Introduction Many people are interested in learning how they can increase their sitting time. They ask: Bhante, what kind of exercises can I do? What stretches can I do in order to sit longer? Actually, the main reason you can’t sit for long periods is not because of the body. Instead, it’s because you don’t have concentration. The problem is not the posture — the problem is the mind. You need to focus on the quality of concentration, rather than how long you can sit. This is the most important thing. When you have concentration, you will naturally be able to sit longer and longer. To prove the point, how long can you sit in a chair meditating compared to how long you can sit in a chair watching a movie or doing your desk work? You can probably sit longer at a desk because you are focusing your mind.

Training the Mind to not notice things: It seems strange that mindfulness would be used to not notice things. However, there’s a famous psychological experiment—one that’s only 1 minute and 21 seconds long—that has surprised people for years. I won’t spoil it for you, but if you haven’t seen it yet, watch it first and let me know how many times the ball was passed by the players wearing the white shirts:

Accused of Being Psychic A brief video describing this story has been added to this post below. The longer story is below that. I think it was in 2003 or 2004 when I was at Pa-Auk Meditation Center when this event happened to me. I was at the mountain meditation hall during the meditation break and I saw a yogi dressed in white yogi clothes. His outfit basically looked like pajamas to most Westerners, but if you know the meditation scene and you know how the foreigners usually dress at Pa-Auk, then you would know that he was a serious yogi. He was wearing the white yogi clothes and it was clear that he has been to other meditation places. Pa-Auk was not his first stop of on his spiritual journey.

These days, the lockdowns are in full swing. The question is, “What do you do with your time?” Perhaps you are out of work, or retired like my parents. What do you do? As a monk, lockdowns or “stay at home” orders are not much of a big deal unless a medical problem arises. Since April, we have been on a more serious lockdown to the point where it has affected the food variety to mostly long shelf-life food items. The monastery built a fence and gate to keep people out at the entrance, yet, 6 months later, I have yet to walk over to the boundary to see what it looks like. It does not bother me to be confined to a small area and it comes with monk qualities.

This video is an instruction on how to practice loving-kindness meditation. The simplest way is to repeat the Loving-Kindness phrases (mantras). The discussion goes into the details. I hope you enjoy this. May you be happy! May you be happy! May you be happy! https://youtu.be/GLDYNRdDKCE Repeat “May I be happy” over and over again (in your mind) until the timer goes off. Repeat “May you be happy” over and over again (in your mind) until the timer goes off.

Downloaded from https://www.needpix.com Interview 1 of 2 Note: Some edits have been made afterwards to make things clear or to protect the anonymity of people. I am sitting here now with one anonymous monk. He has sat for more than 24 hours in 4th jhāna and I wanted to interview him anonymously to inspire others. So we are here with Bhante (Note: All monks can be called “Bhante”). I want to ask a few questions. First is…. You are quite senior and I don’t think you were successful before in meditation. So what did you do in your early years? Did you study? Did you do try meditation, and what type of meditation did you do before to prepare for this? Are you fluent in Pāḷi? Can you elaborate on this?

![Thumbnail](/images/Thumbnail-finger.webp" >}} Last week I taught Fingernail Meditation. This is where one uses the fingernail(s) as a subject of meditation. Although this has probably never been taught before by anyone as a standalone meditation subject, it is a subsection of a meditation instruction that all monks are given on their ordination day. That is called, “The First Five Body Parts,” Yes, it is that well known, but rarely ever or even never taught. However, you might think, “Only a subsection, why not practice the whole thing?”

