May 28, 2023

Meditation Q&A - May 27th, 2023

1 hour 6 minutes

This talk / Q&A was originally posted on Ven. Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu’s YouTube Channel. To watch it on YouTube kindly click here.

00:00 Welcome

00:54 Meditate Together

15:44 Is it enough for cultivating awareness to know you're breathing in and out?

17:44 How can you help a partner or family member who's depressed but doesn't want to meditate? Other than being a good example for them, is there anything you can do, other than being mindful?

20:08 I am a lay person and do not wish to be enlightened. However, I do wish for a more peaceful life and rebirth. Should I focus on cultivating the brahmaviharas jhanas rather than dry insight noting?

23:40 When doing samatha meditation, are we missing out on the information that we get when practicing Satipatthana vipassana? Is it important to know the types of experiences that we note or only to see the three characteristics?

24:39 Is it normal if by meditation you lose the appreciation and judgement of abstract concepts like love, compassion, honor etc. or am I doing something wrong, or Is it Some mental disorder?

26:55 During my daily meditation practice I experience a lot of Nihilism in daily life. Is this a result of being young, as I'm just twenty-three, or should I do something different?

29:07 I am addicted to Tiktok/music reels and I keep scrolling all day. I am addicted to the point where I neglected my meditation practice for days. How can I stop this addiction and start being mindful?

31:46 It's not intentional, but is it bad karma if I bike or run, etc. since bugs end up dying? I sometimes see them a split second before (unintentionally) trampling them. Would it be better to do it indoors?

33:28 Thoughts are karmically potent. Are mental formations on concepts “studying nature" such as quantum physics, neuroscience.... unwholesome? Does this create attachment, ignorance, delusion necessarily?

35:21 How does one not get depressed by seeing the three characteristics? Besides noting "depressed", can you have a conceptual framework?

37:04 I struggle to tell my husband that he needs to work around the house and children. He doesn't want to do that and we end up fighting. How can I avoid this vicious cycle?

49:04 Is it harmful in some way to meditate without first having strong sila and right view?

53:13 Assuming a situation where due to some bad past actions someone is in a situation where he is always on the run from authorities or has legal troubles, a lot of anxiety. Do you have any advice for meditation?

57:16 When meditating sometimes it triggers anxiety on how unrelaxed the breath seems, when focusing on the breath as an object of meditation. Sometimes I notice I am breathing from the top of the chest rather than the stomach and this also happens. What should I do?

1:00:33 How do we deal with making choices such as choosing clothing, meals, work after seeing the three characteristics? Beyond wholesomeness, what do we base our choices on when preferences fall away?

1:03:43 How can I deal with frightening experiences which come up with intense meditation and rapture, making me resistant In my meditation in order to not experience those things again?

1:06:10 Sadhu...

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By Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu