Simple question about the Do Nothing meditation

[Pernani]

I've been doing this technique along with strong determination for 1hour recently (around 10 days ago)

the question is : is it okay to be lost in monkey mind while doing the technique and dropping all control ? 

Because that's like 80% of the session, only in the other 20% that there is some spontaneous awareness and mindfulness, I don't know if the monkey mind has some "purification" effect but it certainly feels like I'm just wasting my time.

so do I wait for the awareness to arise spontaneously or do I remain vigilant observing myself and turning this thing into a thought observing technique ?

[jwkspeck]

Detach being from doing.

Literally do nothing. Just be, consciously. I find it works best in conjunction with another practice like concentration or mindfulness so that there's a sort of contraction and release, akin to molding a mound of clay with your hands; sharpening the mind through disciplined direction, and then letting go to see how it has changed.

[Torkys]

Sit down, and just be there. 

If you are going wherever your monkey mind takes you 100%, you are identified with it, it's being the thinker. The Do Nothing technique is looking to decrease that percentage. 

It's okay to get lost at first, but by just being there, it should become apparent to you that you are not the mind. 

As for purification, it happens only when you are detached and letting an emotion play out. 

Keep doing the practice and you will get to awareness more often until it becomes effortless. 

[Vingger]

The thoughts of monkey mind can help you to return to stillness if you don't identify with them

[Pernani]

So I've been doing it wrong this whole time hahaha, thanks for the replies 

[Pernani]

I did the guided meditation from leo's vid and used that in my practice for one hour and holy shit at one point I think I've had access contration cause I sort of become my hands, I tried to merge with other objects but I couldn't shake off the feeling of being my hands.. it was weird

[mohdanas]

13 hours ago, Pernani said:

I've been doing this technique along with strong determination for 1hour recently (around 10 days ago)

the question is : is it okay to be lost in monkey mind while doing the technique and dropping all control ? 

Because that's like 80% of the session, only in the other 20% that there is some spontaneous awareness and mindfulness, I don't know if the monkey mind has some "purification" effect but it certainly feels like I'm just wasting my time.

so do I wait for the awareness to arise spontaneously or do I remain vigilant observing myself and turning this thing into a thought observing technique ?

Its just been 10 days, give it time and I think your doing it right. 

Thoughts will keep on coming, you cant change your years and years of thinking habits in 10 days,  as thoughts will come, notice them and let them go, just try not to start thinking and digging into them, let them come, watch them, observe them, and let them go. 

Bonus, I use to do that and some thoughts were super important for my life, a calling to myself that something is to be looked at, so I kept a pad with me, and often in the middle use to write them down and tell myself that I will look at them later, this helped me not to get those thoughts again and again. 

[Pernani]

3 hours ago, mohdanas said:

Its just been 10 days, give it time and I think your doing it right. 

Thoughts will keep on coming, you cant change your years and years of thinking habits in 10 days,  as thoughts will come, notice them and let them go, just try not to start thinking and digging into them, let them come, watch them, observe them, and let them go. 

Bonus, I use to do that and some thoughts were super important for my life, a calling to myself that something is to be looked at, so I kept a pad with me, and often in the middle use to write them down and tell myself that I will look at them later, this helped me not to get those thoughts again and again. 

I like that tip! You can't do it in the middle of a strong sitting though cause you have to keep yourself from moving 

[Psyche_92]

 

 

[mohdanas]

2 hours ago, Pernani said:

I like that tip! You can't do it in the middle of a strong sitting though cause you have to keep yourself from moving 

Yes, but majority of your thoughts will come initially  rather than later when you are deep in meditation. 

[dude]

I renamed my do nothing to do nothing and notice.  Because you still have to stay conscious while doing it other wise you will do it mechanically and that is bad.

[mohdanas]

9 minutes ago, dude said:

I renamed my do nothing to do nothing and notice.  Because you still have to stay conscious while doing it other wise you will do it mechanically and that is bad.

good thought

[Nahm]

@Pernani

https://sites.google.com/site/psychospiritualtools/Home/meditation-practices/self-inquiry

Do Nothing Meditation

Many respected spiritual traditions, including Buddhism and Hindu Advaita just to name two, claim that the highest state of spiritual communion is actually present in our minds at all times. And yet many meditation techniques focus on  creating some special state that wasn't there before the meditation, and which goes away at some point after the meditation. If the highest state is actually present all the time, shouldn't it be possible to simply notice it without inducing some change, or special state? 

That is exactly the purpose of the Do Nothing Meditation. This technique (which is really an un-technique) will allow you to contact the highest spiritual state without actually doing anything. Each time you notice an intention to control or direct your attention, give it up. 

1. There is no need to get into any particular posture, unless you feel like it.
2. Do not position your attention in any particular way.
3. Let whatever happens happen.
4. Any time you notice yourself doing anything intentionally, stop. 

Doing anything intentionally means something you can voluntarily control, and therefore can stop. 
If you cannot stop doing something, then it's not intentional, and therefore you don't need to try to stop doing it. 
So. Anything you can stop doing, stop doing. 

Some examples of things you can stop doing are:
* Intentionally thinking
* Trying to focus on something specific
* Trying to have equanimity
* Trying to keep track of what's going on
* Trying to meditate
Let go of doing anything like this.

5. Keep doing nothing for at least 10 minutes, or as long as you like.

CAUTIONS:
It may be difficult for some people to notice any difference between the Do Nothing meditation and gross "monkey mind," that is, the ceaseless, driven and fixated thoughts of the everyday neurotic mind. If this seems to be the case for you, it may be helpful to do a more structured technique

[deci belle]

Lots of good responses here.

hi Pernani~ just keep doing this for a long long time …a looooong time.

Quote

Because that's like 80% of the session, only in the other 20% that there is some spontaneous awareness and mindfulness, I don't know if the monkey mind has some "purification" effect but it certainly feels like I'm just wasting my time.

Monkey-mind is your own mind right now; that's not a problem at all (and especially in the beginning). Why? We need monkey-mind in order to have something specifically tailored to the individual to watch. It's called using the disease as the cure.

Stopping-thinking isn't about stopping the monkey-mind~ it's about developing an unbending intent to maintain a continuous subtle concentration for the purpose of 24/7 observation of mind. The reason we use the monkey-mind is simply because it's there. The point of beginners' rote meditation exercise isn't for the purpose of cessation as much as it is to practice activating the mind without dwelling on its contents.

You have already discovered that cessation is an impersonally spontaneous event; you don't do it. Someday sudden illumination will happen in exactly the same way— of its own accord. It is simply not you~ nor is it up to you. That's the shining mind. That mind IS you.

That's what watches without discrimination. Someday, that mind will see itself, and you will have ceased to exist, as of yore.

That is the real deal. That is authentic transcendent cessation of an entire world.

Don't give it a single thought~

A related old saying states that adepts aren't afraid of the monkey-mind, they're afraid of not noticing it.

 

 

 

ed note: typo, last line

 

Edited March 11, 2018 by deci belle