MEDITATION

9.Developing a Positive state of

mind
10.Developing positive feelings
11.Vipassana

Lecture 9,10 and 11

BUDDHISM
BY SONENDRA
 Samadhi
• Samadhi is a state of mind that is achieved by a long systematic
practice of Meditation. It is very high, concentrated, highly blissful and
refined state of mind.
• Meditation means- Direct, total, all-comprehending vision and
experience of ultimate Reality /Meditation is experience of higher
states of consciousness/ Meditation is an integral part of path to
liberation of mind.
• Misunderstanding- For some it is simply a technique to relieve mental
stress and even physical illness / techniques of mental concentration.
Meditation does provide help in mental concentration but that too is a
very limited side benefit.
• If we really want to explore the depth of Buddhist meditation seriously
then we need a teacher who can guide us.
 Meditation -meaning
Constant practice and • When your body is rightly posed,
mindfulness thereon, • And your mind absorbed deep in
• One feels radiant self- meditation,
awareness shining like a • You may feel that thought and
brilliant lamp. mind both disappear;
• It is pure and bright as a • Yet this is but a surface experience
flower, of Dhyana
• It is like a feeling of staring
Into the vast and empty sky. • We use our minds on such a shallow
scale that we never come across the
• The awareness of Voidness power, beauty, experience of vastness
is limpid and transparent, and bliss that it is capable of.
yet vivid.
 Meditation -Meaning
• Formula is listen, reflect and • Though we are capable of
meditate (experience) upon each experiencing fully, we do not
teaching you come across. because we are scattered,
distracted, divided and drained out.
• Whole of Buddhism is experiential, • So we have generally very little
any teaching we come across is mental energy available to be truly
aimed at sharing and helping to present to any experience.
experience the truth on its level. • We are like half asleep and half
• For every one of us Truth is our own awake all the time.
mind, our own direct experience. • Meditation slowly start awakening
What meditation does is train our us, it slowly starts waking us up
minds to experience ourselves as from a sleep
truly as possible.
 SITTING POSTURE-Padmasana
• We think of meditating it is not • Second factor is sitting
just about mind. It is about body comfortably, when we sit in
first then mind. Healthy, calm meditation we sit upright, not
and relaxed body is a basic too tight and not too loose.
requirement of practice of • we can always look for a
meditation. balanced posture when we sit
• When we get sufficient daily for meditation.
exercise our experience of body • Generally, it is advised to sit
is lightness and ease, otherwise cross legged on a soft cushion. If
it is unpleasant, painful. So the you can sit in Padmasana it is
first step is making sure we look best, but many people can’t, so
after our body with moderation we advise Ardha-padmasana.
in food and effective exercise.
 Anapanasati - Mindfulness of Breathing
• Then close your eyes and get in • Generally, spend up to 10 minutes with
touch with your body experience. awareness of body and letting the mind
and body relax together.
• We can scan our body from top
to bottom and up again.
• Anapanasati - Mindfulness of
Experience different temperature Breathing-
levels in various parts.
• Ana = Coming,
• Allow our mind to register
different sensations in different • Pana = going,
places. Just stay with the body • I = Awareness.
and keep attending to different
happenings, sensations,
• It is awareness of
heartbeats, movements of coming and going of a
breath.
 Anapanasati - • When you find that you
already lost or forgot the
1. Always available and always going on. counting, then you come
2. It’s roughness and smoothness is back and start all over
connected with our mind itself. again. Practice this process
3. It can also help develop one for five minutes at least.
pointedness, Ekagrata
• We realise how quickly and
• Step one - When you breathe in and unknowingly we jump
breathe out naturally, count one, then from one image to
another breath out, you count two, in another, one thought to
this way go up to ten. We count when another. We keep trying
one cycle of breathing completes itself until we are ready for the
with an out breath. next step.
 Anapanasati
• Step two - Now we are a little more • Step 4- Now we find a
accustomed with it, so we count one just point of a gentle touch of
before breath enters, then breathe in and an incoming and
outgoing breath on the
breathe out. Then count two, breathe in and outside edge of our
out, in this way we count ten breaths. nostril. We stay with the
• Step Three - We are now little more focused touch with it, let our
and calmed down a bit. So in the third step attention stay there with
we go for a little unaided venture of giving ease.
attention to breath. We just watch breath
coming in and going out. While in, we feel it We practice this simple
reaches right into our stomach and then four steps meditation daily
gets out. We experience a kind of rhythm of for at least 20 minutes
breath coming and going. Just stay with it.
 Meditation practice of Metta.
• Metta is not just 1. Metta for oneself-
metaphorically expansive.
You feel expansive; You feel • First of all, check your feelings in the
an airy and weightless joy. present. Are you feeling happy or sad?
This quality is characteristic Relaxed or tensed? Energetic or dull? Open
of positive emotions or cramped?
• like ‘up in the clouds’ and • Simply asking these questions and just
‘walking on air’, and metta acknowledging what state we are in is
is the brightest most
positive of emotional enough. Only asking questions with some
states. space in between will help you get in touch
• This Meditation practice of with emotions. Our purpose is to truly be
Metta is taught in five steps conscious of our emotional state and
acknowledge it.
 1. Metta for oneself-
• When people find that
they are experiencing • We say few sentences to ourselves and after
particular painful giving a little space after each sentence we
emotional state, they go repeat the same again and again. Sentences
into different responses are as follows
of panicking.
• Either they deny it and • May I be happy.
tell themselves that it is • May I be well.
alright, or push it down,
or try to find an • May I be free from all
immediate action to get
rid of it. worries.
• Relax yourself a bit and • May all my wishes be
learn slowly to allow
yourself to face it as it is.
fulfilled.
 Metta for oneself-
• In the beginning or even for over • We will find that we are
a period some people might find experiencing some love and
it very dry and mechanical. care for ourselves from within,
• You may doubt whether it is really this is metta.
worth saying such things? Am I • It may come and go initially, but
going to be happy just by saying we keep practicing and let
it? ourselves feel it at each session.
• Such doubts may enter your mind • After five minutes you stop
and you may not find it convincing saying these sentences and
to do this practice. enter into another step
• Our advice is patience
 2. Metta for • May he/she be Happy.
a dear friend
• Remember a happy face of • May he/she be well.
your close friend. We
recommend that people
remember close friends of • May he/she be free from all
their own sexes to avoid her/his worries.
any confusion between
metta and feeling of
romantic love. • May all his/her wishes be
fulfilled.
• To a friend we say same
sentences again with little We keep doing it for five minutes before going to
 3. Metta for
a Neutral person -
• Remember a person we do • May he/she be Happy.
not have any particular
feeling for.
• It could be someone we • May he/she be well.
meet during our morning
walk. • May he/she be free from
• Even some one we all her/his worries.
generally do not converse
but are around for some
reason. • May all his/her wishes be
fulfilled
 4. Metta for a difficult person
• We remember a person we do not • May he/she be Happy.
appreciate at all.
• Or we do have some kind of bad
feeling for him. • May he/she be well.
• May be he/she behaves rudely or
whatever.
• When we are beginning to learn to • May he/she be free
meditate do not remember a person from all her/his
with whom we have a very painful worries.
memory.
• We leave for later.
• Purpose is to free ourselves from any • May all his/her wishes
enmity for anybody. be fulfilled
 5. Metta for all living beings gradually expanded

• Sabbe Satta Sukkhi Hontu - May all beings be well.

• Here you end the meditation.

• We recommend this Meditaion practice daily for 25-30 minutes.
• Some immediate benefits of metta-bhavana –
1. One sleeps well,
2. One wakes up well,
3. We get rid of bad dreams
4. Our relations with other people start improving.
5. When visiting completely new groups of people they easily accept you.
6. You are very confident in any assembly of people.
 Just-sitting- • Thoughts may come and go, you just
watch without getting attached.
Effortless sitting • To them. Just like sky do not hold
• It is important to develop clouds. You just sit with complete
receptivity for oneself and
openness of mind, let come what
cultivate it for the world around
us. comes, let go what goes, let stay
what stays.
• The one person we relate most
and judge most is oneself. • Do not wonder with thoughts. Just
• One person that we need to listen observe what is happening, just be a
to and give attention to is oneself. witness to what your mind does.
• It is not at all easy We are in a • Witness the arising and fading of
habit of occupying oneself with various emotional states like anxiety,
something of other all the time worry, irritation, fear, boredom, joy,
excitement.
• First purpose of meditation is to • The direct benefit of
cultivate awareness. With awareness is a release a lot of
increasing awareness, blocked emotional energy.
• we find that we know more about
our mind than before. • With Anapanasati we gather
• We are able to see where our our scattered mental energies
emotional states are coming from. and let them flow in one
• We are able to see how we take direction.
certain decisions in a certain way. • With Mettabhavana we
• We come across our won habitual practice to be authentic to our
patterns. emotional being.
 Five Hindrances of Meditation
• If our daily work required harming • We are involved in gossiping,
and killing, or even stealing or conspiring or engaged in
deceiving people. competitiveness then our
• Luring people to buy certain things minds are affected and
and telling half-truths to get financial • when we try to sit quietly it all
benefits. Stimulating people’s grid comes up and disturb the mind
and lust for consumer goods and
whatever else. • We need to practice Shila. We
• If we get intoxicated with liquor and need to cultivate our
have late night parties, we are awareness in our daily life.
definitely not able to meditate.
 1. Kamachhanda
• We are distracted by a thought or an • When we are
image and we got lost in it. engrossed into it day
• If a kind of thought or fantasy is and night without
associated with desire for sensual being conscious of it
pleasure, we let our minds
wander aimlessly.
• Then it is Kamachhanda kind of
distraction. Our minds get drawn to
memories of past pleasurable • We increase our
experiences and craving and entangle
• We get lost into them reproducing the ourselves more and
same experience in our imagination. more into it.
 Vyapada - It means hatred
• While meditating when we find
ourselves planning to take revenge. • He insulted me,
• Remembering the harm that is done • hit me,
to us by our friends, relatives or even
an enemy and we fantasise to take • beat me,
revenge. • robbed me’-
• We want to hurt someone. • for those who brood on
• Every one of us one way or other gets this,
hurt by situations or by somebody’s • hostility isn’t stilled.
actions or words.
4. Uddhccha-kukuccha - This is restlessness 3.Thina-middha
and anxiety. - It is laziness and
• Things of past keep bothering us. sleepiness
• Speculations about things in future make
us worry. 5. Vichikiccha
• We may think, think have I done that
wrong?
Is unhealthy doubt that
• Have I closed the door? drives us away from
• What if they sack me tomorrow? meditating.
 Samatha
• Buddhist meditation is broadly of two types
1. Samatha 2.Vipassana
• Smatha= All meditaion practices that prepare mind for deeper
stability, still ness and positivity.
• This state is called Samatha meaning tranquillity of mind.
• The meditation practices Anapana Sati and Mettabhavana
that we are trying to learn in this course are Samatha
practices.
• Anapanasati and Mettabhavana practices are the safest practices for beginners,
o turn into basis for cultivation of Vipassana.
 Vipassana
• Vipassana = Reflective meditation
• Meaning of Pali word
practices
Vipassana is -
Vi= inside and Passana = To see
• To look within or inner vision. There are practices like
• Six-element practice,
• It is a vision of reality which is
an outcome of a systematic • Reflection on Three Lakshanas,
applications of meditative • Reflections on twelve Nidanas,
practices. • Visualisation practices etc