General discussion of issues related to Theravada Meditation, e.g. meditation postures, developing a regular sitting practice, skillfully relating to difficulties and hindrances, etc.
IanAnd wrote:Well, when I began to establish mindfulness before meditating, that changed the whole ballgame for me. Suddenly, each meditation really meant something, and I was experiencing better and better meditation sessions. The mind was calming down more quickly, becoming still, and I was more alert and awake and able to contemplate better. My alertness increased big time, and my meditations became deeper and more profound with insight.
Many times, in order to make sure I was fully awake, I would take extra time to just sit and read for a while before meditating. Usually something that I knew would stimulate and enhance the meditation. Something that I could keep in mind as a kind of guidepost to what I wanted to be able to accomplish and use during contemplation. More times than not, it helped to set the tone for the whole meditation session by infusing the mind with a pathway to follow once the meditation began.
Here's another little trick you can use. At night, before nodding off to sleep, give yourself a brief post-slumber suggestion. It doesn't need to be anything fancy. Something like this will do: "I will sleep restfully, and awaken refreshed, alert and focused."
Thank you Out of sheer mental laziness, i suppose, i forget things like this sometimes and need to be reminded.
“The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling.” ― Robert M. Pirsig
i like to listen to dhamma talks prior to meditation, i do it sitting in the meditation position and focusing on my breath, the dhamma talk is not my main focus but it seem i get more out of it and my mind calms down and is better suited to the meditation that comes after the talk
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
I sit in front of my shrine and contemplate the triple gem. I recall the Dhamma to mind by thinking of how I would explain it to this person or that in my life. I may read suttas.
My main hindrance is lust. Main underlying tendency is irritation. Per Analyo pages 224-226, I'm practicing sense restraint. It's actually kind of nice.
thereductor wrote: I recall the Dhamma to mind by thinking of how I would explain it to this person or that in my life.
.
i do that at times too. weird
Weird nothing! Great minds... and all that!
I've tried recalling the Dhamma to mind without this mental soapbox but find it hard to do. But by having a certain personality in mind I can imagine questions and doubts from their perspective, which I then 'answer'.
i do it with more practice now after an event a couple years ago while i was living in a Thai temple.
we had just finished chanting and meditating and it was time for the dhamma talk, which was usually in Thai then a monk would sum it up for me. this night the monks started speaking in English first "tonight we will have our dhamma talk in English"
aww i though that's nice of them, but so unnecessary, but then i noticed they weren't talking, they were looking at me, and so were the people visiting the temple.
i was to give the dhamma talk. right then, right there having never been asked or prepared or even have imagined such a thing could happen...
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
jcsuperstar wrote:i do it with more practice now after an event a couple years ago while i was living in a Thai temple.
we had just finished chanting and meditating and it was time for the dhamma talk, which was usually in Thai then a monk would sum it up for me. this night the monks started speaking in English first "tonight we will have our dhamma talk in English"
aww i though that's nice of them, but so unnecessary, but then i noticed they weren't talking, they were looking at me, and so were the people visiting the temple.
i was to give the dhamma talk. right then, right there having never been asked or prepared or even have imagined such a thing could happen...
Wow!
How was it JC?
“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
thereductor wrote:I've tried recalling the Dhamma to mind without this mental soapbox but find it hard to do. But by having a certain personality in mind I can imagine questions and doubts from their perspective, which I then 'answer'.
I am a mental-soapboxer too, especially on retreat.
Four types of letting go:
1) Giving; expecting nothing back in return
2) Throwing things away
3) Contentment; wanting to be here, not wanting to be anywhere else
4) "Teflon Mind"; having a mind which doesn't accumulate things
jcsuperstar wrote:i do it with more practice now after an event a couple years ago while i was living in a Thai temple.
we had just finished chanting and meditating and it was time for the dhamma talk, which was usually in Thai then a monk would sum it up for me. this night the monks started speaking in English first "tonight we will have our dhamma talk in English"
aww i though that's nice of them, but so unnecessary, but then i noticed they weren't talking, they were looking at me, and so were the people visiting the temple.
i was to give the dhamma talk. right then, right there having never been asked or prepared or even have imagined such a thing could happen...
Wow!
How was it JC?
horrible
i just tried to stick to the 8FP and ask questions to get people to talk for me in a way, sorta a Socratic method type of thing
i think i made a girl mad by kinda implying she was practicing wrong livelihood too
one other time i was asked to talk i just talked about the breath, how the breath was a refuge, when we're angry or hurt we can always just come to the breath, i thought that was pretty good, but then a guy said when he meditates he sees scary stuff and alas my thunder was stolen..
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
Aie! That's a tough situation, JC. The hardest talk I ever had to give was a 3 minute presentation on septic shock. I fumbled that one.
Guy wrote:
thereductor wrote:I've tried recalling the Dhamma to mind without this mental soapbox but find it hard to do. But by having a certain personality in mind I can imagine questions and doubts from their perspective, which I then 'answer'.
I am a mental-soapboxer too, especially on retreat.
Thank your stars I don't break out my online soapbox to often!
I don't mind talking Dhamma to people that I know, but I never feel that I've done it justice.
dhamma talks are hard, I've heard talks by respected monks on topics I'm really interested in and been like, jeez when is this gonna end? i kind of think about it like music now, there are different styles that appeal to different people, talent really doesn't not play into it at all, just like there are many talented musicians whose music i abhor there are many learned monks who i cant stand listening to dhamma talks from.
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Out of sheer mental laziness, i suppose, i forget things like this sometimes and need to be reminded.
