Meditation: What Is It And How Important?

[Xangsamhua]

It seems to go without saying that meditation is a core, if not the core, component of Buddhist practice. However, I've noted the following in my personal and reading-based exploration of Buddhism:

1. There are different forms of meditation - sitting and walking, for example.

2. Some schools of thought, e.g. Thich Nhat Hanh's "engaged Buddhism" (and Santi Asoke in Thailand), regard attentive work and daily activities as a form of meditation (as mindfulness). Sitting meditation is only an hour or so a day in their communities.

3. The Dalai Lama "meditates" for four hours each morning, but this includes reading the paper and listening to the news.

4. Many people have difficulties "meditating" - either focussing or remaining undistracted. This makes them feel they can't be "real Buddhists".

How important, then, is "sitting meditation"? I see promotional pictures (and billboards by the side of Thai highways) of presumably exemplary monks sitting in lotus position - meditating - and I think, "Why don't these guys get up and do something?" Or "Why present them this way rather than, say, teaching?" The same genre of photos of Tibetan monks, for example, often presents them teaching, walking, laughing or sitting with students.

[rockyysdt]

It seems to go without saying that meditation is a core, if not the core, component of Buddhist practice. However, I've noted the following in my personal and reading-based exploration of Buddhism:

1. There are different forms of meditation - sitting and walking, for example.

2. Some schools of thought, e.g. Thich Nhat Hanh's "engaged Buddhism" (and Santi Asoke in Thailand), regard attentive work and daily activities as a form of meditation (as mindfulness). Sitting meditation is only an hour or so a day in their communities.

3. The Dalai Lama "meditates" for four hours each morning, but this includes reading the paper and listening to the news.

4. Many people have difficulties "meditating" - either focussing or remaining undistracted. This makes them feel they can't be "real Buddhists".

How important, then, is "sitting meditation"? I see promotional pictures (and billboards by the side of Thai highways) of presumably exemplary monks sitting in lotus position - meditating - and I think, "Why don't these guys get up and do something?" Or "Why present them this way rather than, say, teaching?" The same genre of photos of Tibetan monks, for example, often presents them teaching, walking, laughing or sitting with students.

Until I became a member of this forum I only new one kind of practice & that was "Sitting Meditation".

Then I learned all about Vipassana & how the Buddha taught about "Mindfulness Meditation".

Walking Meditation is a lesson in self awareness or mindfulness of the body.

Although mindfulness is the way, the sitting meditation is equally important.

When performing Sitting Meditation properly you soon realise that you are practicing mindfulness but focused on one point, in my case the breathe.

Sitting meditation also seems to be very calming and provides a clear focused frame of mind with which to tackle your wakeful mindfulness.

Interestingly Zen Buddhism focuses on sitting meditation.

My theory is that regular quality sitting meditation will eventually cause you to automatically become mindful during your wakeful day.

Edited November 6, 2009 by rockyysdt

[phetaroi]

I'll be honest, I'm not very good at traditional meditation.

Not even sure if it is meditation, but the best way for me to think things out...about myself, about Buddhism, about any topic...is to go for a long walk and focus my thoughts on one specific issue. I know it sounds odd, but sometimes I sort of interview myself in my mind.

[Brucenkhamen]

Meditation is the core practice in Buddhism. The reason it needs to be so is that typically our minds are so untrained and un-subtle that we cannot perceive what's really going on in our day to day experience of life beyond the surface storyline. This is a major cause of the suffering we experience and we don't even realise it.

Meditation gives you the opportunity to stop fuelling the storyline and engage with experience on a different level from a different perspective. It gives you the opportunity to strengthen the mind so that you can do that whenever you need to.

Morality and study also contribute to awakening, but trying to practice the Buddhist path by these alone is like trying to reprogram a computer by reading books and never touching the keyboard. You may become very knowledgeable but at the end of the day your computer will still continue to function with the same old limitations , you'll get frustrated trying to make it do what the books say it should and sometimes willpower will not be enough.

