How to Meditate

 Watch the breath is what they say. But how?

A meditation master I had broke it down like this:

1) Find a sensation in the belly or chest. Watch this.

2) As this become steady find a sensation in the nostril with the air coming and going. Watch this.

3) When this is steady find a sensation on the lip. This is much more subtle. Watch this,

4) When this is steady start to search around sensations closer to the philtrum (that is the middle of the upper lip) and move closer to the middle of the lip. Watch the sensations of the coming and going of the breath as you go.

5) When you get to the middle of the lip hold the attention there as long as possible.

From the previous post and the Tibetan list of stages of meditation there are 2 things to notice. First the steadiness of the concentration and how easily it gets distracted. Secondly there is the brightness of the object.

Even after reducing the length of time distractions take hold, and being able to bring the mind back to the sensation quickly, or even not become distracted I notice that the sensation comes and goes. It is like sunlight on a patchy cloudy day. Sometimes the sun is bright, but then it fades as a cloud covers it.

So the First stage of meditation is to deal with distraction to keep the mind on the object. In this case the sensation of the breath.

The second stage is to hold that attention on the sensation through the coming and going of the sensation itself. Obviously the breath comes and goes so the sensation is a constantly changing thing, but out awareness of that sensation is also changing.

The final stage of this practice of meditation is when we are able to hold attention on the sensation of breathing without it wandering in distraction, and also have the sensation strong and present in our awareness without it wavering.

This I final achievement believe is called "Access Concentration." From access concentration we have the power to see the world as it is without things being obscured. It overcomes all our karmic hindrances, and the impact of memories, thoughts, beliefs, emotions and identity that distort they way we normally see the world. We can now start to examine the truth of the teachings of the Buddha (which are derived from this close examination of the world) in fullness now.

Also from the previous post "Access Concentration" enables us to cast off the Ego. What is going on here is not that "we are attaining" anything, but rather the reverse. We are dropping off all the layers of attachment that we normally surround ourselves with. Greatest of all these is who we think we are. This includes the whole bundle of memories and beliefs we and other people have formed around us. All of them certainly untrue. This very process of surrounding our self with an identity is false from the start. In "Access Concentration" we can see that this is just a shell that we can drop as easily as a jacket. The loss of all these things that unwisely weigh us down is the process of liberating ourselves from suffering.

Holding our attention to the breath then is just letting everything else go. The breath is good, true and real and it is all we need to see the truth. Everything else we can drop.

Once the truth is seen we will have a much more carefree attitude to the layers of clothing if we wish to put them all on again. Our identity now seems more casual and not so essential to us.

How does Meditation work?

It seems ridiculous that watching the breath has the power to unzip the universe. Seems like complete nonsense. And already we have a huge insight into the Universe. The Universe is trying to stop you meditating!

Why are there so many hindrances to meditation from can’t be bothered, to got better things to do, to depression that it doesn’t work, or fear that it might work. And even once we start to watch our breath the universe conspires to drag our attention away by raising thoughts or day dreams or external stimulus.

If meditation is the key to the universe why is it so hard? The answer is Ego or Self.

So I blogged on Self a fair bit last summer. To understand some more on Self I’ve come to look at Jesus on the cross. What stops us from sacrificing ourselves for others like Jesus. All sorts of reasons like Self preservation, and why should I suffer rather than someone else especially when they are more deserving of punishment than me. Jesus so Christians believe was sinless, he was the last one who should hang on a cross. So what was he doing there? Well to do what Jesus did requires that we ignore ourself in a completely profound way. Not in a crazy way, he didn’t die for no reason. He died to save everyone from sin and death. Regardless whether you believe the Jewish mythology it was an incredibly selfless thing he did. Who else could abandon themself like this for someone else. Perhaps a mother for her child or a soldier for their King or nation.

That level of sacrifice is what is required to follow our breath to the end! And while we try to keep focused on it, the Ego, just as we would find on a cross, is constantly trying to save itself by disrupting the meditation.

The very first thing someone said to me about Buddhism was that Buddha taught that the Ego was bad. I asked why and he said because it defends itself even at the cost of the rest of us.

We see that in Meditation. Surely unlocking the universe is a good thing. It ends suffering. But not for the Ego. When watching the breath the Ego becomes just a useless shell. It is just a name, some memories, some reputation, some thoughts about a distant entity. As questioned last summer this entity is just one of billions it is not special in anyway, it joins the human race as a pure equal and it isn’t mine. As we focus on the breath the self becomes far away, we stop noticing it or even think about it.

But it fights back. A sound starts up. The Ego grasps it and says I don’t want that. It starts to push against the sound wishing it would stop causing stress and disrupts things. Soon we are listening to the sound not watching our breath. Likewise some thought or idea pops up and it grasps it cos we like our ideas. As Descartes found ideas are a great proof of ego. The Ego uses them a lot to validate itself. But we aren’t watching the breath now. Some nice feelings come along and we grasp those. Some of these feelings are in fact very good. But if we grasp them and use them to support the Ego we undo the progress of meditation. Oh look I get colours in meditation, or I get Jhana I am better than other people. And so the Ego can claim ownership of even the highest attainments of meditation and sour our minds.

In all cases we return to the breath as the anchor. This breath simple and perfect is the heart of the universe, it unlocks everything amazing though that may seem. So as Thich Nhat Hanh made central to his teaching we need only keep our mind on this simplest most perfect of things to let the darkness of illusion of even the most polluted of minds become distant and dissolve away leaving only the brightness of now.

But it takes earnest practice until we have become wise to the tricks the Ego plays to keep itself relevant and in our lives.

In Tibetan Buddhism I read they have a 9 point scale to check how well our meditation is going.

1. Try to concentrate. Find yourself distracted.
2. Occasional brief concentration. Distraction prevails.
3. Mindfulness improving. Vigilance improving. Distraction immediately recognized.
4. The object is never lost, but little parts of the mind wander (subtle excitement) or the object gets dull (subtle laxity).
5. Distractions start to drop off, but laxity is a problem and the object is dulled
6. Laxity is remedied but very subtle excitement threatens
7. All problems are remedied when they arise, but they do arise.
8. Once the mind is fixed at the start of the session, no problems arise
9. Perfect concentration arises without effort.

So it would appear by stage 9 we have overcome the Ego’s attempts to stay relevant and we have a mind that is free from attachments and therefore also suffering. I believe this is the launch pad for Jhanas if we wish to explore but more importantly contemplation of the Buddha’s teachings to fully see the nature of the universe.
But obviously the moment we start owning any attainments and think I have done good we have already got tricked by Ego reinstating itself. In church this weekend it was said well. When good things happen we appreciate our good fortune but we do not use them to think we are better than others.