Fundamentalist Christian to Buddhist

[Jikan]

How are you meditaing edearl? posture etc...........

I usually sit with eyes closed. I'm sure my posture could be better, but my body is limited. The duration of my meditation is improving with practice. In the past, my contemplative meditation was often done walking, actually more like pacing, but no more.

I like to meditate, have not yet developed a strong habit, but practice will change that. I meditate when not suffering from pain, or perhaps enduring minor pain, which helps my pain overall. Practice should, in the future, help with meditating during greater pain, but I'm not there yet.

Thanks for asking

Excellent! This is good practice. And you're correct, mindfulness and concentration can help you engage with the pain you experience, in a sense to reach out and learn from it. Don't force it. The Buddha has a metaphor of a stringed instrument: if the strings are too loose or too tight, there's no music, but if it's in balance then you get good results.

I would like to encourage you to persist in your practice, and I hope you find the health care resources you need in order to restore your body to full strength and capability.

[Thug4lyfe]

If your suffering health problems and your at a rather elderly age, I actually suggest you get in involved with Pureland Buddhism as well.

[edearl]

If I may say something - try to see if you can visit some Buddhist centers and do practice together with people.

Also, I found working with a qualified master very, very helpful.

As for the Buddhists forums.. well, you'll see for yourself but having years been on some, there's one general lesson I got: treat what people say with distance, learn from live Masters, face-to-face

Thanks for your concern. Your advice is sound. But, I am unable to leave the house without help, which limits my mobility.

In any case, don't worry about me. Although I have attended school, I consider myself more self taught than teacher taught. Being home alone much of the time gives me the opportunity to surf the net and learn, and lately I have been studying Buddhism, especially meditation. Without knowledge of Buddhism, I have contemplatively meditated nearly all my life, and already have a strong power of concentration. I thought of it as "Studying the situation." Moreover, a number of years ago, I learned that one's state of mind can be controlled to some degree. For example, controlling ones heart rate and blood pressure. Then, once I became angry to the point of loosing control, and realized that nothing in life was important enough to become so angry. Thus, I began to control my darkest feelings, including anger and sadness.

Since I began studying Buddhism, I learned of meditating to bring one's mind to a peaceful state, which helps one mediate their feelings in a more effective way than I had previously been doing. My daily meditation is already successful, and will improve with further practice.

I have already lived a full life, and now live as an old man whose health is slowly fading. The specter of death is my current teacher. If I can augment him with a lama or guru, I shall be very lucky; although, no human could be more demanding a teacher. Meanwhile, I shall enjoy studying the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha in my own imperfect way.