Merle,<br/><br/>I would remain silent on this subject because you are going to
start Zen meditation and talking about my primary practice of meditation
(Vipassana) could just muddy the waters for you. However, your question asks
for a comparison between different traditions of meditation so I will oblige.
This is not to convince you which is 'better', but to give you a better
understanding of meditation as a subject.<br/><br/>In Vipassana there are 2
types of meditation. The first is 'anapanasati' which is meditation focused on
the breath (anapana means breath and sati means mindfulness). By practicing
this method (usually without the counting - just the sensation of the breath in
the nose) we quietening the mind allowing us to experience one-pointed
concentration. The mind falls away and we can enter samadhi/a jhanic state and
experience peace and bliss (really!). By itself, this will not lead to
awakening or wisdom, but it gives the mind a much needed
rest (!) and allows greater powers of concentration. <br/><br/>To truly
experience liberation we practice vipassana proper. This is simply using that
power of concentration to go deep with the body/mind and experience how
sensations arise and pass and how they affect the mind. Ultimately, one comes
to know the great truth that everything is impermanent, there is no self to
experience pleasure-pain, and that we create suffering by attachments
(aversion/craving). <br/><br/>An intellectual understanding of this will not
lead to awakening though - it has to be experienced. Otherwise, just reading
about this and having a philosophical understanding would suffice. It
won't!<br/><br/>I'll leave others more wise and practiced in Zen than me to
summarise Zen meditation, but given Zen's mistrust of words and formulas that
might be not forthcoming!<br/><br/>Mike<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Counting the
breath (amongst other such methods) to quieten the mind is just a
tool. A quiet mind focused on the object of meditation (i.e, counting the
breath) helps us to <br/><br/>Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPhone
