Meditation Without A Teacher

This is an attempt to give some advice for those that either don't have a teacher, don't want a teacher, or those who will maybe look for a teacher in the future but don't want one at the moment.

For this to work several things are needed. Patience and discipline are two of the most important. With meditation that doesn't have a teacher, extra emphasis needs to be placed on this. If you don't have patience, you won't carry on until you see the benefits. If you're not disciplined, you'll not meditate consistently enough.

Another important part, especially seeing as there's no teacher, is that the meditator has confidence in his/her ability to gain insight into the nature of the mind, and the nature of what we think of as reality. Without confidence, all of the positive aspects that are hoped to be gained will be tainted with doubt. Doubt is a hindrance, and there should be an awareness of this.

The meditator also needs the awareness to know whether or not s/he is progressing. This isn't easy and delusion can and probably will be an obstacle at several stages. Without the awareness to see this, which should be developed as meditation is done over time, the meditator will be lost. A teacher usually acts as the awareness of how the student is progressing or not, then directs the student towards understanding that so that s/he can continue progressing, or correct the errors that are stalling the progression. So without a teacher awareness is one of the keys. If the meditator can't develop enough awareness then maybe it's best to seek a teacher for guidance instead.

Skill is also needed. Skill here meaning the act of refining the ability to do the types of meditations that are chosen, and also finding the right types of meditation that are best. Also gaining the right insights from the meditations.

A set of qualities should be emerging as the meditator progresses. Some of these qualities are an increase in = awareness, concentration, unattachment, equanimity, egolessness, serenity, and metta (kindness). Others are what was mentioned above, like skill, patience, and discipline.

The root of the problem being aimed at, or the understanding of why the meditator has the goal of awakening is that most of us are in a way, asleep. We don't properly understand how what we think of as "reality" works, and how to live in it properly without being free from things like stress, delusion, anger and greed. We don't understand balance in the way we should, or what the Buddha would call "The Middle Way." The aim is to try and wake up and understand what these things mean, and in a sense, be those things. The balance, the middle way, the understanding, the realisation, and so on, as we live our lives. Free from delusion, anger, greed, stress, and all the variations of those negative aspects.

For those familiar with the concept of karma : maybe experiment with reducing karma from time to time, by not creating events or adding to certain events. Clearly if someone needs help with something that isn't causing others any problems, then try to help, but experiment with other situations. Karma is action, and the more actions we take part in the more we become attached to the world. To learn meditation properly it's often said that there has to be some type of withdrawal from the world, even if temporarily. So experiment with it in the right situations. Say for example you're going to do something because you're bored : try not doing it and see what happens. See how it makes you feel, think, perceive, and so on.

Remember that even reacting to something as small as a thought, feeling, or perception can be classed as an event. To react is to add to an event, to take an action, which is karma. The reaction could also be seen as creating a new event in response. It can be hard to describe, but so many things are linked together. Try just noticing what's happening instead. You could even say noticing is an event, but to think like this could go on infinitely! Remember that you're just trying to reduce karma, reduce action, by not creating or adding to some events, and then noticing the way you are as a result of that over time.

By doing this properly you could increase the chances of being unattached to your surroundings, habits, thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and other things, and become better at meditating. Equanimity helps with this. If you're not sure what that is, maybe try researching into it.

This whole process isn't supposed to be easy, especially not without a teacher. If it can be done though, or even if a meditator can progress and learn before eventually finding a teacher or the right school, it's worth trying.

Another thing is research. Research the types of meditation that are chosen. Research how they're done via several different sources, their history, and also the school or tradition they come from if possible, to get a better understanding of the meditations and their origins.

This obviously isn't a perfect description of how to meditate, but hopefully it can be of help to those without a teacher in some ways.

Raising Vibrations?

There's a lot of talk about how people should be raising their vibrations to higher levels, dimensions, and so on. I have a problem with this, and will try to explain.

