Meditation

[raveneye]

Anyone ever done a Vipassana 10 day meditation class. More intense and with more meaning than all of the hundreds of trips I've done for me. Anyone have anything to say to this, I am still trying to wrap my head around the depth and breadth of this whole deal. Basically it is based on vibrations, all matter vibrates and on and on and on we go............

[bsurfer2d3]

No, but it sounds interesting. Are you in the US? I've tried to meditate steadily a few times, but end up slacking off. Classes sound like something that I would try. It sounds pretty powerful if you found deeper meaning and insight than you did by using psychedelics.

[aumbrellaforainydays]

10 days of concentrated mindfulness sounds fruitful. i would be restless by hour 2. but i believe after two days, you have a break (a mental break), which then accepts the new regimen, but by day 8,9,10 then our minds want to escape or harmonize. dealing with yourself silently should teach you loads. its like your going on a trip for 10 days, but instead of psychadelics as your vehicle, breathing is. also dont forget, some states of meditation can cause psychic breaks of stored images in your head, akin to hallucinations or vivid daydreams. but tripping from meditation is not the goal, we should remember. its finding and taking what insight/wisdom inherent in us and acting on it with compassion and altruism.

[raveneye]

aumbrella you are right on all accounts, no talking for ten days, ego loss happened around day two for me, if it wasn't for the mirror in the bathroom I would have completely dissapeared. I am surprised more have not tried this. This was the most intense trip of my life and everthing I had done with psychadelics seemed to be a life long search that has lead up to this harmonization with my true being. I made sence why I/we have been compelled to continue to take these plants to feel what? Actulization with your true vibrations, this has been the teaching in the plants for me anyway. I'm not on the wagon or anything but I now have this technique to keep my body feeling like I'm on peyote with the brain being the only substance used. All the fractal patterns and exploding mandalas are all in your brain after all. We are all tuning forks, if you cover them in rubber or coat them in lead they don't vibrate very well. There is nothing really to debate here, these eyes and this brain are a compilation of experiences that add up to a different sum than any other, I feel more than ever now though that these eyes are not truely mine they are the eyes of nature for which she can view herself and guide this body closer and closer to a deeper level of harmony for the benifit of all beings. Sounds pretty etherial cereal but what the hell the roller coaster ain't over yet. By the way this would only be possible unless you are completely detached and so since the time of buddha the course is free, provided by a donation from a previous student. keep on keepin on.................

[aumbrellaforainydays]

glad you found a light. shine on.

[Sean]

I wanted to do this over the break, but decided to settle in my new place with my new gf. I've been dying to do Vispassana, especially since it's free. Maybe I'll hit a three day course first. All about timing. hard to get 10 free days.

[EgoKilleR]

Some breathing techniques and singing mantras may have very intense reactions on our reality. I think psychedelics can open doors, but we are the ones to walk the way to eternety

[infinity]

I don't practice insight meditation regularly, mainly superconsciousness and pranayama. Superconsciousness pretty much wears out the ego through an internal mantra, and once your in meditation, pranayama is the vehicle back home.

When practicing superconsciousness last year, I started getting weird visions, but after a while, they cleared up, and ever since then, I don't halucinate at all from psychedelics. It's just plain ol'e meditation. Very comfortable too. I can sit for 6 hours when taking mushrooms without my legs feeling sore.

[vinz]

that sounds really interesting.. im happy for you that you went through it..

[bear]

I had vivid hallucinations during a 9-hour zazen sitting..

[infinity]

My yogi told me that often times when someone practices meditation too long after they lost the energy to concentrate, they halucinate. That's why they say it takes a long time for meditation to start working, because it is a very slow process of repairing your nerves from stress.

[Doctor D]

Don't worry, those hallucinations go away. Just keep meditating.

[raveneye]

rodger that. Counciousness seems to be like a onion. The hallucinations are just in the first couple layers. The brain chemical cocktail we call "normal" is just the outer layer. Seems like the meditation makes it possible to adjust the normal cocktail mix to peer deeper into the whole onion. Like looking into a pond of murky water, the more the water/ brain settles the deeper you can see. Like one of those deep water divers that just follow the rope with the knots deeper and deeper into the abyss.
Happy divin!

[eve69]

Hey, my first post. I have done TM since I was fourteen. But then got into Buddhism - Tibetan type. That's about 28 years ago now. I also really like the cactii as plant friends. I have been at Shroomery for last five years I guess with same nick.

I just wanted to say

.

Meditation and sometimes cactii makes one feel real for a second. And love. Perfect. It's a good thing.

I haven't done vipassana - I do solely mantra arts. As per Shakta tantras of Hinduism and Buddhism. They overlap some. Thanks for asking the question. Anyone going to such great lengths deserves some kudos. I have nothing to add regarding whether visionary stuff from meditation wears off or not. I say not. Depending upon technique for meditation.

Anyway the mystical is my favorite subject just for that reason. So High!

[Doctor D]

Of course hallucinations go away; everything changes from moment to moment. Sometimes it feels good to meditate, sometimes you gain insight. Sometimes you get stuck in a blissful state.

Sometimes, your knees, back, or legs hurt. Sometimes you're bored. Sometimes you can't wait for meditation to be over. The purpose of buddhist meditation is not to cling to any of these states, just observe them as they arise. Take the good AND the bad. Have no preference for either.

[MelT]

Just a thought: Although Shamatha and Vipassana are both excellent, for many people they're the intermediate practises for entry into the 'mind-only' schools of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. Over-doing both V+S is common and will tend to hamper progress after a while. Use either to enter into a good ground state then move into understanding 'View' as the next stage, the nature of reality itself, beginning with working on Sunyata/emptiness (do a search on Nagarjuna), though note that the term means different things in Hindu and Buddhist meditation.

Using View, itself another intermediate stage before non-meditation, is an extremely rapid way of progressing. Take a look at www.keithdowman.com for a few Mahamudra and Dzogchen texts to whet your appetite. Books: just about anything by Longchen Rabjam, particularly 'The Practice of Dzogchen', and 'The Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding'.

MelT