The forty subjects for meditation

In the 5th century CE, an Indian Buddhist monk left India to Sri Lanka, where he settled in Anuradhapura. Not much more is known of this monk, Buddhaghosa, except through his monumental commentary on the Suttas, the Visuddhimagga - Path of Purification.

Perhaps the main reason for the Visuddhimagga's appeal stretching to our time is its detailed instructions on meditation, clarifying some obscure points in the original Suttas.

Some learned Ajaans (namely Buddhadasa), in modern times, envisioned a return to the sources, considering that only the Suttas and the Vinaya are the Buddha's words: not the Visuddhimagga, not even the Abhidhamma (the third Pitaka - Basket of Scriptures - of the Pali canon).

Here are the forty subjects for meditation you can find in the Visuddhimagga, together with references (links) to the original Suttas.

Ten devices (kasina) [The Greater Discourse to Sakuludāyin, MN 77]

1. Earth device
2. Water device
3. Fire device
4. Air or wind device
5. Blue device
6. Yellow device
7. Red device
8. White device
9. Limited space device
10. Consciousness (MN77) or Light (VSM) device

Ten kinds of foulness of a corpse [Kayagata-sati Sutta, MN 119]

1. A corpse that is bloated
2. A corpse that is livid (has patchy discoloration)
3. A corpse that is festering (trickling with pus in broken places)
4. A corpse that is cut up
5. A corpse that is gnawed
6. A corpse that is scattered
7. A corpse that is hacked and scattered
8. A corpse that is bleeding
9. A corpse that is worm-infested
10. A corpse that is a skeleton

Ten recollections [Ekadhammapali Sutta, AN 1.296-297]

1. Recollection of the Buddha
2. Recollection of the Dhamma
3. Recollection of the Sangha
4. Recollection of Virtue
5. Recollection of Generosity
6. Recollection of the Devas
7. Mindfulness of Death
8. Mindfulness of the Physical Body
9. Mindfulness of Breathing
10. Recollection of Peace

Four divine abodes [Kalama Sutta, AN 3.65]

1. Loving-kindness
2. Compassion
3. Sympathy
4. Equanimity

Four immaterial states [Ariyapariyesana Sutta, MN 26]

1. Sphere of Infinite Space
2. Sphere of Infinite Consciousness
3. Sphere of No-thingness
4. Sphere of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception

One perception [Sañña Sutta, AN 7.46]

1. Perception of the loathsomeness of food

One defining [Dhatu-vibhanga Sutta, MN 140]

1. Analysis of the four physical elements

There are several contemporary expositions on the forty subjects for meditation, but I would like to leave you a very concise one, by the Mahasi Sayadaw, in Buddhist Meditation and its Forty Subjects. It is, as far as I know, the only text where the Sayadaw gives instruction, in parallel, on samatha and vipassana meditation.

As I said before, mindfulness of breathing (the 9th recollection, above) is still the most used meditation subject. It is said to be appropriate for all meditators' temperaments, conducive to the deepest meditative states (not all forty subjects are), and safe (not all forty subjects are). If you want to try other meditation subjects please try and find a suitable meditation master - it will not be easy.

Pranayama - the Science of Breath

http://greenyogaindia.com/prana-and-pranayama/

Remember Rishi Patanjali's eight-limbed Yoga?

1. Yama
2. Niyama
3. Asana
4. Pranayama
5. Pratyahara
6. Dharana
7. Dhyana
8. Samadhi

We've seen a little on asana - the physical posture - and on the last four limbs that deal with the mental posture.

Meditation, particularly Buddhist meditation, is often centered on watching the breath, just watching it go in and out without forcing it in any way.

Pranayama is completely different: we control breath.

Patanjali doesn't offer a very detailed explanation. The verses that refer to pranayama are only five: II-49 to II-53

49. Asana having been perfected, regulation of the flow of inhalation and exhalation is Pranayama.
50. Pranayama has external operation, internal operation and suppression. These, again, when observed according to space, time and number become long and subtle.
51. The fourth Pranayama transcends external and internal operations.
52. By that the veil over manifestation of knowledge is thinned.
53. Moreover, the mind acquires fitness for Dharana.

[Adapted from https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=qUHabpdmSCkC)]

Apart from continual oral transmission, we had to wait almost 1000 years to have a detailed written instruction on pranayama, in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.

