Meditation is a way of being aware. It is doing and being. It lifts the fog of our ordinary lives to reveal what is hidden; it loosens the knot of self-centeredness and opens the heart; it moves us beyond mere concepts to allow for a direct experience of reality. Meditation embodies the way of awakening: both the path and its fruition. From one point of view, it is the means to awakening; from another, it is awakening itself.

Here is how to meditate

1. Sit comfortably – Sit comfortably and close your eyes or lower your gaze. Take a deep breath or two and relax. Breathe slowly and let go, releasing all the tension in your body.

2. Just Be – Stop doing and settle back into just being. Let things settle without your direction or intercession. Open yourself to the wisdom of allowing, of inclusive acceptance. This is the inner secret to natural meditation.

3. Befriend Yourself – Don’t get lost. Stay right here, at home and at ease. Befriend yourself; familiarize yourself with your own fundamental presence. Let awareness be uninterrupted by techniques or concepts.

4. Observe Your Breath – If and when you feel lost, distracted, spaced out, or sleepy, get in touch with your breath. Watch the breath; observe the inhalation and exhalation as they effortlessly occur. Feel the breath moving in and out, anchoring you in the present moment while you let everything go, without judgment, evaluation, or interference.

5. Look Inside – Opening gradually to the effortlessness of pure presence, turn your attention inward. All we seek can be found within. This is the process and practice of inner freedom. Enjoy the buoyant peace, harmony, and delight of natural meditation.

6. Schedule Meditation Time – Plan to sit at the same time each day. One of the benefits of doing this is that one gets to know the mind that doesn’t want to sit. For many people, the morning seems to be a good time, before we become engaged in the many activities of the day. But if you have small children or a demanding job, this may not be possible. And some of us have rebellious natures, so any routine presents a problem. Then we need to be flexible.

7. Set Your Limits – Generally it is better to sit for a shorter amount of time than to sit way beyond our capacity. We should determine for ourselves the amount of time we sit—there are no set formulas. Too long, and we may never want to sit again; too short, and our practice won’t develop.

It can be helpful to set a timer rather than having to watch a clock. Because the practice is to let go of thoughts about the past and the future, this will free you from having to think or worry about time. You can simply set a specific amount of time to sit and rely on an external sound to signal when the sitting time is over.

8. Be Present – Meditation is not about getting away from it all, numbing out, or stopping thoughts. Without trying to be rid of pesky thoughts and feelings, we learn how to practice being aware of them in the fleeting immediacy of the very moment in which they present themselves. We can cultivate awareness of any object: sounds, smells, physical sensations, perceptions, and so forth. Everything is grist for the mill—even those things we find terribly unpleasant.

9. Say ‘No’ to Suffering – What we most frequently see when the mind is focused and clear are the habits of mind that create unnecessary suffering, habits fueled by greed and hatred and delusion. Over and over we struggle with our lives, resenting our experiences, blaming ourselves for not being other than who we are. We are unable to see past the immediate, overwhelming drama of our personal story to find relief—indeed, liberation—in the consoling realization of an astonishingly lawful cosmos. Paying attention to current experience stops the stories that create and recreate suffering.

10. Move Toward Kindness – The practice of seeing clearly is what finally moves us toward kindness. Seeing, again and again, the infinite variety of traps we create for seducing the mind into struggle, seeing the endless rounds of meaningless suffering over lusts and aversions (which, although seemingly urgent, are essentially empty), we feel compassion for ourselves. And then, quite naturally, we feel compassion for everyone else. We know as we have never known before that we are stuck, all of us, with bodies and minds and instincts and impulses, all in a tug-of-war with our basic heart nature that yearns to relax into love. Then we surrender. We love. We laugh. We appreciate.

11. Become Clear – Like the archer straightening his arrow and perfecting his aim, the practitioner of meditation straightens out the mind while aiming his or her attentional energy at its object. Learning to drop what we’re doing, however momentarily, and to genuinely pay attention in the present moment, without attachment or bias, helps us become clear, just as a snow globe becomes clear when we stop shaking it and its flakes settle.

O God ! Giver of life, Remover of all pain and sorrows, Bestower of happiness, the Creator of the Universe, Thou art most luminous, adorable and destroyer of sins. We meditate upon thee. May thou inspire, enlighten and guide our intellect in the right direction.

2009

I am open to the splendor of the Kingdom of God within, and a flood of plenty follows.

2008

I am becoming one who is aware: in full awareness when going forward and returning; when looking ahead and looking away; when exercising; when wearing clothes; when eating, drinking, and tasting; when walking, talking, sitting, falling asleep and waking up; in full awareness keeping silent.

Overcome your uncertainties and free yourself from dwelling on sorrow. Delight in existence and the path will be revealed to you.

Forgiveness Meditation

1 In order to forgive someone and release anger, you need to begin by telling the story of how you got hurt. I suggest writing it down, making sure to include not only what happened but also how you felt about it.

2 Pay attention to the feeling words in the story. Then, summon up the feelings they refer to. Try to discover and focus on the places in your body where you feel your anger, sadness, or hurt most strongly. Let yourself fully inhabit the feelings of hurt, anger, grief, or whatever else arises. Say out loud that what happened was wrong. Breathe as you do this, and remember that your aim is to feel the feelings, not to act them out.

3 Recognize that the hurtful event cannot be undone. It has already happened. Neither your anger nor the other person’s apology can make it go away.

4 Realize that the person who has hurt you may never apologize to your satisfaction. Accept that. Notice how you feel when you accept it.

5 Recognize the price you pay for holding a grudge. Is it burning a hole in your heart? Making you feel victimized? How does your grievance make you feel about yourself? How has it influenced your future expectations? Is it possible to release the anger and feel more free?

6 Consider the fact that you are the only person who can change your attitude.

7 Ask for help from the universe. Breathe in and out of the heart, and imagine a door in your chest wall opening to receive grace. Ask what you need to do, think, or feel in order to forgive.

8 Write down any positive insights that arise from this practice.

9 Practice one of the following forgiveness rituals or make up one of your own.

Ritual A Imagine yourself in front of the person you want to forgive. Tell the person how you feel. Tell the person that you want to forgive them and give them a gift—flowers, a book, or a stone.

Ritual B write your grievance on a piece of paper. Light a candle and place the paper in the flame. Let it burn.

10 Write down any positive insights you gain during this process. Notice and honor your noble intention to forgive. Don’t expect instant results. You may have to do this several more times. But understand that the process is working inwardly on a much deeper level than the mind. Rituals go to the limbic brain, shifting the patterns held there and changing the memories of grievance to stored experiences of forgiveness.

Rest is essential to living peacefully each day of our lives.

2009

Sleep is the greatest rest of all.

A good nights sleep is the bases for rest. I will learn to sleep well.

When my brain is wound up, the accumulated internal tension does not allow my mind to become steady and focus on sleep. And when there is excessive tension in my physical body, my muscles get tight and hard. This, in turn, stresses my nerves and prevents them from unwinding, relaxing, and allowing my body to sleep.

The four major aspects of taking a holistic approach to solving sleep problems involve asana, breathing, nutrition, and meditation. Muscle tension can be caused by either too much or too little activity during the day; a regular asana practice will help unwind the muscular tension so that the nerves can relax. If I am overactive during my day, I need restorative poses, so I need to be sure my practice includes Supported Bridge Pose, Supported Child’s Pose, and Supported Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose, followed by Truth Pose. If my day is low in activity, I will need a more dynamic practice to remove the built-up tension adding (3) Sun Salutations, Supported Shoulderstand, and Supported Downward-Facing Dog Pose.

Proper Breathing is also needed. While in Truth Pose, do “Against the Flow Breath” for about 10 minutes. This is done lying down and involves taking an uninterrupted inhalation and an interrupted exhalation. Start by lying in Truth Pose for a few minutes, then exhale whatever breath is in the lungs. Take a long, deep inhale without any pause, filling the lungs completely without strain. Exhale slowly for two to three seconds, pause, holding the breath for two or three seconds, exhale, and repeat. Continue until the lungs feel completely emptied, which may entail three to five pauses. At the end of the last exhalation, release the abdomen—this completes one cycle of “Against the Flow Breath”.

Alternatively, you may also do one-two breathing for 54 to 63 cycles of breath. To do this, make your exhalation twice as long as the inhalation, without strain. Both of these breathing practices soothe the nerves and promote sleep.

