Meditation questions?

[surfingbudda]

Hey Robert
I'm having difficulty focusing and beginning my own practices of meditation. I was just wondering how exactly do you meditate, do you focus on a specific thing or just try and focus and nothing and see what happens? How did you begin your practice of meditation? How did you deal with concentration and mind chatter?
I'm sorry thats kinda a lot of questions but I'm just curious, I would greatly appreciate any feedback your willing to give me, Thanks

[Robert Bruce]

G'day,

Practice, practice, practice....

I started meditating in primary school. I learned how to let my body fall asleep while my mind and eyes stated awake and open. This is open eyed meditation.

Learning open eyed method plus closed eye method is recommended.

I give ways to tame the mind in my books. The new edition of Astral Dynamics is the best for this.

This is also given in my online Treatise and other works.

As for myself, I use a combination of these methods. I've had a lot of practice, so I do not use technique per se, but adjustments of will and intention and focus to keep my mind relaxed and clear.

My meditation is largely creative these days. I can, for example, pull up a problem in my minds eye and work on it. I can also produce a word processor and write.

By and large, my meditation is as follows...I found this on a website.

http://www.yogateacher.com/text/meditat ... ation.html
This contains a lot of great advice and stories...recommended.

Mind observation thoughts.

As Eckhart Tolle says, Watch the mind like a cat watches a mouse hole. Do not react or judge what you see. Just observe like a child watching clouds. You’ll find when you first start to do this, the mind is silent. It is not used to being observed. After awhile the pressure builds and thoughts will appear. Just watch them, and be aware of what part of your minds eye space they come from, where they are. Do nothing else.
Remember laying on your back as a kid, and watching the clouds without trying to change them, control them, or pass judgment on them? These are the very same qualities we look for in the practice of Detached Observation. This was J. Krishnamurti's favorite form of meditation, and the following description is based upon his work.

There are only three rules to follow:

• Let go of control. Let the mind wander where it wants, or let it sit still... it is all the same.
• Pay attention. Do not fall asleep or let the mind wander off by itself.
• Do not judge. Whatever the mind is doing is real. Accept it dispassionately, neither take credit for good thoughts or blame for bad thoughts. Watch the mind carefully, as if from a distance, like a child watching clouds.

This practice will give you insights into the inner workings of your own mind. Let the mind wander where it will, without any interference, but stay with it always, watching from a distance.

Between each thought is a pause... a drop of silence. See if you can become aware of these moments of silence between thoughts and then focus on them. Gradually these moments of silence will become longer pauses, and come more frequently until you learn to tap into the silent source of all thoughts at will.

Of all of the forms of meditation, Detached Observation Meditation is my favorite... and the best part is, you cannot do it wrong! After all, wrong implies there is a right way to do it and requires judgment which is not part of the exercise. If you find yourself judging yourself during this meditation, and realize it, do not try to stop judging yourself, as that is an act of control, which is not part of this exercise. If you are unable to stop yourself from controlling yourself so as not to judge yourself, do not judge yourself for your inability to control your judgment.... And so it goes, round and round chasing its own tail until the mind collapses exhausted, and catches a glimpse of itself in the mirror of self-awareness.
If you do not accept reality, then you reject it! And if you reject reality, are you not rejecting God? If you reject reality, what is left? Illusion! This is the choice, to live in a world of illusion and self delusion, or to move out into the world of awareness through continuing acceptance.
This is the same formula as detached observation... awareness of one's own mind, and acceptance, leading to greater awareness and in turn demanding more acceptance... as we slowly learn to love ourselves and the universe around us.

Consciousness is in many ways like a lake. When the mind is still we look out upon the world with a clarity that defies all sense of separation and we feel connected to life. When the mind is still and we look within, consciousness is transparent and we touch the infinite. When the mind is still, the path ahead is clear.

Most of us seldom experience such stillness. Each thought is another pebble, skipping across the surface of the mind, setting up waves of energy that interfere with other waves and further distort clarity on all levels. The more confused and scared we become, the greater the urge to find something that will distract us from our inner turmoil: work, food, tv, hobbies, competition, exercise, errands. When these fail we will find fault in others and in the world. Turning away from our own inner confusion and fear, we embrace with certainty the challenge of fixing these perceived inadequacies in others.

As we turn away from our own confusion and fear our ability to deal with them diminishes. We arrange our life to keep the mind occupied in order to avoid unpleasant feelings. A turbulent mind gives rise to distortion, which adds to the confusion and fear, which we then avoid by seeking further distractions which further agitates the mind.

What is the solution? When we practice sitting quietly with our confusion and fear, our tolerance for both increases until neither can distract us from our meditation. Gradually the mind settles down, becomes transparent to transcendence and we discover that beneath the fear and confusion, lies peace and understanding.