Welcome to Gaia! ::

I recently gave up Christianity because I realized that it was biased and made a p erson beleive a certain way, and, well, I don't really want to talk about it... but yeah, you get a basic picture?

Anyways, I think buddhism is for me, and what I want to know is, what kind of buddhist would I be if I just tried to help get good karma out and gain enlightment and stuff... I am still kind of confued on that...

Also, is there a heaven for buddhists?

And finally, if I should become Buddhist, how would I tell my parents?

Thanks biggrin And also, they are not strongly religous, but I don't think they would like.... hm... I dunno how to put it. I guess I would have to say that they would want me to be christian, but I just can't. I don't think they know much of buddhism either... I have also recently practiced meditation and WOW! It's incredible! I have never expierenced anything like it. I meditated last night and this morning and felt rejuvenated. I feel like... my senses were heightened and I had more patience, it's incredible! 3nodding blaugh

That's what I have been trying to do biggrin 5 minutes in he morning and five at night. biggrin Thanks a lot! You cleared a lot of stuff up for me! blaugh 3nodding

Excellent points. A term for the good feelings experienced during meditation is "pliancy," which is often distinguished as being physical and/or mental in nature (both types tend to co-occur so the differences aren't really worth discussing in my opinion). I'm pretty certain the Dalai Lama mentioned it in his "Stages of Meditation" book and I think I've encountered the term in other Tibetan Buddhist works.

The good feelings and related phenomena experienced are generally spoken of as being signs that one's practice is meeting some degree of success and that you should continue. As Nirvahara mentioned, they shouldn't be the goal of practice but they are enjoyments that make an otherwise challenging path bearable to people.

I've found that meditation does indeed occur in a series of ever-deepening mental stages. Sadly, the first stage usually involves boredom and/or anxiousness that can be hard to bypass at first. With diligence and concentration the feelings of pliancy will develop and distractedness will usually subside, though one should still remain observant of one's feelings and thoughts so one doesn't become complacent with the changes. Tendencies toward "mental laxity" are troublesome well-into meditation and require active awareness to avoid falling into a practically unconscious state,* though a simple unaware dull state is typical.

If you have substantial changes in feeling after the initial five minutes of meditation, you can try to continue the practice and see how far you can extend it (your schedule permitting). Good luck!

*Sometimes meditators actually aim for such "absorptions" and there is Buddhist literature support for the ability to enter such trances as being a sign of expert meditation skills. However, the value of the practice is controversial, with some Tibetan sects highly regarding it while the Theravedans tend to avoid it like the plague.

There apparently has been plenty of recent work in watching the brain activity of yogis and meditators; I believe the Dalai Lama is one of the leaders in reaching out to the scientific community on these matters! However, I don't know whether any study has looked at the four absorptions specifically (I'll try to look for the articles and let you know...)

From my readings the Theravadans lump the absorptions into one broad category and try to avoid "falling" into them during insight meditation. Some Mahayana sects do teach of the "four absorptions" as you mentioned, with Tibetan sources referring to them rather frequently.

To the Mahayana the four absorptions allow the practitioner to gain rebirth amongst the devas of the corresponding Realm if he or she so chooses. However, Buddhists who choose that path risk "losing time" in their advancement because devas are seldom able to advance spiritually like humans, though the devas are said to have much greater minds that can deal with complex subjects more easily (devas experience little suffering so they generally feel little need to practice).

In contrast, bodhisattva practitioners are to master the absorptions as part of their training but not choose rebirth in the god-realms (unless they have specific good reasons for doing so). The process of mastering the absorptions and moving from a coarser stage to a more subtle one teaches the practitioner to become unattached to increasingly subtle "snares" found within the mind and the corresponding aspects of the Realms as they are found in conventional reality. The experience of the absorptions is in itself held to be practically worthless and may prove to be "drug like"/addictive to the practitioner, so caution is often advised.

I think I've heard that siddhis (yogic/psychic powers) can be gained through the absorptions, but I do recall that mastering the first (or second?) absorption ensures that the individual will be karmically prevented from rebirth in the Lower Realms (hell-being, hungry-ghost, and probably animal) and can ensure rebirth as human or deva.

Though I'm skeptical of some of the supernaturalism found in Buddhist traditions, I'm open to the possible existence of the yogic powers since I've experienced weird stuff in my days (which have grown somewhat with meditation).

Actually, I don't really have much to add in the topic on the whole, but I would like to clarify something: The statement that humans only use a small portion - usually quoted as 10% or so - of their brain is incorrect. It's long been debunked by scientists, who've proven pretty much the whole thing fires at one time or another, doing different things.

Some of it is active in the background, keeping you doing things you otherwise don't really notice - respiration, for one. The messages being sent to and from various organs to keep them running. Chemical production. Breathing. Blinking. Automatic responses to stimuli. Background processing of information you took in and ignored. Memory, speech, feelings - all that stuff and more goes on in there. It's not all used for active thinking all the time, is all.

Meditation, I've found, just makes me more aware of all the things my brain's normally doing in the background and allows me to better sort out my foreground thoughts. smile

It seems that you are still in a very Christian mind set. We do not believe in heaven or hell ( unless of course you are speaking of the Tibetans) generally you will find that we have a common belief of reincarnation back into this world( damn attachment!!!)I suggest you research a little more before delving into a complete change of lifestyle. Being Buddhist isn't like being gay, I'm sure if you tell your parents you do not believe in God anymore and want to follow the Buddha they won't be angry for long,in the end you are more enlightened so it should not matter even if they do become angry with you.

Do you reckon there are many people who haven't dedicated to one school or another though? There aren't any temples near me/that I can get to save a tibetan one, which I wouldn't practice anyway. So, a couple years down the line, I still haven't chosen one.
It niggles at me sometimes