The relaxed mind a seven step method for deepening meditation practice by dza kilung rinpoche

Here we bring mindand body together in relaxation and learn meditation postures, all as a preparation for thesucceeding chapter on calm abiding.. Shad means “analytical,” and gom stands

“The Relaxed Mind is a treasure on the indispensable stages of Buddhist trainings on the mind It

takes us from the beginning steps on the meditation journey all the way to final realization, theperfection of the enlightened nature of the mind This book has it all There is no need to look forother trainings.”

—Tulku Thondup, author of The Healing Power of Mind and The Heart of Unconditional Love

“Refreshingly clear and simple instructions of the Tibetan path From beginning meditations to

more advanced stages, The Relaxed Mind offers straightforward and wise guidance that is both

nourishing and liberating.”

—Jack Kornfield, author of Bringing Home the Dharma and A Path with Heart

“Kilung Rinpoche elucidates the entire spectrum of meditation practices from the basic tohighest level along with many precious insights applicable to everyday life This book canchange your life.”

—Anam Thubten, author of The Magic of Awareness and No Self, No Problem

“A modern meditation masterpiece Brilliant, accessible and humorous, if you follow theinstructions of this profound teacher you will indeed relax into your innate wisdom The bestmeditation manual I’ve read in years.”

—Lodro Rinzler, author of Sit Like a Buddha and The Buddha Walks into a Bar

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the late 1990s, shortly after arriving in the United States, it became clear to Dza KilungRinpoche that his Western students were unable to progress in meditation as well as his studentshad back in Asia—and he realized that was because the pace of Western life made it difficult for

them to relax The Relaxed Mind contains instructions for the seven-phase meditation practice

Dza Kilung Rinpoche developed for Westerners It’s very traditional but adapted to help those

of us who live in a culture of distraction The method is a way for tense meditators to relax anddeepen their practice—but it’s also an excellent meditation manual for any beginner

DZA KILUNG TULKU JIGME RINPOCHE was born in 1970 and is head of Kilung Monastery

in the Dzachuka District of Kham, Tibet, which he has been working to reestablish as a center oflearning and practice since he was a teenager He has been teaching in the West since 1998 andregularly accepts invitations to teach in Boston, Beijing, Denmark, Singapore, Malaysia,Taiwan, Brazil, and Argentina His home in the West is on Whidbey Island near Seattle,Washington, and he divides his time among Washington, his community in Tibet, and his studentsworldwide

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The Relaxed Mind

A Seven-Step Method for Deepening Meditation Practice

DZA KILUNG RINPOCHE

EDITED BY Brian Hodel

FOREWORD BY Tulku Thondup

ILLUSTRATIONS BY Janice Baragwanath

SHAMBHALA

Boston & London

2015

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.shambhala.com

Cover photograph by Andrew Geiger

Cover design by Katrina Noble

© 2015 by Dza Kilung Rinpoche

Illustrations © 2015 by Janice Baragwanath

All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

1 FIRST MEDITATION: Basic Sitting Meditation

2 SECOND MEDITATION: Calm Abiding Meditation

3 THIRD MEDITATION: Refined Basic Sitting Meditation

4 FOURTH MEDITATION: Insight Meditation

REFLECTION I: A Deeper Look into Topics Covered So Far

PART TWO

5 FIFTH MEDITATION: Open Heart-Mind Meditation

6 SIXTH MEDITATION: Pure Mind Meditation

7 SEVENTH MEDITATION: Nonconceptual Meditation

REFLECTION II: An Overview of the Traditional Practices of Mahayana, Vajrayana, and Dzogchen

Dza Kilung Rinpoche is the fifth incarnation of Dza Kilung Jigme Ngotsar, one of the four principle

disciples of the illustrious adept Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa, the discoverer of the longchen nyingthig teachings of the dzogpachenpo tradition After completing decades of studies and meditations in

Tibet and India, Rinpoche has been tirelessly sharing the undiluted nectar-like wisdom of his uniquelineage to all who are receptive in both the East and the West

I n The Relaxed Mind, Rinpoche meticulously synthesizes instructions on the crucial steps of

training the mind—starting with how to sit, breathe, and focus the mind correctly, up to how to freeall of the mind’s concepts in order to awaken its enlightened nature

Mind, or consciousness, is who we are The body, while precious, is but a guesthouse for us toreside in while we are alive After death, whether we will have a happy or unhappy rebirth depends

on the positive and negative habitual tendencies that we generated in our mind stream and expressedphysically during our lifetime If our mind is peaceful, kind, and respectful, then (and only then) willour physical expressions spontaneously become meritorious deeds We will then become a source ofbenefit for others If we perfect virtuous thoughts, our suffering will cease, and the wisdom nature ofour mind will awaken Therefore, mindfully training the mind through the right steps as taught in this

book is essential In the Cheddu Jope Tsom, the Buddha said,

You will enjoy happiness if you preserve mindfulness

In the disciplines of taming your mind.

Those who safeguard their minds

Will certainly attain the cessation of suffering.

The Relaxed Mind is a treasure that presents the indispensible stages of the Buddhist training of the

mind It takes us from the beginning steps on the meditation journey all the way to final realization, theperfection of the enlightened nature of the mind This book has it all There is no need to look forother trainings As Shantideva says, “What is the use of various disciplines, other than the one thattrains the mind?”

—Tulku Thondup

EDITOR’S PREFACE

I remember, vividly, the first time I tried to meditate It was decades ago, when there were few books

on meditation available in the West I had found one that taught the basics of concentration, and myyoga teacher gave me some cursory advice It all sounded very cool So one afternoon I sat cross-legged on a puffy green sofa with my back more or less straight, closed my eyes, and peered into mymind

Suddenly I found myself engulfed by the noise of jackhammers and buzz saws Where was I? Had Ipoked my head into the middle of a hornets nest? I couldn’t keep still and started sweating, like achild in the dentist’s waiting room Passing through a kaleidoscope of thoughts and emotions—someconnected, others totally disjointed—my “meditation” resembled a roller coaster ride!

My session didn’t last long, and I wasn’t very happy or encouraged by the experience, but one verygood thing happened, although I didn’t realize its value till much later: I recognized that thiscacophony was not abnormal—a rare event brought on by fatigue or indigestion or an argument with afriend This was the ordinary world of my mind and emotions This was going on in me all the time.Only now had I stopped to listen And I had a vague sensation, a very creepy feeling, that all my life Ihad been a prisoner of my compulsions

The sequence of seven meditations presented here is a pathway to inner freedom It is based onpractices from Tibetan Buddhism, but you don’t need to be a Buddhist to train in them They could behelpful for anyone’s life and spiritual development, whether that person adheres to a specificreligious tradition or not They were created for Westerners, although it might be better to say “formodern people,” since Western culture has spread everywhere and mixed with all cultures

The author, Kilung Rinpoche, hails from the highest and most isolated reaches of Tibet There hegrew up in an environment free from most of the distractions we experience in modern life.Therefore, when he came to the West, encountered its engrossing complexity, and began teachinghere, he was not completely surprised to discover that most of his students were unable to relaxdeeply enough to penetrate to the heart of meditation Also, for that same reason, they couldn’t detectthe subtle differences and interconnections between traditional meditation techniques: techniques thatshould eventually lead to the deepest relaxation of all—enlightenment The speed, stress, and anxietythat pervade our society naturally influence those of us who practice meditation We are held tightly

in its thrall So in divising this system of seven meditations, the development of deep relaxation wasparamount

These seven meditations were presented to Kilung Rinpoche’s students on a weekly basis in ayearlong cycle The results were so positive that his students have continued to receive and practicethem enthusiastically year after year The topics and practices repeat, but the experience iscontinually refreshed and deepened This brings us to an important question: to achieve deeprealization through this system, are the oral instructions of a meditation master required? Almost allviable and authentic meditation manuals available today, coming from the main contemplativetraditions, are meant to complement the detailed instructions of a teacher Most often they arearranged such that an abundance of moral and philosophical topics are listed, followed by brief andgeneral instructions on meditation The teacher is expected to unpack it and fill in the blanks

This book is different Most meditators don’t have access to a qualified meditation teacher or don’t

have the time to attend teachings regularly They rely on books—books that often leave themwondering, “How does all of this fit together? How do I organize my meditation into a workable

spiritual path?” and sometimes, after a while, “Why do I feel stuck?” The Relaxed Mind is drawn

directly from Kilung Rinpoche’s oral instructions, where he is able to track and find solutions to theoften subtle problems that occur for students at each step along the path Here meditation comes first,with any philosophical or technical topics and definitions kept to a minimum and introduced briefly,

in context with the meditations for which they are relevant (Two additional sections, Reflection I

and II, are interspersed within the sevenfold sequence to explain these philosophical matters ingreater detail and provide background.)

