How to Meditate

—An Interview with Adam Tebbe, Part Two—
>>> Part One: Zen Meditation Practice – Meditating Seated

Meditation How: What was it in particular that caused you realize that meditation was going to work for you? How did you come to know that you had found something important?

Tebbe: I like the simplicity of it. I was diagnosed with ADD at a young age, minus the hyperactive component, and had always struggled with concentrating on just one thing. With ADD, it’s like there are so many things within your sphere of consciousness competing for your attention. Now, zazen is a very barebones practice. Whether following the breath or, as I often did initially, on some object to hold in my awareness, it allows one to develop the faculties necessary for what might be called “single-pointed concentration.” But, I don’t meditate everyday.

Or, perhaps I can quote Rev. Rinsen Weik of the Toledo Zen Center, who recently said, “I sit everyday, except for the days where I don’t sit.” It isn’t a compulsion for me as it was initially. Certainly it’s a strong component to Zen practice but its usefulness is really found in how that concentration you develop carries over in to everyday activity.

I spend a lot of time at a computer which, admittedly, probably isn’t the most healthy of exercises for me. But, my work requires it of me and I love my work. A meditation practice allows me to not outright reject those things we may say are harmful or not beneficial in our practice, like spending long hours working at a computer. Instead, meditation practice simply allows me to accept my life on the terms my life presents to me. So, meditation allows me to deal with life on life’s terms. I’ll say that.

Meditation How: Your words “meditation allows me to deal with life on life’s terms” says so much. It is this level of acceptance that makes for the dropping of would otherwise be a fight with circumstances or an attempt to force outcomes. I get that. So many of us still struggle with what life brings. Thank you.

Tebbe:Thanks for the opportunity.

---

About Adam: Adam Tebbe is editor at Sweeping Zen, an online resource which has biographies and interviews with various Zen teachers throughout the world. He began his Zen practice in 2002 and is founder of Kannonji Zen Retreat, an outreach of Sweeping Zen in the virtual world of Second Life. The temple hosts weekly events with Zen clergy like Rev. Jay Rinsen Weik and Rev. Paul Dochong Lynch, as well as special events with other Buddhist teachers throughout the year. He is also partner, with David Sango Angstead, at DharmaPixels, a web design & development company that helps organizations and nonprofits develop their presence on the web.

Links:
Sweeping Zen
Kannonji Zen Retreat
DharmaPixels

—An Interview with Mike Hardin, Part Two—
>>> Part One: Meditation Soundtracks, Practicing Meditation – Deeper Space

Meditation How: Is all of your music for meditation just the music alone or is it sometimes coupled with suggestions or guided meditation elements? I am also curious as to whether the music has a sense of progression (i.e. from energetic to more peaceful) or more consistent and steady with less of a beginning or end.

Mike: I’ve considered producing music that includes guided imagery and/or suggestions. I have not done so as of yet. That type of product would be more akin to hypnosis than meditation. The music I produce for Blissfulsounds.com is definitely consistent in nature. It’s quite a challenge to produce music that is beautiful without drawing attention to itself.

Meditation How: Do you use your music for your own meditation practice? Also, do you find yourself in a meditative state when creating the music?

Mike: It’s easy to enter a meditative state when composing music for meditation. In fact, it’s almost impossible to avoid. (Not that I try to avoid it.) The state I enter is overwhelmingly tranquil yet focused. I lose all sense of time passing. I find myself firmly in the present moment… Although I have a definite idea of the general parameters of the production before-hand, the music is recorded as it comes to me.

The nature sounds are usually included in the final stages of production. (During which, I am not “in state” and making calculated production choices.) The music for meditation on Blissfulsounds.com is only available via download. Fortunately, the servers for my website are pretty fast so downloads go more quickly than you might expect for large files like these.

Meditation How: I have two more questions, however feel free to add anything here that you feel we haven’t touched on and that might benefit readers. First, would you share a bit about the meditative state that you find yourself in when creating your music for meditation? Secondly, can you tell me how the music itself is packaged, as in by album or song, downloadable or not, how much and how one can pay for it, etc.?

