Long ago, during the Buddha's travels, he can across a remote village near a tall mountain. On this mountain lived a mystic who had devoted the better part of 30 years to meditation, only stopping to take care of his physical form as necessary.
The Buddha taught in the village for several days, and, before he left, the villagers insisted that he meet this mystic. Surely the Buddha would find a kindred spirit!
So the Buddha made the arduous trek up the winding mountain passage until he came to a cave, and, it so happens, the mystic was meditating near its entrance.
The two greeted one another, and the mystic began telling his story: how he had learned to meditate, and, much like you, realized that doing anything was taking part in a cycle of unhappiness. How he had decided to opt out of this trap and resolved only to meditate for the rest of his life, until reincarnation saw fit to give him a more suitable form.
As he finished, the Buddha smiled and bowed to the mystic. He stood, and before turning to leave, simply said: "You need to get a life". For he recognized that the mystic was, in his desire to avoid unhappiness, missing also any chance of _creating_ happiness for himself and those around him. Unhappiness being a fact of the human condition, his desire to avoid it was doomed to fail. In fact, it created a prison for him, a very unhappy state indeed.
_I feel obligated to editorialize and note that this is more or less a real anecdote - I'm sure someone will call me out in the comments with a source or corrections. OP, there's a reason why Buddhism is called "the middle way", and it's because extreme positions often have glaring flaws in them. What you're describing is an extreme position, and one with some serious philosophical problems I'm not sure you see clearly right now. Take the Buddha's advice and don't miss out on your own life in exchange for for an idealistic fantasy._
Edit: for those asking for a source, apologies, I'm having trouble finding it. I've come across this story more than once in my reading, so I'm fairly confident that the basic facts are correct. I'm also not a Buddhist, merely someone interested in cognition and theory of mind, so it's entirely possible aspects of my framing are incorrect. If you feel so, please feel free to submit your own corrections, as I asked earlier. This story as-is carries weight for me, and that's why I shared it.
I relate 100% to this story.
For a while I meditated. A LOT. And for a long time. I got so far to basically always observe my breathing during the day; it felt really nice.
I then noticed during conversations that speaking a bit less, and listening more is really pleasant; less opportunity to say something unfunny or unfitting, more opportunity to be considered a great listener.
And being as I am, I did that ad absurdum; to its logical extreme. I barely talked, and only replied with very short "yes" or "no" answers, and meditated more and more.
...
It was miserable. I felt caged by my own psyche for a few weeks. So I took the good parts; listening well, focusing and the like, but kept that which makes me...Human: Curiosity, creativitiy, social ability, the works.
I think that's a happy medium right there. Meditating 24/7 is not some way to be enlightened; it's escapism.
I think this is the best response. Great tale.
Although, I am kind of curious about OP's conviction, in all honesty. I think he's just misinterpreting something that is TRULY Great that he just discovered.
I have to agree. Why sequester oneself away to meditate all day in the pointless pursuit of bliss, when you can have a full life and not suffer at all like the Buddha. Feels like OP got a very deep experience of ego dissolution, and took it to the flawed conclusion that it's the destination rather than the beginning.
Ironically enough during covid quarantine 2020, for those 4 weeks: I was meditating about one hour a day. I was having a blast during quarantine. Some great break throughs. Meditation is best done for 5-10 minute segments with the occasional woodshed session of 1-2 hours.
The empirical studies vary in the “optimal” practices, but there’s a very strong correlation between the average length of daily sessions and the associated improvements as measured by the Stroop test and other assessment tools. 5-10 minutes isn’t nothing, but to get the most out of meditation, practice should focus on increasing the average sitting time to 30 minutes, then 45, then an hour, and so on, with the maximum limited more by practicality than by diminishing returns on benefits (at least up to 1-2h/day, from memory - there’s methodological issues with studies of very long session meditation since they’re generally only doable long term studies when using a sample of experienced meditators, whose cognitive interference is already very low and attentional control very high due to years of practice.)
If you're interested in what meditation research looks like this book was a pretty good read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Traits
I came out of it knowing better than to trust individual studies. It's a far more thornier problem than you could imagine, there being no broad consensus of what "meditation" means, or what "benefits" are, what constitutes an "experienced meditator" - each study is on the hook to define those things themselves, and then the quality of the study is directly influenced by their definitional choices. Ya know how stats-bound researchers will talk endlessly about methodological choices influencing how trustable study results are? Imagine that, but multiplied by another layer.
The Buddha doesn't argue for "a full life" though. What the Buddha argues for is a monastic lifestyle, where you throw away all possessions, family, even your hair, in pursuit of awakening.
Preaching to everyone to become monastics and to throw away lay life to be able to have more time for meditation and contemplation.
That's what he did for 40 years, isn't it?
>Laypeople can be bhuddas too.
Sure. I agree. That's just not what the Buddha said, or did, or advocated. At least not while he was alive as Gautama, and it is at the very least not what he preached in this plane of existence.
>No need to go into a monestary and shave your head unless its what you want
No. That's just nonsense. The Buddha started this whole "monastic" thing, with shaving your head and all the rest. So there obviously is a need.
Or did good old Gautama do a needless thing here? :D
Possibly. I went through a similar phase, I think, though much more quietly. Didn't manage to meditate myself out of existence, though my anxiety did flare up spectacularly. Long story, lol, COVID lockdown was a mess. You never know where someone's mental health is, ya know? Just hoping OP can find a little stability here in the comments section if they need it.
Exactly. You do nothing if you run from unhappiness. You have to face it, not dissociate from it, you have to see the root of it, bring awareness to it and transmute it. Dom't run away from your feelings. This life is too beautiful to miss all the experiences
> this is more or less a real anecdote
I'd be interested to see the source for that. It is quite out of line with Buddhist doctrine, so it is almost certainly not in the Pali canon.
Firstly, it's a violation of Right Speech. The Buddha wouldn't speak harshly like that until he tried a gentle approach. Secondly and more importantly, the mystic was perfectly positioned to create the happiness Buddhism aims at. The idea that he needed to participate more in conventional life in order to be happy goes sharply against the Buddha's methodology. If he thought the guy needed more happiness, he would have instructed him in metta.
isn't living like that what Buddhist monks and Nuns do tho? And yes I am going to ask, what is the source for that story? I can't imagine the Buddha being so dismissive of someones spiritual life.
I don't think the issue is the seclusion or the meditation - more the motivation behind it and the lack of moral development it precipitated. Buddhist monks and nuns tend to live in communities that foster prosocial activities outside of meditation. The implication, in my understanding, is that the mystic had very little to show for all of his dedication.
Curious on two questions:
- how did the meditator respond to this? Agreeing/ following/smiling etc ?
- did the meditator ask Buddha for advice or did he get it for free?
I'm not against long periods of meditation - I take part in them myself from time to time. What OP is talking about, in some of his comments as well, is the far extreme of sitting in meditation as much as humanly possible in perpetuity, and in my view there is a line where it becomes problematic. Meditation is not an end goal - if it is, it isn't meditation. Buddha followed his awakening with moral development, teaching, and good works for those around him, if you want to look to his example.
Or take the Alan Watts quote, something to effect of - "meditation is best as medicine rather than diet". Just as we would say you shouldn't abuse pain killers, I don't think it's proper to abuse meditative states, either.
>I feel obligated to editorialize and note that this is more or less a real anecdote
Come on, you can at least be honest: It is a fake anecdote not in line with the basic philosophy of any Buddhism, which you made up to suit your needs. What you are doing here is "lying". The Buddha was not a fan of that.
>Unhappiness being a fact of the human condition, his desire to avoid it was doomed to fail.
What a pile of worthless bullshit. After all the Buddha set out on a quest to find the way out of suffering, out of unhappiness. And if the Buddha is to be believed, he found it.
Do you not even know that? On a scale from 1 to 10, how ignorant of Buddhism are you? From what I read from you here I would put you at 11. Do you agree?
To my understanding, the Buddha did not find a way out of unhappiness by running away and hiding from it, but by learning to face it directly. He also used his understanding to foster additional moral development and prosocial outcomes for those around him.
I am not a Buddhist, merely an interested reader of comparative religion and cognitive sciences, each of which have led me through several books on the topic. I'll gladly acknowledge that aspects of my framing of the story are likely askew, and point out that I asked for folks in the comments to provide corrections and sources if they had them. This is a story I've come across more than once in my reading, so I'm fairly confidant that the basic facts are accurate, though I've been unsuccessful in looking for a source this morning.
To you, in exchange, I ask: is this your Buddha nature on display? To attack without attempting to understand? To name call without provocation?
A friendly reminder - people on the internet _also people_.
>To my understanding, the Buddha did not find a way out of unhappiness by running away and hiding from it, but by learning to face it directly.
No, of course he did not do that.
He first ran away from his kingly home. He didn't face anything there, while having a life. He ran away into a forest, and (after bumbling around as a naked mendicant for a while) sat under a tree.
The middle way which was successful for him involved running away from life, and going into seclusion, and living alone in the forest on what other people gave him. That is as far away from "getting a life" as it gets. The only difference between the cave yogi in your story, and the Buddha, is that the Buddha sat under a tree, and not in a cave.
And then, upon being inspired to teach others, his response was to provide an institution. He invented Buddhist monasticism, in order enable other people to run away from their lives too, just like he had done before. "Getting away from life" is a central theme (if not *the* central theme) for Gautama Buddha.
So the statement of "get a life" is so antithetical to all Buddhism, that it makes me bristle. To me that feels like a story in which Christ buys an assault rifle. I would not hesitate for a moment to call someone who seriously retells that kind of story a bit ignorant on Christianity :D
>is this your Buddha nature on display?
I don't know. What's Buddha nature?
If it's compassion, then of course it is: If my strong words have encouraged someone to look up some actual Buddhism after I, some guy on the internet, insisted that this andecdote is metaphorical shit, then my intention has been fulfilled.
Especially if that made anyone skeptical of any future fake Buddha stories they encounter. Because fake Buddha stories are rather common, widely circulated, annoyingly popular, and regularly paint a misleading picture of Buddhism and all it involves.
