Do-Nothing Meditation retreat

[SLuxy]

Any retreats in Europe that focus on Do-nothing meditation, or similar?

[Consilience]

Finding a soto zen sangha will be your best bet. 

[hamedsf]

wake up in the morning on your bed and stare at walls. this is do-nothing.

why bother wasting money on retreats? you guys are deceived by the name of "retreat" 

 

[Raptorsin7]

@hamedsf This is not true. There can a lot of benefit of being in a place that imposes structure on your meditation practice

[Space]

11 hours ago, SLuxy said:

Any retreats in Europe that focus on Do-nothing meditation, or similar?

I went to a Goenka vipassana retreat here in the UK 18 months ago and spent 60% of the time doing something like the Do Nothing technique, the other 30% doing fast labelling. I didn't do the body scanning at all. Just don't tell the managers or teachers because they'll probably throw you out.

 

[hamedsf]

@Raptorsin7 you should have a strong will and self-discipline to practice it home. you say I'd rather prefer paying some cash and somebody else imposes discipline on me! 

[Consilience]

8 minutes ago, hamedsf said:

@Raptorsin7 you should have a strong will and self-discipline to practice it home. you say I'd rather prefer paying some cash and somebody else imposes discipline on me! 

There's no such thing as strong will or 'self' discipline, there's no one to have discipline.

The distinction you're creating around retreat and discipline is imaginary; a retreat imposing discipline is just as much you imposing discipline on yourself as you imposing discipline on yourself during an at home retreat, or with no retreat at all. You are literally the entirety of the experience of going on retreat, there is 0 separation.  

Moreover, there's an advantage to going on a retreat, immersing one's self under the guidance of a master and feeling the collective intention with the fellow retreat goers. You're also much more likely to push harder while being swept in the momentum of the collective psychology of a retreat.

 

14 minutes ago, Raptorsin7 said:

There can a lot of benefit of being in a place that imposes structure on your meditation practice

Wisdom.

[hamedsf]

34 minutes ago, Consilience said:

The distinction you're creating around retreat and discipline is imaginary; a retreat imposing discipline is just as much you imposing discipline on yourself as you imposing discipline on yourself during an at home retreat, or with no retreat at all. You are literally the entirety of the experience of going on retreat, there is 0 separation.  

I wonder what would an enlightened african slave think? 

that guy over there is me imposing a heavy work on myself. good for me!

[r0ckyreed]

9 hours ago, Consilience said:

The distinction you're creating around retreat and discipline is imaginary

Good. Since the distinction between paying for a retreat and discipline at home are one, you might as well turn your home into a retreat since they are one. It makes no sense to make a retreat your home when you can make your home into a retreat.

 

9 hours ago, Consilience said:

there's an advantage to going on a retreat, immersing one's self under the guidance of a master and feeling the collective intention with the fellow retreat goers. You're also much more likely to push harder while being swept in the momentum of the collective psychology of a retreat.

You are your own master. The moment you give away your authority to some “other” being is the day you lost yourself. Can you see the boundary you create as well? Who needs a master or other people if you are God. Now while I agree that the invention of “other” as well as the environment of the retreat can psychologically support and help you, it is nothing if you can’t do it yourself. What is the point in going to these retreats if you can’t do the same thing at home or when you are in a traffic jam? The retreat is here. You don’t need others.

9 hours ago, Consilience said:

Wisdom

The true wisdom isn’t going to a place that imposes structure on your practice, but rather to turn your practice into the “place” that “imposes” structure. You got it backwards. Foolishness is what a fool thinks is wise. When you realize you are the fool and the illusion is the day you become wise.

[Consilience]

@r0ckyreed How many hours have you practiced on at home retreats? How many years have you practiced meditation?

[Consilience]

1 hour ago, r0ckyreed said:

Who needs a master or other people if you are God.

Foolishness 101, self deception 101. Other masters are you teaching yourself. 
 

Edit: moreover, if you don’t have the humility or accompanying understanding of how other masters further along the path would have helpful insight you’re lost. If you don‘t see how entering into an environment that externally imposes challenges on to you could be helpful, you’re completely deluded. School, sports, any sort of physical domain of mastery requiring training…. No reason meditation is any different. If you grew up with free education, you’re benefiting from these very systems. 

Edited August 31, 2021 by Consilience

[r0ckyreed]

2 hours ago, Consilience said:

How many hours have you practiced on at home retreats? How many years have you practiced meditation?

Eternity.

 

2 hours ago, Consilience said:

Foolishness 101, self deception 101. Other masters are you teaching yourself. 

There are no “other” masters. You are the only authority. Either be a master of yourself or be a slave.

 

2 hours ago, Consilience said:

if you don’t have the humility or accompanying understanding of how other masters further along the path would have helpful insight you’re lost. If you don‘t see how entering into an environment that externally imposes challenges on to you could be helpful, you’re completely deluded.

Reread what I wrote and apply nuance. You can learn from other people and different environments can help you tremendously, but the ultimate retreat is sitting alone in an empty room with no others and no distractions. If you can do that, then that is the ultimate retreat and step, and you may realize at that moment if you do it right that you were playing authority games. You don’t need to buy a meditation pillow. You don’t need to buy a ticket to Sadhguru’s retreat. That is the spiritual marketplace that deludes millions of “seekers.”

You are the authority. You don’t know if the “master” is a master. Any wisdom you find is within yourself.
 

Be honest, could you sit in a traffic jam with no music, no communication with others, and be completely satisfied with the present moment for 13 hours let alone for 10 minutes? If your retreats can’t get you satisfied in a car jam, your house, or in a court room, then what do your “retreats” amount to really?

2 hours ago, Consilience said:

School, sports, any sort of physical domain of mastery requiring training…. No reason meditation is any different. If you grew up with free education, you’re benefiting from these very systems. 

Yes. Correct. However, retreats is where the training may start but not where it ends. Learn to go inwards and stop looking outwards. Feel that seeking retreats is seeking external experiences. Feel that.

Edited August 31, 2021 by r0ckyreed

[Consilience]

@r0ckyreed I agree with everything you wrote in the highest sense dude. All Im advocating for is that externally imposed retreat settings can serve a utility for the un-liberated mind, learning from external influences can serve a utility for the un-liberated mind. You’re going to seriously claim you were born enlightened, did zero studying or learning from other masters Ramana Maharshi style? 
 

Why devolve this into a non-dual word game? Making the (accurate) claim that we are our own best authority and therefore all forms of external retreat are less powerful than doing the work solely from ourselves is fine, but unhelpful for those beginning the work.
 

And again I will point out, you criticizing externally restricting retreats is bullshit, again all is one. Those retreats you’re shitting on are you literally shitting on yourself. Picking and choosing when non-dual logic applies and doesn’t is just mental masturbation.

[r0ckyreed]

7 minutes ago, Consilience said:

You’re going to seriously claim you were born enlightened, did zero studying or learning from other masters Ramana Maharshi style? 

You asked a different question. Nobody is or was enlightened.  

[Consilience]

59 minutes ago, r0ckyreed said:

You asked a different question. Nobody is or was enlightened.