- Mindfulness in Plain English
- Ven. Henepola Gunaratana
- Chapter 5
- The Practice
Although there are many subjects of meditation, we
strongly recommend you start with focusing your total undivided attention on your
breathing to gain some degree of shallow concentration. Remember that you are not
practicing a deep absorption or pure concentration technique. You are practicing
mindfulness for which you need only a certain degree of shallow concentration. You want to
cultivate mindfulness culminating in insight and wisdom to realize the truth as it is. You
want to know the working of your body-mind complex exactly as it is. You want to get rid
of all psychological annoyance to make your life really peaceful and happy.
The mind cannot be purified without seeing things as they
really are. "Seeing things as they really are" is such a heavily loaded and
ambiguous phrase. Many beginning meditators wonder what we mean, for anyone who has clear
eye sight can see objects as they are.
When we use this phrase in reference to insight gained
from our meditation, what we mean is not seeing things superficially with our regular
eyes, but seeing things with wisdom as they are in themselves. Seeing with wisdom means
seeing things within the framework of our body/mind complex without prejudices or biases
springing from our greed, hatred and delusion. Ordinarily when we watch the working of our
mind/body complex, we tend to hide or ignore things which are not pleasant to us and to
hold onto things which are pleasant. This is because our minds are generally influenced by
our desires, resentment and delusion. Our ego, self or opinions get in our way and color
our judgment.
When we mindfully watch our bodily sensations, we should
not confuse them with mental formations, for bodily sensations can arise without anything
to do with the mind. For instance, we sit comfortably. After a while, there can arise some
uncomfortable feeling on our back or in our legs. Our mind immediately experiences that
discomfort and forms numerous thoughts around the feeling. At that point, without trying
to confuse the feeling with the mental formations, we should isolate the feeling as
feeling and watch it mindfully. Feeling is one of the seven universal mental factors. The
other six are contact, perception, mental formations, concentration, life force, and
awareness.
At another time, we may have a certain emotion such as,
resentment, fear, or lust. Then we should watch the emotion exactly as it is without
trying to confuse it with anything else. When we bundle our form, feeling, perceptions,
mental formations and consciousness up into one and try to watch all of them as feeling,
we get confused, as we will not be able to see the source of feeling. If we simply dwell
upon the feeling alone, ignoring other mental factors, our realization of truth becomes
very difficult. We want to gain the insight into the experience of impermanence to over
come our resentment; our deeper knowledge of unhappiness overcomes our greed which causes
our unhappiness; our realization of selflessness overcomes ignorance arising from the
notion of self. We should see the mind and body separately first. Having comprehended them
separately, we should see their essential interconnectedness. As our insight becomes
sharp, we become more and more aware of the fact that all the aggregates are cooperating
to work together. None can exist without the other. We can see the real meaning of the
famous metaphor of the blind man who has a healthy body to walk and the disabled person
who has very good eyes to see. Neither of them alone can do much for himself. But when the
disabled person climbs on the shoulders of the blind man, together they can travel and
achieve their goals easily. Similarly, the body alone can do nothing for itself. It is
like a log unable to move or do anything by itself except to become a subject of
impermanence, decay and death. The mind itself can do nothing without the support of the
body. When we mindfully watch both body and mind, we can see how many wonderful things
they do together.
As long as we are sitting in one place we may gain some
degree of mindfulness. Going to a retreat and spending several days or several months
watching our feelings, perceptions, countless thoughts and various states of consciousness
may make us eventually calm and peaceful. Normally we do not have that much time to spend
in one place meditating all the time. Therefore, we should find a way to apply our
mindfulness to our daily life in order for us to be able to handle daily unforeseeable
eventualities. What we face every day is unpredictable. Things happen due to multiple
causes and conditions, as we are living in a conditional and impermanent world.
Mindfulness is our emergency kit, readily available at our service at any time. When we
face a situation where we feel indignation, if we mindfully investigate our own mind, we
will discover bitter truths in ourselves. That is we are selfish; we are egocentric; we
are attached to our ego; we hold on to our opinions; we think we are right and everybody
else is wrong; we are prejudices; we are biased; and at the bottom of all of this, we do
not really love ourselves. This discovery, though bitter, is a most rewarding experience.
And in the long run, this discovery delivers us from deeply rooted psychological and
spiritual suffering.