Mike: Right now, WhaleSongs.mp3, OceanBliss.mp3 and Planets.mp3 are available separately for $10.95 each or all three are included in BlissfulBundle.mp3 for $21.90. Each mp3 plays for around 75 minutes. (BlissfulBundle.mp3 runs over 3 and a half hours.) I’d like to say that it has been an honor doing this interview with you Benjamin and I love your website. Be well my friend.

Meditation How: Thank you so much for participating. It’s great to hear that you enjoyed the process. I enjoyed it very much as well, and learned a great deal.

---

About Mike: Mike was fluent on a toy xylophone before he was two years old and was speaking near perfect English around the same time. His parents soon bought him a piano. For most of his early childhood, Mike couldn’t accept that everyone wasn’t able to play piano. He came to understand that he was born “different” than other children. Mike became a professional touring musician at age 17 and got a degree in Music Composition at age 29. He still works in lounges, showrooms and studios in the Las Vegas area. Mike has worked with Charo, Jay Leno and many other show business legends as well as many lesser known artists. Mike has been meditating for over twenty years and is the owner and web master of Blissfulsounds.com where you can find his music for meditation.

—An Interview with Adam Tebbe, Part One—
This two part meditation testimonial and interview features Adam Tebbe who shares his own introduction into a life of meditation practice. Tebbe is editor at Sweeping Zen, an online resource which has biographies and interviews with various Zen teachers throughout the world.

Meditation How: How did you get started with meditation? When did you begin meditating?

Tebbe: I began meditating on my own after reading some books on Buddhism, particularly The Compass of Zen by Zen master Seung Sahn. I’d went through a particularly tough breakup with a girlfriend at the time. This was around 2001 I guess. I was an angry young guy and the world centered around me – I deserved the breakup. It helped me grow. So, after I spent upwards of a year depressed and feeling sorry for myself, my sister sent me a copy of The Tao Te Ching (the Richard Wilhelm edition). I was drawn in from those opening lines:

“The Dao that can be expressed
is not the eternal Dao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal name.”

I’d never encountered anything like that before. That is how my interest in Eastern ways, if we can call them that, began. Slowly I began to read more and more books and came to realize that Zen was where my heart belonged. I wasn’t prepared to sit with a group at this point, however.

So, aside from a couple visits to a local Dharma center and also the Indianapolis Zen Center later, my meditation practice was done at home. I remember reading online resources on how to construct an altar and I ordered a zafu and zabuton after I realized it kind of sucks sitting on pillows. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. That’s how it began.

Meditation How: In what way did you manage tough situations (the breakup, for example) before you found meditation?

Tebbe: Cigarettes. Marijuana. I didn’t manage tough situations well. It’s not like meditation is the be all, end all, mind you. It is and it isn’t. Sitting on a cushion doesn’t magically make one a better human being. That, at least in my case, takes work. Certainly it helps as a stabilizing force and allows me to process some of the stresses in my life in a more sobered way.

I think when I say meditation isn’t everything, I’m going off of a very limited, narrow definition of meditation. Most people think of seated meditation, right? In that way, meditation is effective but not all pervading. There are some who would probably disagree with me. I’ve just not found it to be so. Meditation is attending to, and caring for, my relationships. It means working through a litany of compulsions and shadows and, also, it means sitting on a cushion.

>>> Part Two: Meditation Interview with Adam Tebbe of Sweeping Zen

—Regarding Meditation Teachers, Part Two—
>>> Part One: Meditation Teachers – Do I Need One to Learn How to Meditate?