The true experience of meditation has a special feeling, so it is extremely important to avoid itsbeing taken over by the atmosphere of outlines, goals, and expectations common to the endeavors we

ordinarily engage in—our projects, work, hobbies, and so on The Relaxed Mind is presented in a

manner that avoids this, so the meditator who follows this practical yet nuanced guidebook canachieve a great deal unaided Of course, the instructions of a qualified master are of great help and,for most of us, essential for achieving the very highest realizations But the sincere and dedicatedstudent can go far using this guide

Relaxation, Simplicity, and Modern Life

The key to meditation is the mind Each of these seven meditations is a different way of viewing themind and relaxing it The mind can be described in many ways But it can only be understood bypersonal exploration—by seeing it directly and recognizing its true nature Realizing the true nature ofthe mind, which is the doorway to enlightenment, can occur at any stage, and the stability of thisunderstanding and experience is the goal of this guidebook If this seems overly ambitious, the authorcontinually reminds us that this enlightened nature is our true identity and not something that has to beacquired It is like the sun—always there, brightly shining, primordially pure—but our habits, likeclouds hiding the sun, block it out The sun has not changed At the moment, we just can’t see it Ourbusy minds mask the utter simplicity of our true nature Certainly the release of stress and anxiety is awelcome side effect of genuine meditation, but the aim of complete peace and freedom—ofenlightenment itself—is never to be forgotten

The essence of these seven meditations is relaxation—relaxing our minds and opening up to allow

clarity and simplicity to emerge naturally You will see that word— relax—repeated over and over here You will also find yourself encouraged to completely open, rest, focus gently, balance , and to not judge, again and again That’s because even though there are seven successive meditations, this is

not entirely a step-by-step instruction manual Many things overlap As you go through the chaptersand engage with the meditations, these repeated words will take on greater meaning The experience

of these meditations moves like a spiral, with similar themes and instructions gaining addedsignificance as you move higher and higher in the sequence Overall it’s a gradual process ofenrichment, but deep insights can occur at any point because that depth is in us from the beginning

The key to relaxation is simplicity How is relaxation possible if we have to deal with a multitude

of details? In order for the reader to absorb the essential quality of each of these styles of meditationwithout having to wade through a prolonged study of Buddhist philosophy, Kilung Rinpoche isproviding a shortcut That doesn’t mean these meditations are like fast food—convenient but withoutmuch nutritional value Rather, they provide the essence—the key points of the meditations from

which they were derived—and genuine and profound qualities will emerge from practicing them.But even so, isn’t this all rather daunting? You may wonder, “Where will I find the time?” As ameditation teacher with students in the United States, Europe, and South America, as well as in Asia,

it became obvious to Kilung Rinpoche that modern life leaves many of those interested in meditationwith little time to practice However, beyond formal meditation—where we are sitting quietly—Buddhism and other contemplative traditions have always spoken of the importance of integratingmeditation into daily life Meditation should be part of life, and these seven meditations provide abridge between formal meditation and meditation-in-action So if one has little time to be on thecushion, that can be made up for during the course of a normal day—at work, at play, while eating,while walking, everywhere And the more frequent and stable one’s meditation in life becomes, thebetter it will be in formal meditation They reinforce one another and are of equal importance

The Unraveling of Mysteries

There is only one way to know a cake, and that is to taste it The same is true of the mind: a lot can besaid about it, but its essence cannot be captured in words You have already read some rather

mysterious words—true nature of the mind, primordially pure, enlightenment —and some of the

instructions that follow may not seem obvious at first because meditation always presents somethingfresh and new Even experiences that can be expressed with the same words are never identical

Therefore, ease into each meditation gradually, and allow any instructions or commentaries thatseem mysterious to percolate in the back of your mind As they sink in, you will begin to recognizetheir meaning through your own insights For example, a short mantra—OM, AH, HUNG—is introduced

in the first meditation and elaborated on in each succeeding chapter (Buddhist mantras are chantedphrases that carry important symbolic meaning and also, at times, provide benefit through their soundalone.) It seems rather straightforward at first—perhaps only a way of relaxing the mind and body as

a preparation for meditation But the meaning of these three words will take on greater and greatersignificance, embodying much more than a relaxation technique At some point it may seem quite

mysterious, but with patience, over time you will understand and feel the deeper meanings of OM, AH, HUNG The same goes for the mind’s true nature and other words used to describe ever-deepening meditational experience—including the word relaxation.

There are two basic ways to present a topic: The information can be broken into subtopics andthese then used as building blocks to create an outline—one thing following another in a logicalsequence Or the material can be presented more organically, like the many strands of a rope or cable,each contributing to a unified whole The oral teachings of Kilung Rinpoche have that organic quality

He approaches the pathway of meditation from many angles—repeating similar advice each time with

a slightly different nuance, gradually filling in important details that reveal subtle connections and addcolor to an evolving understanding of a particular meditation or of meditation as a whole Thenonlinear character of his presentation of these seven meditations is peppered with reminders,explanations, advice, humor, and enthusiam—all of it directed to counteracting our habitual patterns

so that we can unravel the mystery of our minds through our practice This quality has been preserved

as much as possible in this guidebook

As you read through the seven meditations and try out each of them, keep the following in mind:effective meditation and its results may not come quickly In fact, patience is a key element inmeditation, allowing qualities that we already have to emerge as our impatience for results subsides

That impatience is one of the main blockages to depth and stability in meditation And impatience isclosely linked to expectations If we are wishing for results as we enter meditation, we will merelyadd to our distractions Rather than adding more, here we are trying to do less So don’t worry abouthaving a “good” meditation session or a “bad” one Also, make meditation a habit and practiceregularly, whatever the frequency you are able to establish Remember that the habit of meditation isgoing against lifelong patterns of distraction and agitation, tendencies that the rapid pace of modernlife has deeply engrained within us.

Further Benefits

Life is changing all the time This is an obvious fact and a central theme of Buddhism, where it is

called impermanence Being afraid of change isn’t going to be of any help If we can relax in

meditation and abide openly with our thoughts and feelings, we can be in a better position to protectourselves from life’s hard knocks and deal wisely with its varied challenges This includes thechallenges of physical illness Meditation has been scientifically proven to have healing properties.For example, Dr Herbert Benson, one of the pioneers of mind-body medicine and the discoverer ofthe relaxation response, has based many of his insights on scientific research into meditation Arelaxed balance between body and mind removes or reduces the stress that causes or intensifies manyillnesses

Because these seven meditations are based on the key points of traditional Tibetan Buddhistpractice, they are appropriate for those who have been meditating for a long time, as well as for thosewho have never practiced meditation at all The new meditator will find here a welcoming pathwayinto deeper and deeper experience and understanding, and the seasoned practitioner will be able tocontinue with added ease, assurance, and relaxation

The Value of Meditation

Day by day, the world we all share is getting smaller and busier Because of this, more and moreproblems trouble us inside and out—in our minds, with their thoughts and emotions, and in the fast-paced environment of our daily lives Pressured by it all, our behavior is often contrived We don’tlet things happen naturally The feeling of freedom is lacking We aren’t fully comfortable or satisfiedwith samsara, the world as experienced by beings due to our obscured mental patterns andperceptions—this mind-created world of ours

We need to create for ourselves a meaningful way of life where both our inside and outside worldsare happy and in harmony Many of these problems can be reduced and even solved when weempower ourselves with spiritual practices, such as meditation Not only does meditation releasestress—it can also cure unhappiness and depression Meditation can help us to correct theseimbalances and move forward in life

When the material side of life is going well, we may think there is no suffering, but that’s not true

As long as our minds work in the normal way, materialism may help a little with the suffering anddifficulties that appear, but not much and not for long We need to rely on inner strength, which isinner happiness And once we begin to discover that through meditation, we need to sustain it andstrengthen it so that we are always nourishing ourselves I think it is essential for the development ofgenuine happiness that we never forget this inner key even when outer conditions are excellent That

is because everything is impermanent It’s as the Buddha said, “Nothing remains without change.”1

We may develop a strong spiritual practice and then, when outer circumstances go well, tellourselves, “Well, I don’t need that anymore.” Or we may become lazy, weakening our practice Butwhatever outer conditions come our way, they can and will change

In Buddhism it is said that nothing is permanent But if anything can come close to being permanent,

it would be the inner happiness I speak of That is more reliable than outer circumstance because it

stays with our heart-mind Heart-mind is an important term used throughout this book It is a synonym for the human spirit—the energy center of goodness, positivity, and wisdom—and can be likened to the common English term heart of hearts, as in “How do you feel about that in your heart of hearts, in

your deepest intuition?” The physical location of this mind—which is not to be confused with the

brain (although the two are related)—is the center of the chest The true, inner meaning of heart-mind

has to be learned through experience and intuition Once we really get to know this inner happiness, it

is not easily lost No one can take it away from us Therefore we can call this inner, or total, freedom.Developing our meditation practice is like having a garden Creating the garden—choosing thelocation, gathering the soil and other materials—is one thing Maintaining it with constant care isanother When the two come together, you have an excellent result—a garden that produces something

of beauty and value Therefore, I encourage you, if you have the opportunity, to practice meditationdaily At some point your practice will feel effortless and natural because you are becomingaccustomed to it

I further encourage you to practice any kind of meditation or yoga or healing tradition that bringsyou into contact with your inner being I feel this is truly helpful not only for the individual but for theworld as a whole There was a time, perhaps one hundred years ago, when your location on our

planet made a difference in terms of the kind of life you had If you had the means, you might easilyfind a place that was peaceful and less distracting But today, with the expansion of technology, trade,business, transportation, and so on, all places are becoming similar—and very busy Now we mustlook for peace on the inside And I think finding that is the greatest gift we can give to ourselves and

to others Meditating daily can help improve our health and our lifestyle, not to mention spiritualqualities and our understanding of the nature of our minds

The Buddha’s teachings state that everything of importance is learned by knowing the nature of the

mind Nature of mind is synonymous with buddha-nature, primordial consciousness , and other

terms, and refers to the ultimate, pure nature of awareness We can achieve that by really looking intoour own being without distraction for even a few moments every day You don’t need to live inisolation You don’t need to leave behind your society, family, and work Your mind can be OK—happy and at peace—in the midst of spirited children, ringing telephones, or noisy neighbors You candevelop that inner resilience by finding a few minutes from time to time where you can simply feelinner quiet, with the mind totally opened for whatever arises Allow yourself to be comfortable, to beopen to whatever is happening, for just a few minutes As the Sufi poet Jalal al-Din Rumi wrote:

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world Today I am wise, so I am changingmyself.”

That small gesture is really powerful Because we have been so constantly busy and engaged withone thing or another, we have a great hunger for this soothing source of nourishment With thisspiritual energy, we are feeding ourselves in a special way It would be great if you could nourishyourself in this way for longer periods each day, but if you have only five or ten minutes to spare, thathelps a lot You don’t have to be an “excellent meditator” to start with All you need to do is haveyour heart and mind make the following agreement: “Let’s rest There’s no reason right now towander around following thoughts or to be worrying Let’s be relaxed and open.” There’s not evenany need to shut down your thoughts Just be there with them, but not overly concerned or engaged.Let there be total openness, and just relax within that

A Closer Look

The main idea of Buddhist meditation is to tame the mind Human beings have powerful minds—tremendous intellectual ability—but, at the same time, this can bring many complications That’sbecause often we don’t recognize or appreciate the good and positive aspects of our lives We havewithin each of us loving-kindness and compassion—an open, genuine heart that embraces self andothers If our powers included knowledge of our minds and skill in using that knowledge, this wouldmake our lives quite different Meditation helps us to recognize and activate those positive qualities,and through meditation eventually these become part of daily life Once we understand that these goodqualities are always with us, we begin to rejoice in our life—we appreciate it more—whichencourages us to be even more positive So our mind can become more wise and aware throughmeditation We become connected with the joy and contentment we are longing for

The key to all of this is relaxation In this twenty-first century, the outer, material world is movingvery fast; the speed of change is very high We are all affected by this, especially with a feeling that

we are always a little behind—that we constantly must be catching up to that speed or we will fallfurther behind There is a general sense of hurry and anxiety; our sense of self—our ego—strives sohard to keep up that little attention and value is given to our inner world

On the one hand, it would seem that the modern technological development that is driving all of this

is very skillful and promising, but I think it presents a big challenge The proof of this is that we aresuffering so much We don’t need the daily news to remind us of this fact In our own minds, we arefeeling dissatisfaction and longing for something that outer developments aren’t giving us Our mindshave been left behind, and we are left hoping for something better

Here’s one common example: We take vacations The idea is to get away from the workplace andfree from all the busyness of our normal, work-driven lives But when we arrive at our vacation spot

—the beach, the mountains, the forest—the mind is still busy Since it is not on vacation, neither are

we We’ve all had similar experiences, and perhaps we have noticed that due to the rapid pace ofmodern life, our minds are often wild and unruly At certain times we may wish that our minds would

be focused and calm, but like a naughty child, the mind is all over the map The training we receive inmeditation can enable us to achieve a very useful balance between concentration and relaxation

Meditation is good for people of any age group For the young, although their practice may not beprofound in the beginning, they are planting important seeds that will bear fruit later if they makemeditation a habit It is especially challenging for teenagers who—as I remember well from my ownyouth—have enormous energy and drive to learn about and experience everything they can Butsimilarly, for adults, meditation can provide a new angle for viewing the complexities of making aliving and being part of a growing family And for older folks, meditation can at the very least be auseful tool for dealing with long-term, well-entrenched habits that may have evolved into difficultproblems There is no guarantee that the comforts of retirement—free time and a pleasant environment

—will give us the happiness and peace of mind we yearn for Meditation can provide the relaxationand insight we need to understand our mental and emotional situations When we look inward, if themind can relax, even for an active young person, this makes life very different Things can be donemore wisely, more positively

My intention is that everyone who wishes to should be able to get something that applies positively

to their life from these seven meditations This is based on my belief that meditation is not only formonks and nuns in monasteries and ascetic yogis and yoginis practicing in frigid mountain caves Ashuman beings all of us have minds of the same general nature and complexity, including the drives ofour egos, our desires, and our wish for happiness If we become accustomed to meditation throughconsistent practice, there will come a time when happiness will arise naturally and effortlessly duringour off-the-cushion activities But if we don’t make some effort, the effect of meditation will neverbecome consistent By practicing over the long term and becoming accustomed to it, we may find that

just hearing the word meditation will cause the mind to enter into the qualities, wisdom, and energy

of our practice, just as striking a match causes a flame to illuminate space in an instant

Once meditation becomes a part of your life, you may notice that the practice radiates positivity toothers—its gentleness and peacefulness influences the whole environment This effect is especiallypowerful when you sit together with other meditators Intentionally or not you will definitely bebenefiting others You may have noticed a more negative example of this effect: If you are in a publicspace, such as on a bus or at a park, and you see someone yelling or fighting, everyone in theimmediate environment gets anxious, nervous, and tense Even if there is no reason to be afraid, youbecome fearful Just as such negative vibrations radiate from aggressive thoughts and activities,positive influences arise from the peaceful and loving attitudes generated in meditation If we wantpeace on earth and to heal the environment, first we must look inward and heal ourselves, and thenexpand this positive influence outward The powerful energy from a group of meditators can help healthe earth and bring happiness to all sentient beings

Launching into Practice

As for the actual practice of meditation, once you get into any of the seven meditations below, Isuggest that you follow this advice coming from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition: “short periods, manytimes.” At least at the beginning, keep your sessions short, but numerous If a person can do ten five-minute sessions each day, that is fine You can also do short sessions during your daily routine—during breaks or idle moments at work, or on your bus to and from school if you are a student Youdon’t have to sit erect, looking like a buddha (“Look! Today we have a buddha on the bus.”) In thatcase you might feel a little embarrassed, thinking, “I’m not a buddha yet; I’m still George.” That’sright; you’re definitely still George But your mind is different today Why? Because normally George

is worried about getting home on time or not missing his stop But today he’s a bit more relaxed, notworrying about the bus ride home—he’s more calm and peaceful inside

I am a Buddhist practitioner of meditation and a Tibetan lama born and raised high in theHimalayan mountains I have been living and traveling here and there in the West for about fifteenyears, and although I have based these seven meditations on the Buddhist tradition, they arespecifically created for and dedicated to modern meditators I expect you are very comfortable withinstructions laid out sequentially in numbered chapters—distinguishing the seven meditation styles—but it is important to know that there are significant threads that run through them all As mentionedpreviously, they are not really so separate First of all they are progressive in that the first chapter is apreparation for the second, and the second for the third, and so on At the same time, if you find one ofthe meditation styles especially appealing to you, there is nothing wrong with sticking to that one.Later you may wish to explore some of the others

It can also be useful to go through the seven meditations in sequence, at least initially—gaining alittle bit of knowledge and experience with each This is because there are several themes or skillsthat are common to each that can be developed further and further from one meditation to the next.One of these is the gradual taming of the restless, wild, and “naughty” mind so that it becomes morefocused Another is to develop a relaxed mind—a big part of the process of taming the mind and theone that is the most important You may find that as you go through the sequence, it will require lessand less effort to attain this relaxation and focus Finally the mind may become wise, and there will

be no need for any remedies to mental distraction and turbulence This would be the recognition of themind’s nature, the nature of awareness—the awakened state

Since these seven meditations have been presented to my students in a yearlong cycle, you may find

it helpful to follow this sequence so that each meditation sinks in and you become thoroughly familiarwith them all The first meditation (emphasizing the physical aspect of meditation—feeling the body)lasts one month The second (calm abiding meditation) is for two months The third (refined basic

sitting meditation)—one month Insight meditation (vipassana) lasts two months The fifth (open

heart-mind meditation) goes for two months The sixth (pure mind meditation) is also two months, as

is the last (nonconceptual meditation) Of course you may take longer with each if you like

You may be curious to know the source of these seven meditations Tibetan Buddhism combinesthe early Theravada (Hinayana) Buddhist tradition, which emphasizes enlightenment for theindividual; the later Mahayana tradition, where the practitioner seeks enlightenment motivated by thewish to release all beings from the sufferings of samsara; the Vajrayana, which sees all experience as

pure and enlightened in nature; and dzogchen, which stresses one’s resting in primordial awareness

—the awakened state of a buddha The first four of the seven meditations are drawn from theTheravada tradition The fifth is more in the Mahayana style, the sixth in Vajrayana, and the seventh is

an introduction to dzogchen meditation.2

Generally speaking, the first through the fourth meditations (Part One) are designed to settle themind—which is normally so very busy—in order to connect with the inner environment In each ofthese initial meditation styles, the mind becomes gradually more focused The last three meditations(Part Two) emphasize the inner qualities of mind and feeling, teaching one to rest there withoutmental fabrication If you have moved too quickly through the meditations of Part One and uponentering Part Two you wonder, “Why is the author repeating himself here, giving similarinstructions?” you might want to spend more time on the initial meditations The words may besimilar, but the meditations in Part Two are much more subtle and require the experience of Part One

to be understood fully

A Brief Description of the Seven Meditations

1 First Meditation: Basic Sitting Meditation Coarse Level (Tibetan: shad-gom) Joining mental

and physical awareness in meditation Meditation isn’t for the mind alone Here we bring mindand body together in relaxation and learn meditation postures, all as a preparation for thesucceeding chapter on calm abiding

2 Second Meditation: Calm Abiding (Tibetan: shi-ney, Sanskrit: shamatha) Using an object of

attention to free ourselves from the disturbances of thoughts and to reach a state of calm

3 Third Meditation: Arriving at Clarity—Refined Sitting Meditation Calm evolves into clarity,relaxation, energy, and inspiration

4 Fourth Meditation: Insight Meditation (Pali: vipassana, Tibetan: lhag-tong) Seeing beneath

the surface to our inner nature to the nature of all phenomena Seeing things as they really are

5 Fifth Meditation: Open Heart-Mind Meditation (Mahayana approach) Viewing the internal andexternal more widely As a basis for unbiased compassion, cultivating boundless equanimity inplace of grasping at the duality of self and other The wide-open experience of spaciousness

6 Sixth Meditation: Pure Mind Meditation (Vajrayana approach) Opening up even more to create

a harmonious and impartial balance between dualities, we transcend ingrained habitual patternsthat are inconsistent with the pure nature of reality

7 Seventh Meditation: Nonconceptual Meditation (introduction to dzogchen) Allowing the mind

to rest in the unmodified natural state of one’s own heart-mind Resting effortlessly in the nature

of the mind The experience of transcendent knowledge: primordial purity

1 Anguttara Nikaya 3.65, from An Anthology from the Anguttara Nikaya , vol 3 of Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans., Handful of Leaves

(Valley Center, CA: Metta Forest Monastery, 2003).

