I started to meditate half a year ago with my first Vipassana retreat in Bodhgaya. I'm trying to meditate every day since then. Around two months ago I started to practice mindfulness and try to bring meditation into my daily life and not to be mindful only on the cushion. Last week I was getting some strange results. I feel like almost all I do is automatic. I don't feel that it's me who is doing it. When I talk to people, going to work, riding on the bus. I feel like I'm watching the movie. Two days ago I was watching my breath on the bus and when the bus stopped I couldn't move for two minutes. It felt like my will was totally gone. Before, during my day I felt that I wasn't present. Now I feel present but detached, and not in a good way. Am I doing something wrong? Or it is only a stage of the practice that I must go through? Thank you for your answers.

I am new to Buddhism (Theravada). I am 80 years old and am keen to learn and practice it during my remaining time. I wish to get in touch with a well read person whom I could write and ask for explanations of aspects I find difficult to understand . It will be a great help. Is it possible?

I have a clock, it just is distracting having to look at it every few minutes.

I was trying sitting cross legged and back straight during Anapanasati meditation. I have looked at this question -> https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/3937/a-question-about-sitting-movement-and-mindfulness I would like to know what are the possible bad practices learned during meditation and in the posture and I would not want to make those mistakes. I am not sitting purely cross legged. The feet are under the shins or calf. I am unable to sit perfectly straight noticing that I am leaning forward. Should I at this juncture, straighten up again? What if a mosquito bites you at that moment, like it is biting me right now? Should I move to scratch an itch? Is it important to simply acknowledge and not react to anything at all? (Reaction in the sense move a little...) What is right mindfulness? Not reacting and simply acknowledging? What if it adversely affects my legs by not moving and possibly getting bitten by the mosquito?

Is it ever beneficial to decide on a meditation topic before beginning to meditate? For example, say I want to deal with a specific problem in my life, e.g. hatred towards a specific person, cravings for food, stress about my job, etc -- something I'm aware of as an ongoing, personal problem that I want to deal with proactively rather than to merely observe it when and where it pops up. Is it a good idea to plan and say, "ok, during this meditation session, I'm going to think about problem *x*," and then proceed to meditate on that subject? Or is it better to begin with breath meditation and to observe thoughts as they develop naturally. How should one ideally structure such meditation so that it remains controlled, calm, objective, and appropriately focused?

Ever since I've started practicing Vipassana, I'm starting to feel two distinct and diametrically opposite intentions are developing within me. The first one says "I've suffered enough, not any more! I'm prepared to do anything to experience Nirvana. Enough of supporting these cravings and desires, they have only lead to great suffering. I don't want to take another birth." Au contraire, the second one says "I want to enjoy the basic things in life. Though I've undergone a lot of sufferings, I should enjoy at least a little before leaving this world, its only fair. Is it wrong to enjoy things?" Whilst I vaguely used to feel this divide since long, its only since I've started practicing Vipassana that it has become more pronounced. Its as if like a big *battle* is going on between these two **forces**, and I'm just a spectator. Is this feeling normal, or my case is any different?

Hey I just wondered: I met a high intensity theravadin meditator (who teaches it) and he defined the self enlightened as being meditators that no one had to teach. It came naturally, so to speak. Is it possible to be practicing this untaught meditation but not be self enlightened?

In today's meditation center, practitioners meditate with others in group sitting. After an hour or so of meditation, the practitioners may proceed to seek advices from the teacher on their progress. Did Buddha practice group meditation with bhikkhus, bhikkhunis and laymen, and then they may seek advice from Buddha? Is there any such event described in the Sutta?

Which are the best meditation practices to prevent enhancing one's sense of self?

Many times I have found myself thankful for being aware of Buddhism, and also for being connected to all of the people here. Information, experiences, doubts, references and views, everything that we have had shared helps make me a good man. Whenever I get time, I read questions, answers and comments. BUT, I have observed that reality lies in the nature of the experience, and the information that is already present (maybe through text or speech) in the mind can be considered worthless after the experience. Can someone tell me how experiences and the text/speech information work together? I know it works but I want to know how it works.

I have been practicing samatha for five years now and have rarely done any other kind of meditation. I have tried to practice vipassana in the past but get confused with how to do it. 1. First of all you place your attention on your abdomen,when i'm more used to my attention being on the tip of my nose. **Is there a way to practice vipassana with your attention on the tip of your nose**? I can avoid getting too concentrated with a technique I found by accident, by widening my focus to the entire nostril instead of just a point. This helps allow for thoughts, etc. to arise. Because I notice during samatha thoughts are minimum to none. 2. **Please describe a method of practicing vipassana with the base/anchor being the tip of the nose not the abdomen**. Many thanks.