Let's make a little experiment.

Lie down on your back and relax. Remember savasana?
Now pay attention to your thorax and abdomen and try to discern how they move with breath. Take your time...
If you're stressed (aren't we all?) you'll find that you are breathing from the top of your lungs. That's bad.
Now inhale deeply: begin by dilating your abdomen and then propagate the dilation to the chest, like a wave that begins just above the pubis and ends by the throat. Don't hold your breath; just let physics work and empty your lungs. When they're naturally emptied, there are still a few gases remaining: contract your chest and then the abdomen to expel the last possible ounce of residual gas. You've never taken such a deep, full breath in your life!

Traditionally the phases of breath are called

1. Puraka - Inhalation
2. Kumbhaka - Retention
3. Rechaka - Exhalation

There is also kumbhaka after exhalation. If you are very mindful you can detect both kumbakhas even in your normal breathing. In fact, that's one of the advanced themes for Buddhist calm (samatha) meditation.

You may have noticed that the amount of air that flows through the left and right nostrils is not the same. This is natural. We have a dominant nostril, and it changes along the day - it is said that the dominant nostril changes every 108 minutes. If your dominant nostril is always the same, especially if you never breath through one of them, see a doctor: you probably have some physical obstruction.

When you do long breathing meditation (not pranayama) sessions you sometimes catch the dominant nostril slowly switching. It's a lot of fun...

Did this experiment make you want to further explore pranayama? Then sit. The ideal position for practicing pranayama is one of the meditative asanas that we've seen in a previous post on meditation.

I'm going to show you four pranayamas based on Swami Sivananda's The Science of Pranayama. The idea is to take a few minutes every day, preferably early in the morning, and practise one exercise during one week. Try not to skip steps. If at any time you feel dizzy, stop immediately. Your body is warning you that you are over-straining. As I said before, this is Yoga - not gymnastics!

First week: exercise #1

Close your eyes. Inhale deeply, as before, through both nostrils, very slowly and gently until your lungs are full. Remember that inhalation begins in the abdomen. Do not retain the breath. Then slowly exhale. Do twelve times. This will constitute one round. You can do two or three rounds according to your capacity, strength, and time at your disposal.

Second week: exercise #2

Close your eyes. Close the right nostril with your right thumb. Inhale very slowly through the left nostril as long as you can do it with comfort. Then exhale very slowly through the same nostril. Do twelve times. Do not make any sound during inhalation and exhalation. Then inhale through the right nostril by closing the left nostril with your right ring and little fingers and exhale very slowly through the same nostril. Do twelve times.

Vishnu Mudra - used for opening and closing nostrils.
http://sacred-earth.typepad.com/yoga/2008/07/mudras-for-pranayama.html

Third week: exercise #3

Close your eyes. Then inhale slowly through your left nostril. Close the left nostril with your right ring and little fingers and open the right nostril by removing the right thumb. Exhale very slowly through the right nostril. Then draw the air through the right nostril as long as you can do it with comfort and exhale through the left nostril by removing the right ring and little fingers. There is no kumbhaka in this pranayama. Do twelve times.

Fourth week: exercise #4

Close your eyes. Close the right nostril with your right thumb. Inhale slowly through the left nostril while mentally counting one-two-three. Using the ring and little finger, close the left nostril too and retain the air for the time it takes you to count to twelve; exhale through the right nostril for the time it takes you to count to six; keeping the right nostril open, inhale through it counting to three; close both nostrils while counting to twelve; open the left nostril and exhale through it while counting to six. Do twelve times.

As you have guessed, the aim is to have a 1-4-2 proportion for puraka-kumbhaka-rechaka.

From the end of the fourth week onwards you can try to slowly increase the time, by both slowing and deepening the steps. You began with 3-12-6; next week try 4-16-8. After a few months you may be able to get to 16-64-32 without undue strain. 

Watch Baba Ramdev demonstrating pranayama.

http://ramdevyoga4all.blogspot.com/2010/07/complete-eight-pranayamas.html

Mantra: meditation is not confessional

When we hear the word 'mantra' what comes to mind?

Hare Krishna?

Credit: http://www.krishnayoga.info/radhanath-swami/the-hunger-for-krishna/

Actually

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

is an old Hindu, Vaishnava, mantra, probably dating back to the 15th century CE.

