I just returned from a 7-day silent Chan meditation retreat at Dharma Drum Mountain in Taiwan, focused on the Silent Illumination technique of meditation. Basically, Silent Illumination or “just sitting”, is about, well, just sitting 🤣 It might differ from some other types of meditation you’re familiar with in that we’re not doing things like following our breath here. That would be sitting AND following the breath. Just sitting is about inviting the brain to rest silently in awareness. It might be a bit tricky to understand if we’ve spent our lives just spinning the wheels in our heads and chasing after everything the brain throws up, but, that’s why the technique is so useful to learn.
This video covers five experiences I enjoyed on this meditation retreat: