No Mantra No Dice?

[TNFajing]

Admitting a somewhat inconsistent history of meditation, I still have something of a foundation for beginning again to meditate. In my prior practice, I have not used a mantra simply because it is not one of the methods that I learned early on. Without a mantra, I can bring myself into a meditative state, particularly with music meditation.

Still, I would appreciate some feedback on whether using a mantra for those who have not used one in the past will provide us with enough benefits in the long-term to justify retraining ourselves to a new way of meditating?

Thanks

[Edwin]

Originally Posted by TNFajing

Admitting a somewhat inconsistent history of meditation, I still have something of a foundation for beginning again to meditate. In my prior practice, I have not used a mantra simply because it is not one of the methods that I learned early on. Without a mantra, I can bring myself into a meditative state, particularly with music meditation.

Still, I would appreciate some feedback on whether using a mantra for those who have not used one in the past will provide us with enough benefits in the long-term to justify retraining ourselves to a new way of meditating?

Thanks

When people are meditating, we are usually going for a "meditative state" and there are several ways of getting there.
Mantra meditation is generally considered the easyest way of reaching that meditative state, but if your way is more your thing, by all means do that !

On a side note, I used to do Zen meditation before I found this site, and after this PM site gave me the course I decided to give Mantra a try.
I have done mantra for about 8-9 months and now I am doing "watching the breath" the Vipassana way.

I have found no difference in the Zen way or the PM way, or the Vipassana way. I have experienced equally wonderfull meditation sessions with all.

Hope it helps