Meditation Becomes Beneficial Surprisingly Fast

Re:Meditation Becomes Beneficial Surprisingly Fast by wheels on Friday June 25, 2010 @10:21PM (#1462904)

It's worth spending a bit of time reading on, as I find the descriptions here to be overly superficial, perhaps largely because meditation is more defined by what you do not do, than what you do. It's also worth noting that there are many types of meditation. Years ago I read "Buddhism without Beliefs" (on "agnostic Buddhism"). Bullshitty as the title may sound, the major thing that I came away with was a decent meditation practice that I stuck to for a few months.

Sadly, I've found even for those convinced of meditation's benefits, like exercise, knowing you should do it doesn't mean you do.

http://monkeymindonline.blogspot.com/2008/04/critical-analys...

As a side note, the all time best quote on meditation, from Tom Robbins' Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates:

"Meditation hasn't got a damn thing to do with anything, 'cause all it has to do with is nothing. Nothingness. Okay? It doesn't develop the mind, it dissolves the mind. Self-improvement? Forget it, baby. It erases the self. Throws the ego out on its big brittle ass. What good is it? Good for nothing. Excellent for nothing. Yes, Lord, but when you get down to nothing, you get down to ultimate reality. It's then and exactly then that you're sensing the true nature of the universe, you're linked up with the absolute Absolute, son, and unless you're content with blowing smoke up your butt all your life, that there's the only place to be."

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Re:Meditation Becomes Beneficial Surprisingly Fast by cianestro on Saturday June 26, 2010 @01:16AM (#1463156)

I highly suggest "The Tibetan Book of The Dead" and "The Power of Silence." Try to find the TBOTD version translated by W.Y. Evans-Wentz if you're not one for happy meal, watered-down philosophy. Take these texts with a grain of salt at first only because they will be thoroughly alien to your mind; once absorbed use wisely.

"...that which clingth not no fall can come. Where no fall cometh, there is rest, and where rest is, there is no keen desire. Where keen desire is not, naught cometh or goeth; and where naught cometh or goeth there is no death, no birth." -GB, TBOTD

"Cutting our chains is marvelous, but also very undesirable, for nobody wants to be free." -CC, The Power of Silence

EDIT: btw yogic flying is for idiots. Those who've practiced meditation for years and those fewer who've reached Nirvana have accessed and gained control enough to manipulate what they call the dharmakaya which is connected to the right temporal lobe I believe (also referred to as the silent mind). Those with this degree of mastery have OOB experiences with great maneuverability.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmakāya

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Re:Meditation Becomes Beneficial Surprisingly Fast by justsee on Saturday June 26, 2010 @05:50AM (#1463411)

I had a great experience with a very simple practice called Vipassana. I wrote about it straight after doing a 10-day course of meditation - 9 days of no speaking was an event in itself: http://weblog.squareapple.net/archives/2004/11/26/art_of_liv...

A book I've really appreciated on the practice is called "The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation" - http://www.amazon.com/Art-Living-Vipassana-Meditation/dp/006...

Both the practice and the book are honest and simple in approach. I used to hunt for complex, cerebral stuff, dismissing anything else, but have slowly realised the error of my ways.

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Re:Meditation Becomes Beneficial Surprisingly Fast by cianestro on Saturday June 26, 2010 @08:28AM (#1463583)

Your problem is that you thought understanding could guide you in meditation. It can't. But it's still necessary for advanced techniques. Anything worthwhile takes time and discipline--don't give up. Real meditation isn't a weekend retreat. Sorry yuppies. :(

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Re:Meditation Becomes Beneficial Surprisingly Fast by Confusion on Monday June 28, 2010 @03:40AM (#1467361)

Why on earth would an old translation in that kind of Biblical language be preferable above a newer translation? That kind of language is perfect for suggesting wisdom, through age, where there isn't any.

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Re:Meditation Becomes Beneficial Surprisingly Fast by crazydiamond on Saturday June 26, 2010 @06:17AM (#1463431)

That final quote is a mind-blower, could not have put it better myself. Hits the nail on the head. Thanks a lot for it.

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Re:Meditation Becomes Beneficial Surprisingly Fast by monos on Monday June 28, 2010 @07:08AM (#1467561)

    > It doesn't develop the mind, it dissolves the mind. Self-improvement? 
    > Forget it, baby. It erases the self. 
   > Throws the ego out on its big brittle ass.

This doesn't sound like it fits the western culture at all. I'd think twice about going down a path that is so fundemantally different from what we've learned since kindergarden.

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Re:Meditation Becomes Beneficial Surprisingly Fast by neuralzen on Monday June 28, 2010 @01:49PM (#1468738)

I don't mean to offend, but kindergarden teachers are rarely cognitive neuroscientists. The whole idea of having no idea, of having nothing and no ego is to get you out of your own way. People get caught up on the words, concepts, and ideas of things, which are not actually the things they point to. There is no spoon because a spoon is only an idea, a socially acceptable approximation in a particular context, while what you hold to eat is unspeakable.

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