One very important point is not to leave your meditation practice only to the
formal meditation session. When you have completed your session of practice,
do not throw it away and go back into your old patterns. If you do that, your
experience of the benefits of meditation will happen very slowly and very rarely.
When you have finished your formal practice, you must try to go into the world
with the meditation--maybe not fully, but definitely with some element of it,
some kind of momentum, some quality of it. For instance, you might go out with
some mindfulness of gentleness or softness. Of course, even gentleness can be
very aggressive if there is a great deal of stubbornness present. To be strong,
to be precise, you do not have to be aggressive. You should go out into the
world after meditation with a sense of genuine gentleness and softness.
Once in a while, whenever you can remember, you should alert yourself to the
quality of meditation or to some aspect of meditation. You do not have to go
through all the positions and follow the breath, but just be with yourself,
just rest in some sense of awareness. This is very important to do as frequently
as possible. You do not have to spend a long time at it or take on some sort
of dazed look, but just for a moment be aware. It could even be at such times
as when a cup of tea is coming to your lips. It takes some time until the cup
arrives; maybe you could be aware just that time. You could also be aware when
you put the cup down, or during any other sort of break.
Some sort of possibility of a shift of awareness is always present, even if
you are in the midst of chaos, such as in a crowd, with all kinds of things
to figure out, or if you are suddenly subjected to fear or apprehension. In
such situations if you could pause just for a moment, it would be like opening
a whole new perspective. If there is chaos and confusion, you begin to have
a sense of order, or at least some sense of what to do and where to begin. Being
caught up in apprehension and fear is actually the opposite of openness. If
you are involved in some argument or exchange, being able to come up with a
better way of seeing is very very helpful.
Alert yourself to the mindfulness of doing this. If you do it time and time
again, you can definitely be assured of having a much clearer picture of things.
In this way, meditation practice can help you develop more of a sense of efficiency
and precision in your daily activities, your job, career, and everything you
do. When some of your chaos and conflict has been cleared away, it is much easier
to work with the problems that continue to come up. Even if there is not much
profound benefit initially, at least you will have the benefit of getting a
sense that if you meditate more, there will definitely be a greater chance of
this basic openness developing. Therefore, there is real benefit in terms of
clarity of mind and openness. There is more room to work, so to speak, which
is very important.
Through disciplining yourself in the formal meditation practice as well as the
informal practice of mindfulness, after a while you will experience some benefit.
Then you will respond to meditation more easily, so it comes with less effort.
In short, in any sort of situation, whether you are writing something or reading
a book--even while you are turning the pages--you can come back to yourself
and practice this kind of direct mindfulness.
Here is an example of how this recollection of mindfulness can work. In traditional
monastic education, memorization (particularly of the different root texts)
is very important, so that when the students receive instructions on the various
commentaries and meanings, they can quote from many different texts right there
on the spot. They have many references for strengthening and clarifying a particular
point.
Some younger monks would work very hard during a session of memorizing, but
then go off and get involved in playing. Finally, they would realize it was
time to get back to work but would have some difficulty getting back to what
they had memorized. However, there were other monks who were more responsible
and more sensible than the young monks. While they were playing, they would
also try to spend a little time recalling the next line, or the next few lines,
of what they were memorizing. Afterward, when another session began, they would
remember whatever they had memorized in some order, and they continued to remember
it.
Briefly reviewing, one of the essential points to remember is the importance
of the positions of the body. For any activity to be effective or reach fulfillment,
whatever contributes toward its fulfillment and effectiveness should be incorporated
into the activity. From this point of view, the different positions of the body
contribute to the calming and taming of the mind. Following the breath is used
as a technique for further developing the tranquility of the mind. Also, in
addition to practicing this informal meditation sessions, remember to incorporate
it into your day-to-day activities. By alerting yourself to situations of mindfulness,
you should take a moment to be present with yourself and, in this way, relate
to the qualities of meditation.
Next I will briefly explain the benefits of meditation practice. First of all,
I must say I cannot explain all the benefits that come from meditation practice
at this point, and even if I did explain, it probably would not make much sense.
We can discuss it though, in terms of immediate benefit, gradual benefit, and
long-term benefit. As you practice the stages of meditation, you will experience
these various benefits, and they will be explained. The initial point is that
the benefit of meditation practice is not simply limited to experiencing a more
relaxed or calm state of mind. There is more than that. It is something for
us to commit ourselves to and apply in our lives.
One subject to understand is the effect of meditation on our physical bodies.
Our bodies are made up of what are called the five elements. The solid, or heavy,
aspect of the body is the earth element. The heat and warmth of the body is
the fire element. All the different kinds of fluids make up the water element.
