Meditation and Buddhist Practice

[Deoster]

Something I'm curious about but don't have as much hands-on experience with personally is meditation and Buddhism put personally into practice. I thought, given Amlux has talked about it a bit and other people here might have an interest/experience with it as well, it'd be good to start a topic about meditation and Buddhism generally.

To begin with, for those who meditate: how do you do it and why do you do it that way? I'm thinking of things like lotus position or not, open/closed eyes, focusing on breathing vs. mantra vs. just mindfulness and awareness. I know that different schools like Zen and so on will have different answers here, so what's informed the decision to follow one school rather than another?

[Amlux]

To begin with, for those who meditate: how do you do it and why do you do it that way? I'm thinking of things like lotus position or not, open/closed eyes, focusing on breathing vs. mantra vs. just mindfulness and awareness. I know that different schools like Zen and so on will have different answers here, so what's informed the decision to follow one school rather than another?

I talked about it a bit, but I'm in the Zen tradition and I always do lotus position with hands crossed in my lap. But the truth is that Zen doesn't emphasize the sitting style a ton. Here's a good resource: How to Sit. The important part is keeping your eyes open. This is sort of hard at first, but you don't want to stare with bug eyes. You're supposed to keep your eyes very relaxed and not really "look" with them, just passively absorb visual data. Kind of like when you're "spacing out." And then just focus on your breath. Count it if you want. That's what I was taught at least and it's the extent of what I do.

I also chant the Heart Sutra before meditating like I do in my streams. It helps center me and get me mentally prepared. But I've never tried mantra stuff.

As for why I chose the Zen tradition, it was mostly a matter of convenience as that was the sangha that was near me. And it has a strong history in Japan being very tied to Japanese art and history. But it was also brought to the US by D.T. Suzuki and had some genuine interactions and influences with the Transcendentalism of Americans like Thoreau and Emerson, so it feels like a very "genuine" lineage for me as an American to follow in that sense.

[BookReader]

I know very little about Buddhism, but I meditate by just laying in my bed covered with a blanket with my eyes closed, so not quite sophisticated. I do it so I can come to my own conclusions regarding questions I have, I believe most people would be better off just being bored and thinking rather than watching a dozen video or reading self-help books to find themselves.

[0zmanthus]

Hi Deoster, this is a great teaching to start with! If you have any questions I would be glad to help however I can.

https://www.youtube.com/live/hD9xy6JbOIk?

[zen]

Let me repost what I said on another site:

Overview of meditation:

There are heaps of scientific evidence that meditation has physical and mental health benefits. This is a thread for discussing meditation as a hobby.

I encourage everyone to try meditating for at least 10 minutes a day. After the first few weeks (which will likely be very frustrating and feel pointless), as you start to benefit from the practice, you can go up to 15, 20, 30 minutes a day, or even longer. You'll begin to enjoy it and feel the benefits. It costs nothing to do.

My regular practice is to use "buddho" with the breaths -- breathe in, "bood-", breathe out, "-doh". (a word which means "awake" / "aware" in Ancient Indian). Any two part phrase works -- "foc - cus", "re - lax", "in - out" whatever. Many articles on this practice drawing from the Thai Forest school if you google "buddho meditation".

My other practice is to sit and face the wall and "just sit". Maintaining a good posture, eyes half-closed, I sit and stare at the wall and just sit. This is an even simpler kind of meditation than "buddho" because you don't even have to follow your breath or repeat a word.

The trick is when you find yourself distracted, go back to your point of focus. You're not trying to block out thoughts and distractions -- but you're not trying to follow them either. Watch them as they come and go. As you build up the habit of meditation, you fill find it easier to build and keep focus.

It helps quite a bit to find a place that is quiet and comfortable and to find a posture you can keep still in for extended periods of time. If you're not an Asian who's used to sitting on the floor all the time anyway, you don't need to force yourself to do it. Sofa, recliner, even bed work fine.

Ways to make meditation easier:

• consume stimulants (caffeine/nicotine)
• eat moderately or fast
• take a break from porn, doomscrolling, games, etc
• do it after exercise or chanting
• try doing it with beads

More specific techniques:

If you try to focus on the breath and "buddho" / "in-out" / "relax" is not enough, the traditional introductory practice is to begin with counting, especially to 10.

