That Misery Called Meditation • Hacker News Board

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#11

Post by microtonal » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 3:20 PM UTC

michael_dorfman wrote: post #6

microtonal wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seemed very familiar, at least the motions the author has gone through. On my first retreat, after one day, I was absolutely sure that I wanted to leave. Sitting was painful, there was a lot of sleepiness, and I was longing for daily joys such as listening to music. And the mind is very well able to snowball unpleasanties :). After that first day, when I had the first talk with the meditation teacher, he made a jo…

I've done a number of weekend retreats (and have a daily practice) but definitely plan on doing a 10-day retreat, when time permits, as I think the extended timeframe would be quite powerful.

Indeed. But daily practice is something to treasure :).

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#12

Post by subwindow » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 3:41 PM UTC

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.

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#13

Post by swombat » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 3:44 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

What do you reckon is the ideal way for a beginner to get into meditation, then? Particularly if that beginner lives in a busy, noisy place like London and has a busy, time-consuming jobs like running a start-up.

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#14

Post by philk » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 3:46 PM UTC

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 habit of meditating once a day rather than making a large unsustainable change.

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#15

Post by lacrossegm » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 3:49 PM UTC

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

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#16

Post by astine » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 3:54 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…

I disagree. I've been on retreats (not Buddhist ones but close enough.) One thing that a retreat will do that regular practice won't, is give you a taste of the mindset and attitude you are attempting to get. The author doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would have easily adopted a meditation regime. After this retreat, it seems like he might be more capable or at least motivated to integrate one.

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#17

Post by thomas11 » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 4:04 PM UTC

swombat wrote: post #13

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

What do you reckon is the ideal way for a beginner to get into meditation, then? Particularly if that beginner lives in a busy, noisy place like London and has a busy, time-consuming jobs like running a start-up.

Ideally, you would find a regular meditation group that has one or two weekly sessions of maybe 30 minutes and some members with experience who can give you hints. That gives you a commitment to regular practice and a supportive group of peers without being too invasive. Skipping a week isn't a big deal, either.

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#18

Post by thomas11 » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 4:05 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…

The idea is that you continue to meditate regularly after the retreat. It will be much less practice, but it will build on the experience and monumentum you got during the retreat.

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#19

Post by rikthevik » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 4:10 PM UTC

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?

Re: That Misery Called Meditation

#20

Post by chipsy » Tue, Jun 29, 2010, 4:11 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.

Indeed. Meditation is kind of funny because it's dead simple - opportunities to practice it are plentiful - yet people have an incredibly hard time with it. They're going 90 miles an hour and it's like slamming on the brakes for them.

For my part, I've decided there's nothing else I'd _rather_ be doing. It's the only thing in life I can reliably count on to provide a satisfying, enriching experience. The material/hedonistic experiences are still important to me, and most of my time is still spent on them, but they're all pretty transient in comparison.