Hello,

I will be setting up a "your-own-sincere-practice-is-generally-the-best-teacher-and-it can-help-to-sit-with-others" retreat online in September. There are no teachers for this, but one's own anapanasati, cultivating the rupa jhanas 1-4.

Starting evening, Monday, September 2nd, ending evening, Sunday, September 29th.

The purpose of the jhana practice is to train the mind in temporarily abating mental difficulties in order to develop an ability to know phenomena more directly with a relaxed, stable concentration as a result of gently tempering five identified mental movements that can hinder relaxed, stable concentration of the mind.

These five hindering movements of mind are said to be: sensory desire, ill-will, sloth-turpor, restlessness-worry, and doubt.

From the perspective of priorities, this is not an easy month-long home practice. But it's your practice so you can jump in as much as possible.

If you feel your practice is not really the best teacher, then maybe this would support your practice under a teacher's guidance, or maybe this is not for you and that's just fine. This kind of thing is available anywhere, freely. : )

Note: there is not a vipassana component to this month. There is no particular reason for this, except that Gotama spoke of anapanasati as being what carried him.

Since I am setting it up and will be responsible for hosting, I do want to say a few things:
1. Each person agrees they are responsible for their own practice, including...

2. ...kindness and non-harm for self and others, including if you know samatha practice is too stressful at anytime, stop. The entire point of 2nd and 3rd jhanas are to abate mental stress with the antidotes of piti and sukha. If stress is peaking, then something needs to be lightened. Perhaps rest, exercise, go for some form of care for yourself. This is not a race

3. ...having a regular/daily cardiovascular and physical practice (such as swimming, jogging, yoga, walking at a pace that is hard to talk during, rowing). Here is McMaster's University seven-minute scientific workout: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/?_r=0Many people are drawn to meditate due to depression and anxiety and the mind is hardly ready to deal with the full brunt of depression and anxiety on its own in the beginning and nor should the brain be asked to do all that work when the body and its chemistry on exercise helps so very much, so wholesomely and counteracts nicely the dominance of thinking by giving the body a chance to direct things via adrenoline and breathing and heart rate changes..

4. ...abiding one's normal drug regimen, if any, and not increasing regular caffeine intake, if any. Psychotic breaks in meditation are reported sometimes and I think the monk Yuttadhammo mentioned he has seen one or two that were associated with lots of caffeine/stimulant intake in the practitioner's hope of causing wakefulness in the wee hours and with the excessive and hasty desire to achieve "enlightenment", impatient escape from own mental suffering. It's very okay if you spent the entire time wrestling tipping over with "sloth"; that, I find, is very much part of the training It actually does help the mind to practice staying upright in the face of an onslaught of natural fatigue

5. ...getting proper sleep.

6. If you are using a video chat to log in, please point the camera to something neutral in your practice space, like towards whatever dim light/pool of light you may be using at the time.


Practice times:
Eastern standard time hours: 4 a.m. to 6 a.m., 8p.m. to 10 p.m.
Anyone can jump in during those times and practice to the extent they feel ready. I will have a bell ringing every 30 minutes. When the period closes, there will be an alarm, "Thanks to all those who inspire us wholesomely" and 'll close the online window.

My own practice tips:
What I do during more intense practice periods:
a) eat before/by noon a low sugar diet with a small snack or protein-ish drink (like hot almond milk) in the evening.
b) go to bed by 9-10 p.m.
c) have a cardiovascular or restorative yoga practice & bike on rollers/jogging/swimming practice before sitting (e.g., 3 a.m., 7 p.m.)Again, here is McMaster's University seven-minute scientific workout: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/?_r=0

Maybe the DhO google hangout is the place for this? Otherwise, I can set it up on my gmail at kathryn and then the last name you see here.

I will try to make Ven. Ananda Maitreya's booklet available on anapanasati available on the DhO over the coming weeks. I believe it is permitted for free distribution.

Thoughts?

We can have a chat at the end of the month, Sunday, September 29th if anyone wants. And of course, people can chat here/elsewhere as they want.


