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Originally Posted by iamthat
It is difficult to compare long meditates - as you say, it all depends on the time-table of each day and how many hours each day are actually spent sitting in meditation.
And it also depends on whether the person meditating is living the life of a yogi/monk/renunciate or if they have the daily responsibilities of family, work etc.
The most common long meditation is perhaps the 10 day Vipassana course, but when you see the timetable it is broken up into periods of meditation (either as a group or on your own) with breaks for rest, food, discourse, etc.
There is a Buddhist group meditation retreat of 3 years, 3 months and 3 days, but I know little about this.
Vicki McKenzie, a Buddhist nun, wrote about her 12 years in a cave in the book Cave in the Snows. I read this book years ago, and from what I recall she had breaks to visit her teacher and even to make a trip to the UK.
There are many anecdotes of yogis who sit for years in a cave in continual meditation, or with the occasional break for a meal brought by a disciple.
I first began to meditate in a group which encouraged us to meditate four hours every day with a six hour meditate every weekend, and we all did this. As we became more experienced we did longer individual meditates, at first 12 hours, then two days, three days, four days or longer. This was sitting for up to 18 hours each day, and we would get tea and toast in the morning and a bowl of rice, tea and toast in the evening. All this was done while leading an otherwise normal life - we worked, had families, etc.
I discovered that if you can do two days, then it is actually easier doing longer periods. Two days is difficult because the mind spends the first day quietening down and then the second day the mind anticipates finishing. Doing three or four days is easier because the mind just gives up, becomes quiet and surrenders to simply being in meditation.
So the longest I have done was a couple of 8-day meditates, sitting for up to 18 hours each day. These were actually quite easy, and very powerful. It has been many years since I did long meditates because of other responsibilities.
Peace.
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