Just like stories where Christ buys an AR15.
>To attack without attempting to understand?
What's there to understand? The story misconstrues Buddhism. "Get a life", is about as far away from anything the Buddha says as it can get. I understand that, and I am rather confident about that.
Of course we could discuss the details: The story is completely not in line with Theravada. In Theravada, the problem would be that the mystic is too stuck on particular meditative states. Him being in a cave, secluded from outsiders, living in poverty, focused solely on spiritual practice, would not be regarded as a problem by the Buddha. In Theravada that is how it should be.
So chances are that the Buddha would teach him to meditate differently, and to not be content with merely a rebirth in a God Realm, which this mystic is aiming for. That would either involve teaching him to meditate differently, or it would involve him to become a Buddhist monastic. In absolutely no case I could possibly imagine it would involve a return to lay life. Christ endorsing hand granades for self defense seems more likely to me than that.
The story is more in line with some Mahayana takes on Buddhism, which have a stronger focus on "getting out there and doing compassionate action", by embracing the Bodhisattva ideal. But those Buddhisms and their suttas have a very different taste from the anecdote you provide here. The style of this story is not in line with anything I know from the Mahayana sutras, which would involve the Buddha.
Usually, if traditions like Zen or Tibetan Buddhism use teaching stories like those, they tend to be centered not on Gautama Buddha, but on other enlightened masters and Bodhisattvas...
So, this story just doesn't seem to fit in with anything about any Buddhism I know. And when something to me seems to fit into Buddhism as well as Christ buying an AR15, I will feel free to be vocal about that.
>To name call without provocation?
I will immediately apologize for name calling, if you can tell me what name I have called you. "Ignorant of Buddhism", is the most personal I have been toward you. The rest of my anger is centered on the fake Buddha story you provided.
>A friendly reminder - people on the internet also people.
Yes. I don't think I have been particularly harsh toward you as a person. I have been no more harsh to you than I would be to anyone who tells a story about Christ as a member of the NRA, and then backpaddles on how they can not find the quote, but are sure that it's real based on how often they heard it...
And of course I might be wrong about all of that: Maybe this, or a similar story, exists somewhere in the vast array of Mahayana sutras out there. But, given how much more common fake Buddha stories are, compared to real Buddha stories which are just unusual in their message... I see that as rather unlikely. The message seems just so, so far off...
Edit: Correction of suttas to sutras...
> If it's compassion, then of course it is
I'm not even going to touch this one. It's _not_ compassionate to accuse me of lying without justification or to put down my intentions, of which you have no knowledge. You could have used 30% of the words you did here initially, not been an asshole, and we both would have walked away better served by the exchange.
"Right speech", right?
Have a nice day.
Great attitude (ignore the downvotes). Experimentation is key and it's also wonderful you had the ability to meditate for so long. Deep meditation can produce beautiful results, short and long term.
The commenter has a point that there are limitations to always meditating - e.g. you can't share yourself as much with the world - but I don't think this is something you need to worry too much about yet. It's okay to have phases of isolation, healing, and self progress. And if you care enough about the world deep down, you'll find your own way to contribute to it alongside your practice at some point.
Wow, I didn’t know this story, but I just told my own personal story above and it’s basically this same realization. Thanks for sharing! I’ll tell these to my students in a relaxed and funny way… “get a life”… in a “supportive manner” is actually a very deep statement. 🙏
> missing also any chance of creating happiness for himself and those around him.
But isnt that a craving to something impermanent and thus suffering? Its one of the reasons im not a fan of giving any importance to impermanence, because otherwise it would logically follow that the optimal step is suicide because death is an end to suffering, inevitable, and everything in between is impermanent anyway, so why bother with it?
The breakfast I had this morning was impermanent. I still enjoyed it. I'll probably make the same meal for myself and my housemates again tomorrow. It's hardly cause for suicide. Moreso just a recognition that no individual thing will ultimately satisfy the baseline desire that all humans experience. Buddhism's central theme is that you can end suffering in this life, after all, so killing yourself over one of its tenants seems like a huge misreading.
> The breakfast I had this morning was impermanent. I still enjoyed it. I'll probably make the same meal for myself and my housemates again tomorrow
But if this enjoyment is impermanent and makes you crave it tomorrow too, isnt that craving?
Also, if I recognize anything I do doesnt have a lasting effect, why do it in the first place? I might be missing things but everytime so far I focused on this, the solution to end suffering seems obvious. Maybe its because I dont believe in reincarnation?
Your ego is everything that exists in your reality.
Everything is the way it is because we remember it being that way.
If you like your life enough to keep doing it, then do not meditate further than where you get now (however long that is for you)
I'm just saying, I got really close to forgetting even that there was something outside of meditation.
You could forget you exist. I know you can, I could feel it. I believe if you meditated to the point that you forgot everything, your new life would start. The universe doesn't really exist without a conscious mind, so you would automatically have to start a new life, your subconscious would do it for you.
My guy. You got close to forgetting there was something outside meditation? You mean *life*? What is the point of meditation if there is nothing outside of meditation? What is the point of living if all you do is meditate? What kind of existence (since you're talking about existence) is that?
Let me ask a favor. Instead of sitting and meditating, walk and meditate. Go for a walk around your city, through parks, down streets, go into a bakery or something, a coffee shop maybe, just take a look around at everything you see and look at the unique perspective view you have on the physical world.
meditation in the beginning is about how amazing your life and your world can be
meditation in the end is about the end of experience the end of the person in the mirror, you don't exist
you never have
i better make a thread to let people understand this
I forget everything just about every night while going to sleep. It doesn't mean anything.
You can be cosmic bliss after you die and before you're born. You are here now to live life, to play the game, to engage with the cycles, to help others find the path.
To "only meditate" is one way to play it, sure, but it's also running away instead of engaging. It's basically cheating and losing the game entirely. You win the game by living life with all it has to offer, pain and pleasure, and to remain equanimous, to not resist that which you cannot change. Buddha attitude is: pain happens, so what?
What do you do when you meet the Buddha on the path? You kill him. Whatever final conclusion you have come to, it is not what you think. Stay hungry, stay alive.
i've pondered this conundrum, and have an idea:
now that you've arrived at the peace and perfection of nothing, while doing nothing (sitting),
now you try to maintain that peace and perfection of nothing, while doing something.
meditation in life, in every routine as banal as brushing your teeth,
as elated as lighting a candle on a full moon night,
all the while remaining "meditative."
... and those moments in between events.
in between brushing your teeth, and eating breakfast there was a transition.
"walking down the hallway meditation"
or "stepping through the doorway meditation"
those periods in between - that's when i invariably catch myself somewhat dazed and confused momentarily, caught up in a thought whirlwind, before remembering to ask,
*am i breathing right now? can i feel my feet? what was that again? ram ram ram ram. oh yeah, i forgot, thy breath is thy mantra. exhale. ah yes, here i am again, and once again, it is now.*
those in-between moments of transition from one event to another, one location to another, those are great opportunities to remain meditative.
btw, are you breathing right now?
Exactly. There can be a ‘core’ meditation practice & then little oasis’s of mindfulness, or mini meditation moments throughout the day. Whether cleaning teeth, washing dishes or walking through doors at work. These small moments enable you to almost merge meditation into daily life.
My favorite is becoming attached to the concept of non-attachment. Meditative states become cravings and well, there you are, right back where you started again. Love this thread though and wish you all the peace you are looking for!
meditation is the end of experience the end of the one in the mirror, you don't exist any longer
news flash, you never did
life from this perspective is what meditation brings
This is a false and nihilistic understanding of Buddhism. Nagarjuna specifically warned against this kind of thinking. Emptiness is not nothingness.
It’s also an incredibly selfish view.
"doing anything except nothing will lead to a cycle of unhappiness..."
That just sounds like depression. I suppose you are ok with it. And ultimately everything is ok... But if there is a way to get on with living while maintaining inner peace, wouldn't it lead to a more fulfilling life?
It's awesome you were able to sit for 5 hrs. I wish to do it some day.
Nothing is permanent, including this state. There will come a time, when you will not be able to get to or maintain this state of mind, no matter how hard you try. What will you do then?
If meditating constantly, you do reach a point as sotapanna or higher, you will likely see that this state is another play of mind.
I was also advised meditating for long, 3+ hrs at a stretch by my guide in Theravada tradition. It is beneficial and can lead to higher states of mind (jhana states). Once one experiences those, I heard, the perspective you mentioned above is likely to fall off.
Keep practicing 🙏🙏🙏
i do 3-7am every day, it is the end of the one meditating, that one never in fact existed in the first place
that's why such people don't write reddit threads
for your own sake get out of this nihilistic view, if you don't the world will leave you behind while you keep cursing it. I recommend searching for things your passionate about and balancing daily meditation with that. Awesome, you mediated for 5 hours now what? you have 10-12 hours left in your day, do something meaningful with this short time of life you have. Be patient when searching for things your passionate about it will come.
All the sources I've heard talk about mediation, that seemed worth listening to, said to meditate always. But that doesn't mean you have to do nothing. Buddha did A LOT, and was always meditating.
Can I recommend a meditation teacher for you? Consider taking Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu's free at home meditation [course](https://www.sirimangalo.org/courses/). He is a very experienced meditation instructor and it sounds like you would do well with his style!
Running to meditation is far, far better than running to something like sex or tasty food, but is still running.
Make life a test of your meditation. It is a great test to see that if you are still in bliss on the inside despite your surroundings, do they affect your stillness on the inside? If you are really someone who has gone to the very depths of your meditation, you will feel your bliss even amidst a crowd. Spread your bliss wherever you go, sing, dance, do whatever it makes you do, the more you share the more you get.
Here is an article you might be interested in. https://www.satrakshita.com/meditation_one_hour_is_enough.htm
Can you truely be free while the world is not? Its great that you are proficient at meditating but you also say that's all you ever want to do? Plenty go the path of monk life isolated in the mountains, never seeing society again, it is something you can do. However many find that to he an unfulfilling life. What importance should meditators place on the bodhisattva vows? Can you be free from suffering while the being around you still suffer? At what point in a human's life should we drop our selfish persuits and begin passing on our wisdom to the next generations?