2 Dzogchen, translated as “the Great Perfection” (and also called ati-yoga), is a swift, direct path to enlightenment based on recognizing

the nature of mind—the purity of awareness It is considered part of the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism.

PART ONE

Each meditation chapter begins with an introduction to the style, followed by an overview where the main elements and, sometimes, related topics are fleshed out The latter part of the chapter contains a description of the actual meditation and more specific instructions A list of short suggestions is then given, which the meditator can either memorize or refer to during the session

as a reminder and as encouragement The chapters end with a “Questions and Answers” section taken from recordings of Kilung Rinpoche’s guided meditations with his students.

FIRST MEDITATION

BASIC SITTING MEDITATION

Laying the Foundation—by Joining Mind and Body

This first meditation, focused on the body, is called shad-gom in Tibetan Shad means “analytical,” and gom stands for “meditation.” The practice is analytical in the sense that one scans through or

examines the mind and body to see that both are relaxed and at rest

Here we unite mind and body We may have gotten the idea that meditation is only for the mind.People sometimes assume that meditation means to reduce thoughts or work with thoughts—maybe bymentally observing the thoughts, by following them or some other object with attention In such casesthe mind may say, “Oh, I’m doing fine I’m not distracted by anything, so I don’t care about the body.”But there is more to it than that The mind must be deeply connected with the feelings of the body.They should be resting together in meditation

This first level is called coarse, but only because the emphasis is on the physical—something we

can touch and feel, our tactile sensations Our body is a very important basis for all of our meditationpractices In reality there must be a balance between the two—the mind and the body If the body andmind are divided—with the body by itself and the mind somewhere else—the body, lacking the gentlepresence of relaxation imparted by mindfulness,1 can become very rigid, like a statue The mind racesoff alone, and the body—unable to catch up—becomes tense

When you sit down to meditate, it sometimes happens that your mind still has some unfinishedbusiness It is best to finish up all mental preoccupations prior to entering meditation or, if you stillhave such thoughts lingering as you begin meditation, put them to rest as quickly as possible andgently bring your attention to your body and see how it feels This determination and gentle attitudeallows us to avoid the habit of rushing through things just to get them over and done with Inmeditation, quality is more important than speed This key point should never be forgotten When themind is present with the body, you feel differently from the way you normally feel seated at work orwhen eating and so forth You become more relaxed, there is a feeling of rest, and a sense of blessingcan appear to your awareness When you experience relaxation and a vast sense of openness, thisindicates that your mind and body are together, unified, and in harmony

It is a good idea to establish a special space in your home or wherever you choose to meditate—aplace with few distractions that you find comfortable and welcoming, an environment where you cancultivate this practice, making it a habit This will help give you positive energy that will propel yourpractice Take some time and care in choosing the type of cushion you will use Then your meditationseat will have an attractive, desirable quality, as if it were telling you, “Hi Maybe you would like tomeditate for a few minutes? I have been empty for so long I kind of miss you.” In that way yourenvironment makes a difference, giving you inspiration to develop your meditation practice Having a

regular time to meditate is another positive support.

What Is Meditation?

What are we really doing when we begin meditating? We are transforming the busyness that is ournormal mental state into relaxation This is something we all need very much As we begin we are notinterested so much in controlling our minds We are not criticizing our normal mental state, tellingourselves, “Oh, you naughty mind, you are so wild You have to stop this!” We should be morerelaxed and open and less concerned about having control Therefore we start off gently, just bringingour mind back to the feeling of our body when it strays

At this stage we are not dealing with complex procedures, such as concentrating on visualizations

or even following our breath We don’t want to overload the mind with the kinds of details that wewill encounter at more refined levels of meditation The mind likes complications, and at first wemay find it tempting to try out a more complex form of meditation But soon the effort required willdrain us of energy, and our interest in meditation will fade Therefore, we begin by developing asolid and comfortable foundation related to meditating on the body We are not in a hurry We areresting in relaxation, unblocked, maintaining awareness of how the energy flows in the body

Today, we in the modern world have access to many physical practices from various cultures thatare quite beneficial for the body Many of you practice yoga, tai chi, or some other form of physicalfitness From the Buddhist perspective, we have both the form and formless bodies The form body is

our ordinary physical body The formless body, sometimes called the subtle body (which is similar to

the meridians and chi of Chinese tai chi and acupuncture), cannot be seen but is a reflection of theenergy of the body If our ordinary form body is relaxed, the energy of the subtle body improves Oursubtle body is made up of channels, winds, and energies These condition the energy flow in the body

We are not going deeply into this topic, but when the body has good posture and is well cared for,that allows these channels, winds, and energies to function well, making the body feel smooth andhappy

Posture: Meditating in Comfort

In this first meditation, we concentrate on having the body feel the meditation deeply In order to do

so, we need to find a stable, comfortable posture You can meditate sitting on a chair, but it isworthwhile to try sitting cross-legged on the floor because this can give you a more upright and stableposture that will allow the energies of the body to flow more smoothly When we see paintings orstatues of the Buddha, he is seated perfectly upright and not leaning to either side; his body is straight

and in the lotus posture, with crossed legs—each foot resting on the thigh of the opposite leg.

If for many years you have been sitting exclusively in chairs, you may be a little afraid to sit legged on the floor But now could be a good time to give it a try In this case you should graduallymove into one of the simpler cross-legged positions because flexibility of the tendons is required.Yoga can be helpful for giving you the flexibility you need When the body begins to relax, that affectsthe mind The mind says, “Yes, I can do it,” and the body will follow the mind and check to find outwhether it’s possible But if the body is afraid to try, then the mind will say, “No, I can’t Don’t tryit!” Then you’ve been captured by fear.

cross-Generally speaking, in meditation we need openness and a willingness to change, to evolve Soallowing ourselves to try new and more challenging meditation postures is also part of meditation Ifyou work gently and gradually, you may discover that a posture that once seemed challengingbecomes possible and finally quite comfortable I realize that, from childhood, many of you havebecome accustomed to using a chair when seated and that for some people it is really difficult orimpossible to bend the knees at a sharp angle because they have always been raised up by the chair,kept at an open angle There is also a safety concern because some people have bone fractures, jointproblems, or nerve problems, and a doctor may have told you not to bend your knee too sharply Inthose cases certainly you should respect that to make sure you don’t injure yourself

Since the lotus posture may be challenging for many of you, here are some other useful postures youcan try:

The half-lotus is similar to the lotus posture, but while the foot of one leg (let’s say the left foot)

rests on the thigh of the right leg, the right foot remains on the floor underneath the left thigh or knee

As with all of these postures, reverse the position from time to time to avoid fatigue

In the Burmese posture, the left foot is positioned at the groin, and the right foot is placed in front

of it (And of course these can be reversed.)

A gentler variation of this pose would be to have the right foot placed a foot or so out in front ofthe other leg

In the easy posture, the legs are crossed with the left foot under the right thigh and the right foot

under the left knee (and then periodically reversed)

In the Milarepa posture , you can use an arm for support in back of your body Using one of the

cross-legged poses above, place your left hand either open on the floor or in a fist on the floor behindyour left buttock Rest your right hand on your right knee, with the hand either covering the knee orresting on the knee with the palm facing upward Again, reverse the positions from time to time

Most people sit on a cushion for these poses, and you may want to experiment with differentheights, shapes, and sizes of cushions to find one that is perfect for your body Pay attention to theangle between the pelvis and the knees in order to avoid straining your back.

In all of these postures, it is important to allow your knees to be more or less close to the floor,rather than jutting upward This occurs when you have tension in the muscles, tendons, and joints ofthe legs If you have difficulty letting your knees relax toward the floor, you can support the thighs andknees with pillows, eventually using smaller and smaller pillows as those muscles and tendons relaxdownward

Kneeling postures are also used—the knees pointing forward with the legs tucked directly beneaththe thighs, and the buttocks supported on the backs of the ankles If you choose to use this posture, besure that you are not straining your knees and ankles One can also kneel using a small meditationbench that elevates the buttocks above the ankles so that there is less strain on the ankles and knees Ineither case, keep the trunk aligned as in the cross-legged postures mentioned above

A meditation belt can be a useful support The traditional type (easily available through onlinesellers) is of woven material with cloth ties that you can adjust to the size of your body and theparticular support arrangment you decide on You may also use a common buckle belt, providing it iswide enough not to cause any pinching of your skin For the cross-legged positions, you can use thebelt to circle your mid- or lower back, extending around the front of your knees There are otherarrangements used, such as from around a shoulder and from there extending around and beneath theopposite knee.

A chair can provide good support for meditation as long as it is solid and you can sit up straight

Do not lean from side to side or forward or back, avoiding the temptation to lean against the backrest.Your weight is centered over the sit bones of your buttocks The feet should be flat and grounded onthe floor If the chair has armrests, you can place your hands and arms there, and if not, the hands can

be placed overlapping with palms up in your lap or covering your knees

What about the hands? There are two basic positions In any of these postures, you can place yourhands palms down, cupped over your knees This tends to relax the flow of energy throughout yourbody and is useful if you are feeling overexcited The great Tibetan Buddhist dzogchen teacher andpractitioner Longchenpa (short for Longchen Rabjam, a revered fourteenth-century Tibetan Buddhistteacher, scholar, and meditator) was known for using this position This hand position is known as

sem-nyi ngal-so, the mudra for relaxing into the natural state of mind The other position is to place

your hands in your lap, facing upward, with the left hand underneath supporting the right and thethumbs gently touching This creates more heat and energy in the body and can be useful if you arefeeling dull and drowsy This position is also symbolic, with the left hand, representing wisdom,supporting the right, which represents compassion

In general we try to base our physical alignment for meditation on the seven-point posture ofBuddha Vairochana This provides a guideline for the entire body

Once we have established the base of the posture in terms of the position of the legs, we make sure the body is sitting up straight—straight but relaxed, not rigid like a statue You are not leaning to one

side nor slumping nor bent forward too much But within these guidelines, you are relaxed, and it isthe flexibility of the mind that helps loosen things up physically

The chin is tucked slightly inward—and a little bit down If it is held upward, it may cause you to tire more easily Just be sure you do not tilt the whole head forward from the neck The eyes may be

either open or closed Closing your eyes instantly eliminates visual distractions—you see only yourmind So if you are new to meditation, closing the eyes may be helpful at first On the other hand,some people prefer to keep them open At some point, as you become more practiced in meditation, itwould be wise to learn to meditate with the eyes open After all, we are always gazing at the physicalworld, and there is no need for us to hide from that In one sense, keeping our eyes open means thatwhenever we see something that distracts our meditation a little bit, rather than avoiding that, weshould get used to it and relax with it This is part of the dzogchen tradition, which we will encounterlater on We want to maintain an open attitude.

Set your gaze toward the tip of the nose, focused about two or three feet down in front Placing thegaze slightly down helps to reduce distraction, leaving the mind really calm But you don’t alwayshave to look downward; at times you may want to connect with nature, for instance when you have theocean nearby or trees or mountain views and so forth It is very important to connect to the energy ofall that vastness from time to time, gazing outward Furthermore, an adjustment of the gaze can bemade according to your mood and energy level When the mind is very rested and calm—to the pointthat you are getting sleepy—that’s a good time to lift the gaze, to have the eyes looking upward But ifthe mind is very energetic, with many thoughts appearing and jumping around, in that case lookingslightly more downward would be helpful

The shoulders are positioned in the form of a yoke If you had a yoke around your neck, the two ends would be down So your shoulders should be relaxed down rather than tensed up The arms are resting in equipoise, and you can use either of the two positions mentioned above Place the tongue

so that it is lightly touching the roof of the mouth just behind the teeth, which helps prevent too muchsaliva from flowing, and helps prevent the mouth from becoming too dry, becoming a distraction

To review, the seven points are: (1) sitting on the floor with legs crossed, (2) back straight andrelaxed, (3) chin tucked, (4) eyes gazing slightly down, (5) shoulders like a yoke, (6) arms inequipoise, and (7) tongue on the palate (There are other variations on this posture.)

If you have difficulties with the different postures that require sitting on the floor, you could use awall for support If you find sitting on the floor is too difficult or painful, you can sit on a chair

Meditating on the Body

We have taken the first step in this meditation—establishing a comfortable posture and relaxing into

it Now just let things be: feel the whole body, concentrating on all of the sensations you perceive.Think of what it’s like to take a soothing shower—the gentle feeling of the water on your skin and theother relaxing and pleasing qualities of the water temperature, the sound of the water, and so on Youare doing something similar when meditating on the body In connecting the body with the meditativestate, you are both “reading” your body and also including the whole nature of the body and the mind

so that they merge Feel their single essence Feel their oneness There is no separation The mostimportant thing in this first meditation is to have that recognition By doing so you will begin to feeland appreciate the circulation of energy in the body, resulting from the relaxed interaction of thechannels, winds, and energies

During a meditation session, we are not obligated to be busy—we are free to be relaxed Try to beopen and connected with your body As we relax more and more, we discover that body is mind andmind is body Try to rest there, harmonized and connected When we are deeply connected with thebody, that already is meditation The mind is no longer distracted but is in union with the body By

relaxing out of mental distractions, we remove the separation between the two This is a form of

one-pointed meditation—called samadhi 2

Don’t create expectations or push too hard Just be relaxed Open the connection of the body andmind If we get involved with too much pushing and pulling or become judgmental, it then justbecomes one of our normal projections, and the mind doesn’t feel the special quality of meditation.Also don’t go to the other extreme where you fall into daydreaming and drowsiness If that happens,you may shift or stretch your body to refresh yourself, look out into the distance, or even get up andmove around or drink a glass of water

This meditation also has an analytical side From time to time, scan through your body and see ifany pain or tension is occurring Ask yourself, “How are my arms? Feeling OK? How are my ankles,back, neck, other areas of my body?” If you find a place that is tight, ask yourself what makes it tight.Having homed in on the tense part of your body, release that tension into relaxation

If you have some kind of painful illness or problems with your joints, try to release your mind fromfocusing on the area in pain Instead of attending there, observe the whole body and relax throughoutwithout being drawn to focus your thoughts on the painful area Rather than using a flashlight with abright, narrow beam, use one with a wider, softer light In that way you are opening up, expandingyour perception of your body It’s really the same light—the mind—but in the latter case (applying thewider beam), the result is a loosening up of the whole body This helps to release the pain

When the mind is resting, meditation can be very healing That’s another reason this work on ourbody is so important Check to see if there is some place where you are stuck, where the energy is notflowing smoothly On the mental side, don’t be worried, fearful, or judgmental of yourself Rather, bekind to yourself—resting, relaxing, open, and breathing easily Each moment is an opportunity forfreshness You don’t need to dwell on the past, on your old stories That only creates tension, so weneed to drop the habit of revisiting the past or worrying about the future We are not driving down abusy, crowded highway Meditation is a safe environment where our minds can be free This freedomallows for a special energy and a special experience, and with that we can come into contact with thetrue nature of our mind, which is the whole idea

Eventually, as you explore the feelings of the body more and more deeply, the mind and body willmerge, and the mind will gain a really deep understanding of the nature of these sensations You willlearn skills and capabilities that will be helpful for other forms of meditation The body will becomeaccustomed to being open and ready to participate in meditation in a relaxed way

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRACTICE

We can begin our meditation session by chanting the three syllables OM, AH, and HUNG OM representsthe body It connects us with the body and its channels, winds, and energies, making the body open formeditation AH is connected to speech and calms the inner chatter that can lead to obsessive thinking

or is triggered by such thinking We don’t have to follow our thoughts—the talk going on in our mind

We can relax out of those habitual patterns and not engage with them HUNG is the heart-mind As

mentioned earlier, heart-mind is synonymous with spirit, wisdom heart-mind, awakened state, primordial awareness, and other terms for the ultimate state of awareness Since it is centered in the heart chakra, in the chest, it is sometimes just called heart Sometimes here it is called simply mind,

but this does not refer to the brain This is the level of spirit Be inspired and happy

Sing each syllable on a single tone, extending it all the way through the out-breath until it dies out

When we are meditating or doing anything, it is important that these three—body, speech, and mind—

be connected with each other For example, when we are talking, speech needs to be connected withconsciousness at the heart-mind level, and these need to be connected with feeling for the expression

to be harmonious Bring your body, speech, and mind together at the same place, gently resting, notengaged in any activity or striving The key to achieving this is to simply be present with each aspect

—with body, speech, and mind

When you notice you have become distracted—with the mind wandering off into fantasies—this is noproblem; just come back Settle the mind gently and gradually without becoming overly concernedwhen the mind wanders Slowly and gently bring your attention back to the present

Your eyes may be open or closed, or you may alternate from time to time—it’s up to you Whetheryour eyes are open or closed, integrate whatever you sense visually (or through the other senses) fullyinto the meditation environment If we differentiate a quiet, resting mind from what we wouldnormally call “distractions”—the phone ringing, someone talking loudly, the sound of traffic, and soforth—it is really our irritation, our inner tension, that creates the distraction When that occurs, this

is a chance for us to merge these phenomena with the meditation, to make them part of it By becomingaccustomed to this, we will be able to remain calm and centered when we are in busy situations inlife There is no way to shut down the samsaric world, to block everything For example, although it

is normal in group meditation sessions and teachings to ask that cell phones be turned off, I am not soinsistent about that If a cell phone does ring, you can take this as an opportunity to incorporate this

“distraction” into your meditation

You don’t need to stretch your meditations into long sessions Meditation is like a waterfall Itappears to be one piece, but it is composed of many small drops You can break your session anytime and then get a fresh start

SUGGESTIONS FOR PRACTICE

(Glancing at these reminders before or during meditation may help you establish a conduciveatmosphere.)

• Relax all tension and thoughts

• Open up and feel the nature of the body

• Deeply experience the body and the energy of the body

• Joyfully feel the energy of the body naturally flowing

• Now you can let go of any tightness, tension, holding back Just relax and be loose

• Don’t focus too tightly or too loosely—just stay with relaxation

• Connect with the body—loosely and in a relaxed manner

• Feel the body and be deeply connected, without pushing; just allow the experience, theconnection

• Don’t hurry; remain very relaxed.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q: What does it feel like when the mind is in union with the body? Is the body felt as a whole—

globally—or do you feel various sensations from different parts of the body at different moments?

A: You feel your whole body’s sensations within your resting mind rather than separate parts of the

body

Q: Are thoughts supposed to cease completely when mind and body are united?

A: No, it’s not that the thoughts have completely ceased, but the thinking mind attains a more and more

subtle level Then you can start to experience no separation anymore, which you can call unification.

Q: When we sing the syllables OM, AH , and HUNG , should we feel something in the head, throat, and chest?

A: Yes These three syllables are very useful and have a very deep meaning, although here we are not

going too far into that Our purpose in using them while meditating is to have these three in balance—body, speech, and mind Meditators normally think the mind is the main thing in meditation, but theymay not give much thought to body and speech

When you say, “OM,” you should feel the sound of enlightened energy, making your body aware

and calm (Physically speaking, OM permeates the entire head area, inside and out, like a sphere ofenergy This sphere is related to the chakra or energy center of the crown of the head.) Release alltightness in the body; relax and loosen up and connect with the wisdom bodies of the enlightenedones

When you say, “AH,” think of the sound of speech of enlightened energy, making your speech calmand clear That means there is not much mental chatting You feel the talking mind subside, and youfeel more openly calm Connect with the wisdom speech of enlightened ones

When you say, “HUNG,” you should feel its energy in your heart-mind, which becomes open andcalm Release all kinds of ego clinging, and feel the resting nature of the mind that is free of fixation.Connect with your inner nature of mind deeply without the interference of strong thoughts, and feel themind of the enlightened ones

The colors of these three syllables are white, red, and blue, respectively The colors can also beconsidered energies

Q: I have tightness in the knees and sometimes in the hips when I sit for any length of time on the

floor in a cross-legged position You mentioned that yoga would be helpful for tight joints What about warm-ups and stretches, such as runners and other athletes do before sports—would those

be helpful? Is meditation something you have to stay in shape for?

A: Yes, there are at least two reasons to warm up the body before meditation if possible Your body

may be sleepy and without the energy needed to sit in meditation postures In that case you need toenergize it before you sit To do that you could run or make other movements to get your bodywarmed up Another situation is when you feel pain and tightness in your body due to a lack ofmovement Here again you should loosen up before you sit Doing physical movements and stretches

is also very good When mind and body are well rested, it’s OK to do meditation without thesewarm-ups.

1 Mental presence: one is undistracted while being focused in a relaxed manner.

2 Nondual consciousness: there is no separation between subject and object—they are one.

SECOND MEDITATION

CALM ABIDING MEDITATION

In Tibetan, calm abiding is called shi-ney Shi means “peace,” and ney means “to stay,” and it also means “subtle.” This style of meditation, also commonly called by its Sanskrit name, shamatha, is

found in probably all contemplative traditions, including Hinduism, Sufism, Taoism, and Christianity,

as well as the various Buddhist schools

We’ve learned to relax and connect with our bodies Now we begin to explore the mind and ourperceptions Calm abiding meditation is about focusing our minds—eventually to a very deep level.This requires a method and practice Why? Well, how are our minds normally? Are we stable andfocused, or are we often scattered and agitated?

In Buddhism, the untrained mind has been compared to a monkey, a wild elephant, a bear, and awild horse Like monkeys, our minds are swift and powerful, but jumping everywhere In somecircumstances this is useful and enables us to work long and hard at meaningful activities Think ofmultitasking But in many situations, and meditation in particular, all of this jumping around ispointless and tiring

At times we may try to focus on a single object or activity, but our mind becomes like a bear whenfishing in a river Hungry and excited at seeing all the fish in the stream, the bear reaches out a pawand pulls a fish onto the bank But then, seeing so many more fish in the stream, the bear grabs anotherand then another As it does so, the fish already caught slither back into the river, and finally the beardiscovers they are all gone Like the bear, our mental excitement creates a superficial concentrationthat in the end frustrates our desire to be truly calm and focused

Especially in the twenty-first century, because of our busy lives, we are in the habit of havingminds that are busy, involved, and very active But let’s ask ourselves, Is this the only way my mindcan be? And further, Is this the true nature of my mind? The answer is no We can prove this fact bypracticing meditation, by taking some time to connect the mind to calmness The main point of calmabiding meditation is to replace busyness with calm, and confusion with clarity To do that we have

to train, just as the wildness of an elephant or a horse can be calmed by training As Shantideva said

in his Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life: “If with the rope of mindfulness you bind firm the

elephant of the mind, you will let go of every fear and find virtue close at hand.”1

But if we just sit still and try to be peaceful, we soon learn that the mind won’t cooperate Like anaughty child, the mind won’t listen to commands, like “Don’t think anything!” or “Behave!” And weall know from experience that a child may say, “Yes, Mommy,” but being displeased, the child willsoon return to the kind of behavior that brings another “Don’t do that!” Mommy may then becomemore forceful, but that usually just makes the child more agitated and resistant Like a skillful parent,

we need to apply a more subtle method In order to calm the mind, we begin by having it focus on anobject By doing so, distracting thoughts are reduced

When we practice calm abiding, what should be calm? The body should be calm—which welearned in the first meditation And the mind should be calm—which begins with the mentalatmosphere of calm that comes from focusing on an object Once that is achieved, the mind will focusand abide in calmness In this second stage, calmness itself becomes the object, replacing whateverobject we began with Making the body calm is not too difficult, but calming the mind is trickybecause we are so unaccustomed to that state of mind.

The process is similar to training a wild horse If a horse isn’t trained, it won’t listen to commandsand will often do the unexpected—galloping away or attacking, kicking up dust and making lots ofnoise Being wild, the horse is not used to seeing two-legged human beings or having ropes tiedaround it, being dragged into an enclosure and then forced to behave in a more peaceful and obedientmanner The horse’s normal habit is to be free and go wherever it wants, do whatever it likes Whenthe training begins, the horse is nervous and afraid But a good trainer will patiently and graduallyteach the horse to be calm and obedient That’s beneficial for the horse—which will be happier, atpeace, and enter into harmonious relations with humans—and for the owner, who will have a friendlyand useful domesticated animal in the corral

Like a wild horse, our minds harbor fear of the unfamiliar and can sometimes be easily frightened

We are not naturally open to focusing deeply Unable to focus we cannot penetrate things deeply,whether they are of our inner minds or the outside world We remain on the surface—a place we havebecome used to and comfortable with The meditation of calm abiding begins the training to changethose tendencies A well-trained horse first becomes comfortable with humans and then developsfriendships If someone visits, it expects to receive a gift—maybe something sweet The horse feelssafe and happy and doesn’t even need to be fenced in anymore The relaxed focus we gain from calmabiding meditation likewise brings us happiness and freedom

Focusing Deeply on the Nature of Mind

Calm abiding meditation can train us to be tranquil and focused, which is very useful both inmeditation practice and in daily life But it can take us far beyond that to an experience of the truenature of our heart-mind The nature of the heart-mind is peace, but this clear and beautiful moonlikeheart-mind, which we all have, is obscured by the clouds of samsara—our thoughts This tangle ofthoughts is similar to an index or table of contents Each topic leads to a subheading and then on toanother and another, endlessly That is how our untrained minds normally operate We may think thesehabits are human nature, but human nature goes much deeper than that Meditation can be, for theheart-mind, a special vacation from this confusion

When we are undistracted and completely resting, this is our true nature That’s both simple andprofound Here we arrive at a very subtle state of awareness that is spacious and all-inclusive Fromthere we can really see who we are At the level of experience, the result of calm is clarity When themind feels deeply, due to the preparation that meditation practice provides, we come to profoundclarity, our enlightened nature All the Buddhist teachings lead to this and its incorporation into ourdaily lives When we are distracted or interrupted, it is hard to see or feel this With gentleness andrelaxation, the mind is given freedom to reach its natural state

Focusing on an Object

We already began the process of focusing on an object in the first meditation, where we brought bodyand mind together We taught the mind to pay attention to the body That first meditation will mergewith and aid us in this second one Here we will begin by focusing a little more narrowly on a chosenobject, but not so tightly as to lose contact with the body, which will remain in the background And

we will continue to focus gently.

There are some styles of concentration practice that are more forceful and divided into precisestages where one’s focus becomes increasingly refined step by step But since Westerners are sohabituated to this linear approach from their everyday activities, there is a risk that the meditationwill become identical to the ordinary projects we are normally involved in, where a certain amount

of tension usually comes into play In general we must be careful never to take meditation as acommon activity—a mistake we can easily fall into If we take that approach, we will not develop thespecial relaxed quality of meditation These more rigid styles of concentration may also introduceexpectations that will act more as distractions than as aids to the practice

So, when we focus or concentrate, we want to be careful not to do so in a narrow, forced way Inschool we were sometimes urged by our teachers to “Focus!” and “Concentrate!” when studying andtaking tests Usually that meant that we were to furrow our brow, squint our eyes, and close off alldistractions from the task at hand This is very judgmental In a critical and somewhat aggressiveway, we are accepting and rejecting our thoughts But here we want to do the opposite—we are

looking for an opened focus.

