The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

General discussion of issues related to Theravada Meditation, e.g. meditation postures, developing a regular sitting practice, skillfully relating to difficulties and hindrances, etc.
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d.sullivan
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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by d.sullivan »

For various reasons (school being a big one), my practice has waned lately. It has bothered me a great deal, but I was so stressed with school I could never bring myself to meditate when there was homework to be done. I need to learn to re-organize my priorities, because in the long run I actually care about my practice more, but this is not always reflected in my actions.

In any case, it is the summer now and I want to get my practice back in order. I did this challenge a couple times in the past, and it worked very well. Since my experience has born this to be very skillful means, I'm back.

This week I wish to practice for half and hour each day. I would prefer this occur in the morning, but it is my first week back and I am going to be flexible. Next week perhaps I will require greater discipline.

Thank you, everyone here, for providing this space of encouragement. You are all my benefactors :thanks:
Every blade in the field,
Every leaf in the forest,
Lays down its life in its season,
As beautifully as it was taken up.

Thoreau.
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Ben
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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by Ben »

d.sullivan wrote:For various reasons (school being a big one), my practice has waned lately. It has bothered me a great deal, but I was so stressed with school I could never bring myself to meditate when there was homework to be done. I need to learn to re-organize my priorities, because in the long run I actually care about my practice more, but this is not always reflected in my actions.

In any case, it is the summer now and I want to get my practice back in order. I did this challenge a couple times in the past, and it worked very well. Since my experience has born this to be very skillful means, I'm back.

This week I wish to practice for half and hour each day. I would prefer this occur in the morning, but it is my first week back and I am going to be flexible. Next week perhaps I will require greater discipline.

Thank you, everyone here, for providing this space of encouragement. You are all my benefactors :thanks:
Wishing you all the very best!
:namaste:
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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d.sullivan
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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by d.sullivan »

Ben wrote:
Wishing you all the very best!
:namaste:
Thank you, Ben!

My first week was pretty successful. I shamefully admit to missing one day this week. I beat myself up pretty bad about it, but oh well. I think challenging myself to half an hour a day was a tiny bit much, and it made me less likely to hit the bench if I didn't feel I had a whole half hour free. All in all, I am actually pretty happy with my progress. I was surprised at how easily I have been able to concentrate considering how long it has been since I meditated regularly. That was a very pleasant surprise!

I am going to challenge myself to another week of sitting once a day, but I won't be as much of a stickler about the minimum time I need to sit. As long as I actually get to the cushion and stay there for at least 20 minutes or so, I will be happy. I'll check back at the end of the week to let you all know how it went.

:namaste:
Every blade in the field,
Every leaf in the forest,
Lays down its life in its season,
As beautifully as it was taken up.

Thoreau.
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NoMoreSnoozeBar
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Location: Virginia, USA

Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by NoMoreSnoozeBar »

Hello All,

I wanted to post here as I still persevere through the challenge of setting the foundation of my practice. My present goal is to sit for at least 30 minutes per day. I have accomplished this some after several days at 15 minutes then worked up to 30. I still let life and tiredness keep my away from the cushion when I know that I need to be there. I think I will aim to wake up before I need to and sit while everyone else is still asleep. This seems to be the most ideal time for me given the busyness and fullness of my evenings around the house.

With no teacher or local meditation classes, I am trying to gather my resources as much as possible, and I am thrilled to have found this forum.

Be well!

~Chris
Metta,

~Chris

:anjali:

Hitting the snooze bar of life may seem easier, but practicing toward awakening is a much better idea.

:thumbsup:
Feathers
Posts: 262
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:14 pm

Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by Feathers »

Hi!
I'm just starting out, and so far have been very undisciplined. Today is the first day of my new routine:

Every morning:
walking meditation four lengths of my room (mostly just to wake up). This is about 20 paces in total!
5 mins calm awareness (the very first stage described by Ajahn Brahm in Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond
Metta: all four phrases for me, then a circuit of the first phrase for people I'm meeting today
+ more metta as needed/as it develops
Another two lengths of the room (mostly to get some feeling back in my legs)

The metta sounds selfish, but it's recommended in the guide I'm following to start exclusively with yourself at first (interestingly Ajahn Brahm recommends the opposite as he says most of us find doing metta for ourselves the most difficult).

