Is Anapanasati Enough

General discussion of issues related to Theravada Meditation, e.g. meditation postures, developing a regular sitting practice, skillfully relating to difficulties and hindrances, etc.
SarathW
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Re: Is Anapanasati Enough

Post by SarathW »

The objective of mindfulness is to see the things as they are in terms of impermanence, stress and Anatta.
:)
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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No_Mind
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Re: Is Anapanasati Enough

Post by No_Mind »

Santa100, I just label it hearing, hearing. Had to write the "I" as part of sentence construction.

I am quite amazed at the peace and tranquility I feel. Last Thursday, I knew was going to be a very difficult and stressful day. I woke up at 4 AM and put in solid 40 minutes of meditation and was amazingly calm though the day. Every time I worried during the day I would just return to observing my breath in a micro break of 1 minute.

At 7 PM after the day was over I felt worn out but it had about 10% of the physical impact that similar days have had on me in past. In a nutshell my mind seems to have more space in it. Previously worry or happiness or some other emotion would fill it. Now it has expanded. When I feel happy, sad, worried, I return to breath for a minute or two.

I have done one thing not in any Buddhist teaching on mindfulness because there arose a need to do so from inside me. I have made mistakes in past and there was anger, resentment, regret floating inside me. I revisited mentally each of those incidents and associated thoughts of shame, guilt, anger and silently said "I let you go from my mind; you were useful in teaching me a lesson but now I want to be free of you". At end I visualized a huge fire to which each of these memories walked up and extinguished themselves.

I realize I might have veered away from the path somewhat but the need to do this came to me in meditation; so I gather my mind wanted it to be done. Feeling "cleaner" now.

Sarath for me as a beginner to see things in terms of impermanence (intellectually I understand things are impermanent but realization of same in meditation) is quite some time way. My biggest challenge is that I do not quit practicing due to lethargy but establish a six month old routine of meditation daily. I need at least 200 hours on the cushion first. Then I can think of using meditation as a way to discover impermanence and Anatta.

:anjali:
"The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”― Albert Camus
Spiny Norman
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Re: Is Anapanasati Enough

Post by Spiny Norman »

No_Mind wrote: I need at least 200 hours on the cushion first. Then I can think of using meditation as a way to discover impermanence and Anatta.
Impermanence really isn't difficult. When the mind is calm you can just notice the continual rise and fall of the breath, sensations, thoughts, feelings, sounds, and so on.
Buddha save me from new-agers!
meindzai
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Re: Is Anapanasati Enough

Post by meindzai »

Anapanasati will get you all the way there (Jhana) so it is right concentration.

The sutta itself is kind of a skeleton of instruction. It helps to have some resources to "unpack" (as Cooran says) some of the details.

I have had great success with the following:
Ebook by Thanissaro Bhikkhu: with each and every breath (http://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html) Scroll down a bit
Larry Rosenberg "Breath by Breath" http://www.amazon.com/Breath-Liberating ... 1590301366 Essentially a commentary on the Anapanasati sutta with lots of anectdotal stuff as well.

Here is a VERY thorough talk and discussion by Thanissaro Bhikkhu:
http://www.audiodharma.org/series/16/talk/1843/

Listen to these until you're blue in the face:
http://www.dhammatalks.org/mp3_collections_index.html

-Dave K
pegembara
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Re: Is Anapanasati Enough

Post by pegembara »

No_mind,

I think you are doing well. Just keep practising. Since you used fire in your imagination, here is another of the Buddha's teaching which you may find relevant. Let things burn up until they are cooled. Nirvana (Sanskrit) and Nibbana (Pali, the language of the earliest Buddhist texts) literally mean “to go out”-like a fire-and “to cool.”
"Monks, the All is aflame. What All is aflame? The eye is aflame. Forms are aflame. Consciousness at the eye is aflame. Contact at the eye is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs.

"The ear is aflame. Sounds are aflame...

"The nose is aflame. Aromas are aflame...

"The tongue is aflame. Flavors are aflame...

"The body is aflame. Tactile sensations are aflame...

"The intellect is aflame. Ideas are aflame. Consciousness at the intellect is aflame. Contact at the intellect is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the intellect — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I say, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs.

"Seeing thus, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with the eye, disenchanted with forms, disenchanted with consciousness at the eye, disenchanted with contact at the eye. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye, experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: With that, too, he grows disenchanted.

Adittapariyaya Sutta http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html
With metta
And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter: This is called right speech.
lotus flower
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Re: Is Anapanasati Enough

Post by lotus flower »

No_Mind wrote:I am doing anapanasati (watching the breath) for 30 - 50 minutes daily (20 minutes twice a day or little more). As I have explained elsewhere, I have no teacher.

Vipassana instructions seem very confusing to me .. the labeling part .. hearing, hearing, thinking, thinking. I need a teacher to learn it and no teacher is at hand.

A car is always honking or someone in another house bangs a door .. so it is almost fully hearing, hearing for 30 mins .. very frustrating. No vipassana can be practiced without reasonable silence. I can never find complete silence and always labeling hearing, hearing !!

I have poor eyesight but superb hearing. At 1 AM I can hear a television 6 houses down or a car honking a mile away. Short of being in middle of nowhere I will always be labeling hearing, hearing.

I just bring my thoughts gently back to breath every time thoughts arise; again and again and again and again. I have even developed the ability to do this when I am not meditating (to return to my breath for a minute in middle of something)

In absence of doing vipassana am I losing out (I know the words losing or winning do not apply to meditation).

I do not wish to be a meditation master. I will never be able to attend a 10 day meditation retreat (maybe one in every half decade at most). I have a busy life and all I want is calmness and tranquility so that I do not run after every wretched thought that crosses my mind.

Is anapanasati enough? Is anapanasati a form of meditation by itself?

Ten minutes into the meditation my breathing becomes very shallow, my mind extremely quiet. Two days back a funny off white globe appeared with pale blue and green pattern on it and disappeared after few seconds. Is this normal?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. When it comes to meditation I have no one to ask help from but you folks. I am completely clueless.

:anjali:
Dear No Mind

if vocies disturb you then take earplugs (if you know earplugs will don't give any unhealth by using these) or go to meditate to the forest if the weather is OK.... just for tips. :) but you can buy a cheap tent if you don't like bugs in the forest and if you fear of bugs. you can meditate in tent in the forest.

some buddhists thinks only anapanasati is enough but some buddhists doesn't thinks anapanasati is enought. see Venerable Bhikkhu Sujato in this video: Samatha VS Vipassana The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSVQhhEt7tQ

i think the same what he thinks. so i think that vipassana is also nessecary. as Venerable Bhikkhu Sujato said in his video: samatha and vipassana are like two pieces of your mind - imagine you can break your mind but if you use only the one side of your mind then you don't use your all mind. he says that Buddha taught vipassana and samatha, and vipassana and samatha in the suttas are like friends. they are together. sorry for my weak english.

Samatha is calm, vipassana is insight, they are hand in hand, they are together and Venerable Sujato says the same in his video. in suttas samatha and vipassana are together.

you have no a teacher - you say it. but there are some good sites on the internet about Vipassana. for example, a good website is here:

http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?o ... ew&id=1465

from the famed Vipassana master SAYADAW U PANDITA.
We found the teaching of the Buddha. Be grateful for it... We can meditate... Be grateful for it... We know that this universe is the samsara. Be grateful for it... We have THE CHANCE TO ATTAIN NIBBANA. Be grateful for it... :buddha1: :buddha2:
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