Koan Meditation

In Koan Meditation a person is given a koan (i.e. a puzzle or a question) and he is told to keep thinking about what can be the right answer to it. Some examples of koan are:

1)      How can you clap with one hand?

2)      An egg of a bird was kept inside a bottle. The mouth or opening of the bottle measures exactly the size of the egg. The egg hatched inside the bottle and the little bird was fed and raised inside the bottle. Gradually the bird began to grow. Then a time came when the bird had fully grown up and had become equal to the size of the bottle. Then, without breaking the bottle and without killing the bird, how can this bird be freed? This puzzle has to be solved.

3)      How can the eye see itself without a mirror (instrument)? How can the Experience (of Being) experience the Experience (of Being)?

4)      Which are the questions whose answer is right if you say ‘Yes’, but is right even if you say ‘No’?

5)      Who is the ear of the ear? How can the tongue taste itself?

6)      How was your face before you were conceived?

7)      In dreams, why don’t we see ourselves at the place where we actually are?

8)      If we have attained this birth due to our karma (deeds) in our previous births, then how did we get our first birth?

9)      How can effortless effort be done?

10)   What is definite in deep sleep?

Thought Numbering Meditation

Thought Numbering Meditation

1. In this meditation, for becoming thoughtless, thoughts are destroyed by giving sequential numbers. Begin the meditation by watching every thought.
2. Now start numbering every thought. As soon as one thought arises, number it in your mind as ‘one’. As the second thought arises, number it as ‘two.’ In this way, continue counting the thoughts.
3. Sit quietly even when there are no thoughts. If this thought arises that, “At this time I don’t have any thought”, then number this thought also because, “I don’t have any thought” is also a thought.
4. Don’t follow any thought. Just number it and leave it.
5. With this meditation, the number of thoughts will reduce drastically. Sometimes even a thoughtless state will result. Practice this meditation regularly without expecting a given result.

Neutral Meditation

Neutral meditation means you are neutral for every thought. If you are in sorrow, you are neutral; if you are in joy yet you are neutral. When you are practicing this meditation, then:

1) If you are sad, don’t say, “I am sad.” At such time, say, “Thoughts of sorrow are passing through my mind.”

2) If you are happy, yet you should remain neutral. At such time also, say, “Thoughts of happiness are passing through my mind.” At such time, don’t say, “I am happy” or “I am sad”, instead your thoughts should be neutral in both instances. That is why it has been called as ‘Neutral Meditation.’

Neutral meditation means you are neutral for every thought

You can practice this meditation any time of the day. When you get thoughts of boredom, make them neutral. When you get thoughts of hatred, then too look at them with a neutral feeling and say, “At this time, thoughts of boredom or thoughts of hatred are passing by.” Never say, “I am bored… angry… depressed… anxious… ” etc. This will help you to remain balanced and steady in every situation.

Understanding Meditation

Giving attention is not meditation. Meditation is not concentration. Meditation is not contemplation. The word ‘meditation’ originated from spirituality. In India, spiritual seekers understood the deeper aspects of ‘meditation’. But today the word ‘meditation’ has become commonplace and is being used without its deeper meaning. It has therefore lost its importance. ‘Giving attention’ is being understood as ‘meditation’ by most people.

Meditation is an attribute.. attribute of the witness

Meditation is an attribute. It is an attribute of the witness. The witness which is called differently by different people… God, Allah, Self, Self-awareness, Consciousness, etc. Meditation is that source which is present even in deep sleep – self-awareness – even in the state of unawareness.

Meditation simply means ‘doing nothing.’ For some people ‘doing nothing’ is very difficult. How can we do ‘nothing’? If someone asks, ‘What should I do to get sleep? What can be done to get sleep faster?’ Then he will be told , ‘You have to do nothing to get sleep. Just go and lie down. If you try to get sleep, it will run away. You can get sleep very easily without making any effort.’ In the same way, meditation is also a process in which there is no need to do anything. You simply have to be present.

The techniques which have been designed to kick start meditation or to improve concentration, have also been called ‘meditation’. This ‘meditation’ is a path to self-meditation. Self-Meditation means meditation of ‘Self’ which is the real aim of meditation. Just improving concentration is not the goal of meditation. The word ‘Self-Meditation’ is more appropriate than the word ‘meditation’. But due to the greater prevalence of the word ‘meditation’, people have forgotten the real meaning of meditation. Concentration is a ladder in the path of meditation. Concentration improves with meditation. But if someone is meditating with the aim of improving concentration, then he is taking only minimal benefit from meditation. Many a times it so happens that someone begins on the path of meditation to attain ‘Self–Realization’, but he becomes very happy with improved concentration having gotten some powers and strays away from his real goal.

