Yup, though Buddhists seem to have a few thousand year lead. Hopefully if won't take a few thousand more years to make the leap from neuroscientists to the general population.
My beliefs and meditation-prayer practices are according to the Christian Faith, but "sitting quietly, doing something" is an apt description whether it's Buddhist meditation or Christian mental prayer (a Western form of meditation).
I am happy to share with readers here the most excellent compendium of the Ignatian method of Christian mental prayer that I have ever encountered:
I'd also highly recommend Thomas Merton's 'New Seeds of Contemplation', which though written by a Trappist monk and grounded in Christian philosophy applies to contemplative practice in any tradition.
I recommend going to a group to learn in person. It's easier to decide if you feel at home with a certain group of people than to judge books and theories about meditation when you don't have personal experience.
If you look for Buddhist groups, you'll find different kinds. The best way to avoid new-agey or flakey groups is to check their sources. Do they have a teacher who is a good example? Who was the teacher's teacher? Authentic Buddhist lineages of teacher and student trace themselves back for generations, and the teachers praise their teachers -- not themselves.
There are many authentic lineages. You'll find Japanese Zen schools which prefer a lot of discipline. There are also four Tibetan schools. The school of the Dalai Lama is called the Gelug school. It is the newest of the four schools and strongly emphasizes study and theory. The older Kagyu and Nyingma schools specialize in meditation and direct experience. In my experience, Kagyus tend to be more "learn by swimming" types and the Nyingma prefer a broad overview and more distance. I don't have experience with the fourth school, the Sakya.
I've meditated in the Kagyu school for six years now as part of the Diamond Way centers (http://www.lama-ole-nydahl.org/diamondway-buddhism/). Which group you find isn't important. The important thing if you want good results is that you find something authentic which fits you, and if it fits, stay with one thing without mixing. Different Buddhist schools use the same words for different things and different words for the same things, and it gets even more confusing if you mix Buddhist and non-Buddhist sources.
I heartily agree with the recommendation of going to a group to learn in person. Learning to meditate from a book is like learning to swim from a book; it may be possible, but it's far from optimal.
Personally, I do pretty traditional shamatha meditation these days.
Even within a single tradition, you may fine that some teachers click with you and some don't. It's a fine balance, but if you find someone who resonates with you, stick around and learn from them.
I actually just happened to be watching a really good talk by Jon Kabat-Zinn at Google: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwwKbM_vJc where he leads a meditation session, and provides some basic concepts to refer to as well. Relatable, articulate.
Thank you so much for this. I listened to it last night and I'm planning to listen to it again. It seems like the speaker has a very open, understanding perspective of life and the place of the human struggle.
I've been practicing zazen for the past 6 years, and highly recommend it for clearing the mind, being more aware of everything, the oneness of it all, and your place and responsibility as an individuation within it all. 30 minutes to an hour, sitting, preferably in front of a white wall, but variations are good. Eyes open, gazing softly, breathing deeply but without forcing of any kind, and just be. Observe the thoughts and emotions that rise and fall within the bodymind without judgment, pulling toward or pushing away. Just be and breathe. If you notice your mind wandering, just bring yourself back to the wall and the breath.
I've also found many teachings of awakened Zen Masters to be very helpful, such as Dogen or Hui Neng, but am completely non-religious and non-dogmatic. I would not consider myself a zen buddhist, as that's just a concept, a categorization. The information and success of the tools in cultivating awareness is what's important, not the dogma or labels.
I don't know if this qualifies, but I get into a meditative state during my daily brisk walks (usually 3 20-minute walks a day as I go about my business). I become very conscious of the movements of my body, the flexing and relaxing of my muscles, the swell of my lungs filling with air, the rhythm of my stride. It gets easier to move into that relaxed state of awareness the more I walk, and I come out of it feeling refreshed and invigorated.
One note: I've found that comfortable walking shoes really help. If my feet are cramped or sore or my shins start to ache, it's really hard to get into the flow of the walk.
I use the approach from "Mindfulness in Plain English" [http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html], where the object of meditation is your breathing, and the purpose of meditation is cultivating mindfulness.
Here are the key conceptual passages I noted down last time I read it:
“When any mental state arises strongly enough to distract you from the object of meditation, switch your attention to the distraction briefly. Make the distraction a temporary object of meditation... You switch your attention to the distraction only long enough to notice certain specific things about it. What is it? How strong is it? and, how long does it last? As soon as you have wordlessly answered these questions, you are through with your examination of that distraction, and you return your attention to the breath.”
