Meditation advice for Sunni

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Wed, 01 Mar 2006 22:48:57 GMT  <== Science/Technology ==> 

Sunni asked for advice on meditation. I posted the following, slightly modified here.

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I meditated for almost two hours every day during 1983-1991, plus Sunday Satsang, and yearly retreat. Nowadays I don't sit by myself very often, but I still go to Satsang on Tuesday nights.

There are a huge number of different meditation techniques, and you'll have to find one that works for you. I meditate with eyes closed. Zazen practitioners meditate with eyes open, looking at a plain surface.

There are many objects of attention or concentration that people use. I meditate on divine light in the heart (more lightNESS than visual light). Some people put their attention between their eyebrows or in the tan tien (solar plexus). Some intone a sound, often called a mantra or wazifa, or watch the breath.

You will almost certainly fail if you try to use your will to quell the stream of thought. You'll do much better if you just don't pay attention to your thoughts. Think of them as clouds in the sky, but watch the sky. Some days it's overcast and thundering and you can't see the sky at all. Other days, the thoughts are few and wispy and watching the sky is easy. The latter will happen more often as you meditate more. The former never stops, in my experience.

Sitting with a group is useful for many people. Others do better alone. I've been meditating with the same group since 1983, with a two year pause a couple of years ago, during which I played Muslim. Islamic five-times-a-day kneeling and bowing prayer is also very effective meditation.

It helps many to find a guru, master, teacher, whichever name you like, but that, too, cannot really be done with your will. When the student is ready, the teacher will come. Keep your eyes and heart open, and you'll find what works for you.

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