About This Course
Learning to meditate is a gradual process. Each week, this course has tweeted new techniques and facilitated new insights. The techniques either address particular problems that may arise when you meditate, or provide progressively more advanced methods which deepen your experience. It is recommended that you start by going back to week one's techniques and begin your weekly course at that time. The earlier exercises are not mere preliminaries. They are central methods in their own right to which you will return repeatedly - no matter how advanced your practice becomes.
To sign up for this course to be emailed to you weekly; click here Aro Meditation
This Week’s Meditation Technique
Find the presence of awareness to be without focus. If you drift from presence of awareness, return – without comment or judgement. If mental events manifest – remain uninvolved. Let go and let be.
This is called ‘formless meditation’. At this stage, we no longer focus on breath. This is the technique of no-technique. With sufficient experience in returning it becomes possible to return – simply by noticing that we are elsewhere. There is no need to apply artificial methods. Having returned – we may, for a time, remain without distraction. We are aware in awareness itself, without attending to anything in particular.
Follow-up
Please try this week’s technique at least once before reading further.
* * *
All the techniques we have explored so far in this course are variants of the method called shi-nè, ‘peacefully remaining’.
• Counting both in-breaths and out-breaths
• Counting out-breaths only
• Following both in- and out-breaths with attention
• Following out-breaths only
• Formless meditation: remaining present without technique
These vary according to how forcefully the method intrudes on the stream of awareness. Counting is the most heavy-handed method – this week’s technique is the most subtle.
If you refer to the first post in this course, you will find that you have already engaged in formless meditation. As I mentioned at the time, this is the most difficult form of shi-nè. Nevertheless—coming to it with no expectations—you may have had glimpses of what is possible. Re-read your meditation notebook entries from that time and see how your experience has changed. You will probably feel encouraged by the progress you have made in the past two months.
Formless meditation can be elusive. The instructions amount to no more than ‘be here—now’. It may take a few more months before you feel confident in practising this regularly. Try repeatedly this week. If you find yourself completely lost in thought, return to a less subtle technique until your mind steadies.
It is worth persevering – because formless meditation provides the most complete experience of peaceful remaining. We no longer have the breath as a distraction – no longer employ it as a crutch – and can no longer use it as entertainment. We are left with nothing to do and nothing to hold onto. We choose to let go, and find ourselves in empty space.
How Much to Meditate
Generally, formless meditation is not practical without regular experience of meditation sessions of at least half an hour. It may take as much as an hour of patient shi-nè before wild thoughts settle out and your mind clarifies.
I have repeatedly increased the recommended sitting period. You may wonder if this will end. How much is enough?
That depends on your individual capacity, circumstances, and inspiration. Therefore any recommendations are merely general guidelines.
In half an hour your mind can settle in a way that is rarely possible in five minutes. Equally, there are insights to be discovered in an hour that are rarely found in thirty minutes periods. In a few weeks I will introduce ‘retreats’ in which you meditate with others for several hours a day. That facilitates transformations which rarely occur in daily practice.
If this seems an unreasonable time commitment – consider the time required to learn a musical instrument or become skilled in a sport. The practice time necessary is quite comparable.
It is possible for almost everyone to find 30-60 minutes a day for meditation – if necessary, by decreasing time devoted to activities to which we are less committed. If you are ‘too busy to meditate’ – investigate whether that busyness might be a strategy for avoiding seeing something that might confront you if you stopped doing for a few minutes.
Regardless of how long you sit regularly – it is useful, occasionally, to meditate for a substantially longer period. You may find an hour – or two – or three – on a weekend.
It is difficult to sit more than an hour continuously. If you can dedicate a longer period to meditation, break it into sessions of 30-60 minutes sitting meditation separated by rests of 10-15 minutes. During the rests, stretch your legs and engage in quiet, reflective activity, such as writing in your meditation notebook or taking a short walk.
Posture
Kneeling is an alternative to sitting that works well for some people – but not at all for others. To decrease the pressure on your knees, you need to raise and support your buttocks. You can place a zafu between your legs, sandwiched between your legs and buttocks, or edge-wise. Alternatively, you can use a ‘seiza bench’—often available where zafus are sold, and on the web. These support kneeling by providing a low seat underneath which your legs can rest freely. Either way, padding under your knees—a sheepskin or zabuton—is also essential.