The objects we use can be internal images or outer objects For example, we may imagine a flower

or observe a real flower placed before us It is important to choose an object that is inspiring to useither for its beauty or significance and to avoid one that will become boring or make usuncomfortable In Buddhism, spiritual images are considered especially good—a picture or statue ofthe Buddha, a deity such as Tara, and so forth—because they create a connection to blessings.2 And ofcourse since they are meaningful to Buddhists, they are inspiring to them So whether you practice aparticular religion or none at all, choose an object that has positive meaning to you The naturalenvironment is also good Focusing on the ocean, mountains, forests, the sky, and so forth can be veryinspiring

Other objects of focus include the breath and awareness itself For example, if we decide to focus

on the breath (which is especially useful when the mind is agitated), we allow the breaths to becomelong, and we focus on the sound of the air passing in and out; we feel the breath entering and leavingour nostrils—focusing as well on other sensations, such as the belly expanding and contracting—and

we mentally watch the breathing with openness and attention (If we are in a cold place, we canliterally watch the steam from the warm out-breaths.)

Of course we watch things all the time, but rarely with much connection or focus In calm abiding

we want to be connected with the object long enough and deeply enough so that we find real

concentration The kind of connection we want is called single-pointed (Sanskrit: samadhi and dhyana) Single-pointed means the mind is not distracted by anything—we’re united with the object.

If we are focusing on a flower, for example, we are not concerned with commenting on thecharacteristics of what we are seeing—its shape, color, beauty, type, and so forth We are notinvestigating or analyzing the flower, which would be a thinking process and a distraction from theobject itself Rather, we are simply observing the color and shape of the object directly with a quiet,relaxed mind Eventually there is no separation between the mind and the object—they are one Wealso experience the natural energy that arises in this process, and this brings vitality to the meditation.(As Padmasambhava said, “Do not investigate phenomena: investigate the mind If you investigate the

mind you will know the one thing which resolves all If you don’t investigate the mind, you can knoweverything but be forever stuck on one.”)3

An important part of this style of meditation is the attitude of being cheerful rather than “serious.”The inspiration we gain from focusing on an object that is beautiful or meaningful or that bringsspiritual blessings makes us happy That happiness leads us to be even more inspired, and this allows

us to open up more, to have that opened focus Rather than closing in on an object with a small circle

of attention, we want to open to the presence of spaciousness This means that while meditating, if wehear sounds or experience feelings, those are allowed to arise unblocked We just let them be There

is focus, but it is not a narrow beam

We begin by making a gentle effort to lure the mind away from thoughts by bringing it back—overand over—to our object We make that connection and keep it; see how long we can be in thatundistracted state Once we are into it, flowing, there is no need to stop The very feeling of calm andrelaxation we experience then becomes our object We need to experience the feeling of resting, thestate of resting When we allow ourselves to feel that resting nature, with mind, inspiration, and thewhole body—everything relaxed—there arises a special kind of attention that is very different fromwhat we are used to Our main aspiration is to be resting rather than following the perfectionistichabits of daily life that cause us to judge each thought that arises We need a 360-degree view—freelyopen Enjoying, observing, and being a witness to that relaxation—that is meditation

And it’s effortless Let this state of relaxed concentration flow continuously, like a waterfall Awaterfall is composed of many individual droplets, but we are unconcerned with them; we do notgrasp onto the thoughts, emotions, and images that may appear, but just attend to the flow Instead ofblocking or narrowing our focus when thoughts appear, we go in the opposite direction, remainingspacious and open This way we do not grasp and become involved with thoughts—they passnaturally and we remain in focus As we become more familiar with this practice, less and less effort

is required

To use concentration on the breath again as an example, the important thing for becoming pointed in the meditation is that the mind becomes united—continuously connected—with the in- andout-breaths There are no gaps The mind and the breath just flow together The mind becomesinspired by this, and concentration becomes more and more refined and powerful The sound of yourbreathing and the energy of this process also support the mind in ease and calm

single-When we start to feel peace—the mind is calm, resting, and relaxed—that in essence is calmabiding meditation The process is essentially the same for whatever object you focus on, includingthoughts Rather than concentrating on something complex and far away, we go into what we arefamiliar with and find harmony and peace among familiar thoughts, allowing them to arise andsubside naturally Eventually their occasional presence is no longer distracting

In meditation thoughts will come because the mind has energy Thoughts are the mind’s naturalexpression If you are not distracted by them and rest with them, they become a natural support for themeditation, providing energy So just be relaxed with thoughts—let them be Don’t engage with them.Remain in the present This is a little challenging at first We need to be more wise and awake withinour thoughts With such awareness we are no longer wrapped up in them We can remain where we

are—that is the difference This is called mindfulness This awareness is not worrying or concerned.

We just let the mind be relaxed and open, riding the wave of the present Then it can observe and seeits own nature clearly This awareness of thoughts eventually brings the subtlety that will take usdeeper

Keep in mind that our goal is not to eliminate thoughts—to arrive at a blank, thought-free state

Eventually we come to where the dualistic nature of thought vanishes, where thoughts are

unfabricated, seemingly transparent, becoming non-thoughts Here whatever remains is simply free.

This is an experience of wideopen spaciousness

The Meditation

Before we enter into meditation, it is a good idea to check our motivation Why am I doing

meditation? What is really behind this spiritual practice? What does spiritual mean? What does meditation mean? If it means discovering one’s inner nature and creating inner harmony—a more

natural and organic inner balance—why do that? We do it because this creates benefit for ourselvesand for others Tremendous love and dignity arise from this development—benefit for all beings.When the mind is calm and clear, you can recognize what genuine loving-kindness and compassionare about So take a moment now to create this motivation of benefiting self and others As Shantidevasaid, “Whatever joy there is in this world, all comes from wanting others to be happy Whateversuffering there is in this world, all comes from wanting desiring [only] myself to be happy.”4

Again we begin by chanting one time the three syllables symbolizing body, speech, and mind: OM,

AH, and HUNG We are trying to relax the natural tendency to think (mind), which then can stimulatetalking either internally or externally (speech), which can then even lead to physical movement Oneway body, speech, and mind work together is illustrated by the game of tug-of-war The two teamsline up, each side grabs hold of one end of the rope, and the judges stand by the line in the sand to seewhen one side drags the other across it When the tugging begins, the judges begin guessing at whowill win Then they may begin speaking, either internally or out loud, shouting, “Come on!” at theirfavorite team And as the competition progresses, they may even start unconsciously leaning this way

or that just as the competitors are doing You might notice yourself doing this when you watchsporting competitions This illustrates how body, speech, and mind are normally connected in oureveryday activities

When we unite body, speech, and mind in meditation, we are trying to calm each of these elementsand bring them to a common space of relaxation If the mind is undisturbed and focused, speech will

be resting In that situation, there will be nothing to stimulate the body into agitation or motion In thisway body, speech, and mind will become single-pointedly focused on calmness

We learned the importance of the body in the first meditation We begin to find the openness weseek through the body so that the thoughts and emotions too will experience openness and calm.Experience and relaxation happen almost simultaneously When the body is calm and present, weimmediately feel all the channels and energies, and these flow very differently We can feel theenergy of the body globally This is another reason why it is important to include it With speech, try

to be calm and clear—calm from less mental chatting and clear from not engaging with the past orfuture Outer, inner, and secret levels of speech all need to be quiet.5 The mind should not be chatting.But again it is difficult to accomplish this by force, saying, “Do not chat!” Rather, be open and try tofind a relaxed body, speech, and mind If the mind is inspired to be more relaxed, we more easilybecome focused and relaxed without distraction

Rest in the present There is no need to look for inner balance somewhere else Find it right in themoment of meditation Be comfortable with that moment Rest in undistracted awareness that alreadyhas good balance It’s important to recognize that Balance is not only an achievement of somethingnew, it is also the experience of something you already have naturally Then it can be nourished and

developed and made stronger with practice Focusing and letting yourself feel the nature of your ownmind is very important.

Before you try to focus, open the mind—really open it Trust yourself; try to relax and be fully

present; be inspired Open means open to the whole environment—physical form, energy, everything.

Be confident in openness Then, when you feel yourself starting to relax, it’s time to focus Focus

doesn’t mean tensed up; it means attention that is loose and calm When you really feel the energy ofmeditation, its flow, at some point this energy and relaxation should no longer remain separated; theyshould be united in a single experience

In this resting method of concentration, make sure you don’t push too much You might need to push

a little bit, but don’t make it your aim to always be bearing down, or you will end up manipulating.This is truly important If some thoughts come up and we label them “distracting thoughts,” we maybecome judgmental and frustrated with that and try to push back At that point a little drama begins to

be fabricated in our minds, and before long we’re making a documentary of the whole thing, and thenthat’s the end of meditation This is why it is important to be present Focusing on the present moment

is of the greatest value Concentrating on that freshness leads to resting because we are not soinvolved with thoughts and with the past and future

The very slight and gentle “pushing” we do when we focus is illustrated in the well-knownBuddhist story of the tuning of the lute or guitar (attributed to both the Buddha and to Machik Labdrön,

a twelfth-century Tibetan Buddhist yogini master) When the Buddha was asked by a student how oneshould concentrate in meditation, the Buddha—knowing the student was a musician—asked him how

he tuned his lute The reply was that it shouldn’t be too tight or too loose That, said the Buddha, isprecisely how one tunes one’s concentration in meditation: “Be firmly concentrated yet loosely

relaxed: Here is the essential point for the view.” So not too tight, not too loose—really a middle way.6 You will discover that in finding this balance, you are your own best teacher Check and seewhether you are too relaxed or too tight, and make adjustments and refinements as they are needed

If you are new to calm abiding meditation, it may be a little tricky at first, but this is to be expected

