/med/ - Meditation General

[Anonymous No.16821108]

Greetings, everyone. In a first for /lit/, I invite you all into the activity of meditation, the practice that which is old as history itself. It has been taught by Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, as well as certain Western school of thoughts, thus its significance cannot be understated.

These are some recommended literary readings into the subject:

>"Awakening the Third Eye" by Samuel Sagan
>"Stilling the Mind: Shamatha Teachings from Dudjom Lingpa's Vajra Essence" by Alan Wallace
>"The Secret of the Golden Flower" by Lü Dongbin
>"Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" by Shunryu Suzuki
>"The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Potential, Transcend Your Limits" by Wim Hof
>"The Attention Revolution" B. Alan Wallace

Honorable mentions:
>The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

Of course, there is a variety of angles to approach this topic. What is the true meaning of "enlightenment"? Feel free to open a discussion to these down below. Topics of interest:
>Third eye
>Spirituality
>Kundalini
>Clearing the mind
>Breathing techniques
>Buddhism
>Mahayana/Theravada school of thought
>Hinduism
>Vipassana
>Yoga
>DMT
>Machine Elves

[Anonymous No.16821142]

>>16821108
What did you think about sam harris' book?

[Anonymous No.16821160]

I learned how to meditate as a child from a brochure left in the back of a seat on an airplane. I have practiced it ever since and can now utterly transcend the mind-body-world barriers within about five minutes, whenever needed.

[Anonymous No.16821166]

§5.1.2. So, let every soul first consider that soul itself10 made all living
beings by breathing life into them, those that are nourished by the earth
and the sea, those in the air, and the divine stars in heaven. Soul itself
5 made the sun and this great heaven, and it ordered it, and makes it
circulate in a regular way, being a nature different from that which it
orders, from that which it moves, and from that which it makes to be
alive.11 And it is necessarily more honourable than these, since while
these are generated and destroyed whenever soul departs from them
or supplies them with life, soul itself exists forever by ‘not departing
from itself’.12
10 As for the actual manner in which it supplies life to the whole
universe13 and to each individual, this is how soul should reckon the
matter: let it consider the great soul,14 as being itself another soul of no
small value having already been released from deception, and from the
things that have enchanted other souls, and that it is in a state of
tranquillity. Let not only its encompassing body and its surging waves 15
be tranquil, but all that surrounds it;15 let the earth be tranquil, the sea
and the air be tranquil, and heaven itself, its better part.16 Let this soul,
then, think of the great soul as, in a way, flowing or pouring everywhere
into immobile17 heaven from ‘outside’,18 inhabiting and completely
illuminating it. Just as rays from the sun light up a dark cloud, make it 20
shine, and give it a golden appearance, so soul entered into the body of
heaven and gave it life, gave it immortality, and wakened it from sleep.

[Anonymous No.16821170]

>>16821160
In which situations do you deem it needed?

[Anonymous No.16821177]

>>16821170
When I get overstimulated and can't focus on one thing. Or if I'm feeling very guilty or some other gay emotion like that.

[Anonymous No.16821193]

>>16821177
When I feel guilty I just realise that morals are a societal construct that I have been indoctrinated into believing and boom I'm no longer guilty

[Anonymous No.16821200]

>>16821193
You're assuming the guilt here is based on socialized morals and not self-defined values. I suffer noble guilt

[Anonymous No.16821248]

>>16821108
How do I meditate and keep my energy, ie. keep being a man and not a suppressed effeminate esotericist?
I know many martial sportsmen meditated, but for me, I always come out less driven when I try it.

[Anonymous No.16821283]

>>16821248
>How do I meditate and keep my energy, ie. keep being a man and not a suppressed effeminate esotericist?
do that by doing, not meditating
of course if that's all that's on your mind then you're going to miss out

[Anonymous No.16821298]

>>16821142
Sam Harris is an annoying, smarmy, waspish, soft speaking, trust fund kid of an asshole cunt.