Meditation has also been taken as a Yogic Practice. Meditation (awareness) is necessary in every field of life. No work can be done without meditation. Meditation is essential for all activities of life. All our senses affect our body. Whenever our senses are directed externally and are involved in external things, then all the energy of our mind gets exhausted in the external objects. Therefore it is necessary that we have some control over our senses, which is possible through meditation. Through meditation it is possible to utilize for ourself a part of the energy which is getting consumed in the external world. To shift the mind from external objects and stabilize it inside is the beginning of meditation.
———————————–

Complete Meditation - 222 Question and Answers

The above article has been taken from ‘Meditation’, a book written by Sirshree. Although it was targeted primarily for beginners, it can be useful for everybody – even for those who practice meditation regularly. Just as you can’t learn swimming by just reading a book on swimming, similarly you can’t get the benefits of meditation, you don’t get absorbed in meditation just by reading a book on meditation. Practicing regularly with the right understanding is necessary to make progress.

Also read:

1. Preparation before meditation
2. RELAX BUTTON MEDITATION
3. Concentration Meditation
4. “I Don’t Know” Meditation
5. Tejam: Bright Witnessing

“I Don’t Know” Meditation

In ‘I don’t know’ meditation, all labels have to be kept aside.

1. In ‘I don’t know’ meditation, all labels have to be kept aside. A label is any word that we use to represent a physical object.
2. When you see any object – like looking at a wall clock in your house, tell yourself, “I don’t know what this is.” Whenever you see any object at home or even if you see your mother, then don’t say immediately that this is my mother. You should say, “I don’t know who this is. Let me see which lady is going”. Then look at her face carefully. You would be surprised that so many changes have taken place in your mother’s face and you haven’t even noticed them because seeing had totally stopped. You have put the label that “This is mother. What is there to be seen?” Seeing has stopped. But we have to start seeing again. Looking at a chair, don’t say ‘chair’. Ask, ‘What is this thing?’. Seeing in this way changes your attention. This is called ‘I don’t know’ meditation.
3. After having seen every object in the room without labeling, then that very room will become alive for you. Every object will feel more colorful and more alive. This meditation will also end your boredom.

Also read

1. Eagle Meditation
2. Strategies for Becoming Creative
3. Liberation from False Notions

Interval Meditation

Feel In the Blank

1. Close your eyes and sit in the meditation posture and fingers of hand in dhyan mudra (index finger touching the tip of thumb, remaining fingers stretched out). Remain aware of your breath moving in and out through the nostrils.
2. Now when the breath goes in and comes out, then there is an interval between these two, even if it is the thousandth part of a second. Concentrate your mind on that interval (point) where the breath is neither going in nor coming out, i.e. there is a gap – blank. (Feel in the blank, don’t fill in the blank). Similar interval exists in between two thoughts. People fill this interval with thoughts and that is why they always exist in the head. Meditation connects us to the heart – not the physical heart, but our center.
3. Similarly, when the breath after coming out goes in again, then there is such a point when the breath has stopped for some time. Keep your attention on that interval (gap) making a firm resolution in your mind that I will be aware about both these points of every breath – where the breath changes its direction. Your normal breathing should continue. If you miss these points, then there is no need to worry. Pay attention to the next breath.
4. Our breathing is always going on all the time. That is why this meditation can be done anywhere and anytime.

Also read:

1. RELAX BUTTON MEDITATION
2. Eagle Meditation
3. THOUGHT MEDITATION

THOUGHT MEDITATION

Thought Meditation (Image via flickr)

1. Close your eyes and sit in the meditation posture and fingers of hand in dhyan mudra (index finger touching the tip of thumb, remaining fingers stretched out).
2. Start watching your thoughts. See which thoughts are going on inside you.
3. Keeping the body steady, keep watching the types of thoughts that are going on in your mind from a distance (without getting identified, remaining separate). In this meditation, while being separate, you will know what kind of thoughts go on in your mind, what thoughts are going on about various subjects…
4. Keep watching and knowing your thoughts like a witness. Don’t label any thought as good or bad. Avoid any such desire that I want more thoughts or I don’t want any thoughts.
5. Initially do this meditation for 5 minutes and gradually go on increasing its time. When you become an expert in this meditation, then start giving numbers to your thoughts.

See also

1. Preparation before meditation
2. Relax Button Meditation
3. Concentration Meditation
4. Complete Meditation Workshop