Zen Buddhism

[Gemini]

I've done Vipassana off and on, which is pretty similar to zen.

[LivingNumbers6.626]

The closest I get to meditation is sleep.

Unless yoga counts.

Yoga I suppose is a way of mindfulness. It focuses on diaphragmatic breathing right? I don't know anything about it.

[brewer]

I meditate when pulling lint out of my navel. Is mindfulness my contemplation of how the particular lint color(s) came to be?

[LivingNumbers6.626]

I've done Vipassana off and on, which is pretty similar to zen.

I've heard of it. How did you like it? And what made it difficult to stay engaged? Just wondering...
Mine is time and terrible excuses and lack of people who wont turn meditation into some concrete religious path.

[emjay]

Yep. Not religiously... pardon the pun... but sometimes.

Yeah me neither. I tried to get into a meditation group but it started to become religious and uncomfortable. Phrase like "expanding consciousness," "we are all god and god is us," and then some really like the SRF (Self Realization Fellowship)...and then half of them believed in conspiracies and literal aliens and inter planetary communication. Grrrr. haha. I'm like...anyone here to meditate because you're stressed out or need some quiet time? 

I've never been to anything like that... nothing with the superstitious/religious side of Buddhism... as far as I'm concerned that's just added on baggage from other religions and not part of the core teachings of Buddhism... which have no gods. A few weeks ago I went to a Buddhist Temple but it still wasn't like that... just some chanting which just sounded nice and was kind of hypnotic for me but didn't mean anything to me other than something else to focus on for meditation, a long meditation, then a recorded talk just about the basically the basics of Buddhism, then more chanting but this time in English... which was quite interesting because what they were saying in English was just all about wellbeing and stuff like that... the last thing I'd expect a chant to consist of. Anyway I don't know where I'd be without it... meditation and mindfulness... to the extent that I do it... it just calms me down and gives me a different perspective on things when I need it 

[account_inactive]

I don't know much about it. I used to know a guy who would talk about it and outer body experiences. Sounded like he had taken a shit ton of drugs, to be honest.

[emjay]

I don't know much about it. I used to know a guy who would talk about it and outer body experiences. Sounded like he had taken a shit ton of drugs, to be honest.

It's not all like that... that sounds like deep meditation and something that would take years of practice to master. I'm not particularly skilled at it... it's very mundane for me... but I still find it very helpful even though I've never experienced anything remotely 'transcendent' in it... and probably never will because I don't do it often enough.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Mindfulness is something I practice in everyday life as part of my recovery from alcoholism ... when I find myself with a bad flow of emotions, I start observing the flow, chase it upstream until I find the problem, and then address it so that my day doesn't go to shit and trigger a drinking urge.

I don't formally meditate, but often playing my guitar induces a similar mental state.

[account_inactive]

I don't know much about it. I used to know a guy who would talk about it and outer body experiences. Sounded like he had taken a shit ton of drugs, to be honest.

It's not all like that... that sounds like deep meditation and something that would take years of practice to master. I'm not particularly skilled at it... it's very mundane for me... but I still find it very helpful even though I've never experienced anything remotely 'transcendent' in it... and probably never will because I don't do it often enough.

He would say things about a third eye and things like that. I just recall him talking about Zen and a third eye (some gland in your brain, apparently) and outer body experiences.

It was strange, but he was a nice enough guy. Just a little "out there", as they say.

[emjay]

Mindfulness is something I practice in everyday life as part of my recovery from alcoholism ... when I find myself with a bad flow of emotions, I start observing the flow, chase it upstream until I find the problem, and then address it so that my day doesn't go to shit and trigger a drinking urge.

I don't formally meditate, but often playing my guitar induces a similar mental state.

I really admire you for doing that... I wish I had that much resolve because I've got a lot of addictions but have never tried mindfulness/urge-surfing as a means to beat them.