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YogaIsLife
641 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 09 2009 : 3:10:46 PM
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Hi. Anyone ever tried meditation on a visualised object? Say for example a round orange/red ball, or a cross, etc.
It works the same as the mantra but instead of a sound it is an image in our mind's eye. It can be coloured (colour has an effect on one's energy field) or "black and white".
Would you think the effects of this type of meditation will vary a lot from the effects of the mantra? And if so, in what way? What would you personally prefer?
Thanking you,
Helder |
Edited by - YogaIsLife on Nov 12 2009 12:35:23 PM |
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Konchok Ösel Dorje
USA
545 Posts |
Posted - Nov 09 2009 : 11:31:47 PM
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| similar, it's called "kasina." very wonderful |
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Tibetan_Ice
Canada
758 Posts |
Posted - Nov 10 2009 : 12:15:19 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by YogaIsLife
...
Would you think the effects of this type of meditation will vary a lot from the effects of the mantra? And if so, in what way? What would you personally prefer?
Hi YogaIsLife :)
There are many kinds of meditation. Some meditations, like mantra repetition of the TM type and others use the mantra to guide the mind into silence. The technique helps the mind calm down, relax, produce fewer and fewer thoughts until finally you reach silence. There is no great effort, just relaxation and everthing is easy and light. Characteristic of that style of mantra meditation is letting go of the mantra, letting it become fainter and finer until it simply carries you away to stillness.
Other types of meditation are concentrative. That is, you put willpower, attention and persistence into focusing continually on one object, be it a candle flame, a flower, an image, or a visualization such as you have described. You can do this with your eyes open or closed. Sometimes it is refered to as 'gazing'. During concentrative meditation, typically, there is a progression of mind states such as: the gathering of attention, the focusing of attention, single pointed attention where the attention does not wander, meditation where the subject (you) and the object are rapidly becoming one and other thoughts are dropping away, and finally you hit a state of samadhi, where the subject and the object have merged, stilling the mind and producing higher states of jhanas (degrees of samadhi).
The type of visualization that you suggest would not be similar to mantra meditation conventionally speaking, because the common intrinsic characteristic of a mantra is repetition. That is, it starts and stops and then starts again etc. Visualization meditation is training your attention in 'consecutive attention' with no breaks.
You can also treat the mantra like an object and focus intensely on the mantra itself. It helps if you stretch the mantra out for a longer period of time, like 10 or 20 seconds, however, eventually, the mantra (by definition) has to stop and start again. This introduces a gap so it is not continual attention.
Or, if you really put a lot of effort into a long complex mantra and repeat it with lots of intention, enthusiasm, intensity, eventually your mind will give up and shut down producing stillness or samadhi. This method ignores all the gaps but the gaps are still there..
You have to ask yourself, what is the purpose of meditation? Are you training your attention? Are you aiming to still the mind? Are you trying to enter samadhi? Trying to find God or realize your true nature? Some people may suggest that silence and samadhi are the same, in which case both methods of meditation bring you to the same place. But it is important to have a particular goal in mind and know it before you sit. I know this little book on Buddhist meditation says that there is nothing to do, no goals, no nothing. You just relax, and sit. Eventually it all happens by itself.. :0
Once, during a meditation in which I was more focused on form than letting go, I was repeating the "I AM" mantra and really stretching it out for a long time; each repetition was over 20 seconds. I think out of frustration more than anything, I decided to just focus on the "I" part. I just kept at it and kept at it. All of a sudden, everything except the "I" (which I was visualizing at the same time as mentally sounding it) went black. Then this golden yellow light surrounded the vision of the "I" and I went off into some state, I'm not sure how long. I don't even know where I was or what happened after that for a while. But the next day, I noticed that some continual back and leg pains I was having had disappeared, so I assume that I hit some kind of samadhi and it helped to effect a minor healing of sorts..
I prefer the concentrative form of meditation but if I do it too often, like trying to do that twice a day everyday for a regular routine, my mind starts to rebel. :)
:)
TI
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YogaIsLife
641 Posts |
Posted - Nov 10 2009 : 4:29:08 PM
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Yes, thanks Osel and TI.
Osel you are a warrior of light my friend  I am happy you are here. So, it has a name and it is described in Buddhism? Wonderful, I didn't know that! I was taught as part of a healing course but indeed it is the same as kasina. In my case I was taught to visualise a round orange/red ball. I intuitively identified with it and can visualise it (i.e. have the clear "essence" of it in my mind) effortlessly, even before he explained me how it looked like. It can be seen as the sun, but its meaning is not important at all. It's power lies in its essence. Actually the colour itself is very healing, and it functions the same way as the mantra in meditation in that it is effortlessly acknowledged and returned to. It is quite powerful and pleaseant I find.
I was taught to do it only once daily, mornings, for about 20min. But I was wondering if it can be done twice daily? It is a powerful meditation (at least for me, but I am sensitive) so I wonder if that is why these are the suggestions. I follow them for now and see. I also guess different colours coudl also be more appropriate for other people/situations. This particular symbol/colour seems to be a good all-around and long term (i.e. life long) symbol. I can understand why actually.
You suggest an interesting exercise TI, although slightly superfulous in my view of things: why do we meditate? I could enumerate here the reasons but my intuition knows already, and words woudl just complicate things 
quote:
The type of visualization that you suggest would not be similar to mantra meditation conventionally speaking, because the common intrinsic characteristic of a mantra is repetition. That is, it starts and stops and then starts again etc. Visualization meditation is training your attention in 'consecutive attention' with no breaks.
I think you might be right here, that seems like a difference between the two. A mantra is a sound and, as such, has a beginning and an ending. A viewed object, on the other hand, is something, at least as I perceive it in meditation, that is always there present, even if we are not focusing or clearly aware of it, effortlessly present. No need to "start it" or "end it". In that sense this type of meditation could be more effortless. Interesting. Thank you to both. |
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Colour/Symbol meditation