Nutritional adjustment can help promote sleep by emphasizing foods that ground the body’s energy, such as root vegetables, grains, and beans. Your dinner should include them. Avoid salads and spicy foods for dinner.

Meditation is another key to getting a good night’s sleep. Ask your yoga teacher to show you how to center your brain energy using your hands and your breath. This will prevent your mind from jumping from thought to thought.

Make it a priority to set aside five minutes each evening to focus on centering yourself before you go to bed.

Practicing the above, I am well on my way to enjoying a deep and sound sleep.

Here are some fav meditation quotes I’ve discovered on the net or others, like you, have contributed. If you like, I would be happy to add yours. Simply leave a comment. I do not include the persons name who claims to be the originator of a particular quote as this is ego and self needing (you can certainly Google the comment and see if it leads you anywhere).

Meditation Thoughts

Meditation, simply defined, is a way of being aware. It is the happy marriage of doing and being. It lifts the fog of our ordinary lives to reveal what is hidden; it loosens the knot of self-centeredness and opens the heart; it moves us beyond mere concepts to allow for a direct experience of reality. Meditation embodies the way of awakening: both the path and its fruition. From one point of view, it is the means to awakening; from another, it is awakening itself.

It is not enough to practice meditation closing the eyes for an hour. One should examine the mind and eliminate its subtle cravings for the world.

From this point on you really know. This is called the pinnacle of Zen, the sovereignty of Zen. It is also called knowledge of what is knowable; it produces all the various states of meditation, and anoints the heads of all spiritual princes. In all fields of form, sound, fragrance, flavor, feeling, and phenomena, you realize complete perfect enlightenment. Inside and outside are in complete communion, without any obstruction at all.

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.

In actuality, it is not that everything is impermanent, but that impermanence is the only “thing” that there is.

There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind.

The state of awakening is being able to enter at will, the state of consciousness that is most beneficial and desirable for any given circumstance.

What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.

What ever responsibilities you feel you have, the greatest is to develop the understanding of your own mind.

A mental wave is never produced by any thing that has not seen or been heard. so the mind of a man who controls his senses is gradually skilled an is perfectly at peace.

He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

The mind is the source of happiness and unhappiness.

To be unmoved by pleasant neutral or unpleasant feelings is not the desired result of the practice of meditation. To be unmoved by pleasant neutral or unpleasant feelings if we chose to do so, is the result of the practice

To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.

Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.

The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings.

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.

Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine.

Look within, thou art one with God.

Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

One thousand breaths without awareness means nothing, one breath with mindful awareness means liberation form suffering.

If “you want peace” eliminate the You and the want and you will have only “Peace”.

Meditation is the gateway, through which you arrive to the world of freedom.

A free and silent mind is always in meditation.

The attention tends to wander. It tends to flow towards whatever attracts it. Tie your attention with resolve and intent, and do not let it drag you where it wants to.

A calm mind is not disturbed by the waves of thoughts.

Calm the winds of your thoughts, and there will be no waves on the ocean of your mind.

Constant inner peace and serenity can be yours. Take the first step today.

Concentrate on your consciousness and find out what it is. You may be surprised at what you find.

When you manage to rise above your mind through deep meditation, you realize practically what all the seekers have also sought.

Enlightenment cannot be attained, nor forced. It can only happen, when given the opportunity to do so, when obstruction by concepts ceases. It can appear only when it is given a vacant space to appear in. If the “I” is already in occupation, how can enlightenment enter? Let the conceptual “I” vacate and give enlightenment a chance to enter.

To see through the way in which we define our selves, that is the only job we have to do

The approach to it ( Mind, Absolute, Void, Buddha Nature, Enlightenment ) is called the Gateway of the Stillness beyond all Activity. If you wish to understand, know that a sudden comprehension comes when the mind has been purged of all the clutter of conceptual and discriminatory thought-activity. Those who seek the truth by means of the intellect and learning only get further and further away from it. Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.

…concepts are related to the senses; and, when feeling takes place, wisdom is shut out.

If, conceiving of the phenomenal world as illusion, we try to shut it out, we make a false distinction between the ‘real’ and the ‘unreal’. So we must not shut anything out, but try to reach the point where all distinctions are seen to be void, where nothing is seen as desirable or undesirable, existing or not existing. Yet this does not mean that we should make our minds blank, for then we should be no better than blocks of wood or lumps of stone; moreover, if we remain in this state, we should not be able to deal with the circumstances of daily life or be capable of observing the Zen precept: ‘ When hungry, eat.’ Rather, we must cultivate dispassion, realizing that none of the attractive or unattractive attributes of things have any absolute existence.

What is action and what is inaction? This question has confused the greatest sages. I will give you the secret of the action, with which you can free yourself from bondage. The true nature of action is difficult to grasp. You must understand what is action and what is inaction, and what kind of action should be avoided. The wise see there is action in the midst of inaction and inaction in the midst of action. Their consciousness is unified, and every act is done with complete awareness.

Great is the matter of birth and death; impermanence surrounds us. Be awake each moment; do not waste your life.

Trying to find an answer to a life question? The answer is there, in our souls – has been, always will be. We need only to meditate and the answer will become clear.

Find a quiet, comfortable place.

Sit comfortably. Close your eyes and then open them just a little bit. Stare at the tip of your nose. Meditating here will help still a noisy mind. Cross the forearms below the wrists, in front of the chest.

Work with the chant Sa-Ta-Na-Ma.
Saa – Infinity
Taa – Life
Naa – Transformation
Maa – Rebirth

Begin to chant, Saa – taa – naa – maa as you play the fingers by touching the thumb tip to the fingertips in the following fashion:

Saa – touch the tip of the thumbs to the index fingers
Taa – touch the tip of the thumbs to the middle fingers
Naa – touch the tip of the thumbs to the ring fingers
Maa – touch the tip of the thumbs to the pinkie fingers

Continue for several minutes. To end, inhale, hold, close the eyes, and become completely still. Relax. The hemispheres will balance; a new sense of peace will ensue.

If you have a specific question or prayer that you need answered, you may wish to light a candle to help illuminate your answer.

Friend, this meditation provides a calming effect on our soul.

Let us discover the cradle of god, the calm and joy of the universe, forever present as we practice meditation.

To begin this meditation, find a comfortable and quiet place. Now, be seated in a posture you find most relaxing.

Place your palms facing up on your knees, forefinger and thumb touching.

Bring your attention to the breath. Begin to employ the simple words So hum (“I am that”). On the inhale, say So, and on the exhale, say hum. Keep your focus on the sensation of your breath while silently repeating the sacred syllables So hum.

Let your mind come to stillness. There is no place to go, nothing to do, So hum, So hum. If a thought arises, come back to saying So hum.

Once you have continued this meditation for 10 to 20 minutes, bring your hands together in prayer position to immerse yourself in the peaceful energy cultivated through your meditation.

Don’t be afraid to meet resistance in meditation. Make the commitment to sit and meditate regularly. A willingness to stay present with the resistance surfacing during mediation will help you cope with those complex emotions continually arising in daily life.

While mediating, the mind starts to open; there’s an expansion of awareness. Allow yourself to melt into the spaciousness. Sit slightly longer and meet the resistance often stemming from fear, fear of your emotions, fear of the unknown, and, lastly, fear of your own essence, your own grandeur.

Listen to your resistance, it almost always has something useful to tell you. Often resistance masks fear, an unwillingness to move deeper or to engage a block, a reluctance to explore an unexamined belief. Experiment with staying inside the meditation posture until you feel shifts, then try staying a little longer and feel the new level that has opened up.

Practising Zen Meditation helps me to better understand my soul and realize wisdom.

Wisdom does not mean knowledge but experiential understanding. Wisdom helps me to change radically habits and perceptions, as I discover the constantly changing, interconnected nature of the whole of existence.

What is Zen Meditation?
There is nothing special or different about Zen meditation. It is not something weird or esoteric. It simply involves being still within, and allowing one’s real self to emerge from beneath the jumble of thoughts and emotions that usually fill an individual’s mind.

