Mind Training

So you want to be a great meditator. You want your life to improve and you want realizations, correct?

Below are 5 basic characteristics you need to cultivate.

1. Honesty
2. Wisdom
3. Enthusiasm
4. Respect
5. Listen

1: Honesty
Being honest means not just telling truths. It mean having the ability to discern personality faults with pragmatism. This may seem obvious but, the ability to see subtle psychological traits is like seeing something from the corner of your eye. If there is not even a willingness to look, there will not be a willingness to see these traits as faults. How will you remove something that you don’t see as a fault?

2: Wisdom
So you have looked into the corner of your psyche now what! Wisdom is the capacity not only to see faults as faults but, also to see qualities as qualities. To know what to cultivate and encourage in our thoughts and emotions and what to remove to a type of wisdom. Simply put, it is knowing right from wrong.

3: Enthusiasm
Without enthusiasm your practice will be like Melbourne weather. Sunny one minute, raining the next.
Without enthusiasm laziness and a lack of joy for practice will easily creep in. Next you will be saying…meditation…what’s that? To combat laziness and engender enthusiasm, one need to see clearly the benefits of the goal at hand. If you are studying difficult philosophical texts or in meditation retreat, the greater appreciation you have for the benefits of your efforts, the less likely that problems will arise when you meet with difficulties…and you will meet them…trust me. Doubt, frustration and negative thoughts will arise, you need to seeing them as just difficulties and move on.

4: Respect
Respect for your teachers, parents, friends, strangers, enemies and yourself is the foundation of compassion. If you do not respect your own life, how can you expect to generate this for others. If you cannot generate genuine respect, how can you expect to generate compassion. Enough said!

5: Listen
Listen to your teacher, this is an easy one right? Anyone that has spent time with high Lamas will know that to really listen is not so easy. Many times when we seek the benefits of a teacher, we do so with baggage from past relationships. We can simply and without even knowing so, try to make the teacher become the father we never had. This approach will not work. To listen means to listen with an open mind and a willingness to do what your told. If you ask a question about how to practice or whether to accept a job. Ask the question with an openness that is willing to do whatever they say regardless of the answer. If you are not willing to do this, don’t ask questions.

Have you been in the position where although you have tried hard you just can’t seem to get your dharma practice working? You keep telling yourself that you should learn how to meditate or meditate each day for a week but, then life gets in the road!

You are not alone!

Most practitioners have faced this problem at some point. Some make it through, while others simply give up. If you want to be one of those who makes it, you need three key elements - patience, perseverance and consistency.

Patience is key for any endeavor be it spiritual or not. Would you expect someone to become a great musician in months? No of course you wouldn’t. So why get frustrated. Have patience and you will become better and always remind yourself that it will take time and in some cases allot of time. How much time I hear you ask! Well that will depend on the individual and your natural abilities. But most importantly it depends on consistency. Your consistency has a direct bearing on just how long that is.

Consistency is related to perseverance, in that without it, consistency will not arise naturally. Don’t think that just making up your mind to practice meditation each day is enough to set you self on a stable course. The decision to start is great but, if it no more than a spurt of energy or a reaction to an event in your live, then you are doomed to fail. For dharma practice and meditation to stay in gear so to speak, consistency is the most important element of the three.

Think of your practice like a set of scales. If you wanted to shift the balance of a set of scales from one side to the other, and you could only move one small weight per day. It will take longer if you only move a weight once a week or when we you have some free time, correct! Not only that but, what if on every day you didn’t move a weight, a weight was moved back to it’s original side! You will never shift the balance of the scales. So you can see from this that consistency is very important. 20 minutes of meditation a day everyday is better than 2 hours every week on a Sunday. Is 2 hours on a Sunday worthwhile you bet but, without a regular session your mind like a set of scales cannot make great advances along the path.

Perseverance without the ability to keep trying many people give up! They are unable to see the benefits of meditation and after a while think that it would be better if they go and do something…anything!
When you feel you motivation waning, read material on the benefits of meditation, or the biographies of the great yogis. Inspire yourself to give it one more crack!