Mindfulness practice is the practice of one hundred
percent honesty with ourselves. When we watch our own mind and body, we notice certain
things that are unpleasant to realize. As we do not like them, we try to reject them. What
are the things we do not like? We do not like to detach ourselves from loved ones or to
live with unloved ones. We include not only people, places and material things into our
likes and dislikes, but opinions, ideas, beliefs and decisions as well. We do not like
what naturally happens to us. We do not like, for instance, growing old, becoming sick,
becoming weak or showing our age, for we have a great desire to preserve our appearance.
We do not like someone pointing out our faults, for we take great pride in ourselves. We
do not like someone to be wiser than we are, for we are deluded about ourselves. These are
but a few examples of our personal experience of greed, hatred and ignorance.
When greed, hatred and ignorance reveal themselves in our
daily lives, we use our mindfulness to track them down and comprehend their roots. The
root of each of these mental states in within ourselves. If we do not, for instance, have
the root of hatred, nobody can make us angry, for it is the root of our anger that reacts
to somebody's actions or words or behavior. If we are mindful, we will diligently use our
wisdom to look into our own mind. If we do not have hatred in us we will not be concerned
when someone points out our shortcomings. Rather, we will be thankful to the person who
draws our attention to our faults. We have to be extremely wise and mindful to thank the
person who explicates our faults so we will be able to tread the upward path toward
improving ourselves. We all have blind spots. The other person is our mirror for us to see
our faults with wisdom. We should consider the person who shows our shortcomings as one
who excavates a hidden treasure in us that we were unaware of. It is by knowing the
existence of our deficiencies that we can improve ourselves. Improving ourselves is the
unswerving path to the perfection which is our goal in life. Only by overcoming weaknesses
can we cultivate noble qualities hidden deep down in our subconscious mind. Before we try
to surmount our defects, we should what they are.
If we are sick, we must find out the cause of our
sickness. Only then can we get treatment. If we pretend that we do not have sickness even
though we are suffering, we will never get treatment. Similarly, if we think that we don't
have these faults, we will never clear our spiritual path. If we are blind to our own
flaws, we need someone to point them out to us. When they point out our faults, we should
be grateful to them like the Venerable Sariputta, who said: "Even if a seven-year-old
novice monk points out my mistakes, I will accept them with utmost respect for him."
Ven. Sariputta was an Arahant who was one hundred percent mindful and had no fault in him.
But since he did not have any pride, he was able to maintain this position. Although we
are not Arahants, we should determine to emulate his example, for our goal in life also is
to attain what he attained.
Of course the person pointing out our mistakes himself may
not be totally free from defects, but he can see our problems as we can see his faults,
which he does not notice until we point them out to him.
Both pointing out shortcomings and responding to them
should be done mindfully. If someone becomes unmindful in indicating faults and uses
unkind and harsh language, he might do more harm than good to himself as well as to the
person whose shortcomings he points out. One who speaks with resentment cannot be mindful
and is unable to express himself clearly. One who feels hurt while listening to harsh
language may lose his mindfulness and not hear what the other person is really saying. We
should speak mindfully and listen mindfully to be benefitted by talking and listening.
When we listen and talk mindfully, our minds are free from greed, selfishness, hatred and
delusion.
Our Goal
As meditators, we all must have a goal, for if we do not
have a goal, we will simply be groping in the dark blindly following somebody's
instructions on meditation. There must certainly be a goal for whatever we do consciously
and willingly. It is not the Vipassana meditator's goal to become enlightened before other
people or to have more power or to make more profit than others, for mindfulness
meditators are not in competition with each other.
Our goal is to reach the perfection of all the noble and
wholesome qualities latent in our subconscious mind. This goal has five elements to it:
Purification of mind, overcoming sorrow and lamentation, overcoming pain and grief,
treading the right path leading to attainment of eternal peace, and attaining happiness by
following that path. Keeping this fivefold goal in mind, we can advance with hope and
confidence to reach the goal.
Practice
Once you sit, do not change the position again until the
end of the time you determined at the beginning. Suppose you change your original position
because it is uncomfortable, and assume another position. What happens after a while is
that the new position becomes uncomfortable. Then you want another and after a while, it
too becomes uncomfortable. So you may go on shifting, moving, changing one position to
another the whole time you are on your mediation cushion and you may not gain a deep and
meaningful level of concentration. Therefore, do not change your original position, no
matter how painful it is.
To avoid changing your position, determine at the
beginning of meditation how long you are going to meditate. If you have never meditated
before, sit motionless not longer than twenty minutes. As you repeat your practice, you
can increase your sitting time. The length of sitting depends on how much time you have
for sitting meditation practice and how long you can sit without excruciating pain.
We should not have a time schedule to attain the goal, for
our attainment depends on how we progress in our practice based on our understanding and
development of our spiritual faculties. We must work diligently and mindfully towards the
goal without setting any particular time schedule to reach it. When we are ready, we get
there. All we have to do is to prepare ourselves for that attainment.
After sitting motionless, close your eyes. Our mind is
analogous to a cup of muddy water. The longer you keep a cup of muddy water still, the
more mud settles down and the water will be seen clearly. Similarly, if you keep quiet
without moving you body, focusing your entire undivided attention on the subject of your
meditation, your mind settles down and begins to experience the bliss of meditation.
To prepare for this attainment, we should keep our mind in
the present moment. The present moment is changing so fast that the casual observer does
not seem to notice its existence at all. Every moment is a moment of events and no moment
passes by without noticing events taking place in that moment. Therefore, the moment we
try to pay bare attention to is the present moment. Our mind goes through a series of
events like a series of pictures passing through a projector. Some of these pictures are
coming from our past experiences and others are our imaginations of things that we plan to
do in the future.
The mind can never be focused without a mental object.
Therefore we must give our mind an object which is readily available every present moment.
What is present every moment is our breath. The mind does not have to make a great effort
to find the breath, for every moment the breath is flowing in and out through our
nostrils. As our practice of insight meditation is taking place every waking moment, our
mind finds it very easy to focus itself on the breath, for it is more conspicuous and
constant than any other object.
After sitting in the manner explained earlier and having
shared your loving-kindness with everybody, take three deep breaths. After taking three
deep breaths, breathe normally, letting your breath flow in and out freely, effortlessly
and begin focusing your attention on the rims of your nostrils. Simply notice the feeling
of breath going in and out. When one inhalation is complete and before exhaling begins,
there is a brief pause. Notice it and notice the beginning of exhaling. When the
exhalation is complete, there is another brief pause before inhaling begins. Notice this
brief pause, too. This means that there are two brief pauses of breath--one at the end of
inhaling, and the other at the end of exhaling. The two pauses occur in such a brief
moment you may not be aware of their occurrence. But when you are mindful, you can notice
them.
Do not verbalize or conceptualize anything. Simply notice
the in-coming and out-going breath without saying, "I breathe in", or "I
breathe out." When you focus your attention on the breath ignore any thought, memory,
sound, smell, taste, etc., and focus your attention exclusively on the breath, nothing
else.
At the beginning, both the inhalations and exhalations are
short because the body and mind are not calm and relaxed. Notice the feeling of that short
inhaling and short exhaling as they occur without saying "short inhaling" or
"short exhaling". As you remain noticing the felling of short inhaling and short
exhaling, your body and mind become relatively calm. Then your breath becomes long. Notice
the feeling of that long breath as it is without saying "Long breath". Then
notice the entire breathing process from the beginning to the end. Subsequently the breath
becomes subtle, and the mind and body become calmer than before. Notice this calm and
peaceful feeling of your breathing.
What To Do When the Mind Wanders
Away?
In spite of your concerted effort to keep the mind on your
breathing, the mind may wander away. It may go to past experiences and suddenly you may
find yourself remembering places you've visited, people you met, friends not seen for a
long time, a book you read long ago, the taste of food you ate yesterday, and so on. As
soon as you notice that you mind is no longer on your breath, mindfully bring it back to
it and anchor it there. However, in a few moments you may be caught up again thinking how
to pay your bills, to make a telephone call to you friend, write a letter to someone, do
your laundry, buy your groceries, go to a party, plan your next vacation, and so forth. As
soon as you notice that your mind is not on your subject, bring it back mindfully.
Following are some suggestions to help you gain the concentration necessary for the
practice of mindfulness.
