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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Any practitioner in France ? in the forum Dharma Treasure Community Information 5 years, 3 months ago
Il y a au moins un francophone qui se joint fréquemment à ma convocation en ligne du samedi matin. Je ne mentionnerais pas cela, mais vous n’avez pas reçu de réponse, cela semble donc préférable à rien. Des informations sur la convocation peuvent être trouvées ici: https://abhayakara.fugue.com/weekly-meetup/
La convocation est malheureus…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Dullness and agitation together? in the forum Meditation 5 years, 7 months ago
One of the barometers I’ve used for this in the past is to notice what the content of the agitated thoughts is. If it feels kind of weird, surreal or fictional, that’s hypnagogia, not agitation. It feels busy like agitation, but indeed the cure is to counteract dullness in one way or another. One way to do it is to notice whether peripheral…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Index of a/v recordings in the forum Help Wanted or Offered 5 years, 8 months ago
We’ve actually been working on a wiki to accomplish something like this. Do you think that would work, or are you thinking of something different?
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic No perception of breath in the forum Meditation 5 years, 9 months ago
When you say you are working on stage 3, the assumption would be that you are experiencing forgetting. Is that the case, or is it just that when you put your attention on the breath, sometimes there is no breath there? If it’s the latter, what you are describing sounds like stage 4, not stage 3. And if all you are experiencing is subtle…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Eyes hurt during meditation in the forum Meditation 5 years, 9 months ago
One thing you might want to think about is that “ignoring” is not the right thing to do. What you want is to just not be distracted. It’s fine to be aware of your eyes—you just ideally want your attention on the breath and your eyes in awareness. Ignoring them, particularly at the early stages, is a pretty artificial solution.
What is l…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic How to overcome doubts about meditation in the forum Meditation 5 years, 10 months ago
Depends what you mean by compatible. Will TMI meditation work in that context? Sure. I’ve used TMI meditation in a practice that I would describe as similar to what you are experiencing. It’s not my a practice I do anymore, but it was a lovely practice. The ability to stabilize the attention while maintaining mindfulness worked just great…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Meditation path, senses, orientation, misc in the forum Meditation 5 years, 10 months ago
No, TMI is a process for becoming an adept meditator. Once you become an adept meditator, the practices that you’re calling “Theravada” practices are things you can do. Before you are an adept meditator, many of these practices are impossible to do well enough to get much value out of them. However, bear in mind that “vipassana” means…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Meditation path, senses, orientation, misc in the forum Meditation 5 years, 10 months ago
Lots of good questions here. First, meditation is one of the aspects of the eightfold path: “right concentration.” So there’s no conflict between TMI and Theravada. TMI is a “shamata/vipassana” practice, meaning that you are practicing vipassana at the same time that you are learning to practice shamata. In order to reach the later stages…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Impasse at an early stage in the forum Meditation 5 years, 10 months ago
One thing that I would suggest you consider is that you may not be meditating at stage 2/3. It’s pretty common for new practitioners to mistake stage 4 for stage 2 or 3 because they don’t know the distinction between forgetting and distraction. So the first thing I would suggest is that you make sure you aren’t doing this. If you aren’t,…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Agitation in Stage 3 in the forum Meditation 6 years ago
Wow, I’ve heard enough people talk about this happening at the end of stage three that I think it’s almost a marker. I suppose it doesn’t happen to everybody, but rest assured that you are in good company. It certainly happened to me.
The approach I took, which may or may not work for you, was to learn to laugh at and love the inner toddler…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon changed their profile picture 6 years ago
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Difference between gross and subtle distractions in the forum Meditation 6 years ago
A couple of things to say about this. First, gross distractions are a stage four phenomenon, not a stage three phenomenon. Beware of confusing gross distraction with forgetting.
Second, if you are in stage five with no subtle dullness, you’re in stage six. But that doesn’t really sound like what you are describing. Don’t think that subtle…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Differentiating between awareness and attention as a body experience in the forum Meditation 6 years, 2 months ago
To expand briefly on what Frédéric just said, one thing you should be aware of is that having a clear experience of the distinction between something that is “in awareness” and something that is a subtle distraction is something that doesn’t happen early in the process. You get glimpses of it when stage four practice is close to the stage four g…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Questions on involuntary body movements in the forum Meditation 6 years, 3 months ago
What is your current medical condition?
It’s hard to answer the question on body movements because it’s different for everyone.
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Culadasa is now offering private consultations online in the forum Dharma Treasure Community Information 6 years, 8 months ago
Samuel, one thing that what you have said brings up is actually a really important question: how do you determine whether or not a teacher is legitimate? As students, we don’t always have a good way to do it. One of the Bodhisattva vows in the Tibetan tradition (possibly in others) is to behave in a way that gives the appearance of being…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Renunciation and Social Interactions in the forum Dharma Practice in Daily Life 6 years, 10 months ago
Renunciation doesn’t mean that you stop doing things you enjoy. It means that you let go of the idea that doing things you want to do will make you happy, and that avoiding things you want to avoid will prevent you from being unhappy.
As a consequence of this, your habits may well change, but it’s the understanding that’s the core of…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Holding goals/expectations lightly in the forum Meditation 6 years, 10 months ago
Striving is generally used to refer to a certain kind of activity in pursuit of the goal which winds up being counterproductive. Culadasa uses the term “diligence” to refer to what you might call wholesome striving, as opposed to “striving” which is unwholesome and causes stress.
What you have described here is essentially what Culadasa calls…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Stage 4 Tension Headaces – Pushing Through Vs. Switching Focus To The Abdomen in the forum Meditation 6 years, 10 months ago
I’ve heard this suggested as well, but I actually try to avoid putting any effort into telling the eyes where to look, because for me that creates tension. But you’re definitely right to suggest noticing what’s going on with them, because I was unconsciously staring at my nose, and that was causing significant eyestrain, even though my eyes were…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Stage 4 Tension Headaces – Pushing Through Vs. Switching Focus To The Abdomen in the forum Meditation 6 years, 10 months ago
You can definitely experience piti. However, I would tend to suspect that this is a stage four purification, which is expressing itself in the form of muscle tension. You may also be engaging in efforting. If it’s manifesting as pain, that’s a bit unusual—for me that sort of piti generally manifests as pressure, but isn’t particularly p…[Read more]
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Ted Lemon replied to the topic Momentary Concentration in the forum Meditation 6 years, 10 months ago
Ah, thanks for clarifying. Using momentary concentration at stage five is not what Culadasa recommends—he says that momentary concentration, while it can be successful in producing insight, is less stable than continuous attentional stability with mindful awareness. You should keep reading! 🙂
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