How can we best utilize the beauty and spaciousness of Nature
to access the deeper beauty and spaciousness of
spiritual liberation ?
to access the deeper beauty and spaciousness of
spiritual liberation ?
Meditation for
Spiritual Enlightenment.
Spiritual Practice part C.
What meditation do I recommend to help us move towards spiritual enlightenment, and make it real for us?
In essence, we need to train the mind and tame the heart. Train ourselves so we can readily –
This is easier said than done. The habit of wandering in saṁsāra is an age-old habit, and it simply will not go away by wishful thinking nor by will power. This training requires diligent persistence over time, properly guided by what we find works best for us in this situation. So what tactics and techniques can help us in this difficult meditation training?
Traditionally, people went to the forest for extended meditation training. This was especially easy in India, for the tropical monsoon climate made camping out in the forest easy, with no need for a building or much clothing. They even had a long standing tradition of forest meditation, and the villagers would support this training, and give donations of a little food to these mendicants.
The sights and sounds of the forest are actually the best meditation objects, especially wind song. But the vast forests have now been largely destroyed, what remains is rarely suitable for meditation, and far to far away from most people’s homes to permit daily meditation practice in them. Some other other option for meditation practise is now needed, for the modern age. Why not use the technology we now have, at least to get the meditation training started?
I expect that most people come to mantra-translate from their internet searches for the hidden meaning of Kirtan songs. Especially songs by professional Kirtan musicians like Krishna Das and Sacred Earth. Or people come here to discover more about key Sanskrit or Pali words that are central to the philosophy, such as nirvāṇa, ātman, anattā. And Kirtan is a celebration of this sacred language in song.
So Kirtan is probably the best starting point in training for Buddha’s Enlightenment, for most readers of mantra-translate. And I suggest that you begin with recorded Kirtan music, by these professional Kirtan artists. Then you can also be doing music meditation, one of my favourites.
Please study my webpage “Music Meditation”. It is high on the menu of this website. Let me briefly summarise it here –
Lesson 1. Music Meditation.
Lesson 2. Participate in Kirtan.
This lesson needs some preliminary work. We need to know what each word means in the mantra. Within the context of the philosophy. So please study carefully my discussion about the mantra. Practise singing the song until you know the meaning of each word.
Kirtan lyrics can be a succinct poetry conveying some theme of Dharma, that we can apply in daily life. Reminding us of important Principles.
Kirtan is participatory. People have been singing these sacred songs for thousands of years, in devotional setting, and we can connect with this powerful energy when we join in. So please sing along to the professional Kirtan recording you have bought (or found on youtube).
When we can sing along to the songs, then we can participate far more in the meditation. As a meditation, we focus on the sound of the words, and how it really feels to properly articulate them. Knowing the hidden meaning of the mantra will give the Kirtan song far more power.
Singing along to the professional Kirtan recording will make the mantra strong in us. We can also sing these songs during the day, without the music playing.
This prepares us for the next lesson no. 3.
Lesson 3. Moving from Music to Silence.
This requires a resolution, to progress from music listening to more advanced techniques.
Your next session might be more study of the Dharma, on another page of this website. It might be related to the mantra you have just practised, or might not.
Or you can repeat this lesson number 2. As many times as you need before progressing to lesson 4.
Lesson 4. Meditation Without Relying on Music.
In essence, we need to train the mind and tame the heart. Train ourselves so we can readily –
- Cease wandering heedlessly in unhelpful and unnecessary thought, that inevitably strays down dark paths where suffering lurks in ambush (saṁsāra),
- Let go of the rubbish, and come back to something wholesome, healing and stabilizing, and
- Fill our Being with enjoyment, appreciation, inspiration, clarity, good will, etc.
This is easier said than done. The habit of wandering in saṁsāra is an age-old habit, and it simply will not go away by wishful thinking nor by will power. This training requires diligent persistence over time, properly guided by what we find works best for us in this situation. So what tactics and techniques can help us in this difficult meditation training?
Traditionally, people went to the forest for extended meditation training. This was especially easy in India, for the tropical monsoon climate made camping out in the forest easy, with no need for a building or much clothing. They even had a long standing tradition of forest meditation, and the villagers would support this training, and give donations of a little food to these mendicants.