With thanks to friends who inspire this and to each person's effort to train themselves sincerely and well, without comparison, to look closely for oneself,
Katy

[edits: about 10 of them? Because it's me with words... =]

I'd like that; there is no way I can be at the evening session because of time-zone-related-trouble, but I canbe therefor themorning one and doing another 2 hours before going to sleep.

Google Hangout at the DhO community seems to be a good place to do it; if that works, we can also see if we can do some other kind of similar initiative in the future.

Hey,
Sounds like a great idea...I'm in!. I'm doing a week long online metta retreat with dhamma sukka finishing just before this starts so should fit in perfectly

Seems like a good idea, I've been trying to work up the resolve to reinitiate a practice out of retreat.

Eastern Standard time 'A'?

I will hopefully be east of melbourne by then and studying aikido, as well as studying counselling part time. But they would work really well with a retreat period!

Great exercise link!

Hi Neem,

Yeah, eastern time zone for me to host a few online hours.

But if someone wants to plug in and host for their time zone, that would be so nice. Then each person could plug in as they need.

I reached out the the DhO Poopah ;) and asked about DhO hangout, but I also don't want to clog up that line. It's pretty well agreed that Daniel is constantly providing help and/or resources (and paying for them), so I don't really want to encumber his hangout with something else unless he likes the idea.

My personal goal is just to get 4-hours of jhana 1-4 practice in daily during September and mainly because I'd like to have a more reliable ability to experience the concentration of equanimity. And basically I think my brain needs the work out! Really, cortex-thickening or something.

And... I'm so lazy, but I always feel better after exercise including meditational exercise.

As a techincal point, I think people will need to set their computer sleep schedules to > 2hours or they may get bounced out. It almost doesn't matter. The point, to me, is that I'm a social creature and practice is a little easier for me when I'm with friends/friendly comraderie.

great

Is this still happening?

Hi Ya'll
Yes it is but I need to start tomorrow morning and my internet connection could be weak until tomorrow night.

In the meantime, lacking a guiding teacher for this home retreat, I'd like to open the floor to thanking our teachers nows here and as we go into the month. It ain't easy teaching and sometimes they may wonder why they do.

So with gratitude, I'd like to especially thank the following teachers as we head into a practice month and I am including teachers I've seen mentioned with gratitude on the DhO several times (and which list is certainly not comprehensive):
Bhikku Bodhi
HHDLama
Karmapa
Thanissaro
Thich Naht Hahn
Sister Khema
CYM
my folks

Daniel Ingram
Tom Dorrance (horseman and his students)
DhO members

Shinzen+Culadassa
Anchorage Zen Community

The trouble with this list is I don't know where to stop. Anyway, without teachers and their patience and own learning I'd be up the creek.

Feel free to add and see you bright and early

Okay, so I have a good internet connection for tomorrow morning. To join live will happen through my gmail (see OP) if you want. I will look for incoming emails to join until 3:59 a.m. and that's it.

Even if you do not access that g-hangout, it may be nice to know you have specific (DhO) company somewhere around the world working out with you. I appreciate having your company, too.

I apologize for the inconvenience of missing this first night: I also was on retreat and didn't realize when planning the home retreat how late the Abhidhamma retreat would go and that I wouldn't be home until tomorrow night.

Also, I will start putting Ven. Ananda Maitreya's booklet online in sections tomorrow and have not had time or reliable Internet access this past week.

Sweet dreams (or bon appetit if you're waking up now), effortful yogis...

So... two things:

1)I'm going to host an hangout from 8.00pm UTC to 10 pm UTC, for those who have some kind of time zone issue.
If you are interested, add me on Google+ marionistri [at] gmail [dot] com

2)I'm thinking about posting about this retreat this in the Buddhist Geeks community, so that someone else is interested they can join us; is it ok for you guys?

Bye!

DhO community?

Yep... there is a DhO community on Google+.

Now that I think about it, the only way to get there is to ask Daniel for an invitation, so, if you want to join me, themost simple thing is to add meon Google+

My mail is marionistri [at] gmail [dot] com

I added you before through Buddhist Geeks

Hi Mario,

That works well for me! I am glad you're hosting in your timezone.

