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Library: Member Essays

The Meditation Manual of the Dharma Fellowship

Part II: Developing Calm-abiding

Buddhist meditation comes from a tradition of practice that has stood the test of time.

The beginner should first persevere with great diligence in what is known as Calm-abiding (Skt: shamatha, Tib: zhi-gnas) Meditation, and only then move on to what is called Insight-practice (Skt: vipasyana, Tib: lhag-thong).

By cultivating Calm-abiding through the effort of training in concentration of mind, following the unique and wondrous teachings of the Kagyu Masters, it is possible to eventually attain blissful absorption in deep Samadhi. From that vantage point the meditator may experience panoramic consciousness, and gain higher insight into the mind's true nature and function.

Although direct realization of the true nature of mind is the main aim of meditation, there are also many secondary benefits, both mental and physical.

Over time, meditation eliminates the three root causes of unhappiness: attachment, aversion and delusion. With continuous practice, meditation releases the pain of past traumas and the tensions of everyday life, opening the heart to love and the joy of inner wellbeing.

Calm-abiding meditation is also well known for awakening the psychic faculties: telepathy, intuition, clairvoyance, psychic projection and so forth.

On the physical side, meditation has on occasion been known as a factor in the cure bodily disease. In some cases, serious heart problems, virulent cancers and other afflictions have been, in a seemingly miraculous manner, eradicated through the transformative power of meditation practice. (Of course, there is no guarantee that these health benefits will occur. Individuals should not rely on meditation, in place of proper medical attention, as if meditation were some sort of magic cure.)

Meditation also deals with psychological issues. If you are doing genuine meditation, all the traumas and buffets of childhood will come back during your ongoing development, and some of the sudden pains you may experience are a quick workout of this memory bank. Unlike psychotherapy, however, the pains and emotional upheavals of meditation are a momentary event. When psychosomatic flashes come and go, this means that (in Buddhist terminology) the meditator is unraveling his or her karma, and the karmic memory is being unwound backwards so smoothly and transparently that it is not necessary to repeat the full trauma of past experiences.

One thing to know, is when faced with psychological phenomena in meditation, the practitioner should simply persevere at the practice, knowing that progress is being made. As the great teacher Namgyal Rinpoche once said, "Simply remain unmoved – the Buddha sat under the Bodhi-tree and all the temptations of the devil (mara) came to him, which is another way of saying the traumas, the psychic garbage and debris. Let it all rage around you but maintain the calm, still nature."

With sharpened awareness and clarity of mind, through concentration and the attainment of inner stillness, the individual may proceed to observe the true nature of mind and gain insight into the universal truths of impermanence, the cause of suffering, and egolessness.

Seeking Guidance

Meditation practice needs personalized direction. In the Orient no one would think of practicing meditation without first going to an experienced teacher for direction. It is essential to receive authentic instruction if one is going to benefit from meditation practice. One cannot learn meditation from a book or a written set of instructions.
Be warned that in the modern world there are self-proclaimed teachers who advance their own made-up systems of meditation. They think they know what they are doing, but they do not. Such systems have not been tested out over the centuries and may well do more damage than good. Should you wish to learn a valid and known path of self-realization, you should therefore stick to a traditional school.

Furthermore, in traditional schools in the East, to learn meditation, a person has first to visit a monastery (or yogi's hermitage) where the residents are themselves not only practicing meditation, but are fully immersed in the spiritual life. There, in the appropriate milieu of a religious establishment, where meditation is surrounded by daily spiritual routine and other edifying practices, the student is introduced to the discipline within an environment conducive to calm and insight.

Essentials for Good Practice

There are five things that are necessary for doing meditation practice:

1. Faith in the practice.

2. An authorized, experienced teacher. A meditator should seek private audience with the teacher on a fairly regular basis. The teacher's job does not only consist in teaching one how to meditate, but the teacher is also there to draw the pupil on to greater efforts and push the pupil to face the psychological resistance and denial that can also be part of meditation experience. A good teacher should also be a moral guide.

3. Routine. It is very good to sit with a meditation group on a regular basis, at least once or twice a week. The routine and the mutual support of a common sangha are enormously helpful for the beginner. If the sangha has a meditation hall, it helps to sit in the same place each time. Routine and similarity of associations habituate one to the practice. Later, as you grow more advanced in the practice, it is also good to start to practice eremetical meditation, alone in nature.

4. Loose, light clothing. It is not a bad idea to use a light shawl (white is the traditional colour for lay Buddhists) to wrap round oneself during meditation practice. Such a shawl helps to enclose oneself mentally, to draw one inward, and shut the world out.

5. A suitable firm cushion. The best would seem to be the Japanese zabuton and zafu combination, which have become quite well known in the West. The height of the zafu depends on how well a person can sit in the traditional posture. It is essential that one is comfortable when sitting in meditation.

Avoid poor environments for meditation. Stuffy, dirty, untidy or noisy places, or places with many associations and distractions, make learning to meditate much more difficult for beginners. Refrain from using artificial scents. Also it would be better if you did not use artificial light or candles; rather, keep to natural light as far as possible. The more bare the space the better; clear the room of everything that is non-essential to the practice, clear away the clutter. A clean, neutral place, well-aired and open, should be chosen, and if possible, a pleasant outdoor site, where one can be "alone in nature," such as a hillside with wide spacious views, is considered most ideal. You will discover that meditating outdoors in nature helps to settle the mind and generate inner peace.

The beginner should also avoid long sittings. It is better to just meditate well, in a good posture, for a few minutes than to become drowsy and pained over a longer period of time. The idea is to build your meditation sessions on positive associations. If, after say ten minutes, there is pain and displeasure, one can relax and let the body adjust – perhaps stretch or fidget a little. Then one may return mindfully to the practice for another ten or fifteen minutes. Over time you will find your sittings becoming longer. You will then enjoy sitting for twenty, thirty, or forty minute sessions. It is important to follow the natural rhythm, to be natural in the body and mind.

It is extremely important to prepare yourself before each sitting. Decide before you begin the session what exactly you wish to explore during the time you shall spend in meditation. In this way you can determine the unfoldment of your meditation, or use your meditation to tackle some problem that has been arising. You also should clarify your motive for wanting to meditate; do you, in fact, know why you are meditating?

At the end of each meditation it is good to you spend a minute or two in reviewing the session that has occurred. Review work is every bit as important as preparation. Every session brings its breakthroughs; look for these in your review and acknowledge them. Acknowledge even the little events, the flutterings in the centres, the moments of peace that occurred, however minor you think these may have been. It is quite a good thing to keep a meditation diary.

Your basic attitude towards meditation should be somewhat similar to that of a research scientist in the field: serious, calm, disciplined, rigorous and objective, but with the inner excitement of an approaching discovery. We describe this as an attitude of exploration supported by a sense of pleasant anticipation. Don't allow your meditation to become boring. Always approach the practice with a positive attitude.

The method that we shall briefly describe here is referred to as concentration developed through unwavering attention on the breathing. This practice is not difficult to learn.

Using the Breath to Enter Into Meditation

Anaprana-smrti, or literally "remembrance of inhalation-exhalation," is one meditation method suitable for everybody. The earliest text describing this meditation is Sutra 118 from the Madhyama Nikaya of the Pali Canon, which purports to be a discourse directly spoken by the Buddha himself. Even the most advanced methods of meditation (e.g., Kundalini-yoga, Mahamudra, etc.) taught in the Ka'gyu tradition depend for a basis upon the technique of Anaprana-smrti. As the Buddha himself said:

"Mindfulness of breathing, O Bhikkshus, developed and repeatedly practiced, is of great fruit, of great benefit; mindfulness of breathing, developed and repeatedly practiced, perfects the four foundations of mindfulness; the four foundations of mindfulness, developed and repeatedly practiced, perfects the seven enlightenment factors; the seven enlightenment factors, developed and repeatedly practiced, perfects clear-vision and Liberation."

It was by means of attention on the rise and fall of the breath that Buddha Sakyamuni found a way to enter deep meditation and thereby he attained realization. One should therefore establish great faith in the validity of this method of meditation.

Although mindfulness of breathing can be practiced both while standing, walking or lying down, the basic posture best suited for learning the practice is while sitting.

Sitting Meditation

For the purpose of sitting one should attempt the sevenfold Buddha-posture described as follows:

1. Back: Maintain a straight spine. The spine should be as straight as possible – like an arrow or a pile of coins. If the spine is curved, energy will be expended unwisely and eventually the legs, back or neck will begin to ache. A straight, relaxed position will prevent back pains from developing.

2. Legs: The legs should be either fully crossed over each other in what is called the Vajra-posture, or they can be half crossed over in what is known as the Siddha-posture, but if either of those is too difficult, they can be crossed under each other in the so called tailor posture. To support the tailor posture you will need a thick cushion. If one is prevented from crossing the legs due to physical limitation or age, then a stool or a chair is permissible, although not advisable. Do not sit in a chair unless you absolutely have to. As our Lama Namgyal Rimpoche used to say, in the traditional meditation posture it is easier to see what needs correcting. You can ask yourself, "Where is the tension and why is it in this part of the body?' Then pose the question, "How can this be remedied?' You will also soon discover that the traditional posture is the most stable and centered.

3. Hands: Let the hands assume the "equanimity gesture" in which the writing hand is made to rest on the palm of the other, thumbs just touching, level with the navel. The arms are said to be in the "vulture wing position" with elbows bent, held slightly away from the sides of the body. Alternatively one can rest the palms, face down, on the knees, with thumb and index fingers together. In both cases, what is important is that the shoulders remain relaxed.

4. Chin: Keep the head level, straight and balanced. The neck should be straight, relaxed, chin in, so as to avoid any strain that can lead to headaches. Also, to avoid headaches, check that you are not straining the eyes or back of the neck.

5. Gaze: Though beginners tend to find it easier to meditate with the eyes closed, it is better to train oneself to sit with open eyes from the outset. Closed eyes encourage daydreaming and distraction. Keep the eyes slightly open (or in other words, heavily lidded) and relaxed, with the gaze looking downward if practicing Calm-abiding. This downward-looking gaze inclines at about a forty-five degree angle, toward a spot about four feet in front of one. There is no harm in sometimes allowing the eyes to simply close, but on the whole it is considered better to have them partially open. There is less chance of disorientation that way. If one is doing Insight-practice then the gaze should look straight ahead, towards the horizon. In both cases, even though the eyes are open, one is not specifically looking at anything. It is important to keep the gaze steady. Relaxation is important, the eyes should not be strained and it is normal to blink so as to irrigate the pupils. Of course, the eyes may be closed, if and when doing visualization work.

6. Tongue: Maintain the tongue at ease, gently touching the upper teeth and palate.

7. Jaw: Check that the jaw is relaxed. If the jaw is clenched, the rest of the body will be tense. Relax the jaw. The jaw should be slightly apart, the teeth not clenched, but the lips closed.

One breathes through the nose. Breathe a little slower than normal, more like a person who is asleep. Breathe in gently, feeling the abdomen expand. Briefly hold the breath. Then breathe out gently, feeling the abdomen contract.1

From time to time, have the teacher "check" your posture. Posture will improve as one settles into deeper meditation. Take care to avoid bad posture, i.e., do not lean to the left, the right, the front or the back. Due to physical imbalance, some people feel that they are sitting perfectly straight, when actually they are not.2 Good posture may require some effort and even some pain at first, but it is a truly worthwhile investment of one's time.

In Mindfulness of Breathing the attention is fixed on the slight rising (expansion) and falling (contraction) of the abdomen that accompanies breathing. When fully relaxed, the breathing becomes slower and deeper. Persistent effort is then applied to enable the mind to follow the inhalation-exhalation to the exclusion of all else.

The attention on the rise and fall of the breath in the region of the abdomen, levels of Calm-abiding are gradually developed, and this is accomplished by keeping the mind unwaveringly fixed on its object alone. When the mind wanders, we must gently bring it back.

Inhale through the nostrils normally, without strain, and without force. When the inhalation is complete, gently hold the breath for a brief moment. But be natural about this. Before any strain develops, gently exhale. An inhalation, retention and exhalation is known as one cycle of breathing.

Beginners can learn to meditate while counting each cycle of breath. Count from one to ten, and then begin to count from one again.

The beginner will find that very quickly the mind starts to wander. A signal that the mind is wandering occurs when it is realized that one has lost count. You then have to start over again, counting from one to ten. If thoughts intrude, gently push them away. Keep attention fixed on the cycle of breathing.

When finally counting from one to ten seems relatively easy, then attempt a meditation session where you count from one to one-hundred cycles of breath. If at some point the mind wanders and you forget what number of breath you are counting, then start again from the beginning. And again and again, until you feel that you can hold the mind to its object.

Having mastered the exercise of staying with the cycles of breathing in this manner, the beginner should then stop counting and instead proceed with mental "naming'. The latter consists of mentally saying "rising" on the inhalation, "holding" during the retention, and "falling" during the exhalation. Understand that one's attention is kept on the rise and fall of the abdomen, more or less on a point within the abdomen region about four digits below the navel.

If the mind wanders due to distraction, it is possible to mentally say "wandering" and then bring the attention back to the cycle of breath. If itching or pain is so distractive as not to allow the concentration to continue, then one can mentally say "itching, itching," or "pain, pain," and keeping the attention on that, use the very distraction itself as a focus of attention. Mental "naming" is a subtle way of keeping the mind on the object of meditation.

Tireless persistence in noting, naming, and pressing on is all that is required. It is the same with the multitude of thoughts that come unbidden into the mind while you are trying to do the exercise. You have to establish who is master, and so far as possible, never let oneself willingly be sidetracked into daydreams or other thinking. Each time the mind strays or the attention finds itself attracted to something (such as a particular noise, thought, light, or a bodily sensation) other than the breathing itself, a mental note should be made of the fact. The mind may then be gently but firmly brought back to the object of meditation.

Once that a distraction has been detected and dealt with, then you should return to the regular exercise of noting the rise, retention and fall of the breath. "Rise," "hold," "fall," are the three thoughts that can be repeated, over and over again, with each cycle of breath. In this way you are training the mind to the exclusion of all else, in much the same way as an athlete trains his body.

At first there will be many distractions because the mind has been used to wandering without any restraint whatsoever. However the practitioner should not lose heart on this account. Everyone has the same problem with distraction at the beginning and even the greatest Yogis have had to go through the same training in one form or another. You will discover that after repeated sessions of practice the mind can no longer play truant because it is always found out each time that it wanders. It therefore begins to settle down and gradually becomes habituated to concentration. Once that happens, a certain degree of clarity and calm begins to arise, which signals that the mind is actually starting to "abide" in its own state.

Many sessions of meditation using the techniques of "counting" and "naming" should occur before one is ready to progress further. But then, after the beginner has made progress, he or she may be ready to move on to bare witnessing. At this point one does not count the cycles of breaths, nor name them, but merely remains aware of them. Witness them. If a distraction – an itch, a train of thought, a visual image – occurs, just remain in witnessing mode. Remaining aware of the cycle of breath, in a steady manner with little or no distraction, is a form of bare witnessing that grows ever deeper as one continues.

The shift from the "counting" stage, to the "naming" stage, and then to the "bare witness" stage can sometimes be difficult. Long practice in one stage habituates the mind to that practice. As one shifts to bare witnessing, the mind will repeatedly go back to subtle "counting" or "naming." Effort has to be applied to stop this habitual tendency. This effort is the same as that applied to stop the arising of distraction. It should not be an overly forceful effort—rather, just a gentle reminder to return to the exercise at hand.

Calm-abiding meditation, followed according to the way it is described above, will gradually still the mind. With stillness, clarity will dawn. With clarity, the light of mastery, purity and harmony is established in consciousness.

In Calm-abiding practice there are said to be nine stages—ever deepening degrees of developing calm and peace—which eventually lead to one-pointedness of mind, full absorption and Samadhi.

Samadhi is an ecstatic state of truly expanded consciousness, in which the meditator experiences divine light and bliss. Various levels and types of Samadhi have been attained by experienced meditators, resulting in supernal states of consciousness that transcend the individual self. Such states take the seeker of Truth into the realm of the ultimate.

The Meditation Manual of the Dharma Fellowship

Footnotes:

1. There are many different breathing techniques used in Buddhist meditation. They are extremely beneficial if applied correctly, but very dangerous when wrongly or naively used. It is risky, to say the least, to just pick up techniques from books, unless the exercises come from a well tested, long established tradition. Some methods, such as Kumbhaka-breathing and hyperventilation, if wrongly applied, can result in serious psychological or health problems. The fundamental rule always, when it comes to meditation techniques, is to stick to the instruction of the tried and true tradition of an authoritative school.

2. Our meditation texts describe the various sensations, problems and experiences caused by each wrong posture. For instance, meditating with the head tilted backwards can produce some pleasant, spacious sensations at first, but leads to neurotic mental states later.

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