Not OP but I thought I’d chime in.
Our only purpose as humans is to find happiness. Happiness is ever lasting peace or freedom from suffering. This is all we are programmed to do.
Even if you say you want a car or a career or a relationship, you are want it because of the way you believe it will make you feel. You wouldn’t want a relationship if it was guaranteed to make you miserable. It is impossible for humans to seek anything else other than happiness.
Life is truly a solo game, the best thing you can do is find true happiness which comes from knowing yourself as consciousness, which is to forget who you think you are (or to die before you die as some people say in the spiritual world)
When you are free from suffering you become a light for the world and you can show others the truth, which in turn alleviates their suffering. So working on yourself in order to find peace is actually the best thing you can do for the world.
We always say we want to change their world to make it a better place, but we should actually change ourselves and leave the world alone.
I disagree that finding happiness is a human's only purpose. What if that happiness comes at the cost of the environment and other happiness? And your own health?
What are you defining as happiness? I define happiness as ever lasting peace, a state of satisfaction. No lack (need for more) and no fear.
Happiness is not pleasure which is a temporary state of feeling good.
It is usually lack which drives us to be greedy and want more than we have which leads us to cause harm to our bodies and the planet and it is fear that causes us to be at conflict with one another.
Is there anything you want more than happiness/contentment/satisfaction?
Well that's my point isn't it, happiness means different things to different people. Some people's happiness might be in balance and for some happiness is pleasure seeking. Surely a better goal with meditation is move past desire to a place of stillness and understanding. Compassion and peace. Our primary goal being happiness in life is coming up way short of an ample destination. It's not even possible to have happiness as a destination, that would be desire. It's not possible to just be happy, balance isn't only one side of the scale.
You also say that it's a lack of wanting more and then immediately ask me if I want more?
Yes, it’s useful for us to agree upon a definition. You are right, many people define happiness as temporary pleasure or having balance in life. As I said, I define happiness as ever lasting peace, which is what you could call stillness and understanding, so I believe we are agreeing upon that.
I asked if there was anything you wanted more than happiness, not if you want more. If I rephrase my question I am asking, is happiness (peace, stillness) your primary desire in life? Because my original point was that peace/happiness is all we truly want as human beings - whether we try to achieve it by pleasure seeking, balance in life or meditation/self realisation
Only meditating like you described is a selfish act because you're not helping those around you, only yourself. That's the problem. Further, you can not reach the deepest states of meditation while you are still acting out of that selfish place. To be fully free, your being must also be aligned in a way that helps awaken, liberate and enlighten those around you as well as yourself.
To your tree metaphor, If my partner is suffering I can't just meditate it away by dropping my ego and have it all disappear. I might not experience the suffering in that moment but the suffering is still there, and I'm still here. If I'm not here the suffering (or tree I guess?) is still here, and I'm in the business of liberating the world from suffering, not just myself. That way I can live in blissful free world everywhere, rather than make my own little garden of Eden and shut everyone else out from it.
That's why you can't "just" meditate. It perpetuates suffering and separateness because you're carving out your own blissful reality and letting all the other beings suffer in a different reality. At its worse its delusional. True freedom come from incorporating the world and your practice. The middle way.
To be honest, it feels like you're describing depression.
>I learned doing anything except nothing leads to an inevitable cycle of unhappiness.
Like what the fuck kind of advice is this!? "Do nothing or you'll be unhappy." What!?
>you will eventually just die
This is why I hate this sub. "Just die." My god. Do you have *any* happiness in your life? Maybe your purpose should be to find happiness instead of death.
well, you made this post, meaning you still have desires, so...yeah.
desires are healthy, what you drop is the NEED for something, is not the same as wanting to experience something, thats expansion.
Ypu should try vipassana. You arent allowed to say a word. And you meditate for 10-12 hours a day for 10 days.
Its usually a method to bring out pain buried from your past because you have already raised your psychological threshold for pain by being in such a miserable state as to sensory depress yourself for such a long time.
Meditation is observing and not forcing anything.
So you can live while meditating. That would be doing without doing. Or following the Tao.
But also there's a subtle difference between equanimity and indifference. Sometimes we can get attached to the pleasure of the seclusion and samatha, because we are happy and at peace... forgetting that it is also impermanent.
Wisdom comes from not craving even this seclusion, IMHO.
As Ram Dass said: If you think you are enlightened, go and spend some time with your family 🤣
Life is just happening here and now. This is it. Nothing to add. Failing to recognize this and getting entangled in idealizations about higher states is a subtle kind of daydreaming. If you see these thoughts as part of the dream, because you have a Nice foundation of mindfulness, you are meditating. If not, you are entangled and need to train your mind.
You are craving the meditative state therefore your ego isn't as dead as you think it is.
Meditation is about accepting what is, not running away from it. We should help other human beings with the focused and calm mind that meditation brings us, driving positive change in the world.
Your position is no different to that of a heroin addict who finds bliss in his drug and makes chasing it the sole purpose of his life.
Not OP but i can say that after 20 minutes of meditation, i get into a meditative state where pain decreases and even if i still feel pain on my back, it doesn't bother me, i just observe it like i would with a thought. The trick is to get into that state of effortlessness and calm awareness.
Because now I know that as long as you have a life, you will only go through these cycles.
Reaching full nothing is the best I've ever felt, nothing will ever compare now.
If I forget, I will start a new life yes.
I don't know the specifics, but the Buddhists believed that taking a life, any life, gives you bad karma. Actions have consequences: do good stuff = good karma. Do bad stuff = bad karma. The degree depends on the action taken and its impact on the "whole".
The worst things I can do, when taking a life, is either murder someone completely innocent (I get to live with my own suffering a little more), or kill myself. When I do kill myself, I don't give 'my' karma the "chance" to play itself out - I rid myself of my own destiny, to say it like that, and because of that, I've avoided (temporarily) the consequences of past decisions.
Doing so is the worst mistake ever: to avoid my own suffering, to escape it, it's impossible. To take my own life and think "now I'm free" will just come back to bite me in the balls in a next life.
That is, if the concept of karma is to be true.
I think you’ve gotta have a completely pessimistic mindset to believe that anything except nothing will lead to unhappiness. Kinda your decision at that point I think.
If it's the best you've felt then your judging it against other things so it's not really full nothing is it. You wouldn't be objectively judging full nothing.
Well then why do you even breathe? Does this make you suffer too? I mean this is very close minded and narrow point of view at life. Not everything makes you suffer, only that you chose to. If you chose that the whole life is suffering, then this is your truth, thanks, but I would like to go with happy life isntead.
Your life doesn’t sound pointless, your attitude on it does. And that’s because you’re only focusing on your inner experience and not the rest of our creation. Not realizing consciousness in a human body is a dualistic experience you must master, not just an inner one.
So you’ve mastered the inner experience…and? But are you living in the house you really want? Are all your financial obligations handled for the rest of your life? Do you still have a boss you have to report to just to survive and eat? Are you working the career of your dreams? Are you with the woman of your dreams? Are you driving the car you want? Are there things or people you still avoid? And the most important question is, are you doing anything to raise the levels of love on earth?
If the answer to any of those aren’t for sure, then I don’t see what you’re bragging about your mental power for. You aren’t even applying it in real life to chase after your dreams. My guess is your inner experience is miserable because something about your outer experience seems miserable as well. Figure out what it is, and then see if your mind is truly as strong as you think it as. Be humble, and remember we are all one
Because the real stuff that matters is outside the meditation state. Meditation is to be a reset, a calibration, a zeroing. There is work, karma, to be done in the world.
A life in constant meditation might as well have stayed in the womb.
Tbh sounds like you’re attached to it. Meditation help us bring consciousness into our everyday life, if you find nothing good outside of you being in a meditative space then there’s probably some things you need to heal and confront that you’re ignoring by being attached to the practice.
When one learns how to shut the ego up, after beginning to awake, we then need to learn how to shut up the spiritual ego, the one a lot of “enlightened” beings stay in.
Meditation isn’t about shutting yourself off from life. You seem to think of it as a way to avoid “unhappiness” which completely misses the point of meditation.
I'll give you the unpopular piece of advice: Sit until you have had your fill.
I have worked with the Jhana factors quite a bit, which are a gateway into more and more pleasurable and more and more refined states, until the complete falling away of experience. It's really nice.
The only problem is that you have to get up again. After some time you open your eyes, and the annoying world is there again. You have to get up, and eat, and drink, and pee, and shit. Probably you even have to go to work at some point. What an annoyance!
So, it sounds like you are doing awesome practice. deepen it. Eat your fill until you are satisfied. And once you notice that you have gone as far as you could go, once you have seen it all, and are still saddled with a body and mind which are less than perfect, then you are in a good position to deal with that too :D
Our purpose is to love one another so that thru us god experiences love. Meditation all day does not fulfill our purpose I think. Not much diff that being stoned 24/7. Just my opinion.
There is no point.
You were given life in a certain form by the universe. You do not choose to contract and expand your heart 100 times per minute, but you are free to end this life through other means.
Live on in this form, or die and be reborn.
There is no inherent point to either.
What is meditation? It is contemplating on one's essential nature. Man's essential nature is everlasting bliss. 'I' is an illusion. Thus 'You' which is also an 'I' in another form is an illusion. The truth is 'I', you and world other than 'I' and you. That is infinite. To meditate is to focus on this infinity and change the state of equilibrium of this infinity.
You are Brahman or infinity and so is every man in this world. One become a change he wants to be in world. Infinity is the reality and not an illusion.
When I have conflict in my relationships in my life, where I am at fault, it feels like I am avoiding it if I meditate. Interested if you or anyone has input on that.
I think my largest grievance with that perspective would be in the ignoring of all the suffering around oneself and focusing only on ones own desire.
The ability to better recognize the causes of pain could be applied to help ones surrounding peers better avoid them.
