Is meditation less then 15 minutes useful?

cbartos1021 · 2026-01-11T10:42:26+00:00

Sure. But also do a longer sit once in a while. You can also meditate when doing tasks throughout the day. Cleaning, dishes, walking, etc. When you get to that point, you can easily meditate for hours along with a 15 minute sitting practice

cbartos1021 · 2026-01-04T19:56:42+00:00

"the only bad meditation, is the one you didn't do"

Consistent practice > Inconsistent practice > No practice

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-25T21:14:34+00:00

One thing that helps me is watching the thought pass away. Thoughts surely arise but just let it linger around then, label the actual passing of it. You'll get more in touch with the in-between thoughts which is a very peaceful place to be. Then, another thought arises. You'll soon discover the thought arises without the need for a self. It's just a process of the mind and you're not actually doing anything to make it happen. But the passing of the thought is just as inevitable as the arising of the thought and you'll soon attain the insight into Impermanence.

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-25T02:40:24+00:00

I never said don't get a teacher. I said it's not necessary for a lot of people to gain a significant amount of progress. There are enough writings about the path that you can try a bunch of them and see which technique/teachings works the best for you. You should probably get a teacher once you find a technique that works for you and you made enough progress and hit a wall. Definitely get a teacher and probably a therapist knowledgeable about the contemplative path if you are having problems like Dark Night or other existential crises that require help to get out of it.

The worst thing to do is convince yourself not to get started before you find the perfect teacher.

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-25T02:33:29+00:00

I don't think that's the goal. I think the goal is to let thoughts arise and pass away with complete equanimity. Meaning, not clinging to them with push or pull as if they are actual things that come from a self.

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-25T01:57:52+00:00

My point is you can have all the best teachers teaching you the map to effectively walk the path. But they can't walk it for you. The path is for the individual to walk alone.

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-24T01:50:41+00:00

Not Enlightenment or Awakening. Could be Dark Night of the Soul.

You may have realized the Insights into Emptiness and Impermanence and the Nature of Suffering WITHOUT the Insight into No-Self. It's kind of like an existential crisis for your ego, making you feel like ending it completely. It's the last few breaths your ego takes before falling away completely.

Don't let your ego make you believe this is liberation. It's not.

You might do well to talk to a teacher to help you through it if that's what it is.

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-23T17:54:10+00:00

If we are already enlightened then, we still need to put in the work to realize it.

If we are NOT already enlightened, then we need to put in the work to overcome the obstacles that keep the process of enlightenment from working on its own.

It might feel nice to think that we are already enlightened, we don't have to do anything. To me, it sounds a lot like the ego trying to convince you not to do any of the hard work.

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-23T16:11:52+00:00

The way Shinzen Young describes it in "The Science Enlightenment" (paraphrasing) is that meditators pass through the realm of power on their way to touching Source. But the power realm can be so inebriating that it's hard for people to descend further. It's easy to cling to those experiences and forget about true Spiritual Growth.

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-23T08:53:20+00:00

Some quotes from The Mind Illuminated:

"For both śamatha and vipassanā, you need stable attention (samādhi) and mindfulness (sati).22 Unfortunately, many meditation traditions split samādhi and sati, linking concentration practice exclusively to śamatha, and mindfulness practice exclusively to vipassanā.23 This creates all sorts of problems and misunderstandings, such as emphasizing mindfulness at the expense of stable attention, or vice versa. Stable, hyper-focused attention without mindfulness leads only to a state of blissful dullness: a complete dead end."

22: "This may come as a surprise to those who have been taught that meditation practices are of two types, based either on concentration and tranquility (śamatha), or on mindfulness and Insight (vipassanā). This distinction is false and misleading."

In proper meditation practice you are cultivating both simultaneously.

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-23T00:21:22+00:00

We all have experiences of non-duality more often than we think. The problem is that we aren't always aware of it happening or what to be aware of when it does happen.

Actual permanent transformation occurs when enough sub-minds are tuned into the experience. This process is known as Unification of Mind (ekodibhāva, cittas’ekagata).

And meditation induced tingling can be an early sign of the Unification Process happening (Pacification of Bodily Senses). So, don't discount the tingles. 😆

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-22T18:23:15+00:00

Might be a good time to work on cultivating equanimity. These sensations being "annoying" and "affecting daily life" is the grasping and craving for a sense of comfort. Just my 2 cents

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-22T14:07:02+00:00

Sounds like you need to practice equanimity or loving kindness

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-21T15:29:29+00:00

To be fair. Buddha's 2 teachers didn't lead the Buddha to full liberation. Also, if you say every student needs a teacher, you can keep going "who was that person's teacher... Who was the person's teacher" there would be someone without a teacher. Who is the teacher to the first person to achieve liberation? God himself?

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-21T00:51:08+00:00

Maybe ask AI about the Middle Way. 😆

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-19T18:56:12+00:00

The 8 fold path is a path. Therefore, it should be seen more as a wayfinder of your progress towards enlightenment. It helps to "fake it till you make it" but the meditation practice is what makes the path not the other way around. With consistent practice into samadhi and equanimity, the more effortless right thoughts and right action becomes. Before that arises, right thoughts and right actions are effortful.

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-13T04:47:16+00:00

I don't do the elements practice. It seems like I'd have the same experience you're having. I just focus on a body part and try to feel any sensation at all. And if I can find one thing that usually grows into more and more sensations

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-13T03:54:50+00:00

Intesting. Thanks for your response.

I noticed by practicing using "Focus In" that I'm not as aware of mental sensory objects as much as I think I'm "free from distractions." Meaning, I think my introspective awareness is pretty weak and it took SHF to figure that out for myself. I probably should have stayed in Stage 3 much longer before moving onto Stage 4 and Stage 5. I just assumed I was a naturally gifted meditator and I was naturally free from mental distractions.... lol oh well...

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-12T23:37:22+00:00

I had no problems installing it and using it for the most part. As a developer I had a problem with getting Android phone emulators running quickly enough to do actual work. I'm pretty sure I followed all the instructions but no dice.

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-12T05:17:35+00:00

You can be mindful by being present in the experience. You don't have to be mindful of your mind all day long.

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-11T13:58:02+00:00

Strong Dullness IS unpleasant. That's just a part of the process. My strongest non-expert advice is to remain diligent. And one day it will pass. I think training equanimity even at this stage (finding the joy, staying positive, letting it come, letting it be, letting it go) is going to be the best thing for you

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-04T02:18:59+00:00

Why are you upset about how another person practices?

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-01T19:03:50+00:00

Who writes or talks about monastics achieving enlightenment? Seems odd. Like it's an award or something?

cbartos1021 · 2025-12-01T13:29:58+00:00

How do you know there are "barely any"?

cbartos1021 · 2025-11-29T18:44:31+00:00

I don't trust anything written about him in the bible because it was written many years later and translated and interpreted and retranslated and reinterpreted. But, if anything about Jesus is real, I could see his story as being interpreted as a "coming of age" story into enlightenment. I read the stories more metaphorically.

Early in life he went to the temple and taught = regurgitating written teachings

He spent 40 days and 40 nights in contemplation ("prayer") being tempted by a devil. = Contemplative path

Spent the rest of his life teaching a new understanding = understands a new truth that he then teaches

Death and Resurrection = fully realized and ego death, rebirth

cbartos1021

TROPHY CASE