BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Buddhism SensationPerceptionImpulse,what about "volition"?

I went to an English meditation class, a new vocabulary, volition, i looked it up in wikipedia,ask on a train or bus, or MRT train station, and some Heart Sutra translation, Could gentleman and ladies , help me with a couple of illustration, explanation, or give examples or better, your own thought about VoLITION, Thanks a lot.. I live @Taiwan, not fluent in Eng. oh, about my nickname/login name ... empty or emptiness, if anyone could show me some more about when we/you meditated you felt there's no Self, or felt the "empty" , Thanks.

Hi sweetie,

volition, to me is an awakening or decision a sense of true self. From there you are free to walk your path.

With meditation, if you are able, go somewhere away from people at first. Sit with nature, a field, a stream.

Emptiness, I have experienced is in trying to relate to other people. Emptiness is trying to fit in when what you feel and experience is all your own.

The first stage of meditation, to me, is getting in touch with your elements, from which you came, naturally - baby steps. There is no judgement.

Then you can try meditating with larger groups. Being grounded or finding your grounding would be your center.

thanks .. so quickly. yeah, a stream or raindrops during rainy sounds very good.

do u meditate with thought or like me, try without thinking of things (but several/or a lOT/ of what I've done recently come , for beginners it always happens?!) 2 what do u mean by : with larger groups _________ , to meditate with more people? thanks

Empt - There are so many starting points for meditation, I think just trust yourself in what you are drawn too. I found myself drawn to a Buddhist lineage that practices chakra meditation long ago, and so that has always remained my main form. But I also do breathe meditation (just simply following the breath) and I agree with Eleise that sitting out in nature, and just breathing, is such a wonderful meditation that almost anyone connects to.

I think the important thing is not to get overwhelmed, and think there is a 'best' form, or 'right' way to do it. Your own inner being will guide you to the right form and your practice as you commit to it.

As for 'volition', in a Buddhist context, that is usually used in discussions of karma. Volitional action is intentional action, one that creates karma. Not all action in a Buddhist context is considered volitional. Not sure if that is the context you read it in?

And 'emptiness' is experience of pure source or pure awareness, so in a Buddhist context 'empty of ego'. Honestly, I don't think it's all that helpful to strive for emptiness in meditation, the striving creates volition, lol! Just sit, and emptiness will reveal itself, at first in little glimpses, and then larger ones.

Let me know if this English is too hard?? Trying to keep it straightforward and still say what I mean, which is hard online even without language differences!!

-Lisa

the need to become empty or quite , still, equanimity itself is kind of empty, it comes and goes, I guess.

thanks seem it's easier to find pals friends within Buddhists or webpage what i experience is the feeling toward time once, or twice, while I was at Amitaba Buddha retreat, or a mantra reciting retreat, and maybe Ch'an meditation retreat, we have 4 hrs in the afternoon, and about in the morning of the 6 or the 7th day, I "felt" a 10 mins , when actually each period is about 40 minutes. : 40 minites to meditate, 10 minutes walking, adn the other 7 or 8min rest. I turned right to look for the monk who was in charge of the control of time/alarm, becuz I wondered if "he" set the alarm earlier than 30 mins?? is time empty?

When I meditate, several thoughts come after a few seconds or a minute or two. It is really agrivating.

I stop trying to meditate and tell my brain to get it out of its system. I let my mind go like a child or file my nails or something.

I'll put a fan on in the background or play a CD of a trickling water fall. I'll focus on the white noise or the sounds of nature until it feels like I am almost there by the water fall.


Once I get to the water fall I envision a brilliant light. I make that my center of focus.

Time is empty. That is very wise that you feel that.

Time, here on this plane is something that we've organized manually. Time in its barest form is just linear, co-existant on many levels and dimensions.

Our perceptions make time move quickly or slow down. You seem to have the ability to leave our manually driven time to percieve a more natural time and your thoughts that you hear when you are making your transition could be a stage for you that happens in leaving this plane and transcending to that higher plane of meditation.

you're right. I dont quite agree with phisic scientist such as Albert Einstein, the theoretical physicist who radically changed our view of the universe. but HE is , in his final life, i remember in his late 70s or 80s, he once showed his interest in Buddhim,and said 2 B and changed the world: Buddhism bomb? yet HE was right almost 60% while he mentioned --- Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science", <<<<<<New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930 .. I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or ..., cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness and a glimpse of the . (Albert Einstein, The World as I See It) I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty.