Med Seminar Teaching Outline

8/7/2019 Med Seminar Teaching Outline

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Mind at RestBasics of Buddhist meditation

What is Meditation?

Why do we need to meditate?How do I practice?

1) What is meditation?a) Resting the mind

i) We need to rest our mind because we constantly exhaust ourselves through pursuits of momentary gain thatultimately only lead to suffering.

(1) Samsara Cyclic existenceii) The mind is what judges the experiences from the five senses. The mind is what practices meditation.iii) Five Skhandas/aggregates

(1) The combinations that compose our whole mental/physical existence(2) They are used to break down and categorize our experience during certain types of meditations

1. Form2. Feeling3. Perceptions4. Mental Formations/Impulses5. Consciousness (the eight from before)

iv) Buddha Essence/Nature Tathagatagharba (Essence of the Thus gone ones)(1) Internal potential for enlightenment that has never been absent.

(a) All beings are Buddhas, but are obscured by incidental stainsonce those have been removed, there is Buddhahood. Hevajra Tantra

2) Why do we need to meditate?a) To become awakened !? (to see reality as it is) reveal this Buddha nature.

i) As it stands, we are confused about the nature of reality. We mistake appearances forsomething they are not. We are ignorant in what is important, positive or worthy of our effortsand we grasp after conceptual ideas that are ultimately meaningless.

(1) Eight worldly preoccupations(a) hope for happiness and fear of suffering,(b) hope for fame and fear of insignificance,(c) hope for praise and fear of blame,(d) hope for gain and fear of loss;

ii) Meditation allows us to cut through this confusion by resting our mind, sharpening it and thenfocusing it where we want, rather than swirling in ignorance, like a slave to our afflictive

emotions.

(1) Saraha:If the mind-itself that is twisted in knots, is loosened, it is undoubtedly liberated.

When the mind is not altered it is clear, when water is not disturbed, it is transparent.(2) Buddha Shakyamuni:

Shamatha is one-pointed attention. Vipahyana is the distinct discernment of phenomena,

correctly and exactly as they are. Shamatha curbs disturbing emotions, while vipashyanautterly purifies them.

iii)

Common - Concentration (calming the mind)

(1) Common because it is used in Hindu and Buddhist meditation.iv) Uncommon - Wisdom (insight into the nature of reality)

(1) Uncommon because it is unique to the Buddhist methods.


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b) Concentration/Shamatha/Calm Abidingi) "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."

-Abraham Lincoln

ii) Seven-point posture of Vairochana(1) Sit cross-legged(2) Place your hands in the Meditative posture (do not bend your elbows)(3) Shoulders like a vultures wings(4) Spine like an arrow(5) Chin like an iron hook(6) Gaze into space four fingers width from your nose(7) Almost close your lips, place the tongue on your palate

iii) Tilopas instructions (see page 107 ODM)(1) Let go of what has passed.(2) Let go of what may come.(3) Let go of what is happening now.(4) Don't try to figure anything out.(5) Don't try to make anything happen.(6) Relax, right now, and rest.

iv) Types of Concentration(1) Placing the mind that has not been placed

(a) Setting the mind with a focus.(i) External focus

1. We have a tendency to grasp at external phenomena, so these are presentedfirst in order to take advantage of this tendency.a. Everyday (impure/mundane)

i. Large objectii. In order to help rest the mind on a single object, we use a large

everyday focus.iii. Direct your focus toward what you naturally see in front of you. This could be

a column or a wall, but something large. Simply rest your focus on the visual

experience of that object.iv. Do not think about the object, or consider it in any way.v. Presented first because it is easiest.

b. Subtle everyday (impure/mundane) objecti. In order to bring your minds to a sharper focus, a purposefully

selected smaller object is used.ii. Purposely select a small external object to focus your attention on.iii. Focus on not wavering your attention from the selected object.iv. Do not force your mind with tension, nor consider or think about the object in

any way. Rest in the visual experience of the object.

c. Sacred (pure/supramundane)i. In order to make use of faith as a power of meditation and to accumulate merit, a

sacred (pure) external form is introduced.ii. Place an image of the Buddha within your line of vision and use it as your

meditation object.iii. In order to increase positive influence, think that the Buddha is here in front of

me


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(b) Placing the mind with breathing(2) Stabilizing the placed mind

These next three methods are used as antidotes to meditative disturbances. Stillness of mind can bring on the

disturbances of torpor or excitement.

(a) Holding above(i) Counteracts torpor or sluggishness.(ii) Technique

1. Visualizationa. Four pedaled white lotus with a pea sized sphere of brilliant white light

2. Hold your breath lightly as before and cause the light to rise up through the top of the head intothe farthest reaches of space.

3. Sit especially strict in Vairochanas posture4. Raise your gaze to make your mind clear, bright and cheerful

(b) Holding below(i) Counteracting excitement(ii) Visualize a four-pedaled black lotus in the heart with a pea sized sphere of black light that is very

heavy.

(iii) The light sphere drops down through and out your body to the deepest depths of the earth.(c) Practice either technique as needed.


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c) Wisdom/Vipashyana/Insighti) Four seals that mark the teachings of the Awakened ones (Four Seals of the Dharma)

(1) Everything conditioned is impermanent(i) Dependent origination

(b) All tainted states are painful(i) Emotions (not belonging to the truth of cessation result in further samsaric existence)

(c) All phenomena are empty and devoid of self entity(i) Emptiness1. Emptiness of self2. Emptiness of other

(d) Nirvana is peace1. Cessation of the afflictive emotions2. Seeing reality as it is beyond extremes3. Buddhahood

(e) Emptiness(i) Once we have developed the strength of the mind and it has grown deep, vast

and calm, we can investigate the nature of things around us, the nature of

thoughts and the nature of the mind itself.

(ii) Lack of inherent existence Lack of independence)1. A plant does not inherently exist because it is a dependent arising

a. Depending on what?i. Causes and conditionsii. Soiliii. Seediv. Waterv. Nutrientsvi. Sun, etc.

(iii)Reasoning is all well and good, but we also have to rely on direct perception1. Like gold, upon being scorched, cut and rubbed, my word is to be adopted by monastics and

scholars upon analyzing it well, not out of respect for me. Shakyamuni Buddhaii) Looking at the abiding nature, the essence of Mind.

(1) Assume the seven point posture of Vairchanna(a) Opening prayers(b) Briefly recall the Shamatha instructions (simply not to forget them)

(2) Totally relax your mind(a) Rest in brilliant clarity

(i) Like the sun free from clouds(b) Rest, recognizing thoughts and feelings to be the mind, like waves inseparable from

the water itself.

(c) Rest with clarity, but without any fixation like a small child walking into Disneylandfor the first time.

(d) Analyze in the following way:(i) What is the essence of the resting mind?(ii) What is its color?(iii)What kind of shape does it have?(iv)Ask

1. Where does it come from?a. Is it in the body?b. Does it have names?

2. Where does it abide?3. Where does it go to?a. Is it inside?b. Is it outside?

4. Where does it cease?(v) If you can answer any of these questions, that is fine. If you cannot find

anything, dont give up, keep looking.


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AdviceRead, study & meditate

Several short sessions, everyday.

Learn from a qualified teacher who holds a lineage.Find a Dharma group that youre comfortable with, that can benefit your practice.

Ask questions lots of questions.

Take advice from others, but make decisions for yourself Traditional Tibetan saying

All phenomena are circumstantial

and depend completely on your attitude. Lamp ofThree Methods

In the gap between two thoughts,

Thought-free wakefulness manifests Milarepa

I am the Shri SinghaWho mastered wakeful awareness.

Through the expansive vastness of wide-open equality,This wisdom essence is utterly free.

- Shri iSingha

Shamatha is one-pointed attention. Vipahyana is the distinct discernment of phenomena, correctly

and exactly as they are. Shamatha curbs disturbing emotions, while vipashyana utterly purifys

them. Buddha Shakyamuni

If the mind-itself that is twisted in knots, is loosened, it is undoubtedly liberated.

When the mind is not altered it is clear, when water is not disturbed, it is transparent. - Saraha

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Med Seminar Teaching Outline