A mantra is just a sentence, heavily loaded with significance, which helps us to concentrate - or meditate. Significance does not equate to linguistic meaning. What is maybe the oldest Sanskrit mantra, Om, cannot be translated.

If we slowly pronounce it A - U - M, lengthening the 'M', it induces a peaceful, insightful state of mind.

Theravada Buddhism doesn't use mantras much. However, some of the forest tradition masters recommend using the word Buddho to help in the beginning stages of concentration: thinking 'Buddh' while inhaling and 'dho' while exhaling.

And this is the key.

We aren't used to watch our breath and soon our mind runs away like a crazy monkey. Associating words with each in and out breath helps us to keep focused.

Ajaan Maha Boowa said that he spent several days repeating Buddho in every waking moment. And he didn't sleep much...

Aren't the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary mantras, especially when concatenated in a rosary? The four largest religions in the world, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, all use prayer beads.

If, like me, you have trouble concentrating, especially at the beginning of a meditation session, use a mantra. Only two conditions: it must be meaningful to your heart and it must have an even number of syllables (or just one - OM) so that you can sync it with your breath.

Some of the mantras that I use are

OM

BUDDHO

OM NAMO BUDDHAYA

OM MANI PADME HUM

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

So, why not

MARY

or

YAHWEH

or

ALLAH

?

Samatha meditation and vipassana meditation

Two methods of Buddhist meditation

Phra Ajan Jerapunyo, Abbot of Watkungtaphao, meditating in Sirikit Dam, Thailand. Wikimedia Commons.

If you read about it, you'll find endless discussions among learned monks.
Essentially, the issue boils down to three attitudes:
 - You can attain enlightenment by samatha (serenity) meditation alone.
 - You can attain enlightenment by vipassana (insight) meditation alone.
 - You need both.

Let's see the problem with a little more detail.

Samatha meditation

This is what I tried to introduce in a previous post. You calm your mind's ripples by focusing on a single very well defined meditation subject, like breath, blue, water, or the Buddha - there are forty of them. When a sensory input or a thought arrives, you mindfully return to your meditation subject.

If you can still your mind enough, you are now practicing samadhi. Further along, sometimes you get a sign (nimitta) - colors, shapes, sounds, scents - which shows you are entering jhana (Pali for the Sanscrit dhyana). Some say you can enter jhana without the nimitta appearing first. There are four jhana states, or levels, which can be followed by four formless attainments, in a progression from grosser to more refined forms of consciousness.

Simple suttas blog. Pt. 2 Is Jhana Really Necessary (hint: yes)

The Buddha said that His enlightenment occurred after attaining all four jhanas and then the four formless states. At His death bed, He walked through the four jhanas in direct, then reverse, then direct order again, and He died in what is called His Parinibbana (state beyond nirvana, or nirvana in death).

Many modern meditation masters, such as the Pa Auk Sayadaw or Ajahn Brahm, consider that jhana is the way to nibbana (nirvana).

Don't overthink this. Keep on with mindfulness of breathing, for all your life if need be.

Vipassana meditation

Vipassana is more analytical. You are trying to get insight into the nature of all phenomena as impermanent, suffering, and selfless (anicca, dukkha, anatta).

Anicca-dukkha-anatta, by Michael Bond.

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/anicca-dukkha-anatta-michael-bond.html

So, when a sensory input or a thought arrives at your mind, you watch it with detachment and see it arise, stay for a while and go away. I mentioned this earlier relating to the pain that - always! - happens after some time of sitting meditation.

Vipassana meditation is spread worldwide today, thanks to the work of a lay master, S. N. Goenka, a pupil of another layman, Sayagyi U Ba Khin (once accountant general of Burma), who learned vipassana meditation with Webu Sayadaw, a monk who was regarded as enlightened. All three were Burmese so, in a way, the modern Vipassana Movement was born in Burma.

So, what should I do?

A polemic took place between the Burmese Mahasi Sayadaw and the Sri Lankan monk Soma Thera, in the late 1950s. The Sayadaw defended that nibbana is attainable by 'dry insight' - vipassana alone - and the other monk defended the necessity of samadhi. There is an account of this polemic in Satipatthana Vipassana: Criticisms and Replies. Dry.

