Trying to understand what mental level and constitution the meditator needs to be to make actual progress towards the higher levels of concentration meditations, as well as the external conditions needed. Obviously a person cannot realistically gain traction while living a mundane householder life. So any personal advice, or sources or books/teachings regarding the matter would be appreciated. I did find a quote here that someone mentioned it could take 3-8 years of serious practice to gain any real attainments. This is obviously a "how long is a piece of string" scenario though the ability to practice with that much daily dedication and the requisite location is what I am asking. What persons constitution and what location is required for serious practice. Is a genuine teacher who can help with the immediate issues/pitfalls needed? Does one have to be in complete solitude etc? I do remember reading that Buddha gave 10 locations that would need to be avoided in attaining concentration. Which generally meant places where other people congregate.

Schools that reject meditation entirely are excluded, for obvious reasons. Samatha/Vipassana, Calm/Insight, Stopping/Seeing are ubiquitous in all Sri Lankan, Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese Buddhism. Yet it becomes disfavored in the later dispensations of Pure Land Buddhism, even though the foundational teachers of Tien Tai cite it: > (Paul Swanson) "I recall that many years ago, at a time of youthful indiscretion, having a naïve and simplistic impression of the Mo-ho chih-kuan, a text which, from its title, implies that it is mainly about the meditational practice of “cessation and contemplation” (止 観, śamatha-vipaśyanā)." Why then is it later dropped? And why do most Buddhist teachers not know that everyone is doing it? So often it is insinuated that each school of practice has exclusivity, when it is literally inclusive to the extreme.

Stabilizing the counterpart sign (nimitta) isn't easy. Is there a 'technique' that leads to stabilize it? I.c. is there a 'technique' to develop/cultivate intensively the absorption factors (jhanangas)? With 'stabilizing' I mean: making the nimitta sharp, focused, completely free from tension (of the panca nivarana), so that absorption (1st jhana) can be attained.

I really need your help as I'm, in some sort of conflict about my path. I'll try to keep things short but i need to include some info about my life experience so far. Now I'm 25 years old and all my life i have been chasing around my own tail. I had this mindset since i child that i need to achieve something in order to be happy. I always projected a brighter future and ideal version of myself and conditions. I could never live in the present, I was always stuck in my thoughts and imagination. After reaching every material goal, be it wealth, a fine girlfriend, a luxury watch, an automobile, a good physique, I crashed very hard and became depressed because I was slowly realizing that I have been living in illusions all my life and nothing will ever bring me happiness. I started drinking and doing cocaine until I confessed to my beloved parents about my problems and then became clean. I have been clean for 2 years now. I basically felt very empty and the only thing which had any value from that point on was my family. I dropped every goal and letting go of everything and realizing how desperate and empty my life has been, was very very freeing. I felt peace for the first time but was still meet with emptiness and boredom. I would go on walks every day and ask myself: "what is the goal? What is the endgame? Why am I living? For what?" Then finally I got into Buddhist literature and almost teared up reading how everything explained my suffering. That fueled me with energy and simply just the explaining of the cause calmed me even more without any meditation. Knowing I'm not the only one suffering who fell for these illusions. So then i decided to read the Pali Canon and got recommended the mind illuminated and started directly to meditate. The results have been phenomenal in just 2 weeks. I'm living more in the present day by day, I'm getting calmer, I don't recall pain from the past anymore, I project about the future less. I walk around my city and see a pub and I don't instantly build scenarios in my head. The images which are linked to certain things are finally getting broken. The association and experience to certain things is getting weaker and weaker. I'm not as emotional. It's sort of a dispassion to things which is very freeing. I don't get excited as easily just to crash afterwards, I don't recall memories with certain images anymore. Its insane. Its a complete different reality and for the first time I'm living in the present and acting less impulsive getting dragged by my emotions and conditioned memories and experience when seeing something. Now my question is following: **Where will this take me in the long term?** I read some post about a longterm meditator who had a bad experience according to him which i will quote at the end and I can already see some similarities between me and him which is somewhat anxious but in my opinion this calm dispassion and being free of conditioned experience and memories is exactly what is bringing me peace for the first time but why is he explaining it in such a depressing tone? What went wrong? This post always pops up in my head and I can't progress and enjoy my new path fully when I don't know what is up with it or maybe he's simply lying? The post was posted on 4chan so it could be exaggerated for whatever purpose. Anyway I then read about dark nights and dukkha nanas and got even more confused about all of it but i see some dukkha nanas which my life experience already showed and gained insight? Like one nana described seeing a beautiful woman and not having the instant image in your head of possessing here and I already been past that because I know it doesn't bring me happiness or are dukkha nanas only related to meditation results? Anyway, here is the post: > "Don’t meditate. I went to a retreat and was doing 5 hours a day after > several years of doing it, and had a fxxking horrible experience. I > realized what this insidious shit is actually doing. At first you > think negative emotions and attachments are going away, that bullshit, > it’s all emotions and attachments. Every tiny aspect and association > that forms who you are is being slowly but surely chiselled away at > during meditation. > > If you pursue it, you will get to the point where > it all collapses. You will look at yourself and see total absence, > just nothing. Your identity is important, and everything about it goes > away, all the things you thought mattered, all your plans for the > future just fall into this facade of one dimensional nothingness. That > is the end goal. > > I don’t where all this happy shit comes from after > this, it seems like this was the endgame all along. Everything feels > dull, I feel like a zombie, I’m an empty hole and everything is just > superficial nothingness. It’s not pleasant, I feel as though I’ve > permanently damaged myself and my mind, and barely clung onto core > aspects of myself. That’s what this shit does, never forget that. It > will make you beyond a nihilist, and it won’t stop. > > I can’t follow > thoughts anymore because I’ve trained my mind to stop them- you can’t > undo that. You will be unthinking, just reactionary, no judgments, no > opinions, no emotions, no attachments, like a fxxking insect. That’s > what this shit does, it makes you a fxxking insect. Like a bundle of > nerves that just responds to things, there’s nothing really there. > > All > I am now is a weird fxxking void that drifts around and reacts to > things without any sort of personality involved, like a programmed > machine. I fxxking hate this so much. There would be no difference if > I was dead, I basically feel like I am. Don’t start this path. Even if > you do only like 10 minutes a day, this is the endgame, this is what > it’s slowly doing to you.

Buddhism has slowly entered my life since the last 25 years. Though born a Hindu in India, I have always been open to practices that would help me answer my fundamental question about the meaning of life and, more specifically, how to attain the end of suffering and final release. I followed many traditions but none satisfied me. Meanwhile Buddhism, specifically Theravada Buddhism, sort of grew into me owing to its very scientific and rational approach to liberation, to Nibbana, sans gods and the like. For the last year or so, I have been intensively doing Samatha Meditation, Anapanasati specifically, and have been putting ~4 hrs on workdays and 6- 10 hours on weekends in sessions of one to one and a half hours. Initially, I went through a lot of physical problems, mainly severe flu-like symptoms, but I persisted and these have thankfully subsided now. At the moment, however, I am feeling very downcast and it appears that I am lost. There seems to be darkness all around, yet I am persisting with my intensive practice. These 'dark nights' make me so despondent sometimes that I feel that I may be having too much of bad karma that is obstructing my growth. My only motivation is Nibbana, nothing else, and I would go to any length to reach it but then something is not allowing me to move forward. Some time back, before the pandemic started, I was planning to go to Myanmar for a long retreat but CoVid- 19 simply poured cold water over my plans. Could someone guide me in this hour of distress?

According to AN 5.73 (translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu): > "Then there is the case where a monk takes the Dhamma as he has heard > & studied it and thinks about it, evaluates it, and examines it with > his intellect. He spends the day in Dhamma-thinking. He neglects > seclusion. He doesn't commit himself to internal tranquillity of > awareness. This is called a monk who is keen on thinking, not one who > dwells in the Dhamma. Another translation of AN 5.73 by Bhikkhu Sujato: > Furthermore, a mendicant thinks about and considers the teaching in > their heart, examining it with the mind as they learned and memorized > it. They spend their days thinking about that teaching. But they > neglect retreat, and are not committed to internal serenity of heart. > That mendicant is called one who thinks a lot, not one who lives by > the teaching. Is Dhamma-thinking considered *yoniso manasikara* or wise attention or appropriate attention? Please explain your answer. If yes, then why is it not useful, without internal tranquility of awareness (*cetosamatham*)? If no, then what is needed to upgrade Dhamma-thinking to wise attention? What is it missing?

