are filled with suffering. If we listen to Buddha, Christ, or Gandhi, we can do nothing else. The refugee camps, the prisons, the ghettos, and the battlefields will become our temples. We have so much work to do. ... Peace is Possible! Step by Step. - Samtach Preah Maha Ghosananda "Step by Step" http://www.ghosananda.org/bio_book.html
BUT! it is important to become a real Buddhist first. Like Punna did: Punna Sutta Nate sante baram sokham _()_
Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
In my experience, samatha results in more intentional thought-formation; thoughts aren't suppressed in a general way, they simply don't arise as randomly. It's like bullet-time in the mind, not vacuous like an infant's mind.
- "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.
"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.
- Sedaka Sutta [SN 47.19]
Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
Greetings Matheesha,
In your situation I would restrict the amount of time on samatha and spend more time on vipassana. I am not convinced that maintaining intense samatha is ideal outside of the seclusion of retreat.
kind regards,
Ben
In your situation I would restrict the amount of time on samatha and spend more time on vipassana. I am not convinced that maintaining intense samatha is ideal outside of the seclusion of retreat.
kind regards,
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
Me too, i forgot very fastly the past and dont think about future, my boss dont like it, he want me to anticipate the future, but i have not yet developped that iddhi ... I dont know how i could explain that i'ts not easy to get this king of iddhi...rowyourboat wrote:I have this problem that when I do Samatha meditation my thoughts or memories tend to get suppressed temporarily. It can become a problem at work, yet I want to do my Samatha as I feel it is important. Any ideas?
Metta
Matheesha
Sabbe dhamma anatta
We are not concurents...
I'am sorry for my english
We are not concurents...
I'am sorry for my english
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Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
I just tend to forget more, things which I should remember. I once forgot the words of a guided meditation which I knew very well. That was the most clear cut incident.LonesomeYogurt wrote:What exactly do you mean by suppressed?
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Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
Usually mindfulness of the breath. I'm not doing anything specific with thoughts. When the samadhi builds up my mind sometimes goes blank, even after meditation. I wonder if generally I'm a bit of a lazy thinker or aren't aware intelligently ie not enough mindfulness and clear comprehension.Hanzze wrote: What are you doing with your thoughts or memories that they tend to get suppressed temporarily?
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Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
Thanks Daverupa. I wonder if I am also overreacting to a few moments that this has happened vs the great benefit of having samadhi controll all my defilements.daverupa wrote:In my experience, samatha results in more intentional thought-formation; thoughts aren't suppressed in a general way, they simply don't arise as randomly. It's like bullet-time in the mind, not vacuous like an infant's mind.
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Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
Thanks Ben. I have stopped doing Samatha actually and trying to find a way back in. You are right - too much samadhi is not conducive but it can be to a lesser intensity. So part of the solution might be to practice but with reduced frequency. Vipassana might be too intense for me right now. I hope you are keeping well,Ben wrote:Greetings Matheesha,
In your situation I would restrict the amount of time on samatha and spend more time on vipassana. I am not convinced that maintaining intense samatha is ideal outside of the seclusion of retreat.
kind regards,
Ben
With metta
Matheesha
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Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
DAWN, I think it takes a lot of focusing- don't be SO happy in the present momentDAWN wrote:
Me too, i forgot very fastly the past and dont think about future, my boss dont like it, he want me to anticipate the future, but i have not yet developped that iddhi ... I dont know how i could explain that i'ts not easy to get this king of iddhi...
With metta
Matheesha
With Metta
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Mudita
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Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
rowyourboat wrote:DAWN, I think it takes a lot of focusing- don't be SO happy in the present momentDAWN wrote:
Me too, i forgot very fastly the past and dont think about future, my boss dont like it, he want me to anticipate the future, but i have not yet developped that iddhi ... I dont know how i could explain that i'ts not easy to get this king of iddhi...
With metta
Matheesha
Sabbe dhamma anatta
We are not concurents...
I'am sorry for my english
We are not concurents...
I'am sorry for my english
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Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
I think you maybe putting to much effort into the practice for this to happen. realistically you want to be able to function on the task at hand (which requires sati no matter what the task is).
without knowing exactly what you are doing I would suggest trying to be more fluid with your practice rather than using a hammer to drive in a screw. which is what I think maybe the case?
don't stop completely but don't aim so narrowly.
without knowing exactly what you are doing I would suggest trying to be more fluid with your practice rather than using a hammer to drive in a screw. which is what I think maybe the case?
don't stop completely but don't aim so narrowly.
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
Actualy, this state of mind, when he dont captures nothink, when all that heppens lides down like a drop of rain on the lotus leaf, is very... is very free
When it's like this, the problem is not the mind, but a job that dont let you be released, be free , feel true happyness of calm.
Go forth is the solution.
When it's like this, the problem is not the mind, but a job that dont let you be released, be free , feel true happyness of calm.
Go forth is the solution.
Sabbe dhamma anatta
We are not concurents...
I'am sorry for my english
We are not concurents...
I'am sorry for my english
Re: Thought suppression by Samatha
I think maybe the practice can use a tweak, since the sort of calm which builds up in such a way that the mind becomes unwieldy isn't really part of samadhi.
Last edited by daverupa on Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.
"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.
- Sedaka Sutta [SN 47.19]