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THERE
ARE COUNTLESS PATHS, methods, traditions, religions,
and yogas.
Which
should you choose? What's the best place to begin?
If you're
hoping to find answers here, sorry. That's not possible.
But we can suggest a few useful things to keep in mind
while you ponder those questions for yourself:
- The
teacher may be more important than the tradition.
If you find a teacher who has personal qualities you
admire, who is genuinely kind to people, who cares
about your happiness, who makes you feel the way you'd
like to feel all the time -- that person may be the
right teacher for you regardless of his or her tradition.
- Awareness
is an important component of many paths. You can't
go wrong by being aware as much as possible.
- Have
fun. Pick something you enjoy.
- Whichever
path you choose, do it. This stuff only works
if you devote yourself to it
- It's better to start out on some path now
rather than postpone beginning while you search for
the perfect path.
- Don't worry about making a wrong choice. No matter
which path you choose, you'll learn something from
it. In fact, many people say you can walk on any
path, and if you have the right intention, you will
automatically progress toward the goal.
This page
contains links to articles and books that we think are
especially useful to beginners.
Photograph
copyright 2000 Jacques de Schryver.
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RECOMMENDED ARTICLES ON THIS SITE
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The
Only Meditation There Is: Watching
By
Osho
If
you could read only one article, this might be the right
one. In plain, easy-to-understand language, it tells
you to watch your mind. Watching your mind leads to
mindlessness. In mindlessness your mind is quiet, but
it's a different quiet than the one that results from
forcible suppression. Make this a habit, and everything
else follows automatically.
Beginning
Meditation Practice: Introduction to Insight Meditation
By
Shri
Acharya Abhidhyanananda Avadhuta
Superb
short article on one of the best meditation methods
for beginners.
Mindfulness
in Plain English
By the Venerable Henepola Gunaratana
This
book is an extraordinarily good introduction to Vipassana
meditation (also known as insight meditation).
The complete text is on our site.
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RECOMMENDED ARTICLES ON OTHER SITES
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How Meditation Works
By
Shinzen Young
A master teacher explains that all types
of Buddhist meditation are a combination of two components,
tranquility and awareness. From the website of the Vipassana
Support Institute.
Guidelines
for Selecting a Yoga Teacher, School, or Class
This article is mostly about selecting a
teacher, school, or class for learning physical yoga
exercises, which are only one part of some types of
yoga. But it's a good article, given the topic, and
it's on YREC, one of the best websites on yoga.
THE
MEDITATIVE MIND: The Varieties of Meditative Experience
by
Daniel Goleman
If you're
looking for an overview of the main meditation systems,
something that will help you navigate the bewildering
thicket of competing traditions and religions, this
is probably the best book in English. Goleman first
describes the classical Theravada system, then contrasts
and compares it to others, and finally attempts to show
what they all have in common by means of the useful
categories of concentration and mindfulness. The book
also contains a long section on Buddhist psychology
and a few other odds and ends. Goleman has considerable
personal experience with meditation and it shows. Read
more about it here
on Amazon.com.
This
page was published on March 10, 2000 and last revised
on April 14, 2001.
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