what pragmatiical dharma really is

Dmitry Mitroshin, modified 9 Years ago at 10/30/14 9:05 AM
Created 9 Years ago at 10/30/14 9:05 AM

what pragmatiical dharma really is

Posts: 9 Join Date: 10/7/14 Recent Posts
Hi everyone. I'm new here.
I's a great place to get information.
I started to meditate when i was a kid. At 14 or 15 years. Now i understand that it were only 2 types of practice i've done depending on my mood: meditation on emptiness and yoga nidra. About 5 years ago my mind started to change. I thought (and i'm still sure) that it was normal development of mind. About 3 years ago i got into Dark Night. I have a good friend, he is very fond of buddhism and read a ot of books. He told me about Progress of Insight and gave me a MCTB book at that time. Dark Night was a catastrophe, a total disaster. I was lying on bed staring at the ceiling. I might feel horror when i was drinking tea. There were everything: shivers, vertigo, fear, anxiety, depression, horror. There was information in a book about three characteristics. It became my lantern during the Dark Night.
The main point was that i never read the whole book. I read about next stage only when i got there to be sure that i got there by practice and not by illusions. So i din't know about what will happen next. It was a kind of experiment. I was afraid that if a read a book first then everything that will happen next might be my illusion. A kind of placebo for example. You simply can not trust your experience if you already know what kind of experience it have to be. Everything described in MCTB was true.
The problem is i'm a bad meditator. I read only two books: MCTB and "Tao & longevity" by Nan Huan Chin. It is a great book too because it describe your body transformation after Dark Night. And Mahasi Sayadaw is great too. I'm bad with terms and theory.
Practice is very important. Simple thinking of what you do and why do you do it is the point and key to mindfullness. Well, it worked in my case. And also a think that yoga practice may be extremely helpful. it is very important to keep your spine healthy and agile.
I think that pragmatical dharma and healthy scepticism itself are very useful approach to practice.
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Travis Gene McKinstry, modified 9 Years ago at 10/30/14 11:53 AM
Created 9 Years ago at 10/30/14 11:53 AM

RE: what pragmatiical dharma really is

Posts: 208 Join Date: 7/26/12 Recent Posts
Dmitry Mitroshin:
Hi everyone. I'm new here.
I's a great place to get information.
I started to meditate when i was a kid. At 14 or 15 years. Now i understand that it were only 2 types of practice i've done depending on my mood: meditation on emptiness and yoga nidra. About 5 years ago my mind started to change. I thought (and i'm still sure) that it was normal development of mind. About 3 years ago i got into Dark Night. I have a good friend, he is very fond of buddhism and read a ot of books. He told me about Progress of Insight and gave me a MCTB book at that time. Dark Night was a catastrophe, a total disaster. I was lying on bed staring at the ceiling. I might feel horror when i was drinking tea. There were everything: shivers, vertigo, fear, anxiety, depression, horror. There was information in a book about three characteristics. It became my lantern during the Dark Night.
The main point was that i never read the whole book. I read about next stage only when i got there to be sure that i got there by practice and not by illusions. So i din't know about what will happen next. It was a kind of experiment. I was afraid that if a read a book first then everything that will happen next might be my illusion. A kind of placebo for example. You simply can not trust your experience if you already know what kind of experience it have to be. Everything described in MCTB was true.
The problem is i'm a bad meditator. I read only two books: MCTB and "Tao & longevity" by Nan Huan Chin. It is a great book too because it describe your body transformation after Dark Night. And Mahasi Sayadaw is great too. I'm bad with terms and theory.
Practice is very important. Simple thinking of what you do and why do you do it is the point and key to mindfullness. Well, it worked in my case. And also a think that yoga practice may be extremely helpful. it is very important to keep your spine healthy and agile.
I think that pragmatical dharma and healthy scepticism itself are very useful approach to practice.

I'm confused as to wheteher or not you meant this as a general questions or you were just posting to stir discussion. I'd be more than happy to discuss with you about meditation....

Anyways, as to your "I'm a bad meditator" comment.... what is a 'good' meditator? I hate to sound cliche but there really is no 'good' or 'bad' meditator. The point of meditation is to experience the mind at such a fresh, and first-hand experience that you really get to know the mind. And I mean really get to know it. It sounds like you know what you're doing for the most part. I know when I first started I wanted all the guidance I could get... but in reality, the best guidance turned out to be all the people telling me to just 'sit and meditate'-- you'll find so much that way. Give it time though. Remember; your mind/reality don't exist under the same rules as media and consumerism; things don't happen quickly and when you want them to. They'll happen when 'they' are ready to happen, last for as long as the condition allows for, and vanish when those conditions vanish.

May you keep on your earnest path of meditation emoticon
Thanks for your commitment.
P.S.: oh, and welcome to the Dharma Overground.

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