About Me

My photo
Flushing, Newyork, United States
Meditation Guide
Showing posts with label Meditation types. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meditation types. Show all posts

7.08.2011

Introduction to ZEN meditation


Zen meditation, known as "Chan (禅) in Chinese, flourished in China around 700 A.D. Since then, it has become one of the most influential schools of Buddhism, spreading to Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and now to many western countries. Zen and other forms of Buddhist meditation have been found to help calm the mind, reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, and bring peacefulness, tolerance, and other positive attributes to life. By clearing our minds and reflecting inward, we can perceive our own Buddha nature and uncover our innate wisdom and joy.

1 Posture
  • Sit up straight on the meditation cushion, with the body relaxed.
  • cross your legs in the lotus or half-lotus positions if you are able to do so.
  • let the arms hang down naturally.
  • the hands form the diamond mudra (right hand in a fist holding both thumbs, and the left hand fingers covering the right hand) and are placed near the abdomen.
  • Keep the head erect with the chin slightly down.
  • Lower the eyes, looking down naturally (if the eyes are wide open, you may get distracted easily; if the eyes are closed, you may become drowsy easily.)
  • The mouth should wear a slight smile.
2. The Breath
  • Breathe through the nose, not with the mouth.
  • Breathing should be quiet, free flowing, slow, deep, and even.
  • As you breathe out, start counting one, two, three, four, five, etc. As you breathe in, do not count. Keep your focus on the breath this way continuously.
  • Train yourself to do this well.
3. Calming the Mind
  • Just concentrate on your breathing.
  • You are not judging, reflecting, or analyzing. You are simply observing the moment in which you find yourself.
4. After Sitting Meditation
  • After sitting meditation, move your head, shoulders, and body slowly.
  • Bub your palms together gently, and massage your face, ears,neck, body and legs.
  • Take three deep breaths, each time lean the body forward and massage your legs as you breathe out slowly.
  • If the legs are sore or asleep, don't stand up immediately.
5. Waling Meditation-- "wherever you go, that's where your mind is."
  • Palms down. Body straight but relaxed.
  • Look ahead where you will step or at the person ahead of you.
  • Focus on how you are walking, where you're placing your foot. Do not think of anything else. Always stay in the present moment.

Sun meditation


To practice sun meditation, beginners should start by looking at the rising sun early in the morning. You can also look at the setting sun, but it is not as effective as at sunrise because the energy is decreasing.
If you feel any trouble gazing directly at the sun, you should focus your gaze a short distance above the sun. Try not to blink, but if you feel discomfort, blink several times, then start again. If you do this three of four times, your resistance power will be increased and it will be easy to look at the sun. Then, we can gradually increase the time that we gaze at the sun.

Beginners should start looking each day for a short period, then day by day increase the amount of time so that the eyes can gradually adapt without any harm. It is very important to maintain regular practice, as it will allow your eyes to adapt properly. Some people may experience problems in the first few days, sometimes headaches or burning sensations in the eyes, or a 'sunspot' that affects your vision. This is quite normal, and the only way to overcome these problems is to continue practising. It is similar to any physical exertion that may cause stiffness or pain; it does not last long, and it is best removed by continuing the exercise.

When you can continue staring at the sun for ten minutes, the sun will seem to disappear. The inside of the sun will appear as blue sky surrounded by a ring of light, it will sometimes appear as two suns, sometimes rotating clockwise or anticlockwise. As your concentration develops and you can gaze at the sun for longer, you will be able to see a 'black spot' in the middle of the sun. Sometimes this black spot will be bigger, at other times smaller. After practice, the black spot will remained fixed in one place. Suddenly, from this black hole, seven colours will emerge and move around the sun, sometimes clockwise, sometimes anti-clockwise. As your concentration increases, a powerful beam of light will come from the sun towards your body. In the beginning this beam of light will not touch the body, it will come towards you and then retreat back to the sun. Eventually, as your concentration improves, this light will touch your body and you will attain complete thoughtless condition. This is the start of the pratyaharam stage, and indicates the beginning of Sunyoga experience.

After being touched by this light, a vibration will start from the heart, allowing us to control three negativities; shame, hatred and fear. With regular practice this vibration will increase and you will be able to gain control over five more negativities; anger, greed, narrow attraction, ego & jealousy. As the vibration increases you will be able to control sexual desire and lust. At this point, the pratyaharam stage is complete.

The next step, as the inner vibration increases and extends from the muladhara chakra at the base of the spine to the sahasradhara chakra at the top of the head. This is the dharana stage.
As the inner vibration develops, we'll discover that there are two more chakras, one above the head called the dhayana chakra and one below the body called the dhyanrodhak chakra. At this point, we will be able to hear a sound, which some people call AUM, others have called AMEN, while others have called it ALAM. We can then receive divine messages from the universe.

Next the sadhak will experience sahaja samadhi during which he will be able to see a bright light, inside of which there will be a beautiful structure. This is the atmadarsanam stage, the 'who am I' stage, the sadaguru stage, the mukha stage. At that time the sadhak will feel, 'I know him but i have never seen' because it has always been within... our sagunabramha structure. This marks the completion of the dhyana stage.

The final stage is nirvikalpa samadhi, at which point a further two chakras are discovered, one above the dhyana chakra called the samadhi chakra, and one below the dhayanarodhak chakra called the samadhirodhak chakra. Our mental force will be more than gravitational force, our soul will leave the body and unite with the supreme soul.

The Thirteen Stages of Sunyoga:
1. Conquer all material desires(sexuality, anger, greed, narrow-mindedness, ego & jealousy, shame, hatred and fear). Related chakras: Anahata, Vishuhda, Agna, Monipur, Swadhisthan.Related subtle body: Pratyahar body.
2. Develop Divine Energy:Related chakra: Sahasrar & Muladhar. Related subtle body: Dharana body.
3. Atma Darsanam - Discovery of Atma (or soul)Related chakra: dhyana & dhyanarodhak. Related subtle body: dhyana body.
4. Samadhi - Enlightenment. Related chakra: samdhi & samadhirodhak. Related subtle body: samadhi body.
5. Conquer hunger.Related chakra: amrit chakra & amritrodhak. Related subtle body: Amrit body.
6. Conquer thirst:Related chakra: Jivanmukta chakra &jivanmuktarodhak chakra. Subtle body: Jivanmukta body.
7. Conquer diseases:Related chakra: rogamukta chakra & rogamuktarodhak chakra. Subtle body:rogamukta subtle body.
8. Paramahansa - Adjusting the mind to all situations. Related chakra: paramahansa chakra & paramahansarodhak chakra. Subtle body: paramahansa body.
9. Having no enemies - all enemies will be friends (including animals).Related chakra: chaityana chakra and chaityanarodhak chakra. Subtle body: chaityana body.
10. Longetivity (this happens when the body's vibration becomes the same as the environment's)Related chakra:amar chakra and amarrodhak chakra. Subtle body: amar body.
11. The body's vibration and earth's vibration will be equal. Related chakras: Grahanusama chakra &Grahanusamarodhak chakra. Subtle body: Grahanusama body.
12. The body's vibration and sun's vibration will be equal.Related chakras: nakhatranusama chakra and nakhatranusamarodhak chakra. Subtle body:nakhatranusama body.
13. The body's vibration and the vibration of the Universe (Supreme Soul) vibration will be equal.Related chakras: brahmbhandanusama chakra & brahmbhandanusamarodhak chakra. Subtle body: brahmbhandanusama body.