I meditate once a day in early morning, only. I have found that this time is very helpful in practicing meditation. I want to meditate at least twice a day. I want to know if time plays a role in practicing meditation ? If yes, then how? At what time does meditation practice become the most intense ?

Is a "still" mind: a mind without any thoughts; or a mind without a certain style of thoughts; or a mind which has lost a certain way of connecting to thoughts? I assumed it was a lessening of conscious habit rather than thought per se.

My question is going to be almost to "profane" for this area of SE, about it is a serious concern of mine. I have just started out zen meditation. One of the suggestions that was given me was that to wear robes while meditating. No problem. But when should I put them on? Should I already wear them on the way to meditation practice (that is, put them on at home, and then take the bus, etc. with them on) or should I start wearing them at the temple? I apologize again for the type of answer, and thank your for your time.

I currently do 15 minutes of meditation every morning. I use a stop watch. I see some people do more like 30 minutes. I was wondering how they kept track of time. Or is it roughly 30 minutes? I find that if I don't use a timer, I find myself thinking to myself during meditation, "I wonder if it has been about 15 minutes" and it seems distracting. I've tried meditation without a timer, but I guess the question is when do you feel you should cut it off?

I've been studying *Visuddhimarga* and facing this doubt. In 3.1 (*Kammaþþhána-gahaóa-niddesa*), regarding how many types of concentration there are, I can get the concepts of distration/non-distraction, bissful/non-blissful, with equanimity/not, etc. However, I don't get what is meant exactly by the terms *access* and *absorption*: > (1) First of all it is of one kind with the characteristic of non-distraction. (2) Then it is of two kinds as **access** and **absorption**; (3) likewise as mundane and supramundane (4) as with happiness and without happiness, The author gives the following explanation at the bottom of the page, but I'm finding it difficult to understand. I can hazard a guess that absorption here means our thoughts gradually absorb (attain the state of) the object of our concentration, but what is meant by *access*?: > 4. “Applied thought that occurs as though absorbing (appento) associated states in the object is absorption (appaná). Accordingly it is described as ‘absorption, absorbing (appaná vyappaná)’ (M III 73). Now since that is the most important, the usage of the Commentaries is to call all exalted and unsurpassed jhána states ‘absorption’ [as well as the applied thought itself], and likewise to apply the term of common usage ‘access’ to the limited [i.e. sense-sphere] jhána that heralds the arising of the former, just as the term ‘village access,’ etc. is applied to the neighbourhood of a village” (Vism-mhþ 91).

Does mindfulness include being "mindful" (noticing, etc.) of your world, or only sensations like the breath, walking. etc.? So e.g. - being mindful of the other things that I do or do not have to do, rather than the task which is stressing me out and I haven't started yet. I have "pronounced negative symptoms" of schizophrenia, and I badly need a way to be cognisant of tasks (like coursework) without approaching them directly and getting flustered. This may be one way.

I've been meditating (somewhat regularly) about one or two years back. Mainly shamata, and vipassana lately. Today I feel that my willpower is considerably lower than before. I mean, I used to be very interested in a variety things (such as music theory, matial arts, computer programming paradigms, algorithms, and so on). And lately I'm not feeling interested in them so much as I did before. Some years ago I used to think about them, study them and practice them. Lately I'm not engaged in any of these activities, besides what relates to my job. Sometimes I think about getting involved with one or another of them, but soon I feel unwilling to get exposed to unsatisfying activities, I feel there is no sense to make effort on impermanent matters. When I started meditating I thought I wouldn't lose "my interests", and now I feel somewhat lost by this lack of enthusiasm. It doesn't feel bad at all, I'm just a bit unsure about letting my secular skills and interest fade away. I'm not sure it is ok if this unwillingness deepens. Do you think it is OK? Is it expected in the Buddhist path? Do you think I should let it happen? Or do you think there is something missing in my practice? Do you think something must be done about it? I'm asking for an advice, so I'll allow myself to be partial to choose an answer.

Is there anything out there in the zen tradition about whether "silence" (do I mean this metaphorically) is to be embraced in meditation?

If I practice tranquility meditation how would I go about developing insight.How does a samathayanika realise Nibbanna.