As people begin preparing their resolutions for the New Year, many will have "learning to meditate" near the top of their lists. In my observation, the best way to learn to meditate is through face-to-face instruction from someone experienced in the practice, who can answer questions and help you work with obstacles that may arise. If you can do it that way, I recommend it. But that's not always possible; and, in any case, it's also helpful to read written instructions.
The following basic instructions in meditation practice were first published on this blog five years ago. I'm reposting them now because — whether we are brand new to meditation or have been practicing for years — we can never hear them too many times. And each time we hear them, we may hear something new.
The first time I heard meditation instruction, it was presented in
terms of three simple building blocks — a mnemonic device that I’ve
always found it helpful to recall. The three basic building blocks of
sitting meditation are: Body, Breath, and Mind.
Even
within Buddhism, there are many types of meditation that utilize
different techniques designed to accomplish different things (not to
speak of all the meditations found in other spiritual traditions). The
type of meditation described here is called
shamatha,
translated as Tranquility or Calm Abiding or Peaceful Abiding. As those
labels suggest, its main purpose is to calm the mind, and
to help us train in the ability to “abide” or stay present with what is
happening right here, right now.
Training in this kind
of Tranquility meditation is the first step in really getting to know
our own minds, and creates a foundation for everything we do on the
spiritual path.
"The method that the Buddha
discovered is meditation. He discovered that struggling to find answers
did not work. It was only when there were gaps in his struggle that
insights came to him. He began to realize that there was a sane, awake
quality within him that manifested itself only in the absence of
struggle. So the practice of meditation involves letting be."
-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
A: Body
The
first part of the practice involves how we work with our body during
meditation. Taking the right posture is essential, because the state of
the body reflects and affects the state of the mind: the mind-body
continuum. A slouching posture leads to a slouching, dull state of mind —
and vice versa. A proper, upright posture embodies the qualities of
strength, dignity, and bravery, and sets the stage for engaging with
your mind in the practice of meditation.
- Sit up
straight, allowing the spine to lengthen naturally — as if an invisible
string attached to the crown of your head were lightly pulling you
upward. If you're in a chair, you might try sitting forward rather than
leaning against the back of the chair; your feet should be flat on the
floor. If you're on a cushion, cross your legs comfortably in front of
you.
- Let your arms drop to your sides, then gently lift only
your forearms — keeping your upper arms parallel to the torso — and
bring your palms to rest lightly on your knees or your thighs. The
placement of the hands should not be so far forward that it causes your
shoulders to slouch, and not so far back that it pinches the shoulder
blades. Find the right spot to allow your back and shoulders and neck to
rest upright, without straining.
- Keeping the eyes open, direct
your gaze down at a point three to six feet in front of you, not looking
at anything in particular but allowing the gaze to rest in one spot
rather than roaming or following distractions. Allow your eyelids to
relax, and soften the gaze so that you're "looking without staring." If
you've practiced other meditation techniques that involved closing the
eyes, it may seem awkward at first to practice with eyes open, but give
it a try and see what happens. Keeping the eyes open is a step towards
integrating the practice of mindfulness into everyday life, rather than
making mindfulness something separate from your life that can only be
practiced under restricted conditions.
- Relax the stomach
muscles, the torso, the throat, the jaw. Bring the tip of the tongue to
rest lightly on the spot where your upper teeth meet the roof of your
mouth, allowing the lips to part slightly if it feels comfortable.
B: Breath
The
second part of the practice involves where we place our minds during
meditation. We could choose almost any object — an image, a sound, a
particular word or series of words — but most people find that the
simplest and most convenient object to use in shamatha meditation is the
breath. It's free, you carry it with you everywhere you go, and it's
already happening — it requires no particular effort. In one sense,
sitting and resting our attention on the breath is the simplest thing we
could possibly do; yet the cumulative effects and implications of this
practice are profound. Breathing is an expression of the present moment;
each breath is slightly different from every other breath, and it is
only happening right now. Tuning in to the breath is tuning in to the
present moment.
- Breathe naturally, however you
find yourself breathing in this moment: fast, slow, shallow, deep,
whatever. Don't make any particular effort to breathe in a certain way,
or to control the process. Just be with whatever kind of breath you
have right now. If you can, breathe through the nose.
- Bring
your attention to rest lightly on the full cycle of breathing, both in
and out. Allow yourself to identify with the soothing quality of the
breath.
- Notice where you feel the physical sensations of
breathing most acutely. Maybe it's in the rising and falling of the
abdomen, or in the slight warm and cool tickling sensation at the ends
of your nostrils as the breath goes out and comes in. Wherever it is for
you, rest your attention on that physical sensation.
- If you
can, place a slight emphasis of attention on the out-breath. Feel
yourself going out with your breath and dissolving into space, letting
go of conceptual mind. Allow the in-breath to happen naturally, and
again go out with the out-breath and dissolve.
- Notice the
quality of the moment after one breath has gone out, before the next
breath has started to come in. What is your mind like in that moment?
C: Mind
The
third part of the practice involves how we work with our minds. Having
attempted to sit and rest our attention on the breath for a few
moments, we have probably discovered — perhaps to our dismay — that our
mind is restless and prone to wander away. We find ourselves thinking
about lunch, reliving an argument with our ex-boyfriend, reveling in a
sexual fantasy, fretting over our job, stewing in old feelings of shame
or resentment, worrying about our loved ones, or desperately seeking
entertainment by looking for shapes and patterns in the carpet in front
of us: the possibilities are literally endless. Our minds seem to hop
from one distraction to another with total disregard for our noble
intention to stay with the breath. Welcome to your "monkey-mind."
Through regular shamatha practice, we can begin to train the monkey to
stay in one place for longer periods of time, and we can even learn to
regard its antics with humor and compassion.
Usually,
when we have a thought or a feeling, we run with it: our minds seem to
control us, rather than us controlling our minds. By practicing
shamatha, we train in the ability to recognize our thoughts without
being driven by them. But the goal of shamatha is not to "get rid of"
thoughts — this is a common misconception. The goal is to see ourselves
clearly, and with compassion, by touching in with whatever we're
experiencing, and then coming back to the present moment and the object
of meditation. Precision and gentleness are the keys.
- When
you become aware that your mind has wandered off into a thought,
feeling, or fantasy, gently touch on it and return your attention to the
breath. Whatever kind of thought or feeling it was, try to see it
without judgment or criticism: in the practice of shamatha, there are no
good thoughts or bad thoughts. No thought is to be condemned or praised
— that's just more thinking.
- You may find it helpful to mark
the moment of transition between thinking and returning to the breath by
"labeling" your thoughts. When you recognize you've been thinking, say
to yourself mentally: "Thinking." Apply this labeling technique with a
light touch -- like touching your thoughts with a feather. Don't try to
shoot down your thoughts or squash them, but simply recognize them, let
them go, and come back to the breath.
- Above all, be gentle with yourself, and relax.
What few people (except my closest friends, who know me well) seem to realize — for I've become very good at hiding it — is that beneath my quiet, calm demeanor lies the same incessantly chattering "monkey mind" from which every other human being suffers. When I sit down to meditate, the mind that I encounter is usually not a calm, still lake; it's a roiling sea of thoughts, hopes, fears, judgments, fantasies, memories, plans and dreams. It is what Bhante Henepola Gunaratana called a "screeching, gibbering madhouse on wheels, barreling pell-mell down the hill, utterly out of control and hopeless."