Another sitting position is one in which you are supported by a gomtag. This position can be comfortable for several hours. Because the gomtag supports the back and knees, the knees can be above the hips – and you need not raise your pelvis. Gomtags can be purchased on the web. (They may be sold as ‘meditation straps’. ‘Yoga straps’ are not the same – and are unsuitable.) Alternatively, you can also sew your own from several layers of strong, thick fabric. The total length of the strap (before you sew the circle closed) should be twice the distance from the middle of your chest to your outstretched finger tips. The strap should be as wide as your hand is wide (including your thumb).
Obstacles & Antidotes
Forgetfulness becomes an increasing danger as the technique becomes more subtle. It can be surprisingly difficult to remember how to meditate. It is easy to omit important aspects; or, to approximate the technique. This results in merely sitting and thinking, whilst considering yourself to be meditating. When you realize you have lost the method – simply review the instructions.
It is easy to forget that you are meditating. If you meditate regularly, the method becomes automatic – but this risks going through the motions without returning to keen awareness. Avoid meditating on autopilot.
It is easy to forget why you are meditating. If you meditate often, it is easy to allow yourself to be distracted by fantasies– on the grounds that ‘I meditate plenty; I want to enjoy this story’. Review your motivation. Make an agreement with yourself to return to the fantasy – after the end of your meditation session.
Journey Into Vastness
What follows may sound ‘spacey’ or downright crazy. It can only be understood once you have had substantial experience of the gap between thoughts. If it reads as nonsense now – set it aside, and concentrate on the ‘nuts and bolts’ aspects of meditation. Often, this material suddenly makes sense weeks or months after reading it.
Last week’s practice—on avidity, repulsion, and disregard—may have revealed how many thoughts are about ‘me’. At the same time, shi-nè reveals that ‘I’ am not my thoughts – because awareness persists during the gaps between them. We see that thoughts come from nowhere and return to nothing. It becomes apparent that ‘I’ am not the origin or master of ‘my’ thoughts – they continue when ‘I’ refrain from acting to produce them. In fact, there is nothing personal about most thoughts. Though largely about ‘me’, they could be about any ‘me’ – countless other people have had nearly identical thoughts about themselves in similar situations.
We use thoughts to keep a grip on who we are and how we relate to our world. We want to experience ourselves as a solid, enduring, separate, continuous, well-defined ‘self’. ‘I think, therefore I am.’ We use thoughts to create strategies for justifying and aggrandising our selves, for armouring our selves against threats – and for shutting out anything that is irrelevant to our selves. These are avidity, repulsion, and disregard. They harden our identity, separating our selves from others.
In shi-nè—especially formless shi-nè—we get used to being insubstantial, transitory, indistinct, discontinuous, and undefined. Without thoughts propping it up – the boundary between ‘me’ and ‘everything and everyone else’ collapses.
This can be disconcerting. We fear letting go of our separate, well-defined identity—even for a moment—because we imagine our lives would spiral out of control. It might seem that if we let go of our grip on ‘who I am’, ‘I’ would fall apart altogether, and we would not be able to function in everyday life. We pull back from the precipice of non-definition toward safe and familiar patterns to avoid disintegration.
When this space of non-self provokes apprehensiveness – a combination of gentleness and determination are required. (I will say more about working with fear in meditation in a couple of weeks.)
It is helpful to know that those who have explored non-definition find that there is nothing in it to fear. It does not lead to the inability to function in daily life. On the contrary, when we are less driven by thoughts—which are not truly ours in any case—we can act more spontaneously, authentically, and effectively. Life can flow from awareness rather than from fixed ideas. We do not lose our ‘selves’ – we discover that the solid, enduring, separate, continuous, defined self was an illusion all along – built of insubstantial thoughts.
Letting go of identity and allowing our boundaries to dissolve can be exhilarating rather than disconcerting. We realise that we have lived our lives in tiny dark prison cells called ‘me’ – which we built to insulate us from the world.
When we allow the walls to collapse – we step out into the vast, brilliant, open space of Reality, as it is.
Preview
Formless meditation is the pinnacle of shi-nè – but it is not the final destination of meditation. In future weeks we will explore other methods.
You have been meditating long enough now, that you may have started to experience strong emotions during meditation. This is a sign of progress – but it may not be pleasant. The next section of the course is devoted to methods for working with such feelings.
Recommended Resources
This week’s Journey Into Vastness discussion is an introduction to ‘emptiness and form’. These are the complimentary qualities of existence that are the heart of the Buddhist world-view.
See our meditation resources page for a range of learning methods.
The Aro mentors can provide individualised meditation tutoring.