Different forms of meditation have different emphasis, some sharpen and discipline the mind but it's hard to take that into daily life, some promote a broader awareness that you can take into daily life. I think only ever doing one technique would be a mistake, also flipflopping between techniques without ever fully understanding them would be a mistake.

When you've spent a lot of time in meditation then awareness becomes habitual in your daily life, and that's very important. Then it may not be necessary to do so much formal sitting. I've got a 2 year old at home now and don't have a lot of time for formal sitting, I've been forced to make moment to moent awareness of daily activities my main practice. I can do this because I have a lot of sitting experience from the past, if I hadn't then it would have been a lot more difficult and I'd be craving timeout to meditate much more.

[fabianfred]

Sitting meditation is the best way to start....being mindful of the breath.....acknowledging distractions but not getting caught up in them.

Walking meditation continues the mindfulness training....but whilst moving.....getting us used to being mindful during normal daily actions.

The formal sessions of sitting and walking are not the end...they are just training us in mindfulness....so that we can eventually become mindful all the time.

But do not be discouraged.....mindfulness is the most difficult thing for us to do.....harder than climbing Everest...but it has the greatest result....Nirvana.

Only an Arahant can be truly mindful at every moment...the rest of us just do our best.....

Simple tasks like sweeping, washing the car (wax on, wax off), doing the laundry, washing the dishes, etc. are the best to practise mindfulness. Trying to be mindful for a few minutes several times a day...then extending thse short periods as we get better at it....ten minutes at a time for half a dozen times a day...slowly closing the gaps....and long before we are able to be mindful most of the time we shall have attained to stream-entry.

[LazyYogi]

3. The Dalai Lama "meditates" for four hours each morning, but this includes reading the paper and listening to the news.

He listens to the BBC world report each morning, but he wouldn't include that as any kind of meditation. I'm wondering where you got your info from.

4. Many people have difficulties "meditating" - either focussing or remaining undistracted. This makes them feel they can't be "real Buddhists".

People don't meditate because they have developed concentration.

Rather, people have developed concentration because they meditate.

It takes practice. It's hard work.

Everybody starts out with the 5 hindrances in abundance. (desire, anger, sloth, restlessness, and doubt).

If you were already perfectly peaceful, fully attentive, and enlightened, there would be no reason you'd need to practice meditation.

Edited November 8, 2009 by LazyYogi

[Xangsamhua]

3. The Dalai Lama "meditates" for four hours each morning, but this includes reading the paper and listening to the news.

He listens to the BBC world report each morning, but he wouldn't include that as any kind of meditation. I'm wondering where you got your info from.

Thanks for the question. I remember it from Pico Iyer's "The Open Road". The book's at work, so I'll have a look tomorrow and if I've got my wires crossed I'll report it here.

Cheers

Xangsamhua

[Xangsamhua]

3. The Dalai Lama "meditates" for four hours each morning, but this includes reading the paper and listening to the news.

He listens to the BBC world report each morning, but he wouldn't include that as any kind of meditation. I'm wondering where you got your info from.

Thanks for the question. I remember it from Pico Iyer's "The Open Road". The book's at work, so I'll have a look tomorrow and if I've got my wires crossed I'll report it here.

Cheers

Xangsamhua

Well, I skimmed through the Pico Iyer book and couldn't find what I was looking for, so I don't know if it's there or I dreamt it or something. (Senior's memory .) I should withdraw the statement as it stands, as it seems that the Dalai Lama does listen to the news (but not read the paper) in between times set aside for morning meditation, but separate from them. Below is an account from HHDL's website:

When His Holiness is at home in Dharamsala, he wakes up at 3.30 a.m. After his morning shower, His Holiness begins the day with prayers, meditations and prostrations until 5.00 a.m. From 5.00 a.m. His Holiness takes a short morning walk around the residential premises. If it is raining outside, His Holiness has a treadmill to use for his walk. Breakfast is served at 5.30 a.m. For breakfast, His Holiness typically has hot porridge, tsampa (barley powder), bread with preserves, and tea. Regularly during breakfast, His Holiness tunes his radio to the BBC World News in English. From 6 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. His Holiness continues his morning meditation and prayers. From around 9.00 a.m. until 11.30 a.m. he studies various Buddhist texts written by the great Buddhist masters. Lunch is served from 11.30 a.m. until 12.30 p.m.

http://www.dalailama.com/page.52.htm

Thank you for picking me up on this. Sometimes when I post in a location other than where my books are I go by memory - perhaps not a good idea.

[Yamantaka]

When you learn to meditate you can conquer many of the negative thoughts and emotions that sometimes cause you difficulty in your life, like anger, fear, hatred, jealousy or greed.

After you have participated in a guided meditation or two, you will begin to learn how to observe the activity in your mind from an objective perspective, recognizing how distracted and agitated it is in its normal state. It is this hyperactivity that often prevents us from getting a firm grasp on our problems. As you learn how to meditate, you will be able to calm your mind which is the first step in gaining control. Once this is accomplished you will become skilled at cleansing your mind until it is clear enough to focus effectively.

Then you have the opportunity to begin individually structured guided meditations that focus specifically on your needs and your mentality allowing great progress in movement along the spiritual path.

[rockyysdt]

Then you have the opportunity to begin individually structured guided meditations that focus specifically on your needs and your mentality allowing great progress in movement along the spiritual path.

That sounds interesting.

What are some examples of "individually structured guided" meditations?

[Ijustwannateach]

The only Thai monk that I could say I knew once told me that in his opinion, people who didn't meditate were not actually Buddhists.

I understand, however, that there are various different schools/strands/traditions of Buddhism that may have different points of view.

[Xangsamhua]

The only Thai monk that I could say I knew once told me that in his opinion, people who didn't meditate were not actually Buddhists.

I understand, however, that there are various different schools/strands/traditions of Buddhism that may have different points of view.

I imagine all Buddhist schools have meditation as part of their practice. I suppose my original question was how central it is to their practice and what forms does it take. In particular, how central is sitting meditation?

I was also intrigued by promotional representations of Thai monks always sitting, in lotus position, as if that's all they do. An exception is Phra Buddhadasa, usually shown sitting, but not in "meditative" pose. And, of course, there's Luangphor Khoon. Looking at other traditions, the Dalai Lama is usually shown teaching or greeting. Ditto Lama Thubten Yeshe, to pull an example out of the hat, and other Tibetan teachers. Likewise Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.

At TNH's Plum Village in France, the sangha's communal sitting meditation is 45 minutes to an hour a day. The rest of the time, as far as I could see, is spent in work, instruction, private study, walking meditation, eating, exercising and resting. Santi Asoke, a puritanical sect here in Thailand, seem to have a similar regime, but with more work and less eating. (PV monastics eat three times a day; SA only once.) Santi Asoke practitioners speak of "Buddhism with open eyes", i.e. mindfully going about one's business in accord with the eightfold path.

Thich Nhat Hanh places great store on walking meditation, mindful breathing and mindfulness generally (being fully aware in the present moment), but this doesn't require sitting in the sense I usually think of as "meditation".

Previous posters have pointed out the benefits of sitting meditation, which are undeniable, but I find it hard to imagine doing it for hours on end. Yet people do. Tenzin Palmo, the Drukpa nun, meditated in a cave for 15 hours a day for 12 years and said she "was never bored".

[Brucenkhamen]

Previous posters have pointed out the benefits of sitting meditation, which are undeniable, but I find it hard to imagine doing it for hours on end. Yet people do. Tenzin Palmo, the Drukpa nun, meditated in a cave for 15 hours a day for 12 years and said she "was never bored".

If you have to try and imagine I'd recommend you try it. There are plenty of opportunities in SE Asia to do retreats of a week or two meditating 8 to 14 hours a day. Then you'll be able to reflect on the benefits, or lack therof, rather than speculate.

[Xangsamhua]

Previous posters have pointed out the benefits of sitting meditation, which are undeniable, but I find it hard to imagine doing it for hours on end. Yet people do. Tenzin Palmo, the Drukpa nun, meditated in a cave for 15 hours a day for 12 years and said she "was never bored".