Also, the friend who joined us this morning (where I was couching surfing en route to home) has some texts that may be helpful.
But I just wanted to add that I can set aside 1/2 hr after each sitting in case we want to visit and share a little like this morning. I related to some of your comments!

I found it very nice and pleasant to know you both were there during this practice.

So for folks who want to add extra precepts here are the four moon Uposatha days in September:

New Moon: September 5, 7:36 A.M. ET
First Quarter: September 12, 1:08 P.M. ET
Full Moon: September 19, 7:13 A.M. ET
Last Quarter: September 26, 24:55 P.M. ET

Personally, just taking reflected moonlight on water as object (mostly shut eyes, zen-style) has been a useful object for me in the past.

Also, I'd like to add Goenka and Joko Beck and New Haven Zen Center and those ardent DhO actualists former and current to my list of "Thanks for hosting teachers/teachings/sharing your example". (this list is just gonna balloon ;)

Again, to interested parties my gmail is kathryn (but I go by the nickname you see here generally) then take same last name and apply The Googlage (gmail) ;) Then I'll send back an invitation to the hangout about 5 minutes before the sit starts in the sits I'm hosting.

Okay, I got confused over timezones and UTC and CEST...

Sooo here are the practice times daily so far (feel free to host another time/ timezone, folks ):

04:00 - 06:00 EST (UTC: 08:00 - 10:00) Hosting at Katy's google hangout
16:00 - 18:00 EST (UTC 20:00 - 22:00) Hosting at Mario's google hangout
20:00 - 22:00 EST (UTC 00:00 - 02:00) Hosting at Katy's google hang-out

Thanks.

It's been great to have company. I set up a kind of hard challenge for myself this month and I am hugely grateful for the company and effort.

Yeah, could have written that myself; thanks to you all!

Thank you, Mario. Your hosting time was so nice for me; I fought waaaay less drowiness

This week I'm focusing on the first concentrated state: applied (vitakka) and sustained (vicara) focus and just now during your sitting session a comparison came to mind: that using anapanasati as object the first jhana is similar to a rolling pin rolling out bread dough, as the breath pulls back and pushes forth and the mind rolls on it evenly with just-right weight.

Okay, using DhO hangout now: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116578109405218114523

Update: I'm hosting later this morning (07:00 - 09:00 EST (UTC: noon-14:00) after waking up way too early and would need lots of caffeine to do walking/sitting meditation. As stated in the OP, I accept the caution that extra caffeine/stimulants are to be avoided when studying meditation. I'm sorry for the inconvenience this causes anyone. It looks like Daniel has made the DhO hangout generally available so anyone who'd like to host that slot could use that link. Thank you.

Not hosting tonight... I was walking around and I got a gust of wind from someone smoking a joint, and I'm quite responsive to these things,so now I'm totally stoned and in no condition to meditate... and yet tonight is gonna be fun

Bye!

<laughing, hand to forehead>
No problem here. Thanks for the heads up. Have a good night = ]

If you haven't already read, the Catholic Church and Pope are calling for a day of fasting today to bring together our global attention to the warring conditions in Syria.

Here is al-Arabiya on it:http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/09/07/Pope-Francis-leads-global-fasting-prayer-day-for-Syria-peace.html

For meditators, buddhist, post-buddhists, pre-Theravadans, theists, etc, this can be an opportunity to sit in metta or prayer with the intention that we not do to sentients what we wouldn't want for ourselves or our loved ones. One can also apply vipassana in how war/harm/non-harm arises in one's own mind, the forerunner of all actions.

Or maybe one would do something other than this fast/vigil, such as going about the day harmlessly, celebrating life in friendliness with others.

Anyway, that's when I'll start today's sit on DhO's google hangout. So the hours will be changed to start at 17:00 EST. Edit: That would interfere with Mario's hosting time (unless you just jump on to join him) and I have to finish some work...so this post is just to share that many in the world right now are keeping people in Syria in mind/prayer/heart.