In eastern meditation you'll probably find that the Buddha searched for the middle way. In Taoism that the Yin should be balanced with the Yang. In many forms of modern spirituality you see talk of raising vibes to higher and higher levels, but not so much about balance. Is one of the problems here that we shouldn't be trying to raise vibrations, vibes, etc, to higher and higher levels, but instead to have balanced vibrations?

What exactly are vibrations? We see talk about how reality is illusory, that there's mind behind matter, and so on. So isn't it possible that the whole idea of vibrations, good and bad, higher and lower, positive and negative, should be transcended? If we reach a more balanced state, isn't it possible that we'll find the whole idea of vibrations was something more focused in the physical universe, and that the mind beyond matter doesn't even need to be focused on vibrations, but instead balance? If good and bad, positive and negative, higher and lower are opposites, shouldn't we be trying to have a balance of both, and then move beyond the whole dualism of the concept, then finally the concept itself?

A lot of people think lower vibes are demonic, and higher ones are for more advanced spiritual beings. But do demons own lower vibrations and angels higher ones? What if vibrations are just vibrations, and not owned by any side that's battling with eachother? Does evil own darkness and good own light?

These ideas and concepts should be questioned. Personally I choose balanced vibrations, the middle way. Maybe at some point in the future I'll not think so much about vibrations at all, maybe hardly any of us will.

A Framework for Understanding the Neurobiological Mechanisms of Mindfulness

For anyone interested in researching scientific studies of meditation in detail, this article at Frontiers might be a great place to start. The writers, David R. Vago and David A. Silbersweig, focus on mindfulness meditation but they don't try to just examine one aspect and pin it down to one thing. They look at several different areas and realise that this type of meditation has different factors which make it work. It also has literally hundreds of references, many of which are linked for further reading, which means researchers can go off into different areas and look further into them too.

It might look like an over the top read when you first see the size of it, but it's something that anyone wanting to get a good idea of the history of meditation and scientific studies into it can probably spend a lot of time with. The actual page at Frontiers doesn't have any links to different sections, but if you download the .pdf you do get those, which makes it a lot easier to navigate.

Another good thing is that it's part of a research topic on the site, which also has several other articles that look into Neural Effects of Mindfulness/Contemplative Training. There's probably a lot of sites around that go into great detail about how science has researched meditation, but for quality it seems like the information in this article and the others that share the same topic can help to give a detailed history of how science has increasingly started to understand how important meditation can be for improving health, awareness, psychology and many other aspects.

Part of the abstract is here :

Mindfulness—as a state, trait, process, type of meditation, and intervention has proven to be beneficial across a diverse group of psychological disorders as well as for general stress reduction. Yet, there remains a lack of clarity in the operationalization of this construct, and underlying mechanisms. Here, we provide an integrative theoretical framework and systems-based neurobiological model that explains the mechanisms by which mindfulness reduces biases related to self-processing and creates a sustainable healthy mind.

Mindfulness is described through systematic mental training that develops meta-awareness (self-awareness), an ability to effectively modulate one's behavior (self-regulation), and a positive relationship between self and other that transcends self-focused needs and increases prosocial characteristics (self-transcendence). This framework of self-awareness, -regulation, and -transcendence (S-ART) illustrates a method for becoming aware of the conditions that cause (and remove) distortions or biases.

The rest of the abstract : (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness - Abstract - Frontiers

The whole article : Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness - Frontiers

.pdf version, which as I said is best because it has links to each part : Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness - (.pdf) - Frontiers

Heart Sutra

When Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound Prajnaparamita, he illuminated the Five Skandhas and saw that they were all empty, and crossed over all suffering and affliction.

“Sariputra, form is not different from emptiness, and emptiness is not different from form. Form itself is emptiness, and emptiness itself is form. Sensation, conception, synthesis, and discrimination are also such as this. Sariputra, all dharmas are empty: they are neither created nor destroyed, neither defiled nor pure, and they neither increase nor diminish. This is because in emptiness there is no form, sensation, conception, synthesis, or discrimination. There are no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or thoughts. There are no forms, sounds, scents, tastes, sensations, or dharmas. There is no field of vision and there is no realm of thoughts. There is no ignorance nor elimination of ignorance, even up to and including no old age and death, nor elimination of old age and death. There is no suffering, its accumulation, its elimination, or a path. There is no understanding and no attaining.