We focus on a flower, and the tendency to investigate manifests automatically: “It’s orange, but with atinge of yellow all kinds of patterns a little dry needs water Looks like rain today.Where’s my umbrella?” And we are back to ordinary thinking If that happens, don’t becomefrustrated and judgmental—we have been functioning like this for a very long time It’s a habit Justrefocus on the object, and when you stray from it, gently bring your attention back again Try your bestand don’t give up

You may discover that you can have an excellent session one day, and the next one will be terrible.That is normal, so be forgiving and compassionate toward yourself Try to keep the mind content withthe present moment and relaxed in this contented way so that you don’t get into desiring and expectingresults This will contribute to relaxation in meditation and also give you a more compassionate andloving attitude toward others—a great benefit to your social environment

You may find that your focus remains stable for a minute or two, and then you become distractedagain That’s fine Furthermore, there is no need to go back and replay the experience, trying to make

it more perfect, like musicians in a recording studio This is another habit we have learned in normallife, like when we retype a letter to eliminate errors When meditating, just move on naturally,bringing your focus gently back to the object, back to the present Allow things to flow Let the mindremain open and flexible If you become tired, pause, take deep breaths, glance into the distance,refresh Don’t allow yourself to become stubborn and self-critical

INSTRUCTIONS AND REMINDERS

• Raise the motivation to practice for the benefit of yourself and others

• Chant the syllables OM, AH, HUNG as we have done previously

• If your object of focus is visual, you may keep the eyes either open or closed, depending onwhether you are focusing on an internal, imagined image or an actual object in front of you

• Let the body be relaxed

• Let the mind rest in the present moment

• Focus gently

• Don’t push; be calm and relaxed

• Enter into single-pointed concentration

• Feel the peace and relaxation and make that your focus

• Be connected with body, speech, and mind

• Before you are ready to end the session, take a few calm, deep breaths

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q: I have heard that ethics is very important in the Buddhist tradition Is good ethical conduct in

life important for making progress in meditations such as calm abiding—or for any meditation practice for that matter?

A: In Buddhism ethics and openness are seen to be intimately connected and are therefore very

important for developing the clear path that brings happiness Because ethics refers to a genuine andsincere attitude toward everything, you need to respect the inner feeling and wisdom aspects of yourmind

Q: It’s easy to slow down the body, but I have trouble slowing down the mind—the mind is

working overtime.

A: Yes, yes You become like an unpaid worker—a volunteer I think this is very common—many

people have this problem The best remedy is to try not to pay attention when energetic thoughtscome Tell your thoughts something like, “I’m a little too busy to pay attention to you now because I

am having tea,” or, “I’d like to read for a while.” Respond in a different way from your norm, and thethoughts may decide, “Well, she’s not so interested today,” and they may dissolve by themselves

Q: As I practice calm abiding, I seem to get a little bit more focused day by day, but the progress

toward one-pointedness is very slow I have so many distractions from the way I have been thinking and living all these years—they seem to be very strong habits that descend on me when I begin practicing Are there any shortcuts to accomplishing calm abiding, or is it just a matter of being patient?

A: It sounds like you are doing well My answer is to be patient and keep moving forward steadily.

Sometimes slow progress is more stable than progress that occurs quickly

Q: Rinpoche, you mentioned that when we are in calm abiding meditation, we experience

“spaciousness.” What do you mean by that term?

A: Spaciousness means that your mind is no longer basing itself on thought and spinning those

thoughts further and further in more complicated patterns, making the mind tighter At the same time,you are alert and undistracted, which leads to a wider, more expansive atmosphere

Q: What is the source of the energy we experience when calm abiding meditation is flowing? And

what exactly is this energy? What do you mean by that term?

A: This energy appears when a meditator’s mind is undistracted For example, when the mind is not

actively thinking, you are able to feel there is a place in the mind itself that has a very calming nature,

a kind of “familiar home” of rest, and yet energy is naturally there Of course there aren’t any separateplaces there—only the mind itself

Q: Just before I go to sleep, should I meditate?

A: It’s a good idea At that time thoughts are almost settled They are not so coarse There’s just an

even balance That allows you to relax naturally before you go to sleep That’s good

1 Shantideva, The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life 5:3, quoted in Adam Pearcey, ed., A Compendium of Quotations, 6th ed (Lotsawa

School, 2008), 80 www.lotsawahouse.org

2 Blessings can be likened to energy and inspiration that can come through meditation practice, sometimes believed to emanate from deities and other spiritual entities They can also be thought of as something similar to grace in the Christian sense This energy coming from the compassion of the fully-awakened mind can open us to more fully benefit self and others.

3 Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), quoted in Adam Pearcey, ed., A Compendium of Quotations, 6th ed (Lotsawa School, 2008).

www.lotsawahouse.org

4 From Stephen Batchelor, trans., A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life 8:129 , by Shantideva (Dharamsala, India: Library of

Tibetan Works and Archives, 1979), 125.

5 Outer here means verbalization—speaking out loud Inner is mental chatting Secret refers to habitual patterns of subtle thoughts that

echo mental chatting.

6 Found in a variety of contexts in Buddhist teachings, the middle way means to avoid extremes.

In Tibetan this meditation style is called jog-gom Jog means “to stabilize,” and gom is

“meditation.” This can be illustrated by the shepherd with his flock, where the animals themselves(our normal thoughts) are in a calm state and unlikely to run off, but still the shepherd must bewatchful to guard against wolves (distracting undercurrent thoughts) So here—in order to reducesubtle undercurrent thoughts—there is more relaxation and less worry than previously, and from thesupport of that relaxation comes stability We become inspired to remain longer in that meditationstate

The Appearance of Clarity

I call this third meditation refined basic sitting because it involves greater sensitivity than the

previous two We began by feeling and relaxing the body and then moved on to calm abiding, where

we learned to focus on an object Now, after gaining some experience with feeling and focusing, inthis third meditation we will concentrate on something a little more selective—something we touched

on in the last chapter We will focus on the calmness that we have developed in calm abiding andallow that to merge into a feeling of clarity, energy, and inspiration, which appears as we let our mindrelax and settle Another way of describing this is to say there is more relaxed energy Previouslysome effort was needed to acquire resting energy, but now you experience that energy in a morenatural, stable way It’s a subtle shift that our experience with calm abiding allows us to perceive

Sometimes in meditation we are calm, the focus is quite good, but the inspiration is not necessarily

so apparent Inspiration here means the quality we experience when the energy of clarity becomes the

focus of meditation We have reached calm through the focus of calm abiding; now we morethoroughly and continuously experience that calmness itself, allowing clarity to appear Without thevividness of clarity, we could fall into dullness, drowsiness, and even sleep Clarity helps to create abalance—a flowing, wakeful awareness

When calm arises in our meditation, it appears like a witness to the experience of focus.Developed further, calm eventually leads to clear mind—a mind free from thoughts and very much

focused in essential spaciousness Then the whole atmosphere becomes more transparent and filledwith energy There is not only calm, but more luminosity—clear mind So this third meditation, likeall of them, has the potential to bring us to the ultimate clarity, the essential nature of heart-mind.

Achieving Stability

Here we will also begin to gain some stability Stability is a little more than just concentratingsteadily on an object It is gained from the natural quality of subtlety and resting on the object—weexperience the resting aspect, not only the focusing In the beginning we developed focus by attending

to objects (such as flowers, images, and so forth) single-pointedly But here we emphasize restingwith that single-pointedness itself, that unity between mind and its object The difference is subtle, but

it exists and you will feel it

Once again, due to the way we normally function in everyday situations, we are likely to work toohard at this when we begin to meditate We may remind ourselves over and over to “be here” or “bepresent,” but such constant reminding is overdoing it We want to drop that tension This may be alittle tricky because by losing focus completely we would have a wild and uncontrolled mind again—

a mind wandering off in every direction But instead of pushing for focus, allow the mind to berelaxed and mingle your focus with that state of calmness without doing too much

Again think of the waterfall If we inspect the individual drops—each of our passing thoughts—welose the flow Be in the present and just let the waterfall of experience pass by without interference.Since the mind is less active just observing the present, it is more relaxed Once that relaxation hasestablished itself, make that your focus We are focusing on the flow of the waterfall The flow is onewith relaxation

If you notice that the mind has wandered off, when you bring the mind back into focus, there is noneed to be frustrated or judgmental—nothing heavy-duty Don’t create and replay a negativedocumentary entitled “I Am Always Getting Distracted,” because that itself becomes a hindrance.Rather, simply bring your mind home very cheerfully, and be buoyed by happiness and enthusiasm.When there is delight, and you are experiencing a connection with the resting nature of the mind, thatbrings out the quiet energy of openness and enthusiasm When we experience clarity, that clarity isdelight—delight that brings forth inspiration The mind can be resting, knowing it is resting ordistracted But there is really no separation between thoughts and the thinker The knower is also themind Try to bring everything to the center of the resting mind Then feel this clear, relaxed space.From this perspective, when distractions come, we don’t have to fight them off We’ve heard theinstruction before: be aware of them without becoming distracted—just let them pass through Youmight even say, “Don’t be distracted by distractions.” We are not working on each thought anddealing with each mental pattern Therefore, we are less busy If we work to put off each thought,

rejecting them or accepting them, we are grasping (Grasping is a technical term in Buddhism In

general this refers to engaging or interfering with a mental phenomenon in any manner.) If thoughts arepleasant, we grab; if they are unpleasant, we push away These two things happen when we deal withthoughts one by one But when the mind is calm and remains in its nature without wavering, whenthese thoughts come, there is no place for them to hook onto If our mind is free, these thoughts mayappear, but they don’t stick

Being in that kind of mind and meditation is very natural, but on the other hand, we sometimes thinkthat our “sticky” daily life is more natural because we have been in it for a long time—it has become