This is another "Basic Method of Meditation" by most venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, which is both different and similar to Ajahn Brahm's basic method. Metta to Jason Espada and the people behind www.abuddhistlibrary.com.
A
Basic Method of Meditation
Meditation – the cornerstone of the contemplative life
I
always enjoy reading the basic meditation instructions from noble teachers
because, while they may seem simple, I know there is a great richness to them. What they are describing in these apparently
simple teachings are the cornerstone of their contemplative life and
practice. And they invite us with these
instructions to unfold the fruit of the practice for ourselves.
Here
is a basic method of meditation, as taught by Thich Nhat Hanh in the late
1980’s and early 1990’s. Feel free to
use this, if it works for you.
This
method uses mindfulness of breathing, along with what are called ‘gathas’, or
short meditation poems. We can be in the
sitting position, or walking.
In
sitting meditation, we sit with our back straight, in a posture that is both
relaxed and attentive. Then, we simply
breathe naturally.
In
mindfulness of breathing practice, gently, patiently, and with clarity,
we
aim to bring one hundred percent of our attention to the breath. Our full awareness is given to the breath,
all throughout the complete length of the inhalation, and the exhalation.
To
show how we practice this, Thich Nhat Hanh gave us this illustration of
mindfulness ‘following’, or staying with the breathing: He held up a pen in his left hand,
lengthwise, and said: ‘Let’s say this is the length of your breath’. Then he
held up the first finger of his other hand and said, ‘And let’s say this finger
is your mindfulness. When mindfulness
touches the breath, it’s like this: (so saying, he placed his finger on one end
of the pen).
When we breathe in, if we choose to, we can think ‘in’
(and as he said this he moved his finger along the length of the pen to the
other end), and when we breathe out, we can think ‘out’ (and so saying he moved
his finger back along the pen to the starting point). ‘In’ (moving along the pen to the end), ‘Out’
(moving back to the beginning). This is
how we should practice, with mindfulness staying in contact with the breath.
He
continued, ‘When we leave our object, it’s something more like this: It would
be like thinking ‘In’ (finger moving along the pen), ‘Out’ (and back), ‘In’ (and then) ‘Oh!, I
forgot to turn off the light in my room’ (and with this
the
finger leaves the pen and flies off into the air…) This is called leaving the object, or
distraction. Instead of being
distracted, we should simply stay in touch with the breathing, all throughout
the entire length of the inhalation, and the exhalation.
If
at times you find that your mind is very restless, it can be useful to practice
counting the breaths. Mindfully follow
the inhalation, and the
exhalation
all the way through, in a relaxed way, and at the end of the exhalation, count
gently to yourself, ‘one’.
Breathing
like this, you can count up to three, or four, ten, or twenty-one, as it suits
your needs, and then start over again at one.
If your attention wanders, just bring it back to the breath, and start
over. Practicing like this, conscious
breathing with counting can be done at the beginning of a session, to settle
and focus the mind, and to make it firm, before moving on to other methods, or
it can be done for the whole session, as you wish.
When
using the method of a gatha, in addition
to this mindfulness of breathing, each line of a short meditation poem is
repeated, to oneself, as many times as one likes before moving on to the next
line. The first word is brought to mind
on the inhalation, and the second word, on the exhalation. We can use one
gatha, or more than one.
The
first gatha offered here is:
in -
out ( a few times) (and then)
deep
- slow (a few times…)
calm - ease
smile - release, and
present
moment - wonderful moment
(or,
‘present moment – there are wonderful things in this moment…)
The
gathas are a means to direct and to quiet the mind. When the mind is calm, stable, and clear, we
can choose to continue working with the gatha, reciting a line one or more
times, and then letting go of words and just being
with
the inhalation and the exhalation for a few breaths. Or we can let go of the words completely, and
just be with the experience of breathing in and out quietly, calmly and
lucidly. See for yourself what works
best for you.
As a general rule, we should keep our practice as simple
as we can, and use only the minimum amount of method necessary to bring our
mind to a settled, calm and clear state.
A
second gatha, if you wish to use more than one, has both a long and a short
version. After learning the longer
meaning, if we wish, we can just use the shorter one. It goes like this:
Breathing
in, I know that I am breathing in,
breathing
out, I know that I am breathing out
(practice
as described above) (and then)
Breathing
in, I see myself as a flower,
breathing
out, I feel fresh
Breathing
in, I see myself as a mountain,
breathing
out, I feel solid
Breathing
in, I see myself as still water,
breathing
out, I reflect things as they are, and,
Breathing
in, I see myself as space,
breathing
out, I feel free
The
shorter version of this, then, would be:
In,
out
Flower,
fresh
Mountain,
solid
Water,
reflecting
Space,
free
A
third gatha is as follows. In this one,
each line is said to oneself along with the exhalation:
I
arrive
I am
home
In
the here
In
the now
I
feel solid
I
feel free
In
the Ultimate,
I
dwell
Walking
Meditation
To
wake up and steady the mind, or for a change of pace, to freshen the mind, you
can practice walking meditation in a manner similar to that of sitting practice. Here, walking a little more slowly than
usual, attention is placed on the breathing and on the contact between the feet
and the ground. This is very soothing,
very relaxing.
One
method for walking meditation is to measure the length of the breath
by
the number of steps that are taken with the in-breath and the out-breath.
(‘one
step, two steps, three, four… one, two, three, four…’) (or, if walking more slowly, ‘one…, two…,
one…, two…’). Or, if you prefer, you can
use
a
gatha, or you can just quietly follow your breath and the feeling of your foot
touching the ground.
On
the subject of walking meditation, Thich Nhat Hahn said, ‘The quality of your
walking depends on the degree of your concentration.’ ‘Don’t lose any steps. If you have 100 steps, these 100 steps should
be like 100 gems.’, and, ‘Each step can bring you peace and joy.’
Practice
with patience, and with care.
My
best wishes to you in your practice.