..续本文上一页those diseases change, so the subject of one”s meditation can be changed. For instance a person practicing with mindfulness of breathing may find that he is being disturbed by angry thoughts: it may become necessary then for the control of such thoughts to switch to the meditation on loving-kindness. However, before changing the subject of meditation, it is very helpful to get the advice of someone who is well-established in meditation practice.
Having fixed upon one point for watching the breath, keep the mind there. You can judge for yourself how successful you are by what happens after this. If the mind is continuously just fixed on "breathing-in-out" with no other sense-objects, not even of other parts of the body, and no discursive thought, then one is doing well, for meditation is fine and calm. If you do perceive other sense-objects, for instance, loud or soft noises from outside, but your mind is not shaken from the concentration, on breathing-in-out, merely having awareness of them which returns immediately to the breathing when they cease, without discursive thought, concentration is good. If the mind is mostly fixed on breathing-in-out but also strays to body (touch) consciousness elsewhere round the body but still without discursive thoughts, then it is not so bad. But if one”s breathing-in-out-mind is frequently disturbed by other mental states consisting of ideas, pictures, etc., then there is still a lot of work to do. Even if one”s meditation is up to the first standard, there is no need for complacency as there is plenty more to do. The more advanced aspects of meditation do require guidance and one should make every effort to get in contact with a reliable source of teaching.
The time that one gives to meditation must depend upon the inpidual although less than 15-20 minutes is of little benefit unless the mind is very well concentrated. Also, it is a good discipline to resolve to practice every day and at the same time (in so far as outside circumstances like work allow). One should not practice on some days but not on others. This shows a wavering mind and cannot accomplish much. And when one has determined to meditate every day one should also resolve to practice for the same length of time each day, not one day twenty and next only five minutes. If one”s practice is not regular then this shows weakness of the mind and such a mind is good at suggesting "Today it is too hot," "Today I am too tired..." and a thousand and one other excuses. The best time for meditation is early morning when everything is quiet and while the mind and body are rested. If one meditates once a day then this is the best time to do it. Some people like to meditate twice and do some practice also in the evening. However personal experience will soon make it clear that while hunger is not conducive to meditation, neither is a full stomach. Tiredness may also be a limiting factor in the evening.
The Development of Loving-kindness[15] is another very valuable practice. It aims at the dissolution of angry, averse states of mind and the increase of that kind of love which is cool, capable of extension to all and non-possessive. A word here about love. In English we have only this one word which has to describe a great range of emotions, whereas in Pali there are several words describing three levels.
The lowest is the one we share with the animals: lust, which is based on powerful desires for pleasant feelings and is completely selfish. This kind of love does not consider others at all and cares only for self-gratification. In Pali its name is kama (a word which has the wider, meaning also of the objective stimulants of the senses and the defiled sensual stimulation in the heart). When there is no kama, deliberate sexual intercourse is i…
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