All language subtitles for Discovering Buddhism Module 02 - How to Meditate

Discovering Buddhism

How to Meditate

Meditation is an essential step to
develop on the path to enlightenment.

Even in our daily lives we can
see that with good concentration

we accomplish much more
work of better quality.

Without a stable mind, we are
like a candle sitting in the wind,

we are vulnerable to negative influences

and don't have much power to
progress on the spiritual path.

All Buddhist masters have relied
on meditation to gain realizations,

and if we look at the benefits, it's easy
to see why we feel more happy, balanced,

and focused, and we experience
a sense of inner peace.

But meditation is much more than
a way to relax and feel happy,

it's a proven method for us to
experience the true nature of reality,

the true nature of our minds.

MOTIVATION

The beneficial results of
any positive action that we do

can be vast or limited
depending on our motivation.

This is just as true of meditation as
it is of any other spiritual activity

that we undertake.

If for example, our
motivation focus is primarily

on our own concerns and needs,
in a self-centered kind of way,

then the positive results
of this will be very limited.

If on the other hand, we focus
more on becoming better persons,

able to bring peace and happiness
and harmony to those around us,

then the beneficial results of this kind
of meditation will be very vast indeed.

Therefore at the beginning of
this second program in our series,

How To Meditate, in which you will
be learning the skills of meditation,

it's especially important to generate
a positive and altruistic motivation,

wishing to become a better
person in order to be able

to bring well-being, peace and
happiness to those around you.

TEACHERS

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso
has lived in India as the exiled

Head of State and Spiritual Leader of the Tibetan people
since the Chinese occupation in1959.

His Holiness, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize,
is one of the most

renowned and beloved spiritual leaders in the world

and has traveled over 46 nations as a major proponent
of human rights and world peace.

So when we speak about meditation,
what do we mean by meditation?

Meditation is a discipline
where you cultivate

certain familiarity with a
chosen object of meditation.

Generally, the problem is that
in our normal day-to-day life,

in our unreflective states of mind,

generally we let ourselves to be under
the control and domination of our mind

and our mind comes under the domination
of afflictive emotions and thoughts.

And because of this, then it leads
to influencing our states of mind

on the whole to be overwhelmed

by destructive and negative
emotions and thoughts

which then perpetuates the whole cycle
of problems, confusion, suffering and so on.

So what are we seeking in our spiritual
practice is to try to reverse that cycle,

so that gradually we will be in a
position to take charge of our mind

and prevent the mind from coming
under the domination and influence

of our negative impulses and thoughts.

So the way in which we do this is to engage

in a constant discipline of cultivation
of this familiarity with a chosen object

so that we will be able to
gain a certain stability of mind

where we have the capacity to place our mind

and allow it to abide single-pointedly

with a degree of stability
upon a certain chosen object.

And here, when we speak about chosen object

we are of course talking
about a positive object

upon which we direct our thoughts

and then cultivate familiarity
with it so that, in this way,

gradually we'll be able to reverse the cycle.

And this is the actual meaning and purpose
of meditation in the Buddhist context.

Therefore, we observe that the process
of change that takes place within us is gradual.

Similarly, when we are trying to
dispel certain states of confusion

or misunderstanding or
misperceptions with regard to reality,

again that sort of process of illumination,

the process of dispelling
comes through in a gradual way.

Again we can observe from
our own personal experience.

So in the actual process of meditation
there are principally two approaches.

One is the analytic meditation.

The other one is placement
meditation, or absorptive meditation.

So in a sense, we are all familiar

with the practices of analytic meditation
and absorptive meditation.

So what as spiritual practitioners,
what we are trying to do

is to apply this very mechanism,
which we are all naturally familiar with,

onto a completely new area in a realm

where we do not cultivate such familiarity,

the realm of spiritual practice,

the realm of enhancing
positive qualities within us.

My grandfather of mindfulness must watch constantly
after this spoiled child

of deluded mind to save him from disaster.

- Jetsun Milarepa

Venerable Rene Feusi is a fully ordained monk
in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition

with 20 years of experience teaching and practicing Dharma.

Venerable Rene is originally from Geneva, Switzerland
and spent several years studying at
Nalanda Monastery in the South of France

He has spent a great deal of time doing long meditation retreats
throughout Europe, India, and Nepal.

Venerable Rene is very skilled in leading meditations
on calm abiding and emptiness

control your thoughts and
your emotions is incredible,

without speaking about
getting spiritual realizations.

Just to be able to say stop
to the thought when you want,

to say stop to the emotions when you want.

To have that capacity to
be master of your own mind.

To be able to say all these thoughts stop,

these emotions stop, I've had enough of you.

Whenever you want, you can stay still.

To have this capacity, this incredible
peace of mind, incredible advantage.

Suddenly, you become
master of your own mind.

If you want to develop
any qualities of mind

you need some mindfulness, some
continuity in what meditation you do.

For example, you meditate on love,

if your mind of meditating on love get
constantly interrupted by other thoughts,

there is no way that you will have
the ability to develop a strong love.

