Longest period of Meditation!

[CedarTree]

Many of us know about places of intensive meditation and practice.

On the Zen side places like Antai-ji in Japan & Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery in America come to mind.

For Theravada, Panditãrãma or Pa Auk Forest Monastery.

I am curious what are the longest stretches of intense meditation you have heard and also completed yourself!

It can be a folk story or true.

I am having a hard time finding the information now but one of the longest periods of meditation I have heard of is the 100 day Sesshin! I guess it all depends on the time-table of each day but if it is a standard Sesshin that would be beyond intense.

For myself I had a period a few years back while watching a property. I would do some simple chores and then walk over to a close park and sit. I probably was sitting around 7-10 hours a day and I think the period was about a month and a half or two.

I had a point were I had an incredible absorption/mystical experience. Almost like a powerful psychedelic experience although it was totally clear and there was no background feelings.

In it I experienced what felt like the massiveness of Samsara and were I was and had developed so far. Also seemed I had taken Bodhisattva vows in the past as I was experienced as a Bodhisattva. The interesting thing is at this time I was practicing very intensely on the Theravada perspective and so hadn't thought about Bodhisattvas in a long time to my knowledge lol

It was a very powerful experience.

[Fa Xin]

1 hour ago, CedarTree said:

For myself I had a period a few years back while watching a property. I would do some simple chores and then walk over to a close park and sit. I probably was sitting around 7-10 hours a day and I think the period was about a month and a half or two.
 

I think I've seen you...

[CedarTree]

The biggest question I have is:

 

Was I glowing.......

 

Lol in all seriousness that would be pretty cool but I want to keep this about every ones meditation and not just how wicked of a meditator I am hah

 

Fa Xin, tell us about your meditation in particular a long stretch you may have done of intense work and what happened or some good stories you know of intense meditation!

[Fa Xin]

Haha. Your story made me think of a guy I used to see always sitting on a park bench.  While I initially thought he had some mental health issues, now I'm thinking he could've been in deep samadhi!

 

Thanks for the invitation to share. I'll give it my best...

 

I was never big into long periods of meditation. The longest amount of time I have sat for is a few hours tops. The usual time I sat for was 15 to 45 min. 

 

One thing I have done, which I feel has contributed Positively To my experience... was to integrate meditations into my daily life. 

 

For instance, "letting everything be" or relaxing totally into the moment. I made a game into it and tried to do it in every moment (sometimes successfully sometimes not). Over time it got easier to do until one day I realized that everything I did, no matter what, was a meditation in and of itself. 

 

So I don't have many experiences with long sitting. Up until very recently, I couldn't sit still. I'd always do qigong or mantra or something to entertain my mind. Until one day something clicked and all I wanted was silence  

maybe I just got old 😂 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2017 by Fa Xin

[doc benway]

22 hours ago, CedarTree said:

Many of us know about places of intensive meditation and practice.

On the Zen side places like Antai-ji in Japan & Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery in America come to mind.

For Theravada, Panditãrãma or Pa Auk Forest Monastery.

I am curious what are the longest stretches of intense meditation you have heard and also completed yourself!

It can be a folk story or true.

I am having a hard time finding the information now but one of the longest periods of meditation I have heard of is the 100 day Sesshin! I guess it all depends on the time-table of each day but if it is a standard Sesshin that would be beyond intense.

For myself I had a period a few years back while watching a property. I would do some simple chores and then walk over to a close park and sit. I probably was sitting around 7-10 hours a day and I think the period was about a month and a half or two.

I had a point were I had an incredible absorption/mystical experience. Almost like a powerful psychedelic experience although it was totally clear and there was no background feelings.

In it I experienced what felt like the massiveness of Samsara and were I was and had developed so far. Also seemed I had taken Bodhisattva vows in the past as I was experienced as a Bodhisattva. The interesting thing is at this time I was practicing very intensely on the Theravada perspective and so hadn't thought about Bodhisattvas in a long time to my knowledge lol

It was a very powerful experience.

 

In the Bönpo tradition, a 49 day dark retreat is undertaken by practitioners.

One spends 49 days in complete darkness and engages in meditation throughout. 

I've not done it but hope to when I can take enough time away from work and family. 

 

 

[9th]

16 hours ago, Fa Xin said:

For instance, "letting everything be" or relaxing totally into the moment. I made a game into it and tried to do it in every moment (sometimes successfully sometimes not). Over time it got easier to do until one day I realized that everything I did, no matter what, was a meditation in and of itself. 

 

 

On 11/7/2013 at 3:15 PM, 9th said:

What is this true meditation? It is to make everything: coughing, swallowing, waving the arms, motion, stillness, words, actions, the evil and the good, prosperity and shame, gain and loss, right and wrong, into one single koan.

 

Make your skirt and upper garments into the seven or nine striped monks’ robe; make your two-edged sword into your resting board or desk. Make your saddle your sitting cushion; make the mountains, rivers, and the great earth the sitting platform; make the whole universe your own personal meditation cave.

 

Consider the workings of yin and yang as your two meals of gruel a day; heaven, hell, pure lands, and this world as your spleen, stomach, and intestines. Thrusting forth the courageous mind derived from faith, combine it with the true practice of introspection. Then rising or staying, moving or still, "at all times test to see whether you have lost the true meditation or have not lost it." This is the true practice of the sages of the past and of today.

 

You must become aware that meditation is the thing that points out your own innate appearance. To carry on the real practice of seeing into your own nature by transcending the great matter of birth and death is by no means an easy thing to do.

 

Placing the essential between the two states, the active and the passive, and being in a position to be able to move in any direction, with the true principle of pure, undiluted undistracted meditation before your eyes, attain a state of mind in which, even though surrounded by crowds of people, it is as if you were alone in a field extending tens of thousands of miles.

 

- Hakuin Ekaku

 

Edited August 28, 2017 by 9th

[CedarTree]

17 hours ago, Fa Xin said:

Haha. Your story made me think of a guy I used to see always sitting on a park bench.  While I initially thought he had some mental health issues, now I'm thinking he could've been in deep samadhi!

 

Thanks for the invitation to share. I'll give it my best...

 

I was never big into long periods of meditation. The longest amount of time I have sat for is a few hours tops. The usual time I sat for was 15 to 45 min. 

 

One thing I have done, which I feel has contributed Positively To my experience... was to integrate meditations into my daily life. 

 

For instance, "letting everything be" or relaxing totally into the moment. I made a game into it and tried to do it in every moment (sometimes successfully sometimes not). Over time it got easier to do until one day I realized that everything I did, no matter what, was a meditation in and of itself. 

 

So I don't have many experiences with long sitting. Up until very recently, I couldn't sit still. I'd always do qigong or mantra or something to entertain my mind. Until one day something clicked and all I wanted was silence  

maybe I just got old 😂 

 

 

Getting old has some great benefits

[CedarTree]

1 hour ago, steve said:

 

In the Bönpo tradition, a 49 day dark retreat is undertaken by practitioners.

One spends 49 days in complete darkness and engages in meditation throughout. 

I've not done it but hope to when I can take enough time away from work and family. 

 

 

 

This has always been an interesting practice to me, do you know much about it.  Like I always wondered how they use the bathroom and the small things like that.

 

Being in complete darkness for 49 days or longer could be a very intense practice.

 

Almost like the individuals that use the sensory deprivation tanks.

