Meditation Courses in S'pore?

• _wanderer_

  10 Jul 08, 10:51

  I have a few friends who are keen to learn Buddhist meditation. Does anybody know if there are upcoming courses on meditation for beginners? Preferably in English.

• Isis

  10 Jul 08, 14:16

  Hello _wanderer_

  Check this out:

   

  1) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DharmaNews/message/4612

  http://www.sagaramudra.org.sg/index.html

   

  2) http://www.smcmeditation.org/ - Insight meditation

  Every week..You can always drop by the centre and ask for guidance.

  The teachers are Venerable Chuan ren and Sayadaw U Rajinda 

   

  3) http://www.mangalavihara.org.sg/

  http://www.mangalavihara.org.sg/activities/meditationschedule.pdf

   

  Cheers

   

• _wanderer_

  10 Jul 08, 15:02

  Thank you Isis. :)

   

  I'm hoping to find some courses that are not too intensive and introduced in a way that suits the needs of modern execs, mainly for the purpose of relaxation and developing concentration.

   

  Would anybody who has attended any particular meditation course kindly share your view/experiences?

   

  Thanks for any help provided.

• _wanderer_

  14 Jul 08, 15:24

  After doing a little bit of research, I found a few more meditation courses offered in English, besides the ones that Isis recommended above. Thought I'll share them here for whoever's interested.

   

  Meditation Course for beginners (Pa Auk method)

  at Visuddha Meditation Centre, 34 Bedok Walk (near Tanah Merah MRT)

  Tel: 9010 1664

  Email: [email protected]

  Website: http://www.visuddha-m-c.org/vmc%20sg/index_home.html

   

  Ven. Visuddhacara conducts free meditation courses for beginners on Sundays, 1.30-2.30pm, 4 lessons. SMS to register. The centre is also open for people to go and meditate everyday, 7am-9pm.

   

   

   

  3) Meditation for Beginners [72i]

  at Brahm Education Centre

  Poh Ern Shih Temple, 9 Chwee Chian Rd, Off Pasir Panjang Rd

  Tel: 6275 5007

  Instructor: Bro. Piya Tan

   

  Pls view http://www.brahmec.com/Course_Activities/images/BEC_MedBegform_2008d-1.pdf  for more details on the course.

   

  72nd intake commences on 2 Aug 2008 (Sat), 11am-1pm. Other schedules also available - pls check website.

   

• bohiruci

  14 Jul 08, 21:34

  chanting is better ...

   

  Chanting leads to samadhi faster than chanting

• maggot

  14 Jul 08, 23:13

  Those buddhists that cannot hear or speak are condemned?
• _wanderer_

  15 Jul 08, 00:45

  Originally posted by bohiruci:

  chanting is better ...

   

  Chanting leads to samadhi faster than chanting

  
  My old friend,

  I would agree if you had said something like this, "Some people find chanting easier/more effective for them."

  Due to our different inclinations and capacities, each of us responds to various methods differently. For some people, chanting may be faster; but others may feel more drawn to the practice of meditation. So it would not be very appropriate to generalize that a particular method works better for everyone. My friends, in particular, have expressed their wish to learn meditation, so it would be helpful if you could give some suggestions on places that provide good meditation courses.

  I have never read/heard that chanting leads to Samadhi faster than meditation. Please let me know where you learnt this from, as I am interested to know more. On the other hand, more than once have I heard great Dharma teachers underscore the importance of meditation. Perhaps to leave a deep impression on students about how important and meritorious meditation really is, one of the teachers even exclaimed that even one minute of meditation is much better than lots of prostrations, lots of mantra recitations.

  In all schools of Buddhism, meditation is taught as one of the most essential practices. Meditation is the key to gaining insight into the nature of one's own mind. All the Buddhas of past, present and future gain enlightenment through the practice of meditation. As such, I feel encouraged that at this degenerate times, there are people (and even non-Buddhists) who are interested to learn meditation. I believe it's helpful for us to maintain an attitude of rejoicing when we hear that people are keen to learn the Dharma (even if it's just a little bit of interest, and even if the person's choice of practice method/path differs from our own preferences). 

  May all beings be liberated from suffering whose source is the "ego".

• sinweiy

  15 Jul 08, 09:30

  :)

  for me no prejudice, as chanting is a form of meditation, perhaps an active meditation. true that it depends on inclinations and capacities, also depends on what one chant.

  i mean the definition of meditation is :-

  8. Right Meditation

  Meditation means the gradual process of training the mind to focus on a single object and to remain fixed upon the object without wavering. The constant practice of meditation helps one to develop a calm and concentrated mind and help to prepare one for the attainment of Wisdom and Enlightenment ultimately.

  http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/5215/eight.html#concentration

  like for example, Meditate reciting Buddho:-

  Meditate reciting Buddho, Buddho 2 until it penetrates deep into the heart of your consciousness (citta). The word ''Buddho'' represents the awareness and wisdom of the Buddha. In practice, you must depend on this word more than anything else. The awareness it brings will lead you to understand the truth about your own mind. It's a true refuge, which means that there is both mindfulness and insight present.

  http://www.sgforums.com/forums/1728/topics/279041

  /\

• bohiruci

  15 Jul 08, 14:13

  Originally posted by _wanderer_:

  
  My old friend,

  I would agree if you had said something like this, "Some people find chanting easier/more effective for them."

  Due to our different inclinations and capacities, each of us responds to various methods differently. For some people, chanting may be faster; but others may feel more drawn to the practice of meditation. So it would not be very appropriate to generalize that a particular method works better for everyone. My friends, in particular, have expressed their wish to learn meditation, so it would be helpful if you could give some suggestions on places that provide good meditation courses.

  I have never read/heard that chanting leads to Samadhi faster than meditation. Please let me know where you learnt this from, as I am interested to know more. On the other hand, more than once have I heard great Dharma teachers underscore the importance of meditation. Perhaps to leave a deep impression on students about how important and meritorious meditation really is, one of the teachers even exclaimed that even one minute of meditation is much better than lots of prostrations, lots of mantra recitations.

  In all schools of Buddhism, meditation is taught as one of the most essential practices. Meditation is the key to gaining insight into the nature of one's own mind. All the Buddhas of past, present and future gain enlightenment through the practice of meditation. As such, I feel encouraged that at this degenerate times, there are people (and even non-Buddhists) who are interested to learn meditation. I believe it's helpful for us to maintain an attitude of rejoicing when we hear that people are keen to learn the Dharma (even if it's just a little bit of interest, and even if the person's choice of practice method/path differs from our own preferences). 

  May all beings be liberated from suffering whose source is the "ego".

  so you are attached to words what ppl in forum,rather than understand the Buddhafield you are at ?

  Since you blocked me in msn ,I dun really have to explain :)

   

• _wanderer_

  15 Jul 08, 15:10

  This forum is an appropriate venue for any explanations with regard to the Dharma.

   

  I really cannot understand what you're trying to express; and it does appear to me that you are not getting what I'm trying to convey either. Well, what I can say is that as a fellow Dharma friend, I spent some time generating thoughts of kind intention before writing my reply above. However, due to my own ignorance - thus lack of skilful means and perfect speech - I may not have been able to convey those intentions clearly to you.

   

  Since we don't seem to be communicating right now, there is perhaps no need to discuss further, unless these discussions are done out of loving-kindness and compassion towards one another.

   

  May you be well and may you be liberated from Samsara.

• _wanderer_

  15 Jul 08, 15:30

  Originally posted by sinweiy:

  :)

  for me no prejudice, as chanting is a form of meditation, perhaps an active meditation. true that it depends on inclinations and capacities, also depends on what one chant.

  i mean the definition of meditation is :-

  like for example, Meditate reciting Buddho:-

  http://www.sgforums.com/forums/1728/topics/279041

  /\

  
  Thank you for posting on this. Very true indeed.

