Hello all: Introduce yourself in this thread or just read it to meet the members

[thedublab]

Welcome, Sally!

[OMW]

Hi all. This looks like a really lovely community and I'm looking forward to getting to know and learning from everybody.

Ariel

[Matthew]

Dear Ariel,

Welcome. It is quite a pleasant community. I think the "grow slow grow steady" attitude is helping. Look forward to hearing your contributions.

In the Dhamma,

Matthew

[redperphexion]

Hi all...

Been reading some of my mum's books, by the teacher Pema Chodron, over her shoulder on and off. Just checking in to see what it's all about here.   

-Red

[bradm]

Hello,
...Brad here. I'm a 47 year old video producer for a high tech company in the San Francisco bay area. I got turned on to comparative religion and eastern spiritual traditions in elective courses during my undergraduate studies at the University of Kansas. It was comforting for me to see the common threads of wisdom across multiple traditions that developed independently in different parts of the world hundreds and hundreds of years ago. I was also inspired at that time by Bill Moyer's interviews with Joseph Campbell - "The Power of Myth."

I've been conceptually studying Buddhist philosophy for several years, but have never really put a consistent practice into place in my day-to-day life. I'm currently taking a great course taught by James Baraz called Awakening Joy. James is one of the founders of Spirit Rock Meditation Center along with Jack Kornfield. This course is loosely based on Buddhist philosophy and has motivated me to get on the bus. There's much too much noise going on in my little monkey mind.

James is also involved with the Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley. He's teaching a beginning meditation course starting July 7 that I will be joining. Those plans have motivated me to reach out to the dharma community to build a support system as I proceed on my path.

I appreciate finding this forum and am grateful to have another resource of dharma friends. Thanks to those who provide this and contribute.

Namaste,
Brad

[mark]

Hi my name is Mark and I'm from Australia. I am 52 and have been meditating for about 20 years. I practice Vipassna meditation mainly when it suits, at other times I practice Zen meditation, working on mu. I don't call my self buddhist or anything else but I use the fantastic instructions left by the Buddha. They work for me. I look forward to sharing.

[Matthew]

Red, Brad, Mark

Welcome to the forums. I hope you enjoy the place.

In the Dhamma,

Matthew

[thao]

Hello.  My name is Thao and I live in the Los Angeles area.  I was raised Buddhist and grew up going to Thich Nhat Hanh's retreats.  I went to my first Vipassana retreat almost two years ago, after which I didn't practice at all.  Until this recent April, when I had the opportunity to do long term service at the North Fork Center.  After which I have maintained my practice, happily.  My stay was to get to a place where sitting would not be a chore, and I am happy to say that I have reached that place.  Though I know this too will change, and I'm ok with that as I am grateful for the joy Dhamma has shown me. 

I look forward to sharing and contributing.

[Ash]

Hello all,

I am new to this  site and still quite new to vipassanna meditation  But even after only 4 months of sel-teaching and listerning to Jack kornfield's mindfulness meditation cd set i am noticing changes.

 First was that after 6 weeks, I had to stop my antidepressant, wellbutrin.  I was getting the same side effects with 1/4 the dose that I got when I accidently doubled my dose years ago.

  Second, after about eight weeks I had periods when I felt like I developed 360 degree vsion or supersonic hearing (very cool). 

I have lost 90% of my desire to drink any alcohol and no desire at all to become intoxicated. I prefer awareness and centering over intoxicants. Being an active but functional alcoholic that is something very amazing for me.

But mostly I have felt more balanced, productive, loving and focussed on the moment and loving it!  So I want to listen to other people share their insights and experiences.

[Matthew]

Welcome Thao,

May the Dhamma flourish.

[The Marvellous Omannobazong!!!]

But mostly I have felt more balanced, productive, loving and focussed on the moment and loving it!

  Heij Ash! I think we'd all sign your sentence. Welcome to this forum!
 
Vipassana is real. Metta, Stefan

[poiqwepoi]

Hello All,

My name is Eric From Montreal.  I started maditation about a month ago and made all sorts of wonderfull discoveries guided by many insightful i writings, like Mindfulness in plaing english.  What brought me to Vipassana
meditation, is my midlife crisis.   I was going through periods of extreme mental instability.  I seriously thought about suicide, did not understand what was the point of life, where all of this leads you besides death.   I was basically staying alive because of the sense of duty I had toward my wife and kids.  Younger I was an atheist who later, in my thirties, concluded that to be an Atheist is like believing in god.  Although I have no interest in mystique, I simply consider irrelevant in my life.   So one day, the day after a profound crisis, I decided that I had to do something and decided I would give meditation a try, it saved my life.  It changed my life.

