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reidmantra
United Arab Emirates
57 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 20 2015 : 7:53:22 PM
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Hello everyone! I have a few questions concerning DM practice. The first question is: 1. What does it mean to `favor the mantra' with our attention in meditation? 2. How is favoring the mantra different from focus or concentration on the mantra? 3. If I hear (spontaneously) the mantra in my mind and it comes and goes from my awareness, is this part of correct practice or am I missing something? 4. When I notice that I have no mantra and no thoughts do I immediately have to think the mantra again, or is it ok to just enjoy the silence for a few moments? 5. What does it mean to repeat (or think) the mantra effortlessly in meditation?
Thank you in advance for answering my questions. Any and all help from the members of this fantastic forum will be greatly appreciated! Namaste! |
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ak33
Canada
229 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2015 : 9:45:33 PM
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| I can answer some, not all of your questions, based on my experiences. Favouring the mantra does not mean drilling your attention in one place while trying to fend off thoughts/emotions. Aggression has no place in a meditation like this. Instead, you gently place your attention on the mantra, and when your mind wanders (which it will), bring it back, patiently. Rinse and repeat. This only answers your first two questions, the rest hopefully will be answered by others. |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2015 : 10:42:00 PM
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1. To favor something is to give preference to it. And to give preference to something implies that there is a choice between one thing and another. For instance, if you repeatedly favor vanilla over chocolate, vanilla becomes your favorite. Therefore, if you have a choice between the mantra and another thought stream, you can choose the mantra...easily. The act of favoring is easy. If it is difficult to choose the mantra, then you don't choose the mantra and allow the other objects/sensations/phenomena to hold your attention until it is easy to return to the mantra. Very simple.
2. "Focus" and "concentration" often carry connotations of unwavering attention, which is different from favoring. You will get lost in the process of easily favoring, so there's no need to keep a hard focus or concentration on the mantra. Actually, the magic comes from getting lost, and returning, because in that dynamic, the mantra is refined into stillness--thereby saturating your being with serenity.
3. Totally normal, totally natural. That is correct practice.
4. You easily favor the mantra. If you are absorbed in a no-thought state of silence with no mantra, and you become aware that you are there, you go to the mantra if it is easy. (The technique never changes, although the scenery does). 
5. "Effortlessly" means with no strain, force, or excessive tension. With effortlessness, there is finesse, fluidity, grace. There is solubility, expansiveness, resilience. There is love, calmness, exuberance. The list goes on and on...
Great questions! It's the simplest technique! |
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questions about mantra practice