The Seeds From Long Ago I remember when I first learned how to meditate on my breath some time in 1990, during my university years. Back then, meditation was not so well known. The beat generation’s Zen trend in the 60’s had died out with disco in the 70’s. Barnes and Noble maybe had only a few shelves in a single bookcase labeled with “Eastern Philosophy” that covered all Eastern religions, including Buddhism. Ram Das’s cryptic book, Be Here Now was the only book I had read prior to reading my World Religions book, which had included a chapter on Buddhism for a class I took. It was different in the early 90’s. There wasn’t a world wide web, Google or even Yahoo. We didn’t have Idiot or Dummy books back then either. While there were books out there, you really had to explore a subculture, and you had to know someone in order to know what the subcultures were and where to find them.

mp3 Dhamma Talk September 2, 2018 Another mp3 recording of a happy Guided meditation and discussion at Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii. Expect about 35 minutes discussion, 40 minutes of guided meditation. Topics included discussion on samadhi, chanting of the loving-kindness sutta, anapana guided meditation, loving-kindness guided meditation. For those who missed it and want to hear, here it is. It is best to use head/ear-phones to improve clarity. 128 kb/s You may download the MP3 here

If there was a book that had all of the Secret Teachings of Theravāda, The Path of Purification (The Visuddhimagga) would be that book. It explains all the good stuff, like how to attain samādhi concentration; how to attain psychic powers including knowing and seeing the past lives. Lastly, it includes the stages of insight and wisdom that one needs to reach Nibbāna. Books do not get more complete than this. You can read a free and condensed version called Knowing and Seeing by The Most Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadawgyi who teaches this exact method based on The Path of Purification.

The Concept in Breath Meditation The concept of the breath as it is used in meditation is not well understood. We will discuss this matter in this small article. There are many methods concerned with the breath, but The Ancient Theravāda Commentaries say that one should focus at one area above the upper lip and at the exit of the nostrils. However, if one just limited himself to that one single method, things can still get complicated.

Is the light a Nimitta and when should one look at it? When one practices meditation based on the breath, it is possible for the light to come and when that happens and it is stable one can use that light to enter samadhi absorption concentration. However, one should know when to look at the light and when not to look at the light. It is very important to know this difference because progress can stop. A long time ago, many teachers were telling their students to never look at the light. The teachers were not very developed and it was passed down from one teacher to another. Somewhere down the line, an experienced teacher gave the proper instruction of “not looking at the light” to someone who was not ready yet. This is proper, but if he had gone further and developed, he could have finally received the instructions to look at the light later on. So it was passed down from lay teacher to lay teacher and that was the general instruction long ago. That has changed, and now there is a push to look at the light as soon as it comes to the meditation yogi even though it is not stable yet. Ths can give little “highs"even if one is not ready, but that is not the way to practice and development will be hindered.

A Tale of Love and Samādhi Explained: A’capella Inertia A little Valentines story for all of you. The topside title is just a description of what the story is generally about. However, the real title of the story is called, “A’capella Inertia.” This is not a short one, but I think you will like this one very much. It has received high marks and it will take about 30 minutes to read. Those who have successfully subscribed to the blog should already have this formatted story in their email inbox for offline reading. Written in my verbose yet lucid story telling style with a few usual side tracks in between, it tells the story of the first time I fell in love while the end of the story explains why I have decided to write it down as a monk for the general public. In short, there are similar meditation experiences that one can have like the one mentioned in this story. However, this particular “meditative” experience does not happen often no matter how hard you try. You just sort of “fall” into it. Meditation is recommended instead because it is more reliable, sustainable, repeatable, and perhaps, easier to live with. So, here is the story.

Update Aug 5: I am back at Varansi Monastery , Mingaladone as pictured. This is a general update. There are many sublinks to look at. Enjoy! I have passed all of my exams and finished my Diploma Course at ITBMU and have elected not to continue further. I wish to do meditation and if I study, want to focus on Pali and the memorization of the 45 page Patimokkha rules in Pali. Both are going slow for me, but progress is chugging along.

Download Free A4 format PDF Download Free A5 format PDF Tutorial on How to Sit Many times I have given advice to yogis on how to sit properly and I have received raving success. In fact, I asked one fellow student to model for the pictures you will see in this article and he was absolutely amazed at how comfortable he was as soon as he sat down. He spoke loudly with joy and excitement as soon as he was seated in the Samādhi-Sausage, which prompted other people to peek inside the room to see what all of the commotion was about. This document is long. The short answer is to roll up a blanket and curve it around your body as shown below. However, the rest of the document gives a full explanation on how it works so you are able to make the perfect seat, sit in it properly, and modify it for your own needs. (Note: The shirt was raised up and tied to reveal his posture and it is not normal for him to be like that!)