Support our charitable work—bringing the benefits of meditation to others—by becoming a Friend of Aro.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Meditation Techniques - Week 9
About This Course
Learning to meditate is a gradual process. Each week, this course has tweeted new techniques and facilitated new insights. The techniques either address particular problems that may arise when you meditate, or provide progressively more advanced methods which deepen your experience. It is recommended that you start by going back to week one's techniques and begin your weekly course at that time. The earlier exercises are not mere preliminaries. They are central methods in their own right to which you will return repeatedly - no matter how advanced your practice becomes.
To sign up for this course to be emailed to you weekly; click here Aro Meditation
Greetings. I would like to start this week by saying a few words about me.
Thinking
Thoughts are always about some situation – remembered, elsewhere, or imagined. Yet most thoughts are – directly or indirectly – really about ‘me’. They are based on an underlying attitude of ‘I like this – I want to grab onto it’; ‘I don’t like that – I want to make it go away’; or ‘I don’t care about this. I will not waste my time on it – because it does not matter to me’. These three may be called avidity, repulsion, and disregard.
When we use thoughts to trick ourselves into imagining we are in a distant situation, we fall prey to avidity, repulsion, or disregard. We imagine we must act out in this imaginary world. We think about what to say or do there. The imaginary effects—good or bad—of our imaginary actions prompt another round of imagination. Without avidity, repulsion, or disregard, thoughts lose much of their power to distract us.
Thoughts are just thoughts. However compelling they seem at the time, they are completely insubstantial. They evaporate without leaving a trace. Thoughts are like clouds. From a distance they can appear solid and imposing – but close-up they are nothing but thin swirling fog. Meditation allows us to see thoughts close-up – and with practice, we find less and less there.
This Week’s Meditation Technique
As with last week, follow your out-breath. If you find you are often lost in thoughts, pay attention to both the in-breath and out-breath. If thoughts are particularly distracting, return—temporarily—to counting.
When you find that you are thinking – notice with bare attention whether the thought involves avidity, repulsion, or disregard. Allow the thought to drop, and resume your out-breath as its time comes.
The purpose of this technique is to see how many thoughts are about ‘me’ and ‘my’ relationship with other people and circumstances.
Often we relate with avidity, repulsion, and disregard to thoughts themselves – as well as to what these thoughts are about.
‘Bare attention’ means: do not go beyond simply noticing. Particularly, do not judge thoughts as good or bad according to whether they fit these patterns. Do not judge yourself according to how successful you are at noticing. Such judgements are themselves simply repulsion and avidity. Do not analyse thoughts with other thoughts. That may be a strategy for disregarding your actual present situation.
Posture: Practical Tips
It is not natural for humans to maintain a fixed sitting position for long periods. It makes our bodies tired and sore. Though it grows easier with time, it is useful to be able to meditate for a longer period than you can manage comfortably in a single position.
By switching among several positions during a long session, you can sit for longer. Sitting on the floor is usually harder on the knees—and sitting in a chair is harder on the back. If you alternate between the two – as your knees or back become uncomfortable – you may be able to sit two or three times as long.
In the next two emails in this series, I will introduce several additional meditation postures. It is useful to learn as many as possible so you can rotate them, easing different parts of your body with each. Each position also has particular advantages that make it useful in particular circumstances.
The siddha position—and some others—are asymmetrical. With these it is important to alternate which leg is in front. Otherwise in time you will become asymmetrical. Alternating your legs during a session is another way to relieve physical pressure.
When you change position, do so mindfully. Do not stop meditating, change position, and resume meditation. Make your movements slow and deliberate. Be aware of your bodily sensations as you rearrange. The process is part of your meditation – not an interruption of it.
During a long session—if your legs need a rest—you can adopt the rest position for a couple of minutes. This position allows your legs to stretch and relax while you remain on your cushion with an elongated spine, helping maintain meditative awareness. Draw your legs up, knees together, clasp your knees with your wrists, and interlace your fingers.
Don’t Believe The Hype
See if you can notice—sometimes when you are not meditating—the ways in which thoughts are based on avidity, repulsion, or disregard. The three patterns often collapse of their own accord once you have noticed them. Without avidity, repulsion, and disregard, we may see the world as it is, rather than as it relates to our projects.
Thinking is not ‘bad’. It is often indispensable in practical understanding – producing brilliant creative works and profound abstractions. Yet it is odd how often people have strong opinions concerning situations about which they know little, which they have not experienced, and which do not affect them. Knee-jerk responses of avidity, repulsion, and disregard – blur our vision. We cannot see the world clearly when we filter it through ‘what’s in it for me?’. When we cannot see clearly, we cannot act effectively – and we cannot appreciate things as they actually are.
