Chapter One: What is Meditation?

This book is meant to serve as an introductory discourse on how to meditate for those with little or no experience in the practice of meditation, or perhaps who are experienced in other types of meditation but wish to learn a new meditation technique. In this first chapter, I will explain what meditation is, and how one should go about practicing it.

First, it is important to understand that the word “meditation” means different things to different people. For some, meditation simply means the calming of the mind, the creating of a peaceful or pleasurable state of being for a time; sort of like a vacation or escape from mundane reality. For others, “meditation” implies extraordinary experiences of alternate states of reality, or the creation of mystical, even magical, states of awareness.

In this book I'd like to define the word “meditation” by taking it back to its etymological root and explaining it based on the meaning of the word itself. When we do this, we can see that the word “meditation” comes from the same linguistic base as the word “medication” (1). This is useful in understanding the meaning of the word “meditation” since “medication” refers to something that is used to cure sickness that exists in the body. We can likewise understand meditation as something that is used to cure sickness in the mind.

Additionally, we understand that medication, as opposed to a drug, is not meant simply to create a temporary state of pleasure or happiness and then fade away, leaving the patient in the same state as before. Medication is meant to effect a lasting change in the body, bringing the body back to it's natural state of health and well-being.

In the same way, we should understand meditation as something that does not simply bring about a temporary state of peace or calm. It's something that is meant to return the mind - which is quite often in an unnatural state of suffering due to worries, stresses and artificial conditioning - back to a more natural state of genuine and lasting peace and well-being.

So when practicing meditation according to the techniques outlined in this book, it's important to understand that the meditation practice might not always feel either peaceful or pleasant. This is because the purpose of the meditation is to help us to come to understand and work through our deep-rooted states of stress, worry, anger, addiction, and so on. This can be quite an unpleasant process, especially given that we spend most of our time avoiding or repressing these negative aspects of our being.

Sometimes during the practice it might seem that meditation doesn't bring about any peace or happiness at all; this is why it must be stressed that meditation isn't a drug. It isn't a means of feeling pleasure for a short time and then returning to one's misery. On the contrary, meditation is something that is meant to effect a real change in the way we look at the world, bringing our minds and our hearts back to their natural state of clarity, allowing us to attain true and lasting peace and happiness. When we reflect on the state of our mind after we have struggled in meditation to come to terms with the stress and suffering inside of ourselves, we should be able to verify that we have changed for the better, and that the difficulty was well-justified given the positive change it has effected on our being.

So how do we come to effect this change, this cure for unhealthy states of mind like anger, greed, addiction, delusion, conceit, arrogance, worry, stress, fear and so on; how can we come to rid ourselves of these things? The fundamental principle in the meditation practice taught in this book is what I would call a “clear thought”.

When we meditate, we're trying to create a clear awareness of every experience as it occurs, becoming clearly aware of reality at every moment. Normally when we experience any given object, we immediately begin to judge and examine and categorize the object as “good”, “bad”, “me”, “mine”, etc. This is what gives rise to stress and suffering and poor mental health in general.

In creating a clear thought, we replace any sort of biased compartmentalization of reality in our minds with a non-judgemental recognition of the object for what it is. How we do this is by using an ancient meditation tool that should be familiar to most people already, something called a “mantra”.

A mantra is a word that has been used for thousands of years in many religious traditions to focus the mind on some object, most often the divine or the supernatural. In the practice of meditation as outlined in this book, however, instead of using a mantra to focus on an object unrelated to our ordinary experience of reality, we will use it to actually focus our attention back on the ordinary reality around us as we experience it. We use the mantra as a clear recognition of our experience, focusing the mind on reality, allowing us to experience the phenomena around and inside of us for what they are, not extrapolating on or judging them in any way. By using a mantra in this way, we will be able to understand the objects of our experience clearly and not become addicted or attached, upset or averse to them. The mantra allows us to simply know and experience every object in its essential form without judgement of any kind.

So when we move the body, for instance, or when we feel a sensation or think of something in the mind, our practice is to create a clear thought about that experience using a mantra that captures its essence, as in, “moving”, “feeling”, "thinking", etc. When we feel angry, we say to ourselves in the mind "angry". When we feel pain, we likewise remind ourselves silently, “pain". We pick a word that describes the experience accurately and use that word to acknowledge the experience for what it is, not allowing the arising of a judgement of the object as good, bad, and so on.

It is important to understand that the mantra is not something we say at the mouth or in the head, but simply a clear awareness of the object for what it is. The word, therefore, should arise in the mind at the same location as the object itself. Which word we choose is not so important, as long as it explains the objective nature of the experience for what it is.

To simplify the process of recognizing the manifold objects of experience, we traditionally separate them into four categories. (2) Everything we experience will fit into one of these four and so if we can remember them, it will allow us to develop a comprehensive and systematic meditative interaction with the world around us. For this reason, it is customary to memorize the four categories before proceeding with the meditation practice. They are:

1. Body – the movements and postures of the body;

2. Feelings – the sensations that exists in the body and in the mind – pain, happiness, calm, etc.;

3. Mind – the thoughts that arise in the mind; thoughts of the past or future, wholesome or unwholesome thoughts;

4. Dhammas – groups of mental and physical phenomena that are of specific interest to the meditator, including the mental states that cloud one's awareness, the six senses by which one experiences reality, and many others (3).

