Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
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Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
I am just curious how many people open or close their eyes during Samatha or Vipassana practice. Personally, I have always kept my eyes open.
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Re: Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
I mostly meditate with eyes open, but sometimes with eyes closed. There are pros and cons really.Saengnapha wrote: ↑Sat Mar 17, 2018 9:12 am I am just curious how many people open or close their eyes during Samatha or Vipassana practice. Personally, I have always kept my eyes open.
Buddha save me from new-agers!
Re: Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
I keep my mind open but my eyes closed.
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Re: Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
Well, if I close my mind I might miss something of importance, and if I open my eyes I might get distracted.
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Re: Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
Were you originally taught to keep your eyes open?Dinsdale wrote: ↑Sat Mar 17, 2018 9:16 amI mostly meditate with eyes open, but sometimes with eyes closed. There are pros and cons really.Saengnapha wrote: ↑Sat Mar 17, 2018 9:12 am I am just curious how many people open or close their eyes during Samatha or Vipassana practice. Personally, I have always kept my eyes open.
Re: Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
one idea of eyes open and closed is that you can connect to psychic equivalent of sleep and wakefulness without sleeping or being awake. In short eyes themselves if they are open or closed doesn't mean a lot without knowing the pathways what they can be used to affect.
Re: Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
Closed eyes creates more concentration if that's what your looking for.
Take care of mindfulness and mindfulness will take care of you.
Re: Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
I close my eyes for the same reason I close my mouth (of course, probably different if my nasal passage is clogged!). However, I don't think either way is better. Most important is what's going on in the mental landscape.
sabbe dhammā nālaṃ abhinivesāya
"nothing whatsoever should be clung to"
"nothing whatsoever should be clung to"
Re: Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
Both are viable practices. I generally close my eyes but will open them if I notice I'm starting to get drowsy. If you sit with your eyes open you will find that when you reach a certain level of Samadhi that the eyes will naturally close on there own.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
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Re: Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
For me, that is a different reason for the eyes closing than keeping them closed throughout.
Nobody has stated whether they were taught to keep their eyes closed or open during practice. I'm curious how people decide.
Re: Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
I was taught by my teachers to do what was most comfortable to me.Saengnapha wrote: ↑Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:14 pmFor me, that is a different reason for the eyes closing than keeping them closed throughout.
Nobody has stated whether they were taught to keep their eyes closed or open during practice. I'm curious how people decide.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
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Re: Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
Eyes closed for me. One of my teachers sat with his eyes open which always surprised me. At first I thought he was watching me meditate.
Re: Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
I was taught by a Tibetan Buddhist teacher to keep the eyes open, still, and focused on the space beyond the tip of the nose. I find this much better than having my eyes closed.
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Re: Eyes Open Or Closed During Practice?
In yoga classes I was taught to keep the eyes open and to look down (while keeping the head straight of course) and find a single spot to let the eyes rest on the ground a few feet in front of me. In Buddhist practice I think it is most often taught to close the eyes but not always. When I meditate, I usually close the eyes but not always. The suggestion to do what is most comfortable is appropriate. But you shouldn’t switch back and forth in a single session, that’s just restlessness, with the exceptions that it is okay for the eyes to naturally close and okay to open the eyes if you’re getting drowsy.
Last edited by Polar Bear on Sun Mar 18, 2018 12:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't envision a single thing that, when developed & cultivated, leads to such great benefit as the mind. The mind, when developed & cultivated, leads to great benefit."
"I don't envision a single thing that, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about such suffering & stress as the mind. The mind, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about suffering & stress."
"I don't envision a single thing that, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about such suffering & stress as the mind. The mind, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about suffering & stress."