1. Counting
In a situation like this, counting may help. The purpose
of counting is simply to focus the mind on the breath. Once you mind is focused on the
breath, give up counting. This is a device for gaining concentration. There are numerous
ways of counting. Any counting should be done mentally. Do not make any sound when you
count. Following are some of the ways of counting.
a) While breathing in count "one, one, one,
one..." until the lungs are full of fresh air. While breathing out count "two,
two, two, two..." until the lungs are empty of fresh air. Then while breathing in
again count "three, three, three, three..." until the lungs are full again and
while breathing out count again "four, four, four, four..." until the lungs are
empty of fresh air. Count up to ten and repeat as many times as necessary to keep the mind
focused on the breath.
b) The second method of counting is counting rapidly up to
ten. While counting "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and
ten" breathe in and again while counting "one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine and ten" breathe out. This means in one inhaling you should count
up to ten and in one exhaling you should count up to ten. Repeat this way of counting as
many times as necessary to focus the mind on the breath.
c) The third method of counting is to counting secession
up to ten. At this time count "one, two, three, four, five" (only up to five)
while inhaling and then count "one, two, three, four, five, six" (up to six)
while exhaling. Again count "one, two, three, four fire, six seven" (only up to
seven) while inhaling. Then count "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight" while exhaling. Count up to nine while inhaling and count up to ten while
exhaling. Repeat this way of counting as many times as necessary to focus the mind on the
breath.
d) The fourth method is to take a long breath. When the
lungs are full, mentally count "one" and breath out completely until the lungs
are empty of fresh air. Then count mentally "two". Take a long breath again and
count "three" and breath completely out as before. When the lungs are empty of
fresh air, count mentally "four". Count your breath in this manner up to ten.
Then count backward from ten to one. Count again from one to ten and then ten to one.
e) The fifth method is to join inhaling and exhaling. When
the lungs are empty of fresh air, count mentally "one". This time you should
count both inhalation and exhalation as one. Again inhale, exhale, and mentally count
"two". This way of counting should be done only up to five and repeated from
five to one. Repeat this method until you breathing becomes refined and quiet.
Remember that you are not supposed to continue your
counting all the time. As soon as your mind is locked at the nostrils-tip where the
inhaling breath and exhaling breath touch and begin to feel that you breathing is so
refined and quiet that you cannot notice inhalation and exhalation separately, you should
give up counting. Counting is used only to train the mind to concentrate on one point.
2. Connecting
After inhaling do not wait to notice the brief pause
before exhaling but connect the inhaling and exhaling, so you can notice both inhaling and
exhaling as one continuous breath.
3. Fixing
After joining inhaling and exhaling, fix your mind on the
point where you feel you inhaling and exhaling breath touching. Inhale and exhale as on
single breath moving in and out touching or rubbing the rims of your nostrils.
4. Focus you mind like a carpenter
A carpenter draws a straight line on a board and that he
wants to cut. Then he cuts the board with his handsaw along the straight line he drew. He
does not look at the teeth of his saw as they move in and out of the board. Rather he
focuses his entire attention on the line he drew so he can cut the board straight.
Similarly keep your mind straight on the point where you feel the breath at the rims of
your nostrils.
5. Make you mind like a gate-keeper
A gate-keeper does not take into account any detail of the
people entering a house. All he does is notice people entering the house and leaving the
house through the gate. Similarly, when you concentrate you should not take into account
any detail of your experiences. Simply notice the feeling of your inhaling and exhaling
breath as it goes in and out right at the rims of your nostrils.
As you continue your practice you mind and body becomes so
light that you may feel as if you are floating in the air or on water. You may even feel
that your body is springing up into the sky. When the grossness of your in-and-out
breathing has ceased, subtle in-and-out breathing arises. This very subtle breath is your
objective focus of the mind. This is the sign of concentration. This first appearance of a
sign-object will be replaced by more and more subtle sign-object. This subtlety of the
sign can be compared to the sound of a bell. When a bell is struck with a big iron rod,
you hear a gross sound at first. As the sound faces away, the sound becomes very subtle.
Similarly the in-and-out breath appears at first as a gross sign. As you keep paying bare
attention to it, this sign becomes very subtle. But the consciousness remains totally
focused on the rims of the nostrils. Other meditation objects become clearer and clearer,
as the sign develops. But the breath becomes subtler and subtler as the sign develops.
Because of this subtlety, you may not notice the presence of your breath. Don't get
disappointed thinking that you lost your breath or that nothing is happening to your
meditation practice. Don't worry. Be mindful and determined to bring your feeling of
breath back to the rims of your nostrils. This is the time you should practice more
vigorously, balancing your energy, faith, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom.
