May 29, 2022

Meditation Q&A - May 28, 2022

1 hour

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

01:01 Meditate Together

15:25 How can meditation help people with severe drug addiction (cocaine, heroin)?

21:22 Does this practice lead to happiness? Is freedom from suffering the same thing as happiness?

23:35 When I get sudden news of surprise or shock, I get happy or dull immediately. Why cannot my mind be still even in that moment? How to develop such an ability of a reactionless mind?

25:19 What is a path to tackling papanca?

26:36 You've said that physical exercise is not to be pursued, but what about stretching of limbs? You are able to sit "cross-legged" as Buddha prescribed. I can't yet.

28:21 What is the right way to meditate to increase short term memory, to increase focus and concentration?

30:03 When I do walking meditation, when stepping right, I don't note experience arising and ceasing. I experience more like the experience goes on. What can I do? Should I be more concentrated?

31:24 Two nights ago my mother passed away in her sleep. Do you have any advice on how to deal with the emotions? I've only slept 3 hours since I found her. I'm struggling with mindfulness.

36:50 Could you please say something about impatience during meditation? Do I note impatience? Should I also note perseverance?

39:59 Should you not sit in a full lotus when meditating?

40:56 I quite often jump from noting one thing onto another. The mind cannot stay noting one thing. Any advice?

41:58 When during meditation, there's a conviction that "I can't do it", "I'd better do something else", or "I can't do it today". Is this torpor? Should I also note believing as these thoughts are very real?

43:40 Can a guarded mind repress emotions? I can catch myself seeing images in the mind and it would stop the abstraction and relation to it. Is there any sense in playing out the abstractions?

44:43 Sloth and Torpor are not leaving my mind. For the last 10 months, this hindrance has been obstructing me to cultivate meditation. Please advise on how to deal with it.

45:46 For an intensive course, I could manage to sleep for six hours and eat one or two times, but I have the idea that I would not stand at all the lust that is usually very intense and unbearable in me. Any tips?

46:33 How does one overcome depression and or the feeling of being trapped when meditating?

47:41 Does the physical world exist independent of experience?

49:25 Does microdosing psychedelics (taking a Sub-perceptual dose) interfere with the 5 precepts?

53:34 Why is it said that Nibbana has no cause? Isn't it seeing things clearly the cause of Nibbana?

55:07 Does microdosing psychedelics (taking a sub-perceptual dose) interfere with the 5 precepts?

57:15 I feel quite stubbornly attatched to beauty and pleasures as a good thing. Is this the famous clinging (upadana)? When I feel "stubborn" like a mule Should I note "clinging"?

58:25 Since the mantra is a thought, is it better to make sure the mind is not too full of other thoughts in order to be mindful?

1:00:32 Sadhu...

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By Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu