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41 Comments
- zephc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12contemplative thought for the day: You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake, you are the same organic decaying matter as everything else.
- trevorsm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Dude, calm down. It's just an article.
- Dempf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Meditation is the *****
- zephc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4okay, some more, non-fight club quotes:
"I will tell you what life is: it is an unpleasant interruption of nothingness" - Clarence Darrow
"You are orphans in an age of no tomorrows." - Joan Baez
"Men are born, they labour and sweat and struggle; they squabble and scold and fight; those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. The release comes at last and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence...a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever." - Mark Twain - zephc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4anger management classes, perhaps?
- FluffyArmada, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You're unique. Just like everybody else.
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5"awareness at the expense of calm is 'tripping.'"
Wow, that makes my entire life... just one big trip?
Because that's how I live my life... it's seriously a core issue for me. When someone tells me to "calm down" I take serious issue with it. It doesn't occur to them that it's all too easy that calmness can come at the expense of awareness, and for me personally, it seems that calmness only comes at the expense of awareness.
Nobody has helped me find a way around that, though. - nesagwa, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Stop quoting Fight Club and you will be a better person.
- 15charmaxwtf, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5God damnit, calm the ***** down!!!!11
- Durinthal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Cool. I've just started looking into Buddhism. Any other recommended links while I'm here?
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"anger management classes" only attempt to deliver calmness without regard to, and in fact, oblivious to, awareness.
- detonate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@Tiabin - I second your comments about fish oil. I've been taking high dose DHA fish oil among other things (vitamins, probiotics, neurotherapy) since March for ADD and I've never felt so calm or emotionally balanced in my life. Seems to have done wonders for social anxiety too.
- MikeWeller, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3For those that want to get into meditation, 3 key things are required. This is based on my own experience.
1. Full body relaxation. Try out this guided audio practice: http://www.gnosticradio.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=68&Itemid=28
2. Concentration. This takes a lot of regular practice during the day - personally I use 'breath awareness'. You need to focus 100% of your attention on the action of breathing. Feel the air entering your nose and travelling down your throat, filling your lungs, and do the same on the out breath. You need to push away all thoughts as you do this - focus completely on breathing.
3. The sleepy state. Real meditation is about reaching a special trance state, 'mind awake body asleep' so it's important that you are slightly tired so your body and higher mind can fall to sleep. This goes hand in hand with concentration - you *need* to have developed concentration to maintain awareness otherwise your mind will wander and you will either fall to sleep or waste an hour in random thoughts.
You can't learn this kind of meditation over night, you need to practice the first 2 keys well before you will make any progress.
So for any meditation, you start with relaxation - use the audio lecture and completely relax your entire body and mind. Next, focus on breath awareness or any other concentration method to silence the mind. If you do this right, the mind will recede away into sleep/silence and your concentrated awareness will remain.
The moment this happens is very satisfying and will leave you in a wonderfully blissful state of meditation. From there you can exam your mind or anything you like from a truly spiritual and objective viewpoint.
Hope this helps. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This really makes me feel awesome! I thought that I was just a crappy focuser and suck at meditation, and I thought it wasn't normal to not be good at meditating right away. This article has given me new hope. +1000 diggs.
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2But snowflakes decay faster!
- bemenaker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Calmness should never come at the expense of awareness. You should actually feel quite the opposite, when you let go of your tension and anxieties, you should actually be in a heightened state of awareness. When you are most relaxed, yet still awake and conscienscous, you should be at your most aware state. Your reflexes should be at their highest, your senses should be peaked. This is why we meditate before martial arts class.
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1About the alpha section. Why do the Zen practitioners ever exhibit alpha waves and why do the yogis ever not?
- MikeWeller, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1clarity, no: What I am describing is the technique to separate from the animal mind or ego in order to contemplate and comprehend it. How is what I am describing reenforcing the sense of self? I fully understand the need to disintegrate the 'self' and ego, and only through the kind of meditation I have described (and others) can you do that.
Once again, I cannot see how what I have written could appear to be re-enforcing the self. - crpeterson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Very interesting. Good article
- Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"No light fantastic ever crosses my mind
That meditation stuff can make you go blind" - cal01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Falun dafa is not Buddhism. Try BuddhaNet if you want some introductory materials.
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Why would I want to calm down?
Also, 'Overwork and physical discomfort become "feedback devices". Uncomfortable? Go deeper!' There's no need for calmness for this to be the case. When you are never calm there is no calmness for these things to disrupt and therefore one can experience them without having to tend to the calmness. - zeeone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2No technological geek will ever be complete without 3 to 6 hours of deep transcendetal meditation per day.
