Sunday, March 22, 2009

Zen and Meditation

Did you reminisce your past and worry about your future so much that you couldn’t live at present and enjoy life? Did you feel so miserable and aimless that you couldn’t focus at the moment and achieve nothing? I did.

Zen tells us not to dwell on the unchanged past, not to worry about the unknown future, but to focus at the moment, the only thing we can control and make use of is today. It is crucial to live well today.

Sometimes we feel miserable and unfocused because we have too many illusory and wandering thoughts. Meditation is a practical way to obtain a peaceful and quiet mind. When the mind is tranquil, we will reach a state of relaxation or awareness, wisdom will naturally arise.

How to meditate?

  1. Wear loose, comfortable clothing, so that you can breathe easily and feel physically free.
  2. Find a quiet and relaxing place. It is essential to find a place without distractions and noisy appliances. If you want to play music, only silent and soothing music is allowable.
  3. Sit in a comfortable position. There are several leg positions, such as lotus position, half lotus position, and so on. I don’t follow this strictly. Sit in a way you feel comfortable, either on the floor or on the chair, keep your back straight, close your eyes and relax.
  4. Breathe deeply, slowly and evenly. Close your mouth, begin inhaling deeply and exhaling gently, put your attention on your breath. When your mind wanders, return your attention to the breath (or to the counting).
  5. Focus on one thing, i.e. the feeling of joy. When you breathe in, you think about joy, the joy of being alive, the joy of breathing, the joy of seeing, and the joy of hearing.
  6. Calm and clear the mind. Focus on your breath and your body, relax all your muscles. Get rid of all the wandering thoughts, have a pure and lucid mind.
  7. Set yourself a minimum time (at least ten to fifteen minutes) that you want to meditate and try to abide by the minimum.
  8. Be consistent. Meditate regularly, generate the automatic meditation response, try going to deep concentration each time, and within a week you'll start having deeper meditation.

Our life can be cluttered with material objects and stresses; meditation can bring us inner peace and bring us back to our true selves. Compose ourselves; our peace and serenity are untouched by the ups and downs of life.


If you like this post, you also like Becoming Enlightened: A Unique Program of Wisdom & Inspiration

15 comments:

Loomis said...

Great post :)

StocksHaven.com said...

I think this is where I need to be after the stress this market is causing me. lol

Revenanti said...

nice post.. needed to remove much stress and worries.. ^_^

Jade Meng said...

Hi, you all, thanks for visiting. Stress can really affect people, but we can let it go.

http://www.ehow.com/members/stevemar2-articles.html said...

Maybe I should try meditation as a way to relieve the stress I feel at work and the stress associated with losing money in my 401(k).

Natalina said...

Thank you so much for this. I've always been a fairly high strung person. Runs in my family. I need to find a way to relax, as I know the stress is affecting my health. I've bookmarked this page, and I'll try to learn how to just be present in the moment.

Jade Meng said...

Hydrohead and Natalia, thanks for your comments. I think women need stress relief program more because they have to juggle about a lot of things at the same time.

M Bell, MPA:HA said...

What a relaxing place to visit during a a busy day.

justsouknow1234 said...

Very GOOD POST!

Being and Quirkiness said...

No doubt meditation has beneficial effects, I am less convinced by the overall benefits of a Zen attitude.

Jade Meng said...

If we don't have desire, we don't have pain, that is Zen attitude. In some culture, people really define a passionate woman a bad woman.

In a forum, an American woman said someone continued slandering her, an Indian guy suggested her ignoring slanderer and believing in Karma. It is Zen attitude, too. I don't know it is good or bad.

V said...

J, well done!

Anonymous said...

Very useful advices. My meditation method is usually based on cigarettes:)I dont even know which one is worse? Smoking or being stressful, I think it is the time to listen your good suggestions:)

Unknown said...

THIS IS GOOD, I'MA TRY THIS LATA TOMORROW!!! THANXX!!

StocksHaven.com said...

Meditation is one thing I would love to be doing more of, sleep is one thing I would love to be doing all the time however unfortunately cannot. I think sleep is the best gift money can buy, really although its hardly ever the case.