These four, the body, the feelings, the thoughts, and the dhammas are the four foundations of the meditation practice. This set of objects is what we use to create clear awareness of the present moment.

So in regards to the body, we can note every physical movement - when we stretch our arm for example, we can say to ourselves silently in the mind, "stretching". When we flex it, “flexing”. Or, in noting the postures of the body, when we are sitting still we can say to ourselves, "sitting". When we walk, we can say to ourselves, “walking”. Whatever position the body is in, we simply recognize that posture for what it is, and whatever movement we make, we simply recognize its essential nature as well, using the mantra to remind ourselves of the state of the body as it is. The body is thus one part of reality that we can use to create a clear awareness of reality.

Next are the feelings that exist in the body and the mind. When we feel pain in the body, we can say to ourselves, "pain". In this case, we can actually repeat it again and again to ourselves, as "pain ... pain ... pain". In this way, instead of allowing anger or aversion to arise in relation to the pain, we are able to remind ourselves that it is merely a sensation that has arisen in the body, coming to see that the pain itself is one thing and our dislike of the pain is another. We learn to see that there is really nothing intrinsically “bad” about the pain itself.

When we feel happy, we can acknowledge it in the same way, reminding ourselves of the true nature of the experience, as "happy, happy, happy". In this way, we are not pushing away the pleasurable sensation, but we are not attaching to it either, and therefore are not creating states of addiction, attachment, or craving for happiness. As with the pain, we come to see that the happiness and our liking of it are two different things, and there is nothing intrinsically “good” about the happiness. We see that clinging to the happiness does not make it last longer, but leads rather to dissatisfaction and suffering when it is gone.

Likewise, when we feel calm, we can say "calm, calm, calm" and so on, to avoid attachment to peaceful feelings when they arise. Through the practice, we begin to see that the less attachment we have towards peaceful feelings, the more peaceful we actually become.

The third foundation is our thoughts. When we remember events in the past, whether they be events that bring pleasure or suffering, we can say to ourselves, "thinking, thinking". Instead of letting them becoming something good or something bad, giving rise to attachment or aversion, we simply know them for what they are: thoughts. When we plan or speculate about the future, we likewise simply come to be aware of the fact that we are thinking, instead of liking or disliking or becoming attached to the thoughts, and we thus do not allow fear, worry, or stress to arise.

The fourth foundation, the “Dhammas”, contains many groupings of mental and physical phenomena that could be included in the first three foundations, but are better discussed in their respective groups for ease of acknowledgement. The first group of dhammas is comprised of the five hindrances to mental clarity. These are the states that will obstruct our practice – desire, aversion, laziness, distraction, and doubt. They are not only a hindrance to attaining clarity of mind, but are also a cause for suffering and stress in our daily lives. It is thus in our best interests to work intently on understanding and discarding from our minds these obstructions to peace and happiness, as this is the true purpose of meditation after all.

So when we feel greed, when we want something we don't have, or are attached to something we do, we simply acknowledge the wanting or the liking for what it is, rather than erroneously translating desire into need, reminding ourselves of the emotion for what it is, “wanting, wanting”, or “liking, liking”. We come to see that both desire and attachment are stressful and a cause for future disappointment when we cannot obtain the things we want or lose the things we love.

When we feel angry, upset by a mental or physical phenomena that has arisen, or disappointed by one that has not; when we are sad, frustrated, bored, scared, depressed, etc., we simply know the emotion for what it is, “angry, angry”, “sad, sad”, etc., and see that we are only causing suffering and stress for ourselves by encouraging these negative emotional states.

When we feel lazy, we can say to ourselves, "lazy, lazy", and we will find that we suddenly have our natural energy back. When we are distracted, worried or stressed, we can say, "distracted, distracted", "worried, worried", or "stressed, stressed" and we will find that we are more focused. When we feel doubt, unsure if we can do things we need to do, or are not sure what to do, or are confused, we can say to ourselves "doubting, doubting" or "confused, confused", and likewise we will find that we are more sure of ourselves as a result.

The clear awareness of these four foundations constitutes the basic technique of meditation practice as I will be explaining it in the following chapters. It is therefore important to understand this framework theoretically before beginning to undertake the practice of meditation. Understanding and appreciating the importance of creating a clear understanding about the objects of our awareness as a replacement to our judgemental thoughts is thus the first step in learning how to meditate.

Notes:

(1) According to etymonline.com, both words come “from PIE base *med- 'to measure, limit, consider, advise'”.

(2) These four categories are called the “four foundations of mindfulness” in Buddhism, and are explained in greater detail in Buddhist texts. For the purpose of this introductory treatise, however, a simple understanding of the outline is enough.

(3) The word “dhamma” is best translated in this context as “teachings”, since it encompasses many groups of teachings or “dhammas” of the Buddha. In this short treatise, however, the focus is on the basics of meditation, and so I will limit the discussion to the first set, the mental hindrances.