With consistent practice you will be meditating just like the great masters of the past and present.
But remember meditation without proper study is like trying to cut a piece of steak with your finger.

Here is another post on developing a meditation practice

I have heard people ask this question before. I’ve even seen friends and relatives turn away in fright when the subject of death meditation comes up. But the purpose of meditating on death is not to be morbid, negative or to induce fear. Anytime you think that Buddhism is being negative, I can guarantee you that you have misunderstand something. Buddhism is about replacing dysfunctional states of mind with functional minds. So the question is really what is the purpose of meditating on death.

Generally speaking we are so busy with our lives that finding time to sit down and practice is not an easy task. Even when we really want to meditate, life can get in the road! This is where death meditation come into play as it is a powerful motivating force. Why, because death is final! Once you are dead you aint got no more time to practice…the jig is up!

So just as sports people us different techniques to motivate themselves and their team mates, Buddhist use the finality of death to motivate themselves, and to reinforce a sense of urgency about the real situation.  

So you can see that it is not something to be frightened by but, in fact it can be the rocket fuel that will help you become a great meditate. Of course if you have read this far then you are less likely to issues with death meditation. So lets get into the meaty stuff.

Developing an aspiration for benefiting future lives

Qualm: Why do I need to develop an aspiration to benefit a life that has not even come into being!
Answer: By not doing so you run the risk of becoming too focused on this life and in doing so you can weaken your practice. Sure you need to take care of your family, friends, you need to work to pay the bills. This is not what is meant by too focused.
Being too focused means you become more concerned with how other people see you and so your reputation becomes very important to you. This in turn mans you start to act in a way that you think they will like! You seek the approval of others.

That one example, another might be money. Many people worry unnecessarily about money. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about it, work in order to get more. It means worrying about it is unless! Worry and doubt are very be problems and quite a debilitating mind. A disease of the mind, in that it can rot your mind getting worse and worse over time.

The faults of not meditating on death

By not meditating on death you will not remember the dharma. Of course even if you do remember the dharma you won’t practice as you think something like…ah I’ll do it after dinner or when I retire or over the weekend. Even if you practice the dharma you will not do so purely because you are focused on this life. You might think something like by learning meditating I will become very peaceful and attractive and then everyone will love me.  It’s clear that mediating with a motivation like that is not good in fact from a Mahayana point of view this would not even be regarded as a Buddhist meditation. My teacher says that meditating like this is selfish, meditation is about benefiting both yourself and others.

Without an awareness of your own immortality you will lack persistence with meditation and are much more likely to perform non-virtuous actions as you will mistaken think that there is plenty of time to fix it later. Or you might just not care!

Unfortunately without this awareness you will die with regret. Now I have seen this happen first hand. Someone coming to our center year in year out. Dies of cancer with the thought I could have done more! Oh god I wish I had practiced more!

This is very sad to watch someone struggle like this.

Below is a 9 round death meditation. It is made up of 3 propositions, 9 reasons and 3 decisions.

How to meditate on death

Death is definite

1: Death will definitely come, nothing can stop it.

2: Life span is continuously decreasing

3: Death will come regardless of whether you have made time to practice or not

Decision: It is definite that I will die and so I must practice dharma!

Time of death is uncertain

1: The life span of beings is this world is uncertain

Shantideva, Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds

Remaining nether day nor night,
This life is constantly slipping by
And never getting any longer.
Why will death not come to one like me!

2: There are more factors conductive to death than life
    a: External factors
    b: Internal factors
    c: Things that generally support life can become the cause of your demise

3: Our bodies are very fragile

Decision: As I am not sure when I will die, I must practice dharma now!

At the time of death, only the dharma can help

1: Friends cant help - you have to leave by yourself.

2: Your wealth cant help you - you cant take your money with you or buy a first class seat into the next life.

3: Body cannot help you through the death process.

Decision: As nothing but the dharma can benefit me at my time of death. I must practice dharma purely!

Guided Meditation
Below is a guided meditation that I was first taught by one of my teachers Gen Loden Jampa (we have very similar names)

Breathing Meditation

Begin by settling the mind by focusing it on just the breath.

