At some time, every meditator encounters distractions
during practice, and methods are needed to deal with them. Some elegant stratagems have
been devised to get you back on the track more quickly than trying to push your way
through by sheer force of will. Concentration and mindfulness go hand-in-hand. Each one
complements the other. If either one is weak, the other will eventually be affected. Bad
days are usually characterized by poor concentration. Your mind just keeps floating
around. You need some method of reestablishing your concentration, even in the face of
mental adversity. Luckily, you have it. In fact you can take your choice from a
traditional array of practical maneuvers.
Maneuver 1
Time Gauging
This first technique has been covered in an earlier
chapter. A distraction has pulled you away from the breath, and you suddenly realize that
you've been day-dreaming. The trick is to pull all the way out of whatever has captured
you, to break its hold on you completely so you can go back to the breath with full
attention. You do this by gauging the length of time that you were distracted. This is not
a precise calculation. you don't need a precise figure, just a rough estimate. You can
figure it in minutes, or by idea significance. Just say to yourself, "Okay, I have
been distracted for about two minutes" or "Since the dog started barking"
or "Since I started thinking about money." When you first start practicing this
technique, you will do it by talking to yourself inside your head. Once the habit is well
established, you can drop that, and the action becomes wordless and very quick. The whole
idea, remember, is to pull out of the distraction and get back to the breath. You pull out
of the thought by making it the object of inspection just long enough to glean from it a
rough approximation of its duration. The interval itself is not important. Once you are
free of the distraction, drop the whole thing and go back to the breath. Do not get hung
up in the estimate.
Maneuver 2
Deep Breaths
When your mind is wild and agitated, you can often
re-establish mindfulness with a few quick deep breaths. Pull the air in strongly and let
it out the same way. This increases the sensation inside the nostrils and makes it easier
to focus. Make a strong act of will and apply some force to your attention. Concentration
can be forced into growth, remember, so you will probably find your full attention
settling nicely back on the breath.
Maneuver 3
Counting
Counting the breaths as they pass is a highly traditional
procedure. Some schools of practice teach this activity as their primary tactic. Vipassana
uses it as an auxiliary technique for re-establishing mindfulness and for strengthening
concentration. As we discussed in Chapter 5, you can count breaths in a number of
different ways. Remember to keep your attention on the breath. You will probably notice a
change after you have done your counting. The breath slows down, or it becomes very light
and refined. This is a physiological signal that concentration has become
well-established. At this point, the breath is usually so light or so fast and gentle that
you can't clearly distinguish the inhalation from the exhalation. They seem to blend into
each other. You can then count both of them as a single cycle. Continue your counting
process, but only up to a count of five, covering the same five-breath sequence, then
start over. When counting becomes a bother, go on to the next step. Drop the numbers and
forget about the concepts of inhalation and exhalation. Just dive right in to the pure
sensation of breathing. Inhalation blends into exhalation. One breath blends into the next
in a never ending cycle of pure, smooth flow.
Maneuver 4
The In-Out Method
This is an alternative to counting, and it functions in
much the manner. Just direct your attention to the breath and mentally tag each cycle with
the words "Inhalation...exhalation" or 'In...out". Continue the process
until you no longer need these concepts, and then throw them away.
Maneuver 5
Canceling One Thought With Another
Some thoughts just won't go away. We humans are
obsessional beings. It's one of our biggest problems. We tend to lock onto things like
sexual fantasies and worries and ambitions. We feed those though complexes over the years
of time and give them plenty of exercise by playing with them in every spare moment. Then
when we sit down to meditate, we order them to go away and leave us alone. It is scarcely
surprising that they don't obey. Persistent thoughts like these require a direct approach,
a full- scale frontal attack.
Buddhist psychology has developed a distinct system of
classification. Rather than dividing thoughts into classes like 'good' or 'bad', Buddhist
thinkers prefer to regard them as 'skillful' versus 'unskillful'. An unskillful thought is
on connected with greed, hatred, or delusion. These are the thoughts that the mind most
easily builds into obsessions. They are unskillful in the sense that they lead you away
from the goal of Liberation. Skillful thoughts, on the other hand, are those connected
with generosity, compassion, and wisdom. They are skillful in the sense that they may be
used as specific remedies for unskillful thoughts, and thus can assist you toward
Liberation.
You cannot condition Liberation. It is not a state built
out of thoughts. Nor can you condition the personal qualities which Liberation produces.
Thoughts of benevolence can produce a semblance of benevolence, but it's not the real
item. It will break down under pressure. Thoughts of compassion produce only superficial
compassion. Therefore, these skillful thoughts will not, in themselves, free you from the
trap. They are skillful only if applied as antidotes to the poison of unskillful thoughts.
Thoughts of generosity can temporarily cancel greed. They kick it under the rug long
enough for mindfulness to do its work unhindered. Then, when mindfulness has penetrated to
the roots of the ego process, greed evaporates and true generosity arises.
This principle can be used on a day to day basis in your
own meditation. If a particular sort of obsession is troubling you, you can cancel it out
by generating its opposite. Here is an example: If you absolutely hate Charlie, and his
scowling face keeps popping into your mind, try directing a stream of love and
friendliness toward Charlie. You probably will get rid of the immediate mental image. Then
you can get on with the job of meditation.
Sometimes this tactic alone doesn't work. The obsession is
simply too strong. In this case you've got to weaken its hold on you somewhat before you
can successfully balance it out. Here is where guilt, one of man's most misbegotten
emotions, finally becomes of some use. Take a good strong look at the emotional response
you are trying to get rid of. Actually ponder it. See how it makes you feel. Look at what
it is doing to your life, your happiness, your health, and your relationships. Try to see
how it makes you appear to others. Look at the way it is hindering your progress toward
Liberation. The Pali scriptures urge you to do this very thoroughly indeed. They advise
you to work up the same sense of disgust and humiliation that you would feel if you were
forced to walk around with the carcass of a dead and decaying animal tied around your
neck. Real loathing is what you are after. This step may end the problem all by itself. If
it doesn't, then balance out the lingering remainder of the obsession by once again
generating its opposite emotion.
Thoughts of greed cover everything connected with desire,
from outright avarice for material gain, all the way down to a subtle need to be respected
as a moral person. Thoughts of hatred run the gamut from petty peevishness to murderous
rage. Delusion covers everything from daydreaming through actual hallucinations.
Generosity cancels greed. Benevolence and compassion cancel hatred. You can find a
specific antidote for any troubling thought if you just think about it a while.
Maneuver 6
Recalling Your Purpose
There are times when things pop into your mind, apparently
at random. Words, phrases, or whole sentences jump up out of the unconscious for no
discernible reason. Objects appear. Pictures flash on and off. This is an unsettling
experience. Your mind feels like a flag flapping in a stiff wind. It washes back and forth
like waves in the ocean. At times like this it is often enough just to remember why you
are there. You can say to yourself, "I'm not sitting here just to waste my time with
these thoughts. I'm here to focus my mind on the breath, which is universal and common to
all living beings". Sometimes your mind will settle down, even before you complete
this recitation. Other times you may have to repeat it several times before you refocus on
the breath.
These techniques can be used singly, or in combinations.
Properly employed, they constitute quite an effective arsenal for your battle against the
monkey mind.