BUDDHIST MEDITATION
Compiled by Percy Nanayakkara
Throughout history, there have been numerous traditions of meditation. The history
of meditation goes far beyond known human history. From very early times, yoga
and other forms of meditation have been essential practices in Hinduism. However,
meditation has not been the exclusive privilege of any particular religion.
It has been a common practice of many religions. These traditions have continued
generation after generation without falling out of practice because they all
bring about some beneficial result to people who practice them. While they are
all recognized as different forms of meditation, all of them may not produce
the same benefits. But they all yield good results; in doing so, they have attracted
many serious minded people around the world. Some of the commonest forms of
meditation are Yoga, Transcendental Meditation, Sufi, Zen, Samatha, Vipassana,
and Satipatthana. Of these meditations, Yoga, and Transcendental Meditation
are believed to be of Hindu origin. Sufi is from Islam, and the rest of them
have been introduced by Buddhism. Meditation has not being a common or widespread
practice among the followers of Judaism and Christianity although they too have
their own variations of meditation. Thus meditation is a common aspect of many
religious traditions.
The Buddha's life story gives detailed accounts of how Siddhartha learned yoga
practices from accomplished teachers. However Siddhartha did not give up his
search for other forms of meditations. He continued experimenting further with
new techniques of meditation. Siddhartha's achievement which made him a Buddha
was the result of these experiments. The Buddha taught his disciples the essentials
of Buddhist meditation. These traditions continued from generation to generation.
From master to master through the ages there have been individual approaches
and interpretations to the original practices. When Buddhism was received in
different regions of Asia, they added their own methods and interpretations.
Japanese Zen and Tibetan Tantra are good examples of such modified versions
of Buddhist meditation. From getting up in the morning, till lying down at night,
nine-tenths of our actions are automatic. To meditate is to cease the mechanical,
the automatic, the habitual; to stop preoccupying the mind with a lot of sensory
stimulation, sensory proliferations or distractions. To let things settle. When
the dust begins to settle, things become clearer. Although Satipatthana, Vipassana,
or Zen can be done in any position, people usually think that a sitting posture
is the best position for a meditator. Our mental picture of a meditator is that
of a person in the lotus posture. However any particular position is not quintessential
for proper meditation. In Sri Lanka, most Buddhist temples have prominades called
Sakman Maluwa for monks to practice walking meditation. Several reasons account
for the popularity of the lotus posture. The cultural and historical background
in India is perhaps the major reason. It is a habit of Indians to sit in lotus
posture. The Satipatthana Sutta itself makes special reference to it as a way
of getting ready to do certain meditations like the meditation on breath (anapana
sati). Obviously, the meditator's lungs remain fully expanded and spinal cord
stays straight when one sits in lotus posture. This helps lungs and brain to
function freely. Besides, it is a stable and settled position for the meditator.
It is not unusual for a person to fall asleep when the mind becomes calmer and
calmer. If it happens the meditator will not suffer injury, because he or she
is steady in the sitting position. We can imagine what could happen if one falls
asleep during the walking meditation. Therefore sitting posture, especially
the lotus posture, is a firm and balanced physical position for the meditator.
However, we must be mindful of the fact that human body is uncomfortable in
any posture if we maintain it for a length of time. As such if you are more
comfortable on a low stool or a chair that should be quite appropriate.
Before achieving the Buddhahood, Siddharta Gautama developed supranormal skills
based on yogic practices. This type of meditation is known as samatha because
by calming down one's thoughts and by cultivating the power of concentration
one's mind reaches supranormal states or dhyaana. Thus, samatha meditation came
from the pre-Buddhistic practices. What actually led Siddhartha to the Buddhahood
was his own experimentation in meditation. This new meditation is known as Vipassana.
Vipassana is a Pali term which means insight or penetration into reality. It
is through Vipassana that one can attain Nibbana, the Goal of Buddhism. Even
the one who has mastered samatha does not attain Nibbana; he has to develop
Vipassana in order to attain Nibbana. An essential step of vipassana is satipatthana
(i.e. mindfulness or awareness). Through satipatthana the meditator becomes
aware of the present moment of life, each and every movement of his or her physical
and mental existence. That kind of awareness is essential to have penetrating
insight into the physical and mental phenomena which encompasses the whole world.
Being aware of your feelings is traditionally known as vedanaanupassana satipatthana..
When the process of feeling is seen clearly with satipatthana, the feeler disappears.
In the absence of the feeler, observant, or ego, the meditator becomes in touch
with the flux of life or the stream of existence. Normally one does not notice
details in one's activities. Only when one becomes mindful one sees the minute
details of one's activities. Similarly in being fully attentive, one can take
note of all the movements taking place in daily living. A step beyond the physical
movements is thought. The meditator begins to see his or her thoughts, he or
she begins to recognize the rising, continuing, and the fall of each thought.
Thus, characteristics like impermanence of the physical and mental entities
become revealed to the meditator. Seeing these characteristics is Vipassana.
This way Satipatthana leads to Vipassana. One's progress towards enlightenment
depends on Vipassana meditation.
At this point, let us see what modern researchers have done in the field of
meditation. First of all modern researchers have recognized that the meditator's
brain functions are distinct from that of the non-meditator. In addition it
has been discovered that the meditator's brain is not subjected to habituation
process, whereas all the others live as victims of habituation of their brains.
See the following two experiments. in Electroencephalographic (EEG)Analysis
of Meditation
In 1963 a fascinating and unique report on Zen meditation was presented by Dr
Akira Kasamatsu and Dr Tomio Hirai of the Department of Neuro-Psychiatry, Tokyo
University. It contained the results of a ten-year study of the brain wave or
electroencephalographic (EEG) tracing of Zen masters. The EEG tracing revealed
that about 90 seconds after an accomplished Zen practitioner begins meditation,
a rhythmic slowing in the brain wave pattern occurs known as alpha waves. This
slowing occurs with eyes open and progresses with meditation, and after 30 minutes
one finds rhythmic alpha waves of seven or eight per second. This effect persists
for some minutes after meditation. What is most significant is that this EEG
pattern is notably different from those of sleep, normal walking consciousness,
and hypnotic trance and is unusual in persons who have not made considerable
progress in meditation. In other words, it suggests an unusual mental state;
though from the subjective reports of the practitioners, it does not appear
to be a unique or highly unusual conscious experience. It was also found that
a Zen master's evaluation of the amount of progress another practitioner had
made correlated directly with the latter's EEG changes.
Another finding of the same study concerned what are called alpha blocking and
habituation. "To understand these phenomena let us imagine that a person
who is reading quietly is suddenly disturbed by a loud noise. If the same sound
is then repeated with a few seconds later his attention will again be diverted,
only not as strongly nor for as long a time. If the sound is then repeated at
regular intervals, the person will continue reading and become oblivious to
the sound. A normal subject with closed eyes produces alpha waves on an EEG
tracing. An auditory stimulation, such as a loud noise normally obliterates
alpha waves for seven seconds or more; this is termed alpha blocking. In a Zen
master the alpha blocking produced by the first noise lasts only two seconds.
If the noise is repeated at 15 second intervals, we find that in the normal
subject there is virtually no alpha blocking remaining by the fifth successive
noise. This diminution of alpha blocking is termed habituation and persists
in normal subjects for as long as the noise continues at regular and frequent
intervals. In the Zen master, however, no habituation is seen. His alpha blocking
lasts two seconds with the first sound, two seconds with the fifth sound, and
two seconds with the twentieth sound. This implies that the Zen master has a
greater awareness of his environment as the paradoxical result of meditative
concentration."
EEG tracing is only one example found in modern research. Psychology plays a
large role in the modern world and meditation is essentially a psychological
affair. Therefore, it is worthwhile for us to compare and contrast briefly modern
psychology with Buddhist psychology. The Buddha teaches that the world is operated
by mind (cittena neeyati); pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow, progression
and regression, in brief the whole human civilization is a product of thought.
An individual's future and the future of all mankind depends on our power of
thinking. The role of consciousness is clearly enumerated by Dr Douglas Burns
in his " Buddhist Meditation and Depth Psychology". " If the
basis of Christianity is God, the basis of Buddhism is mind. From the Buddhist
viewpoint, mind or consciousness is the core of our existence. Pleasure and
pain, good and evil, time and space, life and death have no meaning to us apart
from our awareness of them or thoughts about them. Whether God exists or does
not exist, whether existence is primarily spiritual or primarily material, whether
we live for a few decades or live forever all these matters are, in the Buddhist
view, secondary to the one empirical fact of which we do have certainty; that
is the existence of conscious experience as it proceeds through the course of
daily living. Therefore, Buddhism focuses on the mind; for happiness and sorrow,
pleasure and pain are psychological experiences".
Cognitive therapy has become a major outcome of psychology today. This is not
surprising at all because a greater part of life is mental; even the physical
body is operated by the mind. Mental health should be maintained in order to
live a happy life. When one is aware of the feelings that exist on the surface
of one's mind, gradually the hidden feelings begin to be revealed by themselves.
In using the particular meditation, awareness of feeling, one can take one's
feelings under control and manage them in a productive way.
Every person needs meditational therapy in order to make progress towards enlightenment.
If one is satisfied with the usual and habitual worldly life one might not make
any attempt to walk a religious path or experiment with meditation. As one should
notice, higher benefit of meditation is received by the normal and sane persons.
These people are not trying to correct some abnormal mental states, rather they
are trying through meditation to achieve the highest spiritual goals possible
for mankind. Satipatthana Sutta teaches four types of meditations. They are,
kayanuppassana or Bodily or Physical awareness, vedanauppassana the sensory
awareness, being aware of thoughts or mind itself is cittanupassana, being aware
of certain perceptions such as attachment, hate, love or compassion is dhammanupassana.
If we look at the four Satipatthanas - body, sensory, mind, and dharmas, (Kayaanupassana,
vedananupassana, cittanupasana, dhammaanupassana), through meditation they become
subtler and subtler gradually.. To be mindful of mind or dharmas certain concentration
is needed. Clearly sitting down quietly helps one's mind to see itself and to
see the content of one's mind. Seeing one's mind is a very essential step in
the process of meditation. This is the doctrinal reason for the sitting position
to become so attractive to the meditator. Nevertheless, we should not go to
an extreme and cling to a sitting position or lotus posture as if it is indispensable
to meditation. Nibbana can be realized in any posture. Here the Buddha has taught
the meditator to be attentive when he or she is going forward, returning, looking
straight ahead, looking in other directions, bending arms-legs- or body, stretching
out arms- legs- or body, getting dressed, wearing any thing, eating, drinking,
tasting, using the toilet, walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, waking,
talking and remaining silent. In short, the Satipatthana Sutta teaches that
one has to be mindful all the time. It is clear that in each and every bodily
movement one must be alert. All the time, through and through one's daily living,
one has to be attentive to each and every action. Any object or any event can
serve the purpose. The characteristics of the world are present in everything
and in every motion of the world. When one's mind is sharp enough one is able
to comprehend the true nature of reality. That is what meditation does to the
mind, it develops insight in the attentive mind. It is similar to what Isaac
Newton experienced observing a falling apple. The law of gravity exists and
works everywhere and that particular apple is not the only thing that ever fell
to the ground. But maturation of the scientist's wisdom and his observation
coincided with the fall of that apple. And he was observing it with his intellectual
awareness. He was paying enough attention to that particular event in the nature.
So it opened his insight into a universal principle. Meditative attention works
the same way.
When we were very young we learned to walk and it has become a habit to us.
There is no meditation in habitual walking. It becomes a meditation when the
walker pays his or her attention to the act of walking. Just habitual movement
of the legs is not meditation. Only when one is aware of the movement of one's
feet, does that act of walking become a meditation. If the meditator slows down
the habitual movement of the feet, then, paying attention becomes easy to the
meditator. Gradually one begins to see some occurrences one has not hitherto
seen clearly. For instance, raising a foot, moving it, and placing it, become
as distinctive from one another.. Being aware of such feelings of the feet belongs
to vedanaanupassana satipatthana. Being aware of the movement of the feet belongs
to kaayaanupassana satipatthana. The above quoted EEG experiment has proved
that the non-meditator's mind becomes insensitive to the environment and his
mind functions on habituation while the meditator's mind remains alert to the
outside world. This is paradoxical to meditative concentration. Simply because
the sensitivity becomes sharper in the meditative mind, the meditator becomes
more and more sensitive to the condition of the world. People and their pleasure
and pain become almost like a part of the meditator himself or herself. That
is how he or she grows in compassion. He or she cannot remain aloof doing nothing
about the suffering in the world. As much as with quiet meditation he or she
becomes involved with people, other living things, and rest of the world in
a positive and helpful manner instead of running away from the fellow humans
and other beings. The true nature of the meditative mind being a sensitive one,
there is no closing of such a mind to the world. Because of the strength of
such a mind it could remain uninjured by the worldly situation. However, with
the same strength the meditative mind works to eliminate the suffering of others
and goes out to serve the world. Such is the paradox of the quiet mind. Contrary
to the quiet mind, the noisy mind just drifts on habits seeking more and more
pleasure, and becomes insensitive to others feelings and needs. If many practiced
meditation, this world will be a compassionate, caring and loving world.
Although meditation practices are not limited to the Buddhists, it must be pointed
out that the goal of meditation is the goal of Buddhism. They are one and the
same. Therefore, the religious path of Buddhism and meditation are inseparable.
The well-known Eightfold Path itself incorporates meditation as three of its
strands. Thus the journey on the Buddhist path does not start until one starts
Buddhist meditation.
REFERENCES: 1. Diigha Nikaaya, the Satipatthana Sutta. 2. "Elements of
Buddhist Meditation" Prof Shantha Ratnayake 3. " Buddhist Meditation
and Depth Psychology" Dr Douglas Burns
"Let one conquer anger with compassion,
evil with righteousness;
Let one conquer the miser with generosity
and the liar with the truth"
Dhammapada