The sights and sounds of the forest are actually the best meditation objects, especially wind song. But the vast forests have now been largely destroyed, what remains is rarely suitable for meditation, and far to far away from most people’s homes to permit daily meditation practice in them. Some other other option for meditation practise is now needed, for the modern age. Why not use the technology we now have, at least to get the meditation training started?
I expect that most people come to mantra-translate from their internet searches for the hidden meaning of Kirtan songs. Especially songs by professional Kirtan musicians like Krishna Das and Sacred Earth. Or people come here to discover more about key Sanskrit or Pali words that are central to the philosophy, such as nirvāṇa, ātman, anattā. And Kirtan is a celebration of this sacred language in song.
So Kirtan is probably the best starting point in training for Buddha’s Enlightenment, for most readers of mantra-translate. And I suggest that you begin with recorded Kirtan music, by these professional Kirtan artists. Then you can also be doing music meditation, one of my favourites.
Please study my webpage “Music Meditation”. It is high on the menu of this website. Let me briefly summarise it here –
Lesson 1. Music Meditation.
- Put all our attention onto the music.
- Look for the beauty in the music
- to draw mind deeply into meditation
- and so access full benefit.
Lesson 2. Participate in Kirtan.
This lesson needs some preliminary work. We need to know what each word means in the mantra. Within the context of the philosophy. So please study carefully my discussion about the mantra. Practise singing the song until you know the meaning of each word.
Kirtan lyrics can be a succinct poetry conveying some theme of Dharma, that we can apply in daily life. Reminding us of important Principles.
Kirtan is participatory. People have been singing these sacred songs for thousands of years, in devotional setting, and we can connect with this powerful energy when we join in. So please sing along to the professional Kirtan recording you have bought (or found on youtube).
When we can sing along to the songs, then we can participate far more in the meditation. As a meditation, we focus on the sound of the words, and how it really feels to properly articulate them. Knowing the hidden meaning of the mantra will give the Kirtan song far more power.
Singing along to the professional Kirtan recording will make the mantra strong in us. We can also sing these songs during the day, without the music playing.
This prepares us for the next lesson no. 3.
Lesson 3. Moving from Music to Silence.
This requires a resolution, to progress from music listening to more advanced techniques.
- Play your Kirtan recording as before, and sing along to it.
- When the song ends, switch off music, and allow the mind to find quiet without the music. Use the focus created by the music meditation to enjoy inner quiet of the Silent Mind.
- When thoughts return, gently let go, and return to quiet.
- When thoughts become more persistent, recite the mantra without the music on, to maintain focus and stability of mind.
- Focus on the meaning of each mantra word, reciting slowly. Perhaps only use part of the song.
- Maintain this for your chosen period of time, or longer if possible.
Your next session might be more study of the Dharma, on another page of this website. It might be related to the mantra you have just practised, or might not.
Or you can repeat this lesson number 2. As many times as you need before progressing to lesson 4.
Lesson 4. Meditation Without Relying on Music.
- Set yourself up for your meditation. In a place secluded from distractions, such as loud disruptive sounds, intelligible conversation. This might need prior negotiation with other members of your household.
- Set a period of time for your session, as a goal, with or without using a time piece. (Do NOT use your phone for a time piece!) Set your determination to (try to) reach this goal, in both quality and quantity of time.
- Set up your meditation posture – be seated with comfort and stability. This usually needs some prior preparation for floor sitting. (More detail below …)
- Close your eyes. Consciously relax body and mind.
- Scan your body for any tension, especially in the shoulders. Relax these parts.
- Put all your attention on touch at seat, feet. Gently supporting. Grounding attention, returning to our body. Give mind a rest.
- As thoughts come, gently let go of these, and return to touch at feet, seat, hands, moving from one to the other.
- As mind stabilises, bring to mind a mantra you have practised. Perhaps chosen before the session starts. Or you can allow one arise by itself.
- Recite the mantra, out aloud with quiet voice, or mentally within, or both. Recite unhurriedly, and focus on the meaning of each word, as you recite.
- You may need to shorten mantras, and just choose a few words.
- When the mind drifts away, gently return your attention. Perhaps to the mantra. Or ground your attention with touch at feet, seat and hands.
- Reaffirm your determination, and hold to your purpose in meditation
- Exit when the time elapses. Or when you can no longer continue.
- If you are pushed out of the meditation early, try to avoid self criticism. Value whatever peace you managed to achieve in your session.
- Reset your determination to try again soon. Perhaps same time, same place, next day.
Breath Meditation
Breath meditation is an important beginners’ practice, and I needed several years of practicing it daily to get established in meditation training.
Posture of Body.
Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed, away from any intelligible conversation of others, and sit comfortably upright. For most people new to meditation, this usually means a straight backed chair.
Now chairs are a modern Western invention, and Westerners are very dependent on them. As a result, most Westerners cannot be comfortable sitting on the floor, especially older people. The adductor muscles on the inside of the upper leg are artificially shortened. They will not stretch properly, and the knees will not drop naturally towards the floor or ground. This pushes the lower spine backwards, placing unnatural strain on the lower back muscles, and we simply cannot relax on the floor or ground.
Yet ground sitting is the natural posture of meditation, people have been doing it for thousands of years, and there is a vast pool of collected wisdom that associates sitting cross-legged on the ground with meditative peace and healing. When we can sit comfortably on the floor or ground, then we can connect with this age old energy.
For most Westerners, floor sitting usually needs much practice, especially if we have neglected it until late in life. We certainly need a cushion that will elevate us by at least 6 centimeters. All cushions bought in normal shops are intended for padding, not elevation. Yoga supplies are probably our only source of specialized cushions for elevation. You will probably have to improvise or be creative.
We can practice with our back to the wall, and stretch our legs out when it becomes uncomfortable.
When we are flexible enough to start ground sitting in Nature, we need sloping ground, not too steep nor too shallow. In two ways -
In flat areas, we will need to dig and shape a seat for ourselves using a stick or rock.
The ground also needs to be reasonably free of sharp rocks. To allow us sit comfortable in many more natural places, we can carry a mat in our back pack for padding. I have done this regularly for 30 years.
What do the scriptures say about ground sitting, for meditation?
Our posture (āsana) is traditionally describes as being with stability (sthiraṃ) and with comfort (sukaṃ), with upright (ujuṃ) body (kāyaṃ). This means sitting cross-legged (pallaṅkaṃ) with legs bent (ābhujitvā). But we also need to go to a secluded place (suññā-gāragato). suññā literally means ‘empty of distraction, empty of disruptive noise.’
Meditation Technique.
Then we need to make the mind comfortable too. Just relax, let go of busy-ness. Then check your body for any tension, especially in the shoulders and face. Just let go. Only the back needs to work to keep us upright, all else can relax. Allow any deep breaths to come easily.
Then, when you are ready, shift all your attention to touch sensation, at feet seat, hands; where ever it is prominent. Just touch. No need to think right now. Thinking can wait until later.
Focussing on sensation, and freeing your mind from thought. This is sensing not thinking. Occupy all your attention on sensation, focus on it exclusively.
When thought comes, gently but firmly let go of thought, as soon as you can. And gently return to touch.
Then, when you are ready, shift all your attention onto the touch of the breath. Just that quiet, gentle sensation as the breath of life (pāna or prāna) moves in and out. At the nostrils, abdomen, wherever you can feel it. The touch of the breath. Stay with the breath, and befriend it. It keeps you alive.
No need to think about the breath. Thinking, all thinking can wait until later.
When thought comes, gently but firmly let go of thought, as soon as you can. And gently return to touch. Follow the breath in, all the way from start, middle and end of the in breath. A short pause. Then follow the breath out, all the way from start, middle and end of the out breath. Then note the quiet pause between out breath and in breath. Just be at ease in this pause.
Soon you can add counting to breath meditation. In the pause between out breath and in breath, just count “one”. Next breath count “two”. And so on, until thinking starts up again.
When you return to the breath, return to one, and start counting again.
If you ever get to ten, just start again at one.
Soon you can add noting and naming thoughts. When we realise that our mind has strayed yet again, we first note that thinking has returned. Then we quickly choose the best label or name for the thought.
These labels need to be short but accurate. “Talk with Peter”, or “driving to work”, or “planning the garden” or whatever. We need to develop the skill to label quickly but accurately, yet not create anxiety worrying about what the best label might be.
It is like the school teacher, who needs to keep a crowd of youngsters focussed on their lesson. The unruly ones are immediately recognised, named and called to attention, before they can disrupt the class for themselves and everyone else.
Combined with the other techniques, noting and naming each thought (or last stage of the thought train) will help develop some objectivity towards the thought. Slowly but surely, daily training will teach us that we might not have to think that thought. Perhaps we could just return to and stay with the breath instead. Maybe the thought was not so important after all.
Gradually, stage by stage, we train the mind to move away from following the thought trains that take off in the mind. Eventually, the gaps between thought trains gradually lengthen, until the silence lasts longer than the thought train. Focus on these gaps, and value them. Prolong them, as much as you can. They are the key to your liberation from compulsive thinking.
With commitment to daily training, thought trains will eventually shrink to individual thoughts. Peace is finally restored, and becomes stable, reliable and strong. Noise becomes minimised.
When your mind becomes still like this, no longer wandering from the breath, and staying with it, you can then move onto the next technique.
Now shift your attention from breath to the stillness and peace that comes from breath meditation. Focus on the quiet, and enjoy it. Value it. Allow happiness and contentment to arise, focus on these beautiful Qualities, strengthen them, cultivate them. In the here and Now.
Thus we can cultivate the spiritual Qualities in the Silent mind. This is a great opportunity for cultivating these Qualities, and gives them a strong foundation to our lives.
All this can happen if we can commit to daily practice.
Posture of Body.
Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed, away from any intelligible conversation of others, and sit comfortably upright. For most people new to meditation, this usually means a straight backed chair.
Now chairs are a modern Western invention, and Westerners are very dependent on them. As a result, most Westerners cannot be comfortable sitting on the floor, especially older people. The adductor muscles on the inside of the upper leg are artificially shortened. They will not stretch properly, and the knees will not drop naturally towards the floor or ground. This pushes the lower spine backwards, placing unnatural strain on the lower back muscles, and we simply cannot relax on the floor or ground.
Yet ground sitting is the natural posture of meditation, people have been doing it for thousands of years, and there is a vast pool of collected wisdom that associates sitting cross-legged on the ground with meditative peace and healing. When we can sit comfortably on the floor or ground, then we can connect with this age old energy.
For most Westerners, floor sitting usually needs much practice, especially if we have neglected it until late in life. We certainly need a cushion that will elevate us by at least 6 centimeters. All cushions bought in normal shops are intended for padding, not elevation. Yoga supplies are probably our only source of specialized cushions for elevation. You will probably have to improvise or be creative.
We can practice with our back to the wall, and stretch our legs out when it becomes uncomfortable.
When we are flexible enough to start ground sitting in Nature, we need sloping ground, not too steep nor too shallow. In two ways -
- The ground that we are actually sitting on needs to be slightly sloping, sufficient to tip the hips forward which naturally pushes the lower back forward with no unnecessary strain on the lower back muscles. And
- The feet must be below the seat.
In flat areas, we will need to dig and shape a seat for ourselves using a stick or rock.
The ground also needs to be reasonably free of sharp rocks. To allow us sit comfortable in many more natural places, we can carry a mat in our back pack for padding. I have done this regularly for 30 years.
What do the scriptures say about ground sitting, for meditation?
Our posture (āsana) is traditionally describes as being with stability (sthiraṃ) and with comfort (sukaṃ), with upright (ujuṃ) body (kāyaṃ). This means sitting cross-legged (pallaṅkaṃ) with legs bent (ābhujitvā). But we also need to go to a secluded place (suññā-gāragato). suññā literally means ‘empty of distraction, empty of disruptive noise.’
Meditation Technique.
Then we need to make the mind comfortable too. Just relax, let go of busy-ness. Then check your body for any tension, especially in the shoulders and face. Just let go. Only the back needs to work to keep us upright, all else can relax. Allow any deep breaths to come easily.
Then, when you are ready, shift all your attention to touch sensation, at feet seat, hands; where ever it is prominent. Just touch. No need to think right now. Thinking can wait until later.
Focussing on sensation, and freeing your mind from thought. This is sensing not thinking. Occupy all your attention on sensation, focus on it exclusively.
When thought comes, gently but firmly let go of thought, as soon as you can. And gently return to touch.
Then, when you are ready, shift all your attention onto the touch of the breath. Just that quiet, gentle sensation as the breath of life (pāna or prāna) moves in and out. At the nostrils, abdomen, wherever you can feel it. The touch of the breath. Stay with the breath, and befriend it. It keeps you alive.
No need to think about the breath. Thinking, all thinking can wait until later.
When thought comes, gently but firmly let go of thought, as soon as you can. And gently return to touch. Follow the breath in, all the way from start, middle and end of the in breath. A short pause. Then follow the breath out, all the way from start, middle and end of the out breath. Then note the quiet pause between out breath and in breath. Just be at ease in this pause.
Soon you can add counting to breath meditation. In the pause between out breath and in breath, just count “one”. Next breath count “two”. And so on, until thinking starts up again.
When you return to the breath, return to one, and start counting again.
If you ever get to ten, just start again at one.
Soon you can add noting and naming thoughts. When we realise that our mind has strayed yet again, we first note that thinking has returned. Then we quickly choose the best label or name for the thought.
These labels need to be short but accurate. “Talk with Peter”, or “driving to work”, or “planning the garden” or whatever. We need to develop the skill to label quickly but accurately, yet not create anxiety worrying about what the best label might be.
It is like the school teacher, who needs to keep a crowd of youngsters focussed on their lesson. The unruly ones are immediately recognised, named and called to attention, before they can disrupt the class for themselves and everyone else.
Combined with the other techniques, noting and naming each thought (or last stage of the thought train) will help develop some objectivity towards the thought. Slowly but surely, daily training will teach us that we might not have to think that thought. Perhaps we could just return to and stay with the breath instead. Maybe the thought was not so important after all.
Gradually, stage by stage, we train the mind to move away from following the thought trains that take off in the mind. Eventually, the gaps between thought trains gradually lengthen, until the silence lasts longer than the thought train. Focus on these gaps, and value them. Prolong them, as much as you can. They are the key to your liberation from compulsive thinking.
With commitment to daily training, thought trains will eventually shrink to individual thoughts. Peace is finally restored, and becomes stable, reliable and strong. Noise becomes minimised.
When your mind becomes still like this, no longer wandering from the breath, and staying with it, you can then move onto the next technique.
Now shift your attention from breath to the stillness and peace that comes from breath meditation. Focus on the quiet, and enjoy it. Value it. Allow happiness and contentment to arise, focus on these beautiful Qualities, strengthen them, cultivate them. In the here and Now.
Thus we can cultivate the spiritual Qualities in the Silent mind. This is a great opportunity for cultivating these Qualities, and gives them a strong foundation to our lives.
All this can happen if we can commit to daily practice.
Commitment to Regular Training.
It is easy to read and write about commitment to daily meditation training. But it is likely to remain no more than something in Mike’s article, unless it receives the support it needs.
I was able to sustain my daily training until it became a life’s commitment, because I learned meditation at a long established meditation center. I attended there several times a week for a year or two at a time.
There was something about Dhammika, and then other teachers that followed him, that inspired me.
If you have no such established center to attend regularly, something else is needed instead to support meditation practise. For the Path to spiritual enlightenment is the Path of training the mind. A training to recognise the unwholesome, let go of it, keep letting go, until it dissolves, dissipates and ceases to trouble. Then training to avoid the unwholesome in future.
We also need to train the mind to be conscious of the wholesome, and know how to build and strengthen it. Know how to practice and value the wholesome, and finally know how to protect it from self sabotage. Such spiritual practice is something to maintain and value over the years, as part of our daily life and the values of our lives.
Let us make the meditation training attractive. Let us recognise what is attractive about meditation, and make that our objective. It is the peace, the contentment, the enjoyment, the appreciation, the good will, the clarity and wisdom, the healing of meditation that makes it attractive. For these important spiritual Qualities have an inherent value of their own, that transcends mere personal likes and dislikes. These bodhyaṇga are the Factors of Enlightenment, and they are inherently attractive, beautiful, valuable and important. We need to look for these Qualities, whenever they arise in our meditation, and put our priority on them. This is the foundation of regular diligent training that we can sustain over the years of our lives.
In my 8 session Course in meditation, I talk about filling the mind with the meditation object, returning to it and staying with it, letting go of distractions, and making an effort to do so. Let us fill the mind with these beautiful spiritual Qualities, return to them, stay with them, and make effort to do so.
Beyond Sitting with the Breath or Mantra.
In addition, meditation need not be limited to breath and or mantra meditation while sitting. So let’s look at other meditation objects and techniques.
Many of these are not normally done as a meditation. When we make them into a meditation, we are actually making a fundamental shift in our daily lives, and transforming daily activities into valuable practices for our spiritual Liberation.
Other Meditations.
Music. If you like to listen to recorded music like me, then the sound of the music becomes your meditation object. Music appreciation will become (one nof) your meditations. In this, give the music your full attention, and try to follow every note. Pay particular attention to the subtle nuances of the musician like tone, vibrato, accent, crescendo and diminuendo, and pause that distinguish a good performance from an uninteresting one. This is not using it as background sound.
Walking or Running. This is important for exercise and your daily health. It also can be another meditation for you. Pay especial attention to the movement of your body, and try to make your movement as fluid and smooth as you can. Such fluidity depends on many factors focus, but if it’s there then focus on it – this will strengthen it. Focus also on the touch with the earth, felt thru the soles of your feet. Again, give it undivided attention.
On-the-Spot Meditation.
Opportunities can be found in daily activities to suddenly let go of the stored up tension and relax. In this, we stop what we are doing, consciously relax, and put our attention on something that will help us relax and let go. Something green and growing is a good one, or some other part of Nature like clouds in the sky.
We might need to go outside, or get up and stretch, or down tools and look around us.
When driving, the pause at the red light is also an excellent opportunity for a brief meditation – a pause in the busy ness of your life. As soon as you have brought the vehicle to rest, put all your attention on your breath or contact with the seat. This will immediately make you aware of the tension in your being, an inevitable part of driving in traffic.
It is not appropriate at this time to try to give sensation undivided attention. Instead, your meditation is to let go of your tension, and allow your being to relax, for this very short 30 seconds.
Driving Meditation. This is a favourite of mine. It’s suitable for easy rural driving in flat countryside, where the roads are fairly straight, wide and smooth, with little traffic
Put all your attention on the road ahead, that small piece of tarmac about 3 seconds away. Cultivate relaxed and focussed attention, with hands properly positioned. Stay alert.
This is where safety and meditation come together.
Familiar Daily Tasks. Washing and cleaning, and putting things away can also be opportunity for meditation, when you are more experienced. Focus on the familiar movements, your use of the cleaning brush or cloth or broom. Focus on your movements as you pick things up, carry them to their storing place, and put them away. Try not to rush to the end.
Nature Meditation. Your recreation in Nature can also be another opportunity for your daily meditation. At the beach, the Botanic Gardens, on forest walks. Here, your meditation object is the sights and sounds of Nature, of colour and form, whether the sea and sand, or trees and shrubs, flowers, sky and clouds. This can also be combined with walking meditation.
Flower Meditation. The flower is Nature’s attractant, and She uses colour and form to attract pollinating insects. So the flower is an ideal meditation object, for it is intended to attract and hold our attention. I carry magnifying spectacles during the flower season, on my forest walks. Look for the beauty of the flower, for this is used to attract fertilisation. This can be a symbol for us, encouraging us to give best presentation to our created works, so that something beneficial may grow out of it. Something large from some small beginning, perhaps a small fleeting experience. The fleeting nature of the flower can also symbolise the fleeting nature of all life. Life is too short to waste any time in negativity and pain.
Flame Meditation. This is the meditation for night time, for the candle or oil lamp were the traditional forms of lighting at night. It creates bright and dark parts of the room for atmosphere. Allow your attention to rest upon this bright spot in the room, and be close enough to see the natural movement of the flame. And move your attention elsewhere too.
Silent Sitting Meditation. This requires dedicated time in addition to all the other activities of our lives, but the dedication is worthwhile. Shut your eyes, allow the tension to drain out of you, let go of thoughts, be at peace. This is your rejuvenation time. Try the touch sensation of breath, and of contact with the floor and seat. These are your anchor points, to protect your consciousness from being drawn back into the flood of normal busy-ness.
Affirmations. These are simple statements aimed at our present need. They can start with the expression “May I ….” or “May we …” This can be seen as “asking permission” from a guardian spirit or angel. But this English word ‘may’ also mean possibility. It recognises our wish, hope and therefore need. It also recognises that this might not be fully met in the way we initially expected. But the word ‘may’ is an affirmation or aspiration of the wholesome. It expresses succinctly all that we will do to achieve our purpose.
‘May I enjoy ….’ ‘May I appreciate …’ ‘May I slow down.’ ‘May we come to agreement.’ ‘May I achieve my Goal.’
The affirmation or aspiration is not pretending that obstacles do not exist, nor does it wish for the impossible. It is something to repeat, mantra wise, as often as needed. Something to return to, stay with, practice and protect from self sabotage.
Creative Visualisations. This is a popular meditation technique often taught these days. This uses the imagination of the mind, to visualise scenery, or a cave, or flower, or traditional image of a Deity, or any other image. The teachers I knew would talk almost continuously, describing in words the images we were supposed to imagine. It was like being taken on a guided tour.
The mental image we create is our meditation object. When practised with no teacher to talk you thru it, the strength of the meditation depends on the fertility of your imagination. I have never practised creative visualisation, for my imagination is not keen like that. I cannot advise you further.
The mental image we create is our meditation object. When practised with no teacher to talk you thru it, the strength of the meditation depends on the fertility of your imagination. I have never practised creative visualisation, for my imagination is not keen like that. I cannot advise you further.
Going Deeper into Meditation.
When your mind has become still from your meditation, then you can try moving deeper into meditation. The deeper the meditation, the more healing it is. I have used deep meditation techniques at meal times for years to support my digestion, which is becoming slower and less robust as my body ages. I find it excellent to prevent indigestion, and avoid all the health issues that arise from incomplete and inadequate digestion. I have an old friend who uses it to reduce his blood pressure, which can become dangerously high for him even when he is sedentary.
To go deeply into meditation, I use affirmations like a mantra. I generally use the same one, with patience and diligence. There is no need to rush to the end of this (English) mantra, for the benefit comes from pausing at each word, and pausing between each word.
These pauses help support the stillness we have already re-established. It also allows the meaning of each word to sink in. Or rather, the pauses give the mind sufficient time to remember the meaning and significance of each word. And make use of the meaning. To restore that beautiful, healing and beneficial stillness and quietude of the Silent Mind.
If we analyse each word, we can gain some insight into what fuels agitation in the mind, and all the problems that arise from agitation. It’s quite simple -
“Look … why don’t … we … just … release … ”
Look … This helps draw our attention to something other than busy-ness, and the urge to stay busy. Something healing and transcendent.
why don’t ... This is a suggestion. It is not an impatient command playing power games. In fact, quite the opposite … just a gentle suggestion.
we … This recognises that there are many parts of our self. There is one part that wants to keep busy in thinking. There is another part of us that is crying out for some rest and peace, that craves the beautiful healing quiet of the Silent Mind. Using the word “we” instead of “I” helps us to strike a compromise, and avoid inner conflict that will banish any possibility of approaching deeper meditation.
Let’s rest now, and leave busy-ness to later.
just … This recognises how simple it is to restore inner quiet and return to it. Just let go … No need to be involved right now. It’s time to “step back” and be the Observer from a distance, instead of being the do-er.
release … Using “release” instead of the more conventional “relax” recognises the real hindrance to deeper meditation. It’s not really busy-ness, but rather our attachment to our business. Our inability to let go, and allow it to pass out of our mind. There is some kind of clinging and grasping going on at a deep level, usually hidden from our attention. In a sense, there is a “sticky-ness” to worldly activity.
This is not intended as something to believe in, and somehow prove you are a “real Buddhist.” Rather, when we experience real inner quiet, then we have opportunity to identify and recognise this attachment. For as long as we are caught up in perpetual busy-ness and compulsive thinking, so long will we be unable to “see” this attachment.