This is a pathetically small amount, but if I stick to it for a week it will be more discipline and consistency than I've ever managed before. I'm trying to be realistic.

Good luck to everyone in their practice :smile:
Last edited by Feathers on Sun Mar 17, 2013 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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James the Giant
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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by James the Giant »

Feathers wrote:Hi!
This is a pathetically small amount, but if I stick to it for a week it will be more discipline and consistency than I've ever managed before. I'm trying to be realistic.
Good work for being realistic! Even that small amount is nothing to be sneezed at. And good luck.
Then,
saturated with joy,
you will put an end to suffering and stress.
SN 9.11
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LonesomeYogurt
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Location: America

Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by LonesomeYogurt »

Feathers wrote:Another two lengths of the room (mostly to get some feeling back in my legs)
Hahaha good to know I'm not the only one who does that.

Good to see you're starting up a practice. Please let us all know how it's going.
Gain and loss, status and disgrace,
censure and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions among human beings are inconstant,
impermanent, subject to change.

Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don’t charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.

His welcoming and rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
do not exist.
- Lokavipatti Sutta

Stuff I write about things.
Feathers
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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by Feathers »

LonesomeYogurt wrote:
Feathers wrote:Another two lengths of the room (mostly to get some feeling back in my legs)
Hahaha good to know I'm not the only one who does that.

Good to see you're starting up a practice. Please let us all know how it's going.
Well it's . . . let's be honest, not really going :p It's been a horrible few weeks with deadline after deadline, but term is now over, so I am going to try and get started again. I have to admit, I have actually missed doing metta.
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Ben
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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by Ben »

Feathers wrote:
Well it's . . . let's be honest, not really going :p It's been a horrible few weeks with deadline after deadline, but term is now over, so I am going to try and get started again. I have to admit, I have actually missed doing metta.
The important thing is to not be too hard on yourself. Sometimes, the right conditions don't present themselves. The important thing is to keep on applying the effort. In time, greater opportunities will present themselves and take advantage of them when they occur.
Wishing you all the best,

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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Modus.Ponens
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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by Modus.Ponens »

Before you all, I make the strong resolution to meditate every day. :buddha1:
'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.' - Jhana Sutta
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Ben
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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by Ben »

Modus.Ponens wrote:Before you all, I make the strong resolution to meditate every day. :buddha1:
Well done on your adhitthana, MP.
I wish you every success!
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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Modus.Ponens
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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by Modus.Ponens »

Thank you Ben! :)

Just finished my meditation, even if it was short. Baby steps. :)
'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.' - Jhana Sutta
Feathers
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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by Feathers »

Right here we go again. My exams are over, I've had a few days' sleep, and the world in general is looking a little better. So the plan is 15mins morning, 15mins evening of sitting - starting with present moment awareness and hopefully getting to focus on the breath. I'll also chuck some metta in at some point, but starting out with those two 15mins . . . I've just downloaded the Insight Timer app, if anyone uses it and wants to add me . . . well my name is Deborah. Not sure how you actually find people :p
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Khalil Bodhi
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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by Khalil Bodhi »

Feathers wrote:Right here we go again. My exams are over, I've had a few days' sleep, and the world in general is looking a little better. So the plan is 15mins morning, 15mins evening of sitting - starting with present moment awareness and hopefully getting to focus on the breath. I'll also chuck some metta in at some point, but starting out with those two 15mins . . . I've just downloaded the Insight Timer app, if anyone uses it and wants to add me . . . well my name is Deborah. Not sure how you actually find people :p
Good job! I usually try to sit for 50 minute in the morning (between 4:30am and 5:30 am EST ) and around 35 minutes in the evening. I'll keep my eyes peeled and will make a group for the Dhamma Wheel Meditation challenge. :anjali:
To avoid all evil, to cultivate good, and to cleanse one's mind — this is the teaching of the Buddhas.
-Dhp. 183

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Reductor
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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge

Post by Reductor »

Hey all,

I downloaded that insight timer app, then searched for dhammawheel; KB has already made a group, so join up.

And I'm just putting this pledge out there: I'm going to renew my daily meditation practice in the simplest way possible, by meditating each day for no fewer than 10 minutes a day. Of course, I hope to grow that into something larger. As it is, though, I'll settle for this modest goal.

:anjali:
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