What is the "best" method in meditation for enlightenment?

[iTommy]

Hey folks! This is a question I've been asking myself for a while now. As I understand there is no best method, but still I am trying to figure out how to combine meditation with self-inquiry in a way that both fit together smoothly towards having the realisation of enlightenment. I meditate with contemplation twice a day.

Here is what I currently tend to do.

- I set a timer for 30+ minutes (I am working on having longer sessions) and I sit down closing my eyes. I like to meditate in complete silence even though I suspect having tinnitus, so I am not even near complete silence at all since there is a ringing noise which seems to be quite noticeable once I am having a meditation session. 

- Once started, I take four deep breaths, in through the nose and out through my mouth. At times I hold the breath for 5 seconds and exhale for 7 or 8 seconds. I might do this during the meditation too at times.

- After this I tell myself, "Become fully aware right now. Become aware of the present moment." Here I scan the body and I become more aware of feelings, sensations & thoughts. I sit with this a few seconds before telling myself, "We're trying to find formlessness. It's not hidden, in fact you're so close to "it" that you need to soften your focus. We're searching for something that is always there regardless of what you perceive and feel. 

- Then, I am using the Neti Neti method mixed with mindfulness. Basically I go in my mind, "iiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIII..." what is this "iiIIIII?" Here the voice comes in and says things like, "You're (I am) the body. You're the brain. You're awareness. You're a perceiver - and so on...", but then I try to "logically" disprove this by taking the components apart. Such as... "Wait... this voice is it me? No, it can't be because it always changes. Wait a minute... there is this feeling and the thought that there is an entity sitting here meditating, but am I a feeling and thought? Hmm... those always change. The body dies eventually and we're looking for something that can't die. So I can't be that." I have to admit that I am at times "half-assing" this process. 

During this I might say things in my mind like...

Become present. The now, is all there is.
Let go of trying to figure out things with the mind.
Let go of trying to control things.
Let go of thoughts, feelings, emotions, just let everything go.
Just be here, observe, let awareness wander wherever it wants to go.
There is nothing else to do.
There is nowhere else to be than here, in the now.
Surrender yourself completely, to what is. 
Just let go, surrender to reality, just be aware.

Relax. There is nothing to figure out, just be aware.

Soften your attention.

Let go of ideas and concepts, let go of "you".

Everything that is perceived is not you. It's content arising and "you" focusing on it.

 

This tends to ground me in some ways, but I also then tend to label perceptions. For example, I hear a bird, then in my mind I go, "Sound." I perceive that my leg hurts, I go "Bodily sensation." A thought is arising? I go, "Thought" in my mind. This right here might be conflicting, because on one hand you're supposed to surrender and leave the mind be, but simultaneously my focus at times is on labeling. In the beginning of the meditation/self-inquiry that's when I usually do this labeling thing, but after maybe 1/3rd into the session I just stop it to some degree and I go with just observing - yet also saying phrases like those above so I don't drift off in monkey mind.

This at times leads me to "states" where the heart startes beating rapidly and where the perceptions seem more sharp and me more sensitive to perceiving. It then feels at times like the mind just can't really support the "I" concept, since it's rather a belief, thought and a feeling, so it kinda seems to be more open to other possiblities. But those again are just feelings, thoughts and perceptions.

 

- The alarm goes off. I open my eyes and continue with my day/night.

This is roughly what a session looks like for me. I've been looking for meditation regarding enlightement, but I mostly got guided visualisations which require focusing with the mind, maybe even more focusing than just repeating phrases now and then to ground yourself. People say that you should leave the mind alone, be present and just observe. Sure, the neti neti method isn't exactly "leaving the mind alone", yet it helps to break down the belief-structure of "I". Many guided meditations for enlightenment can be bought and are expensive, yet I don't really trust them so I thought I'd rather hear what you guys have to say .

 

What do you think is "the best" method regarding meditation when working towards enlightenment? What are your experiences with combining meditation & self-inquiry? What method do you find useful? If the method/process that I use is alright, is there something I could do better to improve it? Do you have any tips and pointers on how to meditate and do self-inquiry. Also... the picture isn't related to the topic. I wanted to check out the upload feature.

 

 

[AleksM]

@iTommy

I found that asking any type of questions, labeling anything, thinking about it.... is waste of time.

When the mind gets silent, questions disappear.

Read the posts below for some additional info.

 

 

 

[Danielle]

Your technique looks pretty good and it could produce great results, but I think that telling yourself to let go of everything etc does the opposite of what you're aiming for. 

I think it would be useful for you to completely surrender during your meditation, which actually means even not saying that you should let go. Just stop controlling anything in any way.

Also, this is like the 100x time I repeat this, but seriously strong determination sitting with self inquiry will be a game changer! There's a reason why it's so hard, it actually works 

[Girzo]

31 minutes ago, AleksM said:

I found that asking any type of questions, labeling anything, thinking about it.... is waste of time.

They may have their downsides, but there are also positives. Labeling for example is extremly useful when you are unable to have a clear mind, but don't want to stop meditation. Using it you can meditate for hours, even if you are a beginner. If you do enough labeling, eventually your mind will ponder over something that can't be labeled and get silent naturally.

[Shin]

You make it way too complicated, stop bullshitting yourself and do the following:

 

Meditation:

• You sit straight
• You close your eyes and focus on your breath
• DONE !

 

Self-Inquiry:

• You do it just after the meditation
• You focus on your most intimate sense of self/identity (thoughts, emotions, body and mind can't be it)
• DONE !

 

THAT'S IT !