The lightness, or movement, of the body is the wind or air element. Finally,
the various openings and hollow spaces in the body make up the space element.
In the midst of this system is the mind.
From the confused point of view, the mind is a constant pattern or chain of
thoughts. Because of these continual thoughts, we find ourselves engrossed in
all kinds of emotional patterns and habitual tendencies that bring about indulgences
and entertainment. This stimulates further discursive thoughts and makes them
more real, resulting in more confusion. This is what is called samsaric mind--mind
operating according to samsaric patterns. When the mind is not involved in such
discursive thoughts and is beyond being subject to habitual and emotional patterns,
we refer to it as the enlightened mind or, from the point of view of the Vajrayana
teachings, as the "Buddhanature," whose nature is totally pure.
The elements that make up our bodies are not just elements as we usually think
of them. These elements also have the quality of wisdom as their essence. You
may have heard of incidents involving the bodies of great masters. For instance,
after some masters pass away, their bodies dissolve and disappear into a rainbow
body with nothing substantial being left behind. When certain other masters
pass away, their physical bodies diminish to a very small size. When the bodies
of some meditation masters are cremated, relics or rainbows or showers of flowers
appear. These are incidents observed by ordinary people, those who have confused
perceptions. Beings who are more highly realized witness different, more profound
events.
What happens in these events is an expression of what makes up our bodies. The
elements in some sense are not just elements. In the case of these great masters,
the occurrences described are an expression of their realization of the insubstantial
and uncompounded nature of all things. Because they have transcended the clinging
to the illusion of reality, their realization is outwardly expressed in these
ways.
As a person advances in practice, in addition to the realization of meditation,
many exceptional or profound experiences or attributes of realization occur.
There have been many such incidents, and it is entirely possible for them to
happen to anyone who meditates continuously and diligently.
For instance, a person who is getting older may begin to put on a more youthful
appearance. There have been incidents where hair that had become gray began
to turn back to its original or natural color, and the person began to have
clearer vision. The physical or outward expressions of our bodies are made of
different elements but are not simply limited to the functions of the elements.
Instead of becoming senile with age, losing memory and clarity of mind, a meditator
may develop a clearer and more stable state of mind. Sometimes people begin
to easily understand and have insight into texts and fields of study they were
not familiar with previously. There is also an expression that a practitioner
can "live on the food of meditation." This means the person is nourished
only through the power of meditation, not by eating some sort of nutritious
food. These situations actually happen.
If people are constantly involved in anger or tremendous aggression or tremendous
attachment, they are overwhelmed by it. So much is dictated by their aggression
and attachment that their energy is completely drained, leaving them feeling
wiped out. They have the feeling of being older than they really are, and their
minds are more scattered and spaced out than they should be. In relating to
the activities in life, whether spiritual or mundane, their sense of workability
disappears, and they face a state of bleakness. Because their potential for
true wisdom has been mishandled or misused, they bring a kind of destruction
upon themselves.
In the past, in both Buddhist and non-Buddhist traditions, it was quite popular
to wander into the wilderness as an ascetic. The methods for meditation were
limited to techniques similar to shamatha. The ascetics would go out and, with
great exertion, meditate for months and years under a tree or leaning against
a boulder. For one, two, or even several years they could be seen meditating,
their bodies looking very weak and almost taking on the color of the tree or
the rock. Unless you got a closer look, you might not be able to make them out.
They were practically fading into their environment, but still they were surviving.
Because they were not distracted, they developed a certain tranquility of mind.
When a meditator has developed this tranquility of mind but has not been introduced
to further development of the meditative state, there is a continuous clinging
to this tranquility or blissfulness. All this time, they are nurtured or sustained
by the wisdom of the tranquil mind, yet because they cling to this tranquility,
the wisdom is not recognized. Something is working even though it is not recognized,
so even when there is a limited understanding of meditation, some benefit still
takes place.
There have been many such incidents in the lives of hinayana practitioners.
The view or understanding of those on the hinayana path is that there should
be an absolute renunciation and an absolute revulsion toward the pain and suffering
of cyclic existence, as well as a tremendous longing for the bliss and tranquility
of meditation and for what might be beyond cyclic existence. These practitioners
also go into places of isolation and solitude, meditating there for so many
years that physically, or outwardly, it is difficult to determine whether they
are animate or inanimate, yet a sort of awareness and consciousness continues.