So we consciously relax away from our involvement in the worlds of the senses. The external world that dominates most of our waking experience.
The world of sights, sounds, smells, tastes and tangible things. The phenomenal world, the material world, the external world.
Instead focus our inner awareness on a single object, the natural rising and falling of the breath.

Allow your awareness to settle, by simply observing the breath. As we breath naturally, watch the ebb and flow of the breath. As we observe the breath we let go of all other thoughts and concerns - all discursive thought. We release ourselves from the past, from thoughts of the past, thoughts of last year, last week, last day, last hour, last instant. Every thought dwelling in the past is a mere memory. We release ourselves from thoughts of the past and allow ourselves to be fully present, simply observing the breath.

And likewise, we release ourselves from thoughts of the future, thoughts of next year, plans of next week, of the next day, of the next instant. All thoughts into the future are mere speculation on what may come to be. We release ourselves from speculation, to be fully present, simply observing the breath.

Allow the mind to completely settle, to relax, as a silent witness watching the breath without discursive thought or comment.

Conventional Nature of Mind

As you watch the breath, have a sense that your awareness is like vast open space free of thought.
An unstructured bare awareness as vast as space, within which flows the movement of the breath - the object of observation. Within the vast space of your awareness, distracting thoughts, sounds or images arise and disappear within that space like a rainbow. A rainbow arises and disperses without ever disturbing space. In this way your mind becomes still. Distracting thoughts don’t carry your attention but arise and disappear without disturbing your space-like awareness.

Now notice that the object of concentration is the breath and that the subject is your still spacious awareness. A vast open awareness free of thought.
Now turn the object of concentration to the subject itself and simply observe the still, clear, spacious mind of bear awareness – the observing subject.

Now with a small part of your awareness analyze this bear awareness - this still consciousness, the unmoving unstructured mind. Does this still, clear, knowing mind have shape or color? Is it form? Is it matter, cells or physical substance? Does it have mass or resistance?

If we examine we find that consciousness itself - the clear knowing bear awareness - is not form, not shape, not color, not mass, nor does it have resistance.
It’s not cells or matter, it have no physical substances. It is simply clear and knowing.

Mind in Relation to Space and Time

And observe the clear knowing nature of mind in relation to space. Does the clear knowing mind have a boundary. Is it bounded by the body or brain? Is bounded by the room? Is there a point in space in which it cannot directly or indirectly know? So we can see that the mind is not bound by any limit of space – up, down or in any direction. It is simply clear and knowing. And again observe the clear knowing nature of mind in relation to time. Does it have a beginning – a point at which awareness started? Does it have an end – a point at which awareness ends? Is there a point in time that it cannot know either past or future? Is it bound by time? And we will see that unlike an individual thought, bear awareness itself has no beginning and no end. No point in time that it cannot know, no boundary within time. This bear awareness, this clear knowing nature of mind, is not bound by space and time.

And observe further and see that the clear knowing nature of mind is not anger – It is not in the nature of anger. It is not attachment. It’s not jealously, pride, anxiety, fear or doubt. It is no negative state. It is not by nature deluded, it is simply clear and knowing.

Ultimate Nature of Mind

And observe again this clear knowing nature of mind, the conventional nature of mind – the knower.
And look to its ultimate nature. Does it ultimately exist? Does it inherently, truly or naturally exists? Is it findable under ultimate analysis? Or is it emptiness of these things – of these modes of existence? And if we look at the clear knowing nature of mind, to find the truly existent clear knowing nature of mind, the inherently existent clear knowing nature of mind. When we look amongst its part – its past moments, its future moments or the present moment of awareness in this stream of consciousness. We see that an inherently existent clear knowing nature of mind is not found. It’s not found in its past moments or it would have ceased. It is not found in its future moments or consciousness would not have arisen. And if we look for the knower in this present moment, in the action of looking the present moment has gone!

This unfindability of the clear knowing nature of mind. The unfindability of the knower is the emptiness of mind – its ultimate mode of existence.
This emptiness is a mere absence, an absence of inherent existence, a permanent phenomena. Meditate on this emptiness single-pointedly.