How Can One Practise it?
How can someone be still in this way? There are various techniques, but in  Zen Meditation the practitioner simply sits. The physical sitting position doesn’t really matter very much. Sitting on cushion using one of the lotus positions is traditional if the person is comfortable that way. But sitting on a chair or stool is fine, and often more suitable for western meditation practitioners who are not used to sitting in crosslegged positions for long periods. The eyes are kept open, and meditators usually face the wall. The technique is not to concentrate on anything, but instead to simply observe one’s thoughts or emotions, and come back to sitting still.

What about the Mind?

What about thoughts? When they arise, the practitioner tries to simply let them be. He or she doesn’t try to push them away, but does not try to hang on to them or actively ‘think’ either. It’s a little bit like sitting on a bridge watching the traffic going by. It is not necessary to try to stop the traffic, but one doesn’t have to get in there and try to speed it up or change it either. Thought is a natural process, and the meditator is not trying to do anything unnatural. Instead, the person is simply trying to be themselves as they truly are.

So What Comes Next?
In the beginning, meditation can seem very difficult. The practitioner may feel as though he or she has more thoughts and emotions than ever before. Time may appear to pass exceedingly slowly, and he may feel uncomfortable or downright miserable – worse than before he started! But all these feelings should be treated in the same way as thoughts, by not being held on to or pushed away, but simply accepted for what they are. When the meditator finds that he has started following his thoughts, ie thinking, it is best not to worry about it. Just by noticing what is going on, one has already begun meditating again. So the person shouldn’t get upset about it, but just come back to sitting still.

And What Can it Lead to?
This may all sound boring or pointless. But out of this simple practice, many things in one’s life can change. The details vary for different people, but simply keeping up a regular practice means that in time life becomes more peaceful, fulfilling, and natural. One feels calmer, more content, and less inclined to violent emotional swings for no good reason. In fact, it’s amazing what a few minutes of looking at a wall every day can do for one’s peace of mind!

Try practicing using different sitting positions. As we sit in different positions, the mind disposition will be changed. Some create focus, others broad mindedness. Some sitting positions require practice to maintain comfort, therefore, practicing a challenging sitting position separate from meditation until you are comfortable sitting that way will be needed.

All said, we need to be physically comfortable during our meditation.

Link to Sitting Positions

When we spend time in the wilderness, it can be tempting to focus our awareness on “doing” something: taking pictures; getting a certain amount of physical exercise; traveling from point A to point B; naming all the species of birds we encounter. While nature photography is a lovely craft, and we need to exercise for good health, and understanding what lives in our environment is a valid part of deepening our relationship with the land, these activities can separate us from a more intimate experience of the natural world. It is all too easy to forget to actually experience with all our senses that which we are busily capturing and identifying.

The natural world invites us out of our world of fixed concepts and into a closer proximity with reality—what Buddhist teachings call “nonconceptual awareness.” Experiencing the natural world with nonconceptual awareness means that, rather than seeing a [small] black bird and thinking, “That’s a starling, a nonnative bird introduced from England several centuries ago,” we stop and see each particular bird’s incandescent blue-black velvet feathers, piercing amber eyes, and delicate, wiry feet. Instead of encountering the world through a filter of ideas, memories, and labels, we connect deeply with the unfiltered and vital pulse of life in that moment.

If we’re not mindful, intellectual knowledge can easily cloud our direct experience. When we’re guided through life solely by our intellect, by our ideas of what we know, we’re robbed of a sense of discovery. A nonconceptual awareness allows us to approach each moment as fresh and new. A depth of wisdom can arise from such immediacy, and lead to greater wonder about the mysteriousness of life; we may realize just how little we can ever know.

Whatever we experience most often provides us with an excellent opportunity to cultivate nonconceptual awareness. My garden sits in the shade of an old California oak tree that has a wide trunk, deeply veined and wrinkled. The gray-brown bark has deep, dark, vertical grooves intersected by thinner lateral lines——on some days it looks to me like a lopsided checkerboard. Where limbs once grew, there are large knots on the trunk the size of dinner plates. The tree curves gracefully skyward, supporting branches laden with young, shiny, dark green leaves holding their palms to the sun.

When I look at this oak without any preconceived ideas, it is a “different” tree each time I encounter it. My awareness or mood may be slightly different, altering how I see it. Depending on the time of day or time of year, shifting light changes its color. Gentle breezes and strong winds bend the tender limbs into different shapes. From this perspective I forever see it anew. Instead of relating to it solely through a static concept of “oak tree” or failing to see it in all its living, breathing aliveness, I can take it in with fresh eyes. This tree is my constant mindfulness companion, mirroring to me how present and open I am to the freshness of the moment.

The challenge is to be present to all of our experience with such wakefulness. Our concepts of time, of good and bad, of right and wrong can easily distort our ability to see the world clearly. Abiding with nonconceptual awareness allows us to observe the natural world, as well as the people and opportunities we encounter, without the lens of our fixed concepts, views, and opinions. Similarly, we can begin to look at ourselves with a fresh perspective in each moment, without any preconceptions or predetermined limitations.

Starry Night
The following meditation is a way to cultivate a nonconceptual awareness. It works best on a relatively clear night, preferably away from bright city lights. Find a place outdoors where you can lie down on the ground and view the night sky. Gaze up at that vast ocean of darkness that sparkles with infinite stars until you find the cluster of stars known as the Big Dipper. Officially part of Ursa Major, the Great Bear constellation, the Big Dipper consists of seven stars broadly spaced apart. Four stars make the shape of a large rectangle, and the other three splay out horizontally to the left from the top of the rectangle, so they resemble a large dipper, or a saucepan with a long and slightly curved handle.

Once you locate this constellation, try to let go of any preconceived ideas you have about it, and look at the cluster of stars without fixating on the shape of a big dipper. Allow yourself to see seven bright dots amid black space. Notice each star individually. Notice the stars in their context in the sky, within the vast field of shining lights. See how the stars are located in relationship to other stars not in this particular constellation. Observe the spaces between each star. As you continue the meditation, notice if you go in and out of being able to see the stars themselves, without the idea or image of the dipper. If in moments you find it difficult to let go of seeing the Big Dipper, shift your focus to other parts of the night sky. Try looking at just part of the constellation, along with other stars outside the constellation.

Close your eyes for a moment, relax your body, and then open your eyes and refresh your attention using a soft gaze. Let your vision be broad and spacious, and look at the stars without thinking about them, yourself, or anything else—just rest in open awareness. Another approach is to stare at the Big Dipper for a long time; after a while, the concept or memory of a dipper may fade and the stars will return to just being individual lights in the sky.

Once you practice this meditation, you can apply the technique to other constellations—seeing the stars without their associated imagery, taking in the simple reality of what is, and experiencing the vastness of the night sky. Try doing this meditation for up to half an hour, taking time to alternate between simply resting your awareness in the vastness of sky, and noticing whether you get caught up in concepts about specific constellations. You can also expand this practice to include other objects and people—you might try looking at a rose bush without the concept of “rose.”

The more you do this, the more you’ll begin to see how using only our preconceived concepts to approach the world can limit our experience and our awareness. Simple concepts can in no way describe the fullness and complexity of any experience or thing, including something as simple as a single, unique maple leaf or mushroom, or something as vast as constellations in the sky.

This technique can also help us approach people with a fresh awareness every time. Try looking at an acquaintance or a loved one without fixing on a preconceived idea about who they are, what they are like, or what they will do. We often get stuck in our concept of who someone is, which limits both people in the relationship.

A dear friend of mine sits his teenage daughter down every year, and they do a playful exercise in which they look at each other, and he says, “I am not your father,” and she says, “I am not your daughter.” This attempt to break down the narrowness of the concepts of “father” and “daughter” allows them to see each other more completely as people, rather than seeing only the parts of each other that relate to the roles they know each other in.

So when you look at someone, notice what concepts arise about them—man, woman, parent, child, waitress, taxi driver, lover. See how your approach to them changes based on your ideas of what it means to be old, young, sick, cute, shy, loud, extroverted, or smart. See then if you can let go of the labels and look at them without these concepts interfering with your perceptions of who they are. Notice their form, movements, and expressions, and try to get a sense of their essence beyond their surface appearance, movements, and expressions. When we look at people or anything in this way, we get to see the world anew, with fresh eyes. We come closer to experiencing the truth of how things actually are, undimmed by the concepts in our minds.

Tara is a Buddha who represents in particular all enlightened beings’ skillful action, or the means by which they communicate with and guide us according to our ability. Contemplating Tara brings quick results in whatever we want or need. Known as the mother of all Buddhas, she is our mother too, because she awakens and helps fulfil our potential to gain enlightenment.

