What is Meditation?

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What is Meditation?
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Post # 1
Meditation is a method for acquainting our mind with virtue.

The more familiar our mind is with virtue, the calmer and more peaceful it becomes. When our mind is peaceful we are free from worries and mental discomfort, and we experience true happiness.

If we train our mind to become peaceful we will be happy all the time, even in the most adverse conditions. But if our mind is not peaceful, even if we have the most pleasant external conditions we will not be happy. Therefore it is important to train our mind through meditation.

There are two types of meditation: analytical meditation and placement meditation. When we contemplate the meaning of a Dharma instruction that we have heard or read we are doing analytical meditation.

By deeply contemplating the instruction, eventually we reach a conclusion or cause a specific virtuous state of mind to arise. This is the object of placement meditation.

Having found our object through analytical meditation, we then concentrate on it single-pointedly for as long as possible to become deeply acquainted with it.

This single-pointed concentration is placement meditation. Often, analytical meditation is called simply ‘contemplation’, and placement meditation simply ‘meditation’.

Placement meditation depends upon contemplation, and contemplation depends upon listening to or reading Dharma instructions.

The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer and more lucid.

This can be accomplished by practicing a simple breathing meditation.

We choose a quiet place to meditate and sit in a comfortable position. We can sit in the traditional cross-legged posture or in any other position that is comfortable. If we wish, we can sit in a chair. The most important thing is to keep our back straight to prevent our mind from becoming sluggish or sleepy.

We sit with our eyes partially closed and turn our attention to our breathing. We breathe naturally, preferably through the nostrils, without attempting to control our breath, and we try to become aware of the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. This sensation is our object of meditation. We should try to concentrate on it to the exclusion of everything else.

At first, our mind will be very busy, and we might even feel that the meditation is making our mind busier; but in reality we are just becoming more aware of how busy our mind actually is. There will be a great temptation to follow the different thoughts as they arise, but we should resist this and remain focused single-pointedly on the sensation of the breath.

If we discover that our mind has wandered and is following our thoughts, we should immediately return it to the breath. We should repeat this as many times as necessary until the mind settles on the breath.

Our mind will feel lucid and spacious and we will feel refreshed. When the sea is rough, sediment is churned up and the water becomes murky, but when the wind dies down the mud gradually settles and the water becomes clear.

In a similar way, when the otherwise incessant flow of our distracting thoughts is calmed through concentrating on the breath, our mind becomes unusually lucid and clear. We should stay with this state of mental calm for a while.

Even though breathing meditation is only a preliminary stage of meditation, it can be quite powerful. We can see from this practice that it is possible to experience inner peace and contentment just by controlling the mind, without having to depend at all upon external conditions.

When the turbulence of distracting thoughts subsides and our mind becomes still, a deep happiness and contentment naturally arises from within. This feeling of contentment and well-being helps us to cope with the busyness and difficulties of daily life.

So much of the stress and tension we normally experience comes from our mind, and many of the problems we experience, including ill health, are caused or aggravated by this stress. Just by doing breathing meditation for ten or fifteen minutes each day, we will be able to reduce this stress.

We will experience a calm, spacious feeling in the mind, and many of our usual problems will fall away. Difficult situations will become easier to deal with, we will naturally feel warm and well disposed towards other people, and our relationships with others will gradually improve.

We should train in this preliminary meditation until we gain some experience of it. However, if we want to attain permanent, unchanging inner peace, and if we want to become completely free from problems and suffering, meditation is vital to attaining enlightenment and must be taken seriously.

Re: What is Meditation?
By:
Post # 2
Wow a lot to read but, amazing. I believe what your saying is halfway true. Yes of we meditate we will be able to solve things quicker, be more peaceful, be more patient, however; we will not be happy all the time, I'm jjust saying.

Re: What is Meditation?
By: Moderator / Adept
Post # 3
Meditation is acquainting our minds with virtue? Well, not exactly! It is certainly calming! But really it is clearing the mind (as much as possible) of conscious thought, and allowing the subconscious mind to take over. The conscious mind "sees" what it needs to see. The subconscious "sees" everything! A vast amount of "hidden" knowledge.

Re: What is Meditation?
By: Moderator / Adept
Post # 4
And the original post is really about Buddhism; and sounds very close to preaching!

Re: What is Meditation?
By:
Post # 5
Not at all Brysnig, these teachings come directly from my own experience and i merely sharing knowledge about it. I never expect anyone to follow what I'm saying nor would I ever try to convert someone away from their own beliefs.

Having respect for other peoples faiths is very important to me, so I apologize if my post seemed to give off that impression, but I was only placing emphasis on the benefits of meditation rather than say it was better than other methods of spiritual or esoteric practices.

Re: What is Meditation?
By: Moderator / Adept
Post # 6
Oh, I do understand! What I said was "it sounds like preaching". The breathing techniques are excellent.

Re: What is Meditation?
By: Moderator / Adept
Post # 7

The original post was cut and pasted from http://www.how-to-meditate.org/transforming-meditations.htm/

Failing to give credit to the author of a piece or a website from which a piece is taken is considered plagiarism and is a violation of the rules here on SOM. Continued such violations could result in no longer being able to post to SOM.


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