[Anonymous No.16821315]

>>16821248
There's nothing effeminate about it, bro. Being disciplined is a sign of a strong character

[Anonymous No.16821374]

>>16821248
Try meditating right before you do something to clear your mind and focus your masculine energies

[Anonymous No.16821393]

>>16821248
follow the 8 fold path bro

[Anonymous No.16821396]

>>16821108
>"The Secret of the Golden Flower" by Lü Dongbin
Can you enlighten me on this

[Anonymous No.16821511]

>>16821108
>>16821108
>It has been taught by Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, as well as certain Western school of thoughts, thus its significance cannot be understated.
no, the buddhist right samadhi is not like the other ones and you have to do all that along with ''meditation''

The eight Buddhist practices in the Noble Eightfold Path are:[23][note 2]

Right View: our actions have consequences, death is not the end, and our actions and beliefs have consequences after death. The Buddha followed and taught a successful path out of this world and the other world (heaven and underworld/hell).[24][25][26][27][note 3] Later on, right view came to explicitly include karma and rebirth, and the importance of the Four Noble Truths, when "insight" became central to Buddhist soteriology.[28][29]
Right Resolve or Intention: the giving up of home and adopting the life of a religious mendicant in order to follow the path; this concept aims at peaceful renunciation, into an environment of non-sensuality, non-ill-will (to loving kindness), away from cruelty (to compassion).[30] Such an environment aids contemplation of impermanence, suffering, and non-Self.[30]
Right Speech: no lying, no rude speech, no telling one person what another says about him to cause discord or harm their relationship.[23]
Right Conduct or Action: refraining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct
Right Livelihood: Gaining one's livelihood by benefiting others also not selling weapons, poisons or intoxicants
Right Effort: preventing the arising of unwholesome states, and generating wholesome states, the bojjhagā (seven factors of awakening). This includes indriya-samvara, "guarding the sense-doors", restraint of the sense faculties.[31][30]
Right Mindfulness (sati; Satipatthana; Sampajañña): "retention", being mindful of the dhammas ("teachings", "elements") that are beneficial to the Buddhist path.[note 4] In the vipassana movement, sati is interpreted as "bare attention": never be absent minded, being conscious of what one is doing; this encourages the awareness of the impermanence of body, feeling and mind, as well as to experience the five aggregates (skandhas), the five hindrances, the four True Realities and seven factors of awakening.[30]
Right samadhi (Passaddhi; Ekaggata; sampasadana): practicing four stages of dhyāna ("meditation"), which includes samadhi proper in the second stage, and reinforces the development of the bojjhagā, culminating into upekkha (equanimity) and mindfulness.[33] In the Theravada tradition and the Vipassana movement, this is interpreted as ekaggata, concentration or one-pointedness of the mind, and supplemented with Vipassana-meditation, which aims at insight.

[Anonymous No.16821938]

Bump

[Anonymous No.16822023]

>>16821298
I've read book of one of his friends. 10% Happier i think its called. I fuckin hate these pseud jew cuck "scientists" too. They try to hide the indoaryan reality of things

[Anonymous No.16822055]

>Stopping, Calming, Resting, Healing

Buddhist meditation has two aspects — shamatha and vipashyana. We tend to stress the importance of vipashyana ("looking deeply") because it can bring us insight and liberate us from suffering and afflictions. But the practice of shamatha (" stopping ") is fundamental. If we cannot stop, we cannot have insight.

The first function of meditation — shamatha — is to stop.

There is a story in Zen circles about a man and a horse. The horse is galloping quickly, and it appears that the man on the horse is going somewhere important. Another man, standing alongside the road, shouts, "Where are you going?" and the first man replies, "I don't know! Ask the horse!" This is also our story. We are riding a horse, we don't know where we are going, and we can't stop. The horse is our habit energy pulling us along, and we are powerless. We are always running, and it has become a habit.