   

  ==============================

   

  Something not exactly related here; I attended meditation teaching by Garchen Rinpoche few days ago. He emphasized a lot of times that we should try to merge meditation and post-meditation, by trying to bring mindfulness and awareness into our lives at every moment, whatever we're doing. If we're able to generate loving-kindness and compassion, and maintain mindfulness and awareness in all our actions, then all our activities will become the practice of 6 Paramitas.

   

  Some nice excerpts from his talk:

   

  "When discursive thoughts or afflictive emotions arise, if we have mindfulness/awareness, the discursive thoughts and afflictive emotions will not drag us to create karma. They will just arise and dissolve."

   

  "If afflictive emotion, e.g. anger arises, stop following the thought. Make sure that mindfulness/awareness is firm in its own place. Do not be shaken by the arising anger. If you're familiar with the practice, anger disappears instantly. If you are not familiar but continue practising, it will go away gradually."

   

  "Without mindfulness/awareness, we become victims to discursive thoughts. These thoughts bind us to Samsara. Therefore, being free from discursive thoughts is to be free from Samsara."

   

• maggot

  15 Jul 08, 20:45

  Chanting can lead to buddhahood? Then CDs DVDs MP3 players and other media playing devices are buddhas already Sorry for my madness
• An Eternal Now

  15 Jul 08, 21:37

  Originally posted by maggot:

  Chanting can lead to buddhahood?

  Then CDs DVDs MP3 players and other media playing devices are buddhas already

  Sorry for my madness

  Depends on how one practice. Usually chanting practiced by the majority is only a form of concentration exercise or samatha practice. Chanting is a practice found in all religious traditions, not only Buddhism, which shows that it is effective otherwise why so many people practice it, even outside Buddhism? But still this kind of practice can at most lead to samadhi/absorption but not enlightenment. In Buddhism, we say that samatha/concentration practices alone do not lead to enlightenment.

  There are many levels of 念佛. If people recite by lips but not by heart, and one's mind wander everywhere while chanting, then is also pretty useless, 念破嘴皮ä¸�è§�弥陀. Even if one recites single mindedly, there are also many levels. The highest level of 念佛 is described as itself the contemplation on the nature of reality: 《佛è—�ç»�》：“èˆ�利弗。云何å��为念佛。è§�无所有å��为念佛èˆ�利弗。诸佛无é‡�ä¸�å�¯æ€�è®®ä¸�å�¯ç§°é‡�。以是义故。è§�无所有å��为念佛。实å��无分别。诸 佛无分别。以是故言。念无分别å�³æ˜¯å¿µä½›ã€‚å¤�次è§�诸法实相å��为è§�佛。何等å��为诸法实相。所谓诸法毕竟空无所有。以是毕竟空无所有法念佛。å¤�次如是法中。乃至 å°�念尚ä¸�å�¯å¾—。是å��念佛。èˆ�利弗。是念佛法断语言é�“过出诸念。ä¸�å�¯å¾—念是å��念佛。èˆ�利弗。一切诸念皆寂ç�­ç›¸ã€‚éš�顺是法。此则å��为修习念佛。ä¸�å�¯ä»¥è‰²å¿µä½›ã€‚ 何以故。念色å�–相贪味为识。无形无色无缘无性。是å��念佛。是故当知。无有分别无å�–æ— èˆ�。是真念佛。”

   

  Anyway what is vital, regardless of meditation technique, is 'Awareness'. 'Awareness' is key without which there can be no insight.