[Matthew]

Dear Eric,

Welcome to the forums.

It is good to hear such a strong story of vipassana helping someone change the way they see and feel about life. I have been through many of the same stages as you.

Younger I was an atheist who later, in my thirties, concluded that to be an Atheist is like believing in god.

Not "like" ....  EXACTLY the same.

Belief in God - Theism, and belief in (not) God - Atheism are both chosen beliefs - and philosophically/logically identical statements - as all theistic religions define God as undefinable. So you are choosing to either believe or not believe in something that can not be defined. This is utterly dumb.

Personally I have not met God and therefore choosing to believe, or not believe in God is obviously pure bunkum.

Luckily Buddhism is principally an encounter with ourselves. Meditation offers a practical tool-kit to help us gain control and understanding and insight into our lives and reduce our suffering and the suffering we cause to others.

You have, it seems, already made some good progress and practical discoveries on the path related to this. Buddhism and meditation need not discuss mysteries of any kind, cosmic or otherwise. In meditation we learn who and what we are and who and what we are not. By learning who we are we become more attuned to others and we live simpler lives with less chaos and suffering.

Just keep on the path and when the times get hard again - they will at some point - just remember "everything changes" and keep up the practice through good times and bad.

In the Dhamma,

Matthew

[thedublab]

Welcome Eric, from a fellow Canuck 

And a belated 'namaste' to Ariel, Red, Brad, Mark, Thao, and Ash -- welcome to the forums.

With metta,
Dave

[RusskiPower]

Hi everyone,

I'm a Russian dude living in Amsterdam. I did my first 10-day course in 1999 in Thailand and later two more in Belgium. I've been practising on and off these years, getting more systematic recently as I notice how the quality of my life improves with regular meditation.

I hope to learn and share here among like-minded people. My website is at http://russkipower.110mb.com/ - there is more about me!

Talk to you all later!

Artour

[mettajoey]

Greetings Artour,

I hope you find much information and many friends on this site and in your journey.  We are primarily focused on a trip inside. 
Nice to meet you.

Metta,
Joey

[RusskiPower]

Thanks, Joey!

Trip inside can be a slippery road, watch out! 

[frepi]

Hi,
My name is Pierre and I live close to Montreal in Canada.
I did the 10 day vipassana retreat Goenka style in January 2007. I do it to stabilise my emotions. These nasty creatures have a tendency to control me, body and soul, putting me in misery. I am an undiciplined meditator, doing it when I feel like it, and running away from it when something else interests me until guilt catches me. 
I came here to try to get some help from seasoned practitioners. Goenka's organisation is good, but there is no help available outside the meditation retreats (at least I haven't found any). Sometimes, questions or doubts arise: Why should I meditate, is it really good or is my head playing tricks on me, am I on the right track, etc...
I am agnostic, I don't bother myself with the buddhist religion, but see meditation as a neuro-psychologic exercise, which alters the way the brain works, much like music practice.

[Matthew]

Dear Russkipower and Frepi

Welcome!

Frepi, one of the Buddha's first and most important teaching was: "Do not believe the scriptures, do not believe the stories, do not believe the priests - find out for yourself".

In this sense Buddhism is not a religion but a practical toolkit for gaining self mastery, calm, genuine comprehension of yourself, others and the world around you. I don't find your explanation of your views as contradictory to these teachings. The Buddha even said not to believe him ! And he refused to appoint someone to succeed him in his community because he did not want it to become a "religion".

I think and hope you will find the support and help here that you need and I can assure you no one will judge you for lacking "belief" - it has but one place in Buddhism - one needs to believe that meditation works just for long enough to discover that it does work. Thereafter belief holds no place in Buddhism or meditation.