We have to learn the art of stopping — stopping our thinking, our habit energies, our forgetfulness, the strong emotions that rule us. When an emotion rushes through us like a storm, we have no peace. We turn on the TV and then we turn it off. We pick up a book and then we put it down. How can we stop this state of agitation? How can we stop our fear, despair, anger, and craving? We can stop by practicing mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful smiling, and deep looking in order to understand. When we are mindful, touching deeply the present moment, the fruits are always understanding, acceptance, love, and the desire to relieve suffering and bring joy.

[Anonymous No.16822060]

The second function of shamatha is calming.

When we have a strong emotion, we know it can be dangerous. We have to learn the art of breathing in and out, stopping our activities, and calming our emotions. We have to learn to become solid and stable like an oak tree, and not be blown from side to side by the storm.
The Buddha taught many techniques to help us calm our body and mind and look deeply at them. They can be summarized in five stages:

(1) Recognition — If we are angry, we say, "1 know that anger is in me."

(2) Acceptance — When we are angry, we do not deny it. We accept what is present.

(3) Embracing — We hold our anger in our two arms like a mother holding her crying
baby. Our mindfulness embraces our emotion, and this alone can calm our anger and
ourselves.

(4) Looking deeply — When we are calm enough, we can look deeply to understand what
has brought this anger to be, what is causing our baby's discomfort.

(5) Insight — The fruit of looking deeply is understanding the many causes and conditions, primary and secondary, that have brought about our anger. Our anger was triggered when our friend spoke to us meanly, and suddenly we remember that he was not at his best today because his father is dying. We reflect like this until we have some insights into what has caused our suffering. With insight, we know what to do and what not to do to change the situation.

Calming allows us to rest, and resting is a precondition for healing.During sitting or walking meditation, we can rest very well. Meditation does not have to be hard labor. There is no need to attain anything. The Buddha said, "My Dharma is the practice of non-practice." Practice in a way that does not tire you out, but gives your body, emotions, and consciousness a chance to rest.Our body and mind have the capacity to heal themselves if we allow them to rest.

...

After calming, the third function of shamatha is resting.

Suppose someone standing alongside a river throws a pebble into the river. The pebble allows itself to sink slowly and reach the riverbed without any effort. Once the pebble is at the bottom, it continues to rest, allowing the water to pass by. When we practice sitting meditation, we can allow ourselves to rest just like that pebble. We can allow ourselves to resting, allowing our body and mind to rest. If we have wounds in our body or our mind, we have to rest so they can heal themselves.

Stopping, calming, and resting are preconditions for healing. If we cannot stop, the course of our destruction will just continue. The world needs healing. Individuals, communities, and nations need healing.

[Anonymous No.16822069]

>Right Concentration (samyak samadhi)

The practice of Right Concentration is to cultivate a mind that is one- pointed. The Chinese character for concentration means, literally, "maintaining evenness," neither too high nor too low, neither too excited nor too dull. Another Chinese term sometimes used is "the abode of true mind."

There are two kinds of concentration, active and selective.

In active concentration the mind dwells on whatever is happening in the present moment, even as it changes. As the bird flies over the lake, its reflection is lucid. After it is gone, the lake reflects the clouds and the sky just as clearly. When we practice active concentration, we welcome whatever comes along. We don't think about or long for anything else. We just dwell in the present moment with all our being. Whatever comes, comes. When the object has passed, our mind remains clear, like a calm lake.

When we practice selective concentration we choose one object and hold onto it. During sitting and walking meditation, whether alone or with others, we practice. We know that the sky and the birds are there, but our attention is focused on our object. If the object of our concentration is a math problem, we don't watch TV or talk on the phone. We abandon everything else and focus on the object. When we are driving, the lives of the passengers in our car depend on our concentration.

...

We don't use concentration to run away from our suffering. We concentrate to make ourselves deeply present.Our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body that previously caused us to suffer become miracles that bring us to the garden of suchness. We walk, look, breathe, and eat in a way that we touch the absolute dimension of reality. We transcend birth and death and the fears of being and nonbeing, one and many.

If you were to hear on the radio that the Buddha is going to reappear, and the public is invited to join him for walking meditation, all the seats on all the airplanes to India would be booked, and you might feel frustrated, because you want to go, also.

