That Misery Called Meditation • Hacker News Board

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#21

Post by pavel_lishin » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 4:36 PM UTC

rikthevik wrote: post #19

Does anyone else ever get the desire to throw off the shackles of this Western society, renounce their possessions and go live in a monastery somewhere?

Yes, especially after reading Anathem.

Then I realize that my refrigerator is full of delicious things, and that my friends mostly live in Western society.

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#22

Post by callahad » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 4:37 PM UTC

lacrossegm wrote: post #15

Ten to twenty minutes of quiet meditation is a nice stress reliever but an hour or longer is just wasted time.

How so?

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#23

Post by carbon8 » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 4:52 PM UTC

philk wrote: post #14

I'm not really sure of the benefits of these big one off things; after seven days meditating you come back into your regular life, surrounded by your old environment and soon end up reverting to your previous mental patterns. It seems analogous to going on a running retreat, spending seven days running all day and then coming home and not running again. It strikes me that it would be more worthwhile to cultivate the…

It's pretty much impossible to get as focused and steady in tiny spurts of meditation mixed in with the turmoil of daily life as it is when doing it essentially non-stop for days/weeks.

Once you've dived into it deeply, then you actually have an understanding of what's going on when you do regular sittings.

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#24

Post by mcantor » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 4:56 PM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #21

rikthevik wrote: post #19

Does anyone else ever get the desire to throw off the shackles of this Western society, renounce their possessions and go live in a monastery somewhere?

Yes, especially after reading Anathem. Then I realize that my refrigerator is full of delicious things, and that my friends mostly live in Western society.

Desire is the cause of all suffering, but there's also bacon.

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#25

Post by mcantor » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 4:57 PM UTC

lacrossegm wrote: post #15

Ten to twenty minutes of quiet meditation is a nice stress reliever but an hour or longer is just wasted time.

an hour or longer is just wasted time.

I think that's the point.

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#26

Post by mcantor » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 5:01 PM UTC

My Dad went to a zendo regularly for quite some time, when I was much younger. As a child, the concept of sitting and only sitting was mysterious to me, so I asked him why he did it. He told me that he wasn't sure, so he asked the head teacher at the zendo, and later recounted the exchange to me, which I have always valued as something of a modern koan in its own right:

Dad: "So, sitting will definitely produce positive results if you do it for long enough, right? What if I sat for 20 years?"

Master: "You mean, a guaranteed amount of enlightenment, however small?"

Dad: "Exactly."

Master: "The only thing I can guarantee you will get after 20 years of zazen is hemorrhoids."

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#27

Post by carbon8 » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 5:01 PM UTC

humblepatience wrote: post #10

An interesting description of an experience - all I can say is, a 7 day retreat is probably a really, really bad idea for a beginner

Long meditation retreats for beginners are pretty standard. Repeatedly sticking a toe in the water doesn't really do much, you need to dive right in.

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#28

Post by mcantor » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 5:09 PM UTC

subwindow wrote: post #12

I read the first half of the article just screaming "He's doing it wrong!" However I later realized that was the entire point of the article.

Maybe it's because I went through a similar experience with meditation, or maybe the author used some clever foreshadowing that I can't consciously pick up on, but for some reason... I knew, as I read his recounting of the misery, that he would come around on page two. The description of pain in the neck and shoulders felt right, in that sense that the author seemed to be saying, "This is when I began to feel the stress I have carried with me for so many years."

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#29

Post by mannicken » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 5:17 PM UTC

On my winter break last year, I spent two weeks meditating, lucid dreaming, astral projecting, OOBing, and smoking pot :)

Scariest time of my life. Apparently meditation, when done with some skill is similar to third plateau of DXM. Doing it everyday made me feel extremely weird in normal life. Still recovering.

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#30

Post by roqetman » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 5:18 PM UTC

I spent a few days in a rinzai zen buddhist monastery in upstate New York about 3 weeks ago. I was also initially skeptical, and in a lot of pain. Doing the retreat with other newbies, and talking about the experience with the monks during the informal meetings really helped. I still feel the effects of it - my crazy schedules at work and tight deadlines just don't seem to bother me anymore. It's wearing off a bit now, but I still feel much more focused, peaceful and "together". I highly recommend it. - I only went for 3 days though, perhaps I'll consider a 7-day retreat someday.