In the mainstream of Buddhist practice, there also have been people who had
the good fortune of encountering an outward situation in which the benefits
of meditation were manifested. In one particular incident, one meditator's only
source of food for three years was the liver of a sheep: Certainly he lost some
weight, but other than that, his mind was clear and continuing. Then, of course,
we may be more familiar with the great meditator and yogi Milarepa. For many
years, Milarepa meditated continuously in the mountains. There is a story about
how he lived on nettles, but even that is uncertain because it would have been
quite difficult to get nettles in the summer, let alone in the winter. Yet,
after many years he was continuing, and with great realization!
If you think practicing meditation brings something profound into your life
from outside yourself, you are totally off the track. That is not the correct
view, understanding, or reality. The point is to work on the abilities or potential
you have within. You yourself have everything needed to develop the very basic
and preliminary benefit, as well as the most inconceivably advanced benefit.
It is just a matter of recognizing it and being able to tap into it.
I have introduced you to the positions of the body, such as sitting in the vajra
position (or if that is not possible, in the cross-legged position), then placing
the tips of the thumbs on the first or second joints of the ring fingers and
bringing the focus of the eyes down about an elbow's length in front of you.
The reason for this is that actually there are five winds that operate within
our being.
Each of these winds has wisdom as its essence. When these winds, or wind-energies,
go out of our bodies, we begin having all kinds of distractions, all kinds of
thoughts in the areas of ignorance or aggression or attachment. This brings
us a lot of confusion, because the wisdom quality of these winds is diminished
or weakened. The three positions just mentioned keep the" All-Pervasive
Wind," (one of the five) in proper control. When the All-Pervasive Wind
is kept in good control, the wisdom is also kept in, nurturing our development.
These three positions of the body are outward positions, but inwardly they help
retain the All-Pervasive Wind.
Another of the seven positions is known as "drawing in." After you
have settled into the first three positions, you reestablish the sitting position,
bringing in the flesh of your bottom by closing and tightening the sphincter
muscles somewhat, as well as pulling in the whole of your abdomen and organs
with a certain amount of effort, and then very gently relaxing everything. This
is the outward position of the body, but inwardly it contributes to keeping
intact what is called the Lower, or Abdominal, Wind and helps retain the wisdom
related to this wind.
Our body has certain potentials. For instance, it has the potential to experience
the state of well-being and also the potential to keep itself warm. How much
of this heat and well-being we experience depends on how well we have tapped
into these potentials. By retaining the Lower Wind with this particular position,
we are retaining the potential of well-being and the potential of heat. This
nurtures the body physically and in turn nurtures the mind toward the development
of greater wisdom and sanity.
In the higher tantric traditions, there is a vehicle of meditation known as
the Heat Yoga. Doing this practice properly, a person could be in the middle
of a cold and snowy place--even naked in the snow--yet feel very warm. At some
later time, we may receive the core instructions for doing this practice according
to the Vajrayana methods; now I am just presenting some background so you can
acquaint yourselves with this possibility.
Another of the positions is keeping the back straight and erect, with the vertebrae
of the spinal column in a straight line. By using this position, you provide
adequate room for the wind that operates around the navel area, known as the
Wind of Metabolism. Indigestion and similar physical ailments are due to a lack
of or a weakness in this particular wind-energy. Giving the Wind of Metabolism
room to operate helps keep it intact and inwardly, or internally, contributes
toward the nurturing or development of the mind.
The next position of the body is to let the tongue rest flat against the palate.
The explanation given for this on a physical level is that it helps prevent
the need to swallow saliva again and again, which is desirable because the effort
and sound involved in this could be a distraction. In addition, if you are coughing,
resting the tongue like this could prevent or lessen the coughing.
Once you are sitting with all these other positions intact, you still might
be craning your neck a little bit too much either backward or forward, so the
last position is to bring your chin a bit back and in until you feel a slight
pressure on the voice box, then easing up a bit so there is no tension or pressure,
and remain in that position. The outward purpose of this is to bring the neck
vertebrae into alignment with those of the back. Inwardly, the wind related
to these positions is called the" Up-Going" or "Up-Running"
Wind. Letting this wind-energy wander causes many kinds of distractions and
therefore stimulates habitual and emotional patterns that give rise to numerous
indulgences. Keeping the Up-Running Wind intact is important because this wind-energy
contributes toward the realization of the truth of the mind.
By using the physical positions of the body, these four winds are kept in proper
control. The Lower (Down-Moving) Wind, the Up-Going Wind, and those in between
are kept in their natural or proper places.
The fifth wind is referred to as the "Life Wind" and could be called
the Home of Wisdom. It is where the essence of wisdom is found. When the other
winds are kept intact, they feed this central or Life Wind and thus expand wisdom.