Then be aware that as we observe emptiness, we in fact observe! That we know that the emptiness of the knower is not the absence of knowing, simply the absence of inherent existence. Then see again in a new light the clear knowing conventional nature of mind. Its conventional existence.

Negative and Positive States of Mind

Both positive and negative states of mind have such an impact of us both in a gross and subtle way, that I thought it best to explain these in their correlations – how they impact on each other.

Buddhism asserts that the person is the conventionally existent self. The sense we have when we say “I will this do”, “I am like this”, in my case I have an image of myself…”I am Clarke, the gentle and sensitive person” this is how I see myself and we all have our sense of self, sense of person. Strictly speaking the person is that which is imputed onto the 5 aggregates. What are the 5 aggregates? The 5 aggregates are simply a way of dividing body and mind.

The 5 Aggregates

1. Form: The form aggregate is the appearance of the body and the subtle appearance is more to do with the way you project yourself. Subtle form is included in the form aggregate and it is the way you appear of present to others.
2. Feeling: Feeling is divided in good, bad and natural feeling. There are graduations of feeling but, feelings can be categorized as either good, bad or natural.
3. Discrimination or Perception: Is the way that we label things, the way we classify and label things. This is Fred, this is Joe, this is good, this bad, this is mine, our labeling process. It is normally what we would call thinking.
4. Impulse: Is like the energy of mind, the emotional aspect of experience. It is the moving aspect of mind, it is how you are moved or impelled to act.
5. Consciousness: Consciousness can be divided into many different types but for us here today we will us positive and negative minds.

Generally we don’t think of anger as being a consciousness but being more of an emotion. But anger is also a consciousness, it is a way of knowing. So the way of knowing of anger is a distorted view, a distortion of things into unpleasant and threatening. The emotive aspect of anger is the emotion to lash out and harm someone. The feeling will be a bad feeling. The perception will be “this is my real enemy”. And the subtle form will project and have an influence of the gross form and you will end up looking like this…visual…A darkness will come over the face and so forth.

Similarly with the positive emotion for example loving-kindness you will have the consciousness of loving-kindness which is seeing the object in a favorable light. You will have the emotion of loving-kindness, the movement to caring, benefiting and bringing happiness. You will have the feeling of loving-kindness, the undeniably good feeling. You will have the perception of loving-kindness, may this person have happiness. And you will have the form of loving-kindness, which will be a pleasant, relaxed, open type of appearance.

So essentially the aggregates are the agents of experience of the person.

Below is a guided meditation to demonstrate in meditation the effects that anger and loving-kindness on these 5 aggregates.

Anger

Generate anger, let yourself get into an angry state of mind by observing someone who you finding supremely annoying. Someone who is difficult to communicate with, someone that you just don’t like! Then once that mind of anger has arisen, from a corner of your mind, observe the feeling of anger. Is it painful? Observe the impulse aggregate. That agitated impulse to lash out and harm either verbally or physically. Is that constructive? The labeling or perception of anger – this is my enemy! Is this truly valid? Would their mother feel the same? Observe the consciousness aggregate. How anger distorts your view making everything not just the so called enemy seem threatening. Then observe the form aggregate. How anger makes your body harsh, tense and agitated. Take the time to generate each of those states. You should spend at least 5 minutes on this or until you clearly see each point. The longer you can stay on this part the more affect the next section will have.

Now turn your attention to loving-kindness.

Loving-Kindness

Generate the mind of loving-kindness by remembering someone who is very dear to you. Someone who has shown you great kindness, who you care for deeply. Remembering that person, remembering their kindness and all that they mean to you, allow a mind of loving-kindness to develop. Remember the person to the point at which loving-kindness is generated, and then concentrate on just the mind of loving-kindness - moving your object of observation from the person to the mind of loving-kindness itself so that it completely fills your awareness. Then as you experience loving-kindness, look at the components of that experience – the aggregates. The easiest to see is the aggregate of feeling. The wonderful feeling of the mind of loving-kindness. The impulse aggregate of the mind of loving-kindness - the emotion or movement of friendliness. The movement to help not harm. Then the aggregate of discrimination of loving-kindness - the way of labeling or describing loving-kindness - the wish for another’s happiness. What we are feeling now is the experiencing of the wish for another’s happiness. Then observe the consciousness aggregate of loving-kindness - the way loving-kindness effects and influences our view of the world. Then the form aggregate in relation to loving-kindness. Some of you may even be able to identify to endorphins or at least a soft warm feeling through the body.

Then gently release your concentration and finish the meditation.

So it is importance of your meditation generally to understand the agents of experience – the 5 aggregates. Many people when they are told to meditate on loving-kindness by thinking “may all beings have happiness and all causes of happiness” think that thinking that is the meditation on loving-kindness. But, that is only one part of the meditation, the perception aspect of the meditation. Associated with that perception or thought is the good feeling, also the emotional aspect, and also the change to consciousness – the way we view the world around us. And of course the physical change by the release of little magically chemicals called endorphins at the courser level, and at the more subtle level your appearance also changes to something more pleasant. So when we are cultivating minds in meditation, we should cultivate them right through the agents of experience to deepen our experience.

Last night at our Yamantaka class, my teacher Geshe Loden spoke of the practice of the common Illusory body and how one can take this practice into everyday life. The practice is a method of seeing all events as like an illusion in order to not get sucked into these false appearances. The practice originated from Pandit Naropa an 11th century Buddhist mystic.

However this practice is just as important today as it was then, perhaps even more so with so much information being thrown at ordinary people. The Common Illusory Body is common to both the perfection vehicle and Vajrayana. So it is possible to speak about it here.

What is the Common Illusory Body.
It is the practice of seeing all things and events as a mere illusion. Thus diminishing the power of false conventional appearances. What is meant by false conventional appearances. See Beyond Appearances for more on this but, for now let’s just say that false appearances are conventional appearances to the mind of with the factor of inherent existence. That is, we see things as if they have a real, concrete, inherent existence, in and of themselves and NOT dependant on our viewing consciousness or labeling process. Because of this rather simply fault, we get sucked into them and then create action induced by them.

This is how ego engages the world, and how all dysfunctional states of mind are generated. By engaging the world as a mere illusion we are in fact viewing the world more realistically. That does not mean the world is just an illusion, just like a dream. No, you I and the world do exist, just not inherently. Buddhism asserts that the mind is the primary source of all happiness, problems and the natural world – the environment. Change our mind and we change our world.

Common Illusory Body example.
So in order to understand how the practice works lets take an example. Say a colleague accuses you of having a poor work ethic or gets angry and says something indirectly to you that implies you are selfish! You immediately react, or I should say your ignorance/ego immediately reacts and from this point you are engaging that person with a dysfunctional mind - dysfunctional in the sense that it is not working to its greatest capacity because delusion like anger distort the mind of stop it functioning properly. Some people might feel this is normal and justified. Buddhism assert that while it is normal for most people, it is however transformable and by doing so, you actually put yourself into a better position to engage your colleague. Have you ever seen someone get into an argument after they have become angry? Most often they look quite silly even though they feel they are justified in being angry. Even normally caring people do silly things when they are angry.

Having said all that, it can be quite difficult to practice when you are in front of the water cooler! You first needs to training by yourself, then when you find you are in a difficult situation your training will kick in naturally.

How to train in the Common Illusory Body practice
Well here comes the fun part…actually the first time I did this I couldn’t stop laughing because it felt so weird.

1: Go and stand in front of a mirror.
2: Look at the reflection of yourself in the mirror.
3: Start to criticize the reflection and learn to not react to the criticism by seeing it as it really is…mere illusion.
My teacher suggests saying things like…you are ugly, you are stupid, you are a thief and so on.�
4: Now praise yourself. You are the greatest, you are very handsome, you are such as good person…again hear these as mere words.
5: Now ask a friend to criticize you and then praise you, all the while you should remain balanced, seeing these words not as meaningless but relative.

The point is that we are all too often elevated by praise and depressed by criticism, when the reality is that good and bad, ugly and pretty are all relative. So why do we get so upset!

This is a mind training practice, training your mind to remain balanced in the face of adversity.

Good luck and if you do give this a go I would be interested t hear the result and your thoughts.