“Because there is no attainment, bodhisattvas rely on Prajnaparamita, and their minds have no obstructions. Since there are no obstructions, they have no fears. Because they are detached from backwards dream-thinking, their final result is Nirvana. Because all Buddhas of the past, present, and future rely on Prajnaparamita, they attain Anuttara Samyaksambodhi. Therefore, know that Prajnaparamita is a great spiritual mantra, a great brilliant mantra, an unsurpassed mantra, and an unequalled mantra. The Prajnaparamita Mantra is spoken because it can truly remove all afflictions. The mantra is spoken thusly:

"Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi, Svaha."

This translation is from Lapis Lazuli Texts

CC0 1.0 Universal. Unless otherwise stated, all original translations and articles on this site have been dedicated to the public domain by the author.

Navayana Buddhism

I'm not personally overly for or against this, just think it's interesting :

Many of us, easterners and westerners, have been profoundly influenced by our study of Buddhism, and yet do not find ourselves attached to any one particular sect or interpretation of Buddhism.  Further, many of us, especially westerners, find the fundamental ideas of Buddhism deeply meaningful, but cannot, without being dishonest with ourselves, accept certain other ideas usually associated with Buddhism.  This leaves us with a somewhat ambiguous sense of who and what we are.

For example, many of us are unable, or do not desire, to attach ourselves to one or another of the monastic traditions.  And we are often unable and unwilling to take certain beliefs literally.  The many gods and demons, heavens and hells, that some traditional Buddhists accept as real, are things that strain our credibility.  And rebirth strikes many of us as a metaphor rather than a literal reality.  Because of these things, to some traditional Buddhists we are just not Buddhists at all.

We are heartened by the fact that Buddha himself seems to have considered arguments about cosmology and gods and the reality of life after death as irrelevant to the more immediate concern, which is the practice of the eight-fold path.  It is, of course, a little presumptuous to say which of the many sutras are the ones we should pay attention to, and which should be considered some kind of later addition or modification.  We will never know exactly what the Buddha said and did not say.  We can only be "lights unto ourselves" and do the best we can.

This by no means suggests that we look down upon other Buddhist orientations or that we have a better or purer understanding of Buddhist life.  We only want to acknowledge our debt to the teachings of the Buddha.  For this reason, I would like to recommend the term Navayana Buddhism ("new vehicle of awakening") to all those who wish to so identify themselves.

In Peace,

George Boeree
May 1, 2002

Source :  Navayana Buddhism

The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

"The ultimate Truth is beyond words. Doctrines are words. They're not the Way. The Way is wordless. Words are illusions. They're no different than the things that appear in your dreams at night, be they palaces or carriages, forested parks or lakeside pavilions. Don't conceive any delight for such things."

The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma - Translated by Red Pine.

Mindfulness of In-&-Out Breathing

From Majjhima Nikaya - 118, of the Theravadan Buddhist Sutta Pitaka. The 16 different steps of meditation are said to be equally as useful for beginners as they are for experienced meditators :

[1] Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.'
[2] Or breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short'; or breathing out short, he discerns, 'I am breathing out short.'
[3] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the entire body.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the entire body.'
[4] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming bodily fabrication.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming bodily fabrication.'

[5] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to rapture.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to rapture.'
[6] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to pleasure.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to pleasure.'
[7] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to mental fabrication.' (Feeling and Perception.) He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to mental fabrication.'
[8] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming mental fabrication.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming mental fabrication.'

[9] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the mind.'
[10] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in satisfying the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out satisfying the mind.'
[11] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in steadying the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out steadying the mind.'
[12] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in releasing the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out releasing the mind.'

[13] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on inconstancy.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on inconstancy.'
[14] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on dispassion [literally, fading].' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on dispassion.'
[15] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on cessation.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on cessation.'
[16] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on relinquishment.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on relinquishment.'

Source : Anapanasati Sutta: Mindfulness of Breathing