What exactly is meditation?

[Imzadi]

What exactly is the process and experience of meditation? Can you please describe it? What are some of the ways you meditate? How is meditation described in Buddhist scripture? Thank you! :)

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Imzadi

What exactly is the process and experience of meditation? Can you please describe it? What are some of the ways you meditate? How is meditation described in Buddhist scripture? Thank you! :)

Meditation method according to Gotama Buddha is outlined in the satipatthana sutta. The sutta only a remedial outline. In practice the conversation on meditation is far more nuanced.

Here is the sutta.

https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.n...indfulness.pdf

[Imzadi]

Originally Posted by Gem

Meditation method according to Gotama Buddha is outlined in the satipatthana sutta. The sutta only a remedial outline. In practice the conversation on meditation is far more nuanced.

Here is the sutta.

https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.n...indfulness.pdf

Thank you for the link! Reading it now. :)

One method is explained here..
https://www.sirimangalo.org/text/how-to-meditate/

One advantage is that he explains it in text and video which could be helpful.
If you have a chance in any way. See if you can find a vipassana course or instruction you can go to a few times.

It's way simpler than it sounds, So I tended to overthink and get confused way to much when I started from books. Things gotten more relaxed after my " formal" instruction.

Also The instruction Daniel Ingram gives in his book
Is as succint as it comes, but a full instruction non the less.

For concentration(Samatha)

So, the essential formal concentration practice instructions are: pick
an object (the list above is a great place to begin), find a place to practice ,
where you are as free from distractions as possible, pick a sustainable
posture (it doesn’t really matter so much), focus your attention on the
object as completely and consistently as possible for the duration of that
practice period, allowing as few lapses in concentration as possible, and
learn to stabilize all of your attention on that object. The more you
practice and the better your practice, the better you will become. Find
the balance of effort and steadiness that works for you. Practice again
and again until you can attain access concentration. While this
paragraph may seem trite or sparse, it contains the formal instructions
on how to begin training in concentration..

For wisdom

Thus, the essential formal insight meditation instructions are : find a
place where the distractions are tolerable, pick a stable and sustainable
posture, and for a defined period of time notice every single sensation
that makes up your reality as best you can. Just as with concentration
practices, more time and more diligent practice pays off. These simple
instructions can easily seem overwhelming, vague or strangely trivial to
many people, and so I am going to spend a lot of time laying out a large
number of empowering concepts and more structured practices that
have helped countless practitioners over thousands of years to follow
these basic instructions.

The quotes come from "Mastering the core teachings of the buddha.
Downloadable for free.
Here.

There was a wiki once, but many of the links in there seem broken

Hope this helps to get you started.
That said. Find a vipassana instructor, A lot of monasteries or meditation center's will offer meditation instruction free of charge, I.E based on generosity(dana) which means it will cost whatever it is worth to you and how much you are willing to give. even if that is only your gratitude..

With Love
Eelco

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Imzadi

Thank you for the link! Reading it now. :)

Bearing in mind the oral tradition of the discourse, the text is somewhat repetitive.

On a less formal note.

In my experience meditation is the practice of getting to know your reality in the present moment really really well.
In that sense you can meditate under any circumstance.
Take the current moment and review every sensation that makes up this moment. Bodily sensations, feeling tones, thoughts and possibly mindstates(if you have words for them)

The 4 aspects outlined above are supposedly the 4 abidings or pastures the mind can experience in realtime. And are considered truthfull. All other experiences can (according to the dhamma) be found to originate from these...

That really didn't make it any clearer did it..

With Love
Eelco

[sky]

'Be still and know' .....
This is how I understood the difference ( Subtle ) between Sat: and Vip: meditation.

[sky]

Originally Posted by Gem

Bearing in mind the oral tradition of the discourse, the text is somewhat repetitive.

Many Suttas are repetitive, I wonder if they are so to help make the teachings sink in.
My Mother use to say ' I don't know how many times I've told you but you don't listen ' mybe Buddha felt the same

[Gem]

Originally Posted by sky123

Many Suttas are repetitive, I wonder if they are so to help make the teachings sink in.
My Mother use to say ' I don't know how many times I've told you but you don't listen ' mybe Buddha felt the same

I think because the discourses are taken from the oral tradition, repetition of the main theme helps it to sink in. Probably not necessary in text because we can read things over, but in the oral teaching we can only hear once.

I attended a lot of retreats and heard the same discourses each time, as I learned things orally by listening, and not by reading. But we really only hear things that 'resonate', so when I heard the discourse the second time and the third time, I heard things I didn't hear the previous times. In this way, the oral tradition works through repetition.

With text if we don't really understand something we can go back and read it again, but in the oral tradition, it's said once and then its over, so we tend to attend a lot of dhamma talks that go over the same things before we actually hear the whole of it.

The benefit of the oral talks is they bring a wide range of the teaching together, so it isn't like reading one sutta and then another. The oral talks bring the whole teaching together as it pertains to that day's practice.

Here on SF it's different because we didn't spend the day on our meditation cushions, and there is no teaching which doesn't go with practice.

[sky]

Originally Posted by Gem

I think because the discourses are taken from the oral tradition, repetition of the main theme helps it to sink in. Probably not necessary in text because we can read things over, but in the oral teaching we can only hear once.

I attended a lot of retreats and heard the same discourses each time, as I learned things orally by listening, and not by reading. But we really only hear things that 'resonate', so when I heard the discourse the second time and the third time, I heard things I didn't hear the pr7evious times. In this way, the oral tradition works through repetition.

With text if we don't really understand something we can go back and read it again, but in the oral tradition, it's said once and then its over, so we tend to attend a lot of dhamma talks that go over the same things before we actually hear the whole of it.

The benefit of the oral talks is they bring a wide range of the teaching together, so it isn't like reading one sutta and then another. The oral talks bring the whole teaching together as it pertains to that day's practice.

Here on SF it's different because we didn't spend the day on our meditation cushions, and there is no teaching which doesn't go with practice.

I prefer oral talks over reading as I don't need to observe, I just close my eyes and let the words flow through me...