Meditation for Buddha's Enlightenment - Sensing not Thinking

The First Satipatthana

Buddha's Enlightenment
To me, Buddha's enlightenment, which is called nirvana in Sanskrit and nibbana in Pali, is the goal supreme for the best kind of life.

The spiritual enlightenment that we seek is uplifted with hope, cleansed with forgiveness, radiant with joy, opened with good will, guided by clarity and wisdom, driven by dedication and energy, strengthened with confidence and competence, well-regarded with the right attitude, cultivated with diligent patience, praised from experience, and filled with gratitude for its blessings. And it has many more such blessings and qualities. What else can you think of ?

Is Buddha's enlightenment for those who go through the training and transformation, or is it reserved just for some of the senior monks of the old religion?

Buddha's meditation is one of the elements of this training, and satipatthana practice is an important part of Buddha's meditation. My previous article introduced the practice and the sutta, and examined Buddha's enlightenment in an attainable way. Let's look at the first satipatthana.

Traditional Scripture
I summarize the important points of section 1 of the Satipatthana Sutta, DN 22, based on my extensive experience of Buddhism.

Satipatthana 1, Mindfulness of the Body (kaya anupassana)
"A monk focuses on his breath, noting its length, and calming it."
"When walking, standing, sitting or lying down, a monk discerns or knows that he is in these postures"
"When going & returning, looking toward & looking away, bending & extending his limbs, carrying his outer cloak, his upper robe & his bowl... eating, drinking, urinating & defecating, ... a monk is alert."
"A monk reflects on this body, full of various kinds of unclean things ..."
"A monk focuses on the bodies organs, tissues, fluids, wastes ..."
"A monk focuses on the elements that comprise the body ..."
"A monk focuses on rotting human corpses (in minute detail) ..."

Comment
Such instructions might be suitable for the dignity and dispassion of a Buddhist monk in a traditional monastery or to train a novice. Dignity and dispassion are essential to the status and influence of a Buddhist monk; they need them to direct the religion.

But we seek meditation training for the spiritual liberation of ordinary people living in this modern world. So is there any relevance of this outdated religious theme of 'mindfulness of the body' (kaya anupassana)?

Kaya means body, and can also mean mind (Buddhist Dictionary, by Nyanatiloka, buddhasociety website). The only way we can be 'mindful of the body' is through its five sense doors, and these can all make excellent meditation objects, with good instruction.

A great variety of meditation objects are now taught, available through books, videos, audio, and live class teachings. They can be categorized by the sense door they use. Let's briefly examine them before discussing meditation for Buddha's enlightenment.

Images
Mental imagery, based on imagination, is very common. They take you on a journey through a forest or garden, along a beach or river, through a cave. Or they ask you to visualize deities or spirit guides. Or colors entering your body, usually through the crown chakra, with a different color for each chakra.

These work really well in group, but left to yourself the imagination might not be strong enough to counter distracting thoughts.

Real imagery; the sight and sound of Nature, is also good, and one I use a lot. The beauty of a flower, or early morning light on the vegetation, or the view from a hilltop can be strong enough to hold your attention if you work on it. Novelty value is important - this might be a stimulus for travel.

The beauty of crafted works like glass work, pottery, paintings, sculpture and photography are also good to hold the attention. The art and craft shops of tourist destinations like Montville (Qld) and Sassafras (Vic) flourish well in the proximity of natural beauty like waterfalls and lush forests.

Sounds
Beautiful music that inspires and uplifts is a popular meditation object. Disturbing thoughts are simply banished for much of the performance. With practice, you can achieve the same meditative concentration with your favorite CD. Treat it like a proper concert. This is a favorite meditation of mine these days.

Natural sounds like bird calls and the sound of the wind in the trees can also inspire, with some practice. It is a practice - release your attention from unnecessary thoughts and enjoy these sounds instead.

Neutral Meditation Objects
Beautiful gardens, colors, flowers, craft and music are all attractive meditation objects. By contrast, the ordinary body sensations of the movement of your legs or implement you are using , the touch of the chair or floor, the brush of clothes, are all neutral meditation objects.

A major obstacle to Liberation is the habitual tendency to ignore the neutral. Any habit of ignoring important things is an important control tactic of the ego, to get you to ignore the harmfulness of unhelpful and unnecessary thinking and compulsive thinking.

The experience of Being Free in daily life involves returning your attention, time and time again, to neutral meditation objects; the movement of your body, the sound of a motor or air conditioning, the contact with chair or floor. These are your anchoring points, to stabilize your consciousness. When stability is restored, then you can rebuild the sense of appreciation, wonder and delight in life.

Striking beauty is not available 24/7. Even if you did stay in an environment with much of such beauty, it will quickly lose its novelty value, and so become the ordinary.

So it is important to not limit your meditation objects just to strikingly beautiful objects.
It is equally important not to value only those few times when your meditation was strikingly pleasant. Excessive dependence on pleasant meditation is a sure recipe for discontinued practice; meditation is not always pleasant.

Indeed, on silent, residential, lay Buddhist meditation retreats, the meditation objects offered are mostly neutral. This might sound boring from the outside, but people often really value such retreats.

I started a 'Goenka Vipassana' Meditation retreat at their national retreat center in the Blue Mountains in 1998. There were 40 participants then, and meditation retreats were being held almost continuously. The hall had 120 places set up. Their meditation objects were mostly neutral.

Body Sensations
Buddhist tradition always prescribes the breath to be the primary meditation object, but this is often too subtle for the busy mind. The sensation of contact with chair or floor when resting, and the sensation of movement when moving is probably the best. There is much to choose from here; the brush of the clothes, movement of the limbs, hands and the tool or utensil being used are the main ones. You can do this meditation during your daily tasks.