Farmer's simile
Suppose there is a farmer who uses buffaloes for plowing
his rice field. As he is tired in the middle of the day, he unfastens his buffaloes and
takes a rest under the cool shade of a tree. When he wakes up, he does not find his
animals. He does not worry, but simply walks to the water place where all the animals
gather for drinking in the hot mid-day and he finds his buffaloes there. Without any
problem he brings them back and ties them to the yoke again and starts plowing his field.
Similarly as you continue this exercise, your breath
becomes so subtle and refined that you might not be able to notice the feeling of breath
at all. When this happens, do not worry. It has not disappeared. It is still where it was
before-right at the nostril-tips. Take a few quick breaths and you will notice the feeling
of breathing again. Continue to pay bare attention to the feeling of the touch of breath
at the rims of your nostrils.
As you keep your mind focused on the rims of your
nostrils, you will be able to notice the sign of the development of meditation. You will
feel the pleasant sensation of sign. Different meditators feel this differently. It will
be like a star, or a peg made of heartwood, or a long string, or a wreath of flowers, or a
puff of smoke, or a cob-web, or a film of cloud, or a lotus flower, or the disc of the
moon or the disc of the sun.
Earlier in your practice you had inhaling and exhaling as
objects of meditation. Now you have the sign as the third object of meditation. When you
focus your mind on this third object, your mind reaches a stage of concentration
sufficient for your practice of insight meditation. This sign is strongly present at the
rims of the nostrils. Master it and gain full control of it so that whenever you want, it
should be available. Unite the mind with this sign which is available in the present
moment and let the mind flow with every succeeding moment. As you pay bare attention to
it, you will see the sign itself is changing every moment. Keep your mind with the
changing moments. Also notice that your mind can be concentrated only on the present
moment. This unity of the mind with the present moment is called momentary
concentration. As moments are incessantly passing away one after another, the mind
keeps pace with them. Changing with them, appearing and disappearing with them without
clinging to any of them. If we try to stop the mind at one moment, we end up in
frustration because the mind cannot be held fast. It must keep up with what is happening
in the new moment. As the present moment can be found any moment, every waking moment can
be made a concentrated moment.
To unite the mind with the present moment, we must find
something happening in that moment. However, you cannot focus your mind on every changing
moment without a certain degree of concentration to keep pace with the moment. Once you
gain this degree of concentration, you can use it for focusing your attention on anything
you experience--the rising and falling of your abdomen, the rising and falling of the
chest area, the rising and falling of any feeling, or the rising and falling of your
breath or thoughts and so on.
To make any progress in insight meditation you need this
kind of momentary concentration. That is all you need for the insight meditation practice
because everything in your experience lives only for one moment. When you focus this
concentrated state of mind on the changes taking place in your mind and body, you will
notice that your breath is the physical part and the feeling of breath, consciousness of
the feeling and the consciousness of the sign are the mental parts. As you notice them you
can notice that they are changing all the time. You may have various types of sensations,
other than the feeling of breathing, taking place in your body. Watch them all over your
body. Don't try to create any feeling which is not naturally present in any part of your
body. When thought arises notice it, too. All you should notice in all these occurrences
is the impermanent, unsatisfactory and selfless nature of all your experiences whether
mental or physical.
As your mindfulness develops, your resentment for the
change, your dislike for the unpleasant experiences, your greet for the pleasant
experiences and the notion of self hood will be replaced by the deeper insight of
impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and selflessness. This knowledge of reality in your
experience helps you to foster a more calm, peaceful and mature attitude towards your
life. You will see what you thought in the past to be permanent is changing with such an
inconceivable rapidity that even your mind cannot keep up with these changes. Somehow you
will be able to notice many of the changes. You will see the subtlety of impermanence and
the subtlety of selflessness. This insight will show you the way to peace, happiness and
give you the wisdom to handle your daily problems in life.
When the mind is united with the breath flowing all the
time, we will naturally be able to focus the mind on the present moment. We can notice the
feeling arising from contact of breath with the rim of our nostrils. As the earth element
of the air that we breathe in and out touches the earth element of our nostrils, the mind
feels the flow of air in and out. The warm feeling arises at the nostrils or any other
part of the body from the contact of the heat element generated by the breathing process.
The feeling of impermanence of breath arises when the earth element of flowing breath
touches the nostrils. Although the water element is present in the breath, the mind cannot
feel it.
Also we feel the expansion and contraction of our lungs,
abdomen and low abdomen, as the fresh air is pumped in and out of the lungs. The expansion
and contraction of the abdomen, lower abdomen and chest are parts of the universal rhythm.
Everything in the universe has the same rhythm of expansion and contraction just like our
breath and body. All of them are rising and falling. However, our primary concern is the
rising and falling phenomena of the breath and minute parts of our minds and bodies.
Along with the inhaling breath, we experience a small
degree of calmness. This little degree of tension-free calmness turns into tension if we
don't breathe out in a few moments. As we breathe out this tension is released. After
breathing out, we experience discomfort if we wait too long before having fresh brought in
again. This means that every time our lings are full we must breathe out and every time
our lungs are empty we must breathe in. As we breathe in, we experience a small degree of
calmness, and as we breathe out, we experience a small degree of calmness. We desire
calmness and relief of tension and do not like the tension and feeling resulting from the
lack of breath. We wish that the calmness would stay longer and the tension disappear more
quickly that it normally does. But neither will the tension go away as fast as we wish not
the calmness stay as long as we wish. And again we get agitated or irritated, for we
desire the calmness to return and stay longer and the tension to go away quickly and not
to return again. Here we see how even a small degree of desire for permanency in an
impermanent situation causes pain or unhappiness. Since there is no self-entity to control
this situation, we will become more disappointed.
However, if we watch our breathing without desiring
calmness and without resenting tension arising from the breathing in and out, but
experience only the impermanence, the unsatisfactoriness and selflessness of our breath,
our mind becomes peaceful and calm.
Also, the mind does not stay all the time with the feeling
of breath. It goes to sounds, memories, emotions, perceptions, consciousness and mental
formations as well. When we experience these states, we should forget about the feeling of
breath and immediately focus our attention on these states--one at a time, not all of them
at one time. As they fade away, we let our mind return to the breath which is the home
base the mind can return to from quick or long journey to various states of mind and body.
We must remember that all these mental journeys are made within the mind itself.
Every time the mind returns to the breath, it comes back
with a deeper insight into impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and selflessness. The mind
becomes more insightful from the impartial and unbiased watching of these occurrences. The
mind gains insight into the fact that this body, these feelings, various states of
consciousness and numerous mental formations are to be used only for the purpose of
gaining deeper insight into the reality of this mind/body complex.
Chapter 6
What To Do With Your Body
The practice of meditation has been going on for
several thousand years. That is quite a bit of time for experimentation, and the procedure
has been very, very thoroughly refined. Buddhist practice has always recognized that the
mind and body are tightly linked and that each influences the other. Thus there are
certain recommended physical practices which will greatly assist you to master your skill.
And these practices should be followed. Keep in mind, however, that these postures are
practice aids. Don't confuse the two. Meditation does not mean sitting in the lotus
position. It is a mental skill. It can be practiced anywhere you wish. But these postures
will help you learn this skill and they speed your progress and development. So use them.
General Rules
The purpose of the various postures is threefold. First,
they provide a stable feeling in the body. This allows you to remove your attention from
such issues as balance and muscular fatigue, so that you can then center your
concentration upon the formal object of meditation. Second, they promote physical
immobility which is then reflected by an immobility of mind. This creates a deeply settled
and tranquil concentration. Third, they give you the ability to sit for a long period of
time without yielding to the meditator's three main enemies--pain, muscular tension and
falling asleep. The most essential thing is to sit with your back straight. The spine
should be erect with the spinal vertebrae held like a stack of coins, one on top of the
other. Your head should be held in line with the rest of the spine. All of this is done in
a relaxed manner. No Stiffness. You are not a wooden soldier, and there is no drill
sergeant. There should be no muscular tension involved in keeping the back straight. Sit
light and easy. The spine should be like a firm young tree growing out of soft ground. The
rest of the body just hangs from it in a loose, relaxed manner. This is going to require a
bit of experimentation on your part. We generally sit in tight, guarded postures when we
are walking or talking and in sprawling postures when we are relaxing. Neither of those
will do. But they are cultural habits and they can be re-learned.