Visualize in the space before you Tara, manifestation of all positive. Her body is of emerald green light, translucent and radiant.

Her left leg is drawn up signifying complete control over sexual energy, and her right leg is extended indicating she is ready to rise to the aid of all beings. Her left hand is at her heart in the refuge gesture: palm facing outward, thumb and ring finger touching, and the remaining fingers raised.

Her right hand is on her right knee in the gesture of granting sublime realization: palm facing outward, thumb and first finger touching, the remaining fingers pointing down.

In each hand she holds the stem of a blue flower, symbol of the unblocking of the central channel. She is exquisitely beautiful and smiles lovely at you. Her clothing is of celestial silk and her ornaments of precious gems.

Concentrate for some time on the visualization, opening your heart to the energy of Tara’s inexhaustible loving-kindness.

Next, think of your problems, your needs and aims, and make a prayer to Tara from your heart, asking her for help. She responds at once by sending streams of light into you: white light flows from her forehead into yours, eliminating all obstacles and negativity’s of the body; red light light flows from her throat into yours, eliminating all obstacles and negativity’s of your speech; and blue light flows from her heart into your, eliminating all obstacles and negativity’s of the mind. Visualize each of these in turn; really feel you are now completely free of all problems and you have received the inspiration and energy to accomplish your objectives.

Then, Tara comes to the space above your head, facing the same way as you. She dissolves into green light, which descends through the crown of your head to your heart center, the seat of your consciousness. Your mind merges indistinguishably with Tara’s mind and you experience clarity, tranquillity, and bliss.

Remain in this state for as long as possible. When thoughts arise, simply observe them with detactment, judging them neither good or bad, and return your attention to the experience of clarity and bliss.

Dedicate the positive energy you generated to all living beings. that they may attain the great joy of liberation from confusion and suffering.

Standing
To begin a walking meditation, first simply stand. Become aware of your weight being transferred through the soles of your feet into the earth. Being aware of the subtle movements keeping us balanced and upright. Very often we take this for granted, our ability to be able to stand upright. Be aware of the adjustments you’re making in order to maintain your balance.

Walking
Begin to walk slowly. Be aware of being balanced and upright.

Becoming aware of your body
Be aware of the soles of your feet, being aware of the alternating patterns of contact and release; being aware of your foot as the heel first makes contact, as your foot rolls forward onto the ball, and then lifts and travels through the air. Be aware of all the different sensations in your feet, not just a contact in the soles of your feet but the contact between the toes, the feeling of the inside of your shoes, the fabric of your socks, and let your feet be as relaxed as you can. Become aware of your ankles. Notice the qualities of the sensations in those joints – as your foot is on the ground, as your foot travels through the air.

Let your ankle joints relax – make sure you’re not holding on in any way. You can become aware of your lower legs – your shins, your calves. You can be aware of the contact with your clothing: be aware of the temperature on your skin; you can be aware of the muscles. Encourage your muscles to be relaxed.

Become aware of your knees- noticing the qualities of the sensations in your knee joints. Then expand your awareness into your thighs. Being aware of the skin, again the contact with your clothing, the temperature. Being aware of the muscles, and noticing what the muscles on the fronts of the thighs, and the muscles on the backs of the thighs are doing. And once more you might want for a few paces just to exaggerate what those muscles are doing – exaggerate the action of those muscles. And then letting your walk go back to a normal rhythm.

Becoming aware of your hips – the muscles around your hip joints — and relaxing those muscles. Really relax. Even when you think you’ve relaxed – relax them some more. Notice how relaxing changes your walk. Notice how the rhythm and the gait of your walk change as your hips relax. You can be aware of the whole of your pelvis. Notice the movements going on your pelvis. One hip moves forward and then the other; one hip lifting, the other sinking.

Be aware of the complex three-dimensional shape your pelvis is carving out through space as you walk forward. The lowest part of your spine – your sacrum – is embedded in the pelvis. As you feel your spine extending upwards – the lumbar spine, the thoracic spine – you will notice how it moves along with the pelvis. Your spine is in constant motion. It’s swaying from side to side. There is a twisting motion around the central axis. Your spine is in constant, sinuous, sensuous motion.

Notice your belly – you might feel your clothing in contact with your belly – and notice how your belly is the center of your body. Very often it feels like it’s “down there” because we are so much in our heads. So seek to what extent you can feel your belly is the center of your body, as the center of your being. Notice your chest, and just let your breathing happen. Notice the contact that your chest makes with your clothing. Noticing your shoulders. Notice how they are moving with the rhythm of your walking. Let your shoulders be relaxed, and let your shoulders passively transmit the rhythm of your walk down into your arms. Having your arms simply hanging by your sides and swinging naturally. Notice all the motions in your arms – your upper arms, your elbows, your forearms, your wrists, your hands. And feel the air coursing over the skin on your hands and fingers as your arms swing through the air.

Become aware of your neck – and the muscles supporting your skull. Notice the angle of your head. And notice as you relax the muscles on the back of your neck, your chin slightly tucks in and your skull comes to a point of balance. And you might want to play around with the angle of your head and see how it changes your experience. You might notice when you tuck your chin close into your chest, your experience becomes darker and more emotional – you’re more inward turned, somber. And if you lift your chin and hold it in the air you might notice your experience becomes much lighter – you become much more aware of the outside world and perhaps caught up in the outside world, or much more aware of your thoughts and caught up in your thoughts. And then, bringing your head back to a point of balance, your chin slightly tucked in.

Relax your jaw. Relax your eyes — and just let your eyes be softly focused, gently looking ahead – not staring at anything, not allowing yourself to be caught up in anything going past you.

Becoming aware of your feelings
You can be aware of the feelings you’re having; not in terms of emotions here, but just the feeling tone. Just notice them. Don’t either cling onto them, or push them away, but just notice them. If you notice things in the outside world, just allow them to drift by – just noticing them to drift by without following them or averting your gaze from them.

Thoughts and Emotions
Notice your emotional states. Are you bored? Are you content? Are you irritated? Are you feeling very happy to be doing what you’re doing. Notice whatever emotions happen to be present. Notice your mind. Is your mind clear, or dull? Is your mind busy, or is it calm?  Notice the mind without judgment.

Stillness
Let the mind settle on an edge of stillness, calmness, and clarity – quieting the mind.

Stopping
Slowly stop walking. Experience yourself standing. Notice what it’s like to no longer be in motion. Notice once more the complex balancing act going on to keep you upright. Feeling once again, the weight traveling down through the soles of your feet into the earth; simply standing, and experiencing yourself.

Feel gods grace, gods presence in your minds eye as you complete your walking meditation.

Blessed are those who are aware of gods presence in all.

1. Sit comfortably and shake out your hands, as if you were flinging water off your fingertips. Deepen your breath slightly. When your hands feel energized, place them on your thighs, palms facing up. Take a few moments to focus on the sensations in your hands. Feel, if you can, the pulse in your fingertips.

2. As your breath deepens, see if you can activate your belly, diaphragm, rib cage, and upper chest. Breathe deep into your belly. Fill your upper chest with air at the top of the inhalation, then see how much you can relax with each exhalation.

3. Imagine a light at the core of your being. As you breathe in, let the light pulse a little brighter. When you exhale, let it pulse a little dimmer. You can even give it a temperature or assign a color to the sensations in your belly.

4. With each breath, imagine this energy filling your chest and shoulders. Feel it flow down your arms and into your palms. Notice light and warmth filling your chest cavity, your rib cage, your arms, your hands.

5. Rest your awareness in and around your hands. Feel the air touching your palms, fingers, and thumbs. Feel the outline of your hands and the space between your fingers. When you’re ready, gently lift your hands off your body just enough to release them into the air, then let them be perfectly still. Relax your shoulders, arms, and palms.

6. Then lift your hands as slowly as possible, almost imperceptibly. Feel the smallest movement in your awareness as you continue to life your hands. See how much you can slow down. Imagine the molecules of air rolling between your fingers. See if you can slow the motion down so much that your hands feel as if they’re moving by themselves.

7. When it feels right, turn your palms toward each other. As your hands come together, pulse them ever so slowly. Imagine, if you can, the edges of the energy field between your hands. You may feel as if you’re holding a ball of pulsing energy, or as if your hands were opposite poles of a magnet. Your mind is relaxed but also aware, witnessing the flow of sensation into your hands.

8. For the next few minutes, let your hands move naturally and your mind observe the smallest details of sensation. At some point, bring your hands to a place on your body that needs healing or attention.

9. In your own time, let your hands come to rest in your lap and sit for a few more minutes in silence.

Before you practice take a moment to feel your connection with the Divine and to dedicate your efforts to that all-encompassing sense of Self or Essence or God.

You can imagine the Divine as a deity or a person or nature or something as abstract as pulsating energy.

Hold your concept of the Divine in your mind’s eye and offer up all the fruits of your practice to it.

When you come into Balasana (Child’s Pose), place your hands overhead. Bring your hands together in prayer. Bend your elbows and place your praying hands on the back of your heart. Surrender to a force greater than yourself and notice the increased sense of safety and freedom you find when you do so.

When you sit for meditation or chanting or rest in Savasana (Corpse Pose), place your open hands on your chest. Breathe love into your heart and out into the world. Feel the warmth emanating from your heart center; notice how loving your true nature is. Feel an inner calm knowing that you’re connected to the Divine.

Insight Meditation

Insight Meditation (known as vipassana in the Buddhist tradition) is a simple technique which has been practiced in Asia for over 2,500 years. Beginning with the focusing of attention on the breath, the practice concentrates and calms the mind. It allows one to see through the mind’s conditioning and thereby to live more fully present in the moment. Its presentation through Spirit Rock Meditation Center is non-sectarian, although the ethics and traditions of Buddhist psychology are included for guidance

The taking of the precepts of harmlessness is the beginning of Buddhist life generally and the retreat experience particularly. This creates an atmosphere of safety in which each person can explore her/his own inner states and mental processes. The practice develops clarity of seeing which allows grasping, judgment, and fear to fall away. One discovers and cultivates qualities such as compassion, equanimity, wisdom, joy, and moral integrity.

The ultimate aim of the practice is the ending of suffering in the discovery of an unconditioned and complete freedom. Insight meditation retreats are designed for both beginning and experienced meditators. Daily dharma talks and instruction in meditation are given, and individual and group interviews are arranged with the teachers at regular intervals. A typical daily schedule starts at 5am and ends at 10pm. The entire day is spent in silent meditation practice with alternating periods of sitting and walking meditation. Meals are vegetarian and are prepared with health and nutrition in mind. Lunch is the main meal of the day, and a light tea is served in the late afternoon. The combination of this regular schedule, group support, silence, and instruction provides a beneficial environment for developing and deepening meditation practice.

The Technique

Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India’s most ancient techniques of meditation. It was rediscovered by Gotama Buddha more than 2500 years ago and was taught by him as a universal remedy for universal ills, i.e., an Art Of Living.

This non-sectarian technique aims for the total eradication of mental impurities and the resultant highest happiness of full liberation. Healing, not merely the curing of diseases, but the essential healing of human suffering, is its purpose.

Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body, and that continuously interconnect and condition the life of the mind. It is this observation-based, self-exploratory journey to the common root of mind and body that dissolves mental impurity, resulting in a balanced mind full of love and compassion.

The scientific laws that operate one’s thoughts, feelings, judgements and sensations become clear. Through direct experience, the nature of how one grows or regresses, how one produces suffering or frees oneself from suffering is understood. Life becomes characterized by increased awareness, non-delusion, self-control and peace.

The Tradition

Since the time of Buddha, Vipassana has been handed down, to the present day, by an unbroken chain of teachers. Although Indian by descent, the current teacher in this chain, Mr. S.N. Goenka, was born and raised in Burma (Myanmar). While living there he had the good fortune to learn Vipassana from his teacher, Sayagyi U Ba Khin who was at the time a high Government official. After receiving training from his teacher for fourteen years, Mr. Goenka settled in India and began teaching Vipassana in 1969. Since then he has taught tens of thousands of people of all races and all religions in both the East and West. In 1982 he began to appoint assistant teachers to help him meet the growing demand for Vipassana courses.

The Courses

The technique is taught at ten-day residential courses during which participants follow a prescribed Code of Discipline, learn the basics of the method, and practice sufficiently to experience its beneficial results.

The course requires hard, serious work. There are three steps to the training. The first step is, for the period of the course, to abstain from killing, stealing, sexual activity, speaking falsely, and intoxicants. This simple code of moral conduct serves to calm the mind, which otherwise would be too agitated to perform the task of self-observation.

The next step is to develop some mastery over the mind by learning to fix one’s attention on the natural reality of the ever changing flow of breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils.

By the fourth day the mind is calmer and more focused, better able to undertake the practice of Vipassana itself: observing sensations throughout the body, understanding their nature, and developing equanimity by learning not to react to them.

Finally, on the last full day participants learn the meditation of loving kindness or goodwill towards all, in which the purity developed during the course is shared with all beings.

The entire practice is actually a mental training. Just as we use physical exercises to improve our bodily health, Vipassana can be used to develop a healthy mind.

Because it has been found to be genuinely helpful, great emphasis is put on preserving the technique in its original, authentic form. It is not taught commercially, but instead is offered freely. No person involved in its teaching receives any material remuneration.

There are no charges for the courses – not even to cover the cost of food and accommodation. All expenses are met by donations from people who, having completed a course and experienced the benefits of Vipassana, wish to give others the opportunity to benefit from it also.

Of course, the results come gradually through continued practice. It is unrealistic to expect all problems to be solved in ten days. Within that time, however, the essentials of Vipassana can be learned so that it can be applied in daily life. The more the technique is practiced, the greater the freedom from misery, and the closer the approach to the ultimate goal of full liberation. Even ten days can provide results which are vivid and obviously beneficial in everyday life.

All sincere people are welcome to join a Vipassana course to see for themselves how the technique works and to measure the benefits. All those who try it will find Vipassana to be an invaluable tool with which to achieve and share real happiness with others.

How’s your meditation?”

“Not so good,” I replied.

“What’s not so good?”

“I’m thinking a lot.”

“And what’s the problem with thinking?” he asked.

That stumped me. When I looked directly for the problem with thinking, I couldn’t find it. My fallback position was to tell him the do’s and don’ts of meditation.

“You’re not supposed to think in meditation,” I said. “You’re supposed to quiet your mind.”

“Thinking is pretty normal, don’t you think?”

I had to agree with the Roshi, who then explained that the problem with thinking was not thinking per se, but thinking that was stuck.

When people tell me meditation is “difficult,” what they really mean is that quieting their minds or stopping their thinking is what’s difficult. And just as I was as a new student, they are extremely reluctant to examine the issue more carefully. It’s not so simple. And when it is not simple, the simplest approach is to stick to the rules.

I’ve known people who have seriously devoted themselves to “not-thinking,” and when I ask them if they called to let their friends know that they would be late, they say, “No, I didn’t think of that.” This is not a new phenomenon. An old Chinese Zen Master once said, “Some of you are taking me literally when I say, ‘Don’t think,’ and you are making your minds like a rock. This is a cause of insentiency and an obstruction to the Way. When I say not to think, I mean that if you have a thought, think nothing of it.”

Mind Against Mind
The capacity to think is an essential element of our lives. We need to plan, make decisions, and communicate. The problem is not that we think but that we haven’t had a truly new thought for most of our lifetime. In other words, our thinking is fixed.

For example, once I believe no one likes me, do you think I’m going to let anything change my mind? No way. I can explain any contradictory evidence: You don’t know me well enough; if you really knew me, you wouldn’t like me; you are just pretending to like me so you can get something out of me. Thinking tends to be for and against—and to be intolerant of thoughts that do not obviously concur. This is often referred to as “the disease of the mind is to set mind against mind.”

Rather than eliminate thinking, you could say that one of the basic skills to develop in meditation is to be able to hold and sustain contradictory thoughts—calming the impulse to eliminate the opposition. One obvious example has to do with sitting still. You want to sit still, so can you have the thought to move and go on sitting still? Or do you have to do what the thought says?

If sitting still means eliminating the thought of moving, you may find meditation difficult—because the way to remove thoughts is to tighten muscles, and this makes sitting quite painful. Holding on to a thought, such as, “I am not going to move,” also tightens muscles. This is what you are busy doing a good deal of the time, so if you are serious about releasing and calming the body and the mind, thoughts are going to be popping up one after the other. The trick is not to mind.

You could say that the point of meditation is to liberate thinking, and understanding this, you are ready to examine what to do with thinking during meditation. There are two basic strategies. One is to do something other than thinking and to use your thinking to help accomplish that. The other is to give your thinking something to do other than what it usually does.

It’s important to keep in mind that the goal is not to eliminate your thinking. I hear this all the time: “I’m so sick and tired of my thinking. I just want to get rid of it once and for all.” Your thinking knows you want to get rid of it, so it is going to cling to you for all it’s worth.

So what do you do with thinking during meditation? This first strategy, which is basic to Buddhism, especially Zen, emphasizes posture and breathing. With energy and commitment, give your attention fully to them rather than to your thinking.

This means emphasizing a straighter spine, including the small of the back curved slightly in and the neck long. But don’t be shy about asking your thinking to lend a hand when needed. Is the neck shortening and the chin jutting forward? That’s a red flag that thinking is in full bloom, and when your thinking notices that, lengthen your neck. You can also have your thinking count the breaths, say on the exhalation, or note the breath as it proceeds in and out.

Any Questions?
The second strategy involves giving your thinking a task. Good ways of doing this include koan study, the vipassana practice of noting, and any host of other creative endeavors. For instance, you could challenge your thinking with specific questions, such as, “What was your original face before your parents were born?” (Chew on that for a while.) Or you could practice taking mental notes, as appropriate: “thinking,” “judging,” “planning,” “remembering,” “anger,” “joy,” “seeing,” or “hearing.”

There is also the koan of daily life: Ask your thinking, “What is it you really want?” or “What is the most important point?” Any one of these activities can keep thinking occupied. In a sense, what you are doing is inviting your thinking to join you in meditation rather than trying to exclude it. This is similar to how you might work with a young child, explaining, “Here’s what we are doing, meditating, and I would like you to help me by observing posture, sensing the breath, or whatever it is we are focusing on.”

A third approach is to make a deal with your thinking: Leave me alone for now and I’ll check back with you later. The secret here is that you are not trying to get rid of your thinking permanently, only temporarily. This is similar to the parent-child model: “Listen sweetheart, I am really busy right now, so please don’t bother me. Could you play by yourself for awhile? And later we will play together.” You directly ask your thinking to leave you alone—to suspend judgment, gossip, and commenting so you can meditate—and agree to get together afterward to listen to what your thinking has to say.

But even with this approach, your thinking often can be very suspicious. I learned how to deal with this obstacle from a speech consultant when I had trouble expressing myself at meetings.

“Tell me what you wanted to say,” she prompted.

“I can’t.” When she wondered why not, I explained: “My thinking won’t let me. It says it won’t be good enough.”

She offered some instructions: “Ask your thinking to go into the room next door while you talk, and promise that you will check back with it when you are done.”

“It won’t go.”

“There’s a television there.”

“It doesn’t believe I’ll check back.”

“Promise.”

“It still won’t go,” I lamented.

“Close the door! Force it shut!” she insisted.

Finally, I told her what I had wanted to say at the meeting. “Now, let’s ask your thinking what it thought,” she said. My thinking was pleased and relieved to be consulted: “That was rather good,” it told me. But my speech consultant wasn’t finished. “And now let’s ask your thinking if it has any suggestions for improvement?”

My thinking was so pleased and politely responded, “You might have tried this or emphasized that a little more.”

This was a fundamental shift from the more habitual approach of simply telling my thinking to go away and not “bother” me. Here, I asked my thinking to be quiet so as to closely observe what was happening—and then tell me about it.

Always be mindful that you and your thoughts are aiming to discover engaging, creative, enjoyable ways to meditate—as well as ways to live, awaken, and benefit each other. Think of your thinking not as an adversary but as a spiritual friend.

 1. Sit in Easy Pose setting with a straight spine, legs gently crossed. Close your eyes and then open them just a little bit. Stare at the tip of your nose. Meditating here will help still a noisy mind.

 2.  Cross the forearms below the wrists, in front of the chest. Prepare to work with the mantra Sa-Ta-Na-Ma.
Saa – Infinity
Taa – Life
Naa – Transformation
Maa – Rebirth

 3.  Begin to chant, Saa – taa – naa – maa as you play the fingers by touching the thumb tip to the fingertips in the following fashion:

Saa – touch the tip of the thumbs to the index fingers
Taa – touch the tip of the thumbs to the middle fingers
Naa – touch the tip of the thumbs to the ring fingers
Maa – touch the tip of the thumbs to the pinkie fingers

 4.  Continue for 11 minutes. To end, inhale, hold, close the eyes, and become completely still. Relax. The hemispheres will balance; a new sense of peace will ensue.

Easy Pose

In a comfortable sitting pose, begin breathing peacefully, softly, deeply. Begin to gaze inwardly at each vital point as we pause between breaths.

1. Big toe
2. Other big toe
3. Ankle
4. Other ankle
5. Mid-calve
6. Other mid-calve
7. Knee
8. Other knee
9. Mid-thigh
10. Other mid-thigh
11.  Root (perineum  - between the genitals and anus)
12.  Sacral (lower back)
13.  Mid-Section (stomach, liver, intestines, other)
14.  Navel
15.  Heart Center
16.  Throat Center
17.  Tongue Center
18.  Nose Tip
19.  Eye
20.  Other Eye
21.  Between Eyebrows
22.  Forehead
23.  Crown of the head

To finish our Wind Meditation, let’s find complete softness by gently laying on our back, releasing all energy, letting out thoughts of past and future, letting in the present, simply being here. Release, Let go, Rejoice, Breath.

Meditation is running into reality. It does not insulate you from the pain of life. It allows you to delve so deeply into life and all its aspects that you pierce the pain barrier and go beyond suffering.

Don’t forget to bring the good experiences of meditation into your daily activities. Instead of acting and reacting impulsively and following your thoughts and feelings here and there, watch your mind carefully, be aware, and try to deal skillfully with problems as they arise. If you can do this each day, your meditation will have been successful.

1. Tune in by finding Seal Pose by placing your palms together at your heart and chanting “I bow to the teacher within myself’”. Chant for about 1 Minute.
2. Move gently into Hero Pose.
3. Stretch your arms above your head. Hold them straight up with your arms hugging your ears, no bend in the elbows.
4. Interlace your fingers and extend your index fingers upward.
5. Close your eyes and roll them up to the brow point.
6. Inhale to begin, expanding your belly.
7. Chant “Truth” powerfully on exhale, pulling your navel toward your spine.
8. Chant “Awareness” on or before the inhale, expanding the belly again.
9. Keep chanting powerfully, “Truth” on the exhale, “Awareness” on or before the inhale, creating a rhythm of squeeze, release, squeeze, release.
10. Continue for three, 11, or 31 minutes.
11. To finish: Inhale deeply and squeeze the navel back. Exhale and keep squeezing. Repeat once more. Then inhale and relax.
12. Gently find Resting Pose for at least as much time as you spent on the exercise.
13. Sit up and chant “the essence of God is within me” three times to conclude your practice.

The purpose of training the mind to be still is to simplify things. When things are simplified, the mind can settle down and rest. And when the mind has rested, it’ll gradually become bright, in and of itself, and give rise to knowledge. But if we let things get complicated – if we let the mind get mixed up with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas – darkness. Knowledge won’t have a chance to arise.

Find a quite place to rest the mind and body where being externally interrupted is unlikely. I like the outdoors, in a mountain meadow, next to a river, or at the beach. At home is fine too. It is possible to find the quite and rest internally, even if externally it is noisy and busy, like an airport.

Sit, relax, calm the body, quite the mind. Be present. Here – Now. Let thoughts of past and future flow out. Let the here and now flow in. Breath.

Observe the Breath. Tell yourself, “Now I’m going to breathe in. Now I’m going to breathe out.” You’re the one doing the breathing. You’re not letting the breath come in and out as it naturally would. If you can keep this in mind each time you breathe, you’ll soon be able to observe your breath.

Keep awareness inside your body. In keeping your awareness inside your body, don’t try to imprison it there. In other words, don’t try to force the mind into a trance, don’t try to force the breath or hold it to the point where you feel uncomfortable or confined. You have to let the mind have its freedom. Simply keep watch over it to make sure that it stays separate from its thoughts. If you try to force the breath and pin the mind down, your body is going to feel restricted and you won’t feel at ease in your work. You’ll start hurting here and aching there, and your legs may fall asleep. So just let the mind be its natural self, keeping watch to make sure that it doesn’t slip out after external thoughts.

Let go of perceptions and concepts. When we keep the mind from slipping out after its concepts, and concepts from slipping into the mind, it’s like closing our windows and doors to keep dogs, cats, and thieves from slipping into our house. What this means is we close off our sense doors and don’t pay any attention to the sights coming in by way of the eyes, the sounds coming in by way of the ears, the smells coming in by way of the nose, the tastes coming in by way of the tongue, the tactile sensations coming in by way of the body, and the preoccupations coming in by way of the mind. We have to cut off all the perceptions and concepts – good or bad, old or new.

Cutting off concepts like this doesn’t mean we stop thinking. It simply means we bring our thinking inside to put it to good use by observing and evaluating the theme of our meditation. If we put our mind to work in this way, we won’t be doing any harm to oneself or to our mind. Actually, our mind tends to be working all the time, but the work it gets involved in is usually a lot of nonsense, a lot of fuss and bother without any real substance. So we have to find work of real value for it to do – something to not harm it, something really worth doing. This is why we’re doing breath meditation, focusing on our breathing, focusing on our mind. Put aside all your other work and be intent on doing just this and nothing else. This is the attitude you need when you meditate.

Let go of hindrances. Hindrances come from our concepts of past and future. They’re of no use. Clear your mind of its preoccupation with concepts. The five Hindrances – sensual desire, ill will, unconsciousness resembling deep sleep, restlessness, and uncertainty. Restlessness makes us distracted, unsettled, and anxious all at the same time.

When we focus our thoughts on breathing, the body will be healthy and strong, the mind relaxed and wide open, free from Hindrances.
Keep the breath steadily in mind and let all hindrances flow away.

When you bring the mind to the breath, you’ll feel a sense of rapture and refreshment. The four bases of attainment the desire to practice, persistence in the practice, intentness, and circumspection in your practice – will develop step by step. They’re a form of power that supports our strength and our progress to higher levels.

Letting Go
When you sit and meditate, even if you don’t gain any intuitive insights, make sure at least that you know this much: When the breath comes in, you know. When it goes out, you know. When it’s long, you know. When it’s short, you know. Whether it’s comfortable or uncomfortable, you know. If you can know this much, you’re doing fine. As for the various thoughts and concepts in the mind, let them go – whether they’re good or bad, whether they deal with the past or the future. Don’t let them interfere with what you’re doing – and don’t go chasing after them to straighten them out. When a thought of this sort comes passing in, simply let it go passing on. Keep your awareness, unperturbed, in the present.

Keep one principle firmly in mind, stay right on the path: Whatever appears, good or bad, true or false, don’t let yourself feel pleased, don’t let yourself get upset. Keep the mind balanced and neutral, and discernment will arise. You’ll see the vision or sign displays the truth of stress: it arises (is born), fades (ages), and disappears (dies).

When intuitive knowledge does arise, it can, if you know how to use it, lead to liberating insight. But if you let yourself get carried away by knowledge of the past or future, you won’t get beyond the mundane level. In other words, if you dabble too much in knowledge of physical things, without gaining wisdom with regard to the workings of the mind, it can leave you spiritually immature.

By meditating, we will gain discernment into physical and mental phenomena. Once we have the truth as our wealth, we won’t suffer if we have money, and won’t suffer if we don’t, for our minds will be transcendent. The various forms of greed, anger, and delusion obscuring our senses will all fall away. Our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body will be entirely clean, clear, and bright. Our mind, far distant from all forms of trouble and suffering, will stay in the current flowing on to Liberation.

The path in harmony – meditation practice – the mind peaceful and firm

Begin meditation by sitting confortably. Close the eyes, direct your attention to the mind. When we close our eyes, our attention comes inwards. We establish our attention on the breath, center our feelings there, and put our mindfulness there. When the factors of the path are in harmony, we will be able to see the breath, the feeling, the mind and its moods for what they are. Here we will see the ‘focus point’, where samadhi and the other factors of the Path converge in harmony.

When we are sitting in meditation, following the breath, you are sitting alone. There is no one sitting around you, there is nothing at all. Develop this feeling that you are sitting alone until the mind lets go of all externals, concentrating solely on the breath. If you are thinking, “This person is sitting over there, that person is sitting over there” there is no peace, the mind doesn’t come inwards. Feel there is no one sitting around you, until there is nothing at all, until you have no wavering or interest in your surroundings.

Let the breath go natural, don’t force it to be short or long or whatever, just sit and watch it going in and out. When the mind lets go of all external impressions, sounds will not disturb you. Nothing, whether sights or sounds, will disturb you because the mind doesn’t receive them. Your attention will come together on the breath.

If the mind is confused and won’t concentrate on the breath, take a full, deep breath, as deep as you can, and then let it all out until there is none left. Do this three times and then re-establish your attention. The mind will become calm.

It’s natural for it to be calm for a while, and then restlessness and confusion may arise again. When this happens, concentrate breath deeply again, and then re-establish your attention on the breath. Just keep going like this. When this has happened many times you will become adept at it, the mind will let go of all external manifestations. External impressions will not reach the mind. Sati will be firmly established. As the mind becomes more refine, so does the breath. Feelings will become finer and finer, the body and mind will be light. Our attention is solely on the inner, we see the in-breaths and out-breaths clearly. We see all impressions clearly. We will see the coming together of Morality, Concentration and Wisdom. This is called the Path in harmony. When there is this harmony, our mind will be free of confusion. It will come together as one. This is called samadhi.

After watching the breath for along time, it may become very refined; the awareness of the breath will gradually cease, leaving only bare awareness. The breath may become so refined it disappears! Perhaps we are ‘just sitting’, but it seems as if there’s none. This is because the mind has reached its most refined state, there is just bare awareness. It has gone beyond the breath. The knowledge that the breath has disappeared becomes established. What will we take as our object of meditation now? We take just this knowledge as our object, that is, the awareness that there’s no breath.

Unexpected things may happen at this time; some people experience them, some don’t. If they do arise, we should be firm and have strong mindfulness. Some people see that the breath has disappeared and get a fright, they’re afraid they might die. Here we should know the situation just as it is. We simple notice that there’s no breath and take that as our object of awareness. This we can say, is the firmest, surest type of samadhi. There is only one firm, unmoving state of mind. Perhaps the body will become so light it’s as if there is no body at all. We feel like we’re sitting in empty space; it all seems empty. Although this may seem very unusual, you should understand that there’s nothing to worry about. Firmly establish your mind like this.

When the mind is firmly unified, having no sense impressions to disturb it, one can remain in that state for any length of time. There will be no painful feelings to disturb us. When samadhi has reached this level, we can leave it when we choose, but if we come out of this samadhi we do so comfortably, not because we’ve become bored with it or tired. We come out because we’ve enough for now, we feel at ease. We have no problems at all.

If we can develop this type of samadhi, then if we sit, thirty minutes or an hour, the mind will be cool and calm for many days. When the mind is cool and calm like this, it is clean. Whatever we experience, the mind will take up and investigate. This is a fruit of samadhi.

Morality has one function, concentration has another function and wisdom and another. These factors are like a cycle. We can see them all within the peaceful mind. When the mind is calm, it has collectives and restraint because of wisdom and the energy of concentration. As it becomes more collected it becomes more refined, which in turn gives morality the strength to increase in purity. As our morality becomes purer, this will help in the development of concentration. When concentration is firmly established, it helps in the arising of wisdom.

Morality, concentration and wisdom help each other. They are inter-related like this. In the end the Path becomes one and functions at all times. We should look after the strength which arises from the path, because it is the strength which leads to Insight and Wisdom.

Samadhi is capable of bringing much benefits to the mediator. For one who has wisdom, it can bring a real benefit. It can lead him to Insight.

Samadhi brings great peace. Where there is peace, there is happiness. When there is happiness, attachment and clinging to that happiness arise. The mediator does not want to contemplate anything else, he just wants to indulge in that pleasant feeling. When we have been practicing for a long time, we may become adept at entering this samadhi very quickly. As soon as we start to note our meditation object, the mind enters calm. We do not want to come out to investigate anything.
We just get stuck on that happiness. This is a danger to one who is practicing meditation.

