In the innocence of my not so innocent youth I started doing TM at age 22 and did it daily and faithfully for 14 yrs. Anyone who has done TM for any length of time comes to realize that the "mantra" eventually disappears or dissolves and you are left simply "sitting". After a few more yrs the practice morphed, quite naturally it seemed, into a simple "sit" style of meditation that naturally formalized into my current practice of silent illumination. All this transpired without intention (intention in the conventional sense ;). I love Silent Illumination and to me it feels like home.
Recommend beginning at the excellent description starting at 30:00. This is the best concise description of Silent Illumination that I’ve found. The Q&A session follows at 1:05:28. You can watch him performing Silent Illumination starting at 6:29. All that happens for the first six minutes is switching over to a working microphone.
Thank You Bhante! This was what I did when I sat for the first time and it was a profound experience, I honestly thought I would die because the thought of being quiet for 90 minutes was just so scary so I just accepted that and thought if I didn't focus on the present I would stand no chance. It was the beginning of sitting practice in my life. It means quite a lot to me that you are talking about this in the robes of Theravada! I have been seeking the connections! ;)
This is so inspiring! Sorry for many comments/ papanca! It's been a tremendous priviledge and gift to listen to your offerings of dhamma during lockdown. Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu!
Doing nothing is doing something; not grasping at anything is grasping something. As a way of contextualizing Silent Illumination (mozhao), here's a talk by teacher GuoGu, one of the authorities on this practice in the Chan Buddhist tradition: ruclips.net/video/E100dhUs68M/видео.html
I like a description I read that compares the "effort" to a deer grazing in an open field but the attention is always a constant alert awareness of potential danger coming from a predator (thought) hidden behind the tree line ready to pounce. Or like a cat watching a mouse hole.
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In the innocence of my not so innocent youth I started doing TM at age 22 and did it daily and faithfully for 14 yrs. Anyone who has done TM for any length of time comes to realize that the "mantra" eventually disappears or dissolves and you are left simply "sitting". After a few more yrs the practice morphed, quite naturally it seemed, into a simple "sit" style of meditation that naturally formalized into my current practice of silent illumination. All this transpired without intention (intention in the conventional sense ;). I love Silent Illumination and to me it feels like home.
Recommend beginning at the excellent description starting at 30:00.
This is the best concise description of Silent Illumination that I’ve found.
The Q&A session follows at 1:05:28.
You can watch him performing Silent Illumination starting at 6:29.
All that happens for the first six minutes is switching over to a working microphone.
Gratitude and thanks to you Bhante🙏🙏🌺
Thank you Bhante for this silent meditation🙏👏😀
Thank you for discussing this and it’s relationship to animitta samadhi 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Thank You Bhante! This was what I did when I sat for the first time and it was a profound experience, I honestly thought I would die because the thought of being quiet for 90 minutes was just so scary so I just accepted that and thought if I didn't focus on the present I would stand no chance. It was the beginning of sitting practice in my life. It means quite a lot to me that you are talking about this in the robes of Theravada! I have been seeking the connections! ;)
I have had trouble practicing it, even though it seems I was spot on the first 4 times years ago.
Very useful talk. Thank you Bhante Suddhaso 🙏🙏🙏
This is so inspiring! Sorry for many comments/ papanca! It's been a tremendous priviledge and gift to listen to your offerings of dhamma during lockdown. Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu!
Doing nothing is doing something; not grasping at anything is grasping something. As a way of contextualizing Silent Illumination (mozhao), here's a talk by teacher GuoGu, one of the authorities on this practice in the Chan Buddhist tradition: ruclips.net/video/E100dhUs68M/видео.html
Q & A very good too! 🙏🙏🙏
🙏🙏😀👏🌺
Do you think silent illumination is a particularly high effort meditation and best done as if one is about to die?
I like a description I read that compares the "effort" to a deer grazing in an open field but the attention is always a constant alert awareness of potential danger coming from a predator (thought) hidden behind the tree line ready to pounce. Or like a cat watching a mouse hole.
Is this meditation equivalent to the "Mu" koan?