Meditation Journal and Report-
Click on this link:
www.budsas.org/ebud/ebmed012.htm or see ‘Vipassana Instructions ‘ posted to Resources in Ace.
Writing Instructions:
Your journal will have three sections:
I. Introduction: (about two pages/600 words). This should contain a brief description of the storyline of which this meditation is a part. Answer the five basic questions of meaning:
A. Where do you come from?
B. Where do you want to go?
C. What obstacles must you overcome to get there?
D. What is your plan to do that?
E. What kind of help can you expect?
II. Meditating: Ideally, you need to meditate for about 25 minutes once a day, for a period of seven days. If you miss a day, or cut short the time, you will need to add it later. You can break these up in the beginning but you need to aim for doing twenty-five minutes at one time. I do not advise doing any one sitting for longer than that. If you want to go longer, alternate the sitting meditations with walking meditations.
III. Journal Entries: Don't wait! Immediately after every sitting, write at least two hundred words detailing your experience. All you really need to do is make some notes which you can polish later, but get them down as soon as you can!
As much as possible, just report your actions, thoughts and feelings, as clearly and as accurately as possible. Pay special attention to the physical sensations that go with the thoughts and emotions, and the thoughts and emotions that go with the physical sensations. Also note the changes in your body, mind, emotions, etc. that went on during the meditation. Until you get all these into your notes, avoid interpretation. Time spent interpreting these should be reserved for later, at least until you get the bare experience recorded in your notes.
The following questions are meant to prompt your recollection for journal entries. You need not answer all of them in every journal entry, nor to exclude other questions and concerns:
A. What was your state of mind to begin?
B. What exercises and actions did you take during the session, including changes from pervious meditations?
C. What did you find most difficult?
D. What changes took place in your mental and physical state?
E. To what extent was your meditation dominated by particular thoughts, images, feelings, etc?
F. What insights or inspirations did you experience?
G. What memories and associations came through your steam of consciousness?
IV. Conclusion: (300-500 words) This section should consist of three parts:
A. Answer all the same questions that you did in the introduction, but now from hindsight interpreting what actually happened. Compare and contrast these two narratives.
B. Briefly state how this experience corresponds to anything you encountered in the readings for class.
C. Briefly state what you learned from meditating. What do you know now that you did not know before? With what questions did this experience leave you?