The one who flies to India and returns with his photo taken with the Buddha has not seen the real Buddha. You have the reality; he has only a sign. Don't run around looking for photo opportunities. Touch the real Buddha. He is available. Take his hand and practice walking meditation. When you can touch the ultimate dimension, you walk with the Buddha. The wave does not need to die to become water. She is already water. This is the Concentration of the Lotus Sutra. Live every moment of your life deeply, and while walking, eating, drinking, and looking at the morning star, you touch the ultimate dimension.

Right Concentration leads to happiness, and it also leads to Right Action. The higher our degree of concentration, the greater the quality of our life.

[Anonymous No.16822075]

To practice samadhi is to live deeply each moment that is given us to live. Samadhi means concentration. In order to be concentrated, we should be mindful, fully present and aware of what is going on. Mindfulness brings about concentration. When you are deeply concentrated, you are absorbed in the moment. You become the moment. That is why samadhi is sometimes translated as "absorption." Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration lift us above the realms of sensual pleasures and craving, and we find ourselves lighter and happier. Our world is no longer gross and heavy, the realm of desires. It is the realm of fine materiality, the realm of form.

There are nine levels of meditative concentration.

In the form realm, there are four levels of dhyana. Mindfulness, concentration, joy, happiness, peace, and equanimity continue to grow through these four levels. After the fourth dhyana, the practitioner enters a deeper experience of concentration — the four formless dhyanas — where he or she can see deeply into reality. Here, sensual desire and materiality reveal their illusory nature and are no longer obstacles. You begin to see the impermanent, nonself, and interbeing nature of the phenomenal world. Earth, water, air, fire, space, time, nothingness, and perceptions inter-are. Nothing can be by itself alone.

Formless concentrations are also practiced in other traditions, but when they are practiced outside of Buddhism, it is generally to escape from suffering rather than to realize the liberation that comes with insight into our suffering.

...

The Buddha taught many concentration practices.

To practice the Concentration on Impermanence, every time you look at your beloved, see him as impermanent, and do your best to make him happy today. If you think he is permanent, you may believe that he will never improve. The insight into impermanence keeps you from getting caught in the suffering of craving, attachment, and despair. See and listen to everything with this insight.

To practice the Concentration on Nonself, touch the nature of interbeing in everything you contact. This will bring you a lot of peace and joy and prevent you from suffering. The practice of the Concentration on Nirvana helps you to touch the ultimate dimension of reality and establish yourself in the realms of no-birth and no-death. The Concentrations on

Impermanence, Nonself, and Nirvana are enough for us to practice our whole lives. In fact, the three are one. If you touch the nature of impermanence deeply, you touch the nature of nonself (interbeing) and nirvana. One concentration contains all concentrations. You don't need to do everything.

[Anonymous No.16822082]

These passages, which I've slightly modified to post here, are courtesy of "The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching" by Thich Nhat Hanh.
People are obviously interested in the topic so I thought this would nice for us all. This is also directed at >>16821511. Gazing at the water, we see the waves, but too often we forget about the ocean.
Maybe later I'll tell about my journey into meditation, and some of the spectacular experiences I had before I learned to quiet my mind by practicing Buddhist teachings like these.
That's all for now.

[Anonymous No.16822086]

nice words bro have you tried not overthinking the whole thing

[Anonymous No.16822111]

>>16822023
please never speak about spirituality again

[Anonymous No.16822364]

>>16821160
I thought meditation was about being calm and content for 5 minutes not phasing dimensions.

[Anonymous No.16822577]

Just started a new routine of holotropic breathing for 30 minutes a day before sleep. The dream like physical and mental sensations cannot be understated. After my first week I've realized that the experience can be subtlety tweaked by things such as body position. There's a difference to the feeling of sitting cross legged, throne style, or laying down. Eye position is also important. Throughout experimenting I find myself returning to imagery and narratives I've absorbed from various spiritual sources as a guide. It's fun to apply things such as the concept of a third eye, mantras, or hand positions to see the effect that each has. In trying them out I see that spiritual signalings which seem superficial can all be used as tools.

