user157: I've been searching around forums for the maximum time that is productive to do a single meditation sit. There are lots of comments around over 20 minute mark for effectiveness and sitting for the hour is the most I've seen anyone say they sit. But what is the maximum that one should reasonably sit for before it becomes counter productive or at least diminishing returns set in?
As a side note I remember Jack Kornfield relating that a retreatant of his declared that he was going to sit for as long as it took to get enlightened. He didn't get enlightened and the whole episode didn't go that well for that individual

user-1: I find daily sits of an unbroken hour and a half to be optimum.  The first half hour is normally just enough to settle my mind and loosen the hold that the day has on me.  The next half hour is spent really honing in on my concentration object (i.e. cultivating sustained thought).  It's here that my mind begins to unify into something resembling one-pointedness.  The next half hour is where the magic happens, so to speak.  During that part of the sit - and really depending on the day - is when my body starts to drop away and rapture begins to arise.  
Some days I may push toward two to three hours, but unless you are in a retreat situation, those longer sits don't necessarily get much deeper.  Your karmic obstacles simply have too much of a hold on your mind.  Only extended periods of silence and multiple 8+ hour days of meditation will allow you to progress into jhana.  
Side note: my teacher's teacher knew a monk who would just randomly sit for two days.  48 hours.  No sleep, no food, no bathroom.  In full lotus.   I can't even imagine doing that!        

user43: At the Zen Temple, we used to sit for two hours, in three 35-minute periods with 5 minute "walking meditation" breaks in between. In my experience, the first hour is not "it" yet, it is only by the third period when it gets seriously deep.
During the sesshin (retreat) we would meditate for longer stretches of time, probably about 5 hours, in roughly the same manner with 5 minute breaks for walking meditation.
In Tibetan Buddhism it is customary for advanced students to go on a Two Year Retreat during which they basically do nothing but meditate. Not saying you have to do it or that I would do it - but if they do it, they probably consider it useful, I think?
All this is to say, I don't think there is a "maximum" time - the more the better, subject to practical considerations and your own personal limits.
That said, in the temple we meditated twice a week, not daily. With daily meditation, I noticed I need less time to get going, also, for many people two hours every day may not be very practical. So when you do it daily at home, 1 hour is enough, fine, very good. If you can do it daily for an hour, you don't need to worry about doing more.
P.S. Of course, if someone is obsessed with meditation, has craving for the meditation highs, or is treating meditation as a kind of competitive body-building, that's a case of Spiritual Materialism and should be treated accordingly - but I don't think that's what your question is about, is it.

user-1: At home I think sitting for 20 - 40 mins once or twice a day is ideal. If you want to sit for longer, then the best thing to do is to go on an organised retreat somewhere.
I would also suggest having a look at this series of articles by Shohaku Okumura (a dharma grandson of Kodo Sawaki), who says:

...zazen itself can be a poison and cause sickness. If our motivation
  to practise is influenced by the three poisons, that is, if we
  practise for the sake of making this person more important, more
  powerful, more enlightened or for anything else, then it is motivated
  by greed, ‘I want to get this or that.’ It may not be for wealth or
  power that we practise, but for something spiritual. If we practise in
  order to get something desirable, however, our zazen is generated by
  greed.

https://buddhismnow.com/2014/10/22/zazenshin-acupuncture-needle-of-zazen-shohaku-okumura/

157: <p>I've been searching around forums for the maximum time that is productive to do a single meditation sit. There are lots of comments around over 20 minute mark for effectiveness and sitting for the hour is the most I've seen anyone say they sit. But what is the maximum that one should reasonably sit for before it becomes counter productive or at least diminishing returns set in?</p>

<p>As a side note I remember Jack Kornfield relating that a retreatant of his declared that he was going to sit for as long as it took to get enlightened. He didn't get enlightened and the whole episode didn't go that well for that individual</p>
 -1: <p>I find daily sits of an unbroken hour and a half to be optimum.  The first half hour is normally just enough to settle my mind and loosen the hold that the day has on me.  The next half hour is spent really honing in on my concentration object (i.e. cultivating sustained thought).  It's here that my mind begins to unify into something resembling one-pointedness.  The next half hour is where the magic happens, so to speak.  During that part of the sit - and really depending on the day - is when my body starts to drop away and rapture begins to arise.  </p>

<p>Some days I may push toward two to three hours, but unless you are in a retreat situation, those longer sits don't necessarily get much deeper.  Your karmic obstacles simply have too much of a hold on your mind.  Only extended periods of silence and multiple 8+ hour days of meditation will allow you to progress into jhana.  </p>

<p>Side note: my teacher's teacher knew a monk who would just randomly sit for two days.  48 hours.  No sleep, no food, no bathroom.  In full lotus.   I can't even imagine doing that!        </p>
 43: <p>At the Zen Temple, we used to sit for two hours, in three 35-minute periods with 5 minute "walking meditation" breaks in between. In my experience, the first hour is not "it" yet, it is only by the third period when it gets seriously deep.</p>

<p>During the sesshin (retreat) we would meditate for longer stretches of time, probably about 5 hours, in roughly the same manner with 5 minute breaks for walking meditation.</p>

<p>In Tibetan Buddhism it is customary for advanced students to go on a Two Year Retreat during which they basically do nothing but meditate. Not saying you have to do it or that I would do it - but if they do it, they probably consider it useful, I think?</p>

<p>All this is to say, I don't think there is a "maximum" time - the more the better, subject to practical considerations and your own personal limits.</p>

<p>That said, in the temple we meditated twice a week, not daily. With daily meditation, I noticed I need less time to get going, also, for many people two hours every day may not be very practical. So when you do it daily at home, 1 hour is enough, fine, very good. If you can do it daily for an hour, you don't need to worry about doing more.</p>

<p>P.S. Of course, if someone is obsessed with meditation, has craving for the meditation highs, or is treating meditation as a kind of competitive body-building, that's a case of Spiritual Materialism and should be treated accordingly - but I don't think that's what your question is about, is it.</p>
 -1: <p>At home I think sitting for 20 - 40 mins once or twice a day is ideal. If you want to sit for longer, then the best thing to do is to go on an organised retreat somewhere.</p>

<p>I would also suggest having a look at this series of articles by Shohaku Okumura (a dharma grandson of Kodo Sawaki), who says:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>...zazen itself can be a poison and cause sickness. If our motivation
  to practise is influenced by the three poisons, that is, if we
  practise for the sake of making this person more important, more
  powerful, more enlightened or for anything else, then it is motivated
  by greed, ‘I want to get this or that.’ It may not be for wealth or
  power that we practise, but for something spiritual. If we practise in
  order to get something desirable, however, our zazen is generated by
  greed.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="https://buddhismnow.com/2014/10/22/zazenshin-acupuncture-needle-of-zazen-shohaku-okumura/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://buddhismnow.com/2014/10/22/zazenshin-acupuncture-needle-of-zazen-shohaku-okumura/</a></p>