Does the Piti Sutta imply that it is better for lay people to start with cultivation of jhana through samatha meditation, instead of starting with vipassana meditation? Also, the use of the term "piti" (rapture) seems to encourage lay people to enter and master the first jhana. From the Piti Sutta (AN 5.176) : > Then Anathapindika the householder, surrounded by about 500 lay > followers, went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down > to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there the Blessed One said > to him, “Householder, you have provided the community of monks with > robes, alms food, lodgings, & medicinal requisites for the sick, but > you shouldn’t rest content with the thought, ‘We have provided the > community of monks with robes, alms food, lodgings, & medicinal > requisites for the sick.’ So you should train yourself, ‘Let’s > periodically enter & remain in seclusion & rapture.’ That’s how you > should train yourself.”

I heard about the practice of concentration. But I work 13 hours per day doing coding. How can I meditate while studying, thinking really deep? I can focus on one static object, but not reading (coding) documentation, write code remaining in one state of completely self center

I have been practicing Vipassana under the tradition of S.N Goenka for the last 2 and half year. When I scan my body and observe different sensations, I find that my mind is not clear and It's not like I'm sleeping but there is dullness of awareness. Some part of my mind is aware of the sensations but it's not clear and there is a thin layer of thoughts in between. It's like trying to see the sun(sensation) when there is thin layer of clouds(thoughts) in the sky. In other words the mind is scattered while doing Vipassana. I believe it's the sloth and torpor that is causing all this and Vitarka-Vicara faculty is not that much strong. I have read some suggestions for this like having the perception of light, walking meditation etc. but none of these are helping me out. I would be very grateful if someone could point out my mistakes and give some advise to overcome this.

On the one hand this question has been asked to death on the internet (and yuttadhammo's videos even try to handle it). On the other hand, I personally still don't feel I have a clear answer (and I don't *think* that's because I'm an idiot.) From my overall reading, the commonest answer seems to be that while the primary aim in meditation is insight, it is not only useful, but advisable (and maybe even *essential*) that one first achieves some degree of tranquility or quiescence *before* moving on to insight. Specifically, it is advised that one attain at least access concentration, if not full-blown first jhana, before moving to insight work. However, there appears to be an important exception to that rule, coming from (at least) the Mahasi tradition, wherein the idea of "bare insight" arises. From the existence of those apparently different positions, I am confused in two ways. First: if the bare insight thing is valid -- i.e. if it is possible to go straight to Vipassana without going via Samatha -- then why wouldn't everyone just do that? Insight is The Point, after all, (isn't it?) so why waste time with what seems to be mere training wheels? Second: OK, suppose access concentration or first jhana is necessary, but is also *sufficient* a level of samadhi as preparation for vipassana. Then, again, why would anyone then continue on to "samatha" jhanas 2 through 4? My understanding is that while those jhanas may be cool and blissful, not only are they not The Point, they carry the danger of attachment. So why bother with them? To pre-empt any "it doesn't matter" style answers, I really think it does. There are several apparently good teachers out there whose approach is, to paraphrase, *"No, don't note yet. We're not doing that until we've got a bit of focus"*, while there are others who get you noting from day one. So overall it may not matter, but it matters to beginners (like me) as part of deciding on a teacher (and on how to meditate *while* I look for a teacher).

In my tradition (Triratna ) there is a big emphasis of a lot of samatha practice before any vipassana practice. This has always made sense to me. However is this universal in all Buddhist schools? Are there any Buddhist schools that do minimal or even no samatha practice? Does anyone jump straight into vipassana?