If you have to try and imagine I'd recommend you try it. There are plenty of opportunities in SE Asia to do retreats of a week or two meditating 8 to 14 hours a day. Then you'll be able to reflect on the benefits, or lack therof, rather than speculate.

Good advice.

[camerata]

From what I've read of the Forest Tradition, there's a lot of walking meditation (good for exercise and also good preparation for sitting meditation) but more sitting meditation. I don't think you can enter the jhanas while walking and obviously you can't do walking meditation at night.

Vipassana is an investigative process, so you don't get bored. I've read that many meditations in the Tibetan Tradition (and also Pure Land) are visualizations that take years to build up and maintain, so again you never get bored.

[rockyysdt]

Previous posters have pointed out the benefits of sitting meditation, which are undeniable, but I find it hard to imagine doing it for hours on end. Yet people do. Tenzin Palmo, the Drukpa nun, meditated in a cave for 15 hours a day for 12 years and said she "was never bored".

Not speaking from experience l view long hours of sitting meditation as a way of accelerating one's depth of experience, as do retreats for ones daily practice in normal daily life.

I'd imagine meditating correctly for 15 hours a day over a decade would lay bare many incites on ones path to enlightenment.

Towards the end of what l call a successful meditative session l experience a wonderful sense of peace & serenity as if I've been cleansed. This only lasts for a short period.

I sometimes feel that it would be a privilege to have the resource to be able to meditate for long periods.

I suspect that Tenzin Palmo's level of mindfulness during her conscious days would have been at a very deep level after having sat for long periods over 12 years.

[Brucenkhamen]

I'd imagine meditating correctly for 15 hours a day over a decade would lay bare many incites on ones path to enlightenment.

As long as it incites insight thats the main thing.

[bina]

i have asked my (thai) husband often why he doesnt meditate now , yet he will often correct me in walking for instance and show me again how he would do walking meditation one foot in front of the other breathing and being mindful.

he says he can only meditate if his mind is free of disturbances, not full of everyday work, paycheck, machine broke down, type of stuff. when he was a monk he would meditate for long periods of time each day and wasnt bored. eating once a day never bothered him, and neither did the mosquitoes. he liked the sense of the forest (he was in a wat phaa) and like the feeling of concentration. but at home, he says it is not conducive. he also says he is too lazy to get his mind going again. when he wei phra in evenings sometimes, he is completely mindful , he takes a minute or so to get mindful, breathe properly (hai jai awk, etc) and then wei phra. he seems to have a switch to turn off and on his 'mindfulness'. although there are vipassana and other meditation groups in our area, non are thai obviously. all are the sort of lovey dovey wear white clothes and be shanti - type of meditation groups, which doesnt appeal to him with all the bells and tons of incense and 'meditation' music .

but he does encourage me to meditate for a short time with proper breathing, either in morning or evening.

forgot what my thread was... anyway, a different perspective of meditation from my husband's eyes...

bina

israel

[rockyysdt]

i have asked my (thai) husband often why he doesnt meditate now , yet he will often correct me in walking for instance and show me again how he would do walking meditation one foot in front of the other breathing and being mindful.

he says he can only meditate if his mind is free of disturbances, not full of everyday work, paycheck, machine broke down, type of stuff. orning or evening.

bina

israel

It's good that your husband continues his mindfulness.

For many years l would often talk myself out of meditation sessions with a host of reasons such as your husbands.

Looking back I realised l was allowing my negative self talk to take control.

These days I observe my mind presenting plausible reasons not to sit but when the time comes l ignore these thoughts & proceed.

Sitting during such times will take me awhile to settle, with many thoughts of finishing early. Overcoming these thoughts with focus on the breathe has yielded some of my best experiences.

[Yamantaka]

Sitting mediation is the most elementary form giving you a relaxed physical state from which to enter an observant mental state. All other types are offshoots of this, ie walking, sleeping, even washing dishes.

