About meditation?

Meditation means familiarization. Apprehending various objects of observation with your mind in a process of examination and analysis is meditation. Reasoning is meditation. Meditation is not {necessarily} assuming a physical posture and staring at a candle until your thoughts stop in a mountain hermitage in Central Asia or the Himalayas. Though, this doesn't sound that bad! You can meditate anytime and anywhere with a little practice. It begins with a topic to meditate on. First, consider your human life. It is precious. With this life, you have a mind that can be directed at various virtuous objects (or non-virtuous objects.) In any event, it can't look both north and south simulataneously. So, in meditation you are choosing to engage your mind, or mental activity with your mental consciousness, in the apprehension of a topic - say, the precious human life, the human basis and the human mind. Meditate on this for a week. Then, meditate on the certainty that you and I will one day die for a week. Then meditate on the certainty that you don't know when you will die for a week. Then meditate on the need for a Teacher. When you have attained a state of absolute certainty that you will one day die and that only the Dharma will help at that time, it will feel as if you have wasted a great deal of time already on things that have been of no use to you. So, in a nutshell, you're right. The time to begin practice is yesterday. Knowing what to practice is of tremendous benefit and for this reason, I strongly encourage you to find a Teacher. I hope this helps you. P.S. Don't wait for your friend to begin your search. This is your life.

To Buddhists, meditation is a part of our family commitment. It is our family who will benefit directly from our awakened awareness and from our insight. There is no journey towards meditation for us, rather it is the method used to travel on the journey.

Family commitments are very important to Buddhists and by meditating on our various negative actions because of our selfish attitudes and perceptions, especially towards members of our family, we can find ways to not only overcome those attitudes but to actively provide a very positive Life for our families.

I feel you are right in this instance yet I feel that your friend has a misunderstanding of what the Mental Disciplines are in the Eightfold Noble Path, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. These 3 disciplines provide the motivation if you will for us to help our families through proper adherance to our meditations.

Our families are always our first concern and that to Buddhists is as it should be for family folk.

Peace from a Buddhist...

If you and/or your friend is interested in meditation, there is an excellent book, one of my favorite books on meditation, called "Mindfulness in Plain English"

It is such an Excellent Book. It costs $18.00

but I just discovered a couple days ago that this book is available online for FREE at this website below:

http://www.vipassana.com/meditation/mindfulness_in...

Have a Great week, and coming weekend.

blindfolded is much better,..,

http://www.meditation.ca/