All,
I am finding this kind of meditation (where you sit and do nothing) very interesting these days. It is known with many names. It is famous as an insight meditation practice for the Zen folks (just like Vipassana/Noting). This is similar to sitting in silence in Samyama but with no sutras at all. Just sitting. Adyashanti also proposes this as his “true meditation” method.
The only instruction for this is “No Manipulation”. Dont watch your breath, Dont repeat a mantra, Dont concentrate on anything, Dont try to empty the mind, Dont observe anything, Just do not do anything. Let everything be as is and do not manipulate any part of your experience.
When thoughts come you dont do anything. When you realize you are caught up in a thought, you dont do anything. Ofcourse this means you do NOT continue the thought as continuing also means doing something. You do not put any effort to cut off the thought once you realize you are caught up in it. The very fact that you realized you are caught up in it means you are out of the thought. So you dont need to do anything.
I find this sitting and doing nothing very interesting.
This is similar to the deep meditation method without any mantra. In DM, we let everything be as is and whenever we realize, we come back to the mantra. In the Zazen method, we dont come back to anything. Not even to the idea of sitting. This is also similar to AYP samyama in the “sitting in silence” part.
I tried this at a Soto Zen temple near my house here in Japan a few years back. I think the technique goes back to the story about the Bodhidharma sitting in front of a wall meditating until his legs rotted off. I find it very useful for short periods, but I tend to get caught up in contemplation or daydreaming after about 10 minutes or so.
Shinzen Young put it nicely when he said that “As soon you become aware of an intention controlling attention, drop the intention”. I happened to remember this while reading this topic.
Yes I know people who do this kind of meditation. The good part is you don’t have to worry about overload. they sometimes do it for 8 or 10 hours at a time. I think it is “relational” though (see Yogani’s lessons) as it is a type of self inquiry, and will only be fruitful if yo have found inner silence first.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zazen#Instruction
The formal procedure involves a concentration practice (breathing) and once concentration is developed then the just sitting practice (insight practice). This primarily comes from China
In the tibetan buddhist schools the idea is the same a concentration method followed by an insight practice. But the insight practice used there is the noting style (sitting & noting the sensations arising in you).
In both schools (zazen and tibetan), doing insight without concentration wouldnt be effective. Doing just concentration without insight will not produce enlightenment as per both the schools.
The noting method seems overwhelming to me compared to the zazen style just sitting method which seems more like practising letting go.
