Dharma Realm Buddhist Young Adults

First sit in meditation posture, with your back erect. Do not lean against anything. You may sit with your rear-end on a pillow to better enable yourself to sit up straight. Ideally one should sit in the full lotus posture or half-lotus posture as indicated in the pictures below. However, if one is unable to sit in these postures, one may simply sit in a cross-legged posture.

Although your back is straight - imagine that a string is pulling you from the top of the head, and that the string goes through the middle of your skull down through your spine in a straight line- yet your body, especially your shoulders, should be very relaxed and natural. To make sure your shoulders are relaxed, take a deep breath and relax your shoulders upon the exhalation at the beginning of your sit.

While sitting, your mouth should be closed- breathe only through your nostrils- and your tongue should be slightly curled up so that it lightly touches the roof of your mouth. This will prevent saliva from accumulating in your mouth during your sit- rather it will naturally go down your throat, so you will not disturb your sit by having to swallow or gulp down any accumulated saliva.

Now you are ready to begin your meditation on your breathing. Breath naturally- this is not the forced or controlled breathing like in yoga meditation called pranayama. You focus your attention on the tip of your nose, and merely observe your natural breathing process. Silently in your mind, count “one” on inhalation, and “one” on exhalation. Then “two” on the next inhalation and “two” on the next exhalation. Do this up to “ten”, and then start all over again, counting in the same way from one to ten. Do this for twenty minutes.

When you breathe in you do not follow your breathing beyond the point at the tip of your nose, nor do you follow the breathing out beyond the tip of your nose when you breathe out. It is analogous to the gate-keeper who would guard the city gate in ancient times. His job was merely to observe each person who entered the city gate as they came, and also observe each person as they left. He would not follow people in when they came, nor would he follow them out when they left. He was merely stationed at the gate observing them as they came or went.

While you are observing your in and out breaths, you may suddenly find that your mind has wandered off and is thinking about something- perhaps a memory from the past, or some thought of what might be in the future, or just plain day-dreaming. Once you realize that your mind has lost its focus and awareness of your in and out breaths, just simply go back to observing (counting) your breaths. You should neither get upset about your mind wandering off, nor should you continue to pursue the things you are thinking about. Any thinking you have during your meditation session on mindful awareness of breathing will prevent you from experiencing the natural tranquilizing effect and focused concentration-power that this meditation will eventually invoke.

In the beginning you should sit for at least 20 minutes- just observing your breath. As time goes on you may and should add 5 or 10 minutes to your meditation sessions, until, ideally, you can sit for an hour. If one does not have the time in their schedule to sit for at least an hour, then just sit for a period less than this in accordance with one’s ability- but do try to sit for at least 20 minutes.

When you begin to sit in meditation, you will find that there is quite a lot of garbage-thoughts in your mind. Indeed, it will seem that you are worse off, than before you started sitting in meditation. However, this is actually a good sign. Before you meditated you were blissfully ignorant of all the garbage that is in your mind, but now you know, you are clearly aware of it. However, remember when you throw out the garbage you do not sift and analyze every piece of garbage. You are aware that it is garbage and merely throw it away, without holding on to it. In the same way, as extraneous thinking arises in your mind as you sit, you merely observe it, and return to your mindful awareness of breathing- each garbage-thought will naturally perish as soon as it arises. You need not cling to it or reject it.

Later, as you gain more experience and skill in your mindful awareness of breathing you may discard the counting and merely observe your breathing without counting. According to all the ancient texts on Buddhist meditation, the most ideal time for meditation is when you first wake up in the morning. The next best time is in the evening before you retire to sleep. If time permits it is most ideal to do two sits a day during each of these two times. However, if neither of these times is practical or possible for you, then sit once or twice a day according to your schedule. However, avoid sitting right after you eat, because the body produces a lot of heat while digesting food, and this is not at all conducive to meditation.

The two keywords for developing your ability in meditation are: patience and perseverance. The good qualities that you gain over time from your meditation happen very naturally without you even being aware of it. It is analogous to a skilled carver, who uses his carving knife to craft many beautiful objects out of wood. Over a period of time the handle of his carving knife wears down so that it becomes a mirror image of the contours of his hand. Each time he uses his carving knife, he does not think “Oh, my handle is being worn such and such amount this time”. Rather his handle wears down very naturally over time until it’s a perfect fit for his hand. In the same way, over a period of time of meditation you become aware that your personality has changed rather dramatically- you no longer get upset so easily, you worry far less than you use to, and you have a much greater ability to concentrate on whatever you are doing. And these changes have taken place quite naturally, without you realizing it.

Additional note: palms should be placed together in a relaxed position on one’s lap- palms face up with the right hand on top of the left hand.