Buddhist Meditation styles

[SakraNomoko]

A question of Buddhists and of those who practice meditation in general:

Why is the relative stillness of the body used in so many meditation styles? I don't know the proper names for them, but there's the image, the concept, the breath, the group, different positions, etc. For most of them, the body is in the same location.

It seems odd to me to expect to still the mind when the body is still. Where is the balance in two stillnesses? If you still the body, the mind moves. If you move the mind, the body stills. If you seek to still the mind, move the body.

I have seen monks do this, the quiet meditative walk, and I personally find it to be the most effective way to find peace. So why isn't this used more in the other styles?

Of course, it could be the case that my experience of them was more unique and that the meditative walk is used much more than was presented to me. I would gladly be wrong if that is indeed the case.

For Christians, we have the commandment to be anxious about nothing, and we are to meditate on the words, goodness, and being of God. But to focus on God, it is sometimes needed to first stop focusing on the self, and in that way, the goal of clearing the mind is shared.

I have also found meditative swimming and jogging to also work, but not nearly as well as the meditative walk. If you have one, what is the most effective way for you to meditate in motion?

 

[R. Hartono]

what is the most effective way for you to meditate in motion?

Amos 5:4 ....Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

 

[“Paisios”]

For Christians, we have the commandment to be anxious about nothing, and we are to meditate on the words, goodness, and being of God. But to focus on God, it is sometimes needed to first stop focusing on the self, and in that way, the goal of clearing the mind is shared.

I have also found meditative swimming and jogging to also work, but not nearly as well as the meditative walk. If you have one, what is the most effective way for you to meditate in motion?

I try not to clear my mind, but focus only on Christ, in prayer. In my practice, it is not an emptying, but a filling (even though I don’t do it well, and consider myself but a beginner).
As for prayer in motion, I have sometimes found value walking a labyrinth (not the one in the link, but that is an example) while praying.

 

[ananda]

A question of Buddhists and of those who practice meditation in general:

Why is the relative stillness of the body used in so many meditation styles? I don't know the proper names for them, but there's the image, the concept, the breath, the group, different positions, etc. For most of them, the body is in the same location.

It seems odd to me to expect to still the mind when the body is still. Where is the balance in two stillnesses? If you still the body, the mind moves. If you move the mind, the body stills. If you seek to still the mind, move the body.

I have seen monks do this, the quiet meditative walk, and I personally find it to be the most effective way to find peace. So why isn't this used more in the other styles?

Of course, it could be the case that my experience of them was more unique and that the meditative walk is used much more than was presented to me. I would gladly be wrong if that is indeed the case.

For Christians, we have the commandment to be anxious about nothing, and we are to meditate on the words, goodness, and being of God. But to focus on God, it is sometimes needed to first stop focusing on the self, and in that way, the goal of clearing the mind is shared.

I have also found meditative swimming and jogging to also work, but not nearly as well as the meditative walk. If you have one, what is the most effective way for you to meditate in motion?

Sitting meditation is most often emphasized because it assists in the complete cessation of the activity of all five of the physical senses ("withdrawn from sensuality"). This allows attention to focus exclusively on the mental sphere, without the "noise" of the physical sphere interrupting that work. This exclusive mental attention is a necessary factor to enter into the first grade of true meditation (jhana) which is the first taste of a rapture and pleasure that exceeds anything available in the physical realm:

"There is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful qualities — enters and remains in the first jhana: rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation." AN 5.28
​

Walking meditation, etc. is quite peaceful, but not nearly as peaceful or blissful as what can be achieved in the first jhana and beyond.

 

[SakraNomoko]

Thank you for your response, ananda! I was under the false impression that it was the empty mind (and the emptiness of self) that was the purpose of Buddhist meditation. I can see that if you wish to think and direct the thoughts, sitting meditation is better.

But if emptiness is not the goal of Buddhist meditation, what is?

 

[ananda]

Thank you for your response, ananda! I was under the false impression that it was the empty mind (and the emptiness of self) that was the purpose of Buddhist meditation. I can see that if you wish to think and direct the thoughts, sitting meditation is better.

But if emptiness is not the goal of Buddhist meditation, what is?

No problem.

In my tradition as I understand it, we do not meditate for the end purpose of gaining an empty mind or emptiness of self. That would be considered a failure on our part.

Instead, meditation - specifically, jhana - as taught in our suttas (the earliest Buddhist writings/scriptures) serves two major purposes:

1. To steady and focus the mind to progressively higher degrees, in order to discern and observe reality more clearly (using it as a tool, ultimately for the purpose of gaining wisdom to gain freedom from suffering); e.g. A expert in his or her field usually achieves that status with a sharpened mind; a dull, unfocused mind cannot achieve such things. Or, learning in general requires a steady, focused mind. Achieving higher levels of expertise requires progressively higher degrees of steadiness and focus.
2. In experiencing these higher states of being/jhana, we then directly realize that even such heavenly, refined states are impermanent, not-self (side note: not "no-self"), and filled with suffering; such realizations prompts us to detach, and to seek for and test out the next highest state, and then the next, onwards until we reach nibbana - the complete cessation of suffering.

I understand that some later Buddhisms do seek emptiness, but I find their reinterpretation personally unsatisfying.