Meditation is the means of learning to control the mind, not an end goal. After you have participated in a guided meditation or two, you will begin to learn how to observe the activity in your mind from an objective perspective, recognizing how distracted and agitated it is in its normal state. It is this hyperactivity that often prevents us from getting a firm grasp on our problems. As you learn how to meditate, you will be able to calm your mind which is the first step in gaining control. Once this is accomplished you will become skilled at cleansing your mind until it is clear enough to focus effectively. It is like a mental form of martial arts exercise. You will learn how to recognize the "threat" from your deluded thoughts and anticipate them so you can prevent the resulting negative actions from occurring, just as you anticipate a strike from an attacker.

[christiaan]

Since I do not read much about actual meditating int he contributions above I will tell some about what I do.

The most important to start is to realise you have to care the situation where the thought is related to the past (and even reading this is past at the moment you have read it) is ruling your 'thinking'. It is your thinking that should rule the thoughts related to experiences. It is like a classs of pupils and a teacher, the students do not make out what is happening, the teacher should in one or another way do. The more self controll, the more selfawareness the teacher has, the more succesfull the teachings and the more peace in the class.

There are some simple practices.

I play with them.

I try not to think at all for a couple of minutes. (this means silence your ego)

I try to think about a simple object and only about this simple object for about 5 minutes or so.

I for instance practice with thinking about a pebblestone. Life of a pebblestone.

An excersise I like very much is to take an object in my imagination, I now take a teacup, and make it move just like I wish in my imagination.

So I make it dance, turn upside down. I change it to the colour I choose.

I can do with my eyes open and I can see my imagination as looking to a movie playing. But I am the director of every second of the movie.

(Nikola Tesla was a master in this, he could build a complete new engine (invention of the AC motor) this way in his imagination, make some sketches of it, hand it to the mechanics to make the components, assembled it himself , 'pressed the button' and it started to work. No testing, no experiments, it worked ).

Try to remember a personal event in your life.

I once was sitting next to my daughter when she was a little baby. She was eating her plate and under the food on the plate a picture on the plate was coming visible.

I suddenly was myself as a baby again in almost exact the same situation 26 years before.

I took that memory that came to life later on to focus my mind to and every time I remembered this - and silenced my ego - I started to see more and more of the actual kitchen I was sitting in 26 years before, and believe me practicing this you can - with your spiritual faculties - at the end 'see' every item in the room where you where sitting 26 years ago as if you travelled back in time.

Focus on a sentence without thinking about it.

Try to have the sentence speak to you like :

There is nothing existing, I do know otherwise as by knowing (Georg Kuhlewind)

It is not a concentration to it, it is not a kind of mindfull explanation of it , It should be more a peacefull observation like observing an unknown phenomenon in astonishment.

Well, you can level up these practices in an important and more difficult way.

The essence, as I translate it here now, is that you look upon your mind as you can do with your muscles.

You develop your mind (selfeducation) make it stronger, flexible and functional and you become the master of your thinking. You can choose not to be bombarded by thoughts arising as a reaction to experiences, the manifestation of the chaos of your conditioned ego, but you can learn to direct your thoughts like you direct your physical eye, to see the living ideas behind the material manifestation of the spiritual world.

[christiaan]

I forgot to tell I do this in every situation, walking , sitting , working, even in the bathroom.

[Joop50]

If you were already perfectly peaceful, fully attentive, and enlightened, there would be no reason you'd need to practice meditation.

Excuse me but i would like to tell you this is absolutely not true. I suggest you have an idea about enlightenment. Look at the idea please.

All great buddha's still meditate, and i mean really sitting still in meditation, because of it is our (human) natural state.

The state of enlightenment is always present but in meditation the experience is overwelming.

[sabaijai]

continued from another thread:

I think it's difficult to separate dhamma and meditation. First of all dhamma isn't 'knowledge.' It's the underlying reality - or the ultimate reality, if you prefer - for Buddhism. One also needs to define what is meant by 'meditation' in this context. Samatha? Satipatthanna vipassana? Very different, with different purposes. Samatha requires a certain stillness perhaps encouraged by formal meditation postures. Satipatthana vipassana does not require formal postures, once a certain stage has been reached.

Even then, as the Buddha himself is reported to have said, merely hearing dhamma is enough for some people. Dhamma precedes meditation, is explored through meditation, and is still there afterwards, once you see it.

In one sense the proportion of formal meditation in one's practice will necessarily vary from individual to individual depending on kamma and conditions. Nowhere in the Tipitaka, as far as I know, does it say that meditation (even satipatthana vipassana) is necessary *and* sufficient for path attainment. Dhamma study necessarily comes first, and is sometimes sufficient for some people.

The Sutta Pitaka contains more than 10,000 separate discourses. Only two suttas focus entirely on meditation, the Mahasatipatthana Sutta (Four Foundations of Mindfulness) and the Anapanasati Sutta (Mindfulness of Breathing). A search of Access to Insight's translations of the Suttas online for the word 'meditation' yields only 93 results, and aside from the aforementioned two suttas, most of the mentions occur in passing.

The rest of the 10,000 discourses are taken up with matters such as cultivating right view, cultivating loving kindness, how kamma works (one of which, the Devadaha Sutta, refutes the notion of burning away kamma through meditation), how to introduce the Buddha's teachings to others, how to decide which spiritual paths are worth following and how laypeople can live happy and fulfilling lives.

Most Theravada Buddhist monks and laypeople spend at most a small portion of the day in meditation. From time to time - especially in the early years of practice - they may do retreats of a few days, very rarely up to a month, but again, in relation to the calendar year, relatively less time is spent meditating than on other activities.

Once the four foundations of mindfulness have been established, 'meditation' (arising of sati) can occur anytime, any place and in any posture. As the dhamma seeds grow into thriving trees, so to speak, the need for formal meditation grows less and less.

It seems to me that formal meditation is a laboratory where dhamma can be tested (again, more for some people than for others). I've spent a lot of time perched on meditation cushions in temples, on retreats and at home. Speaking for myself, most of that time was wasted until I begin receiving very specific dhamma training from a couple of good teachers.

One thing I have noticed in myself and in others is that as long as you think you are doing something with meditation itself that will further the path, you will go nowhere. Only when dhamma is seen - and this can happen just as easily out of formal meditation as in it - is stream entry possible.

This is what I've been taught, and what experience has confirmed. YMMV.

Can we explore your reply a little further?

I've very interested in learning and getting on the right path.

Was the specific dhamma training you received from good teachers universal to all & could you share these?

Could it be said that although 2 of 10,000 discourses relate to meditation, this doesn't necessarily diminish the importance of meditation but rather may indicate the subject can be captured in two suttas?

Are the four foundations of mindfulness captured through the practice of Mindfulness and the study of Dhamma?

Would you say that although merely hearing Dhamma is enough for some people, this is rare?

I personally find that regular sitting meditation calms me down to a point which enables me to more successfully focus on my mindfulness.

It also helps me overcome overreaction (auto response) in day to day life situations.

After several days without meditation, I can find myself over anxious, and tend to react inappropriately in given circumstances.

Sitting meditation gives me a depth of clarity & overall calmness allowing me to better deal with life and focus on progressing my path.

In such a state I'm able to more easily control many of my bad habits which can automatically arise in stressful situations.

I know we can all psychologically & physically different to each other.

Could these differences require different practice such as more sitting meditation in some?

I know I always do better after vigorous exercise and or hatha yoga, whilst others report that no exercise is practiced or required.

Do Zen proponents focus more exclusively on the sitting side of practice and are they diametrically opposite Theravada practice?

Meditation, as I've been taught, and I've experienced it, and more importantly as it appears to be taught in the Suttanta, is an adjunct to dhamma.

rocky, I wish I were the kind of spiritual genius who could write something here in this box where you'd see exactly what is meant, but I'm afraid I am not of that caliber. I once firmly believed, like most Westerners, that meditation was the summum bonum of Buddhist practice. I now believe that it has its place among a lot of other supporting structures in 'the raft,' and that the practice involves your whole life, not just the parts where you're sitting cross-legged or walking back and forth slowly like a mental patient. But I'm a lousy teacher

I'd say that hearing or reading the dhamma and getting it is worth more than a thousand hours of meditation, for almost any type of personality.

But a lot of people don't realise that until they've practised a lot of formal meditation. If you ask those who have had that kind of result, ie the arising of sati, I'll bet 9 out of 10 will admit the actual arising of sati did not occur while they were formally sittting/walking etc, but rather during some other activity.

It's easy to conclude that the arising wouldn't have occurred without the formal meditation. But it arose during moments of mindfulness of dhamma. It arises when you no longer separate your life into practice and non-pratice, when you carry the paramattha dhamma with you wherever you go. It comes when sati grasps the separate arising of nama and rupa.

Even for the slowest student, meditation is eventually no longer needed, as Buddha himself said in the famous discourse on abandoning the raft you built, once across the stream. A poster above claimed that enlightened beings and Buddhas continue to meditate. Well I've never met a Buddha so I can't comment, and I'm not sure I've ever met an enlightened being but the teachers I respect most spend a small proportion of their days in formal meditation, if at all. When they do practise formal sitting meditation it's when they're teaching beginners - perhaps to build confidence, serve as an example or 'read' the situation. Or they practice samatha to condition mental health and calmness. Mindfulness is something they practice in every waking moment, so there is absolutely no need to sit down and 'meditate' anymore.

Most Westerners who get into Buddhism initially focus on meditation and most seem to stay fcoussed on it until they quit meditating altogether, frustrated that they can't grasp dhamma.

As for the dhamma theory, it's all laid out in the Tipitaka. Google 'paramattha dhamma' and read and re-read everything you can find about it. Find a teacher and ask them about paramattha dhamma and listen to what they say. Or find somewhat like Khun Sujin who can actually take you on a dialectic tour through your own citta. A few sessions will give you enough to wrestle with for a very long time, I think.

I personally find that regular sitting meditation calms me down to a point which enables me to more successfully focus on my mindfulness.

It also helps me overcome overreaction (auto response) in day to day life situations.

After several days without meditation, I can find myself over anxious, and tend to react inappropriately in given circumstances.

Sitting meditation gives me a depth of clarity & overall calmness allowing me to better deal with life and focus on progressing my path.

In such a state I'm able to more easily control many of my bad habits which can automatically arise in stressful situations.

These are all benefits of samatha/tranquility meditation and are reason enough to meditate. Mindfulness - satipatthana vipassana - can be practised without samatha. But if it's working for you, stay with it!

Meditation is a great laboratory and a great calmative. I still practise formal meditation and I still attend the occasional retreat. But it can be a bit like taking psychedelic drugs, ie disappointing when you 'come down.' It can be terrifying when insight actually arises and you realise your ego was behind the intention to meditate in the first place, not kusala citta. On the other hand f practised under the right conditions and perhaps with a very good teacher, nibbana is possible.

No teacher I know says 'don't meditate.' They're saying don't forget dhamma; allot meditation a similar space in one's life as it occupies in the teachings as found in virtually all versions of the Tipitaka/Tripitaka).

There are some Buddhist schools that emphasise meditation more than others, even within Theravada. Even in Zen, there are only a couple of sesshin a year, and the rest of the year monks meditation fairly minimally. For Rinzai Zen, I sometimes wonder of koan study is another way of cracking dhamma.

It isn't how much you meditate, it's how much you understand dhamma, that determines progress along the path. Meditating won't necessarily show you the way if you don't have a map. Your citta are like computer processes, as in the old saw 'garbage in, garbage out.'

Everyone must find the right balance for themselves.

We don't know how much of the meditation Buddha practised himself led to his enlightenment. He followed many practices that he abandoned along the way, including fasting and other severe austerities. What we do know, from the Tipitaka at least, is that after it became apparent to others that he was enlightened, and he was persuaded to teach how to reach that space, that the first thing out of his mouth wasn't 'Sit down and meditate, and you'll find out. Here's how.' The first thing he taught was straight dhamma, starting with one of the factors of existence and its cause, and the eight practises which together would do the job.