Meditating to Music vs Meditating in Silence

[Heartbreak]

Meditating to Music vs Meditating in Silence

 

What are the pros and cons of each method?

 

What are your experiences so far?

[Earl Grey]

6 minutes ago, Heartbreak said:

Meditating to Music vs Meditating in Silence

 

What are the pros and cons of each method?

 

What are your experiences so far?

 

There are many different meditation methods--a huge difference between Zazen, Golden Flower, mantra chanting, Zhan Zhuang, and Merkaba, so it depends on what you are doing for the appropriate answer.

[Rara]

Meditating to music is a beginning phase for mindfulness. Good focus training, but eventually one would move away from that if wanting to do energy work.

 

There is certainly nothing wrong with meditating to music for the rest of your life though. It'll be calming and better than no meditation at all.

[Earl Grey]

1 hour ago, Rara said:

Meditating to music is a beginning phase for mindfulness. Good focus training, but eventually one would move away from that if wanting to do energy work.

 

There is certainly nothing wrong with meditating to music for the rest of your life though. It'll be calming and better than no meditation at all.

Listening to solfeggio frequencies is also meditation itself!

[Limahong]

2 hours ago, Heartbreak said:

Meditating to Music vs Meditating in Silence

 

Hi Heartbreak,

 

Beautiful choice of words...

 

 

 

- Anand

 

 

Edited March 12, 2020 by Limahong
Enhancement

[C T]

Music, chanting, silence, yoga, mindfulness, prayers, looking at a candle flame, any other form of ritualistic observations, including even extreme practices like self-flagellation (yes, thats promoted in some cults), psychedelic usage, bondage, and any sort of forced or corrupted sensual deprivation .... these are all nothing more than warming-up exercises that, if done properly, promote a certain desired spaciousness that leads to proper flow or absorption (aka meditation). In my understanding, meditation cannot be "done". One is either "doing" or "meditating". It can't be both at once. So, if one is listening to music, then listen. Be enraptured, be enamoured with that while the music plays. In silence, be completely silent. Let that silence penetrate the whole of one's being (and see how proficiently able can one remain there) - it pays not to confuse all these preparatory exercises with the actual unfolding of meditation.... that which begins where the warming-up ends. 

 

Some types of ritual practices will fulfill the purpose of getting into the zone, while the more extreme/perverted ones tend to exacerbate delusion, and can even produce psychosis and/or other harmful states. 

[Vajra Fist]

I use the Insight Timer app and I think a few other bums do too. It has some options from silence to white noise to chimes. Personally I really like the sound of a flowing river. 

[silent thunder]

sensations arise, sensations recede.

thoughts arise, thoughts recede.

sounds arise, sounds recede.

breath in, breath out.

emptiness abides.

all is one.

this is it.

[gatito]

2 hours ago, Vajra Fist said:

I use the Insight Timer app and I think a few other bums do too. It has some options from silence to white noise to chimes. Personally I really like the sound of a flowing river.

 

 

White noise, a flowing river and some types of music will all work effectively as objects.

 

Pink noise is sometimes considered superior  to white noise as it's less jarring.

 

[dwai]

6 hours ago, Heartbreak said:

Meditating to Music vs Meditating in Silence

 

What are the pros and cons of each method?

 

What are your experiences so far?

Meditation is silence. If there isn’t, then it is not meditation  

[Limahong]

1 hour ago, silent thunder said:

sensations arise, sensations recede.

thoughts arise, thoughts recede.

sounds arise, sounds recede.

breath in, breath out.

emptiness abides.

all is one.

this is it.

 

Hi Creighton,

 

Inverted pyramid...?

 

                                                                     

                                                               

 

                                                                   0 = Silence, Emptiness, Void...?

 

 

- Anand

 

Edited March 12, 2020 by Limahong
Enhancement

[C T]

Silence is a mere springboard. A prop. Even a crutch if there's dependency/attachment. 

