Personalised ongoing help with meditation.

General discussion of issues related to Theravada Meditation, e.g. meditation postures, developing a regular sitting practice, skillfully relating to difficulties and hindrances, etc.
MettaDevPrac
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Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 3:44 am

Re: Personalised ongoing help with meditation.

Post by MettaDevPrac »

Crazy cloud wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 8:45 am [
One can't plan for insights to come, it's out of my hands, to speak :smile:
Actually, when one thinks in terms of requisite conditions, one certainly can.

Are wholesome qualities increasing? Are unwholesome qualities decreasing?

Investigation of that can lead far, towards/into the Four Noble Truths.
- MettaDevPrac
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Crazy cloud
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Re: Personalised ongoing help with meditation.

Post by Crazy cloud »

MettaDevPrac wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:59 pm
Crazy cloud wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 8:45 am [
One can't plan for insights to come, it's out of my hands, to speak :smile:
Actually, when one thinks in terms of requisite conditions, one certainly can.

Are wholesome qualities increasing? Are unwholesome qualities decreasing?

Investigation of that can lead far, towards/into the Four Noble Truths.
Of course, one can see that the process of selfing is calming down, but to know exactly when a small or major shift in one's being will occur, is something else. And listening or reading other's experiences is often not so helpful in the long run because it easily leads to comparing one's uniqueness with others.
But maybe it's a blessing in disguise because doing this practice constantly makes one lose interest in all kinds of contact. So in one aspect one becomes kind of an oddball, and those who know enough about the effects of this training have the same amount of disinterest ...

Nobody gives a shit :toilet: :tongue:
If you didn't care
What happened to me
And I didn't care for you

We would zig-zag our way
Through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain

Wondering which of the
Buggers to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing
- Roger Waters
MettaDevPrac
Posts: 203
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 3:44 am

Re: Personalised ongoing help with meditation.

Post by MettaDevPrac »

Crazy cloud wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 5:26 pm
MettaDevPrac wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:59 pm
Crazy cloud wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 8:45 am [
One can't plan for insights to come, it's out of my hands, to speak :smile:
Actually, when one thinks in terms of requisite conditions, one certainly can.

Are wholesome qualities increasing? Are unwholesome qualities decreasing?

Investigation of that can lead far, towards/into the Four Noble Truths.
Of course, one can see that the process of selfing is calming down, but to know exactly when a small or major shift in one's being will occur, is something else. And listening or reading other's experiences is often not so helpful in the long run because it easily leads to comparing one's uniqueness with others.
But maybe it's a blessing in disguise because doing this practice constantly makes one lose interest in all kinds of contact. So in one aspect one becomes kind of an oddball, and those who know enough about the effects of this training have the same amount of disinterest ...

Nobody gives a shit :toilet: :tongue:
It seems you might be misunderstanding what I said.
The questions above in bold have nothing to do with comparing one's self/identity view with anyone else; in fact, it leads to completion of the Noble Eight-Fold Path, towards extinguishment after self-view is gone. That is the path to the end of suffering.
- MettaDevPrac
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Crazy cloud
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Re: Personalised ongoing help with meditation.

Post by Crazy cloud »

MettaDevPrac wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 5:34 pm
Crazy cloud wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 5:26 pm
MettaDevPrac wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:59 pm

Actually, when one thinks in terms of requisite conditions, one certainly can.

Are wholesome qualities increasing? Are unwholesome qualities decreasing?

Investigation of that can lead far, towards/into the Four Noble Truths.
Of course, one can see that the process of selfing is calming down, but to know exactly when a small or major shift in one's being will occur, is something else. And listening or reading other's experiences is often not so helpful in the long run because it easily leads to comparing one's uniqueness with others.
But maybe it's a blessing in disguise because doing this practice constantly makes one lose interest in all kinds of contact. So in one aspect one becomes kind of an oddball, and those who know enough about the effects of this training have the same amount of disinterest ...

Nobody gives a shit :toilet: :tongue:
It seems you might be misunderstanding what I said.
The questions above in bold have nothing to do with comparing one's self/identity view with anyone else; in fact, it leads to completion of the Noble Eight-Fold Path, towards extinguishment after self-view is gone. That is the path to the end of suffering.
I don't believe I did. Wholesome and unwholesome qualities in one's mind are dependent on conditions, and how diligent one follows the rules for practice. I'm more interested in layers of selfing disappearing and not reappearing whatever the conditions one experiences. And a shift like that is impossible to know anything about before it happens.
If you didn't care
What happened to me
And I didn't care for you

We would zig-zag our way
Through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain

Wondering which of the
Buggers to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing
- Roger Waters
MettaDevPrac
Posts: 203
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 3:44 am

Re: Personalised ongoing help with meditation.

Post by MettaDevPrac »

I'm more interested in... [?what?] is impossible to know anything about before it happens.
Sounds like quite a challenge. Best wishes.
- MettaDevPrac
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Crazy cloud
Posts: 930
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Re: Personalised ongoing help with meditation.

Post by Crazy cloud »

MettaDevPrac wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 6:08 pm
I'm more interested in... [?what?] is impossible to know anything about before it happens.
Sounds like quite a challenge. Best wishes.
The end of dukkha is supposed to be challenging.

Happy trails to you :smile:
If you didn't care
What happened to me
And I didn't care for you

We would zig-zag our way
Through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain

Wondering which of the
Buggers to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing
- Roger Waters
MettaDevPrac
Posts: 203
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 3:44 am

Re: Personalised ongoing help with meditation.

Post by MettaDevPrac »

The end of dukkha is supposed to be challenging.

Happy trails to you :smile:
Yet somewhow there's an end to striving.

Thank you for your kind wishes. :namaste:
- MettaDevPrac
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Alex123
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Re: Personalised ongoing help with meditation.

Post by Alex123 »

retrofuturist wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 12:15 am Greetings,

I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding in most quarters about the function and role of meditation in the Dhamma. I think its role and function is closer to that explained by Ven. Ninoslav Ñāṇamoli's notes on meditation and Bhikkhu Akiñcano's "With the Right Understanding"
Ven. Ninoslav Ñāṇamoli wrote:One sees things correctly - as phenomena - by understanding what the phenomenon is, and there is no technique that can make this magically occur.
I will leave it at that, and say only this (for now)... if a meditation teacher has Wrong View, then they are not equipped to be a meditation teacher. No ifs, no buts.

:buddha1:

Metta,
Paul. :)

From what I understand, jhana meditation isn't supposed to give you PhD type of knowledge you can use to write big and smart books. The only knowledge it close to that might be seeing your and other beings past lives through the 4th Jhana. One needs to uproot craving, clinging and other defilements which is not an "intellectual" problem that needs to be solved.

Right view is, in my humble understanding, is NOT gained in meditation. One reads and contemplates the corresponding teachings in the suttas. The right view might be a brief statement, or few of them.

IMHO.
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