  As my Master, Ven Shen Kai said:

   

  人乘�音: 修禅定还�有觉

  www.rencheng.com

   

   

  问：
  
  请示师傅，�怎样修治散乱的心？

  答：
  
  �修散乱的心，就�修�散乱。现在你们把眼�闭上，手�掌，师傅现在就教你们修。这个时候你心里�什么都�想，散乱心就没有了。（数分钟）
  好，现在眼��开，师傅教你们的就是修禅定。你把这个�乱妄想的心收回�，置心一处，无事�办，把这个心定在�动的地方，�动就是定，定了以�，智慧也就会生出�了。
  
  但是修禅定最�紧的是�有觉，有很多人学佛修行，念佛�禅一辈�，他没有智慧，原因就是没有觉。所以我们把这个心定在一处以�，我们还�有一�觉观，觉 照。觉就是你这个心�动，有一微尘飞过你都知�，那么这个定就差�多了。
  
  谈到觉，�使你�但觉了自己的心，他方世界开了一朵花，都好�在你的手里边一样，看得清清楚楚，那么你就�佛了。

  -------------

  Venerable Gunaratana:

  http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe1-4.html

  (Excerpts)

  
  Within the Judeo-Christian tradition we find two overlapping practices called prayer and contemplation. Prayer is a direct address to some spiritual entity. Contemplation in a prolonged period of conscious thought about some specific topic, usually a religious ideal or scriptural passage. From the standpoint of mental culture, both of these activities are exercises in concentration. The normal deluge of conscious thought is restricted, and the mind is brought to one conscious area of operation. The results are those you find in any concentrative practice: deep calm, a physiological slowing of the metabolism and a sense of peace and well-being.
  
  Out of the Hindu tradition comes Yogic meditation, which is also purely concentrative. The traditional basic exercises consist of focusing the mind on a single object a stone, a candle flame, a syllable or whatever, and not allowing it to wander. Having acquired the basic skill, the Yogi proceeds to expand his practice by taking on more complex objects of meditation chants, colorful religious images, energy channels in the body and so forth. Still, no matter how complex the object of meditation, the meditation itself remains purely an exercise in concentration.
  
  Within the Buddhist tradition, concentration is also highly valued. But a new element is added and more highly stressed. That element is awareness. All Buddhist meditation aims at the development of awareness, using concentration as a tool. The Buddhist tradition is very wide, however, and there are several diverse routes to this goal. Zen meditation uses two separate tacks. The first is the direct plunge into awareness by sheer force of will. You sit down and you just sit, meaning that you toss out of your mind everything except pure awareness of sitting. This sounds very simple. It is not. A brief trial will demonstrate just how difficult it really is. The second Zen approach used in the Rinzai school is that of tricking the mind out of conscious thought and into pure awareness. This is done by giving the student an unsolvable riddle which he must solve anyway, and by placing him in a horrendous training situation. Since he cannot flee from the pain of the situation, he must flee into a pure experience of the moment. There is nowhere else to go. Zen is tough. It is effective for many people, but it is really tough.
  
  Another stratagem, Tantric Buddhism, is nearly the reverse. Conscious thought, at least the way we usually do it, is the manifestation of ego, the you that you usually think that you are. Conscious thought is tightly connected with self-concept. The self-concept or ego is nothing more than a set of reactions and mental images which are artificially pasted to the flowing process of pure awareness. Tantra seeks to obtain pure awareness by destroying this ego image. This is accomplished by a process of visualization. The student is given a particular religious image to meditate upon, for example, one of the deities from the Tantric pantheon. He does this in so thorough a fashion that he becomes that entity. He takes off his own identity and puts on another. This takes a while, as you might imagine, but it works. During the process, he is able to watch the way that the ego is constructed and put in place. He comes to recognize the arbitrary nature of all egos, including his own, and he escapes from bondage to the ego. He is left in a state where he may have an ego if he so chooses, either his own or whichever other he might wish, or he can do without one. Result: pure awareness. Tantra is not exactly a game of patty cake either.
  
  Vipassana is the oldest of Buddhist meditation practices. The method comes directly from the Sitipatthana Sutta, a discourse attributed to Buddha himself. Vipassana is a direct and gradual cultivation of mindfulness or awareness. It proceeds piece by piece over a period of years. The student's attention is carefully directed to an intense examination of certain aspects of his own existence. The meditator is trained to notice more and more of his own flowing life experience. Vipassana is a gentle technique. But it also is very , very thorough. It is an ancient and codified system of sensitivity training, a set of exercises dedicated to becoming more and more receptive to your own life experience. It is attentive listening, total seeing and careful testing. We learn to smell acutely, to touch fully and really pay attention to what we feel. We learn to listen to our own thoughts without being caught up in them.
  
  The object of Vipassana practice is to learn to pay attention. We think we are doing this already, but that is an illusion. It comes from the fact that we are paying so little attention to the ongoing surge of our own life experiences that we might just as well be asleep. We are simply not paying enough attention to notice that we are not paying attention. It is another Catch-22.

   

  -------------

  Transcript of the Lankavatara Sutra Sharing by Thusness

  
  Thusness: Ok. I think when we view consciousness, we have to understand that there are a few things. We cannot keep on thinking about the objective world first. We must see how consciousness reacts. That is if we react very intensely, strongly towards symbols, then whatever reactions will go back deep into your consciousness. This is one thing. My perspective is that when you chant, you are not dealing with our luminous clarity. We're dealing with propensities deep in your consciousness. Insight meditation itself deals directly with this clarity. That is the luminous clarity. But if we were to continue to chant, you are actually focusing more on the deeper layers of consciousness that deals with propensities and the power of concentration. Do you see what I mean? It's not so much of the luminosity. However, the chanting itself, when it takes strength, it creates a kind of momentum. A momentum that synchronises not only with your sub-conscious or the deeper layers of your consciousness, but also your conscious level. This means it can sync the two layers into one. This syncing the two into one clears your mind, clears your thoughts. And then at this time, you ask who you are, that is, not letting the momentum take place, but just feel and sense... then you ask what is it. At that moment, you might see your reality. But your mind must be able to settle down first. But you must know there is a difference between working at the concentration level, dealing with the karmic propensities and creating new momentums, and practicing insight meditation that touch directly the clarity and the luminous nature, are two different things. You see what I mean or not?
  
  Participant 1: Yeah I think so. This means that I still need to do insight meditation?
  
  Thusness: Yes you have to do insight meditation. Even if you attain calmness you still have to do insight meditation. You must feel the awareness... You must sense it everywhere... That is very important for liberation. Now when we talk about awareness, we don't call it Self or we don't call it Mind. Why people call it Awareness is because they do not want to call it Self, because there is no Self. The reason they said Awareness, is because Awareness is not an entity. It is not a thing. It is just a point of luminous clarity. It is just clarity. But because we are so accustomed to thinking things in terms of object and subject, we always take Awareness as something. It must be somewhere inside, residing somewhere. Even if it is not residing inside the body it must be somewhere, someplace. This is the problem, you see. So when you say that let’s be aware. We always think of “how?” How to be aware? When we say “where is awareness”, they always look for a place, they always look for a something. This is how the mind react, this is what I call a momentum. They always behave this way. They do not know how to say “Just do nothing. Everything is expressing itself by clarity.” They always want to react, you see what I mean?

• An Eternal Now

  15 Jul 08, 21:49

  http://buddhism.sgforums.com/forums/1728/topics/311108

  My reply to someone asking about the external signs related to the fruition of chanting:

  ------------

  Icic... maybe you can search the internet for some of the benefits of mantras. It is a good practice so keep it up.

  But the most important benefit is that it can calm your mind... when you are chanting, you must be aware of the chanting. If your mind wanders on what you are going to do next, or what someone has done to you, what happened to you, i.e. past and future, then the chanting will not be of much effect.

