An essential part of Buddhist practice is meditation. It’s they key to a better life, practice, and eventually Enlightenment. There are several ways and practices of different meditations, some simply, other very difficult, but one thing that almost all types of meditations have in common is an object of concentration.
This is a very practical and simplified outline of an ancient and essential teaching on the development of meditative concentration, also called Shamatha.
This teaching outlines nine basic states of consciousness which equate to nine qualities of concentrated attention. Anyone can learn how to improve their own meditation practice by comparing their own experience with the states described here.
Moving from one state to a superior one is achieved by overcoming the obstacles present at each stage. This is precisely the value of this teaching: it allows us to immediately discover how our practice is developing and what we need to do to advance it.
Concentration practice (shamatha) is the basis from which we can retrieve information (insight). Therefore, concentration practice is the ground from which the flower of meditation emerges. However, concentration practice itself is not meditation. Meditation begins once concentration has been established. Actual meditation is defined as a state of consciousness within which we can retrieve information.
Even experienced meditators sometimes have a hard time keeping concentration during meditation sessions. To be able to tame and calm your mind is incredibly difficult. Our minds are never empty of thoughts or feelings; it’s always thinking about something or engaging with an emotion. So to be able to calm it for more than a few seconds takes immense amounts of practice and discipline.
If we had to break down meditation into parts, it would break into two: Samatha and Vipassana. I’ve wrote and talked about a method of Vipassana meditation before and gave a brief overview of it, so I won’t talk too much about Vipassana here to avoid too much repeating, so it’ll mostly me about Samatha and general meditation.
These are the Eight Antidotes (Pratipakṣa) to the Five Faults of meditation.
In Tibetan Buddhism, the Five Faults (ādīnava) are factors in Samatha (calmness and stillness of the mind) meditation. The Five Faults identify obstacles in the meditation practice, and the Eight Antitodes are applied to overcome these obstacles. Though mainly a Vajrayana practice, these still apply to everyone’s meditation practice and would be helpful to everyone to know, use, and overcome.
We’ve all experienced meditation laziness. Meditation laziness happens when we become distracted, have wandering thoughts, become tired, or even fall asleep. Meditation laziness happens because your concentration is weak. Meditation is all about your concentration power and the energy you put into concentration. If you concentrate correctly, it takes little power to do so, but for beginners it takes up all your power to focus your concentration.
The ego is a powerful thing. It’s what makes us people. It’s the little voice in our heads that control our biases, ignorance, greed, hate, and delusion, but it’s also our compassion, love, and kindness. Our ego is what tells us to get angry and frustrated at the things that are dissatisfying and don’t go our way. It controls what we like and don’t like, who and what we like, love, and hate. It’s the cockiness that might sometimes make us feel like we’re the best, the number one at something(s).
I often stress mindfulness and meditation, whether when I’m blogging or talking to people. But truly, they’re both very important. By no means am I a meditation or mindfulness master, but I know I’m on my way to perfecting my practice. For beginners of Buddhism or the practice of mindfulness, it’s easier to start with it during meditation. Practicing Anapanasati or Vipassana meditation is encouraged, even if you’re experienced. When meditating, especially with Vipassana, or if you’re just doing walking meditation, be aware of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
It’s understandable that it’s extremely difficult to be mindful of everything we do in our daily, busy, hectic lives. The trick is to at least be aware of mindfulness. You probably won’t be noting every little thing you do like lifting, pushing, writing, pouring coffee, drinking, talking, sighing, opening/closing doors, or even breathing! You’d have to be extremely skilled to be able to be mindful and note of every movement, action, thought, and breath. It’s almost impossible. However, what you can do is at least be mindful of the basic; walking, drinking, eating, moving, and when you can, breathing. You’ll get plenty of distractions throughout the day, but whenever you can remind yourself to be mindful, be mindful. Eventually with practice, you’ll be able to be more mindful with more things.
Mindfulness in meditation is extremely important. Vipassana meditation can lead you to liberation! Like everyday mindfulness, mindfulness in meditation takes time, effort, and lots of practice. Even when we’re trying to be very attentive to mindfulness of breathing, or the rise and fall of the abdomen, thoughts emerge and cause distractions, and it’s so easy to not even notice them, but it’s important that we do and note them! I’ve been practicing meditation for over a decade, and it takes me about 5-10 minutes of mindfulness to find a calm mind. It’s easy to be noting “rising, falling, rising, falling” or counting “1, 1. 2, 2. 3, 3,” or however you practice mindfulness of breath. But then all of a sudden a thought arises but you’re unaware of it, it takes a few seconds before you realize it, but when you do it’s important to note it “thinking, thinking” and not just let it go. Because if you don’t note it, it’ll keep coming back and you’ll realize it even less more and more. The same applies to mental/emotional feelings (anger, jealousy, etc.) and bodily feelings (pain, discomfort, soreness, etc.). Note and be mindful of as much as you can!
Smile and be well!
Vipassana meditation is insight meditation. A meditation of complete awareness and mindfulness of every movement of the body and thought of the mind. By observing one’s moment-to-moment mind/body processes from a place of investigative attention, insight arises into the true nature of life and experiences. Through the wisdom acquired by using insight meditation one is able to live more freely and relate to the world around with less clinging, fear and confusion. Thus one’s life becomes increasingly directed by consideration, compassion and clarity.
Meditation and concentration are emphasized in almost every basic or introductory Buddhist text, as well as in many sutras. Meditation should be a daily practice for every Buddhist, even non-Buddhist should practice meditation because it’ll help release stress, anxiety, anger, and strengthen loving-kindness, compassion, and concentration. Even if you don’t have much time to meditate, waking up a little bit earlier than usual in the morning to meditate, or during mid-day, or sometime in the evening – a short 10 minute meditation will do wonders.
1. If it is not painful, the Vajra posture, with the legs crossed and the feet resting upturned on the thighs is best. However, if sitting in this posture causes pain and distracts the mind, the left foot should be tucked under the right thigh and the right foot should rest on the left thigh.
2. The trunk (back) should be as straight and erect as possible. Lifting your arms up high as if you were trying to touch the sky is the straightest you can get your back.
3. The arms should be in a bow shape, not resting against the sides of the body or pushed back; they should be at rest, but firm. The back of the right hand should rest in the palm of the left; the thumbs should be level with the navel.
4. The neck should be curved slightly forward, with the chin in.
5. The eyes should be focused straight along the sides of the nose (and half closed).
6. The mouth and lips should be relaxed, neither open or tightly shut.
7. The tongue should be pressed gently against the palate.
Smile and be well!
By Thich Nhat Hanh
Please, when you breathe in, do not make an effort of breathing in. You just allow yourself to breathe in. Even if you don’t breathe in it will breathe in by itself. So don’t say, “My breath, come, so that I tell you how to do.” Don’t try to force anything, don’t try to intervene, just allow the breathing in to take place.
What you have to do is be aware of the fact that the breathing in is taking place. And you have more chance to enjoy your in-breath. Don’t struggle with your breath, that is what I recommend. Realize that your in breath is a wonder. When someone is dead, no matter what we do, the person will not breathe in again. So we are breathing in, that is a wonderful thing.
Breathing in I know I’m alive, it’s a miracle. We have to enjoy our in-breath. There are many ways to enjoy your in-breath. We want you to tell us how you enjoy your in-breath, whether in a sitting position or in a walking position. But if you don’t enjoy breathing in, breathing out, you don’t do it right.
This is the first recommendation on breathing that the Buddha made: When breathing in, I know this is the in-breath. When breathing out, I know this is the out-breath. When the in-breath is long, I know it is long. When it is short, I know it is short. Just recognition, mere recognition, simple recognition of the presence of the in-breath and out-breath. When you do that, suddenly you become entirely present. What a miracle, because to meditate means to be there. To be there with yourself, to be there with your in‑breath.
So you now understand the two sentences [from the Anapanasati Sutta] , “Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.” And a few minutes later, “Breathing in I know my in-breath has become deep. Breathing out, I know my out-breath has become slow.” That is not an effort to make the in-breath deeper or the out-breath slower. That is only a recognition of the fact. After having followed your in-breath and out-breath for a few minutes you will notice that your in-breath and out-breath now have a much better quality, because mindfulness, when touching anything, increases the quality of that thing. The Buddha when he touches something, reveals and increases the quality of being of that thing. Mindfulness is the Buddha, therefore it plays that role.
When you look at the full moon, and if you are mindful, “Breathing in I see the full moon, breathing out I smile at the full moon,” suddenly the full moon reveals itself to you maybe one hundred times more clearly. It’s more beautiful, it’s clearer, it’s more enjoyable. Why? Because the moon has been touched by mindfulness.
So when you touch your in-breath and out-breath with your mindfulness, your in-breath becomes more harmonious, more gentle, deeper, slower, and so does your out-breath. Now you enjoy in-breathing and out-breathing. Naturally your breathing becomes more enjoyable, the quality of your breathing increases. So “In/Out” is for the beginning. Then “Deep/Slow” is the next step: “Breathing in, I know that my in breath has become deep and I enjoy it. Breathing out, I see that my out-breath has become slow and I enjoy it.”
During that time you have stopped, you have allowed your body and your mind to rest. Even if you are walking, you are resting. If you are sitting, you are resting. You are not struggling anymore, on your cushion, or walking. Then later on you will try this. These words are only to help you to recognize what is happening. “Calm/Ease: Breathing in I feel the calm in me.” This is not autosuggestion, because if you have enjoyed In/Out and Deep/Slow, calm is something that is established. Resting. If you touched your calm, your calm rose. It’s like when you touched the moon. “Breathing out, I feel ease in me.” I don’t suffer anymore. I will not make it hard anymore.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. Allow yourself to be at ease with yourself. Don’t struggle. All of these can be done even if lots of suffering is still in your body and in your soul. Doing this, we are taking care of them. We are not trying to escape the pain in us. We are giving our body and our consciousness a rest.
Meditation is one of the most important aspects of Buddhism, if not the most important. Buddha always emphasized the importance of daily meditation and mastering its benefits. To meditate is to be mindful of your mind and body – to learn it, know it, and free it. I have been meditating and learning meditation for over a decade, ever since I first began my spiritual search. I have learned to enter different states of consciousness and enter states of complete calm and away from the sensation of time.
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Cattãro Satipattãnã)
1. Mindfulness of the body (Pali: Kãya-sati, Sanskrit: Kãya-Smrti).
2. Mindfulness of feelings (or sensations) (Pali: Vedanã-Sati, Sanskrit: Vedanã-Smrti).
3. Mindfulness of mind (of consciousness) (Pali: Citta-Sati, Sanskrit: Citta-Smrti).
4. Mindfulness of mental objections (Pali: Dhammã-Sati, Sanskrit: Dharma-Smrti).
Smile and be well!
Buddha Journey 