Table of Contents
What is the difference between meditation and Vipassana?
Vipassana is different from mindfulness meditation, which focuses on awareness, or to transcendental meditation, which uses a mantra. Instead, it dictates a blanket command of non-reaction. The father of these retreats is the late SN Goenka, who was raised in Myanmar and learned Vipassana from monks there.
How can I practice samatha meditation?
Samatha Meditation
- Sit in your normal meditation posture.
- Straighten your back as if stacking one vertebrae on top of the other.
- Relax your shoulders and keep the head evenly balanced and tuck your chin slightly inwards.
- Let your tongue touch the palate.
- Relax your face.
- Close your eyes.
What is the difference between samatha meditation and vipassana meditation?
The difference between Samatha and Vipassana is that when we are practicing Samatha meditation, we are concentrating/balancing our mind, and the main effort is not on eradication of accumulated sanskaras (even though it stops formation of new sanskaras).
What is samatha practice?
Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu briefly describes Samatha practice and compares to Vipassana Samatha meditation (counting breaths) is for calming the mind; Vipassana meditation (observing the abdomen rising and falling) is for clearing the mind
How can samatha meditation calm the mind?
Samatha or tranquility meditation can only calm the mind because it is focusing the mind on a concept such as the breath and counting up through them with numbers, which are also a concept. What we call the breath is an abstraction or shorthand for the abdomen rising or falling or some other physical manifestation of breathing.
Is vipassana meditation the best way to let go?
In these cases it is safe to say that Vipassana meditation is the practice of choice, as it is specifically designed for seeing clearly and therefore letting go. Solely using meditation for calmness will not resolve underlying problems in the mind or unresolved issues from the past.