Today, I will outline the times of day when I engage in meditation. Normally, meditation has two different types: one is called concentration meditation, and the other is called analyzing meditation.
Concentration meditation involves sitting in one place and focusing your mind on a single object for an extended period. The length of time you meditate depends on your practice level. As a beginner, it’s challenging to meditate for long periods without distractions entering your mind. However, with regular practice, you can cultivate the ability to focus for longer durations and delve deeper into the benefits of meditation.
On the other hand, analyzing meditation is quite different from the concentration meditation. During this type of meditation, we seek to understand the nature and reasons behind objects or phenomena. For instance, if we consider a book, we might ask ourselves why it’s called a book, how it came into being, and how its physical properties (such as cells and atoms) are combined. Here we focus on the resources of the object. Another example could be reflecting on the impermanence of the book - observing how it changes day by day, and recognizing that it ever truly is new. Here we focus on the reasons and logic of the object.
However, in today’s time, most people who are interested in meditation are learning about concentration meditation. Typically, Westerners are very interested in concentration meditation, while there is a lack of interest in analyzing meditation. This may be because people who are struggling with depression or family problems or relationship issues often find temporary relief by focusing on one object for a time. So, they opt for concentration meditation.