Meditation is a thing that you do with your attention. When you pay attention or concentrate or get distracted, that's you doing a thing with your attention. And that's obviously important stuff in your life and the world. Meditation takes it further.

We basically have 2 kinds of meditation.

  1. Concentration meditation, which is plain ol concentration taken to a higher level.

  2. Zen meditation (aka shikantaza), which is another thing to do with your attention, kindof a left turn from concentration and is a bit esoteric.

So there you go.

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[–] [S] 3 points 1 day ago

Ok I wrote a thing. It's short and polished. It's basically what I did. Check it out then ask me any questions.

http://fleen.org/fluffy_cloud

As for benefits.

You will start with the concentration meditation because it's dead easy and just takes a little time and effort. It will make you sharp. Maybe a little too sharp. You'll like it. You'll feel powerful. You'll also become a little bit of a crazy asshole. I guess a monastery provides the environment for taking care of people in this state, but lacking that, try to lead a life with lots of free alone time and little stress.

After you get a handle on that you'll do the second meditation. The "shikantaza". But that comes later. It's much kinder but you need to get a handle on the first one first.

BUT that's just me. Maybe there's a better way. There was a teacher named Joko Beck who skipped the concentration meditation and taught only the shik. I dunno. Above all you need to become your own expert. Experiment and explore. There is no substitute.

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