So tomorrow is back to normal on my side and I think Mario's side (and he's on the DhO hangout now if anyone wants to join him in meditation): https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/a8939895a304485c0a0fb6e02db6022aa4591bf4?authuser=0

04:00 - 06:00 EST (UTC: 08:00 - 10:00) Hosting at Katy's google hangout
16:00 - 18:00 EST (UTC 20:00 - 22:00) Hosting at Mario's google hangout
20:00 - 22:00 EST (UTC 00:00 - 02:00) Hosting at Katy's google hang-out

and tonight will continue as usual on my side.

Also, Mario just reminded me of Thich Nhat Hahn's anapanasati guidance:

“Breathing in, I calm body and mind.
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.”

Time adjustment!

05:00 - 07:00 EST (UTC: 09:00 - 11:00) Hosting at Katy's google hangout
16:00 - 18:00 EST (UTC 20:00 - 22:00) Hosting at Mario's google hangout
20:00 - 22:00 EST (UTC 00:00 - 02:00) Hosting at Katy's google hang-out


The 4 a.m. aspect is a touch much it seems for lay life, getting rest the night before for EST dwellers, myself included. I think Goenka starts at 4:30 and a monastery I've stayed in starts at 5:30. So that's the mid-point.

(I like the super-wee hours because the mind is loose, but it's hard to hold during the work week. It's hard for me to give it up..., but I think 5 a.m. might be more reasonable.)

Thoughts?

9/14/13 8:31
Hi Mario,
That's a hard time for me to join. I hope your "bureaucratic office" meditation went well today... : )

Me:

Okay, the following is from the booklet "Meditation of Breathing" by the monk Balangoda Anandamaitreya, (August 23, 1896 – July 18, 1998), published in 1986 by the Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara of Los Angeles. Opposite the frontise is printed "For Free Distribution". I asked one of the elder monastic students of Ven. Anandamaitreya, also a scholar today, if this could be re-printed on the Internet and he thought so, in view of the "For Free Distribution" note.

I did buy this booklet online a few years ago; I think it is out-of-print. The language and references may not be modern, but he was a highly regarded teacher and scholar, so here is his guide.

"MEDITATION ON BREATHING

"There are two kinds of meditation, namely, the one that leads to full concentration, stillness, peace and ease of mind, and the other that leads to Realization of Enlightenment and thereby to perfect peace of mind. Out of these two, the one that leads to full concentration consists of forty methods that lead to higher stages of concentration. Out of these forty methods, I shall deal here with the method of concentrating on one's breath.

"A person who expects to achieve success in his spiritual development must, first of all, be of morally good character. At least he must develop the five precepts (panca-sila):
1. He must refrain from hurting and taking life;
2. He must refrain from possessing others' things illegally;
3. He must refrain from sexual misconduct;
4. He must refrain from wrong speech;*
5. He must refrain from taking intoxicants.

"In addition to keeping these five precepts, he must refrain from the wrong means of earning his livelihood.

"If he expects to attain higher states of concentration, he should have sense-control and lead a pure, celibate life.

"The person who expects to practice the meditation on breathing should find a suitable place for his practice. It must be free of any inconvenience, secluded, with no disturbances whatsoever. Meditators of olden days used to spend their time mostly in forests or remote areas of groves, in an isolated shelter under a shady tree, or in an empty house, and there they practiced their particular systems of meditation. In a society which is noisy and full of disturbances, it is impossible to carry out such practices in the daytime. But at night, after all have gone to bed, when silence reigns, it is not difficult, I believe to practice any kind of meditation. One may choose any posture that is convenient and comfortable, but at the start, it is much better if one is able to sit with the legs crosswise or to sit in a chair with one's upper body erect, with one's vertebrae resting end to end.

* The four types of wrong speech are: falsehood, slandering, harsh speech, and idle gossip."


"THE FIRST STAGE OF PRACTICE"
(to be continued tomorrow)

edit: in this color

------------
1/28/14 edit
This book is getting its own thread

"THE FIRST STAGE OF PRACTICE"

"At the start of practice, the meditator should sit down in a comfortable way and make a strong resolution to carry out his practice for his spiritual development. Then he may dedicate himself to his spiritual teacher. At this point he is ready to start his practice.