Do I Need a Meditation Teacher? (Information Age)
"There is a groundswell of spiritual interest and awakening occurring at this point in history, and much (if not most) of it is happening outside of traditional lineages and institutions. So it’s time for all this information to be available- people need it. As for the more general question of where to turn, although it may sound cliché, I do believe in the adage that ‘when the student is ready the teacher will appear’…"

From a meditation interview with Lisa Erickson
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Do I Need a Meditation Teacher? (Using Books)
"About teachers, I think people learn in different ways. Those who’ve become teachers probably studied with teachers. I feel like I learned enough to get started from Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind and later from other books. I’ve met a few teachers, and I’m sure they’ve added to my practice, but none gave me the feeling that I needed to go back and see them regularly. I got to know one fairly well established teacher a bit on a personal level, and he basically said it was a job."

From a Meditation Interview with Peter Ford
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Do I Need a Meditation Teacher? (Sitting Instruction)
"Most people who order meditation cushions have their own teachers who instruct them how to meditate, and there are endless books published with photos and instructions about postures. My personal feeling is when you give people less explanations and instructions they are able to find out more by themselves for themselves."

From a Meditation Interview with Urszula Sapeta
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

—Beginning Meditation – How Others Began, Part Four—
>>> Part One: Beginning Meditation, Starting Out – Read Testimonials on How

Starting Meditation – “Wanted to Clear Up the Confusion”
"When I first started meditating, some twenty two or so years ago I basically wanted to clear up the confusion- the confusion that sets in as soon as we leave the womb and start breathing air, and that is further stirred up as the people around us explain to us what life is and what it isn’t. I am a son of the South, born and raised in the Bible belt and subjected to all the philosophy that entails. But I’m curious and an individualist. I question everything. So meditation was a tool to help understand the spiritual side of life and to break through conditioning and see the world differently. After a while I met with unexpected success."

From an Interview with Rodney Owen
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “Found a Book on Buddhism”
"My first real taste of meditation happened when I was 14 years old, a couple of months into my time at an old-world Anglican (USA= Episcopalian) style boarding school in South Africa. I found a book on Buddhism, possibly by Suzuki, in the boarding house library. Intellectually, it appealed to my agnostic/atheistic inclinations. I attempted Zsa Zen sitting during the mandatory quiet time after lunch. It did not go well. It seemed to disturb the other fellows and got things thrown at me."

From an Interview with Rahasya
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “Direct Insight into the Nature of Reality”
"From my freshman English professor at Pierce Community College I learned that there was another way besides science to explore the universe, and that was through direct insight into the nature of reality, and that this “true” insight is what inspired and informed all artists, sages, and scientists. I wanted some of that, so sought out these two individuals when I got to UCLA. They taught me to just sit, just breath, and just listen. I was taken with it, from the first sit."

From a meditation interview with Genjo Marinello Osho
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

---

Meditation Interviews
The interviews conducted for this site are done by email. Interviews with both practitioners and teachers have the benefit of offering personal insights meditation practice. Unlike dictionary-style descriptions of meditation, these testimonials reveal details that can only come from the direct experience shared by those who meditate. If you meditate, please consider sharing your story by participating in a meditation interview.

—Beginning Meditation – How Others Began, Part Three—
>>> Part One: Beginning Meditation, Starting Out – Read Testimonials on How

Starting Meditation – “I Had Many Questions about Life”
"I decided to begin meditation because it was recommended to me by my golf coach. I was a competitive golfer and he suggested that I worked on the mental aspect of the game through meditation. This was the entry point but the truth is that Zen helped me with my life much more than with my golf game. At that time I had many questions about life and had a lot of suffering. I didn’t understand myself, didn’t know what I wanted or why I wanted it."