[thelerner]

It's just 14 days but Universal Healing Tao has programs- https://www.universal-tao.com/dark_room/enlightenment.html

 

"Overview of the Dark Room Retreats
Using a Partner System the first few days will be used to make up for any sleep deficiency and to relax the body from its daily concerns. Sleeping 12-14 hours a day, will promote healthy amounts of melatonin. We will practice 2 hours of Simple Chi Kung and CNT and Thai massage will be available. Fresh juices and soup will be served for breakfast and an organic meal in the afternoon. All food will be light and easily digestible and all service provided by Tao Garden staff with night vision goggles. We will commence the Kan and Li practices and gradually increase levels of orgasmic and compassionate energy. When you reach a certain point you will begin to hear the cells and DNA making love or coupling. On the 7th, 14th and 21st. evenings, you will be able to leave the Dark Room Retreat through a reflexive tunnel. You will go outside slowly, wearing your own sunglasses. It is important to wear them all of the next day, until you gradually get used to the light again.The Condominium Buildings will be converted into an air conditioned dark room environment with a central meeting and meditation room. All exterior windows & doors will be sealed with sound & light proof paneling.

 

Dark Room Enlightenment Program

DAY 1-3
Complete isolation from external light causes the pineal gland to flood the brain with the neurotransmitter melatonin.

3 days of Internal Darkness and Sleep Therapy - During these 3 days one has the chance to catch up on all the lost sleep that has occurred over the last few years.

This stage cannot be over emphasized, with regard to its importance in the overall process.
Christ spent 3 days in the caves near the Dead Sea, utilizing this metamorphic process, which is conducive to a very gradual death of the ego.

DAY 3-5
The pineal gland starts to increase the production of 'pinoline', whereby a greater fluidity of thought and healing of the body starts to occur. This period allows for transition, wherein numerous meditations will be carried out, which will incorporate projection of the energy body and astral travel along with (Iron Shirt) Chi Kung.

DAY 6-8
At this stage the pineal gland starts to produce the neurohormone 5-MeO-DMT. This psychoactive tryptamine is highly luminescent; it is also extremely phospherescent due to the amount of phosphene that it transmits onto the visual cortex.
The neuro transmitter 'akashon' is normally only active when we are in the womb and in the first months of our lives. It is now reactivated in the darkroom.

5-MeO-DMT switches on 40% more of the cerebral cortex and awakens the nervous system to become aware of itself; 'beingness' results. Hence, the possibility of metaprogramming the nervous system's bio-computer - activating healing and conflict message assortment of the nervous system.

5-MeO-DMT is the empathogenic neurotransmitter that expands the emotional body between 'infinity and zero'. It gives rise to telepathy in the emotional and intuitive bodies. It engages the awakening of the 'Flower Of Life', the spine, which begins to glow in a state of beingness and peace.

Many exercises will be practiced during this period; compacting Chi, consciousness and awareness into the nervous system, working with the Silent Self and anchoring the Immortal Body.

5-Meo-DMT discharges the darkness from the darkroom. A bright light will be activated.
This Great White Light, the manifestation of the astral body, enables the self to project externally.

At this point, some degree on 'N-Methyl-D-Aspartare Inhibition' (NMDA-I) usually occurs. This is a 'soft form' of the slowing of the glutamate input signals into the cells. This makes it easier for the nervous system to cause electrons to stop flowing within the cells, allowing for profound meditative trance states.

The 5-MeO-DMT prepares the nervous system, through its empathic state of being and self awareness of the nervous system, for the DMT or dimethyltryptamine production of the pineal gland, in psychoactive milligram dosages.

DAY 9-12
There is now enough 'Mono Amine Oxidase Inhibition' triggered by the pinoline, to allow the pineal gland's 'serotonin to melatonin cycle' to be intercepted by adrenaline and ephedrine activity and converted into a 'serotonin DMT pathway'.
When DMT levels reach more than 25mg, one's experience can become very visual. DMT is the visual third eye neurotransmitter. It enables the energy body and spirit to journey into hyperspace, beyond third dimensional realms of time and space. It is intensely energizing. At this stage of the Dark Room Retreat, the required amount of sleep tends to diminish dramatically. Although the day may last 24 hours, 3 hours of sleep can seem like 12.
During this period we will engage in further practices; psychic games and interactivity, Taoist Dream Yoga (advanced levels) and Imagination Expansion.

CONDITIONS
Each person will sign a form of consent, whereby they acknowledge responsibility for the 'self', in entering into 7 or 14 days (to be specified in application) of light isolation. They will confirm that they are free from mental illness or any other delicate health condition, that they are over 18 years of age and that they agree to stay for the full duration of the specified period, without interrupting the process for others."

 

I believe they have a few reviews from people who've done it.  Somewhat psychedelic as dreams and wakefulness merge and I believe some can't make it through the whole two weeks.  I'm sure its pretty intense and hard at times.  

[bax44]

35 minutes ago, thelerner said:

It's just 14 days but Universal Healing Tao has programs- https://www.universal-tao.com/dark_room/enlightenment.html

 

"Overview of the Dark Room Retreats
Using a Partner System the first few days will be used to make up for any sleep deficiency and to relax the body from its daily concerns. Sleeping 12-14 hours a day, will promote healthy amounts of melatonin. We will practice 2 hours of Simple Chi Kung and CNT and Thai massage will be available. Fresh juices and soup will be served for breakfast and an organic meal in the afternoon. All food will be light and easily digestible and all service provided by Tao Garden staff with night vision goggles. We will commence the Kan and Li practices and gradually increase levels of orgasmic and compassionate energy. When you reach a certain point you will begin to hear the cells and DNA making love or coupling. On the 7th, 14th and 21st. evenings, you will be able to leave the Dark Room Retreat through a reflexive tunnel. You will go outside slowly, wearing your own sunglasses. It is important to wear them all of the next day, until you gradually get used to the light again.The Condominium Buildings will be converted into an air conditioned dark room environment with a central meeting and meditation room. All exterior windows & doors will be sealed with sound & light proof paneling.

 

Dark Room Enlightenment Program

DAY 1-3
Complete isolation from external light causes the pineal gland to flood the brain with the neurotransmitter melatonin.

3 days of Internal Darkness and Sleep Therapy - During these 3 days one has the chance to catch up on all the lost sleep that has occurred over the last few years.

This stage cannot be over emphasized, with regard to its importance in the overall process.
Christ spent 3 days in the caves near the Dead Sea, utilizing this metamorphic process, which is conducive to a very gradual death of the ego.

DAY 3-5
The pineal gland starts to increase the production of 'pinoline', whereby a greater fluidity of thought and healing of the body starts to occur. This period allows for transition, wherein numerous meditations will be carried out, which will incorporate projection of the energy body and astral travel along with (Iron Shirt) Chi Kung.

DAY 6-8
At this stage the pineal gland starts to produce the neurohormone 5-MeO-DMT. This psychoactive tryptamine is highly luminescent; it is also extremely phospherescent due to the amount of phosphene that it transmits onto the visual cortex.
The neuro transmitter 'akashon' is normally only active when we are in the womb and in the first months of our lives. It is now reactivated in the darkroom.

5-MeO-DMT switches on 40% more of the cerebral cortex and awakens the nervous system to become aware of itself; 'beingness' results. Hence, the possibility of metaprogramming the nervous system's bio-computer - activating healing and conflict message assortment of the nervous system.

5-MeO-DMT is the empathogenic neurotransmitter that expands the emotional body between 'infinity and zero'. It gives rise to telepathy in the emotional and intuitive bodies. It engages the awakening of the 'Flower Of Life', the spine, which begins to glow in a state of beingness and peace.

Many exercises will be practiced during this period; compacting Chi, consciousness and awareness into the nervous system, working with the Silent Self and anchoring the Immortal Body.

5-Meo-DMT discharges the darkness from the darkroom. A bright light will be activated.
This Great White Light, the manifestation of the astral body, enables the self to project externally.

At this point, some degree on 'N-Methyl-D-Aspartare Inhibition' (NMDA-I) usually occurs. This is a 'soft form' of the slowing of the glutamate input signals into the cells. This makes it easier for the nervous system to cause electrons to stop flowing within the cells, allowing for profound meditative trance states.