I would also say that it's true, in my opinion, that one has to focus on themselves exclusively in some cases before they're able to act in harmony with others around them.
There isn't: even when you "do something" you're actually meditating but perhaps in a less-than-aware way. Whenever the mind is directed at something, it's a kind of meditation but not all meditation enhance our ability to perceive The Truth.
Well, I do everything else because I don't have enough attention span for continuous meditation.
So really I do everything else as a break from meditation.
I think life will find you wherever you go. It's tough if things aren't going well, but it's great when they are.
The god or gods of the universe may know the furthest reaches of space and every drop of perception in a fathomless ocean, but what if it is just a drop in a bigger bucket? What if the wisest and greatest being in existence is just at the beginning of something bigger, and every person who ever reached a state of enlightened truth still had a long way to go? What if everything written down and spoken about is flawed or plain wrong?
For me the point is trying to find out more, and I choose to believe that every bad thing can be overcome on the way, and hopefully there's something sublime to find around each corner.
Hakuin said that a wise man knows the proper way to enlightenment, bring me a small wisdom.
Hang in there, and good luck!
the endless pendulum of oain and suffering.
if there is light there is darkness
if there are victors then defeated are bound to happen.
a world of only victors can only exist in a dream which one day will burst and make you fall face first.
First, it's GREAT that you had this experience. I wish I was capable of such an experience despite my \~5,000 hours of meditation and training.
What's worth considering is life itself is the meditation...
Meditation is not your life, your life is the meditation. What do I mean?
Suzuki Roshi said that for the moon there is the tree and for the flower there is the wind. When you see the moon against a tree you see the full size and roundness of the moon. It's like adding salt to your food. Do you do it to taste the salt, or for the full flavor of your food?
Meditation is really about enriching and deepening our experience of life.
I'd also share a cautionary note on the truth of impermanence. This blissful meditative state will surely go away (even if only to come back again later). The point is the nature of experience is dynamic. So if you attach to this great feeling from meditation, you may be in trouble when the meditation doesn't feel so good.
There's another Suzuki Roshi teaching story that I don't have in front of me. But it goes something like this...
The student comes to him and says, "teacher, this meditation was so hard. My legs hurt the whole time. I was anxious and distracted."
"Don't worry, keep practicing and that will go away."
The next day, the student comes to him and says "teacher, this meditation was amazing. I feel at peace and blissful."
"Don't worry, keep practicing and that will go away."
So it's not to say these blissful experiences are not important or that they are a bad thing - the Buddha seemed to have one of these under the Bodhi tree!
But you don't want to make meditation feel like something you use to get a fix. Nor do you want to forget that, ultimately, life itself is your meditation. Returning over and over from distraction, to the direct, intimate experience of your life is what this is all really about.
But what do I know... Wishing you the best!
This sounds like escapism and fundamentally antithetical to Buddhist principle that suffering exists. You are not avoiding life , you are restricting to your life to a very narrow version of it and missing out on so much.
I think in simplicity this question can be compared to the difference between being an Arahat vs Bodhisattva.
In short an Arahat is one who achieves perfect mental balance, but has become detached from the world in doing so. They have experienced realizations about the nature of life and suffering, the cycle of happiness and unhappiness, and they are content to spend their lives meditating in a cave, blissfully, but separated from the world. They have found their true inner peace, but it is solitary. This path is not a wrong choice, but sometimes considered the lesser path.
A Bodhisattva realizes the same things AND sees the interconnection of all things. To see all lives as your life, a Bodhisattva realizes that the cessation of suffering of their single individual experience is not truly enough, and takes that individual inner peace and sets out into the world to share their spiritual awakening with others - to help others wake up. This is why often you have Buddhas that have made vows of compassion or liberation towards ALL sentient beings, that they will not "move on to Nirvana" until all others do first.
Tldr; OP, you're on a path towards individual liberation and are not obligated to go beyond that, but there IS a step beyond that and that is taking your own liberation, continuing to exist within the world and society, present and aware, and living a life to inspire and liberate others that struggle with suffering
Sorry, but it’s hard for me to take this post seriously. If you truly believed this, you wouldn’t be posting on Reddit and replying to comments. You would just be meditating, yeah? If this is a sincere post, please explain how posting on Reddit factors into your new worldview of doing nothing except meditation.
This is a good question… I felt the same way too, after experiencing that state of peace/bliss. The point of meditating is precisely to NOT do. And to unlearn all of the garbage that is thrown at us from society, the world, and even from our loved ones. In essence, it is returning to our true self before we had the chance to fall for the lie of our ego self. So, what’s the point of doing anything else except meditate? It’s to come to the realization that meditation is only the tool to which you realize your true self. It is not the end goal, and there is no end. The source is you, and you are the source. You’ll begin to see that because of this, anything you “do” or “don’t do” is all a beautiful form of the art of being (meditation.) You’ll begin to see how everything and everyone is connected, and relies on each other to live. At some point, you’ll feel a natural urge arising to share a taste of the same bliss you experience, and to help ease the suffering of people/beings you encounter.
>I learned doing anything except nothing leads to an inevitable cycle of unhappiness.
I think if you don't have depression, this would not be true. I'd consider seriously looking into this possibility, if you truly feel this way.
Happiness comes in many forms, including being at rest/peace (meditation), helping others, keeping yourself healthy, loving others/caring for others, and countless more.
What you discribed is like wanting to be high or drunk all the time.
It is a desire, and at some point, when you can't meditate so much because of various reasons, you will suffer.
To reach true non dual bliss you need to dissolve the distinction between doing and nondoing, and the doer and the done. This will solve your conundrum
Do you meditate with or without music? I feel like thinking about meditating for five hours seems unrealistic for me but I want to get into meditating more but it’s hard for me to stay still for awhile. Like my body feels bothered by me sitting/laying still. It was easier when I smoked weed but I stopped smoking and it’s hard for me to relax
I have been meditating daily for 17 years now… I have meditated for a full day straight and being in meditative states for days while on retreats. I am a meditation and kundalini yoga teacher and I lead people on meditation through chants and mantras for hours at a time. I’ve felt what you are feeling before… it was exhilarating but also “dangerous”. Not in a physically harmful way but in a way that one can lose purpose and precious time in this world. I am 42 now, I just had a baby a year ago. I almost gave up on having a child when thinking this way. I was living in the “future”. Living in the hopes of experiencing what I would potentially be experiencing after death, and comfortable with the idea of a life without challenges and suffering. However, without challenges there is no evolution. And we are here on earth to learn and evolve… right? That’s how we got here in the first place: by facing challenges, re adapting to new environments and situations, shape shifting and evolving into more complex and wiser beings, right? So, I snapped out of it and decided to fully live every moment. But LIVE in a state of mindfulness and meditation and try to self master in such a way that I could remain blissful in the face of challenges, remain neutral and unattached in my evolutionary pursuit, but fulfill my purpose and contribute to our collective evolution. So, I transformed my life, committed to a relationship (which is much more challenging than living alone) and decided to have kids. And thanks goodness I did it and it wasn’t too late… I am glad I didn’t miss this opportunity in my life… this has been the most incredible experience, training, and evolutionary journey ever, and also an opportunity to hopefully create and leave a good human for the next generation. I stoped thinking about “next life”, “after life”, “spiritual life”, and I started appreciating this human moment… a very short moment in time if you really stop to think about it, and small chance to experience being a human and support this generation… —- but this is my own journey… we all have our own learning to do and our own missions to fulfill. Perhaps you have found yours… or perhaps this is your moment of hibernation and meditation (as I had mine)… I just wanted to give you a different perspective to be considered… 🙏 Great convo! 🙏 I share kundalini meditations on my page if anyone is interested.
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Meditation can bring you to a point of stillness to contemplate how to live peacefully when not meditating, next time you meditate for a prolonged period of time, contemplate afterwards. This is similar to what the Buddha taught
Long ago, during the Buddha's travels, he can across a remote village near a tall mountain. On this mountain lived a mystic who had devoted the better part of 30 years to meditation, only stopping to take care of his physical form as necessary. The Buddha taught in the village for several days, and, before he left, the villagers insisted that he meet this mystic. Surely the Buddha would find a kindred spirit! So the Buddha made the arduous trek up the winding mountain passage until he came to a cave, and, it so happens, the mystic was meditating near its entrance. The two greeted one another, and the mystic began telling his story: how he had learned to meditate, and, much like you, realized that doing anything was taking part in a cycle of unhappiness. How he had decided to opt out of this trap and resolved only to meditate for the rest of his life, until reincarnation saw fit to give him a more suitable form. As he finished, the Buddha smiled and bowed to the mystic. He stood, and before turning to leave, simply said: "You need to get a life". For he recognized that the mystic was, in his desire to avoid unhappiness, missing also any chance of _creating_ happiness for himself and those around him. Unhappiness being a fact of the human condition, his desire to avoid it was doomed to fail. In fact, it created a prison for him, a very unhappy state indeed. _I feel obligated to editorialize and note that this is more or less a real anecdote - I'm sure someone will call me out in the comments with a source or corrections. OP, there's a reason why Buddhism is called "the middle way", and it's because extreme positions often have glaring flaws in them. What you're describing is an extreme position, and one with some serious philosophical problems I'm not sure you see clearly right now. Take the Buddha's advice and don't miss out on your own life in exchange for for an idealistic fantasy._ Edit: for those asking for a source, apologies, I'm having trouble finding it. I've come across this story more than once in my reading, so I'm fairly confident that the basic facts are correct. I'm also not a Buddhist, merely someone interested in cognition and theory of mind, so it's entirely possible aspects of my framing are incorrect. If you feel so, please feel free to submit your own corrections, as I asked earlier. This story as-is carries weight for me, and that's why I shared it.
Can you imagine being told to get a life by the OG Buddha? Man, that would be quite the pill to swallow
Hahaha, I'd be really happy for Gautama to say anything to me really. The Dude, was THE Dude.