During meditation, we regard thoughts as meaningless gabble, like radio advertisements in unknown foreign languages.
Experiencing thoughts as insubstantial in meditation opens up a possibility in the rest of your life: you do not have to believe your own thoughts. Adopting this attitude provides the possibility of freedom from enslavement to thoughts – and from compulsively acting on what they tell you.
It is not helpful to question all thoughts intellectually. That could lead to paranoia. It is preferable to regard thoughts as we would regard advertisements. When we hear ‘Galacto Toothpaste makes your smile seven times brighter’ – argument is as unnecessary as making the purchase.
Obstacles and Antidotes
Opinions—negative or positive—about oneself are a common obstacle. The antidote: don’t believe the hype.
Most meditators sometimes feel ‘I can’t do this, because I am not smart enough / not spiritual enough / not disciplined enough / too emotional / too intellectual / too old / whatever’. Untrue. Anyone can meditate – because meditation is non-doing. It requires no particular skill – and therefore has no prerequisites. All it requires is persistence.
When discouraged or doubtful concerning meditation – recall the experience of recognising wandering mind and returning to awareness of breath. That is the essence of meditation. If you have experienced ‘returning’—even once—you can trust that meditation is possible for you.
If meditation goes smoothly for a while – you may also feel ‘This is great – I am great – I’m far ahead of those other people – soon I will achieve great things and everyone will notice how special I am and will be impressed and respectful’.
The antidote is to realise that the path to enlightenment is both lengthy and well-worn. Countless people have gone before us, beaten a track, and left sign-posts. Sometimes they may be seen ahead in the distance waving encouragingly. Progress along the path is great, but it does not make anyone special – because anyone can do it, and a great many have.
Preview
It is no coincidence that thoughts distract us. It is no coincidence that they sound like advertisements – when we listen carefully. It is almost conspiratorial. What are we trying to mask with these thoughts?
Recommended Resources
The Aro Membership programme provides personal guidance from an experienced meditation mentor.
The rôle of a mentor is rather like that of a piano teacher or ski instructor. You can learn to play piano, ski, or meditate –working alone from books and recordings. However, you will make more rapid progress with a tutor who: answers your practical questions as they arise; helps diagnose problems and suggests solutions; helps you decide when you have enough experience with a particular meditation technique to move forward, and can suggest possible next steps; provides encouragement when you feel stuck; and may occasionally suggest that you go just slightly deeper into practice than you had been expecting.
Membership can be arranged on a month-by-month basis and entails no commitment. Our web site provides a detailed description of the programme; or you may contact membership@arobuddhism.org.
See our meditation resources page for a range of learning methods.
Learning to meditate is a gradual process. Each week, this course has tweeted new techniques and facilitated new insights. The techniques either address particular problems that may arise when you meditate, or provide progressively more advanced methods which deepen your experience. It is recommended that you start by going back to week one's techniques and begin your weekly course at that time. The earlier exercises are not mere preliminaries. They are central methods in their own right to which you will return repeatedly - no matter how advanced your practice becomes.
To sign up for this course to be emailed to you weekly; click here Aro Meditation
Greetings. I would like to start this week by saying a few words about me.
Thinking
Thoughts are always about some situation – remembered, elsewhere, or imagined. Yet most thoughts are – directly or indirectly – really about ‘me’. They are based on an underlying attitude of ‘I like this – I want to grab onto it’; ‘I don’t like that – I want to make it go away’; or ‘I don’t care about this. I will not waste my time on it – because it does not matter to me’. These three may be called avidity, repulsion, and disregard.
When we use thoughts to trick ourselves into imagining we are in a distant situation, we fall prey to avidity, repulsion, or disregard. We imagine we must act out in this imaginary world. We think about what to say or do there. The imaginary effects—good or bad—of our imaginary actions prompt another round of imagination. Without avidity, repulsion, or disregard, thoughts lose much of their power to distract us.
Thoughts are just thoughts. However compelling they seem at the time, they are completely insubstantial. They evaporate without leaving a trace. Thoughts are like clouds. From a distance they can appear solid and imposing – but close-up they are nothing but thin swirling fog. Meditation allows us to see thoughts close-up – and with practice, we find less and less there.
This Week’s Meditation Technique
As with last week, follow your out-breath. If you find you are often lost in thoughts, pay attention to both the in-breath and out-breath. If thoughts are particularly distracting, return—temporarily—to counting.
When you find that you are thinking – notice with bare attention whether the thought involves avidity, repulsion, or disregard. Allow the thought to drop, and resume your out-breath as its time comes.
The purpose of this technique is to see how many thoughts are about ‘me’ and ‘my’ relationship with other people and circumstances.
Often we relate with avidity, repulsion, and disregard to thoughts themselves – as well as to what these thoughts are about.
‘Bare attention’ means: do not go beyond simply noticing. Particularly, do not judge thoughts as good or bad according to whether they fit these patterns. Do not judge yourself according to how successful you are at noticing. Such judgements are themselves simply repulsion and avidity. Do not analyse thoughts with other thoughts. That may be a strategy for disregarding your actual present situation.
Posture: Practical Tips
It is not natural for humans to maintain a fixed sitting position for long periods. It makes our bodies tired and sore. Though it grows easier with time, it is useful to be able to meditate for a longer period than you can manage comfortably in a single position.
By switching among several positions during a long session, you can sit for longer. Sitting on the floor is usually harder on the knees—and sitting in a chair is harder on the back. If you alternate between the two – as your knees or back become uncomfortable – you may be able to sit two or three times as long.
In the next two emails in this series, I will introduce several additional meditation postures. It is useful to learn as many as possible so you can rotate them, easing different parts of your body with each. Each position also has particular advantages that make it useful in particular circumstances.
The siddha position—and some others—are asymmetrical. With these it is important to alternate which leg is in front. Otherwise in time you will become asymmetrical. Alternating your legs during a session is another way to relieve physical pressure.
When you change position, do so mindfully. Do not stop meditating, change position, and resume meditation. Make your movements slow and deliberate. Be aware of your bodily sensations as you rearrange. The process is part of your meditation – not an interruption of it.
During a long session—if your legs need a rest—you can adopt the rest position for a couple of minutes. This position allows your legs to stretch and relax while you remain on your cushion with an elongated spine, helping maintain meditative awareness. Draw your legs up, knees together, clasp your knees with your wrists, and interlace your fingers.
Don’t Believe The Hype
See if you can notice—sometimes when you are not meditating—the ways in which thoughts are based on avidity, repulsion, or disregard. The three patterns often collapse of their own accord once you have noticed them. Without avidity, repulsion, and disregard, we may see the world as it is, rather than as it relates to our projects.
Thinking is not ‘bad’. It is often indispensable in practical understanding – producing brilliant creative works and profound abstractions. Yet it is odd how often people have strong opinions concerning situations about which they know little, which they have not experienced, and which do not affect them. Knee-jerk responses of avidity, repulsion, and disregard – blur our vision. We cannot see the world clearly when we filter it through ‘what’s in it for me?’. When we cannot see clearly, we cannot act effectively – and we cannot appreciate things as they actually are.
During meditation, we regard thoughts as meaningless gabble, like radio advertisements in unknown foreign languages.
Experiencing thoughts as insubstantial in meditation opens up a possibility in the rest of your life: you do not have to believe your own thoughts. Adopting this attitude provides the possibility of freedom from enslavement to thoughts – and from compulsively acting on what they tell you.
It is not helpful to question all thoughts intellectually. That could lead to paranoia. It is preferable to regard thoughts as we would regard advertisements. When we hear ‘Galacto Toothpaste makes your smile seven times brighter’ – argument is as unnecessary as making the purchase.
Obstacles and Antidotes
Opinions—negative or positive—about oneself are a common obstacle. The antidote: don’t believe the hype.
Most meditators sometimes feel ‘I can’t do this, because I am not smart enough / not spiritual enough / not disciplined enough / too emotional / too intellectual / too old / whatever’. Untrue. Anyone can meditate – because meditation is non-doing. It requires no particular skill – and therefore has no prerequisites. All it requires is persistence.
When discouraged or doubtful concerning meditation – recall the experience of recognising wandering mind and returning to awareness of breath. That is the essence of meditation. If you have experienced ‘returning’—even once—you can trust that meditation is possible for you.
If meditation goes smoothly for a while – you may also feel ‘This is great – I am great – I’m far ahead of those other people – soon I will achieve great things and everyone will notice how special I am and will be impressed and respectful’.
The antidote is to realise that the path to enlightenment is both lengthy and well-worn. Countless people have gone before us, beaten a track, and left sign-posts. Sometimes they may be seen ahead in the distance waving encouragingly. Progress along the path is great, but it does not make anyone special – because anyone can do it, and a great many have.
Preview
It is no coincidence that thoughts distract us. It is no coincidence that they sound like advertisements – when we listen carefully. It is almost conspiratorial. What are we trying to mask with these thoughts?
Recommended Resources
The Aro Membership programme provides personal guidance from an experienced meditation mentor.
The rôle of a mentor is rather like that of a piano teacher or ski instructor. You can learn to play piano, ski, or meditate –working alone from books and recordings. However, you will make more rapid progress with a tutor who: answers your practical questions as they arise; helps diagnose problems and suggests solutions; helps you decide when you have enough experience with a particular meditation technique to move forward, and can suggest possible next steps; provides encouragement when you feel stuck; and may occasionally suggest that you go just slightly deeper into practice than you had been expecting.
Membership can be arranged on a month-by-month basis and entails no commitment. Our web site provides a detailed description of the programme; or you may contact membership@arobuddhism.org.
See our meditation resources page for a range of learning methods.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Meditation Techniques - Week 8
About This Course
Learning to meditate is a gradual process. Each week, this course has tweeted new techniques and facilitated new insights. The techniques either address particular problems that may arise when you meditate, or provide progressively more advanced methods which deepen your experience. It is recommended that you start by going back to week one's techniques and begin your weekly course at that time. The earlier exercises are not mere preliminaries. They are central methods in their own right to which you will return repeatedly - no matter how advanced your practice becomes.
To sign up for this course to be emailed to you weekly; click here Aro Meditation
Motivation
Loss of motivation is a common obstacle. When you first begin to meditate, it is new, strange, and exciting – and promises extraordinary benefits. Later, meditation may seem an unpleasant chore, a waste of time, or even a selfish indulgence.
The primary antidote is inspiration – and this may be found in several places. Reading books about meditation, and its benefits for life, can re-inspire you. (Our web site has a page that recommends books from several traditions and perspectives.) The enthusiasm of other meditators—for example, in a class or weekly sitting group—can be infectious. Accomplished meditators—who exemplify the transformations meditation offers—may also inspire you. These sources help you understand how meditation produces its benefits. Testing that understanding in daily practice leads gradually to confidence that meditation functions pragmatically.
In reality, motivation inevitably fluctuates. Unavoidably, meditation is sometimes attractive, easy, and productive – and at other times proves difficult and unrewarding. The real problem arises if, when you do not feel motivated, you do not meditate. Then you do not see the benefits of meditation, and find even less motivation – and you may abandon meditation altogether. It is important, therefore, to sit even when you do not feel like it. As with athletic training, consistent effort over long periods brings results – even though at times it seems you are going backward. This discipline carries over into all areas of life. Sticking with meditation trains you to persist in long-term tasks.
Ultimately, dedication is found in your own life. Review your meditation notebook – particularly the entry from Week 1 in which you set down your reasons for starting to meditate. Do you still have those goals? Reflect on your life. What is most important to you? You have limited time to live. If you put off meditation now because it is frustrating – when will you ever begin? Meditation is hard – but life without meditation is also hard. If you have come this far in the course, perhaps you have started to see that life without meditation seems rather two-dimensional, constricted, and monotonous in comparison.
It is oddly easy—when meditating—to think ‘I will do it more seriously next time – this time is not the real meditation, so I can just go through the motions’. We are not endowed with ‘temporary trial lives’ that we can repeat once we have got the hang of it. This moment—each moment—is as real as your life will ever be. Do not waste it.
Meditate whole-heartedly. Throw yourself into it. Do not hold back. Effort generates its own energy. Become passionate. A meditation master once said: ‘Meditate as if your hair is on fire.’
Thinking
There is a Tibetan saying: ‘Meditation – isn’t. Getting used to – is.’ Meditation is a mode of non-doing. Meditation is a mode in which we get used to just being. It is difficult – because it is usual to spend all our lives doing things. Normally ‘not doing anything’ implies ‘not doing anything useful’. ‘Not doing anything’ relates to watching television; daydreaming; or absently flipping through catalogues.
In meditation, we train ourselves in actually not doing anything. We have no goals, no expectations. We allow whatever happens, to happen. We leave it alone. We are alert and experience it fully, but without classification, judgement, or comment. We are present – in the present. We let go of elaborate plans for unlikely future scenarios and anguished memories of past events that will not recur.
Then we can be where, when, who, and what we already are. We can enjoy the simplicity of being here, now.
I introduced this phrase in Week 1 – perhaps it means more to you now?
Non-doing in meditation does not suggest you should do any less than you have been in life. Meditation does not imply withdrawal from the world – except during the brief time each day you sit.
With experience in meditation it becomes apparent that in everyday life we have generally only ever been half-aware. We have been sleep-walking through life. Now you are learning to wake up – to experience life fully as it unfolds.
