108days

Day 19

Guidance for Beginners

Today, a quote from Women on the Buddhist Path, a collection of stories and experiences of Buddhist women from the East and the West by Martine Batchelor (pg. 40-41).

In learning concentration complete beginners might find it easier to watch their breath with an aid. If they like numbers, they can count their breaths. If they like words, they can use words like 'love' or 'peace'. If they are visually inclined, they can use an ocean wave. Visualizing the breath as an ocean wave, coming in and out, can help concentration, as can breathing in 'love' and out 'peace'.

Once people are a little more concentrated, they can follow the beginning, middle and end of each breath, or follow the sensations accompanying it. They can rest their awareness on the numerous sensations between nostrils and abdomen.

Then I would lead into impermanence by seeing the impermanence of the breath and thoughts. If you label your disruptive thoughts, you will get an idea of your habitual thought patterns. We use one descriptive word such as 'future,' 'past,' 'planning', 'remembering', 'wanting', 'rejecting', 'resisting', 'bored', 'disinterest', 'nonsense', 'fantasy', 'dream'. It doesn't matter which word comes to mind first. Eventually you can see a pattern, for example that you are constantly planning. When you notice your thought patterns in this way, you can see they are non-productive and drop them.

—Ayya Khema

Day 15

I hope you are all enjoying your weekends. I always find Ayya Khema an inspiration, so I thought I'd share the following today from Chapter 1,  Meditation—Why and How:

The first thing we need to do with the mind is wash it, clean it up, not only once or twice a day as we do for the body but in all our waking moments. In order to do that, we have to learn how. With the body it's very simple, we use soap and water. We learned to do that when we were small. Mind can only be cleansed by mind. What the mind has put in there, the mind can take out. One second of concentration in meditation is one second of purification because, luckily, the mind can only do one thing at a time. Although, as the Buddha said, we can have three thousand mind-moments in the blink of an eyelid, we don't usually have that many and we don't have them all at once. Mind-moments follow each other in quick succession but only one at a time.

When we concentrate, the five hindrances, our defilements, don't get a chance to arise because the mind can only do one thing at a time. And as we get better at enlarging our periods of concentration, the mind gets cleansed of its rough spots.

[...from Being Nobody, Going Nowhere by Ayya Khema, pg. 2-3]

Setting the Intention

There are many ways that we compartmentalize and measure our lives. But what is there outside this moment—right here, right now? And how can we come to the point where we can rest in this moment with full appreciation and awareness?

There's no other way to learn to live each moment except through meditation.
          - Ayya Khema

You believe this on some level. That's why you're here. And there are other reasons. Perhaps one or more of the following describes your situation:

1. You have tried to establish a meditation practice. You may sit now and then (or you may not sit at all) but you have this dream... this inner urge to keep trying and you'd like to begin again.
2. You have thought about giving meditation practice a try but it has always been some far away goal that you think you may pursue in the vague future you think you'll have someday... the one where there is more time, more energy, more fill-in-the-blank at your disposal that will make the practice seem easier... that will make the practice fit.
3. You do sit often (perhaps even daily) but you still feel you can use all the support you can get with maintaining your practice and you'd like to form community around your intention.
4. You don't know how to meditate and you've never tried it, but you would like to learn. Somehow you stumbled upon this site and are considering participation.

Participation in what, exactly?

Making a commitment to sit for 108 days in a row and seeing the commitment through to the end. This is the primary objective. During this 108 day meditation marathon you may find yourself inspired or discouraged, insightful or confused, in the zone or off the cushion. Whatever your experience, you are encouraged to share it with the group... to ask questions and post reflections as you are led. You may find motivation or encouragement if you stop by and read what others have posted. You will motivate others by your willingness to share. 

Why call it [the Remix]?

108 days was an online experiment that became a support group and formed a community of ordinary people who wanted to start a daily meditation practice. It was hosted on a blog between January 1 and April 18 in 2007. It was inspired by a similar venture called 100 days. I'm calling this one [the Remix] because it is not the first. And it won't be the last.

So there it is... that's what this is all about. We will begin on March 1, 2009. In the meantime I'll pound some nails into this site so there are resources here to draw on when the party starts. Until then, remember you still have today, whatever day it is. You can always start now.