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Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 9:21 pm
by rowyourboat
I have this problem that when I do Samatha meditation my thoughts or memories tend to get suppressed temporarily. It can become a problem at work, yet I want to do my Samatha as I feel it is important. Any ideas? :thinking:

Metta

Matheesha

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 12:36 am
by LonesomeYogurt
What exactly do you mean by suppressed?

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 1:46 am
by Hanzze
rowyourboat wrote:I have this problem that when I do Samatha meditation my thoughts or memories tend to get suppressed temporarily. It can become a problem at work, yet I want to do my Samatha as I feel it is important. Any ideas? :thinking:

Metta

Matheesha
What are you doing with your thoughts or memories that they tend to get suppressed temporarily?

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 2:21 am
by daverupa
In my experience, samatha results in more intentional thought-formation; thoughts aren't suppressed in a general way, they simply don't arise as randomly. It's like bullet-time in the mind, not vacuous like an infant's mind.

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 3:20 am
by Ben
Greetings Matheesha,

In your situation I would restrict the amount of time on samatha and spend more time on vipassana. I am not convinced that maintaining intense samatha is ideal outside of the seclusion of retreat.
kind regards,

Ben

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:15 am
by DAWN
rowyourboat wrote:I have this problem that when I do Samatha meditation my thoughts or memories tend to get suppressed temporarily. It can become a problem at work, yet I want to do my Samatha as I feel it is important. Any ideas? :thinking:

Metta

Matheesha
Me too, i forgot very fastly the past and dont think about future, my boss dont like it, he want me to anticipate the future, but i have not yet developped that iddhi :? ... I dont know how i could explain that i'ts not easy to get this king of iddhi... :shrug:

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:26 pm
by rowyourboat
LonesomeYogurt wrote:What exactly do you mean by suppressed?
I just tend to forget more, things which I should remember. I once forgot the words of a guided meditation which I knew very well. That was the most clear cut incident.

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:30 pm
by rowyourboat
Hanzze wrote: What are you doing with your thoughts or memories that they tend to get suppressed temporarily?
Usually mindfulness of the breath. I'm not doing anything specific with thoughts. When the samadhi builds up my mind sometimes goes blank, even after meditation. I wonder if generally I'm a bit of a lazy thinker or aren't aware intelligently ie not enough mindfulness and clear comprehension.

With metta

Matheesha

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:33 pm
by rowyourboat
daverupa wrote:In my experience, samatha results in more intentional thought-formation; thoughts aren't suppressed in a general way, they simply don't arise as randomly. It's like bullet-time in the mind, not vacuous like an infant's mind.
Thanks Daverupa. I wonder if I am also overreacting to a few moments that this has happened vs the great benefit of having samadhi controll all my defilements.

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:38 pm
by rowyourboat
Ben wrote:Greetings Matheesha,

In your situation I would restrict the amount of time on samatha and spend more time on vipassana. I am not convinced that maintaining intense samatha is ideal outside of the seclusion of retreat.
kind regards,

Ben
Thanks Ben. I have stopped doing Samatha actually and trying to find a way back in. You are right - too much samadhi is not conducive but it can be to a lesser intensity. So part of the solution might be to practice but with reduced frequency. Vipassana might be too intense for me right now. I hope you are keeping well,

With metta

Matheesha

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:40 pm
by rowyourboat
DAWN wrote:
Me too, i forgot very fastly the past and dont think about future, my boss dont like it, he want me to anticipate the future, but i have not yet developped that iddhi :? ... I dont know how i could explain that i'ts not easy to get this king of iddhi... :shrug:
DAWN, I think it takes a lot of focusing- don't be SO happy in the present moment :smile:

With metta

Matheesha

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:42 pm
by DAWN
rowyourboat wrote:
DAWN wrote:
Me too, i forgot very fastly the past and dont think about future, my boss dont like it, he want me to anticipate the future, but i have not yet developped that iddhi :? ... I dont know how i could explain that i'ts not easy to get this king of iddhi... :shrug:
DAWN, I think it takes a lot of focusing- don't be SO happy in the present moment :smile:

With metta

Matheesha
:smile:

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:52 pm
by Cittasanto
I think you maybe putting to much effort into the practice for this to happen. realistically you want to be able to function on the task at hand (which requires sati no matter what the task is).

without knowing exactly what you are doing I would suggest trying to be more fluid with your practice rather than using a hammer to drive in a screw. which is what I think maybe the case?
don't stop completely but don't aim so narrowly.

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:02 pm
by DAWN
Actualy, this state of mind, when he dont captures nothink, when all that heppens lides down like a drop of rain on the lotus leaf, is very... is very free :roll:
When it's like this, the problem is not the mind, but a job that dont let you be released, be free , feel true happyness of calm.

Go forth is the solution. :roll:

Re: Thought suppression by Samatha

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:15 pm
by daverupa
I think maybe the practice can use a tweak, since the sort of calm which builds up in such a way that the mind becomes unwieldy isn't really part of samadhi.