Integration
The experience of being in Nature or on the dance floor involves the integration of sight, sound, touch, movement, flexibility, strength and many more. So Nature meditation is not restricted to just the sights, it's also the walking or other exercise as you move, you are being through the Source of Life. Put your attention on all these different components, and the whole of them. Bushwalking is a very popular activity.

However, when people bushwalk in a group, they converse, not meditate. You can practice Nature meditation by yourself. When reasonably proficient, you can invite selected friends to join you in Nature meditation, and give them instruction before and during your outing. This could be a good opportunity to expand people's experience, share and learn.

Ideals
The idea of Freedom or the Source of Liberation is also a popular meditation object. Mantras from India are popular, especially when combined with beautiful music. The key here is devotion - to devote your attention to the sacred and sublime. For me, many of these Sanskrit words suggest some aspect of the Divine. This makes them sacred to me.

Meditation for Buddha's Enlightenment
These meditations are wholesome and beneficial entertainment or relaxation, especially in a group meditation. These things are important, and deserve encouragement.

But these same meditations can also be used for quite a different purpose: Buddha's enlightenment, and they are indispensable for this goal.

Buddha's enlightenment requires training our heart and mind to become free from disturbing and destructive negative thoughts and feelings. This involves developing some essential objectivity from such thoughts and feelings. The essential tactic is to repeatedly and consciously retrieve your attention from unnecessary and unhelpful thoughts and feelings, and repeatedly and consciously return it to some chosen meditation object, such as those listed above. This is the heart of Buddha's meditation. It takes years of daily practice, and this training will be much assisted by other supportive practices and therapies that appeal to you.

This is a key difference between meditation for relaxation or entertainment and meditation for Buddha's enlightenment. Whether your mind is peaceful and ready to meditate or not, you still do your daily practice.

Calm and Insight Meditation
Buddha's meditation is best divided into two categories: Calm (samatha) and insight (vipassanaa).

When you're ready to Be Still and know your True Nature is Freedom, when your attention does not wander, and meditation is enjoyable and concentrated, then you can learn the value of release and stillness. This is Calm Meditation.

When you cannot be still, intrusive thoughts disturb, meditation is painful and you want to stop practice, then you can learn the suffering of bondage, and gain insight into what ties you to addictions and defilement. This is Insight Meditation.

Those who lack theory make the mistake of ceasing their meditation practice when the going gets tough, i.e. when concentration is lacking. This is the main cause of stop start practice of meditation, with unstable fluctuations between disciplined practice and undisciplined indulgence.

Jhana Meditation
This is an important aspect of Buddha's meditation, for it is the full development of calm meditation (samatha). It is synonymous with Right Concentration (samma samadhi), which is the culminating factor of Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path (read the end of DN 22; the section on Right Concentration). Samadhi is also the eighth Principle of Astanga Yoga (Eight Limbed Yoga).

Bodhinyana monastery was the biggest Theravadan Buddhist training monastery in Australia, under Ajahn Brahm. At Bodhinyana, all the sense doors must be fully closed for jhana to occur. This is an attainment that most people are highly unlikely to reach throughout this entire lifetime. But such a state (if it is possible) is much more likely to occur for the elite of the monastic elite.

Nyanatiloka quotes from 5 different suttas to define and describe jhana. But these quotes do not support this elitist notion about jhana (The Word of the Buddha; the chapter on Right Concentration, on buddhasociety website).

However, jhana meditation is simply the experience of being absorbed in meditation because you are enjoying it. Your attention remains on sensing and is undisturbed by thinking. Your attention has ceased to wander. Your meditation is concentrated.

Jhana is important to your freedom, because it shows you the genuine beauty of release from compulsive thinking, instead of pursuing the pseudo pleasure of incessant thinking. It gives you insight into the suffering of negative thinking and other destructive addictions. It shows you that addictions are a poor substitute for the experience of Freedom.

The right tactics are needed to approach jhana. The spiritual path is one of enjoying meditation, so you need to choose a meditation object that suits you, from the above discussion. You need to practice different techniques to build up your repertoire.

Effort and patience are needed to repeatedly retrieve attention from negative or compulsive thinking, and restore it onto your meditation object, in daily practice at home. Take note of any sense of release, no matter how small, and value that. This builds appreciation and contentment, essential for jhana practice.

When neighborhood jhana arrives, now is the time to make effort to let go of control. This timely letting go is the key to enter full jhana and experience the bliss of meditative legend.

Such joy in meditation is the real food for meditation practice. A really joyful meditation, achieved under special conditions, can give motivation to many ordinary sessions.

Jhana does take practice, but if you attend to the enjoyment of release from compulsive thinking, then jhana will come much sooner. Jhana only comes when you are ready for it; you cannot bring it on through an act of will if you're not ready for it.

Conclusion
It is easy to make the mistake that meditation is this first satipatthana, but Buddha Wisdom actually includes three more satipatthanas, which I will discuss in other, interdependent articles on Buzzle.

My Purpose
I benefit enormously from my meditation training, especially my training at the monastery. I am very grateful that I persisted through the difficulties.

I also found the stillness and peace of Buddhist meditation, meetings and venues very beautiful.

I encourage you to take up ongoing meditation training that is liberating and fulfilling. Regular attendance and a deeper involvement in a suitable meditation group can be a great help for this.

But it is important to know the pitfalls of old religion and refrain from adopting divisive sectarian opinions that might prevent you receiving help during major life crises.

In such sectarian environment, it is better to make friends who value the beautiful qualities of freedom, and cultivate friendships that enhance these important qualities. This is far superior to seeking people who might have the same opinion on sectarian dogma and other ideology; opinions that in truth are unnecessary, unhelpful, divisive or even dangerous.

May you go through the training and transformation; may you realize Buddha's enlightenment in the here and now.