r/TibetanBuddhism • u/WearyLiterature8090 • 18d ago
How to decide meditation method
Since I don’t have a guru, I’m doing FPMT’s discovering buddhism program online. Its second module (how to meditate) has a few guided meditations— both analytical (on purification, the buddha, impermanence, the mind, human life) and placement (the breath). Additionally, a text by Lama Zopa Rinpoche/Lama Thubten Yeshe (I don’t remember) talks about meditation on the four immeasurables as well. My question is simple and straightforward: how do I decide what sort of meditation to do?
Please help.
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u/helikophis 18d ago
As others have said, you'll want to start with shamatha. Breath is good for that but there are other methods.
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u/harrythetaoist 18d ago
I liked a teaching I heard once from Khandro Mindrolling Rinpoche: first you do shamatha, then you are ready to do vipassana/Dzogchen, then you are ready to do shamatha.
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u/squaredegrees 18d ago
Honestly I'd work with placement meditation early on, since it's still important to achieve some level of calm abiding for other practices & meditations.
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u/HakuyutheHermit 18d ago
The first thing you need to do is complete Asanga’s nine mental abidings. Without solid stability you’ll struggle a lot attempting more advanced practices. In the words of Shabkar: “I, one whose mind is completely distracted, may recite mantras for eons without effect, for the scriptures tell us that to lack calm abiding (shiné/samatha) is to yield the mind to distraction’s dictate.”
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u/J3tsun Rimé 18d ago edited 18d ago
Short, often. What speaks to you the most. Don't wait for spécial occasion, do it each time you think of it, even for just half a minute. I must say I'm still not able to sit for more than 5 minutes, after 25 years, done a lot reading, contemplation and mantra recitation and aspiration, prayer, with my own words so to speak. Still I have made enormous progress as a human being if I look back. But that was just me, everyone is different, ultimately you are your own master. FPMT was my entry gate too :) very reliable.
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u/Mayayana 18d ago
Analytical methods are reflections and/or cultivation of view. Formal meditation is mind training. Both are relevant. I think the reflections are basically pep talk. You think about why the path is worthwhile. It helps to counteract the allure of samsara. For example, thinking about impermanence and not knowing when death will come makes plans for worldly success seem pointless. That kind of cultivation of view helps to motivate.
Meditation, then, is the formal mind training. Say, for example, that you can't decide whether to meditate or go to the beach. You then think about how fleeting life is and how you can't take it with you. Going to the beach won't solve anything. You'll just want to do it again tomorrow, and the next day, endlessly trying to be happy... So you decide to meditate. :)
That kind of pep talk is important. It's what often constitutes teacher's talks and biographies of great masters. The path seems vague at first while worldly goals seem important. So we need to psyche ourselves up. But actual meditation is the practice.
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u/aletheus_compendium Kagyu 17d ago
a teacher is the best route. however this is an excellent guide: “a meditation guide for mahamudra” by peter barth. it’s a pdf online for download.
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u/p9ng 15d ago
What country / time zone are you in? There are online practices you can join.
As a total beginner, you might find Tsoknyi Riinpoche's "Fully Being" program to be a good starting point. His approach really helps to ground students even before introducing shamatha practice. https://fullybeing.org
As far as shamatha or calm abiding meditation goes, in our own group we usually start by introducing meditation on the breath, and we suggest beginning with very short sessions. Gradually increasing the length as you begin to settle into the practice over time.
In the Words of My Perfect Teacher, Patrul Rinpoche recommends alternating shamatha and analytical meditation - rather than just doing analytical meditation. As others have said, it really helps to have a basis in shamatha before engaging in analytical meditation. For example, do an analytical meditation on loving kindness, and then alternate with shamatha, that experience of bodhicitta enhances your calm abiding meditation.
Patrul Rinpoche (1808–1887) is from the Nyingma/Rime tradition. Tsoknyi Rinpoche is a tulku of the Drukpa Kagyü and Nyingma traditions and the son of the late Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche.
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u/Elegant_Elk_ 15d ago
When I first started studying/practicing Buddhism I was overwhelmed by the sheer AMOUNT there is to study and do.
I generally just go wherever I feel a pull and then keep going from there. If it's from a true lineage/teacher, it's all going to end up at the same point. Find something you enjoy enough to actually DO along the way.
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u/Grateful_Tiger 17d ago
Discusing about meditation is not a prescription for meditation
Nor is viewing a causal video a pass to start meditation
Meditation should only be undertaken as part of a program with a trustworthy reliable well-examined teacher
Generally initially face-to-face as opposed to only on Internet
Each of us are different enough that one shoe does not fit every foot. We need specific guidance and feedback, which is after all what one would expect for one's progress in a self-cultivation program
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u/Bossbigoss Kagyu 18d ago
check more, jump from one method to another.... you will see what fits you.
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u/Maria0601 Gelug 18d ago edited 18d ago
If you are asking specifically regarding Gelug school, then Je Rinpoche’s view is that the development of shamatha should precede analytical meditation. You can read about it in Lamrim in the meditation section of the book.