Meditation AdelaideI live in Adelaide and have been practicing Buddhist meditation techniques for six years. I meditate with the Meditation in Adelaide. Spirituality has always played a major part in my life and I have studied Buddhism since 1996. I attend meditation classes, day courses and retreats on a regular basis. I practice the Guru Yoga of Je Tsongkhapa. This site revolves around the city of Adelaide, South Australia. You can see Adelaide Meditation events at my links page, these revolve around Buddhist Meditation. I have written down a few true stories about my life experiences that I often use to inspire myself during meditation classes. It is important to use personalised events in order to make one’s own meditation work. I have changed the names of people in the stories. So, what is meditation?The answer to this can get quite confusing as people’s perception of meditation depends on their cultural background and life experiences. There are also many New Age techniques that often confuse - it is difficult to find a technique that is authentic. Many people associate meditation with relaxation - a simple process of not thinking and emptying our mind. There are many relaxation techniques and relaxation is a part of meditation but is not in itself meditation. Meditation is any process where one focuses ones attention on a virtuous object.This may not may make sense as we can get confused as to what a virtuous object is. This also has many connotations depending upon which spiritual path a person follows or has been exposed to. A virtuous object can be defined as any object that brings the mind to a state of peace. A virtuous object cannot be the cause of suffering. Again, I stress that this definition comes from a Buddhist perspective.
So essentially, relaxation techniques and meditation techniques do have some similar experiences, in that there is an experience of joy. But relaxation techniques, or even yoga, do not necessarily focus on a virtuous object. But, this said, if meditation is a mind that focuses on a virtuous object, then it is actually a state of mind and not something we do. We do not necessarily have to be sitting on the floor to meditate. So, if a person is doing an activity while focusing on a virtuous object, then it can be said that they are in a state of meditation.
The problem that we face is that we are generally not skilled at doing two things simultaneously. When we first learn to meditate it is recommended that we train our mind while sitting in silence. We can then eventually learn to meditate in any situation while doing any activity. But this can take a long time and requires practice through formal sit down meditation. My basic meditation techniqueconsists of 21 meditations which are referred to as the Lamrim. Lamrim can be roughly translated as “Lamp for the stages of the path to enlightenment”. These are described in “The New Meditation Handbook” written by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. A brief description is given here:
“The New Meditation Handbook is a practical guide to meditation. It teaches us how to make both ourself and others happy. Although we wish to be happy all the time, we do not know how to be, and because of this we usually destroy the happiness we have by developing anger and other delusions. As the Buddhist Master Shantideva says
... although they wish for happiness, Out of ignorance they destroy it like a foe.”
It is recommended to practice formal sit down meditation at least twice a day (morning and evening) in order to gain the benefits of meditation. The amount of time spent depends on ones own abilities and, as a beginner, it is recommended to start with 5 to 10 minutes per session. This will definitely begin to calm the mind and bring inner peace. A great way of increasing ones experience is to attend meditation day courses and retreats. Very rapid progress can be made during retreats as many distractions are removed during these retreats, this allows us to focus our attention on the object of meditation. |
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