From an Interview with Carlos Montero
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “Meditation was at the Heart of Yoga”
"It’s been a long time, nearly 40 years since I first became interested in meditation. I remember getting a book on yoga the summer after my first year of college in 1970. The next year I joined a Hatha Yoga club at college and began practicing yoga regularly. As I remember, we always did a few minutes of meditation at the end of a session, and I think I got the idea that meditation was at the heart of yoga. About January of 1972 after dropping out of college, I remember coming across the book, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. I would say that’s been the most influential book I’ve ever read (and reread many times over the years). "

From a meditation interview with Peter Ford
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “Means for Cultivating a Peaceful Presence”
"I first became interested 15 years ago as a result of stumbling across a book entitled “A Path With Heart” by Jack Kornfield. The hook was that it offered a clear approach to spiritual practice (meditation) which I could immediately employ. This was a first for me. As someone who’d been loosely associated with the Judeo-Christian tradition, I had never come across any material that instructed one on how to pray, for example. In contrast, here was a book that offered a specific, time-tested means for cultivating a peaceful presence."

From a Meditation Interview with Chris Lance
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “A Radical Turning Point in My Awakening”
"I had a very brief stint with formal meditation at age 16, via Transcendental Meditation. I never forgot “my” mantra. A few years ago (in 2004) I resurrected it…just for fun. This precipitated a radical turning point in my awakening experience…which led me to: Listening to Eckhart Tolle on CDs, on a daily basis, until relatively recently. "

From a Meditation Interview with Doreen Connors
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

>>> Part Four: Ways of Starting Meditation – Stories of Beginnings

---

Meditation Interviews
The interviews conducted for this site are done by email. Interviews with both practitioners and teachers have the benefit of offering personal insights meditation practice. Unlike dictionary-style descriptions of meditation, these testimonials reveal details that can only come from the direct experience shared by those who meditate. If you meditate, please consider sharing your story by participating in a meditation interview.

—Beginning Meditation – How Others Began, Part Two—
>>> Part One: Beginning Meditation, Starting Out – Read Testimonials on How

Starting Meditation – “Following the Breath, In and Out”
"I was first introduced to meditation when I took some Hatha Yoga classes in 1989. It was basic learning about following the breath in and out, lying on my back relaxing at the end of class. I was also introduced to the concept that aspects of self-care can become ironic: rushing to get to yoga class to relax after work and getting stressed out in the process."

From a meditation interview with John Nordell
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “It Felt like Something I Needed”
"I had been interested in Buddhism for a long time, but basically got into it because my partner (who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness) got involved, wanting to know more about death and dying. Zen is all about meditation, and so that’s what the first workshop was about. The question was asked at that first workshop, so are there books we should read about this? The workshop leader said there are lots of books, but the most important thing is to practice. Sit every day for a month and then talk to a teacher. I was impressed by that answer, and in fact did just that. Sat every morning for 10 minutes, whether I felt like it or not. After a month I could tell that something was different. Didn’t know what it was, but it felt like something I needed. "

From a Meditation Interview with Genko Rainwater
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “This Calling would not Leave me Alone”
"It was almost 20 years ago, so the details are a little fuzzy, but as I recall, this calling would not leave me alone. I wasn’t terribly interested in consciousness or metaphysics at that time, nor healing nor shamanism. In fact, I was working at becoming an author in the science fiction genre. The whole idea of healing just began popping up in my life."“

From a Meditation Interview with Michelle Wood
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “To Bring More Peace and Balance”
"In the beginning, what attracted me to meditation was the sense of peacefulness that seemed to be associated with it. At the time I had quit my high-paying, highly stressful job in order to bring more peace and balance into my life, qualities that I was sorely lacking in those days. I quickly found that meditative practice was indeed peaceful, but after a time I began to notice that a sense of awareness was steadily growing along with that peacefulness. The awareness grew to the point where I instinctively sought out a Buddhist teacher, and upon finding that teacher my Buddhist “career” began"

From an Interview with Shih Ying-Fa
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

>>> Part Three: How to Start Meditating – How Others Began to Meditate

---

Meditation Interviews
The interviews conducted for this site are done by email. Interviews with both practitioners and teachers have the benefit of offering personal insights meditation practice. Unlike dictionary-style descriptions of meditation, these testimonials reveal details that can only come from the direct experience shared by those who meditate. If you meditate, please consider sharing your story by participating in a meditation interview.