True meditation is to simply arrive at a point where its really okay with the view & realisation of how all things in all moments are in a constant state of flux, but at the point of steady meditative absorption, one is neither pushed nor pulled by this flux . There is a presence or a sense of ease in all situations, and simultaneously an absence of craving for any one particular state over another. For eg, from the Advaita perspective, Sat-Chit-Ananda, that supreme endeavour and immaculate fruit, encompasses all of reality, not just aspects of it. Authentic (states of) meditation interpenetrates reality in much the same way. 

[Starjumper]

I define meditation as being in a state of non thinking.  If a person can focus on the music 100%, to the extent of not thinking, then I would call it meditation.  However it isn't so ideal because the act of focussing on the music, or on anything, like even breathing, creates a kind of tension which prevents going deeper.

[Limahong]

4 minutes ago, Starjumper said:

If a person can focus on the music 100%, to the extent of not thinking, then I would call it meditation.  

 

Hi Steve,

 

100% (e.g. music)..... meditating..... meditating..... meditating..... 0% (e.g. silence) ?

 

- Anand

[Wu Ming Jen]

Meditate with some awesome death metal and observe the energetic impact it has on our energy system then try some Taoist music and observe. Music enters the fourth dimension so it is easy to travel back and fourth in time, not so great for meditation. The music of nature in real time is very effective for meditation.

 

So as any good Taoist may suggest the answer  is yes and no with a little yes and big no and a big no with a little yes depending on the situation, location, internal weather system and mental landscape of a given moment that will change.

 

Everything is meditation, need to wash dishes meditate on what is the most effective, least amount of time,non resistance, effective way to get it done. If all requirements are met and exceeded that was a great meditation. Meditate on paying bills or any task.

 

I learned a long form moving in all 8 directions and my teacher made a small box on the ground and told me to do the form in the box. Seems impossible but by doing the form in my mind without moving all body systems fire as if I was actually doing the movements weird yet a meditation at the same time..

 

People have said they can not meditate I ask what is not a meditation? Going back to zero is the key then when we are moving at 100% things are more balanced and takes less effort to achieve our goals.

 

We need to empty the garbage before we shove more stuff into the container other wise we are always up to our ass in trash. This makes it difficult to do things because the list becomes overwhelming and there is so much trash in the way we can hardly move..

 

 

 

[silent thunder]

13 minutes ago, Wu Ming Jen said:

The music of nature in real time is very effective for meditation.

 

19 minutes ago, Wu Ming Jen said:

People have said they can not meditate I ask what is not a meditation?

 

Pearls! 

 

13 minutes ago, Wu Ming Jen said:

I learned a long form moving in all 8 directions and my teacher made a small box on the ground and told me to do the form in the box. Seems impossible but by doing the form in my mind without moving all body systems fire as if I was actually doing the movements weird yet a meditation at the same time

For the several years I was semi-crippled, often confined to a chair, hopping on the good leg around the house, gimping with a cane on good days... in a bid to escape unceasing pain without resorting to pills, the spontaneous compulsion arose to begin intensely running the martial forms i knew in my mind.  I found relief and engagement.  I began to run the forms in my mind as wholly and intimately as i could manage to re sense the sensations and re-feel the process...  the impact it had on my system was profound. 

 

Looking back, i suspect this endeavor bore fruit in my eventual full recovery.  It certainly worked to diverge awareness from identifying with the pain.

It piercingly impressed upon me, the value and integrity behind one of Buddha's quotes.

"Take care what you allow yourself to think.  This becomes your reality."

 

Spoiler

 

25 minutes ago, Wu Ming Jen said:

Meditate with some awesome death metal and observe the energetic impact

 

Not death metal per se', but Ningen Isu been ringing my bell pretty resoundingly lately.

 

Japanese Millenials bitching:  Stale Elders drag down our culture!

Ningen Isu:  Oh really?  Hold my Sake!