Mahasi Sayadaw. http://www.mahasiusa.org/sayadaw.html

If you google "vipassana meditation" you get 733,000 hits, while "jhana meditation" gets you 129,000. On the other hand, if you search "vipassana" and "jhana" in accesstoinsight.org you get 155 and 368 hits, respectively. This shows that, while vipassana, maybe because it seems easier, has a much wider global following, the Dhamma texts, on the other hand, have much more samatha references.

My experience tells me that you cannot have the necessary concentration to observe the transient nature of all phenomena without previous samatha practice. If you take a vipassana 10-days course from the Goenka 'school', you'll find that the first two days are dedicated to samatha meditation. You should, by the way.

"Serenity and insight are the two great wings of Buddhist meditation. They each have a special role to play in the path to Awakening. While some modern approaches seek to marginalize serenity in favor of ‘dry’ insight, the Buddha’s own discourses place serenity right at the center of the path" in A Swift Pair of Messengers by Bhante Sujato (the messengers are samatha and vipassana.)

Anyway...

Don't overthink this. Keep on with mindfulness of breathing.

Savasana - the corpse

The hardest yoga pose

The corpse posture, savasana, is said to be the hardest yoga pose to fully accomplish.

But, well, anything is hard to fully accomplish!

Savasana should always be at the beginning and at the end of your physical (hatha) yoga sessions.

Undress and lie down on your back, with your arms beside you and your legs slightly apart - somewhere between 2 inches (5cm) and one foot (30cm) between your heels.

Take a few deep and slow breaths.

Your hands may rest on the floor palm up or palm down, whatever feels more comfortable and, most of all, effortless. Remember you are a corpse.

You also have to find the best position for your head by trial and error, sliding the back on the floor, so that it is closer or further away from the shoulders - but always looking up.

Now, close your eyes and feel.

Feel the touch of the floor on your body, feel gravity's pull down.

And... Relax.

This is easier said than done. As with everything, there are methods.

Begin feeling your right foot. Is it relaxed? Does it tilt naturally to the right side or are you unconsciously trying to keep it up? Let it go. Are there any points of stress on your right foot? Relax them. Are you curling up your big toe? Let it go.

Slowly move your attention - your mindfulness - up your right leg, until you reach the hip. Identify and relax all points of stress. When your right leg is totally relaxed, move to the left foot, leg and hip, slowly, the same way as before.

You get the idea.

Proceed slowly through the buttocks, the pelvis, the abdomen, the thorax, right hand, arm, and shoulder, left hand, arm, and shoulder, and the neck. The trickiest part is probably the head, especially the face. Depending on your head's pitch your jaw may fall a bit when you relax it. If you're very good at this, after relaxing the neck muscles, the jaw, and the tongue, you may even begin to snore! Stay awake.

After letting go all the stress in the facial muscles, take a fast tour of the whole body. It should feel completely relaxed. Corpse-like...

The Buddha advised to contemplate death (maranasati) with each in and out breath - and this is an easy and refreshing way to begin doing it.

Savasana is a good practice before formal sitting meditation because it allows for a smooth transition between the struggle of daily life and the peacefulness of meditation.

For the same reason, you should do it before your hatha yoga practice. Try this:

1. When you feel fully relaxed, spread your arms to the sides while inhaling; take three full breaths, then
2. Bring your hands to the chest in 'anjali' while exhaling; take three full breaths, then
3. Project your arms up while exhaling; take three full breaths, then
4. Stretch your arms back while inhaling; take three full breaths, then
5. Do the previous steps in reverse order until you are back in savasana.

Respiration might seem too complicated but in fact is simple: the general 'rule' is to inhale with expansive, outward, or upward movements and to exhale with contractile, inward, or downward, movements. In time, you'll find your own respiratory rhythm to accompany your asana practice.

Just remember two things: slow down and sustain. It is much better to sustain a pose for three breaths than to repeat it three times. This is not calisthenics. Eventually your 'yoga rhythm' will extend to your life.

Meditation 101

Meditation is the core Buddhist sadhana (daily practice).

Tosaporn Boonyarangkul - http://www.freeimages.com

If you are a Buddhist you meditate every day, even if just for a few minutes.

If you are not a Buddhist, meditate anyway!

If you are serious about life and the universe and everything, you try to make every waking moment a moment of meditation.

How do you meditate? Just watch what's going on inside you.

Of course, if you are a beginner, there are some details that can help.

