contemplation while working

[charlie hopkins]

Hello friends, this is my first time to post. I am interested in advice from Jeffrey or others concerning contemplation while at work. I work in a retail store several days per week. In winter time there are periods of time, ranging from 10-15 minutes at a time,  when there is nothing much to do. During these times I have to remain alert but could be doing some kind of focusing that would deepen awareness. I have practised sitting meditation daily for a long time but have never learned a walking meditation, etc. At present I sometimes focus attention on objects, just gazing without analyzing or thinking. This brings about a deeping. The object will often become more subtle and disappear from sight, although I'm not suggesting it actually disappears.  Is there another method that might help refine awareness without making me too sensitive within this kind of environment. I'm looking for something that will give me something  valuable to do and not waste this time.  Thank you, Charlie

[Jhanananda]

Hello Charlie, and welcome to the Fruit of the Contemplative Life forum.  I regularly occupy my spare time with contemplation, so I know exactly what you are looking for.  Since you are in a retail environment, I am going to guess that whatever you do contemplatively will have to be done without drawing attention from customers, bosses or employees.

So, here is what I do.  First I do everything that I do in the practice of meditation, short of sitting cross legged. This involves not looking about, but gazing, with a soft focus into space, while relaxing as deeply as I can, and focusing upon my meditation object, which happens to be the breath.  The nice thing about the breath as a meditation object, is one can have it all of the time without looking like one is meditating.

While meditating thus, whether sitting, standing, walking or lying down, I make an effort to still the mind.  If I am successful at stilling the mind, then I endeavor to keep it still throughout the day.

I also start and end every day with meditation to as great a depth as I can go.  For me this produces lots of charisms (jhana-nimitta), which are not just light, but sound, tactile sensations, and kinesthetic sensation.  So, I endeavor to keep these charisms (jhana-nimitta) with me throughout the day.

I hope this helps,

[charlie hopkins]

Thank you, Jhanananda.

[Luke Avedon]

Hi Charlie,

I'm not sure if you will see this -- as the post is old -- but this is my favorite topic.

Besides Jeffrey's excellent advice.

This was usually my main question for meditation teachers.  I never once received a good response.  You see for years, my light level of stillness gained in meditation would wear off between 60 - 90 minutes after sitting.  Then it would be back to “distracted from distraction by distraction”-- T.S. Elliot.

What changed everything for me was reading about a Christian mystic, I first heard about him in the book: "Concentration a Guide to Mental Mastery” By Mouni Sadhu". For the life of me I can’t remember the gentleman's name, but he is a Saint in the Russian Orthodox church and his name starts with an S. [Note: I have not found the practices recommended in that book nearly as effective as those described in Sutta Pitika and by people following it (Jeffrey for example) or even Thai Chi or Kundalini.]

Anyway, this fellow ran a large monastery apparently and would recommend reciting a mantra and a count while following the breath throughout the day.
Outside of formal practice, while the monks would be working, he felt one could sort of judge how recollected (the Christian term for Samadhi) the monks were by how many repetitions they did in a day.

So maybe an beginner would go through 1,000 in a day, and someone with a still mind would do 8,000.  With each repetition the mind is soothed and becomes slightly more centered.  So I started doing this (in breath, out breath 1, in breath out breath 2, ect.)

Sure, these are silly mind games and not to be confused with the religious experience.  A snippet from Jeffrey’s spiritual bio is relevant here:

I have found that scanning is no longer necessary for me, because scanning, like any other concentration technique, seems to serve the primary purpose of occupying the mind until it comes to rest.  Since I can settle my mind fairly quickly, I have found I can simply observe the tactile field as a totality without having to force the mind to observe it.

I also liked the term used in Philip Kapleau's “The Three Pillars of Zen”.  He states that these sorts of techniques are like a “scaffolding for the mind” for less advanced contemplatives.

So I often will say to myself, I will clean the apartment for 100 breaths or something like that.  The key thing is that each repetition of the breath one makes sure to gladden the mind and not breath with tension or aversion.  The technique can backfire and cause tension. I have found it extremely effective.

Now that my practice bears some small fruit (a grape perhaps?) it has changed a bit.  If I am good about my formal practice I have access to mild piti arising in the 3rd eye chakra and the crown chakra in rhythm with the breath throughout the day as long as I am mindful--if that makes sense.  This has been an enormous boon to my personal happiness and ability to function in the world.

Since I often have problems with the restless hindrance.  I use this technique a bit during my practice.   Although, again it is a crutch. 

When I begin to sit I have intense restlessness for about 5 minutes.  I then can sit fruitfully and pleasantly for up to 2.5 hours.  Usually I will sort of bath in the piti and sukkah as it will arise after 5 minutes and wax at about 20 minutes and then wane until about 45 minutes.  The piti and sukkah are usually accompanied by a dull light, which sometimes gets brighter if the find calms further.  After 45 minutes I have a refractory period, if you will, for about 20 minutes and then it happens again.