- Zonged, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ive been doing Vipassana mediation for two years, and ive found that it has helped me in every part of my life.
http://www.dhamma.org/ This group has centers all over the world, and they offer free courses to anybody! If you are at all interested in learning how to meditate properly, I highly recommend this group. - Tiabin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Detonate: I notice you friended me... If you've got any instant messengers, check my profile, and drop me a line. Glad to hear I'm not the only digger enjoying the effects of high-doses of fish oil!
- vertinox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have found listening to free Buddhist meditation courses or classes on mp3 has helped me with anger problems. I don't have the link but you can google them... don't buy meditation CDs since there are plenty non-profit Buddhist organizations that let you freely download those and I feel those are a bit more sincere than the $50 dollar ones new age companies put together. But anyways...
I've always had anger problems and I still do... However, meditation at one point was able to make me more aware of these issues to where I wouldn't sit around with my veins popping out of head, heart pounding, and a desire to rush to the liquor store after work.
But I will have to admit, I don't do it as much as I should (mostly because I'm not fire breathing angry anymore... well most of the time) but meditation has helped me in being able to accept that my current state of affairs and I don't have to hate every moment and everyone involved in my life just because I haven't won the lottery or wasn't born rich (I have issues working at any job it seems).
Its hard to explain meditation other than a focusing on your thoughts and trying to control or at least be aware of what your mind is thinking. Most of us just let our minds ramble from one aspect to another and we let ourselves go nuts and get all worked up about things. When the best thing we could have done was be calm and cool about it.
Its kind of like avoiding panic and rage when that just interferes with what you really need to do. Its not about becoming emotionless, but rather being aware of what emotions are doing to you. I guess that is what zen is about... You simply perform the task... Or become one with the task so that none of your emotions get in the way of said task.
But I'm no master, but if you have anger problems like I did... It helps... But it takes effort. - Tiabin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@hackwrench:
Go to this digg... http://digg.com/health/Face_blindness_is_a_common_hereditary_disorder
Scroll down to my posts talking about fish oil. It may be your solution, just as it was mine. I'm quite serious. - neave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Don't expect to find 'enlightenment' straight away... it's called meditation 'practice' for a reason!
- vertinox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ah thanks to other diggers that pointed it out I found the link the introduction courses... All free downloads.
http://www.audiodharma.org/talks-intromed.html
Its worth a shot if you want to deal with stress, impulses, and anger... (heck they are free downloads) I don' t think it really dampens your emotions at all. You just become more aware of them and are able to deal better with them. - Tiabin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Forget it. I'll just post it here... It's really a damned good post. I put some time into it.
"Jack... I'm going to let you in on something. I feel like fish oil changed my life. It stopped my depression, my social anxiety, my insomnia... my attention span is up, my short-term memory is up, I've stopped using any substances. I talk about fish oil so much I've had friends tease me quite a bit about it, but on the other hand I've also gotten so many people taking it that most of my friends that used to tease me about it quit. I've gotten approximately 14 people to convert to taking high-doses of it... in my church, in my family, and various friends. It's so obvious that I've had mutual friends that were not taking it tell me that they noticed a difference in us. (and are now pondering getting themselves... friend mentioned this just today)
There's a reason why the japanese have such high IQ's and low incidence of diabetes, depression, and other neuroses... they eat fish! Our bodies demand the omega 3s that's why they're called "essential" fatty acids.
The ideal ratio of omega 3 fats to omega 6 fats is supposed to be 1:1... in America we get around 1:20, and the japanese get around 4:6. So what's the answer? It goes beyond just taking a few omega 3 capsules. We're too deficient. Studies show you need approximately 2-3grams of EPA (a specific omega 3 fat) a day for real therapeautic effects.
Want to know more about omega 3? Check out fattyacidtrip.com (totally unaffiliated with it, just happen to notice they have an incredible amount of good research).
I personally use "Carlson Very Finest Fish Oil 16.9oz," because it tastes lemony... has no fish taste, and is more affordable than taking a ton of capsules.
OK... One last thing...
Here's a testimonial from someone who suffered from bipolar that started taking HIGH DOSES of fish oil:
http://www.remedyfind.com/ratinglong.aspx?RatingID=38706
Good luck! I hope some of you try this so you can feel as good as my friends and I do!"
"One last note... If you go for the straight oil that I specified... I take about 1 tablespoon to get the therapeautic dose, and I usually take it with a meal and vitamin E (supposed to help absorbtion). I'll actually split the tablespoon between two meals just because I figure spaning it throughout the day might help... but maybe that's just my superstition. :-) They say never to take it without a meal though, because your body will just burn the oil for calories.
