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Thank you Carol!!!!
I only see your post now – lazy me- so my reply is super late…
But you are so right, we must rejoice in the effort we all made, students and assessors!
I struggled a lot, but it was so useful, in many ways. Now I already worry about the next…ah!
More congratulations to all,
and much love!
Dear Stephen,
Thank you! Yes this really helps. The key word for me here is “gentle”; I tend to become impatient and forget that there is no better practice ( at my level) than that of noticing I’ve gone astray and then to bring the attention back, again and again, as you say.
Any expectations of some “special experience”, or of fast improvement in the level of attention, are very confusing elements, in fact maybe the greatest distraction; I’ll try and remember this before I sit, instead of after I’ve lost my patience…
These thoughts seem simple, but they are so precious, as is all the support that comes from being able to share, here.
Much gratitude to you all!
Dear all,
so much to think about.Recently during the wonderful course” Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment in 9 Meditations” ( amazing, also organized by Jamyang), Scott Snibbe quoted Voltaire:
“It is not more surprising to be born twice than once…”.
One life. For some long, healthy, happy; for another long and full of misery and pain; for many just a few hours, or a few breaths, or not even one breath…
Could the possibility of one life only be more bewildering than reincarnation..?!
Hello again Katrin.
In regards to your “visions”, I am afraid that all I can think of is that we know so little of the mind… so, because we want to learn, we should do our best to not create obstacles to the process.
Yesterday Geshe Namdak quoted Sarawa, more or less like this: “We are already confused, why should we be more confused?”.
So my only thought is, unless these experiences are particularly disturbing your meditation, maybe you should do just as you said above: just watch them come and go.
This is just my very ignorant opinion… always keep that bucket of salt at hand!
All the best to you,
and to all,
Alessia.Dear Katrin,
I have been thinking about the experience that you talk about, how interesting!
I have no answers but some questions, if I may: are these “scenes” always the same, these children playing? Are they familiar, do you think they could be memories? How do you feel when you experience them, is there a particular emotion associated to them? Do you enjoy them or do they disturb you?
The only thing that comes to my mind is maybe you should not think too much of them, not expect them, not look for them, not wait for them to arise, nor worry if they do… the mind is such a mystery ( to me…), some part of it could even be create distracting images – just when you are actually trying to concentrate on some other thing…
These here are just thoughts, so please take with a pinch ( or a bucket) of salt.
All the best to you and to all!
Dear Kamlo,
and dear all!Yes, thank you so much, I see and appreciate what both you and Steven are saying about the importance of being steady and finding the right pace, which may also change of course…
So, what I am trying to do is to keep any kind of activity that I call Dharma practice – like putting some effort in being vigilant, or remembering the buddhas and the teachers, the reality of them – right there, as much as possible on the surface of awareness; most of the time these are below, under the traffic, under the whirling thoughts and the automatism of words and responses; the actual formal activity of meditation I like to think of as the infrastructure that supports and contains all that; and when I feel I am doing it with less concentration – and so less connection – the structure becomes less stable, less flexible, less reliable, less useful in what is for me – at this stage/moment of my mind – it’s basic function: of protecting my mind from these automatism, from this lack of vigilance.
Really Dharma practice is for me a light on what is happening and how can I be in that moment, what is the best I can be in that moment; and formal meditation is the power station. As I see the preciousness of this amazing tool I tend to panic when I see I cannot control it… and maybe this is the problem, trying to use it as one would use a hammer or such tool!
Thank you for for your thoughts!
Hello dear all. Dear Kamlo, I rejoice in your experience of smooth plateaus!
I feel I make no progress at all in meditation, what a disaster!
And the more I see this, the less I actually sit and put the effort.
I do the practices, as these come easier to me: I follow a texts, recite prayers, chant mantras and all that… it is like being guided, and maybe it does help the aspect of concentration… but it is quite rare that I have enough concentration during these to actually feel a real connection ( to the Three Jewels, the Guru, or the Deity of the specific practice); sometimes I am more like a parrot, and when I see this I get angry and end up procrastinating…
Of course, as in mountain climbing, some days are better than others, but generally these days I am experiencing a decrease of both effort and, obviously, concentration. So this progress is, at this time, reversed… argh…
I wonder, how can I say I have faith and still not put enough effort!? Am I , after all, more a skeptic than I thought? Or is it just laziness?
Much love to you all!Hello dear Kamlo and hello dear all!
I am Alessia, not so much a skeptic, in fact a bit of a blind-faithted ignorant in need of some proper challenging and use of logic and scientific approach…
THANK YOU!!!
Much love.
Hello everyone,
and thank you so much dear wonderful people at Jamyang for all you are doing!
My name is Alessia, I am from Rome, I rejoice in being part of this wonderful group of fortunate people, and I pray that we may never give up and that we make it grow and grow!
Much love and see you soon!