As of last week, as long as I sit for two hours in the morning, I can usually remain in a state of light concentration all day until my sit before I sleep.  This is far far better than being in a normal un-meditated state throughout the day.  The benefits to personal productivity are incredible.  And my soon to be wife reports I am far easier to live with.

Although, sometimes I haven’t needed it and have gone up to two hours just with the piti ect.  So when the restlessness hindrance is a problem I use this technique.  I had an extremely eccentric crutch before this one I won’t bore you with here--but this continuous count technique has greatly improved my formal practice.

I have read a similar technique described in some books on Tibetan Shammata training, I guess it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.  Such as sit until you reach x number of breaths.

It seems silly but it changed my life.  It saved my butt when I was a bored out of my mind construction worker and I am in sales now myself as well and it is extremely helpful.  Sorry, I don’t mean to ramble on and on about my own personal experiences.  But I thought it may be of help.

Best, Luke

[Cal]

Hi Charlie,

I'm not sure if you will see this -- as the post is old -- but this is my favorite topic.

Besides Jeffrey's excellent advice.

This was usually my main question for meditation teachers.  I never once received a good response.  You see for years, my light level of stillness gained in meditation would wear off between 60 - 90 minutes after sitting.  Then it would be back to “distracted from distraction by distraction”-- T.S. Elliot.

What changed everything for me was reading about a Christian mystic, I first heard about him in the book: "Concentration a Guide to Mental Mastery” By Mouni Sadhu". For the life of me I can’t remember the gentleman's name, but he is a Saint in the Russian Orthodox church and his name starts with an S. [Note: I have not found the practices recommended in that book nearly as effective as those described in Sutta Pitika and by people following it (Jeffrey for example) or even Thai Chi or Kundalini.]

Anyway, this fellow ran a large monastery apparently and would recommend reciting a mantra and a count while following the breath throughout the day.
Outside of formal practice, while the monks would be working, he felt one could sort of judge how recollected (the Christian term for Samadhi) the monks were by how many repetitions they did in a day.

So maybe an beginner would go through 1,000 in a day, and someone with a still mind would do 8,000.  With each repetition the mind is soothed and becomes slightly more centered.  So I started doing this (in breath, out breath 1, in breath out breath 2, ect.)

Sure, these are silly mind games and not to be confused with the religious experience.  A snippet from Jeffrey’s spiritual bio is relevant here:

I have found that scanning is no longer necessary for me, because scanning, like any other concentration technique, seems to serve the primary purpose of occupying the mind until it comes to rest.  Since I can settle my mind fairly quickly, I have found I can simply observe the tactile field as a totality without having to force the mind to observe it.

I also liked the term used in Philip Kapleau's “The Three Pillars of Zen”.  He states that these sorts of techniques are like a “scaffolding for the mind” for less advanced contemplatives.

So I often will say to myself, I will clean the apartment for 100 breaths or something like that.  The key thing is that each repetition of the breath one makes sure to gladden the mind and not breath with tension or aversion.  The technique can backfire and cause tension. I have found it extremely effective.

Now that my practice bears some small fruit (a grape perhaps?) it has changed a bit.  If I am good about my formal practice I have access to mild piti arising in the 3rd eye chakra and the crown chakra in rhythm with the breath throughout the day as long as I am mindful--if that makes sense.  This has been an enormous boon to my personal happiness and ability to function in the world.

Since I often have problems with the restless hindrance.  I use this technique a bit during my practice.   Although, again it is a crutch. 

When I begin to sit I have intense restlessness for about 5 minutes.  I then can sit fruitfully and pleasantly for up to 2.5 hours.  Usually I will sort of bath in the piti and sukkah as it will arise after 5 minutes and wax at about 20 minutes and then wane until about 45 minutes.  The piti and sukkah are usually accompanied by a dull light, which sometimes gets brighter if the find calms further.  After 45 minutes I have a refractory period, if you will, for about 20 minutes and then it happens again.

As of last week, as long as I sit for two hours in the morning, I can usually remain in a state of light concentration all day until my sit before I sleep.  This is far far better than being in a normal un-meditated state throughout the day.  The benefits to personal productivity are incredible.  And my soon to be wife reports I am far easier to live with.

Although, sometimes I haven’t needed it and have gone up to two hours just with the piti ect.  So when the restlessness hindrance is a problem I use this technique.  I had an extremely eccentric crutch before this one I won’t bore you with here--but this continuous count technique has greatly improved my formal practice.

I have read a similar technique described in some books on Tibetan Shammata training, I guess it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.  Such as sit until you reach x number of breaths.

It seems silly but it changed my life.  It saved my butt when I was a bored out of my mind construction worker and I am in sales now myself as well and it is extremely helpful.  Sorry, I don’t mean to ramble on and on about my own personal experiences.  But I thought it may be of help.

Best, Luke

o.O ??

[Jhanananda]

For me it is not the counting of breaths or mantras that leads to jhana.  It is living in the moment, in every moment, with a still mind that is set upon the charisms.