“[D]istractions are actually the whole point. The key is to learn to deal with these things. Learning to notice them without being trapped in them. That's what we are here for. The mental wandering is unpleasant, to be sure. But it is the normal mode of operation of your mind. Don't think of it as the enemy. It is just the simple reality. And if you want to change something, the first thing you have to do is see it the way it is.”
“Whatever it is, don't try to repress it. Don't try to force it out of your mind. There's no need for that. Just observe it mindfully with bare attention. Examine the distraction wordlessly and it will pass away by itself. You will find your attention drifting effortlessly back to the breath. And do not condemn yourself for having being distracted. Distractions are natural. They come and they go.”
“From the point of view of mindfulness, there is really no such thing as a distraction. Whatever arises in the mind is viewed as just one more opportunity to cultivate mindfulness. Breath, remember, is an arbitrary focus, and it is used as our primary object of attention. Distractions are used as secondary objects of attention. They are certainly as much a part of reality as breath. It actually makes rather little difference what the object of mindfulness is. You can be mindful of the breath, or you can be mindful of the distraction. You can be mindful of the fact that you mind is still, and your concentration is strong, or you can be mindful of the fact that your concentration is in ribbons and your mind is in an absolute shambles. It's all mindfulness. Just maintain that mindfulness and concentration eventually will follow.”
“The purpose of meditation is not to concentrate on the breath, without interruption, forever. That by itself would be a useless goal. The purpose of meditation is not to achieve a perfectly still and serene mind. Although a lovely state, it doesn't lead to liberation by itself. The purpose of meditation is to achieve uninterrupted mindfulness.”
I find that exercise (particularly yoga) and Loving-Kindness meditation dramatically improve my ability to concentrate and be mindful.
The benefits of exercise and yoga seem obvious, so...
Loving-Kindness, or metta, meditation is essentially the cultivation of a positive emotional state. In the Buddhist tradition, it's spoken of as a tool for developing compassion. To get started, you can use a happy memory, the smiling face of a loved one, or a mantra such as "may I be happy" to generate the feeling. I find it also helps to focus on the region around my heart, to imagine my breath coming into my heart and filing it with joy. Once you get rolling, you can shift focus to the feeling itself to amplify it.
Second Sekida's book, it's a brilliant guide, and quite light hearted as well. It's about 2/3rds practical content and instruction then some anecdotes and light philosophy.
It's not only easy to do but I also found the scientific research comforting because I'm an atheist that never really warmed up to some of the other more mysticism-based methods.
I've been working from Wake Up To Your Life[1] for most of the last decade. (Ten years in April.) Mostly-Tibetan practices, stripped of the iron-age cosmology and religiosity.
Qi-gong (sometimes spelled chi- kung). It is moving meditation, as opposed to still. There are many different kinds, but the one I'm most familiar with is called Chaoyi fan huan (cfq).
I find it easier to move into a meditative state when my body is moving, personally.
What would you recommend for someone looking to get started with Qi-gong. The idea of moving meditation appeals to me more than sitting still all the time.
Zazen. Mostly on my own - 1hr in the mornings plus chanting liturgy (which feels like a spoken form of meditation rather than a plea to some higher power). But, it's important to my practice to also attend the monastery or temple where my teachers are - I try to get to one or the other at least once a month (would love to go more often but I have to balance family and work as well). Though it's perfectly possible to practice meditation of any form on one's own, a good teacher is invaluable for helping work with obstacles that arise in practice.
For those in the NYC area, I have learned a lot through the Mountains and Rivers Order, which has a temple in Brooklyn and a monastery upstate in Mt. Tremper (between Woodstock and Phoenicia).
http://www.mro.org/mro.html
In the beginning, you will want to train your attention, a practice called "samatha" which will allow you to concentrate for a extended periods of time with single pointed attention. After being able to concentrate on a single point such as your breath or a mantra, you will be able to do cool stuff with insight meditation. It's also important to keep a daily sitting routine. I meditate for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 at night. Every month I try to do a 4 hour sit on a Sunday morning. Find a teacher or a sangha. Check out many different lineages. I tried Soto Zen, Rinzai Zen, and even Vedanta before ending at Tibetan buddhism.
Four hours? Your bladder must be made out of steel.
