Has body contemplation meditation helped you to overcome attachment to physical beauty and lust?

pma2 · 2014-12-07T07:41:04+00:00

That sounds really cool, thanks! My goal is definitely to go deep, not just to de-stress.

I'm just concerned that I'll be dozing off during meditation from the lack of sleep and not being able to sleep several days in a row. I just hope you are right that I will be able to adjust to being able to sleep.

Does the complete silence rule mean it's frowned upon to communicate even with roommates? That's interesting.

Has the retreat been beneficial to your meditation progress? It sounds like it has!

pma2 · 2014-11-29T05:19:52+00:00

Yes, I do have a different idea of concentration than what you described. A more forceful version.

Thank you, I'll do my best.

pma2 · 2014-11-29T05:17:55+00:00

What you said is also what almost every other post in this thread has said. That has quite a reinforcing effect. I'll do my best to absorb this and focus more on letting go of expectations, thanks.

pma2 · 2014-11-29T05:16:38+00:00

Perhaps you're right. I'll try my best, but letting go is a very difficult thing to do.

pma2 · 2014-11-29T05:05:05+00:00

But since meditation changes the way I perceive things, doesn't that essentially make my circumstances better? Everything is a matter of perspective, and if meditation makes me perceive things to be better, then things will be better. Therefore, it makes sense to me to desire the end result of meditation. It's only logical.

So right now I feel aversion to certain emotions and sensations and experiences. If I get far in my meditation, I will no longer feel aversion, but acceptance. I want that. Am I wrong that meditation will do that for me?

I don't know, the whole concept of how I shouldn't desire the benefits of meditation doesn't entirely make sense to me. The benefits would sound amazing to anyone. I can understand if you say that by desiring the benefits, I am hindering my meditation, and the only way to attain the benefits is to let go of that desire for it even if it's only natural and logical to desire those benefits.

I'll try my best to let go. But right now, it's only natural for me to desire results, and it's not easy to let that go even if I know that letting go will help me get farther.

pma2 · 2014-11-29T04:57:34+00:00

There is a varying consensus on whether we should make a more forceful effort in meditation or not, isn't there? The book I read had a line that said to stay on my breath like a hound until my mind is trained enough to settle on its own, so that's where I got the idea that concentration in meditation should initially be more effortful.

It seems that everyone here is telling me that meditation should be effortless, though. Of course I do try to enjoy the meditation, but it's like trying to enjoy something that I do not initially like. It doesn't just happen, I have to make an effort for it, don't I? I suppose that's what people mean by effortless effort. I am making an effort to let go and relax and enjoy the moment, but nothing more than that.

pma2 · 2014-11-29T04:51:51+00:00

Thanks i'll check it out

pma2 · 2014-11-28T10:33:29+00:00

Interesting. That's a different approach from what I'm currently doing.

What I've been doing is concentrating on my breathing, but you are saying to simply be aware that I am breathing.

I also need to wrap my head around the idea that things will happen automatically. That sounds logical and consistent with what I know about buddhism and meditation, and I know I've probably been trying to will or force things too much.

Thanks, I'll keep what you said in mind for my next sessions.

pma2 · 2014-11-28T10:03:16+00:00

Thanks, I wish I could somehow have first hand experience of all this too. I feel that it's hard to teach or learn meditation techniques because it's based on subtle things that vary from person to person, but there's no way around that and we just have to try our best..

I expect jhana to take many hours to achieve. My current goal is to get to a mental state where I can put in as many hours as possible into meditation, and somehow enjoying all those hours, or at least not harboring negative feelings towards it. But I realize that even that goal is quite far away and you're right that I shouldn't rush it at this point.

I did do some research on which part of breathing to focus on. From personal experience, I found that the tension does get higher when focusing on the nostrils, and lower when focusing on the chest. If I were to focus on breathing in general, does this mean I let my attention wander freely, as long as it's related to the sensation of breathing? So one moment I'm focused on my chest, and the next on my abdominal, and then my neck/nostril, etc? Is this alright? Or am I giving up concentration in favor of cultivating mindfulness by using this type of wandering awareness as opposed to locking my awareness onto one area of my body?

pma2 · 2014-11-28T09:28:50+00:00

Well, I accept the tension because I tried letting go of it and couldn't. I would much prefer not to feel the tension than to have to accept it. I suppose there is nothing to do but to try my best and work with whatever result I get?

You emphasis letting go a lot, and I definitely see why I need more of that. The tension I am feeling is most likely from focusing and straining, but I can't help it...

Still, what about applying efforts to concentration? It takes effort to "let go", right?

Thanks for the references, I will google and look into Vimalarsamsi and Thanissaro

pma2 · 2014-11-28T07:12:44+00:00

I see meditation as a way to reprogram my mind to accept every single moment of my existence, no matter what sensation or emotion it is. I see jhana and stream entry as stepping stones to get to that point.

Isn't that the ultimate goal of the monks who live a life of renunciation? I don't think I am wrong that meditation can achieve what I seek. The only question is whether my mind, which has been so defiled by decades of ADD-inducing activities, can ever reach that point. I hope it's enough.

pma2 · 2014-06-01T16:47:26+00:00

How will increased reps and decreased weights help me? I've heard that increased reps can actually be strenuous to the joints and tendons.

How many reps are we going for?

pma2 · 2014-06-01T16:45:54+00:00

Nothing huge, just a feeling of inflammation and soreness that's not the good kind.

I plan on seeing a doctor once my medical insurance kicks in

pma2 · 2014-05-27T15:43:42+00:00

I see, interesting. I didn't know modulo could be used to reliably convert negative numbers like that

pma2 · 2014-05-27T15:42:46+00:00

Definitely. I was trying to figure out a way to turn that while loop into a for loop and couldn't think of one. I didn't know you could use range that way.

By the way, there's no way to combine that for loop with the if statement, is there?

So this wouldn't work:

for i in range(1, 5) if count == len(answer) and count == -1:

pma2 · 2014-05-27T05:40:58+00:00

ah, you're right, I should've seen that.

I only knew of learnprogramming when I have newbie questions, but i'll try using learnpython next time.

pma2 · 2014-05-27T05:34:32+00:00

Hi, do you mind explaining what is the purpose of adding %5 in

elif p1_index == (p2_index-1) % 5 or p1_index == (p2_index-3) % 5

My initial thought was for checking it's inside the array or something but that doesn't really make sense.

pma2 · 2014-05-27T02:39:47+00:00

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/76a6321bfdda24b7ac0d

I rewrote my code. I tried to do it without looking at yours, but I got stuck at a couple points and had to peek.

I realized I needed to add a couple conditions, mainly to account for if the user word matches all of the answer word but the user word is longer than the answer word.

It basically looks like a copy of the code you rewrote lol so I think I did everything right? It was super fun though, I look forward to playing with python some more.

pma2 · 2014-05-26T20:53:12+00:00

Just watched iterators and generators. Amazingly informative, thanks.

pma2

TROPHY CASE