The 5-MeO-DMT prepares the nervous system, through its empathic state of being and self awareness of the nervous system, for the DMT or dimethyltryptamine production of the pineal gland, in psychoactive milligram dosages.

DAY 9-12
There is now enough 'Mono Amine Oxidase Inhibition' triggered by the pinoline, to allow the pineal gland's 'serotonin to melatonin cycle' to be intercepted by adrenaline and ephedrine activity and converted into a 'serotonin DMT pathway'.
When DMT levels reach more than 25mg, one's experience can become very visual. DMT is the visual third eye neurotransmitter. It enables the energy body and spirit to journey into hyperspace, beyond third dimensional realms of time and space. It is intensely energizing. At this stage of the Dark Room Retreat, the required amount of sleep tends to diminish dramatically. Although the day may last 24 hours, 3 hours of sleep can seem like 12.
During this period we will engage in further practices; psychic games and interactivity, Taoist Dream Yoga (advanced levels) and Imagination Expansion.

CONDITIONS
Each person will sign a form of consent, whereby they acknowledge responsibility for the 'self', in entering into 7 or 14 days (to be specified in application) of light isolation. They will confirm that they are free from mental illness or any other delicate health condition, that they are over 18 years of age and that they agree to stay for the full duration of the specified period, without interrupting the process for others."

 

I believe they have a few reviews from people who've done it.  Somewhat psychedelic as dreams and wakefulness merge and I believe some can't make it through the whole two weeks.  I'm sure its pretty intense and hard at times.  

 

This actually looks pretty cool

[doc benway]

3 hours ago, CedarTree said:

 

This has always been an interesting practice to me, do you know much about it.  Like I always wondered how they use the bathroom and the small things like that.

 

Being in complete darkness for 49 days or longer could be a very intense practice.

 

Almost like the individuals that use the sensory deprivation tanks.

 

I've had some training in the methods but I'm not ready to do it myself yet.

You use a relatively small room that is set up to make things as easy as possible.

You feel your way around in the beginning. 

Over time I understand you begin to develop enough familiarity that the darkness is not such an obstacle.

You give up things like shaving.

You arrange for someone to bring simple meals on a set schedule. 

It is precisely done for the prolonged sensory deprivation. 

The practices themselves are relatively simple.

[9th]

4 hours ago, CedarTree said:

Getting old has some great benefits

 

Chapter 63

 

Do nondoing,

strive for nonstriving,

savor the flavorless,

regard the small as important,

make much of little,

repay enmity with virtue;

plan for difficulty when it is still easy,

do the great while it is still small.

The most difficult things in the world must be done while they are easy;

the greatest things in the world must be done while they are small.

Because of this sages never do great things;

that is why they can fulfill their greatness.

If you agree too easily, you'll be little trusted;

if you take it easy a lot, you'll have a lot of problems.

Therefore it is through difficulty that sages end up without problems.

 

 

- Old Master

[CedarTree]

21 minutes ago, 9th said:

 

Chapter 63

 

Do nondoing,

strive for nonstriving,

savor the flavorless,

regard the small as important,

make much of little,

repay enmity with virtue;

plan for difficulty when it is still easy,

do the great while it is still small.

The most difficult things in the world must be done while they are easy;

the greatest things in the world must be done while they are small.

Because of this sages never do great things;

that is why they can fulfill their greatness.

If you agree too easily, you'll be little trusted;

if you take it easy a lot, you'll have a lot of problems.

Therefore it is through difficulty that sages end up without problems.

 

 

- Old Master

 

9th share your meditation experience.

[9th]

Just now, CedarTree said:

 

9th share your meditation experience.

 

Thats what Im doing.  

 

All you have to do is pay attention... for as long as you can.  

 

Of course, you will need a certain amount of "money" in the "bank" - as it were.  Otherwise, you wont be able to afford the ticket.  

 

Or maybe you dont want a ticket.... in any event - no ticket, no ride.  At that point you can go ahead and take a walk, or have a seat, or smoke em if you got em, etc. etc.  Do you.  Have fun.