Your objective is to achieve a posture in which you can
sit for the entire session without moving at all. In the beginning, you will probably feel
a bit odd to sit with the straight back. But you will get used to it. It takes practice,
and an erect posture is very important. This is what is known in physiology as a position
of arousal, and with it goes mental alertness. If you slouch, you are inviting drowsiness.
What you sit on is equally important. You are going to need a chair or a cushion,
depending on the posture you choose, and the firmness of the seat must be chosen with some
care. Too soft a seat can put you right to sleep. Too hard can promote pain.
Clothing
The clothes you wear for meditation should be loose and
soft. If they restrict blood flow or put pressure on nerves, the result will be pain
and/or that tingling numbness which we normally refer to as our 'legs going to sleep'. If
you are wearing a belt, loosen it. Don't wear tight pants or pants made of thick material.
Long skirts are a good choice for women. Loose pants made of thin or elastic material are
fine for anybody. Soft, flowing robes are the traditional garb in Asia and they come in an
enormous variety of styles such as sarongs and kimonos. Take your shoes off and if your
stockings are thick and binding, take them off, too.
Traditional Postures
When you are sitting on the floor in the traditional Asian
manner, you need a cushion to elevate your spine. Choose one that is relatively firm and
at least three inches thick when compressed. Sit close to the front edge of the cushion
and let your crossed legs rest on the floor in front of you. If the floor is carpeted,
that may be enough to protect your shins and ankles from pressure. If it is not, you will
probably need some sort of padding for your legs. A folded blanket will do nicely. Don't
sit all the way back on the cushion. This position causes its front edge to press into the
underside of your thigh, causing nerves to pinch. The result will be leg pain.
There are a number of ways you can fold your legs. We will
list four in ascending order of preference.
1. American indian style. Your right foot is tucked under
the left knee and left foot is tucked under your right knee.
2. Burmese style. Both of your legs lie flat on the floor
from knee to foot. They are parallel with each other and one in front of the other.
3. Half lotus. Both knees touch the floor. One leg and
foot lie flat along the calf of the other leg.
4. Full lotus. Both knees touch the floor, and your legs
are crossed at the calf. Your left foot rests on the right thigh, and your right foot
rests on the left thigh. Both soles turn upward.
In these postures, your hands are cupped one on the other,
and they rest on your lap with the palms turned upward. The hands lie just below the navel
with the bend of each wrist pressed against the thigh. This arm position provides firm
bracing for the upper body. Don't tighten your neck muscles. Relax your arms. Your
diaphragm is held relaxed, expanded to maximum fullness. Don't let tension build up in the
stomach area. Your chin is up. Your eyes can be open or closed. If you keep them open, fix
them on the tip of your nose or in the middle distance straight in front. You are not
looking at anything. You are just putting your eyes in some arbitrary direction where
there is nothing in particular to see, so that you can forget about vision. Don't strain.
Don't stiffen and don't be rigid. Relax; let the body be natural and supple. Let it hang
from the erect spine like a rag doll.
Half and full lotus positions are the traditional
meditation postures in asia. And the full lotus is considered the best. It is the most
solid by far. Once you are locked into this position, you can be completely immovable for
a very long period. Since it requires a considerable flexibility in the legs, not
everybody can do it. Besides, the main criterion by which you choose a posture for
yourself is not what others say about it. It is your own comfort. Choose a position which
allows you to sit the longest without pain, without moving. Experiment with different
postures. The tendons will loosen with practice. And then you can work gradually towards
the full lotus.
Using A Chair
Sitting on the floor may not be feasible for you because
of pain or some other reason. No problem. You can always use a chair instead. Pick one
that has a level seat, a straight back and no arms. It is best to sit in such a way that
your back does not lean against the back of the chair. The front of the seat should not
dig into the underside of your thighs. Place your legs side by side,feet flat on the
floor. As with the traditional postures, place both hands on your lap, cupped one upon the
other. Don't tighten your neck or shoulder muscles, and relax your arms. Your eyes can be
open or closed.
In all the above postures, remember your objectives. You
want to achieve a state of complete physical stillness, yet you don't want to fall asleep.
Recall the analogy of the muddy water. You want to promote a totally settled state of the
body which will engender a corresponding mental settling. There must also be a state of
physical alertness which can induce the kind of mental clarity you seek. So experiment.
Your body is a tool for creating desired mental states. Use it judiciously.
Chapters 1-
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