"He may watch his inhalation and exhalation at the start. By no means should he force breath in or out. He should just be aware of his breath as it passes in and out while letting the breath go in and out automatically in its own way. He has only to be watchful, mindful, and attentive to it. If he is a long-nosed person, the breath will touch the tip of his nose first, and if his nose is a short one, the breath will touch his upper lip first. He should fix his mind and attention on the spot the breath first touches, the tip of the nose or the upper lip, as the case may be. He should carry out this practice at least twice a day for one full hour each time. As for meditators who have devoted their whole lives to such practices, they may practice for the whole day, except when they attend to their bodies' needs.

"To be conscious and mindful of, or attentive to, one's breath is the preliminary step to this practice. If the meditator has not yet fully developed concentration, his mind might wander at times towards some experience in the past or some design for the future. In order to avoid this lapse in concentration, the meditator should follow the process of counting his breaths as described in the following paragraphs. How it is to be done will be given below.

"He should start counting either at inhalation or exhalation according to his wish. When the breath touches the tip of his nose or his upper lip, he should mentally count one. Until the next breath touches the spot, he should mentally count one, one, one on and on. When the next breath touches the spot, he should count two, two, two on and on. He should continue counting in this way until he comes to the fifth breath. When he counts five, he has completed the first round and he should begin the second round with counting one and go forward as in the first round, but up to the number six in this second round. (...)"
---------------
------------
1/28/14 edit
This book is getting its own thread

[to be continued]


Edit: in this color

[Katy personal note: the DhO and books like "Modern Buddhist Masters" show that there are many, many ways to concentration and even develop anapanasati. One methods can seem to contradict another method.

A lot of people say something like, "Find what's right for you." And I agree.

I am copying "Meditation on Breathing" by Ven. Anandamaitreya because the booklet is out-of-print and is "for free distribution". As well he was a respected teacher by more than a few, and people may need or want a resource for reference for their home practice. Still, his approach/writing or even this object (the breath) may not suit you. So if that's the case Nikolai recently cited Samyutta Nikaya 46 and taking up one of the immeasurables, which are four of the 40 recommended objects for concentration training, so here's Nikolai's link again :http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn46/sn46.054.than.html

Talking about Nick, these are very niceand clear instructions as well..

From Majjahima Nikaya 111, Anupadda Sutta, here is the Wikipedia summary of the factors of jhana:

[indent]First Jhāna — In the first jhana there are: "directed thought, evaluation, rapture, pleasure, unification of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity & attention"

Second Jhāna — In the second jhana there are: "internal assurance, rapture, pleasure, unification of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity, & attention"

Third Jhāna — In the third jhana, there are: "equanimity-pleasure, unification of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity & attention"

Fourth Jhāna — In the fourth jhana there are: "a feeling of equanimity, neither pleasure nor pain; an unconcern due to serenity of awareness; unification of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity & attention".[2]"[/indent]


In regards to unification of mind (aka: single-pointedness) there is also this footnote in the Wikipedia Dhyāna entry:
[indent] In the Suttapitaka, right concentration is often referred to as having five factors, with one-pointedness (ekaggatā) not being explicitly identified as a factor of jhana attainment (see, for instance, SN 28.1-4, AN 4.41, AN 5.28).[/indent]
I found this interesting because if single-pointedness is not present in my concentration practice I consider jhana not to have happened, which is okay, just part of tracking the training.

Good morning, Here is the link for this tonight's sit: https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/7d82e5c478d5a503777d14c9adc5208a267e0e6e?authuser=0




And related asides: here's a great video some of you have probably seen on "Outrospection", by Roman Krznaric, a useful compass for where an introspective listening-looking-learning practice like meditation can carry oneself. And for those wondering about making ethics and livelihood changes (aka "now what?"): here's Roman Krznaric's video on changing fulfilling work (his book on this has decent footnotes/stats): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y6417fnIKU.

Hi Bruno,

So that link didn't stay open, but thank you for trying. So I just sent you all an invitation this morning, which is fine.

