PaliRichard Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 What have silent retreats got to do with meditation? I'm really suprised you asked the janie! Christianity has a rich tradition of silent meditation retreats, many of my friends and associates have attended them over the years (I was going to go on one a few years ago but a berevement meant we couldn't attend) and have had nothing but praise for them. I couldn't tell you exactly what it would entail from the Christian perspective, but you may find the writings of Thomas Merton interesting for meditation from the Christian point of view. You may also like a look at this http://www.wccm.org/ ......and these http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=christian+meditation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johncocker Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Regarding the silent retreats - why would anyone do that? I'm interested. It sounds awful to me. in my own personal expereince the first (10 day vipassana) I did was in the late 70's when everything was an adventure the first 3 or 4 days were awful it took that amount of time for me to calm down the mind and emotions. the reason I did it ,I 'd stayed on ashrams and monasterys in india and (the the full hippie sex and drugs overland trip to oz) arrived in australia feeling quite lost. what did i get from 10 days of noble silence ...to cut a long story short , direction in life ,a better abilty to make important decisions , deeper understanding of self.and insight into my emotional personality. plus I had the luck of having two wonderful teachers the ven .. ayya khema .. and the ven. khantipalo. both authors of numerous books on meditation and buddhism,( khantipalo later disrobed from theravada and went on to teach dzoghen a technique of tibetan buddhism.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johncocker Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 What have silent retreats got to do with meditation? hello darkness my old friend I've come to...................... your friend paul simon might help you out on that one . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattricia Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Im so pleased that my meditation thread has caused so much interest. I think you can go too deeply into meditation techniques , and most people will just practise the basic meditation which PaliRichard advises. This is my third week of meditating,and Im so pleased with the results. The thing is, new thoughts and ideas come into my head the more I meditate. What will the future bring for me now ? Im hoping for : Inner strenght Fearlessness Compassion Calmness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutch Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 I'm really suprised you asked the janie! Christianity has a rich tradition of silent meditation retreats, many of my friends and associates have attended them over the years (I was going to go on one a few years ago but a berevement meant we couldn't attend) and have had nothing but praise for them. I couldn't tell you exactly what it would entail from the Christian perspective, but you may find the writings of Thomas Merton interesting for meditation from the Christian point of view. Mind can be silenced only on the surface, superficially, through hard work exercises, repression. Christianity is one of the most repressed and violent religions in recent history. They killed and slaughtered millions of beautifull peacefull people, fighting to get more and more, fighting to take away their freedom. Using fear to frighten people they will die in hell and any person wanting to be free had to do it secretely or they would be killed by the church. Only meditation opens the door to natural inner silence, coming from nowhere, opening its doors to experiences beyond religion, culture, politics. The church does not meditate, it prays, their silence comes through begging and praying. Meditation is free, unattached, beyond religion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaliRichard Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Mind can be silenced only on the surface, superficially, through hard work exercises, repression. Christianity is one of the most repressed and violent religions in recent history. They killed and slaughtered millions of beautifull peacefull people, fighting to get more and more, fighting to take away their freedom. Using fear to frighten people they will die in hell and any person wanting to be free had to do it secretely or they would be killed by the church. Only meditation opens the door to natural inner silence, coming from nowhere, opening its doors to experiences beyond religion, culture, politics. The church does not meditate, it prays, their silence comes through begging and praying. Meditation is free, unattached, beyond religion. Janie is a Christian, so I thought the links and information may be of use to her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janie48 Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 I'm really suprised you asked the janie! Christianity has a rich tradition of silent meditation retreats, many of my friends and associates have attended them over the years (I was going to go on one a few years ago but a berevement meant we couldn't attend) and have had nothing but praise for them. I couldn't tell you exactly what it would entail from the Christian perspective, but you may find the writings of Thomas Merton interesting for meditation from the Christian point of view. You may also like a look at this http://www.wccm.org/ ......and these http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=christian+meditation Don't be surprised Richard not every Christian believer knows whats going on in the church,and feels a need to enquire about those details. I didn't think my beliefs were relevent to this thread i declared them on the other thread only because the discussion was about religion/atheism and my posts were responses to the critics, as you know. I appreciate the link i will look at it later. I do have a vague idea about retreats and meditation from programmes i have seen on tv such as "The monastary" and "The big Silence" but thats ages ago now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaliRichard Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Don't be surprised Richard not every Christian believer knows whats going on in the church,and feels a need to enquire about those details. I didn't think my beliefs were relevent to this thread i declared them on the other thread only because the discussion was about religion/atheism and my posts were responses to the critics, as you know. I appreciate the link i will look at it later. I do have a vague idea about retreats and meditation from programmes i have seen on tv such as "The monastary" and "The big Silence" but thats ages ago now. My apologies Janie, I hope I didn't offend you, I just thought that as we were on a thread about meditation that your own religions rich tradition of it may be of benefit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janie48 Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 My apologies Janie, I hope I didn't offend you, I just thought that as we were on a thread about meditation that your own religions rich tradition of it may be of benefit. You don't owe me an apology and you didn't offend me.Its clear what you do is always done with with the best intentions and i think most people will recognise that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutch Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Janie is a Christian, so I thought the links and information may be of use to her. Janie was born clean. Someone taught, convinced her to be a christian, Now she possibly thinks or believe that. janie, only used your name and this situation as an example of how people think, believe they are something, someone, religious. I believe I am a donkey. Gonna get some carrots now, tomorrow Ill be a monkey. When that is all over my true self can come back again, it has always been there, I just kept believing I was something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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