 

 

 

[Wu Ming Jen]

Wow!  A deep bow to your awesomeness!

[Limahong]

4 hours ago, silent thunder said:

Pearls! 

 

Good morning Creighton,

 

I can sense the pearls in this thread - thanks to Heartbreak for initiating it.

 

I feel the pearls shared as experiential energies - meditated, cultivated, cultured...

 

                           

 

Trust/hope Heartbreak can string the pearls in this ~ his thread...

         

 

 

- Anand

 

Edited March 12, 2020 by Limahong
Enhancement

[Limahong]

5 hours ago, C T said:

True meditation is to simply arrive at a point where its really okay with the view & realisation of how all things in all moments are in a constant state of flux, but at the point of steady meditative absorption, one is neither pushed nor pulled by this flux .

 

Hi CT,

 

"... one is neither pushed nor pulled..."

 

  

 

             

 

 

- Anand

 

 

[ralis]

Zappa will take you places. 
 

 

[ralis]

Yo Mama by Frank Zappa. 
 

 

 

[Starjumper]

5 hours ago, silent thunder said:

I began to run the forms in my mind as wholly and intimately as i could manage to re sense the sensations and re-feel the process...  the impact it had on my system was profound. 

 

This is almost as good, energetically, as doing the movements, but only for someone who is intimately familiar with the movements.

Edited March 13, 2020 by Starjumper

[Spotless]

On 3/12/2020 at 10:23 AM, C T said:

Silence is a mere springboard. A prop. Even a crutch if there's dependency/attachment. 

True meditation is to simply arrive at a point where its really okay with the view & realisation of how all things in all moments are in a constant state of flux, but at the point of steady meditative absorption, one is neither pushed nor pulled by this flux . There is a presence or a sense of ease in all situations, and simultaneously an absence of craving for any one particular state over another. For eg, from the Advaita perspective, Sat-Chit-Ananda, that supreme endeavour and immaculate fruit, encompasses all of reality, not just aspects of it. Authentic (states of) meditation interpenetrates reality in much the same way. 

This is a very fine and excellent point.

 

One can see this as “not being in inertia” - but we tend to forget that inertia is not just “being in the inertia of movement”  - it is often “being in the inertia of stillness” and in both cases one is in the grasp of intention/willfulness/trance/futures.

 

IN the essence of pure awareness one is unbothered if someone knocks on the door while we are in sitting meditation - and with no disturbance we may choose to go to the door or let it pass. 

If we are IN “at rest ness” we are IN the inertia of “an object at rest” and the knock will disturb the inertia.

 

 

Edited March 13, 2020 by Spotless

[Spotless]

Certain music will induce inertia’s of the senses, ones positions, emotions and or engagement of frequencies of trance - abiding awareness is thus distracted and obscured. Many think that trance is a beneficial abidance aiding in no thought - it is loss of self and embodiment as a sort of waking sleep - in a sense it is a clearer form of the sleep walking that most live and die their entire lives IN - it is far more a drug and easily addicted to as one is already addicted to it and this is simply an exciting clearer more distilled form - it is easy to get “high” in these trance states and mistake the unshackling lightness for “a higher state” rather than what it is - a cleaner more fully entrained drugged state.

 

If one has reached abiding awareness - divine essence - music may be heard in the tingling of the air and the great horns and twinklings of the celestial - and some music played from a recording may also be pleasant while not distracting. The gross physical and gross subtle and subtle bodies can benefit from music - it does not need to be categorized as good or bad during meditation - it is available in many forms.

 

In general - music during meditation would not be recommended for beginners, nor intermediates and including most “advanced” practitioners. But regardless of recommendation - it can also be no problem.

Edited March 13, 2020 by Spotless

[Limahong]

1 hour ago, Spotless said:

The gross physical and gross subtle and subtle bodies can benefit from music - it does not need to be categorized as good or bad during meditation - it is available in many forms.