This is one of the fantastic things about literature to me. Everything I absorb gives me another flower to behold in the garden in my mind, and the best sources give me a tool to tend to the garden with. If you all have a favorite literary tool or flower, I'd be glad to hear it.

[Anonymous No.16822921]

>>16821160
>utterly transcend the mind-body-world barriers within about five minutes
Woah, I think I know precisely what you're talking about, I also started as a kid too (13), I've never heard of anyone else doing it just the way I do, how would you describe it? Do you have any resources or anything you could compare/contrast it to? For me I started doing it, then later found out about OBEs and ""astral projection,"" although i always felt like that explanation only scratched the surface. imo the out-of-body part just feels like the first step. Is this kinda clicking with you? Definitely I've used it to manage my emotions like you've mentioned, it's like a magic bullet
I have to go to class soon but I'm going to come back and try to elucidate what's in my head.

[Anonymous No.16822984]

>>16821108
First few times I try meditation, I closed my eyes but it's like I can still see the world around like I wave my hand and in the vision in my mind I can see it hehe like if my hand still and close to my face I can see the fingerprint haha pretty fun but I'm busy playing videogame rn

[Anonymous No.16823104]

Meditation is always a stressful process for me, I feel a sort of impending doom when I start to truly let go.
I don't know if it's because of a Salvia trip I had (before getting into meditation) in which I experienced ego death.
When I came back everything felt terrifying.
It sounds edgy I know

[Anonymous No.16823258]

>>16822364
When you gain immanent awareness that the veil of māyā is a projection, calmness follows naturally as well.

[Anonymous No.16823263]

>>16821298
Okay, you hate him personally, but what did you think of his book?

[Anonymous No.16823649]

>>16822060
>With insight, we know what to do and what not to do to change the situation
What if we cant change the situation

>Our body and mind have the capacity to heal themselves if we allow them to rest
Isn't that what sleep is for?

>Maybe later I'll tell about my journey into meditation, and some of the spectacular experiences I had before I learned to quiet my mind by practicing Buddhist teachings like these.
That's all for now.
dont be a tease bitch

[Anonymous No.16824193]

>>16823104
thats not uncommon

[Anonymous No.16824747]

Bump

[Anonymous No.16824784]

Ligotti on Buddhism

>But here is the real catch: If you want to become enlightened you will never become enlightened, because in Buddhism wanting things is just the thing that keeps you from getting the thing you want. Less circuitously, if you want to end your suffering, you will never end your suffering. This is the “wanting paradox,” or “paradox of desire,” and Buddhists are at the ready with both rational and non-rational propositions as to why this paradox is not a paradox. How to understand these propositions is past understanding, because, per Buddhism, there is nothing to understand and no one to understand it. And as long as you think there is something to understand and someone to understand it, you are doomed. Trying for this understanding is the most trying thing of all. Yet trying not to try for it is just as trying. There is nothing more futile than to consciously look for something to save you. But consciousness makes this fact seem otherwise. Consciousness makes it seem as if (1) there is something to do; (2) there is somewhere to go; (3) there is something to be; (4) there is someone to know. This is what makes consciousness the parent of all horrors, the thing that makes us try to do something, go somewhere, be something, and know someone, such as ourselves, so that we can escape our MALIGNANTLY USELESS being and think that being alive is all right rather than that which should not be.

[Anonymous No.16824818]

>>16823649
Different anon

>What if we cant change the situation
You can't always change the situation, but it sure helps knowing that change is desirable. Maybe the change will come in a long time, but nonetheless you see to it clearly that it needs to be made.

>Isn't that what sleep is for?
Difficult to say. In some regard probably yes. Jung also spoke about the balancing function of our unconscious. Then again, what if you're plagued by nightmares or an insomniac? Some mental rest can also be achieved in the awakened state.

[Anonymous No.16824901]

>>16821108
all that bollocks in the "recommended reading'
no mention of the 'yoga sutras'