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Meditation FAQ

Part 4: Progress

How long should I meditate?

As practice matures, you will notice how much time you spend in meditative absorption and how much time you spend in states that are close to meditation, but not really absorption ("neigborhood concentration").

Try to maximize the time spent in absorption. Spending 20 minutes in deep concentration is more useful than trying half-heartedly for an hour. This does not mean that the time spent trying is wasted time, though! It is a necessary part of the process. Remember that meditation practice is training for the mind. There is no training without failure.

To answer the question more concretely: two times 20 minutes per day are still the minimum, two times thirty is better, two times an hour even better. Of course, you can split the time differently, e.g. three times 30 minutes, but sessions of less than 20 minutes do not make much sense.

Are there any "stages" in meditation practice?

Yes, there are stages, but in the first years of practice you should not think about them, because you will basically oscillate between the stages of "trying to meditate" and "meditation". During this time any thought about progress will be pure imagination.

Later there will be stages called jhāna (absorptions) that have very specific characteristics. You can read about them in the literature (e.g. in my book). However, do not think about them too much. When you practice for a long time you will experience jhāna at some point. Wanting to achieve it or imagining it will only slow down your progress. For instance, if you think you have attained second jhāna you are no longer in second jhāna because there is no thought there.

In very mature practice, there are the "higher paths" or transcendental paths (ariya-magga), which also have very distinct characteristics. If you are not practicing multiple hours per day and change your life to accommodate practice, though, it is very unlikely (though not impossible) that you ever get there.

How do I know "how far" I am?

Although it would be possible to list some technical answers to this question, this would probably cause more problems in the end than benefit the practice.

The goal of practice is to perceive reality as it is, so this is the ultimate measure of progress. When you perceive sensations and feelings before reacting to them, this is a sign of progress. When you act less and sense more, this is a sign of progress. When there is a permanent, maybe even uninterrupted, sense of awareness outside of meditation, this is a sign of very good progress.

Then there may come some point where you realize that most things you considered to be real are imagination, while reality has always been there, unveiled and obvious. This is a milestone, and you will recognize it without any doubt. If you just think that you have reached this point, you most probably deluding yourself.

Again, the literature will help to navigate the paths of mature practice.

What do spiritual/weird experiences in meditation mean?

Some people experience all kinds of interesting or weird things during meditation. Others experience nothing particular. Both is perfectly fine and means nothing.


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