Edited December 15, 2017 by Shin

[iTommy]

@AleksM Interesting reads, thank you for sharing! Hmm... I am still unsure about the asking questions part. Isn't it useful to counter beliefs using thought especcially when the mind still deep down thinks that I am the body or an entity? So that the mind after a while gives up trying to push its own preferred paradigm into the foreground and slowly starts opening up to "not knowing". 

[iTommy]

2 hours ago, Danielle said:

Also, this is like the 100x time I repeat this, but seriously strong determination sitting with self inquiry will be a game changer! There's a reason why it's so hard, it actually works 

I have to try this in the future. The mind already goes "Oh shit..." when thinking about it x)

[iTommy]

2 hours ago, Shin said:

You make it way too complicated, stop bullshitting yourself and do the following:

 

Meditation:

• You sit straight
• You close your eyes and focus on your breath
• DONE !

 

Self-Inquiry:

• You do it just after the meditation
• You focus on your most intimate sense of self/identity (thoughts, emotions, mind can't be it)
• DONE !

 

THAT'S IT !

True, self-inquiry is best done after meditation. I plan to make it a habit in the future to seperate both into their own sessions.

[krazzer]

@iTommy I don't think there is a 'best' method. Use whatever meditation practice resonates most with you, so the chances of you actually doing it are the highest.

[AleksM]

@iTommy

There are different methods. All roads lead to rome. Coming to rome in 20 years or in 1 year depends on the road. Leo has a different approach to it than me.

I used the methods when I was a beginner, it doesn't matter. But to make that kind of commitment you probably need some mystical experiences or a crisis to be insanely curious moving forward. The good thing is that you can create these kinds of experiences for yourself, they need to be a mind-fuck type of experiences, where your previous understanding of reality becomes useless.

Thinking leads to thinking. Awareness leads to awareness. Thoughts attract more thoughts. When thoughts are present, one is not able to go deep. Thoughts are the surface level of understanding.  When one has a lot of monkey mind, one can be aware of it but it is much easier to be aware when you don't have thoughts.

Changing beliefs is not that easy, you have to repeat these thoughts every day like affirmations. Also what you are is beyond beliefs, so adding existential beliefs to your mental constructs Will not lead you to the truth of your being, it Will just add more beliefs. Sure, it Will help, but it Will never get you to the zero point.  If a person doesn't meditate at all and is only repeating thoughts like "I am not the body, I am not the mind....", this Will just add beliefs based on faith, without any personal experience. Sure, faith is necessary but you need to go beyond that by collecting personal experiences that Will confirm that belief.

Sure, beliefs are important, best to work on both, but beliefs are only a map for the territory. One can never understand the territory by only looking at the map.

What you are really trying to do here with this non-duality work is to get a glimpse of your true self, the experience of your True Self, Being, Consciousness, Soul is a non-symbolic experience, an experience that goes beyond the senses.

So how does it actually look like when you are not being the body? Collect experiences.

The ultimate goal is to reprogram yourself by increasing the frequency of contact with the experience of this moment. It's not about increasing the frequency of certain thought patterns that Will get you there. The True Self is embodied when no thoughts are present. Thoughts create resistance in the body and so it becomes less conductive for the integration of consciousness.

Also opening up to "not knowing" is only a matter of being in a relaxed, non-reactive, non-judgemental, open minded state.

 

 

 

[WelcometoReality]

@iTommy

 

[iTommy]

@AleksM 

Ah I see... so basically just "looking" for yourself using only awareness? I've been doing that now and then, just trying to soften the focus of attention and just being aware, well and then looking for whatever I could be. The only concern I have here is that it will be very similar to mindfulness meditation practise and less self-inquiry - I am not sure if that's a bad thing though. The attention always catches objects, so when I am trying to soften the attention, the mind will automatically find something where it can rest its focus on, like the breath.

I tend to experiment with different approaches, at times I just let the mind wander wherever it wants, while trying to be aware of whatever the focus catches, and other times I am defocusing the attention - meaning that I am trying to not let the mind rest on objects. Not sure if it's the right way to go about it, because the focus is always on objects within reality and it seems impossible for the mind to not catch objects. 

 

What exactly would you recommend me doing during self-inquiry? Should I just sit there searching for the real "I" using awareness only - even though that will trigger thoughts, but then again paying no attention to them at all? 

[AleksM]

@iTommy

Stop searching for an I.

Be aware as much as possible. 

Self-inquiry and mindfulness meditation can go together.

Be aware of your deepest sense of self, without having a need to articulate it in symbolic expression for 1 month, every second with intensity.

 

[Nahm]

On 12/14/2017 at 2:54 PM, Shin said:

You make it way too complicated, stop bullshitting yourself and do the following:

 

Meditation:

• You sit straight
• You close your eyes and focus on your breath
• DONE !

 

Self-Inquiry:

• You do it just after the meditation
• You focus on your most intimate sense of self/identity (thoughts, emotions, body and mind can't be it)
• DONE !

 

THAT'S IT !

Just chiming in... - THIS!   

[pluto]

best method is no method, just be

[Azrael]

5-MeO-DMT

[iTommy]

14 hours ago, Azrael said:

5-MeO-DMT

If it only worked for me... I think not everyone gets something "enlightening" from it, and yes the dosage used was enough - even more than enough (overkill). Just like not everyone responds to weed in the same way. I might try it again in the future, maybe in a few years and see if anything changes.

[Faceless]

Only a religious mind 

 

 

[Joseph Maynor]

Simply do nothing.  Just be the Watcher, the observer.