What value to you get in return for this significant investment of time? I've been curious about meditation for a while, but never really understood the benefits. Every time I've tried it, I've walked away cranky and uncomfortable.
You don't necessarily have to do a sitting meditation. A walking meditation is good enough. Find a quiet park with lots of trees/greenery. Walk slowly, put attention on soles of feet, or breathing, or path in front. Anything but mind/thoughts. As thoughts come, bring attention back to breath/feet.
Sooner or later (maybe days/weeks/months) you will clearly notice the presence, that which is (always) here. There will be some recognitions that only you can make. Some call it the "I am".
No, it is hard for the mind to understand, since the mind is quiet at this point. The mind itself is the disturbance that prevents us from knowing what is there when it is no longer "veiling" what is.
This is also called being in the present moment, being in the Now, abiding as the I-am, abiding as awareness etc. My first recognition was of what was real and what was not. Only you can make that recognition, it cannot be told and proved by someone else.
The second recognition was of myself being the silent awareness inside which the mind and the "I" was playing.
The whole play of the personality or "personal self" is seen through. The suffering of this mental being crumbles. Can you imagine the freedom ? No wealth or power can buy this.
If meditation is making you cranky and uncomfortable, I'd say you haven't yet found the right form of meditation for you. There are a huge number of different practices out there, and most of them strike me as self-violent and painful. Of course, they probably work well for some people; to each her own.
Personally, I've always been drawn to practices that emphasize simplicity, ease, gentleness, and acceptance in the cultivation of awareness. If I need to pee, I get up and pee; if I need to adjust my position, I adjust my position. I don't force my mind, I do the opposite: I let go of my mind and instead watch it. Thoughts come and thoughts go, and a surprising number of them are pretty funny when I'm not caught up in them.
It's truly easy because you can't do it wrong: the goal isn't to have no thoughts, be perfectly present, or have super-concentration. You will have thoughts (lots of them at first), you will have moments when you're present and moments when you're not, you will have pretty crappy concentration at first. Over time, you develop a very easy, effortless form of concentration that doesn't involve forcing anything. Concentration isn't the goal, just a pleasant byproduct.
The benefits? I feel much more centered and present, more relaxed, my mind is sharper. My mood tends to be better. To be sure, there are times when I'm cranky when I start and cranky when I finish -- we don't get to use it to force our experience to change. But by practicing being gently present, practicing accepting "this is what my experience is right now," I seem to have more pleasant moods and fewer, briefer unpleasant moods.
Where have you tried it? If you're really curious, I'd recommend a weekend retreat as a good way to give you a taste of what the benefits are. Practicing on your own is fine, once you know what you're doing, but until you do, it's much easier to get instruction in person and practice with a group.
Like any other practice (programming, music, art) it can be difficult at first and the benefits take time to accrue. I struggled to sit comfortably for a long time before I reached the point where I can sit easily for an hour - though it still takes a little time getting up :)
As far as bladders, in the Zen tradition, half-day or full-day sits are short sessions of sitting (maybe 35 minutes) alternated with walking meditation (maybe 5 or 10 minutes). During the walking meditation, you have an opportunity to step out if you need the toilet. Also, there can be a meal and rest period thrown in so that it's not actually 4 or 8 hours of just sitting.
The benefits you get are equanimity, and concentrated attention. In sports it's called being "in the zone". It's a state of mind where you are fully present and time slows down. Others call it "flow." Now imagine if you could direct that type of concentrated attention to any activity that you desire whether its hacking, sports, or writing.
Turning the Mind Into an Ally - is a great book to ease your way into a mindfulness practice. Great, practical, real-world, without being preachy. http://amzn.to/90fIv1
While I don't necessarily meditate per se, I do chant everyday. I follow a sect of Buddhism known as Nichiren Buddhism. Basically, the chanting helps to elevate our life conditions so that we're able to face any challenges in our daily lives. You focus on changing your attitude/thinking so that you affect your environment and not the other way around. Buddha in Your Mirror (http://www.amazon.com/Buddha-Your-Mirror-Practical-Buddhism/...) and Buddha in Daily Life (http://www.amazon.com/Buddha-Daily-Life-Introduction-Daishon...) are 2 interesting books that I'd recommend if anyone's interested.
'When Rinpoche told my wife that he was being billed as “the happiest man in the world,” he laughed as though that were the funniest joke he’d ever heard.'