 

You may have heard that there are no free rides in life.  We could debate the finer points of such a statement for eternity, but thats not really my style.

 

 

[CedarTree]

Don't want to speak from your subjective experience?

[Marblehead]

Our understandings are all subjective, aren't they?

 

 

[CedarTree]

4 hours ago, Marblehead said:

Our understandings are all subjective, aren't they?

 

 

I want to avoid this post becoming a philosophic investigation into Language & Subjectivity hah.

 

I was speaking from the perspective that people sometimes speak in seemingly objective ways to not divulge anything of a seemingly personal nature.

 

Now Marblehead you have to talk about your longest meditation and the experience

[Marblehead]

15 minutes ago, CedarTree said:

I want to avoid this post becoming a philosophic investigation into Language & Subjectivity hah.

 

I was speaking from the perspective that people sometimes speak in seemingly objective ways to not divulge anything of a seemingly personal nature.

 

Now Marblehead you have to talk about your longest meditation and the experience

Put me out on the limb, did you?

 

You understand that I practice empty-minded meditation, right?

 

That means when I attain the state of wu wei time ends.  There is also no experience because space has ended too.

 

So basically there is no answer to your question.

 

[CedarTree]

1 hour ago, Marblehead said:

Put me out on the limb, did you?

 

You understand that I practice empty-minded meditation, right?

 

That means when I attain the state of wu wei time ends.  There is also no experience because space has ended too.

 

So basically there is no answer to your question.

 

I put you on the limb because I love you lol!

 

Would you characterize your empty-minded meditation with the "Cessation of Perception & Feeling" as detailed in the Pali Canon?

 

Are you familiar with the Immaterial Jhanas?

[Marblehead]

2 hours ago, CedarTree said:

I put you on the limb because I love you lol!

That a relief.

 

2 hours ago, CedarTree said:

 

Would you characterize your empty-minded meditation with the "Cessation of Perception & Feeling" as detailed in the Pali Canon?

 

Are you familiar with the Immaterial Jhanas?

I am ignorant of the two things you asked of.  However, to the "Cessation of Perception and Feelings", there is awareness but not conscious awareness.  To feelings,  there are none.  However, were someone to slap me aside the head I am sure I would feel it, then slap them back.

 

 

[roger]

I've often considered meditating long hours every day, as a way to awaken. I made a post about it here asking everyone what their views about that kind of thing are.

 

The longest I've ever sat down and meditated is three hours.

 

But there was a thirteen month period where I meditated twenty four hours every day, without cessation, as I went throughout the day. I didn't take a single break from not deliberately thinking. In other words, even though thoughts came and went, I didn't deliberately choose to think.

 

There's a teaching in ACIM, 'You could easily sit still an hour and accomplish nothing. Yet you could just as easily give a single instant to God and achieve total oneness with Him.'

 

What matters is the quality of your meditation, not quantity, not how long you go for.

 

What matters is how good the meditation is.

[CedarTree]

On ‎8‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 1:11 PM, Marblehead said:

That a relief.

 

I am ignorant of the two things you asked of.  However, to the "Cessation of Perception and Feelings", there is awareness but not conscious awareness.  To feelings,  there are none.  However, were someone to slap me aside the head I am sure I would feel it, then slap them back.

 

 

How would you describe awareness vs conscious awareness as it does sound very similar to Jhana as described in Theravada Buddhism.

[Marblehead]

2 hours ago, CedarTree said:

How would you describe awareness vs conscious awareness as it does sound very similar to Jhana as described in Theravada Buddhism.

Interesting question.  I have never entertained it directly before.  Let's see how badly I can screw it up.

 

I view conscious awareness to be a result of thought knowing what is going on.  In other words, we have put our awareness into language thought.

 

But there is intuitive awareness, IMO.  We know something is going on but we don't know exactly what it is.  Therefore we cannot put it into words for thought processing.