Meditation
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The what, why, and how of Meditation
We meditate in order to tame, and become familiar with our own mind. Shamatha is an ancient Sanskrit word which means calm abiding and is the essential starting practice or method on the path of meditation. As our mind is calmed through the practice of shamatha, we weaken our attachment to the subjective content of our mindstream and thus begin to starve the thought stream of energy and momentum. Our attention slowly becomes freed from its habitual attachment to sensual phenomena and the constant stream of thoughts. We begin to gain more control over our mind, see deeper into its nature and reality. In time we achieve peacefulness and a more calm objective awareness. At the same time the tensions in the body created by our thoughts will lessen and the condition of both our mind and body improves. The posture for our meditation practice is important because the correct posture will promotes a calm clear and effective practiceWe simply rest sitting crossed legged on the floor or on a chair with back straight yet relaxed, eyes open and hands placed on the knees or in the lap. The correct posture aligns the nervous system and energy of the body. This way the breath is not strained or inhibited and the mind can rest at ease yet maintain clarity. It is important not to get caught up in feeling you are taking part in some special ritual. Just allow the mind to settle in its natural state. If you are interested in more on correct posture you could research the seven point posture of Vairochana.
Progression on the path of meditation is not necessarily linear. We might come in at different points on the path at different times. For all of us however, even for the greatest practitioners, the foundation and starting point of shamatha meditation is un-avoidable. Shamatha means calm abiding and there are two types. Firstly there is 'Shamatha with a support' and secondly 'Shamatha without a support'. Because our minds are so often overwhelmed by our habitual psychic turmoil, we follow after every thought and feeling that arises. So we start by using "shamatha with a support'. This technique provides us an anchor with which to bring our mind home. The support or anchor can be anything. A crystal, statue, candle flame, or repeated affirmation may be used. However the most common and useful anchor perhaps is our breath. We can count the breaths, feel the breath at our nostrils our just watch the breath. The important point is just to keep bringing our attention back to the chosen support, in this case the breath. You might hold 25% of your attention on your breath, 25% watching yourself watch the breath and the remainder of your attention just relaxed open and free. Sometimes people say ' I couldn’t possibly meditate as I can’t stop the thoughts'. Well nothing could be further from the truth. By having noticed that their thoughts never stop, they have actually started to meditate. The idea is not to stop the thoughts. The thoughts will come and go and it is silly to try and stop them. The idea is to practice not clinging to thoughts as they arise. As you continue to practice, your thoughts will have less control over you and you will slowly become familiar with more depth and spaciousness of your minds awareness. As you practice thoughts will come, your eyes will focus on something and a sound in the distance might distract you. Just bring your attention gently back to the breath, relax and release. Do not berate or judge yourself for becoming distracted. The distraction is normal. Just release the thought and bring your attention back to the breath and relax. Mind alert, using the breath to anchor your thinking mind and otherwise resting in a natural and open awareness.This is the instruction on how to practice Shamatha meditation with a support. It is suggested that you use short sessions to start with. The great masters do not say practice for this or that amount of time. Its all open and spacious and so its all up to you!
So start small and don't put too much pressure on yourself to begin with. You can keep it in your heart.
That way you can come back to it again and again.
As you practice shamatha with a support, your meditation will eventually unfold into shamatha without a support. You will find your self calmly abiding more and more naturally without focussing on the breath. Instead of 25% of your attention on your breath, 25% watching yourself watching the breath and 50% open at ease, you will have 5% attention watching the breath, 2% checking yourself watching the breath, and 93% open and spaciously at ease calmly abiding. It is from here that we can become aware of the thoughts come and go differently and watch our ordinary mind without any clinging or distraction. We will see our ordninary thoughts and mind in an entirely new light as the ‘clear seeing’ insight of Vipassana dawns, and we progress into vipassana meditation, and then from vipassana it is taught we can move into the 'non-meditation' of the nature of mind.
If you would like to learn more about shamatha meditation or just take part in a meditation group and practice with others text or call Nick at The happy Yogi Project on 0415 721 388. Open practice group is currently on Tuesday evenings 6pm for 6.15pm start of practice. Please dont arrive earlier than 6pm as the doors will generally be closed.There is no charge for meditation instruction or to take part in groups or practice.