Same thing if you meditate
about the nature of reality,

how things really exist.

If you have this inquiring mind
which follows a stream of thought

and wants to reach a
conclusion and stay on it,

you have to have a concentrated mind,

which is able to follow the
analysis without being distracted.

And once you reach a conclusion
to look at it and see what it implies.

You must be able to stay on
the conclusion of your analysis

You must be able to stay on
the conclusion of your analysis

and see what it implies, how
to change your whole worldview

based on that conclusion
you have reached.

So, in order for that function,
again you need to have a calm mind.

The more we have control
of our own mind,

what happens is that instead of going
constantly up and down like a yo-yo,

being overly excited when
something good happens

and completely depressed when
things go wrong, our usual mind,

with concentration your
mind becomes much more even.

That evenness of mind
actually is a type of joy,

a type of peace which is so
pleasant, much more pleasant actually

than even the excitement of pleasure.

To have this still inside is much
more pleasant than having good news

and good things happening out there.

With time, we see that what
we call pleasure, excitement,

actually is a form of suffering,
it’s not real happiness, it's excitement.

It's like boiling water, there is no peace,

no serenity in what we call pleasure.

But this, we see by practicing.

So that’s why I think effort
put into concentration,

into developing calm
abiding is very important.

We can do that in everyday life.

It doesn't need necessarily
to go into retreat to do that.

You just know how to go about it

and you have to know how to
integrate it into your everyday life.

In order to develop calm abiding,
there are certain conditions that help.

So all these conditions we can
gather in our every day life,

we don’t need necessarily to go
to a completely isolated place.

It just means having little desire,
being content with one’s life situation

and have a little bit
of peaceful environment.

So even though one
might have a family life,

still we can wake up
earlier, before everybody else

and do some calm-abiding then.

Or in the evening when
everybody is at bed

or when the children are
at school or something like that.

One can find a time in the day,

if one wants it,
for a peaceful meditation.

So the first is wishing to do the
meditation by seeing its advantages.

Then developing the
determination, I am going to do it,

and for such amount of time,
I am not going to lose the object.

Then is to develop the mindfulness
to hold the object without losing it.

Once you are able to do that,

you use introspection to check
the quality of your concentration

to make it more precise.

If you are prone to dullness, then
you hold the object more intensely.

If you have too much excitement,
you relax a little bit the grip on your object.

And like that, slowly
you find the middle way

and you have to hold on to it.

So that’s a little bit of the
process of how one goes about it.

By doing that, one goes
through nine stages.

Just in brief, I will go
a little bit over that.

So, when one starts meditating on
calm abiding and sits down and says :

“Ok, I’m going to meditate for ten minutes.

For ten minutes, I will hold this
Buddha image or watching the breath.”

So at the first stage one
says : “Wow, what a mess.”

One realizes that one
hardly ever finds the object.

During the whole session, we say :

“Oh yes, I am supposed to watch my breath”

and the mind goes all over the place.

So just from time to time, you remember
that you are supposed to watch the breath

but your mind most of the time
is going all over the place.

So this is the first stage
of meditating on calm abiding.

It’s called placing the mind.

It’s actually trying to bring the mind
onto the object in the first place.

So the whole session is spent
bringing the mind on the object

because most of the time it’s away.

So then the second stage is
called placement with continuity.

There, one is able to
bring the mind on the object

and stay for a little while
before losing it again.

So there, there is a continuity.
Before, there was no continuity at all,

you just bring it there
and poof, it goes off,

you bring it there and it goes off.

Here, there is a continuity.

Then the third stage is
called patch-like placement.

So there you are able to stay
on the object for quite a while.

You stay on the object and
from time to time you lose it

but then as soon as you lose it,
you are aware that you are losing it

and you are able to
bring the mind back.

Then the fourth stage is
called close placement.

So at the fourth stage, from the
beginning to the end of your session

you don’t lose the object at all.

During the whole session, you
are able to hold on to the object.

There still is distraction and dullness

but one part of your mind
never loses the object any more.

Then the fifth stage
is called controlling.

So because at the fourth level,

you are able to stay for the
whole session on the object,

by familiarizing yourself with that,

you reach a state of inner peace
you never experienced before.

Suddenly, it’s like your mind
was always like boiling water,

suddenly the boiling water has subsided

and you find that your mind
experiences a kind of tranquility

that you never had before and you realize :
“Wow, that’s quite pleasant.“

So, the difference between
the fifth and the fourth

is that at the fifth there is no more
gross laxity and gross excitement.

So the gross aspect of these
disturbances has subsided.

You still have subtle
dullness and subtle excitement

but not anymore the gross aspect of it.

And then the sixth stage
is called pacifying.

It is very difficult to recognize
because the object is there,

it is stable, and it is clear.

What is missing is the intensity
of holding onto the object.

So in general, when one reaches that stage,

it is better to lean towards
the side of subtle excitement

than to lean toward
the side of subtle laxity

because subtle excitement
is easy to recognize.

