Mike, Merle, et al... The zen mediation (zazen) I was taught is exactly like what Mike has described below as his 1st type of meditation and called "anapanasati". First counting and then focusing on the breathes and eventually experiencing what Mike called "samadhi" and "jhanic state". Japanese Zen Buddhism calls that state 'shiantaza', or 'just sitting'. It is also referred to as 'clear mind' or 'no mind'. It is in this state that you may experience Buddha Nature. Zen Buddhism has other techniques to get you to this state besides breathing such as chanting, bowing and koans. They all end up at the same place.
The 2nd type of meditation which Mike described as "go deep with the body/mind and experience how sensations arise and pass and how they affect the mind" was not part of any specific meditation technique that I was every taught. In fact when I did describe such observations I made while sitting I was told to just 'let thoughts like this come and go' and continue to sit. ...Bill! --- In [email protected], uerusuboyo@... wrote: > > 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 > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
