Meditation...

reply to post by xXR34P3RXx

How come though I go to clear my mind when I meditate, it seems like theres always something that i forget until just then

To paraphrase Allen Watts...

I might ask what you what it is you've forgotten. You there, you've forgotten something! What is it?? You might look around and think well I've got pants on, my watch, my sweater, what could it be? No it's not that stuff. Everybody's forgetten something. You left it out. We can bring this thing out you've forgotten if I ask you Who are you? You might say I'm Mike or I'm Susie. No No don't give me that. Who are you REALLY?
Well I'm just me.
NO don't give me that! I don't want that nonsense! Really deep down who are you!? "Well I don't know"

That's the thing that's been left out! That's what we've been taught to ignore. That's what you have to find out before that feeling will go away.

I think i get it in one sense but in the other sense you kind of just lost me a little bit.

Originally posted by xXR34P3RXx
I think i get it in one sense but in the other sense you kind of just lost me a little bit.

Meditation was explained to me as controlling your own state of mind. Looking through the anxiety, fear and confusion to see the true nature of things. Nothing more but certainly nothing less...

Peace

reply to post by xXR34P3RXx


Again back to Allen Watts-
Look at a rug. You have black threads here...they go under they white threads and back out on top of the white and so on. So that the back is the obverse pattern of the front. The world is like that. Our sense organs are selective. They pick out certain things...They are receptive. For example we have a small band, a spectrum to which the human organism is sensitive. But there's lots of other "stuff" out there. So you could imagine the universe as a vast system of vibrations with infinite possibilities. When you play a harp you select certain strings, and these make the patterns, the songs. But at the same time that you select certain strings, you leave out other strings. But it's all there, constituting a fundamental continuity. The kind of continuity of the thread as they go into the back of the rug and make up the obverse of the pattern.

The basic question is, What have you left out? You are focused on certain things that constitute what you call everyday reality. Try to look at the other side of the rug.

meditation can do some awsome things, but not this. I have considered starting it to try and leave my physical body, but I have such a short attention span I think I will struggle. I used to think it was all a load of mumbo jumbo until I looked into it properley because people I met who did it seemed by far happier and more at peace then anyone else I had met.

Okay I'm kind of starting to get what you're saying

Can meditation bring about occult or 'supernatural' powers? Yes, but you should study into it further before you make your decision on trying to achieve such things.

"The desire for occult powers is part of the desire to impress others. It has nothing to do with the religious quest. It is essentially worldly." - Osho

"People practice various Tantrik disciplines to acquire supernatural powers. How mean such people are! Krishna said to Arjuna, 'Friend, by acquiring one of the eight siddhis you may add a little to your power, but you will not be able to realize Me.' One cannot get rid of maya as long as one exercises supernatural powers. And maya (illusion) gives rise to egotism." - Sri Ramakrishna

A good short piece on why occult and supernatural powers are useless by Ramana Maharshi:

buddhasangha.blogspot.com...

reply to post by xXR34P3RXx


Yes. What you refer to as "super-powers" are essentially called siddhis (sanskrit). Siddhis were developed by Mind Masters in ancient India and China. These Mind Masters were also called Black Dragons (not to be confused with ordinary chinese dragon mythology) due to their ability to handle the pure essence of Mind Only at their will and desire. This ability stemmed from a more esoteric understanding of the Buddhas teachings on the true nature of Mind which is that there is Mind Only and nothing else. The moment a student realized this directly and unquestionably through proper Pi Kuan (Biguan ch.) meditation (chan meditation of a Black dragon also not to be confused with todays shallow zen nonsense practised by so called zen masters) the true essence, like a force revealed itself to the Mind-student. This btw. inspired George Lucas in his research of ancient religions and sages before writing the Star wars. From this great awakening (which always is non-temporal and non.localized), the path begins as to practise "the way" (ie handling this pure Mind essence and becoming more of it than ones own mortal body). This practise called the six paramitas takes around 20-40 years depending on the students spiritual intelligence. However durimng this period the student supposedly experiences many awesome powers of the Mind which can be applied and studied on a daily basis. It was warned though that the primary target of the student was to reach nirvana ( minds shore of immortality) and not be caught up too much with these siddhis.

To my knowledge there are only a handful of Mind Masters left in this world today. One of them is living in Georgia Atlanta, another in Northern Europe (sweden I believe), another one on an island south of Osaka.

I hope this helps.

reply to post by xXR34P3RXx


Hey there,

When I started meditation, I honestly thought that I would sit silently in my room, and then float off to start having tea with the angels in the clouds. I thought that they would teach me how to shoot plasma balls and read minds.

Now while that could be possible, I realised that what I actually gained from meditation was much more powerful than that. This is why I agree that these 'supernatural powers' will actually hinder your path to clarity, so to speak.

A while back, I read something interesting (sorry, can't remember the source), but it said that meditation is not the act of sitting with a quiet mind, but rather the action of quieting the mind.

So when you think it's not working, ignore those thoughts, and calm your mind = meditation.
When your face is itchy, scratch it if you need to, and calm your mind again = meditation.
When someone cuts in front of you on the road while driving, be accepting and calm your mind = meditation.

You can slowly see that, as the practice increases, meditation starts to slide into your 'waking' life.
In the beginning, just get used to that state of mind in a quiet place by yourself.

One can then identify and grow accustomed to the art of calming one's mind. So just like downloading a file on your PC, things work a lot better when you aren't using up any unnecessary processing power.
Absolutely everything else will come as a result of that.

A nice analogy is ten-pin bowling: When you bowl the ball slowly towards the centre pin, walk up the aisle next to it. The real act of meditation is you following the ball, tapping it back towards the centre line, when it begins to stray towards the gutter.

This is all my opinion, of course. But my advice is that you start meditating with one, and only one desire:
When my mind wonders, I will keep it still. Everytime you do that, you master meditation.
So the more times you think it is not working, the better

reply to post by dyllels


What was written above is true, but that is not yet the first level of meditative concentration.

When you reach the first samadhi, you no longer think "I'm meditating", there's no someone doing meditation, no meditation being done, no thoughts being observed.

That is, there is no difference between these things. You don't think, I am stilling my mind, rather, if your mind becomes unstilled, you simply forget about it and it is still again, with no differences.

Thoughts are free to arise in this state, they do not unstill things.

Originally posted by Fevrier
When you reach the first samadhi, you no longer think "I'm meditating", there's no someone doing meditation, no meditation being done, no thoughts being observed.

That is, there is no difference between these things. You don't think, I am stilling my mind, rather, if your mind becomes unstilled, you simply forget about it and it is still again, with no differences.

That is very true. Things fade away:
There is no me, no I, no mind, no meditation. Wonderful things happen on the fringe of mind/no mind, thought/no thought.

But when I was starting out, I thought these 'strange' descriptions were something to strive for. When now I believe that they aren't that at all. They are the result of meditation, not the goal.

As far as the technique required to reach this state, everyone carves there own path and i feel that we all eventually merge.

Like going upstream from an ocean to a river: The river delta has many paths from the sea, in order to get back to the main river source. When one is there, you turn around and flow effortlessly back in to the ocean.
Gotta love how mind reasoning makes sense using paradoxes

Whew, this inspired me to get back into meditation a bit more.

Originally posted by xXR34P3RXx
TPTB? Whats that?

How come though I go to clear my mind when I meditate, it seems like theres always something that i forget until just then, or my arm or leg starts itching?

Acronym for The Powers That Be!

I believe with practice you can achieve certain insights, powers, physic abilities. Tibbetan and Budhist monks experience certain abilities. Even the government has "remote viewers".

I believe your mind has to be prepped and prepared and practiced, otherwise having outer realm viewing abilities may cause a certain insanity.

Meditation would never make you have a super human ability like that. It need much more than that.
At least with definition of what meditation these days.

psycic abilities? i'd rather say its just more finely tunes senses and improved controll over yourself, along with the expansion of what may be refered to as the self.

we all already posess rather impressive senses.... the problem is that theres interference by the information around uss.
information of others thought are flying through uss all the time, it just comes in a #ty format, you simply might not have the tools for decoding or simplifying it down to a graspable level


thats where the femenine aspect comes into play, for it simplifies things, makes them appear less chaotic than otherwise.
just like with a deep enough sleep... if dreams go beyond a certain limit of "chaos", they are not experienced and you will wake up without ever noticing you fell asleep...
and i'm assuming you all, already know the brow chakra cause dreams to become less chaotic, thus more lucid.


...whereas the maskuline aspect represent compexity, information, chaos, renewal, creativity etz... i do hope its easy for you to see how too much of it can be a problem if left without a counterbalancing force.
for what is complexity without simplicity?.. renewal without preservance?.. creativity without the ability to express it?

balance is natural, what you call supernatural is only natural

Does this count as superpowers?
70 years without food/water, energy from meditation

Pralhad Jani claims to have been blessed by a goddess when he was 8-years-old, which has enabled him to survive without sustenance and that he derives energy through meditation. If you are not aware, there are many people can live without food for several weeks, with the body drawing on its fat and protein stores. But the average human can survive for only three to four days without water.

Originally posted by SpreadLoveNotHate
Does this count as superpowers?
70 years without food/water, energy from meditation

Pralhad Jani claims to have been blessed by a goddess when he was 8-years-old, which has enabled him to survive without sustenance and that he derives energy through meditation. If you are not aware, there are many people can live without food for several weeks, with the body drawing on its fat and protein stores. But the average human can survive for only three to four days without water.

edit on 11-8-2011 by SpreadLoveNotHate because: (no reason given)

edit on 11-8-2011 by SpreadLoveNotHate because: (no reason given)

It's not a super or paranormal power. It's a latent faculty as all other siddhis.

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy


You are wise...you have studied both sides...light and dark...understand the balance...I have only touch upon the surface of knowledge of what you are speaking of. In the balance is where all the truths lie. Tantric practices for evil powers is stealing someones life, force or both. Not acceptable!

How interesting that Illusion is called Maya.

Okay so I tried stilling my mind, and I got a itch so I scratched it, and went back to stilling my mind, and I didn't itch for like five minutes, Does that mean I am doing it right?

reply to post by xXR34P3RXx


Maybe, maybe not. Keep at it, and remember two important things:

1. There is no trying to still the mind, it settles on its own when you stop interfering with its movement.
2. It is not a race to be won, but a simple experience to be watched. Don't look ahead, every moment is important.

Peace.