I will set up the hangout again tonight and post the link here, then mute myself and disable camera because I can't join for the first hour ("time management fetter"). I'll turn back on volume at 30 minutes for the bell.

Also, iPhones work really well it seems on the hangout, but for maybe battery (I'm relaying the experience of others). For myself, I am unnerved by my laptop's fan running for two hours... (which it doesn't if there's no video). I'm also going to try signing in with Chrome, which has been suggested (thanks you, v and c).


Okay, gasho, keh-moh-sabes.

Good morning, here is the link:https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/7bd85fc4b1f23a5a28e3a789049f31b11909aa65

And here is the nun Khema on jhanas in here eleventh year of teaching them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdxFS-j5oD0

The first 20 minutes discuss their value to monastics and laypeople, overlap with other contemplative traditions, their natural arising in children, and their accessibility to anyone.

Good morning,
Here is the link for this morning: https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/384a9c0dbe155444d77699c21933eacb8c3141ee

UTC: 10:00-12:00 (EST: 05:00-0:700)

I am sad to have only just noticed this, as I have been doing samadhi practice all month in preparation for a retreat next month. If anyone at a UTC friendly time zone fancies continuing on for a bit, I'd be game to join in.

Today we talked about continuing it for october :-) It's been really great, actually.

So I will post a new thread for "Jhanaktoberfest" soon.

Yeah, I agree. It's been really useful though it took my a solid two weeks to get my life oriented to it. My home looked like a college band was living there for the first two weeks. I do not I would have completed this and/or done it as diligently without the company of people who've joined. I will probably change the hours I host in the evening to be a little earlier, like 19:30 to 21:30.

Here is the link to this sit starting in about 10 minutes: https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/2f2e133542c66fa310acdadd4f026509535262b4

UTC: 10:00-noon (EST 05:00-07:00)

About having a permanent link, shall we try a different procedure?

Whenever we want to meditate together, follow the link bellow and click on "hangouts" which is in the "Details" tab on the right side, to the right of a little talk-balloon icon.

Maybe that will work.

DhO Meditation Room 1

Permanent google hangout URL — Take 5.

I have tried yet another method, using google calendar (link to method)

Maybe this time it will work.

DhO Meditation Room 2

So tonight ends September Samatha jhanas. I'll move Ven. Ananda Maitreya's book to its own thread in the "Teacher's" section where I can add to it little by little.

This home retreat was very useful to me. Some benefits:

1) I learned more about how the mind can get through lethargy and sleepiness (attend the object very carefully before sleepiness arises; once sleepiness gets a little edge, it's a game of "Weeble-wobble" falling over in sleep for 1-2 hours;

2) If there is just constant falling over from drowsiness during the entire two hours, it's incredibly useful to just stay there doing the best I can falling over, pulling earlobes, standing up versus going back to sleep: it trains the brain that one way or the other, there's no going back to sleep for those two hours (no exit). The brain learns to focus more quickly then and sukkha can arise sooner. (It is also key to just sleep when one needs sleep, to forego the practice if one needs to rest).

3) It took me about two weeks to get used to the schedule of four hours a day.

4) It's worth planning one day "off" each week-- like a night and its following morning (e.g., Saturday night, Sunday morning).

5) After the first two weeks of "weeble wobble phase" and fatigue throughout the day, I got a lot of energy from and renewed conviction in the practice.

6) iPhones seem to interface better with Google Hangouts versus mac laptops (which run the fan nearly non-stop during hangout)

7) It is invaluable to have peer practitioners. I am grateful for the conversations we had after sittings and the shared training company.


So on October 1, I'll open up "Jhanoktoberfest" for more shared sitting practice via Hangouts.

I'll probably link some more of the nun Khema's talks as I find her helpful right now, such as her talk on rupa jhanas 2 and 3. I hope people will continue to post talks/poems/links useful to them, too.


With thanks for the DhO and to Daniel for this practice space and community,
Katy

Great to hear that this will still be going. Hope to join in very soon!

A

Bruno, tha funcionou! Nice, so that's how we'll set up October.

Nice... looking forward to meeting you : )