Place and time

Try to meditate always at the same place, always at the same time. Make it a habit: it's sure better than eating, drinking, or smoking. As weeks, months, years go by, you'll find yourself yearning for these peaceful moments and missing them when you just can't get to it. If you can, reserve a place at home just for meditating. Most of us can't; just try to make it a happy, quiet place.

When you can, meditate outside, in the open. Sounds can be a little disturbing at first but, as Ajahn Chah said, “It is not that the noise is disturbing you. You are disturbing the noise.”

Ajahn Chah - https://forestsangha.org/ajahn-chah/dedication

Position

Try to meditate sitting on the floor. If you aren't flexible enough to sit on the floor, a bench is alright - even a chair, if you don't lean on the back. But give the floor a try.

There's no need to be uncomfortable: sit on a folded blanket, so that your joints don't press on the floor. Another thing that helps a lot is a pillow under your buttocks, just the buttocks, so that your crossed legs lean down. There are plenty meditation cushions for sale on the Internet but there's no reason to spend a lot of money; any ordinary pillow or cushion, open or folded, will do. In time, you'll find the setup that's 'just right' for you.

Then there's the posture itself - remember Patanjali's asana?

A good meditation posture is both stable and comfortable, but somehow stability and comfort are inversely proportional... at least at the beginning.

The stablest and most recommended posture is the lotus: simple to describe (place your left foot on your right thigh and your right foot on your left thigh) but difficult to sustain for long - or even to achieve for most of us.

Padmasana (the lotus posture)

Myself, I use the half lotus: bring your left foot close to you and then place your right foot on your left leg. The closer the feet are to you and to each other the better.

Ardha Padmasana (the half-lotus posture)

The simple cross-legged 'taylor position' is not recommended: it is unstable and leads to pain.

Then place your hands in a comfortable position. You may start by putting your right hand on top of your left hand, on your lap, near the body, with thumbs slightly touching. Or put your hands on your knees, palms up or down, as it feels more comfortable.

Try feeling as if you are a puppet pulled up by a string attached to the top of your head - and remember you're the puppeteer! The head's position is important; don't look down but also don't look straight ahead. Try pulling your chin a bit towards you until you feel it enhances the spine's verticality.

Relax your entire body. Let your mind wander around it, finding tense spots and relaxing them. The head is perhaps the trickiest. Tension tends to accumulate in muscles you didn't even know you had. We tend to clench our jaw when we want to 'concentrate'. Don't.

For how long should I meditate?

There isn't a simple answer to this question, especially on the upper limit. Anyway, decide for how long you are going to meditate - and stick to it!

If you've never meditated before, start with five minutes. An alarm clock is useful, so that you don't have to keep opening your eyes to check the time. There are a few good free smartphone apps for this purpose. I use the free app Insight Timer for Android and there is also a version for iOS.

Don't hurry to increase your meditating time. We are all different, but try keeping the same time for a week, and then increasing it five minutes. Aim for maybe 20 - 30 minutes per session. If you meditate for 20 minutes per day, after one year you'll have meditated five full days!

Now, what is this all about?

Dim the lights if you can, sit, and make your posture as comfortable as possible. You should not move a muscle till the end. The only exception is to straighten your back if it begins to slouch.

Now, gently close your eyes, and pay attention to your breath. That's just it. Do not try to shorten or lengthen the breath: this is not pranayama - which we will look into later. The Buddha defined forty meditation subjects but anapanasati (mindfulness of in- and out-breath) is still a favorite after 2500 years.

When you find yourself dozing off, open your eyes or take a few deep breaths.

When you find your mind is miles away, immersed in your family, job, preparations for dinner, whatever, as soon as you notice it, gently go back to watching the breath. Gently, in a sense that you don't need to be mad at yourself. It happens. A lot. To everyone of us who has not yet attained nibbana (nirvana).

And then there's pain. You are not used to being completely immobile and pain is your body asking for attention. So, pay attention to it. Let your mind go to the exact spot where it hurts and watch it hurt for a few moments. You may be surprised to see that, most of the times, pain will go away by itself.

You may also be surprised to know that this is the single most important lesson we learn by meditating: suffering, like all things, arises, stays, and then goes away.

OK, some times pain simply won't go away. We are not masochists. It's time to - mindfully, slowly - adjust your position and then go back to watching the breath.

That's all there is to meditation.

For now...