The Meditation Initiative
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Meditation guides
Questions about meditation
Do you have to be a Buddhist to meditate?
What will meditation do for me?
How much time will it take?
Should I listen to music when I meditate?
Times and places to meditate
Is meditation about making your mind go blank?
Dealing with noise
Keeping a meditation journal
Being “in the moment”
Odd experiences in meditation
Symptoms of inner peace
Meditation posture workshop
Meditation posture problems: slumping
Meditation posture problems: over-arching
Finding the right height of seat
The angle of your seat
Spotting meditation posture bad habits
Meditation Posture: Shoulders
Meditation Posture: Hands
Meditation Posture: Head
A checklist for your meditation posture
Meditation Posture: Body Awareness and Relaxation
Notes on burning incense
Mindfulness of Breathing Meditation
Start here
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Background
A complete guide to lovingkindness meditation
Introduction to lovingkindness meditation
An outline of the Metta Bhavana
Cultivating emotions
What metta isn’t
What metta is
What the Buddha said about metta
The Metta Prayer
Try this
Ways of Cultivating Metta – Introduction
Cultivating seeds of emotion
Using words or phrases
Using memories
Using creative imagination
Using body awareness
Being flexible in your approach
More on cultivating emotions
Emotions and your environment
Emotions and your body
Emotions and your thoughts
Emotions and will
Emotions and communication
Stage 1 – Cultivating metta toward yourself
More on stage one
What’s supposed to happen?
Timing the stages
Is loving yourself okay?
What if I find it hard to like myself?
Receptivity and activity
Walking in the forest of your mind
Procrustes’ bed
The need for nourishment
Stage 2 – Cultivating metta towards a good friend
Learning the second stage
Who to choose as the friend
Should I pick the same person every time?
What’s meant to happen in stage two?
What if I don’t feel much?
Is it okay to do stage two first?
What methods can I use?
Stage 3 – Cultivating metta towards a “neutral person”
More on the third stage
Why do we have this stage?
Ways of working in stage three
I can’t find anyone I feel neutral about
Having trouble feeling much for a neutral person?
The third stage as rehearsal
Stage 4 – Cultivating metta towards a “difficult person”
On creating enemies
Ways to work in the fourth stage
Is there anyone I shouldn’t pick?
When I think of an enemy I get angry
Why develop metta for a bad person?
The fourth stage as rehearsal
The disadvantages of anger
Try this
When meditation seems to stir up negative emotion
A meditation for self-hatred
Stage 5 – Cultivating metta toward all sentient beings
Learning more about the fifth stage
The importance of practice
Ways of working in the fifth stage
Balancing the metta & mindfulness meditations
Contacting Emotions
Metta and the divine
Families and lovers
How can all beings be well when they have to destroy each other to live?
After the fifth stage
Our 100 Days of Lovingkindness posts
Special lovingkindness meditations
A meditation for 9/11
9/11 Lovingkindness meditation (text)
A compassion meditation for time of war
Compassion Meditation for Time of War (text)
Lovingkindness chant
Walking Meditation
Mantra meditation
What is a bodhisattva?
Definition of Mantra Meditation
How does mantra meditation work?
How is mantra meditation used?
Buddhist Mantras
Sabbe satta sukhi hontu
Om shanti shanti shanti
Prajñaparamita mantra
Avalokitesvara mantra
Manjushri mantra
Vajrapani mantra
Green Tara mantra
Amitabha mantra
White Tara mantra
Shakyamuni mantra
Padmasambhava mantra
Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine Buddha) Mantra
Vajrasattva mantra of 100 syllables
The three refuges and five precepts
Postcript: About Transcendental Meditation
Mantra in Theravadin Buddhism
How are mantras written?
The Six Element practice
The Earth Element
The Water Element
The Fire Element
The Air Element
The Space Element
The Consciousness Element
Applied meditation
Mindfulness in daily life
Metta in everyday life
Dimensions of metta
Metta, diet, and lifestyle
Metta and the practice of generosity
Mindfulness of the truth
The power of appreciation
Creating harmony: “Seek to understand…”
Metta and insight
What is mindfulness?
Developing a nonjudgmental attitude
Tools for learning acceptance
10 tips for mindful driving
Mindfulness and daily activities
Developing mindfulness triggers
Dealing with resistance to meditation
Guided Meditations for Busy People
Meditation and stress
Understanding stress
Meditation and stress quotes
Taking responsibility for our responses
How meditation can help with stress
Other stress management tools
Meditation for the very, very busy
Meditation and depression
What is depression?
Tools for describing feelings
Distinguishing thoughts and emotions
How can meditation help with depression?
When not to use meditation
Learning new patterns
Adding (or not adding) to depression
Some specific tools for dealing with depression
Don’t wait until you’re depressed…
Helpful and unhelpful ways to meditate
Buddhism and the blues
What’s next?
Meditation and pain management
Primary and secondary suffering
Tips to help you deal with pain
Three skills useful in managing pain
Guided meditation transcript
Being here: A Buddhist approach to pain
Dying to live: talk by Vidyamala
Meditation and health
Meditation in prisons
Why teach meditation in prison?
Resources for inmates and volunteers
What does Wildmind do in prisons?
Books and other resources
Play or download free MP3 meditation timers
About
Why “Wildmind”?
About Bodhipaksa
Publications
Student comments
Bodhipaksa quotes
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About the Triratna Buddhist Community
Meditation audiobooks
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Meditation books
Meditation eBooks
Meditation CDs
Meditation for sleep
Meditation MP3s
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