follinge's blog

[follinge@gmail.com]

Thanks to all the support from this community, I'm up to meditating 30 minutes 1-2x a day now.

My best meditation accomplishment in the past was bliss in the heart area and I felt that I could meditate forever. Still, I felt like I was pushing a little bit instead of having the concentration go by itself. Also, there was still some desire to stop meditating. This was about 5 years ago.

Recently, I have been hearing sounds in my head (I think). It's a really hard to describe but it changed pitch and so on. I don't know if this is the music of the spheres or not.

Also, it was almost as if my ears were starting to pop but not quite.

Concentration took effort, and there was no bliss, but overall it was pleasant unlike many other sessions where it was a chore at least for a while.

Adding time, only and doing nothing different has been super-helpful. I learned this from a video by Jeffrey where he listed the times and jhana level. I tell other people this as well as they often have the same problem: not putting in enough time.

Meditating definitely has momentum. If I meditate for half an hour the night before, it's easier the next day and so on.

Also, I'm making this more of a priority and re-arranging my schedule to meditate once again, thanks to a post by Jeffrey on this.

Right now, I'm using the breath, but also I focus on white noise: either external if it's loud or internal as per above. I can lock onto breath and sound to concentrate. Then I look for pleasant areas of the body to focus on. Later on, I try to drop the technique especially breathe counting to focus more on body sensations.

Is this a fruitful way to go or am I going wrong somewhere.

Much gratitude.

[Jhanananda]

Thanks to all the support from this community, I'm up to meditating 30 minutes 1-2x a day now.

Excellent

My best meditation accomplishment in the past was bliss in the heart area and I felt that I could meditate forever. Still, I felt like I was pushing a little bit instead of having the concentration go by itself. Also, there was still some desire to stop meditating. This was about 5 years ago.

It sounds like you were bumping into the 4th jhana then, so you will most probably get back there with just a little consistent effort.

Recently, I have been hearing sounds in my head (I think). It's a really hard to describe but it changed pitch and so on. I don't know if this is the music of the spheres or not.

In the beginning the charismatic sounds are like that.  We are not sure if they are there, but after some time they will become quite loud.

Concentration took effort, and there was no bliss, but overall it was pleasant unlike many other sessions where it was a chore at least for a while.

Adding time, only and doing nothing different has been super-helpful. I learned this from a video by Jeffrey where he listed the times and jhana level. I tell other people this as well as they often have the same problem: not putting in enough time.

Meditating definitely has momentum. If I meditate for half an hour the night before, it's easier the next day and so on.

Also, I'm making this more of a priority and re-arranging my schedule to meditate once again, thanks to a post by Jeffrey on this.

Right now, I'm using the breath, but also I focus on white noise: either external if it's loud or internal as per above. I can lock onto breath and sound to concentrate. Then I look for pleasant areas of the body to focus on. Later on, I try to drop the technique especially breathe counting to focus more on body sensations.

Is this a fruitful way to go or am I going wrong somewhere.

Much gratitude.

It sounds like you are doing just fine.  It is all too funny that the big meditation organizations recommend to never exceed 20 minute sessions, but we find it does not even begin to get good until 20-30 minutes in.  So, we can conclude those organizations were clueless, as most of us meditate for an hour or more, and get quite a bit out of the practice, which keeps us coming back for more.  I am glad to have inspired you to practice meditation more diligently.

[Frederick]

I just wanted to say that I'm putting Jeffrey's advice into practice regarding living a more contemplative life.

One aspect of this is that I'm trying to stay off social media as much as possible.

I still like to be connected to friends, but I realize that social media can be a way of filling up time.

I also see it as a distraction to not feel certain things.

Anyway, not much to share other than this is my first day with this new practice.

I'm keeping track of the number of times I want to go to social media and I resist.

[Jhanananda]

Good work, follinge, because a fruitful contemplative life often requires lifestyle changes, which often necessitate less social behavior to give way to more interior investigation through increased meditation practice time.

[Frederick]

Thanks for the encouragement. Always nice to have encouragement and feedback.

I'm working on a summary of Jeffrey's meditation advice that helped me. Some of the best is:

1. Don't get too caught up in meditation object worship. It will be irrelevant when one gets into the deeper states. Pick and object and use it.

2. Drop the object when the charisms come.

3. Keep at meditating regularly. Make meditation a priority like other activities. Making it something that's tacked on to a day ensures one will not "have time" to do it.

4. Make changes in one's life conducive to meditation including cutting down on drugs and socializing. Also, living a more moral life in other ways.

5. Many of the fruits of practice which seem like one must do to be a better mediator like morality, come easier with jhana. For example, no experienced mediator is a drunk or sexpot b/c one will merely lose interest in these. So spending too much time on the outward stuff is not useful. Focus on getting to jhana asap.

6. Read the suttras but beware of bad translations. Read from other religions as well, but again, translations vary. The goal of the reading is to enhance and understand meditation as there are mystics in many religions.

7. Most religions are corrupt, but have a pure core somewhere in some of their texts.

[Jhanananda]

Well said, follinge, but do not also forget that some religious literature is pseudepigraphy.  So, one must always read critically, as well as think critically.

Please note: I moved your blog to the contemplative blog section, where people will find it in the noble company of fellow contemplatives.