And as far as the science... Why is omega 3 important? Your brain is composed of it, and it's needed for good cell membrane function. The B6 is used to make neurochemicals like seratonin etc. No brainer there. :-)"
"This isn't like taking a drug. It's like getting a nutrient you've been starved of so long that it's been detrimental to your mental and physical health. Did you read that remedyfind link I posted? There's more than one study out there showing people being "cured" of bipolar depression. I challenge you to find a study showing placebo can cure bipolar depression.
OK... Here's another testimonial from a guy on a dyslexia website:
http://www.dyslexic.org.uk/nr4.htm
Also note that this is in the UK. The UK currently has a lot of interest in fish oil, and their schools are even considering giving it to children as a cognitive aid." - clarity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0MikeWeller: you are completely mistaken, at least as so far as buddhist meditation goes. What you are describing is many times referred to as "spiritual materialism", using the spiritual path to gain special states (trance,...), to further one's idea of self, rathen than gaining insight into what is actually happening and how our minds and our suffering functions.
- casemon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0on the subject of enhancing my calm...
"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" - bemenaker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Why do yogi's not exhibit alpha's and bhuddist do? My guess, (yes I said guess), is that they practice different styles of meditation. Bhuddist focus their minds on a thought, but do not silence their minds. My guess is that Yogi's practice silencing their minds totally.
- cal01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Ahhhhhh. Stupid edit system booted me.
Anyway, you could try browsing your local academic library as most would have a wide variety of scriptures and texts. There are also a bunch of publishers out there (some of which are non-profit) that sell translated texts. However, keep an eye out on the more "pop-culture" books; they should be easily identified by the titles and professionalism of the book. Moreover, don't go to retail chain bookstores for Buddhist books since I've found their selection to be lacking at best. - dakinifan, on 06/28/2008, -0/+0I've been playing with this stuff for the last 15 years or so, and dropping in on lots of teachings,hanging with a lot of meditators of various traditions Sweet article, this, and all I'd want to add to the Christian section would be the deep contemplative flavor of the Teilhard de Chardin school Jesuits.
For westerners, the most apparently "moving" on their paths are the Osho type guys who do a lot of purging, cathartic techniques and such to clear the psychological nonsense a bit, for a few years, before getting into the "advanced" techniques like Vippasana and ZsaZen silent sitting.
The most "stuck" I've seen (very subjective, and no insults intended for sure) have been those who got into still, silent techniques more or less first thing on their path. It seems like they get some stillness through suppression, then can't approach purging techniques because it upsets their hard worked-for stillness.
The teachers I've enjoyed the most have been the Tantrikas .. all sorts of techniques and insistence in finding the meditation, the opportunities for awareness in ALL situations, eventually coking to silent sitting as their final method. A friend was very into TM technique .. basically 20 minute silent sitting sessions. Got into dance, and found there was a backlog of suppressed emotion that could release through the dancing. Then serious hours-long vipassana became a passion with him. Probably doing a bit of the "tripping" thing, but, he's at least enjoying it.
Advanced techniques attract because we have egos .. and old schools, which last had an enlightened fellow like 500 years back often fall into trouble with trying to put on the state of enlightenment as a way of getting to it. In my opinion, and of most teachers I've enjoyed, this is really a counterproductive waste of time. The Buddha sat in silent bliss after his experiencing whatever he experienced .. not so much while he was "seeking", and not at all before 30 years old .. Beautiful movie Samsara makes this point very sweetly.
I don't see many tantra diggs .. maybe I start some. - Chinatsu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Two Sanskrit mantras I like:
Hamsa - I am that.
Om Namah Shivaya - I worship the divinity within me. - smoothly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0http://www.meditation-mantra.org/buddha-hand-position.html talks about the various meditation hand positions and lucid dreaming
- blisteringhead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Set and setting", that's the key: no need to be tense during a trip. :) But seriously, "Tranquility at the expense of awareness is dozing; awareness at the expense of calm is 'tripping.'" - one of the most lucid and true statements I've ever read. But drugs are so much easier! Ah well.
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1http://falundafa.org/
- theJoy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0for those who enjoyed this article, i recommend checking out stuff by Alan Watts & DT Suzuki. a lot of Watts' stuff can be found on BT trackers like bitme & oinks; his audio lectures i mean, he has written quite a few books as well. his focus is on comparative religions and Eastern Philosophy . . . he spends a great deal of time discussing Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism. Dr. Suzuki was an author . . . viewed as bringing interest & understanding of Zen to the west. many great books.
audiodharma.org is good stuff too. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2Oooooo meditation
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