Reply #30: the trick is to just meditate for 10 minutes a day the first 30 days..then

[sam sarrha]

you can do longer, i do it while standing in line at the store, and there is Tonglin to do for all the unhappy people you run into.. Pema Chodron is the major teacher of that.

i do the '4 Immeasurable' a lot.. when i see people suffering.. or i am gravitating or unhappy

may all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness

may all beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering

may all beings never be separated from the happiness that knows no suffering

may all beings live in equanimity free of anger, aversion and grasping that causes us to hold some beings near and others distant

when ever i fill a glass with water, use water handle food, any thing that others in the world need and dont have, i say that or snap my thumb with my ring finger of my left hand.. it is a Tibetan thing.

it is best to have a teacher,.. see if there is an insight meditation group, Shambhalla Group, a Tibetan Center around, where are you.. i am pretty good at finding them.. it there is a yoga center around they may help you find one.. tho the Yoga center here in Jackson TN charges $10 a session.
the Unitarian Universalists have Buddhist group associated with them, i believe it is Zen. i dont really identify with the Zen process, it is usually not proper to Diss other groups but.. stay away from SGI and NKT,

go to http://www.buddhanet.net they have a nice Meditation Video and instruction and course in Buddhism, and usually some Mp3 and down loadable lectures.. jack Kornfield, sharon salsburg usually have some teachings there.

meditation is compared to learning to play a musical instrument, you need a teacher.. you have to practice every day... and it takes about as long to learn.. about a year. some sooner and some later, but we all need to start where we are.

Buddhism is based on the 'Four Noble Truths'.. the forth being the Noble 8 fold path. it is important to understand even if you dont want to become a Buddhist. the 8 fold path or the Middle Way is a life style designed to keep you from acquiring more bad karma while you are working on getting rid of what you already have. it will keep you from getting distracted from your meditation.. your conventional mind will do whatever it possibly can to keep control of your life.. it knows it is on the way out and will fight to the death.. but it never really dies, you are not going to get rid of it.. i believe it is just part of being human.

here is how i see it, the conventional mind is based on the illusion of the 'Self', the self does not exist and is the source of all suffering, it is the chain that binds us to Samsara, the world of suffering. but the chain is also in the Tarot card in the Devil card, there are 2 figures chained to the thrown of the Devil.. one chain is gold and one lead, one is being bound by the illusion of good, like believing a gOD can save you and the other the illusion that earthly things bring happiness. both chains bind the characters with large nooses.. that can be easily cast off. but they are trapped by the illusion, not any actual bindings.

it is like the Lakota story of Jumping Mouse,.. i see todays version as the mind constantly controlling the consciousness like a blaring AM radio slowly and constantly being tuned across the channels and back again.. one blaring thought to the next.. and every once and a while you hear a beautiful peaceful sound.. then it is gone.. the more you listen it for it the more you notice it.. with proper practice you can tune out the AM and be one with the beautiful music...

the Buddhists say that one just tries it and if it works there is more to learn.. if it doesn't work, well life goes on... you are not sent to hell, you dont burn forever.. there were lots of people at the Chenrezig Center that practiced Buddhism and weren't Buddhists nor wanted to be one, many were practicing Christians.. but it worked for them.

with a little practice you will start to name the mental interruptions to watching the breath, anger, guilt, ..Thinking..the usual, and then let them go. after a while you will see those distractions in your waking day..and let go of them just as easily.. you start to see them coming and begin not to associate emotions with words images or thoughts. emotions become pure experiences, not negative pollutants to thoughts that cause biochemical cascades that disturb the body also..which can become very addicting. withdrawn from habitual behaviors is a factor in the difficulty of meditating.. things sometime get worse before they get better.. as Pema says, once you calm the pool and the water begins to clear, you begin to see all the skeletons and garbage down there.. that is what kept me from quitting drinking so long.. the shame of what i did all those years being drunk, wasting half my Precious Human Life.. meditation sorta washed the emotion of shame away and i could deal with the NOW of addiction, and learning to let go of the grasping of thoughts helped me to let go of grasping of the desire to drink... that broke the cycle of addiction and i have not had even one craving after the first month of meditation.

well i have rambled enough.. i will try to get the audio teaching of that Australian Nun.. she is really great.. there is what is called the Monkey Mind.. it jumps form one thing to the other never getting anything done.. she has a teaching called the 'Junkie Mind' she was an addict before becoming a nun and has a wonderful perspective.

later.. Sam