We must use Upacara Samdhi. Here, we enter calm and then, when the mind is sufficiently calm, we come out and look at outer activity.* Looking the outside with a calm mind gives rise to wisdom. This is may be difficult to understand because it’s almost like ordinary thinking and imagining. When thinking is there, we may think the mine isn’t peaceful, but actually that thinking is taking place within the calm. There is contemplation but it doesn’t disturb the calm. We may bring thinking up in order to contemplate it. Here we take up the thinking to investigate it. It’s something we are aimlessly thinking or guessing away; it’s something that arises from a peaceful mind. This is called ‘awareness within calm and calm within awareness’. It it’s simply ordinary thinking and imagining, the mind won’t be peaceful, and it will be disturbed. But I am not talking about ordinary thinking, this is a feeling that arises from the peaceful mind. It’s called contemplation.

Wisdom is born right here.

So, there can be right samadhi and wrong samadhi. Wrong samadhi is where the mind enters calm and there’s no awareness at all. One could sit for two hours or even all day but the mind doesn’t know where it’s been or what’s happened. It doesn’t know anything. There is calm, but that’s all. It’s like a well-sharpened knife which we don’t bother to put to any use. This is a deluded type of calm because there is not much self-awareness. The mediator may think he has reached the ultimate already, so he doesn’t bother to look for anything else. Samadhi can be an enemy at this level. Wisdom cannot arise because there is no awareness of right and wrong.

With right samadhi, no matter what level of calm is reached, there is awareness. This is full mindfulness and clear comprehension. This is the samadhi which can give rise to wisdom, one cannot get lost in it. Fractioned should understand this well. You can’t do without this awareness, it must be present from beginning to end. This kind of samadhi has no danger.

You may wonder where does the benefits arise, how does the wisdom arise from samadhi? When right samadhi has been developed, wisdom has the chance to arise at all times. When the eye sees form, the ear hears sound, the nose smells odor, the tongue experiences tastes, the body experiences touch or the mind experience mental impressions-in all postures – the mind stays with full knowledge of the true nature of those sense impressions. It doesn’t follow them. When the mind has wisdom, it doesn’t ‘pick and choose.’ In any posture, we are fully aware of the birth of happiness and unhappiness. We let go of both of these things, we don’t cling. This is called Right Practice, which is present in all postures. These words, ‘all postures’ do not refer only to bodily postures, they refer to the mind, which has mindfulness and clear comprehension of the truth at all times. When samadhi has been rightly developed, wisdom arises like this. This is called ‘insight’, knowledge of the truth.

There are two kinds of peace – the course and the refined. The peace which comes from samadhi is the coarse type. When the mind is peaceful, there is happiness. The mind then takes this happiness to be peace. But happiness and unhappiness are becoming and birth. There is no escape from samadhi* here because we still cling to them. So happiness is not peace, peace is not happiness.

The other type of peace is that which comes from wisdom. Here we don’t confuse peace with happiness. We know the mind which contemplated and knows happiness and unhappiness as peace. The peace which sees the truth of both happiness and unhappiness. Clinging to those states does not arise, the mind rises above them. This is the true goal of all Buddhist practice.

The middle way within

The teaching of Buddhism is about giving up evil and practicing good. Then, when evil is given up and goodness is established, we must let go of both good and evil. We have already heard enough about wholesome and unwholesome conditions to understand some thing about them, so I would like to talk about the Middle Way, that is, the path to escape from both of those things.

All the Dhamma talks and teachings of the Buddha have one aim – to show the way out of suffering to those who have not yet escaped. The teachings are for the purpose of giving us the right understanding. If we don’t understand rightly, then we can’t arrive at peace.

When the various Buddhas became enlightened and gave their first teaching, they all declared these two extremes – indulgence in pleasure and indulgence in pain. These two ways of infatuation, they are the ways between which those who indulge in sense pleasures must fluctuate, never arriving at peace. They are the paths which spin around in samsara.

The Enlightened One observed that all beings are stuck in these two extremes, never seeing the Middle Way of Dhamma, so he pointed them out in order to show the penalty involved in both. Because we are still stuck, because we are still wanting, we live repeatedly under theirs way. The Buddha declared that these two ways are the ways of intoxicating.

They are not the ways of a mediator, not the ways to peace. These ways are indulgence in pleasure and indulgence in pain, or to put it simply, the way of slackness and the way of tension. If you investigate within, moment by moment, you will see that the tense way is anger, the way of sorrow. Going this way there is only difficulty and distress.

Indulgence in Pleasure – if you’ve escaped from this, it means you’ve escaped from happiness. These ways, both happiness and unhappiness, are not peaceful states. The Buddha taught to let go of both of them. This is right practice. This is the Middle Way.

These words ‘the Middle Way’ does not refer to our body and speech, they refer to the mind. When a mental impression which we don’t like arises, if affects the mind and there is confusion. When the mind is confused, when its ’shaken up’, this is not the right way. When a mental impression arises which we like, the mind goes to indulgence in pleasure.
That is not the way either.

We people don’t want suffering. We want happiness. But in fact happiness is just a refined form of suffering. Suffering itself is the coarse form. You can compare them to a snake. The head of the snake is unhappiness, the tail of the snake is happiness. The head of the snake in really dangerous, it has the poisonous fangs. If you touch it, the snake will bite straight away. But never mind the head, even if you go and hold onto the tail, if will turn around and bite you just the same, because both the head and the tail belong to the one snake.

In the same way, both happiness and unhappiness, or pleasure and sadness, arise from the same parent ‘wanting’. So when you’re happy, the mind is not peaceful. It really isn’t! For instance, when we get the things we like, such as wealth, prestige, praise or happiness, we become pleased as a result. But the minds still harbor some uneasiness because we’re afraid of losing it. That very fear isn’t a peaceful state. Later on we may actually lose that thing and then we really suffer. Thus, if you are not aware, even if you’re happy, suffering is imminent. It’s just the same as grabbing the snake’s tail. If you don’t let go, it will bite. So whether it’s the snake’s tail or its head, that is, wholesome or unwholesome conditions, they’re all just characteristics of the Wheel of Existence, of endless change.

The Buddha established morality, concentration and wisdom as the path to peace, the way to enlightenment. But in truth, these things are not the essence of Buddhism. They are merely the path. The Buddha called them ‘Magga”, which means ‘path’. The essence of Buddhism is peace, and that peace arises from truly knowing the nature of all things. If we investigate closely, we can see that peace is neither happiness nor unhappiness. Neither of these is the truth.

The human mind, the mind which the Buddha exhorted us to know and investigate, is something we can only know by its activity. The true ‘original mind’ has nothing to measure it by, there’s nothing you can know it by. In its natural state, it is unshaken, unmoving. When happiness arises, all that happens is that this mind is getting lost in mental impression, there is movement. When the mind moves like this, clinging and attachment to those things come into being.

The Buddha has already laid down the path of practice full, but we have not yet practiced, or if we have, we’ve practiced only in speech. Our minds and our speech are not yet in harmony, we just indulge in empty talk. But the basis of Buddhism is not something that can be talked about or guessed at. The real basis of Buddhism is full knowledge of the truth of reality. If one knows this truth then no teaching is necessary. If one doesn’t know, even if he listens to the teaching, he doesn’t really hear. This is why the Buddha said, “The Enlightened One only points the way”. He can’t do the practice for you; because the truth is something you cannot put into words or give away.

All the teachings are merely similes and comparisons, means to help the mind see the truth. If we haven’t seen the truth, we must suffer. For example, we commonly say, ’sankharas’ when referring to the body. Anybody can say it, but in fact we have problems simply because we don’t know the truth of these sankharas and thus cling to them. Because we don’t know the truth of the body, we suffer.

Here is an example, suppose a man yells and insults you. You may not feel good, you may feel angry and hurt, you may feel vindictive, you may want to get even. In the moment, you have not taken the time to understand. You are in fact ignorant. When you take the time to understand, you recognize the yelling and insults are not from you, you then may feel sad for the other person because this person practices anger, fear, ignorance. You then wish them peace. Life moves on.

As soon as you find out the truth, everything changes.

Knowledge of the reality, understanding, awareness, brings peace and harmony.

Meditation creates a moment to align thought energy with reality.