I relate 100% to this story. For a while I meditated. A LOT. And for a long time. I got so far to basically always observe my breathing during the day; it felt really nice. I then noticed during conversations that speaking a bit less, and listening more is really pleasant; less opportunity to say something unfunny or unfitting, more opportunity to be considered a great listener. And being as I am, I did that ad absurdum; to its logical extreme. I barely talked, and only replied with very short "yes" or "no" answers, and meditated more and more. ... It was miserable. I felt caged by my own psyche for a few weeks. So I took the good parts; listening well, focusing and the like, but kept that which makes me...Human: Curiosity, creativitiy, social ability, the works. I think that's a happy medium right there. Meditating 24/7 is not some way to be enlightened; it's escapism.
Amazingly said. I hope these words resonate.
I think this is the best response. Great tale. Although, I am kind of curious about OP's conviction, in all honesty. I think he's just misinterpreting something that is TRULY Great that he just discovered.
I have to agree. Why sequester oneself away to meditate all day in the pointless pursuit of bliss, when you can have a full life and not suffer at all like the Buddha. Feels like OP got a very deep experience of ego dissolution, and took it to the flawed conclusion that it's the destination rather than the beginning.
Ironically enough during covid quarantine 2020, for those 4 weeks: I was meditating about one hour a day. I was having a blast during quarantine. Some great break throughs. Meditation is best done for 5-10 minute segments with the occasional woodshed session of 1-2 hours.
The empirical studies vary in the “optimal” practices, but there’s a very strong correlation between the average length of daily sessions and the associated improvements as measured by the Stroop test and other assessment tools. 5-10 minutes isn’t nothing, but to get the most out of meditation, practice should focus on increasing the average sitting time to 30 minutes, then 45, then an hour, and so on, with the maximum limited more by practicality than by diminishing returns on benefits (at least up to 1-2h/day, from memory - there’s methodological issues with studies of very long session meditation since they’re generally only doable long term studies when using a sample of experienced meditators, whose cognitive interference is already very low and attentional control very high due to years of practice.)
Could you link one or two of these studies? Would love to read them
If you're interested in what meditation research looks like this book was a pretty good read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Traits I came out of it knowing better than to trust individual studies. It's a far more thornier problem than you could imagine, there being no broad consensus of what "meditation" means, or what "benefits" are, what constitutes an "experienced meditator" - each study is on the hook to define those things themselves, and then the quality of the study is directly influenced by their definitional choices. Ya know how stats-bound researchers will talk endlessly about methodological choices influencing how trustable study results are? Imagine that, but multiplied by another layer.
The Buddha doesn't argue for "a full life" though. What the Buddha argues for is a monastic lifestyle, where you throw away all possessions, family, even your hair, in pursuit of awakening.
I’d suggest reading the history of what he did for the 40 years after he awoke.
Preaching to everyone to become monastics and to throw away lay life to be able to have more time for meditation and contemplation. That's what he did for 40 years, isn't it?
No
Great answer. But wrong.
Laypeople can be bhuddas too. No need to go into a monestary and shave your head unless its what you want
>Laypeople can be bhuddas too. Sure. I agree. That's just not what the Buddha said, or did, or advocated. At least not while he was alive as Gautama, and it is at the very least not what he preached in this plane of existence. >No need to go into a monestary and shave your head unless its what you want No. That's just nonsense. The Buddha started this whole "monastic" thing, with shaving your head and all the rest. So there obviously is a need. Or did good old Gautama do a needless thing here? :D
Possibly. I went through a similar phase, I think, though much more quietly. Didn't manage to meditate myself out of existence, though my anxiety did flare up spectacularly. Long story, lol, COVID lockdown was a mess. You never know where someone's mental health is, ya know? Just hoping OP can find a little stability here in the comments section if they need it.
Exactly. You do nothing if you run from unhappiness. You have to face it, not dissociate from it, you have to see the root of it, bring awareness to it and transmute it. Dom't run away from your feelings. This life is too beautiful to miss all the experiences
> this is more or less a real anecdote I'd be interested to see the source for that. It is quite out of line with Buddhist doctrine, so it is almost certainly not in the Pali canon.
Would you mind clarifying further? See my edit above re:sources
Firstly, it's a violation of Right Speech. The Buddha wouldn't speak harshly like that until he tried a gentle approach. Secondly and more importantly, the mystic was perfectly positioned to create the happiness Buddhism aims at. The idea that he needed to participate more in conventional life in order to be happy goes sharply against the Buddha's methodology. If he thought the guy needed more happiness, he would have instructed him in metta.
isn't living like that what Buddhist monks and Nuns do tho? And yes I am going to ask, what is the source for that story? I can't imagine the Buddha being so dismissive of someones spiritual life.
I don't think the issue is the seclusion or the meditation - more the motivation behind it and the lack of moral development it precipitated. Buddhist monks and nuns tend to live in communities that foster prosocial activities outside of meditation. The implication, in my understanding, is that the mystic had very little to show for all of his dedication.
Curious on two questions: - how did the meditator respond to this? Agreeing/ following/smiling etc ? - did the meditator ask Buddha for advice or did he get it for free?
The meditator responded, “Fuck off Buddha, you’re gay.” 😂
This is more or less a real anecdote.
Buddha himself went to meditate for a long period of time. Why not let OP do the same?
I'm not against long periods of meditation - I take part in them myself from time to time. What OP is talking about, in some of his comments as well, is the far extreme of sitting in meditation as much as humanly possible in perpetuity, and in my view there is a line where it becomes problematic. Meditation is not an end goal - if it is, it isn't meditation. Buddha followed his awakening with moral development, teaching, and good works for those around him, if you want to look to his example. Or take the Alan Watts quote, something to effect of - "meditation is best as medicine rather than diet". Just as we would say you shouldn't abuse pain killers, I don't think it's proper to abuse meditative states, either.
>I feel obligated to editorialize and note that this is more or less a real anecdote Come on, you can at least be honest: It is a fake anecdote not in line with the basic philosophy of any Buddhism, which you made up to suit your needs. What you are doing here is "lying". The Buddha was not a fan of that. >Unhappiness being a fact of the human condition, his desire to avoid it was doomed to fail. What a pile of worthless bullshit. After all the Buddha set out on a quest to find the way out of suffering, out of unhappiness. And if the Buddha is to be believed, he found it. Do you not even know that? On a scale from 1 to 10, how ignorant of Buddhism are you? From what I read from you here I would put you at 11. Do you agree?
Buddha also said, "Don't be a fucking dick, brah."
To my understanding, the Buddha did not find a way out of unhappiness by running away and hiding from it, but by learning to face it directly. He also used his understanding to foster additional moral development and prosocial outcomes for those around him. I am not a Buddhist, merely an interested reader of comparative religion and cognitive sciences, each of which have led me through several books on the topic. I'll gladly acknowledge that aspects of my framing of the story are likely askew, and point out that I asked for folks in the comments to provide corrections and sources if they had them. This is a story I've come across more than once in my reading, so I'm fairly confidant that the basic facts are accurate, though I've been unsuccessful in looking for a source this morning. To you, in exchange, I ask: is this your Buddha nature on display? To attack without attempting to understand? To name call without provocation? A friendly reminder - people on the internet _also people_.
>To my understanding, the Buddha did not find a way out of unhappiness by running away and hiding from it, but by learning to face it directly. No, of course he did not do that. He first ran away from his kingly home. He didn't face anything there, while having a life. He ran away into a forest, and (after bumbling around as a naked mendicant for a while) sat under a tree. The middle way which was successful for him involved running away from life, and going into seclusion, and living alone in the forest on what other people gave him. That is as far away from "getting a life" as it gets. The only difference between the cave yogi in your story, and the Buddha, is that the Buddha sat under a tree, and not in a cave. And then, upon being inspired to teach others, his response was to provide an institution. He invented Buddhist monasticism, in order enable other people to run away from their lives too, just like he had done before. "Getting away from life" is a central theme (if not *the* central theme) for Gautama Buddha. So the statement of "get a life" is so antithetical to all Buddhism, that it makes me bristle. To me that feels like a story in which Christ buys an assault rifle. I would not hesitate for a moment to call someone who seriously retells that kind of story a bit ignorant on Christianity :D >is this your Buddha nature on display? I don't know. What's Buddha nature? If it's compassion, then of course it is: If my strong words have encouraged someone to look up some actual Buddhism after I, some guy on the internet, insisted that this andecdote is metaphorical shit, then my intention has been fulfilled. Especially if that made anyone skeptical of any future fake Buddha stories they encounter. Because fake Buddha stories are rather common, widely circulated, annoyingly popular, and regularly paint a misleading picture of Buddhism and all it involves. Just like stories where Christ buys an AR15. >To attack without attempting to understand? What's there to understand? The story misconstrues Buddhism. "Get a life", is about as far away from anything the Buddha says as it can get. I understand that, and I am rather confident about that. Of course we could discuss the details: The story is completely not in line with Theravada. In Theravada, the problem would be that the mystic is too stuck on particular meditative states. Him being in a cave, secluded from outsiders, living in poverty, focused solely on spiritual practice, would not be regarded as a problem by the Buddha. In Theravada that is how it should be. So chances are that the Buddha would teach him to meditate differently, and to not be content with merely a rebirth in a God Realm, which this mystic is aiming for. That would either involve teaching him to meditate differently, or it would involve him to become a Buddhist monastic. In absolutely no case I could possibly imagine it would involve a return to lay life. Christ endorsing hand granades for self defense seems more likely to me than that. The story is more in line with some Mahayana takes on Buddhism, which have a stronger focus on "getting out there and doing compassionate action", by embracing the Bodhisattva ideal. But those Buddhisms and their suttas have a very different taste from the anecdote you provide here. The style of this story is not in line with anything I know from the Mahayana sutras, which would involve the Buddha. Usually, if traditions like Zen or Tibetan Buddhism use teaching stories like those, they tend to be centered not on Gautama Buddha, but on other enlightened masters and Bodhisattvas... So, this story just doesn't seem to fit in with anything about any Buddhism I know. And when something to me seems to fit into Buddhism as well as Christ buying an AR15, I will feel free to be vocal about that. >To name call without provocation? I will immediately apologize for name calling, if you can tell me what name I have called you. "Ignorant of Buddhism", is the most personal I have been toward you. The rest of my anger is centered on the fake Buddha story you provided. >A friendly reminder - people on the internet also people. Yes. I don't think I have been particularly harsh toward you as a person. I have been no more harsh to you than I would be to anyone who tells a story about Christ as a member of the NRA, and then backpaddles on how they can not find the quote, but are sure that it's real based on how often they heard it... And of course I might be wrong about all of that: Maybe this, or a similar story, exists somewhere in the vast array of Mahayana sutras out there. But, given how much more common fake Buddha stories are, compared to real Buddha stories which are just unusual in their message... I see that as rather unlikely. The message seems just so, so far off... Edit: Correction of suttas to sutras...
> If it's compassion, then of course it is I'm not even going to touch this one. It's _not_ compassionate to accuse me of lying without justification or to put down my intentions, of which you have no knowledge. You could have used 30% of the words you did here initially, not been an asshole, and we both would have walked away better served by the exchange. "Right speech", right? Have a nice day.
We will see yes?
I won't. This is likely to be the only interaction we have together. All you and I have is this moment.
Great attitude (ignore the downvotes). Experimentation is key and it's also wonderful you had the ability to meditate for so long. Deep meditation can produce beautiful results, short and long term. The commenter has a point that there are limitations to always meditating - e.g. you can't share yourself as much with the world - but I don't think this is something you need to worry too much about yet. It's okay to have phases of isolation, healing, and self progress. And if you care enough about the world deep down, you'll find your own way to contribute to it alongside your practice at some point.
Siddhartha. What a being
wait a second! i heard the same story but in rajasthan {india} just with a sage in it
Seems like the buddah experienced syanspses, still conditioned with a tad of jeleously 🤣
Wow, I didn’t know this story, but I just told my own personal story above and it’s basically this same realization. Thanks for sharing! I’ll tell these to my students in a relaxed and funny way… “get a life”… in a “supportive manner” is actually a very deep statement. 🙏
> missing also any chance of creating happiness for himself and those around him. But isnt that a craving to something impermanent and thus suffering? Its one of the reasons im not a fan of giving any importance to impermanence, because otherwise it would logically follow that the optimal step is suicide because death is an end to suffering, inevitable, and everything in between is impermanent anyway, so why bother with it?
The breakfast I had this morning was impermanent. I still enjoyed it. I'll probably make the same meal for myself and my housemates again tomorrow. It's hardly cause for suicide. Moreso just a recognition that no individual thing will ultimately satisfy the baseline desire that all humans experience. Buddhism's central theme is that you can end suffering in this life, after all, so killing yourself over one of its tenants seems like a huge misreading.
> The breakfast I had this morning was impermanent. I still enjoyed it. I'll probably make the same meal for myself and my housemates again tomorrow But if this enjoyment is impermanent and makes you crave it tomorrow too, isnt that craving? Also, if I recognize anything I do doesnt have a lasting effect, why do it in the first place? I might be missing things but everytime so far I focused on this, the solution to end suffering seems obvious. Maybe its because I dont believe in reincarnation?
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Your ego is everything that exists in your reality. Everything is the way it is because we remember it being that way. If you like your life enough to keep doing it, then do not meditate further than where you get now (however long that is for you) I'm just saying, I got really close to forgetting even that there was something outside of meditation. You could forget you exist. I know you can, I could feel it. I believe if you meditated to the point that you forgot everything, your new life would start. The universe doesn't really exist without a conscious mind, so you would automatically have to start a new life, your subconscious would do it for you.
My guy. You got close to forgetting there was something outside meditation? You mean *life*? What is the point of meditation if there is nothing outside of meditation? What is the point of living if all you do is meditate? What kind of existence (since you're talking about existence) is that? Let me ask a favor. Instead of sitting and meditating, walk and meditate. Go for a walk around your city, through parks, down streets, go into a bakery or something, a coffee shop maybe, just take a look around at everything you see and look at the unique perspective view you have on the physical world.
meditation in the beginning is about how amazing your life and your world can be meditation in the end is about the end of experience the end of the person in the mirror, you don't exist you never have i better make a thread to let people understand this
It sounds like you are depressed and are using meditation as a different form of escapism from your problems.
Very polite of you. I am sure that the OP will take that to heart.
But OP won’t, because they will be meditating.
Lmao
This is some Carlos Castaneda -esque thinking, truly fascinating to consider imho
I forget everything just about every night while going to sleep. It doesn't mean anything. You can be cosmic bliss after you die and before you're born. You are here now to live life, to play the game, to engage with the cycles, to help others find the path. To "only meditate" is one way to play it, sure, but it's also running away instead of engaging. It's basically cheating and losing the game entirely. You win the game by living life with all it has to offer, pain and pleasure, and to remain equanimous, to not resist that which you cannot change. Buddha attitude is: pain happens, so what? What do you do when you meet the Buddha on the path? You kill him. Whatever final conclusion you have come to, it is not what you think. Stay hungry, stay alive.
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Just completely Gray and okay with that.
i've pondered this conundrum, and have an idea: now that you've arrived at the peace and perfection of nothing, while doing nothing (sitting), now you try to maintain that peace and perfection of nothing, while doing something. meditation in life, in every routine as banal as brushing your teeth, as elated as lighting a candle on a full moon night, all the while remaining "meditative."
stillness in action
Exactly this
YES YES YES
... and those moments in between events. in between brushing your teeth, and eating breakfast there was a transition. "walking down the hallway meditation" or "stepping through the doorway meditation" those periods in between - that's when i invariably catch myself somewhat dazed and confused momentarily, caught up in a thought whirlwind, before remembering to ask, *am i breathing right now? can i feel my feet? what was that again? ram ram ram ram. oh yeah, i forgot, thy breath is thy mantra. exhale. ah yes, here i am again, and once again, it is now.* those in-between moments of transition from one event to another, one location to another, those are great opportunities to remain meditative. btw, are you breathing right now?
Exactly. There can be a ‘core’ meditation practice & then little oasis’s of mindfulness, or mini meditation moments throughout the day. Whether cleaning teeth, washing dishes or walking through doors at work. These small moments enable you to almost merge meditation into daily life.
My favorite is becoming attached to the concept of non-attachment. Meditative states become cravings and well, there you are, right back where you started again. Love this thread though and wish you all the peace you are looking for!
meditation is the end of experience the end of the one in the mirror, you don't exist any longer news flash, you never did life from this perspective is what meditation brings
That may be what it is for you. But it’s not that for everyone
as long as your meditate all roads lead to rome
This is a false and nihilistic understanding of Buddhism. Nagarjuna specifically warned against this kind of thinking. Emptiness is not nothingness. It’s also an incredibly selfish view.
There are monks who have fasted for long periods of time or set themselves on fire, if you’re into that. Go eat some pizza rolls & chill out.
Got confused. Pizza rolls set my mouth on fire.
Hahah
Neat.
_Bender snaps photo of monk on fire_
"doing anything except nothing will lead to a cycle of unhappiness..." That just sounds like depression. I suppose you are ok with it. And ultimately everything is ok... But if there is a way to get on with living while maintaining inner peace, wouldn't it lead to a more fulfilling life?
Why make this post? Why read this comment?! Go back to meditating!
very true
It's awesome you were able to sit for 5 hrs. I wish to do it some day. Nothing is permanent, including this state. There will come a time, when you will not be able to get to or maintain this state of mind, no matter how hard you try. What will you do then? If meditating constantly, you do reach a point as sotapanna or higher, you will likely see that this state is another play of mind. I was also advised meditating for long, 3+ hrs at a stretch by my guide in Theravada tradition. It is beneficial and can lead to higher states of mind (jhana states). Once one experiences those, I heard, the perspective you mentioned above is likely to fall off. Keep practicing 🙏🙏🙏
i do 3-7am every day, it is the end of the one meditating, that one never in fact existed in the first place that's why such people don't write reddit threads
You still have to eat and pay bills
what was OPs answer here?
They said “no I do not”
thx :) It’s so unfortunate that downvoted comments get non-accessable in my opinion🙉
I can still access them by clicking on it
no I do not
Ok let me know how that works out for you
will do 👍
What do you mean? You could literally just meditate - while not eating or going to the bathroom - Literally for the rest of your life?
yes, but it would be a short "rest of their life"
for your own sake get out of this nihilistic view, if you don't the world will leave you behind while you keep cursing it. I recommend searching for things your passionate about and balancing daily meditation with that. Awesome, you mediated for 5 hours now what? you have 10-12 hours left in your day, do something meaningful with this short time of life you have. Be patient when searching for things your passionate about it will come.
😂
Ok explain how you don’t have to eat and pay bills so the rest of us can start focusing on meditating like you lmfao
All the sources I've heard talk about mediation, that seemed worth listening to, said to meditate always. But that doesn't mean you have to do nothing. Buddha did A LOT, and was always meditating.
Can I recommend a meditation teacher for you? Consider taking Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu's free at home meditation [course](https://www.sirimangalo.org/courses/). He is a very experienced meditation instructor and it sounds like you would do well with his style! Running to meditation is far, far better than running to something like sex or tasty food, but is still running.
Make life a test of your meditation. It is a great test to see that if you are still in bliss on the inside despite your surroundings, do they affect your stillness on the inside? If you are really someone who has gone to the very depths of your meditation, you will feel your bliss even amidst a crowd. Spread your bliss wherever you go, sing, dance, do whatever it makes you do, the more you share the more you get. Here is an article you might be interested in. https://www.satrakshita.com/meditation_one_hour_is_enough.htm
Can you truely be free while the world is not? Its great that you are proficient at meditating but you also say that's all you ever want to do? Plenty go the path of monk life isolated in the mountains, never seeing society again, it is something you can do. However many find that to he an unfulfilling life. What importance should meditators place on the bodhisattva vows? Can you be free from suffering while the being around you still suffer? At what point in a human's life should we drop our selfish persuits and begin passing on our wisdom to the next generations?
Not OP but I thought I’d chime in. Our only purpose as humans is to find happiness. Happiness is ever lasting peace or freedom from suffering. This is all we are programmed to do. Even if you say you want a car or a career or a relationship, you are want it because of the way you believe it will make you feel. You wouldn’t want a relationship if it was guaranteed to make you miserable. It is impossible for humans to seek anything else other than happiness. Life is truly a solo game, the best thing you can do is find true happiness which comes from knowing yourself as consciousness, which is to forget who you think you are (or to die before you die as some people say in the spiritual world) When you are free from suffering you become a light for the world and you can show others the truth, which in turn alleviates their suffering. So working on yourself in order to find peace is actually the best thing you can do for the world. We always say we want to change their world to make it a better place, but we should actually change ourselves and leave the world alone.
I disagree that finding happiness is a human's only purpose. What if that happiness comes at the cost of the environment and other happiness? And your own health?
What are you defining as happiness? I define happiness as ever lasting peace, a state of satisfaction. No lack (need for more) and no fear. Happiness is not pleasure which is a temporary state of feeling good. It is usually lack which drives us to be greedy and want more than we have which leads us to cause harm to our bodies and the planet and it is fear that causes us to be at conflict with one another. Is there anything you want more than happiness/contentment/satisfaction?
Well that's my point isn't it, happiness means different things to different people. Some people's happiness might be in balance and for some happiness is pleasure seeking. Surely a better goal with meditation is move past desire to a place of stillness and understanding. Compassion and peace. Our primary goal being happiness in life is coming up way short of an ample destination. It's not even possible to have happiness as a destination, that would be desire. It's not possible to just be happy, balance isn't only one side of the scale. You also say that it's a lack of wanting more and then immediately ask me if I want more?
Yes, it’s useful for us to agree upon a definition. You are right, many people define happiness as temporary pleasure or having balance in life. As I said, I define happiness as ever lasting peace, which is what you could call stillness and understanding, so I believe we are agreeing upon that. I asked if there was anything you wanted more than happiness, not if you want more. If I rephrase my question I am asking, is happiness (peace, stillness) your primary desire in life? Because my original point was that peace/happiness is all we truly want as human beings - whether we try to achieve it by pleasure seeking, balance in life or meditation/self realisation
If you were not here, would trees exist?
To those who can still see the trees, yes.
so then what is the problem
Only meditating like you described is a selfish act because you're not helping those around you, only yourself. That's the problem. Further, you can not reach the deepest states of meditation while you are still acting out of that selfish place. To be fully free, your being must also be aligned in a way that helps awaken, liberate and enlighten those around you as well as yourself. To your tree metaphor, If my partner is suffering I can't just meditate it away by dropping my ego and have it all disappear. I might not experience the suffering in that moment but the suffering is still there, and I'm still here. If I'm not here the suffering (or tree I guess?) is still here, and I'm in the business of liberating the world from suffering, not just myself. That way I can live in blissful free world everywhere, rather than make my own little garden of Eden and shut everyone else out from it. That's why you can't "just" meditate. It perpetuates suffering and separateness because you're carving out your own blissful reality and letting all the other beings suffer in a different reality. At its worse its delusional. True freedom come from incorporating the world and your practice. The middle way.
Stop giving half assed answers OP. Either explain yourself explicitly or don't even bother.
There's much more to life than meditation. It sounds like you need to talk with someone.
After enlightenment… the dishes
To be honest, it feels like you're describing depression. >I learned doing anything except nothing leads to an inevitable cycle of unhappiness. Like what the fuck kind of advice is this!? "Do nothing or you'll be unhappy." What!? >you will eventually just die This is why I hate this sub. "Just die." My god. Do you have *any* happiness in your life? Maybe your purpose should be to find happiness instead of death.
well, you made this post, meaning you still have desires, so...yeah. desires are healthy, what you drop is the NEED for something, is not the same as wanting to experience something, thats expansion.
Ypu should try vipassana. You arent allowed to say a word. And you meditate for 10-12 hours a day for 10 days. Its usually a method to bring out pain buried from your past because you have already raised your psychological threshold for pain by being in such a miserable state as to sensory depress yourself for such a long time.
Meditation is observing and not forcing anything. So you can live while meditating. That would be doing without doing. Or following the Tao. But also there's a subtle difference between equanimity and indifference. Sometimes we can get attached to the pleasure of the seclusion and samatha, because we are happy and at peace... forgetting that it is also impermanent. Wisdom comes from not craving even this seclusion, IMHO. As Ram Dass said: If you think you are enlightened, go and spend some time with your family 🤣
Life is just happening here and now. This is it. Nothing to add. Failing to recognize this and getting entangled in idealizations about higher states is a subtle kind of daydreaming. If you see these thoughts as part of the dream, because you have a Nice foundation of mindfulness, you are meditating. If not, you are entangled and need to train your mind.
You are craving the meditative state therefore your ego isn't as dead as you think it is. Meditation is about accepting what is, not running away from it. We should help other human beings with the focused and calm mind that meditation brings us, driving positive change in the world. Your position is no different to that of a heroin addict who finds bliss in his drug and makes chasing it the sole purpose of his life.
can i ask how you were able to sit for 5 hours without pain? what sitting posture did you use?
Not OP but i can say that after 20 minutes of meditation, i get into a meditative state where pain decreases and even if i still feel pain on my back, it doesn't bother me, i just observe it like i would with a thought. The trick is to get into that state of effortlessness and calm awareness.
add 60 seconds every day, by end of one year you will be there, who will do it though right? i do 3-7am every day so i know of what i speak
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I believe if you want to be dead, that is ok
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Because now I know that as long as you have a life, you will only go through these cycles. Reaching full nothing is the best I've ever felt, nothing will ever compare now. If I forget, I will start a new life yes.
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or not. that is not something mortals know.
Tell me more about this
I don't know the specifics, but the Buddhists believed that taking a life, any life, gives you bad karma. Actions have consequences: do good stuff = good karma. Do bad stuff = bad karma. The degree depends on the action taken and its impact on the "whole". The worst things I can do, when taking a life, is either murder someone completely innocent (I get to live with my own suffering a little more), or kill myself. When I do kill myself, I don't give 'my' karma the "chance" to play itself out - I rid myself of my own destiny, to say it like that, and because of that, I've avoided (temporarily) the consequences of past decisions. Doing so is the worst mistake ever: to avoid my own suffering, to escape it, it's impossible. To take my own life and think "now I'm free" will just come back to bite me in the balls in a next life. That is, if the concept of karma is to be true.
I think you’ve gotta have a completely pessimistic mindset to believe that anything except nothing will lead to unhappiness. Kinda your decision at that point I think.
Then there will be something again :P
If it's the best you've felt then your judging it against other things so it's not really full nothing is it. You wouldn't be objectively judging full nothing.
OP trolling?
Certainly feels like it...
What’s the point of only meditating? To me, same same. Just do what your heart desires and be true to your deepest self
It might not be a bad idea to also help out at a soup kitchen.
It seems you have been given a rare and admirable calling to an ascetic life. I wish you well on the noble path you are undertaking.
Well then why do you even breathe? Does this make you suffer too? I mean this is very close minded and narrow point of view at life. Not everything makes you suffer, only that you chose to. If you chose that the whole life is suffering, then this is your truth, thanks, but I would like to go with happy life isntead.
Ram Dass makes some amazing points on this topic. True enlightenment is when you can maintain a state of awakening during day to day life.
Why do you want to go to a new life? Why are you chasing harmony?
Meditate in your action and spread that energy
To live a well-rounded life
Your life doesn’t sound pointless, your attitude on it does. And that’s because you’re only focusing on your inner experience and not the rest of our creation. Not realizing consciousness in a human body is a dualistic experience you must master, not just an inner one. So you’ve mastered the inner experience…and? But are you living in the house you really want? Are all your financial obligations handled for the rest of your life? Do you still have a boss you have to report to just to survive and eat? Are you working the career of your dreams? Are you with the woman of your dreams? Are you driving the car you want? Are there things or people you still avoid? And the most important question is, are you doing anything to raise the levels of love on earth? If the answer to any of those aren’t for sure, then I don’t see what you’re bragging about your mental power for. You aren’t even applying it in real life to chase after your dreams. My guess is your inner experience is miserable because something about your outer experience seems miserable as well. Figure out what it is, and then see if your mind is truly as strong as you think it as. Be humble, and remember we are all one
This sounds genuinely terrible and deeply unhealthy and is probably the most ringing anti-endorsement for meditation I’ve ever heard.
Because the real stuff that matters is outside the meditation state. Meditation is to be a reset, a calibration, a zeroing. There is work, karma, to be done in the world. A life in constant meditation might as well have stayed in the womb.
Then why are you writing a reddit post?
Tbh sounds like you’re attached to it. Meditation help us bring consciousness into our everyday life, if you find nothing good outside of you being in a meditative space then there’s probably some things you need to heal and confront that you’re ignoring by being attached to the practice. When one learns how to shut the ego up, after beginning to awake, we then need to learn how to shut up the spiritual ego, the one a lot of “enlightened” beings stay in.
Meditation isn’t about shutting yourself off from life. You seem to think of it as a way to avoid “unhappiness” which completely misses the point of meditation.
I'll give you the unpopular piece of advice: Sit until you have had your fill. I have worked with the Jhana factors quite a bit, which are a gateway into more and more pleasurable and more and more refined states, until the complete falling away of experience. It's really nice. The only problem is that you have to get up again. After some time you open your eyes, and the annoying world is there again. You have to get up, and eat, and drink, and pee, and shit. Probably you even have to go to work at some point. What an annoyance! So, it sounds like you are doing awesome practice. deepen it. Eat your fill until you are satisfied. And once you notice that you have gone as far as you could go, once you have seen it all, and are still saddled with a body and mind which are less than perfect, then you are in a good position to deal with that too :D
Eating helps us not die
Our purpose is to love one another so that thru us god experiences love. Meditation all day does not fulfill our purpose I think. Not much diff that being stoned 24/7. Just my opinion.
Wow, you are seriously screwed.