In the Dhamma,

Matthew

[lua]

Hi all
Very pleased to have found this forum.
I'm 27 from Switzerland. I really like reading in your forum and getting thought's from other meditators. Since my 2nd 10-days course I try - mostly successfully - to meditate daily mornings and evenings. Since I'm a rather rational person I just decided to make it sort of a personal experiment and that I'll keep it up just as long as I feel that the positive effects outweigh the "effort". My experiment's been on for 9 month now. I've already experience positive changes in my life and I am very curious where this will lead to;) Interested on a personal but also on a "professional" as I'm very interested in brain research and am studying Psychology, too. Looking forward to some inspiring exchange of ideas and experience on this forums...
 

[Matthew]

Dear Lua,

Welcome to the forum.

You have probably read around a little at least before joining. If so you may have realised that your interests of meditation and psychology and taking a rational stance are a lot of what we are about.

We are an open community but not just open in the sense of open to meditators of all traditions, also open to exploring the inter-relationships between meditation and other areas of life. Personally I am especially interested in modern psychology and the neurophysiopsychological basis for the fruits of meditation.

There are Buddhist and non-Buddhist meditators here of rainbow colours in terms of why, what and how they are doing what they are doing. There is no attempt to discriminate against people - in fact the opposite - and much effort at discerning the needle of truth in the haystack of misinformation that exists regarding meditation and Buddhism.

Again, welcome. I hope you gain much help and encouragement towards your experiment.

In the Dhamma,

Matthew

[REALIZINGdotME]

Hello everyone!

I started looking around your forum with ideas that match what I'm trying to do with my blog and my life today and I came across your place (My site is about becoming the person you were meant to be and meditation is a HUGE part of that but if you do happen to bump into it in your walkabout on the web, don't expect much. I just started it  ). I like this place. Being open to others' philosophies is important to me and I see that that's stressed here. We each have to find our own path in life but close-minded thinking can cause both to stray.

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”
                                                                                                                           ~  Friedrich Nietzsche

I haven't had the opportunity to train under anyone with Vipissana but it certainly fits with what I think works, at least for me. I guess I've been focusing on that kind of meditating for these 20+ off-and-on years I've done meditation but never called it that. I've been kind of a non-conformist with my spirituality and only working with others when asked to teach them the little that I know. I've finally gotten to the point where I believe I can learn more by helping many people than by few. I believe I can learn a lot in this forum and be able to pass it on to others so I'm glad you were to be found. It should be a great resource.

[Matthew]

Hello Scott,

I trust the forum will live up to what you perceive in it. We do stress openness, non-dogmatic approaches, mutual respect and support. We aim to have a non-confrontational dialogue even where there is disagreement - as this of all things can lead to greater wisdom in such circumstances.

Looking forward to hearing more of your experiences over time.

In the Dhamma,

Matthew

[sammy angels]

Hello!

I am Samuel, 23, documentary filmmaker from Belgium. I just finished my first 10-day Vipassana course, and loved it! (Well, not all the time, obviously, but in hindsight...)

I have been researching spirituality since a year or 2 and have tried different meditation techniques for about a year. While they were all great ways to relax and fall asleep (not to mention the perfect excuse for being lazy), they did not produce much long-term benefits.
Although I have only taken my first steps in Vipassana, I believe its purity and simplicity make it the perfect technique to really learn something about myself. During the course I experienced both bliss (well, close to it, anyway) and what I would call "hell". Which is my underlying fear of both existence and non-existence.

I now meditate at least 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. Although I'm thinking of devoting some more time to annapaña, so my vipassana will be more effective.

I'm very pleased to have found this forum, because I know I'll come up with a bunch of questions. Mostly about details  .

[Matthew]

Hello!

I am Samuel, 23, documentary filmmaker from Belgium. I just finished my first 10-day Vipassana course, and loved it! (Well, not all the time, obviously, but in hindsight...)

I have been researching spirituality since a year or 2 and have tried different meditation techniques for about a year. While they were all great ways to relax and fall asleep (not to mention the perfect excuse for being lazy), they did not produce much long-term benefits.

Hi Samuel, welcome to the forums. This is  COMMON PROBLEM in meditation. Any technique practiced incorrectly can lead to the hypnotic effects you describe. We are not all followers of Goenka's techniques yet we share a practice called vipasssana which has some few flavours.

Hopefully you will find that the forums can help you connect more deeply with yourself and the Dhamma. We will do our best to answer questions though no one here claims to know it all, we have many varied experiences and can all learn from each other.

In the Dhamma,

Matthew