The Basic Method of Meditation
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October 2005
Contents
Part 1 ............................................
Sustained attention on the present moment
Part 2 .............................................
Silent awareness of the present moment
Silent present moment awareness of the breath
Full sustained attention on the breath
Part 3 ..........................................
Full sustained attention on the beautiful breath
Experiencing the beautiful Nimitta
First Jhana
NAMO TASSA BHAGAVATO ARAHATO SAMMA SAMBUDDHASSA
NAMO TASSA BHAGAVATO ARAHATO SAMMA SAMBUDDHASSA
NAMO TASSA BHAGAVATO ARAHATO SAMMA SAMBUDDHASSA
PART 1
“The goal of this meditation is the beautiful silence,
stillness and clarity of mind”
Mditation is the way to achieve letting go. In meditation one lets go of the complex world outside in order to reach the serene world inside. In all types of mysticism, in many traditions, this is known as the path to the pure and powerful mind. The experience of this pure mind, released from the world, is very wonderful and blissful.
Often with meditation there will be some hard work at the beginning, but be willing to bear that hard work knowing that it will lead you to experience some very beautiful and meaningful states. They will be well worth the effort! It is a law of nature that without effort one does not make progress. Whether one is a layperson or a monk, without effort one gets nowhere, in meditation or in anything.
Effort alone, though, is not sufficient. The effort needs to be skilful. This means directing your energy just at the right places and sustaining it there until its task is completed. Skilful effort neither hinders nor disturbs you, instead it produces the beautiful peace of deep meditation.
In order to know where your effort should be directed, you must have a clear understanding of the goal of meditation. The goal of this meditation is the beautiful silence, stillness and clarity of mind. If you can understand that goal then the place to apply your effort and the means to achieve the goal become very clear.
The effort is directed to letting go, to developing a mind that inclines to abandoning. One of the many simple but profound statements of the Lord Buddha is that a meditator whose mind inclines to abandoning, easily achieves Samadhi. Such a meditator gains these states of inner bliss almost automatically. What the Lord Buddha is saying is that the major cause for attaining deep meditation, for reaching these powerful states, is the willingness to abandon, to let go and to renounce.
During meditation, we should not develop a mind which accumulates and holds on to things, but instead we develop a mind which is willing to let go of things, to let go of burdens. Outside of meditation we have to carry the burden of our many duties, like so many heavy suitcases, but within the period of meditation so much baggage is unnecessary. So, in meditation, see how much baggage you can unload. Think of these things as burdens, heavy weights pressing upon you. Then you have the right attitude for letting go of these things, abandoning them freely without looking back. This effort, this attitude, this movement of mind that inclines to giving up, is what will lead you into deep meditation. Even during the beginning stages of this meditation, see if you can generate the energy of renunciation, the willingness to give things away, and little by little the letting go will occur. As you give things away in your mind you will feel much lighter, unburdened and free. In the way of meditation, this abandoning of things occurs in stages,…
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