  My local dharma teacher tells of 3 stages of chanting... I can only type from what I remember, briefly:

  1) Chanting as a means to control our mind. Our mind is lost in discursive thinking, and lost its calmness. So by focusing our attention on chanting, we can prevent the discursive mind from wandering again. Unfortunately, many people at this stage simply 'chants with his mouth'. That is useless. His mind wanders on other things, and is not even aware that is chanting. It is only his mouth that 'chants'. The mind is not chanting. We must avoid this by all means, and chant with sincerity and one pointedness.

  2) When we chant for a long period of time, the chanting itself becomes a momentum that gathers strength and helps us in daily life, constantly 24/7. Even in sleep. That means lets say you chant Amitabha (or any other chant), you will reach a stage where you automatically chant the mantra... its like motor going by itself in your head... you just keep chanting, the chanting takes place 'automatically' even without your intention to start chanting. This is important so that whenever you face any situations, you will not lose your calm and samadhi (one pointedness). Even in sleep, even in dreams, if you have a nightmare or you dream of ghosts chasing you, you will automatically start chanting... and free yourself from such situations. If something bad happens to you, even if your past life debtors or spirits want to take away your life, you will automatically chant and even if you die you will be able to be born in higher realms or in the pure lands.

  3) Be-with-buddha chanting. You maintain ever present awareness that knows your chanting. That means, you are aware of chanting Om-ma-ni-pad-me-hum... totally present, aware, as you chant. This awareness is also aware of every arising thought, or even when there is no thoughts, it is present. With this awareness you will not be tricked by ignorant thoughts, whether the thought is good or bad, awareness is present and knows. When you reach this level, it is 'nian zhong you fo'. Every 'nian' got 'Buddha'. What is Buddha? Buddha is our Awareness. It is our true nature that is ever present and inherent in every being. If you reach this level, you are being with buddha'.

   

  So if you see yourself progressing along these lines, then you do not need to rely on external signs to increase your faith in the mantra or chanting. The clarity/awareness, calmness, bliss is itself assuring. You will want to keep practicing to experience these qualities and you will see it help you even in daily lives. What is important is also to practice in daily lives, to 'extend' these qualities to meet daily lives situation.

  You do not need to see or hear the Buddha, if you Be With Buddha, you will "be with" Buddha (Awareness) right in this moment, you will be one with all Buddhas in the 10 directions. It is not through seeking him in forms and sound, as the Buddha taught:

   

  “He who sees me (Buddha) in forms or seeks me in sounds is on a heterodox path and cannot see the Tathagata (Buddha).”
  “All forms are but illusions, in seeing that all forms are illusory, one sees the Tathagata.”

  See http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol7no4c.htm

• An Eternal Now

  15 Jul 08, 21:58

  Originally posted by _wanderer_:

  
  Thank you for posting on this. Very true indeed.

   

  ==============================

   

  Something not exactly related here; I attended meditation teaching by Garchen Rinpoche few days ago. He emphasized a lot of times that we should try to merge meditation and post-meditation, by trying to bring mindfulness and awareness into our lives at every moment, whatever we're doing. If we're able to generate loving-kindness and compassion, and maintain mindfulness and awareness in all our actions, then all our activities will become the practice of 6 Paramitas.

   

  Some nice excerpts from his talk:

   

  "When discursive thoughts or afflictive emotions arise, if we have mindfulness/awareness, the discursive thoughts and afflictive emotions will not drag us to create karma. They will just arise and dissolve."

   

  "If afflictive emotion, e.g. anger arises, stop following the thought. Make sure that mindfulness/awareness is firm in its own place. Do not be shaken by the arising anger. If you're familiar with the practice, anger disappears instantly. If you are not familiar but continue practising, it will go away gradually."

   

  "Without mindfulness/awareness, we become victims to discursive thoughts. These thoughts bind us to Samsara. Therefore, being free from discursive thoughts is to be free from Samsara."

   

  Good points, thanks for sharing.