1-in , 2-out
3-in, 4-out
5-in, 6-out
7-in, 8-out
9-in, 10-out

... and repeat ...

as you relax and become focused :

1-in, out
2-in, out
3-in, out
4-in, out
5-in, out
repeat

when you are relaxed enough you really do not need to count at all :H

Any time you find yourself with "free time" try counting your breath. Think of that meme "you are now manually blinking and breathing." You will begin to notice an effect.

There are a billion and one guides on using the breath as an object of meditation. Try different ones and see what works for you. Whatever you pick , you'll struggle with keeping control of your mind as you begin. If all roads lead to Rome? May as well take the direct path.

Absolutely pay attention to how your belly moves during breathing. How your breath makes the spot under your nose feel. How focused breathing affects your face and toes and joints and stomach and everything else.

The point is to "anchor" your conscious mind onto something . Even if you focus and relax so much that people think you fell asleep or fell into a coma. Once your mind is anchored and you stop paying as much attention to the regular world, things begin changing quickly.........

[Deoster]

Let me repost what I said on another site:

Overview of meditation:

There are heaps of scientific evidence that meditation has physical and mental health benefits. This is a thread for discussing meditation as a hobby.

I encourage everyone to try meditating for at least 10 minutes a day. After the first few weeks (which will likely be very frustrating and feel pointless), as you start to benefit from the practice, you can go up to 15, 20, 30 minutes a day, or even longer. You'll begin to enjoy it and feel the benefits. It costs nothing to do.

My regular practice is to use "buddho" with the breaths -- breathe in, "bood-", breathe out, "-doh". (a word which means "awake" / "aware" in Ancient Indian). Any two part phrase works -- "foc - cus", "re - lax", "in - out" whatever. Many articles on this practice drawing from the Thai Forest school if you google "buddho meditation".

My other practice is to sit and face the wall and "just sit". Maintaining a good posture, eyes half-closed, I sit and stare at the wall and just sit. This is an even simpler kind of meditation than "buddho" because you don't even have to follow your breath or repeat a word.

The trick is when you find yourself distracted, go back to your point of focus. You're not trying to block out thoughts and distractions -- but you're not trying to follow them either. Watch them as they come and go. As you build up the habit of meditation, you fill find it easier to build and keep focus.

It helps quite a bit to find a place that is quiet and comfortable and to find a posture you can keep still in for extended periods of time. If you're not an Asian who's used to sitting on the floor all the time anyway, you don't need to force yourself to do it. Sofa, recliner, even bed work fine.

Ways to make meditation easier:

• consume stimulants (caffeine/nicotine)
• eat moderately or fast
• take a break from porn, doomscrolling, games, etc
• do it after exercise or chanting
• try doing it with beads

More specific techniques:

If you try to focus on the breath and "buddho" / "in-out" / "relax" is not enough, the traditional introductory practice is to begin with counting, especially to 10.

1-in , 2-out
3-in, 4-out
5-in, 6-out
7-in, 8-out
9-in, 10-out

... and repeat ...

as you relax and become focused :

1-in, out
2-in, out
3-in, out
4-in, out
5-in, out
repeat

when you are relaxed enough you really do not need to count at all :H

Any time you find yourself with "free time" try counting your breath. Think of that meme "you are now manually blinking and breathing." You will begin to notice an effect.

There are a billion and one guides on using the breath as an object of meditation. Try different ones and see what works for you. Whatever you pick , you'll struggle with keeping control of your mind as you begin. If all roads lead to Rome? May as well take the direct path.

Absolutely pay attention to how your belly moves during breathing. How your breath makes the spot under your nose feel. How focused breathing affects your face and toes and joints and stomach and everything else.

The point is to "anchor" your conscious mind onto something . Even if you focus and relax so much that people think you fell asleep or fell into a coma. Once your mind is anchored and you stop paying as much attention to the regular world, things begin changing quickly.........

Thank you for the detailed advice! I find the suggestion to take stimulants interesting, because I've personally found whenever I try to meditate after drinking coffee my mind is much more liable to go all over the place and not be able to settle down. Maybe I'm still in too "beginner" of a phase for it to be helpful, though.