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by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
The technique I'll be teaching is breath
meditation. It's a good topic no matter
what your religious
background. As my teacher once said, the breath doesn't belong to
Buddhism or Christianity or anyone at all. It's common property that
anyone can meditate on. At the same time, of all the meditation topics
there are, it's probably the most beneficial to the body, for when
we're dealing with the breath, we're dealing not only with the air
coming in and out of the lungs, but also with all the feelings of
energy that course throughout the body with each breath. If you can
learn to become sensitive to these feelings, and let them flow
smoothly and unobstructed, you can help the body function more easily,
and give the mind a handle for dealing with pain.
So let's all meditate for a few minutes. Sit
comfortably erect, in a balanced position. You don't have to be ramrod
straight like a soldier. Just try not to lean forward or back, to the
left or the right. Close your eyes and say to yourself, 'May I be
truly happy and free from suffering.' This may sound like a strange,
even selfish, way to start meditating, but there are good reasons for
it. One, if you can't wish for your own happiness, there is no way
that you can honestly wish for the happiness of others. Some people
need to remind themselves constantly that they deserve happiness -- we
all deserve it, but if we don't believe it, we will constantly find
ways to punish ourselves, and we will end up punishing others in
subtle or blatant ways as well.
Two, it's important to reflect on what true
happiness is and where it can be found. A moment's reflection will
show that you can't find it in the past or the future. The past is
gone and your memory of it is undependable. The future is a blank
uncertainty. So the only place we can really find happiness is in the
present. But even here you have to know where to look. If you try to
base your happiness on things that change -- sights, sounds,
sensations in general, people and things outside -- you're setting
yourself up for disappointment, like building your house on a cliff
where there have been repeated landslides in the past. So true
happiness has to be sought within. Meditation is thus like a treasure
hunt: to find what has solid and unchanging worth in the mind,
something that even death cannot touch.
To find this treasure we need tools. The first tool
is to do what we're doing right now: to develop good will for
ourselves. The second is to spread that good will to other living
beings. Tell yourself: 'All living beings, no matter who they are, no
matter what they have done to you in the past -- may they all find
true happiness too.' If you don't cultivate this thought, and instead
carry grudges into your meditation, that's all you'll be able to see
when you look inside.
Only when you have cleared the mind in this way,
and set outside matters aside, are you ready to focus on the breath.
Bring your attention to the sensation of breathing. Breathe in long
and out long for a couple of times, focusing on any spot in the body
where the breathing is easy to notice, and your mind feels comfortable
focusing. This could be at the nose, at the chest, at the abdomen, or
any spot at all. Stay with that spot, noticing how it feels as you
breathe in and out. Don't force the breath, or bear down too heavily
with your focus. Let the breath flow naturally, and simply keep track
of how it feels. Savor it, as if it were an exquisite sensation you
wanted to prolong. If your mind wanders off, simply bring it back.
Don't get discouraged. If it wanders 100 times, bring it back 100
times. Show it that you mean business, and eventually it will listen
to you.
If you want, you can experiment with different
kinds of breathing. If long breathing feels comfortable, stick with
it. If it doesn't, change it to whatever rhythm feels soothing to the
body. You can try short breathing, fast breathing, slow breathing,
deep breathing, shallow breathing -- whatever feels most comfortable
to you right now...
Once you have the breath comfortable at your chosen
spot, move your attention to notice how the breathing feels in other
parts of the body. Start by focusing on the area just below your
navel. Breathe in and out, and notice how that area feels. If you
don't feel any motion there, just be aware of the fact that there's no
motion. If you do feel motion, notice the quality of the motion, to
see if the breathing feels uneven there, or if there's any tension or
tightness. If there's tension, think of relaxing it. If the breathing
feels jagged or uneven, think of smoothing it out... Now move your
attention over to the right of that spot -- to the lower right-hand
corner of the abdomen -- and repeat the same process... Then over to
the lower left-hand corner of the abdomen... Then up to the navel...
right... left... to the solar plexus... right.. left... the middle of
the chest... right... left... to the base of the throat... right...
left... to the middle of the head...[take several minutes for each
spot]
If you were meditating at home, you could continue
this process through your
entire body -- over the head, down the back,
out the arms & legs to the tips of your finger & toes -- but
since our time is limited, I'll ask you to return your focus now to
any one of the spots we've already covered. Let your attention settle
comfortably there, and then let your conscious awareness spread to
fill the entire body, from the head down to the toes, so that you're
like a spider sitting in the middle of a web: It's sitting in one
spot, but it's sensitive to the entire web. Keep your awareness
expanded like this -- you have to work at this, for its tendency will
be to shrink to a single spot -- and think of the breath coming in
& out your entire body, through every pore. Let your awareness
simply stay right there for a while -- there's no where else you have
to go, nothing else you have to think about... And then gently come
out of meditation.
| Source: Copyright
© 1997 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The author gives permission to
re-format and redistribute his work for use on computers and
computer networks, provided that you charge no fees for its
distribution or use. Otherwise, all rights reserved. |
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