Hello everyone AJM here. Perhaps this post should be in introductions, but it has a combined nature since the discussion itself belongs here.
I've been meditating more regularly for about a year now although most of that meditation time has not been sitting meditation but rather something you do while on the go in work and otherwise. I was introduced to meditation by shinzen youngs science of enlightenment guided meditations. I did those for a while on and off, but a year ago I found a book called The End of Social Anxiety and the exercises in it were mostly meditation based although many of them were something you should do while in your daily life. I've also done some breathing meditation, but a around a month ago I became interested in buddhist meditation and especially breathing meditation since it is recommended as a starting point.
Since then I've learned that there are a quite conflicting views on how breathing meditation should be practiced even though all the sources cite the anapanasati sutta they have different interpretations of it. I started with instructions in knowing and seeing a book I found which is also available from
http://www.paaukforestmonastery.org/books.htm which tells you to focus on your nose. I found the same instruction from some other place too.
Then I found this forum and learned that in fact focusing on your nose is based on a translation error from the pali texts and in fact you should focus on your breath sensitive to the entire body. I read matthews beginner meditation / shamatha guide. Although at first I propbably misinterpreted it and instead of focusing on my breath I just focused on entire body awareness and relaxation and that got me relaxed but progress kind of stifled there. Then I read matthews clarification somewhere that in fact you should focus on the feeling of breath in your entire body.
I also read anapanasati sutta from
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118.than.html and Thanissaro Bhikkhu's guided meditation
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/guided.htmlI did a meditation based on that and I think I'm on the right path now. My focus settled on my solar plexus and then I felt breath expand all the way up and down my torso to my toes head and fingertips. A very pleasurable and pleasant feeling. Although some tensions in my body got me shaking a little bit. And on shaking.. I've been doing an exercise called Trauma Release Exercises or TRE's for short where you literally shake and relax your muscles in this way. I recommend David Berceli's book on it
http://www.amazon.com/The-Revolutionary-Trauma-Release-Process/dp/1897238401/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1371407204&sr=8-2&keywords=trauma+release+exercises some information can also be found from
http://traumaprevention.com/2009/12/31/what-is-tre/Now, I have a couple of questions on mindfulness of breathing.
"[5] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to rapture.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to rapture.' [6] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to pleasure.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to pleasure.' [7] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to mental fabrication.'[4] He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to mental fabrication.' [8] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming mental fabrication.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming mental fabrication.'
I've got to a point where I start getting pleasurable feelings not sure if it's yet what is transcribed here, but what I don't quite understand is that if "Mental fabrication" is perceptions and feelings and plesaure and rapture are feelings too you are supposed to calm them too right after you start getting them? or am I missing something here?
[edit] Also 1st jhana is supposed to have bliss, joy and happiness and only in 4th jhana all these "feelings" stop and there is only one-pointedness and equanimity.
One thing also that in the anapana instructions in knowing and seeing they talk about a "nimitta" appearing at your nostrils. If you focus is in your entire body does a nimitta appear then too? there is no mention about a nimitta in anapana sati sutta, but then again according to knowing and seeing it's a prerequisite for jhana that you see a nimitta and start focusing on it instead of the breath at some point.
My questions and thirst for knowledge go ahead of my current skill in meditation, but I guess it's good to be enthusiastic after all.