Obstacles and Antidotes
Having read about the possibility of dwelling in the gap between thoughts, you may be tempted to grab at gaps as they pass. This does not work. Gaps are produced by non-doing. Grasping obscures them. Gaps appear when there is no thought – but thoughts are not the enemy. There is nothing wrong with thinking, and attempting to force thoughts out, merely multiplies them. In time you will simultaneously experience thoughts and the empty space in which they appear.
Paradoxically, strong motivation may also be an obstacle. Motivation is necessary to bring us to the cushion each day – but there it must stop. You must let go of desire for progress during the meditation period itself. Like all other thoughts and feelings, it is a distraction from just being if you hold onto it.
If you feel despair at lack of progress in meditation – put aside your goal. It is the obstacle. Instead, enjoy the experience of meditation – of just being – without expectations. Savour ordinary mental presence; forget about extraordinary anything. Extraordinary experiences are not the goal of meditation. They arise only capriciously.
If meditation seems like a chore – acknowledge that. It does not help to pretend you enjoy it when you do not. The aim of meditation is to make the rest of life more enjoyable. Sometimes meditation itself is enjoyable and sometimes it is not. However, it need never be a chore, because there is nothing to do. Simply rest your mind.
Posture
There are two hand positions used in our style of meditation.
The simpler one is to rest your hands on your thighs, palms down. In this position, your upper arms should hang freely, straight down from your shoulders, with no effort to pull them forward or back. The tendency is to place your hands too far forward on your thighs, which pulls your whole body forward into a slump.
The other position places both hands in your lap, palms up, one in the other, with your thumbs barely touching. For this position, you should allow your shoulders to float outward, backward, and downward. That opens the chest and prevents contraction and—again—slumping. This position takes some getting used to. I recommend making the effort because it is traditionally best for shi-nè. The palms-down position is best for a different meditation method I will describe in a few weeks.
This Week’s Meditation Technique
Follow your breath—as previously—but look for the presence of awareness only in your exhalation. Allow inhalation merely to happen. Allow yourself to dissolve into emptiness with each exhalation. If you find that you have drifted from presence – simply return to presence and remain. If thoughts arise, allow them to dissolve into emptiness with each exhalation.
Aim for 20-30 minutes.
Recommended Resources
A community of meditators is a great support – providing inspiration, understanding, and fellowship. The choice of a community is a highly personal one, based on the ‘fit’ between your personality and interests and the community’s.
If you have found this course to your taste so far, you and Aro may be a good ‘fit’. On our web site there is an overview of the Aro path and what it offers in various phases of involvement.
Our Members programme provides personal guidance from an experienced meditation mentor.
See our meditation resources page for a range of learning methods.
Learning to meditate is a gradual process. Each week, this course has tweeted new techniques and facilitated new insights. The techniques either address particular problems that may arise when you meditate, or provide progressively more advanced methods which deepen your experience. It is recommended that you start by going back to week one's techniques and begin your weekly course at that time. The earlier exercises are not mere preliminaries. They are central methods in their own right to which you will return repeatedly - no matter how advanced your practice becomes.
To sign up for this course to be emailed to you weekly; click here Aro Meditation
Motivation
Loss of motivation is a common obstacle. When you first begin to meditate, it is new, strange, and exciting – and promises extraordinary benefits. Later, meditation may seem an unpleasant chore, a waste of time, or even a selfish indulgence.
The primary antidote is inspiration – and this may be found in several places. Reading books about meditation, and its benefits for life, can re-inspire you. (Our web site has a page that recommends books from several traditions and perspectives.) The enthusiasm of other meditators—for example, in a class or weekly sitting group—can be infectious. Accomplished meditators—who exemplify the transformations meditation offers—may also inspire you. These sources help you understand how meditation produces its benefits. Testing that understanding in daily practice leads gradually to confidence that meditation functions pragmatically.
In reality, motivation inevitably fluctuates. Unavoidably, meditation is sometimes attractive, easy, and productive – and at other times proves difficult and unrewarding. The real problem arises if, when you do not feel motivated, you do not meditate. Then you do not see the benefits of meditation, and find even less motivation – and you may abandon meditation altogether. It is important, therefore, to sit even when you do not feel like it. As with athletic training, consistent effort over long periods brings results – even though at times it seems you are going backward. This discipline carries over into all areas of life. Sticking with meditation trains you to persist in long-term tasks.
Ultimately, dedication is found in your own life. Review your meditation notebook – particularly the entry from Week 1 in which you set down your reasons for starting to meditate. Do you still have those goals? Reflect on your life. What is most important to you? You have limited time to live. If you put off meditation now because it is frustrating – when will you ever begin? Meditation is hard – but life without meditation is also hard. If you have come this far in the course, perhaps you have started to see that life without meditation seems rather two-dimensional, constricted, and monotonous in comparison.
It is oddly easy—when meditating—to think ‘I will do it more seriously next time – this time is not the real meditation, so I can just go through the motions’. We are not endowed with ‘temporary trial lives’ that we can repeat once we have got the hang of it. This moment—each moment—is as real as your life will ever be. Do not waste it.
Meditate whole-heartedly. Throw yourself into it. Do not hold back. Effort generates its own energy. Become passionate. A meditation master once said: ‘Meditate as if your hair is on fire.’
Thinking
There is a Tibetan saying: ‘Meditation – isn’t. Getting used to – is.’ Meditation is a mode of non-doing. Meditation is a mode in which we get used to just being. It is difficult – because it is usual to spend all our lives doing things. Normally ‘not doing anything’ implies ‘not doing anything useful’. ‘Not doing anything’ relates to watching television; daydreaming; or absently flipping through catalogues.
In meditation, we train ourselves in actually not doing anything. We have no goals, no expectations. We allow whatever happens, to happen. We leave it alone. We are alert and experience it fully, but without classification, judgement, or comment. We are present – in the present. We let go of elaborate plans for unlikely future scenarios and anguished memories of past events that will not recur.
Then we can be where, when, who, and what we already are. We can enjoy the simplicity of being here, now.
I introduced this phrase in Week 1 – perhaps it means more to you now?
Non-doing in meditation does not suggest you should do any less than you have been in life. Meditation does not imply withdrawal from the world – except during the brief time each day you sit.
With experience in meditation it becomes apparent that in everyday life we have generally only ever been half-aware. We have been sleep-walking through life. Now you are learning to wake up – to experience life fully as it unfolds.
Obstacles and Antidotes
Having read about the possibility of dwelling in the gap between thoughts, you may be tempted to grab at gaps as they pass. This does not work. Gaps are produced by non-doing. Grasping obscures them. Gaps appear when there is no thought – but thoughts are not the enemy. There is nothing wrong with thinking, and attempting to force thoughts out, merely multiplies them. In time you will simultaneously experience thoughts and the empty space in which they appear.
Paradoxically, strong motivation may also be an obstacle. Motivation is necessary to bring us to the cushion each day – but there it must stop. You must let go of desire for progress during the meditation period itself. Like all other thoughts and feelings, it is a distraction from just being if you hold onto it.
If you feel despair at lack of progress in meditation – put aside your goal. It is the obstacle. Instead, enjoy the experience of meditation – of just being – without expectations. Savour ordinary mental presence; forget about extraordinary anything. Extraordinary experiences are not the goal of meditation. They arise only capriciously.
If meditation seems like a chore – acknowledge that. It does not help to pretend you enjoy it when you do not. The aim of meditation is to make the rest of life more enjoyable. Sometimes meditation itself is enjoyable and sometimes it is not. However, it need never be a chore, because there is nothing to do. Simply rest your mind.
Posture
There are two hand positions used in our style of meditation.
The simpler one is to rest your hands on your thighs, palms down. In this position, your upper arms should hang freely, straight down from your shoulders, with no effort to pull them forward or back. The tendency is to place your hands too far forward on your thighs, which pulls your whole body forward into a slump.
The other position places both hands in your lap, palms up, one in the other, with your thumbs barely touching. For this position, you should allow your shoulders to float outward, backward, and downward. That opens the chest and prevents contraction and—again—slumping. This position takes some getting used to. I recommend making the effort because it is traditionally best for shi-nè. The palms-down position is best for a different meditation method I will describe in a few weeks.
This Week’s Meditation Technique
Follow your breath—as previously—but look for the presence of awareness only in your exhalation. Allow inhalation merely to happen. Allow yourself to dissolve into emptiness with each exhalation. If you find that you have drifted from presence – simply return to presence and remain. If thoughts arise, allow them to dissolve into emptiness with each exhalation.
Aim for 20-30 minutes.
Recommended Resources
A community of meditators is a great support – providing inspiration, understanding, and fellowship. The choice of a community is a highly personal one, based on the ‘fit’ between your personality and interests and the community’s.
If you have found this course to your taste so far, you and Aro may be a good ‘fit’. On our web site there is an overview of the Aro path and what it offers in various phases of involvement.
Our Members programme provides personal guidance from an experienced meditation mentor.
See our meditation resources page for a range of learning methods.
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