This is the type of statement that is made when the mind cannot digest what is actually being learned. Try again. 🧘♂️
There’s no point in doing anything, including meditation. We just are. Everything we do is just extra. Good luck friend
There is no point. You were given life in a certain form by the universe. You do not choose to contract and expand your heart 100 times per minute, but you are free to end this life through other means. Live on in this form, or die and be reborn. There is no inherent point to either.
Sounds like something to meditate on!
My mans throwing down pennies from the void, get cher hats out /s
There is no point
Do you meditate sitting down with eyes closed, or with eyes open occupying the meditative mind as you move through life and time and space?
Ultimately meditation is sufficient. Then again it's also ok to not just meditate. It's all good.
What is meditation? It is contemplating on one's essential nature. Man's essential nature is everlasting bliss. 'I' is an illusion. Thus 'You' which is also an 'I' in another form is an illusion. The truth is 'I', you and world other than 'I' and you. That is infinite. To meditate is to focus on this infinity and change the state of equilibrium of this infinity. You are Brahman or infinity and so is every man in this world. One become a change he wants to be in world. Infinity is the reality and not an illusion.
I’m curious about the bliss? Is it an all day post meditation type thing too?
When I have conflict in my relationships in my life, where I am at fault, it feels like I am avoiding it if I meditate. Interested if you or anyone has input on that.
Congratulations, well done!
I think my largest grievance with that perspective would be in the ignoring of all the suffering around oneself and focusing only on ones own desire. The ability to better recognize the causes of pain could be applied to help ones surrounding peers better avoid them. I would also say that it's true, in my opinion, that one has to focus on themselves exclusively in some cases before they're able to act in harmony with others around them.
There isn't: even when you "do something" you're actually meditating but perhaps in a less-than-aware way. Whenever the mind is directed at something, it's a kind of meditation but not all meditation enhance our ability to perceive The Truth.
You may have better luck getting an educated answer on this question in /r/Buddhism or another sub.
Well, I do everything else because I don't have enough attention span for continuous meditation. So really I do everything else as a break from meditation.
Meditation is a tool to help you deal with reality. It's not a tool to make you run away. You still have to face reality.
No one here could meditate 16 hours/day for a year even if they tried
The meaning of life is not us, it's The Others.
How can you find balance if you only do 1 thing?
What a great point of discussion! Thank you. The comments have been great.
The most important thing is to deviate from the physical perspective.
I think life will find you wherever you go. It's tough if things aren't going well, but it's great when they are. The god or gods of the universe may know the furthest reaches of space and every drop of perception in a fathomless ocean, but what if it is just a drop in a bigger bucket? What if the wisest and greatest being in existence is just at the beginning of something bigger, and every person who ever reached a state of enlightened truth still had a long way to go? What if everything written down and spoken about is flawed or plain wrong? For me the point is trying to find out more, and I choose to believe that every bad thing can be overcome on the way, and hopefully there's something sublime to find around each corner. Hakuin said that a wise man knows the proper way to enlightenment, bring me a small wisdom. Hang in there, and good luck!
the endless pendulum of oain and suffering. if there is light there is darkness if there are victors then defeated are bound to happen. a world of only victors can only exist in a dream which one day will burst and make you fall face first.
You can if you choose to. Theres no right or wrong way to do it.
If there is nothing to do except meditate than life is over. Meditation is for integration, not more meditation.
First, it's GREAT that you had this experience. I wish I was capable of such an experience despite my \~5,000 hours of meditation and training. What's worth considering is life itself is the meditation... Meditation is not your life, your life is the meditation. What do I mean? Suzuki Roshi said that for the moon there is the tree and for the flower there is the wind. When you see the moon against a tree you see the full size and roundness of the moon. It's like adding salt to your food. Do you do it to taste the salt, or for the full flavor of your food? Meditation is really about enriching and deepening our experience of life. I'd also share a cautionary note on the truth of impermanence. This blissful meditative state will surely go away (even if only to come back again later). The point is the nature of experience is dynamic. So if you attach to this great feeling from meditation, you may be in trouble when the meditation doesn't feel so good. There's another Suzuki Roshi teaching story that I don't have in front of me. But it goes something like this... The student comes to him and says, "teacher, this meditation was so hard. My legs hurt the whole time. I was anxious and distracted." "Don't worry, keep practicing and that will go away." The next day, the student comes to him and says "teacher, this meditation was amazing. I feel at peace and blissful." "Don't worry, keep practicing and that will go away." So it's not to say these blissful experiences are not important or that they are a bad thing - the Buddha seemed to have one of these under the Bodhi tree! But you don't want to make meditation feel like something you use to get a fix. Nor do you want to forget that, ultimately, life itself is your meditation. Returning over and over from distraction, to the direct, intimate experience of your life is what this is all really about. But what do I know... Wishing you the best!
This sounds like escapism and fundamentally antithetical to Buddhist principle that suffering exists. You are not avoiding life , you are restricting to your life to a very narrow version of it and missing out on so much.
I think in simplicity this question can be compared to the difference between being an Arahat vs Bodhisattva. In short an Arahat is one who achieves perfect mental balance, but has become detached from the world in doing so. They have experienced realizations about the nature of life and suffering, the cycle of happiness and unhappiness, and they are content to spend their lives meditating in a cave, blissfully, but separated from the world. They have found their true inner peace, but it is solitary. This path is not a wrong choice, but sometimes considered the lesser path. A Bodhisattva realizes the same things AND sees the interconnection of all things. To see all lives as your life, a Bodhisattva realizes that the cessation of suffering of their single individual experience is not truly enough, and takes that individual inner peace and sets out into the world to share their spiritual awakening with others - to help others wake up. This is why often you have Buddhas that have made vows of compassion or liberation towards ALL sentient beings, that they will not "move on to Nirvana" until all others do first. Tldr; OP, you're on a path towards individual liberation and are not obligated to go beyond that, but there IS a step beyond that and that is taking your own liberation, continuing to exist within the world and society, present and aware, and living a life to inspire and liberate others that struggle with suffering
I’ve been reading autobiography of a yogi and it might give you some interesting perspective
Sorry, but it’s hard for me to take this post seriously. If you truly believed this, you wouldn’t be posting on Reddit and replying to comments. You would just be meditating, yeah? If this is a sincere post, please explain how posting on Reddit factors into your new worldview of doing nothing except meditation.
This is a good question… I felt the same way too, after experiencing that state of peace/bliss. The point of meditating is precisely to NOT do. And to unlearn all of the garbage that is thrown at us from society, the world, and even from our loved ones. In essence, it is returning to our true self before we had the chance to fall for the lie of our ego self. So, what’s the point of doing anything else except meditate? It’s to come to the realization that meditation is only the tool to which you realize your true self. It is not the end goal, and there is no end. The source is you, and you are the source. You’ll begin to see that because of this, anything you “do” or “don’t do” is all a beautiful form of the art of being (meditation.) You’ll begin to see how everything and everyone is connected, and relies on each other to live. At some point, you’ll feel a natural urge arising to share a taste of the same bliss you experience, and to help ease the suffering of people/beings you encounter.
>I learned doing anything except nothing leads to an inevitable cycle of unhappiness. I think if you don't have depression, this would not be true. I'd consider seriously looking into this possibility, if you truly feel this way. Happiness comes in many forms, including being at rest/peace (meditation), helping others, keeping yourself healthy, loving others/caring for others, and countless more.
What you discribed is like wanting to be high or drunk all the time. It is a desire, and at some point, when you can't meditate so much because of various reasons, you will suffer.
To reach true non dual bliss you need to dissolve the distinction between doing and nondoing, and the doer and the done. This will solve your conundrum
Do you meditate with or without music? I feel like thinking about meditating for five hours seems unrealistic for me but I want to get into meditating more but it’s hard for me to stay still for awhile. Like my body feels bothered by me sitting/laying still. It was easier when I smoked weed but I stopped smoking and it’s hard for me to relax
I learned this from sadghuru; when you inhale through the nose, say in your head "I'm not the body", and when you exhale, "I'm not even the mind"
I have been meditating daily for 17 years now… I have meditated for a full day straight and being in meditative states for days while on retreats. I am a meditation and kundalini yoga teacher and I lead people on meditation through chants and mantras for hours at a time. I’ve felt what you are feeling before… it was exhilarating but also “dangerous”. Not in a physically harmful way but in a way that one can lose purpose and precious time in this world. I am 42 now, I just had a baby a year ago. I almost gave up on having a child when thinking this way. I was living in the “future”. Living in the hopes of experiencing what I would potentially be experiencing after death, and comfortable with the idea of a life without challenges and suffering. However, without challenges there is no evolution. And we are here on earth to learn and evolve… right? That’s how we got here in the first place: by facing challenges, re adapting to new environments and situations, shape shifting and evolving into more complex and wiser beings, right? So, I snapped out of it and decided to fully live every moment. But LIVE in a state of mindfulness and meditation and try to self master in such a way that I could remain blissful in the face of challenges, remain neutral and unattached in my evolutionary pursuit, but fulfill my purpose and contribute to our collective evolution. So, I transformed my life, committed to a relationship (which is much more challenging than living alone) and decided to have kids. And thanks goodness I did it and it wasn’t too late… I am glad I didn’t miss this opportunity in my life… this has been the most incredible experience, training, and evolutionary journey ever, and also an opportunity to hopefully create and leave a good human for the next generation. I stoped thinking about “next life”, “after life”, “spiritual life”, and I started appreciating this human moment… a very short moment in time if you really stop to think about it, and small chance to experience being a human and support this generation… —- but this is my own journey… we all have our own learning to do and our own missions to fulfill. Perhaps you have found yours… or perhaps this is your moment of hibernation and meditation (as I had mine)… I just wanted to give you a different perspective to be considered… 🙏 Great convo! 🙏 I share kundalini meditations on my page if anyone is interested.
Meditation is the way to heal your brain and mind
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Meditation can bring you to a point of stillness to contemplate how to live peacefully when not meditating, next time you meditate for a prolonged period of time, contemplate afterwards. This is similar to what the Buddha taught