[Frederick]

Yes, I did not mean to suggest that all religious literature was equal. We agree, I believe, on most of these points.

I find it interesting that people get so much out the Christian bible. I found it mostly useless when growing up. (I did not know how useless it was at the time.)

After meditating for a few years, I went back and I actually made sense of some of it via my experiences. For example, when Christ said to cut one's eye out if one looked a woman with lust, I understood to mean that defilements first start with the mind well before one's body gets involved and if one can keep one's mind still the one will not do anything bad.

I imagine better contemplatives will get even more out of such books.

[Jhanananda]

Yes, I did not mean to suggest that all religious literature was equal. We agree, I believe, on most of these points.

I find it interesting that people get so much out the Christian bible. I found it mostly useless when growing up. (I did not know how useless it was at the time.)

Yes, I find the devout tend to obsess over their religious literature never engaging in any critical thought or investigation that would require scraping off the surface of their belief systems to find out if there is any truth to them.

After meditating for a few years, I went back and I actually made sense of some of it via my experiences. For example, when Christ said to cut one's eye out if one looked a woman with lust, I understood to mean that defilements first start with the mind well before one's body gets involved and if one can keep one's mind still the one will not do anything bad.

I imagine better contemplatives will get even more out of such books.

Yes, learning to meditate does seem to increase the critical thinking faculty.  Good to know you got there.  Surely you would not have arrived here, if you had not done so.

[Frederick]

One thing that I learned from this forum, and more specifically from Jeffrey was the idea that I need to own my meditation.

That is, nobody can tell me what I need to be doing.

Of course, I'm responsive to advice and I do buy in to the whole system of jhanas as they are presented here. Otherwise, I would not be here.

However, for the longest time, each meditation session had this pall of judgment over it where I wondered if I was "doing it right". Now I have the feeling that I this though, in itself, is harmful to the experience.

Thus, now, when I meditate, I do it how I like to do it.

Two statements allowed for this lightbulb to come on. The first was when Jeffrey asked me if I "enjoyed my meditation experience". The answer is, sometimes yes, sometimes, no.

This made me realize that I should always enjoy my experience. Or at least make it as enjoyable as possible. There are a number of ways to do this, and I think most of us have heard them all ready, but I just want to say that now, I, too, am a believer.

Also, Jeffrey spoke about some meditation groups "turning meditation into self-torture." This made me realize that, I, too, was guilty of this sometimes and have now stopped. My meditation sessions are much better now.

Finally, during the retreat, Zach told me, "I have to do so many things other people's ways in the rest of my life; I'm going to my meditation my own way."

Me, too.

I can't say much more or elaborate this idea further at this point.

Once I have written it down, it seems a bit obvious and even trite.

But it had a profoundly helpful impact on how I practice.

[Sam Lim]

I've never had anyone's method to practice on. After my kundalini awakening, I will automatically meditate. Somehow I've got it right. Basically, in short it's all about letting go and the process reveal itself. No need to hanker after the charism or the stages of jhana. Of course, it's best that someone could guide you. Anyway, I think you are doing great.

[Frederick]

Anyway, I think you are doing great.

This means a great deal to me.

[Frederick]

No need to hanker after the charism or the stages of jhana. Of course, it's best that someone could guide you.

Not sure if I'm hankering after jhana or not. I guess in a way, I am. Jhana has been my goal since I first knew about it.

As far as guiding me, I'd be happy if you or someone else could elaborate. I'm pretty sure you do not mean guided mediation as that is not seen as useful here. I have never been a fan, either..

I did not mean to say that I'm closed to any advice. On the contrary, that's why I'm here. I have had great advice in the past, and I'm sure that I'll learn more by reading other people's posts.

There's also Jeffrey's translations and writings which I'm sure I have not cracked the surface there..

[Jhanananda]

Two statements allowed for this lightbulb to come on. The first was when Jeffrey asked me if I "enjoyed my meditation experience". The answer is, sometimes yes, sometimes, no.

Some people claim that the first jhana is some super fantastic altered state of consciousness.  I do not believe it is, because the experience of deep meditation has to start somewhere, and lead ultimately to some pretty fantastic experiences.  So, I take the first jhana as lust learning to enjoy the practice of meditation.  So, when you like it, or enjoy it, then you surely must have at least arrived at the first jhana.

Otherwise I agree with Sam when he wrote:

Basically, in short it's all about letting go and the process reveal itself. No need to hanker after the charism or the stages of jhana.

After that, then work on stilling your mind.  And, know when you still your mind, then you are in the second jhana, which is the doorway to the fantastic stuff.

[Sam Lim]

 No, not guided meditation but ways to get into a deeper meditation.

How did I get through all the 4 stages so fast. Besides formal sitting of about 5 to 6 hours per day, I also do an internal mantra which helps me focus on the beginning stage whenever I can. Effort is definitely one of the key factor.

Besides the above, I also did qi-gong which helped immensely.I did mentioned it before in many of my post. If I am not wrong, some have benefited from it.

[Frederick]

Thanks for the advice, Sam. I try to put whatever meditation advice I get into practice.

In other news, I had been working on patience and reducing my hostility for a while, but now I'm finding that greed is a big problem in my life as well.

I'm working on reducing this clinging and the subsequent hostility.