This page shows each feature of a pagoda symbolizing the steps to Nirvana. In Discourses on Satipatthana Sutta , S. N. Goenka mentions a similar symbolism on how the pagoda relates to the Maha Satipatthana Sutta: > In every chapter the repetition of certain words indicates the importance of this sampajañña. Ātāpī sampajāno satimā applies to the observation of kāya, vedanā, citta and dhammā: sampajañña has to be present. Similarly samudaya-, vaya-, and samudaya-vaya-dhammānupassī, which apply everywhere in the Sutta, have to be with sampajañña and sensations. **For example, in Myanmar there are many pagodas on plateaus, with four staircases, one each from the east, west, north and south. Similarly you might start with kāya, vedanā, citta, or dhammā, but as you enter the gallery they all intermingle in vedanā, and reaching the shrine room it is the same nibbāna. Whichever staircase you start climbing, you come to vedanā and sampajañña: and if you are with sampajañña you are progressing step by step towards the final goal.** Are there any other forms of symbolism regarding pagodas and the Maha Sattipattana Sutta and other suttas covering Samatha meditation subjects?

As a beginner, I practice two forms of meditation: one focusing on the breath (typically with eyes closed), and one focusing on a colored disc (kasina), obviously with eyes open (unless cultivating the after-image). All descriptions I have seen for the former describe the arising of the counterpart sign when the eyes are closed. However, from what I have read on kasina meditation , the counterpart sign seems to arise with the eyes open. I have not experienced either of these myself (and in fact, this link dismisses its importance altogether), so I would like to ask: is it possible for nimitta to form iin either case?

I am practicing samadhi meditation using the breath as an object. Most teachers say to watch the breath at the tip of the nose. However, Ajahn Brahm says not to locate the breath anywhere. I find that these two approaches are very different. Which one is right?

I am very sick and as such I have tried meditating a lot, and reading about the heart mantra, as far as studying meditation. When I was meditating I was going into a trance like state for about 3-4 hours, my first question was, is 3-4 hours, deep meditation or beginners meditation? My second question was, in at least one trance state I suddenly looked down and saw myself sitting, I was out of my body, I tried to look around and I saw what I can only describe as many beautiful places/doors, Could this be any beginning to becoming realized, maybe a step in the right direction or not? Please excuse me if these questions are stupid.

I've searched through the web and also Wikipedia regarding Kasina meditation and could not find detailed information. Can the meditation object be anything? (Say anything green or blue for those Kasina meditations?) How does one concentrate on the object? Any thought or mental note (like green green? Earth?) Is the breath watched like in Anapanasati?

Are there any negative effects of samatha that were mentioned in the Pali Canon (Tripitaka), the commentaries, or just from your experience? I have heard on an occasion that someone who might concentrate on a color such as a blue kasina might end up only seeing everything in blue.

Let me start off by saying that I can do Vipassana meditation for about 20 minutes at present. Accepting thoughts as they arise, noticing sensations without judging is relatively easy, compared to doing Samatha meditation. However, even though my body may feel relaxed and calm after doing Vipassana, my mind is still cloudy and obscured (I suffer from brain-fog and Depersonalization Disorder). Depersonalization Disorder is a sense that you don't really exist, almost as if you are outside your body, lost in a cloud. I feel calm, but my mind still feels foggy. If I focus on the breath (Samatha), I find that I only manage to sit still for about 3-4 minutes before becoming physically agitated (to the point where my body will curl up in tension). I feel as if I need to go for a run; my mind kind of shouts at me, saying "Go, go go! Get up. Go do something". There is no anxiety, just physical and mental agitation. My mind feels fine doing Vipassana, jumping from moment to moment, letting things be. But when I tell the mind to focus single-pointedly, all hell breaks lose. Should I carry on with the breath, even though I can only do it minutes at a time, or should I do something entirely different?

Out of the 10 recollections in the 40 Kammaṭṭhāna how is upasamānussati practiced to the level of Jhana ?

For me it is rather hard to breathe naturally while doing Samatha meditation. It makes it harder to concentrate because I'm always controlling my breath. Do you have any suggestion how to overcome this problem? Is this a normal problem for a beginner in Samatha meditation?