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[MEGA] Meditation

CoffeeDrinker said:
I want people to talk about how meditation has positively impacted their situation as well as speculate as to why such a simple activity of just stopping your endless flow of selfish thoughts for only a few minutes can greatly improve your mental state.
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There are actual neurological changes that occur with long-term daily zazen practice. Most notably, an increase in seretonin production, an increase in spatial awarenes and concentration.

I started practicing and reading texts on Zen Buddhism approximately five years ago, and although there have been many areas of abstinence from meditation since then, I am currently more submersed in my zazen practice than I ever have been.

I can't really imagine going a day without zazen, although I try to sit twice a day.

Earlier stages can work well to temporarily clear the mind or cause moderate relaxation.

Right now I don't experience any anxiety or depression. For the past year I have been having problems with an overactive thyroid, am 22 and have had constant high blood pressure, chest pains, palpitations and tachardia. In the last couple weeks as I gradually gain more experience I have managed to conquer this and abaondon the use of my prescription beta blockers.. My diastolic BP was always normal, my systollic could fluctuate between 160 and as high as 200.

It never bothers me anymore and is settled around 130 now. I never have hyperthyroidism falre-ups, never have panic attacks, never have social anxiety and am more mindful than I've ever been. My mind is constantly focused and aware of only the present.

But like your boy Shunryu Suzuki suggests, you have to always maintain a beginner's mind, and with that said, I have a lot of progress to make. I am just now beginning t incorporate other techniques, getting into Taoism and shit.
 
Meditation truly is a biochemical process in the brain. I have no idea what is actually going on, but like Buddha said that isn't what's important, it's just important to do it. Like the man infected with a poisoned arrow.

I think any society that uses meditation practice seriously all tend to have similar realizations, even monasteries in Western Europe. This is a strong case for it being a universal activity that doesn't come from an ideology, the ideology comes from meditation.

Someone mentioned how they think that sitting is the easiest way to become enlightened. I think I have a counter argument to that.
The attachment you can have while sitting is the idea of being the best buddhist possible, of attaining something greater than yourself, this so called "gaining idea". But these thoughts are necessarily dualistic. If you have any thoughts like these and you don't question them, then sitting could never lead to enlightenment, or take way longer, maybe next lifetime.

I like to think of meditation as just hanging out. You are just hanging out in a world where there is no need for sensory input other than the repetitive motion of following your gut as it moves in and out. The longer you hang out in this world, the more it reveals itself to you. This revelation should reveal itself in the form of an undeniable strength of mind, and compassion.

Just like if if you are hanging out in some depressing drug den every day you will eventually be permeated with depression and anxiety.
 
I've been trying to get my friend to meditate, bought him lot of books for it too. Meditation is challenging.
 
oh i always have trouble falling asleep, i was just thinking of how monks came to appreciate caffeine because it allowed them to meditate for longer periods without having to worry about falling asleep while doing it
 
^ It was an early Muslim monastic order in coffee's native region around the Red Sea, according to legend, I think.

I agree -- there's nothing like getting up on a chilly, quiet morning without saying anything, drinking a strong black quality cup of coffee with nothing else, and hitting the meditation cushion for half an hour.
 
mydoorsareopen said:
^ it was an early muslim monastic order in coffee's native region around the red sea, according to legend, i think.

I agree -- there's nothing like getting up on a chilly, quiet morning without saying anything, drinking a strong black quality cup of coffee with nothing else, and hitting the meditation cushion for half an hour.
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fuck yeah!
 
Changed said:
meditation and consciousness is everything we aren't in modern day society.

social networking makes us less aware in our relationships.
faster travel creates larger distances between spaces.
super-efficient technological advances create more work for humans.

only the act of consciously sitting will truly provide you with wholehearted contentment.
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Nicely put. Although I agree with tathra that the last sentence is going a bit too far. People have achieved enlightenment without ever meditating.
 
^That is my current fascination, enlightenment that is based on experience and action rather than meditation. D.T. Suzuki wrote that you shouldn't give up one second of life experience for philosophical bantering. I am not as hardcore as he is however.

MyDoorsAreOpen said:
I agree -- there's nothing like getting up on a chilly, quiet morning without saying anything, drinking a strong black quality cup of coffee with nothing else, and hitting the meditation cushion for half an hour.
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Hey there. That deserves a big ol cheers!
 
then a Zen monk would slap you with a wooden stick to tell you silently that words are flawed...
 
Meditation is a very hard thing to define IMO. But if pushed I would say meditation to me is a change from high frequency brain wave activity(beta for example) to a lower one(alpha or theta). Just about any activity that encourages this lowering of frequency would have the same benefits as traditional meditative practices like breathing and body postures.
 
That thought is very interesting. It seems like meditation is nothing more than a way to exercise the shifting the dominant brain waves from beta to alpha. And satori usually occurs after coming out of the alpha dominant state, so that is like some sort of period where there is an intermediate mental state combining the total calmness of mind with an active thought process.
Though I feel so silly trying to explain it as I am years and years away from satori I really have no clue what I'm talking about.

I think any intelligent young person thinks that they are special and that they can attain the desired state quicker than most, but like trying to lift a bench press that's way heavier than what you are currently capable of despite the fact that you have functioning muscles, trying to attain this state of enlightenment is way above your current level of mental perception.
 
^I do not even believe one should have a goal when meditating, I think this is a sure fire way to fail. When I begin my meditation sessions, I have absolutely no intent or destination. I meditate simply because I enjoy it. If I become enlightened, so be it. If I do not, so be it.
 
yeah I am well aware of the doctrine of "no-attainment" or "no-gaining-idea."
I was just saying that as a young idealistic meditator it's a pitfall that is nearly impossible to not fall into at least a few times in your life.
 
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