At the seventh stage,
you can stay on the object.

You sit there and you stay on
the object and from time to time

you have to check if excitement
or laxity has come about

but the main bulk of your sitting,
you are completely there on the object,

the excitement and dullness
is not so strong anymore.

It doesn’t happen often
and even if it arises,

you just need to “poof, poof, poof,”

and the thought will stop
or the emotion will stop.

Actually it is a process of
going from your ordinary mind,

which has distortions and things like that,
to go into your mind of calm abiding.

So it is like entering into a
tunnel or entering into something.

So you focus your mind on the object
and you go through certain stages

to go into the mind of calm abiding.

Then the ninth stage is called
placement with equanimity.

So there, there is no more effort.

As soon as you sit down,
you are so familiarized

with that state of
meditation, you just sit down

and you are in that state
for the whole session.

No matter how long,
you can stay on the object

without any excitement or any dullness.

So that’s a fantastic state of mind.

These are the nine stages
of calm abiding,

it is not the fully qualified
calm abiding.

Then you have to cultivate that
for a certain period of time

and then there is something
that is, if you cultivate that,

there is a transformation of
your body and mind happening.

There is a kind of physical bliss,
which arises, and a mental bliss.

This physical and mental bliss gives rise

to a special physical suppleness
or pliancy or lightness about your body

and a lightness about your mind
a sharpness, a suppleness about the mind,

a pliancy where you can,
after, apply your mind

for anything virtuous
you want whenever you want.

The mind has always great enthusiasm,

it never loses enthusiasm
for doing something positive.

So when this process has happened,

this physical and mental bliss has arisen
this physical and mental bliss has arisen

and then the physical
suppleness and mental suppleness

has arisen and gets stabilized,
then this is called calm abiding.

It is a very clear path,
it is very well put down

so you know exactly where
you are, what’s your problem,

and how to face it
to go to the next stage.

So this, you will find
in the lam rim tradition

in the section on the calm abiding

there is an explanation
in detail on that.

So, good luck.

STUDENTS

What does MEDITATION
mean to you?

Why I meditate is because
I want to be happy.

I think most people want to be happy.

So meditation is, I think,
the richest experience that I’ve had.

It comes from inside and I don’t
have to manipulate the externals.

I don’t have to do anything to get it.

It’s just a matter of my having a kind

of discipline of mind to sit down.

Normally I meditate twice a
day, at least in the morning

when I wake up, when I’m still kind of,

just to get my frame of mind,
my space in myself right.

It’s like, I know
that I’m already whole,

that I already have
everything, it’s all right here.

So therefore, I can go out in the world

and be there for other people.

By meditating I feel, because of
this heightened awareness

that I can almost sense my own thoughts.

Like if I’m having negative
thoughts about someone

or kind of my own
delusions, I can see them.

It’s like, “Oh, right, there’s my delusion.”

There’s like this separation between

the thought and kind of my awareness
watching the thoughts coming.

It’s like a dream or
watching my own hallucination.

There is just some sort of space,

I’m not really identifying
with everything.

How that relates to my morality is like

keeping a check on my actions,
my thoughts and my words.

If something’s happening I’m not
just jumping out and saying,

reacting with harsh words.

If I keep that very spacious awareness,

it's like “this is all me and
why would I want to have

these ugly thoughts towards
these kind people around me?"

So this perfect meditation
involves concentration

and concentration is a very
elusive thing, I have found.

It’s very funny, because you think
that you can just go and set the mind,

especially in a quiet environment

where you are not going to
have the outside influences

and you will be able to get to a
very concentrated state very quickly.

Well, that may be true at certain times

but most of the time
the mind is wandering.

It takes a lot of determination,

it takes a lot of time
to be able to control it.

I found that during retreat you get
a little taste of how things really do exist.

And once you get that little taste,

you become very hungry and
want to repeat that experience.

So meditation is vital
for that because you want

to keep bringing the mind back
to that little taste you had.

You have the fortunate circumstances

to receive the Dharma
teachings in this life,

to meet these precious Lamas’
who are spreading the truth,

and that we can realize this truth.

It’s not just for Lamas or
teachers, long-term meditators.

The common everyday person,
the businessperson, the housewife,

everybody can realize
the ultimate nature.

And we must do it because
we have this human rebirth.

We have a very short time, this flash
of lightning in order to do it,

and we can’t waste our lives drowning
in alcohol, drowning in drugs.

We have to do the positive actions.

We have to do this
meditation to calm the mind.

We have to use meditation to
understand the way things really exist,

and we have to use meditation to achieve
that goal in order to help other people.

Without meditation, there
is no way that you can develop

the habit of seeing that
everything is a projection.

Mediation is vital, it is essential.

It’s sort of like the
water, the air in your life.

In any circumstance,
whether I am sleeping, walking, or eating,

I pursue my meditations uninterruptedly.
- Jetsun Milarepa

Please dedicate the positive energy generated
by listening to these teachings,

so you can quickly attain Enlightenment
for the benefit of all beings.