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Q. Are there any preparations which the practitioner should make
beforehand?
A. Certain necessary conditions are:
A. To live near a capable instructor.
B. To keep the Six guiding faculties (eyes, ears, nose, tounge, body,
and mind) healthy.
C. To keep the mind fixed upon the Four Foundations (sitting, reclining,standing
and walking).
Duties to be performed by the practitioner: -
A. Make a positive resolution that one will not be discouraged as long as one has not yet attained the exalted Dhamma through great effort, diligence and perseverance.
B. Eat less, sleep less and speak less.
C. Control one's eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind.
D. Perform all actions slowly and with constant awareness.
E. Perform all actions under the guidance of the following three healthy
mental components, energy, mindfulness and awareness. The practitioner
should endeavor to walk mindfully and to acknowledge the various perceptions
without wishing to discontinue. This is the arousing of energy. Acknowledge
every movement. This is the practice of mindfulness. When performing even
the least of actions be conscious of every movement. This is the development
of awareness.
Activities to be avoided by the practitioner.
A. Busying oneself with various jobs, such as cleaning, writing, and reading.
B. Indulging in much sleep with consequent loss of effort. The practitioner should sleep at the most four hours a day.
C. Indulging in talking and searching after friends, thus losing one's practice of mindfulness.
D. Seeking company.
E. Lacking restraint of the senses.
F. Immoderation in eating. The proper course is to stop eating when five more mouthfuls would prove sufficient.
G. Failing to acknowledge mental activity when the mind seizes on or
loses bold of an
When the mind is concentrated:
Walk mindfully for one hour, then sit down and acknowledge the various Trends of body and mind as they arise, increasing the time for this practice from thirty minutes to one hour or more according to one's capability.
Here it must be said in warning that if the energy exerted is great while the concentration is insufficient, distraction will arise. For example, when one acknowledges one's awareness, "Rising," "falling," "sitting," "touching," if one cannot acknowledge the activity at that moment and yet continues, the energy exerted to try to do so will be too great and distraction will arise.
If concentration is too strong while endeavor is insufficient, apathy and weariness will ensue.
If faith is too great while reason is weak, greed will seize hold of the mind.
If reason is too strong while faith is insufficient, doubt and delusion will result.
And so the practitioner must learn through the practice of mindfulness bow to bring about a balance of faith, reason, energy and concentration.
This is the way to bring these faculties (indriya) to balance:
a. While practicing the walking exercise, do it slowly and acknowledge the various movements at every moment. The eyes should be fixed on the tips of the toes. In turning the face downwards thus, however pain may arise at the back of the neck. If that occurs, fix one's eyes at a point two meters in front of the toes. In so doing, one will not lose control of one's mind and will also attain good concentration in the sitting posture. Truth will then be revealed when the mind has spent a certain period in deep concentration.
b. After the performance of the mindful walking, begin to acknowledge
the rise and fall of the abdomen in the sitting posture. In doing so do
not restrain the mind and body too much or use too much effort. For example,
there is a form of over-exertion which arises when one feels sleepy and
tries to keep awake, or when one can not acknowledge the constant changes
in one's mind and body, but still keeps up the effort. One should also
never be too slack in practice and allow the mind to act under the sway
of various unhealthy tendencies whenever it has the inclination. One should
practice according to one's capacity without too much restraint or effort
and without yielding to the power of latent tendencies. This is the Path
of Moderation.
Having given such advice, the Instructor should begin to give exercises to those entering the practice, thus:
a. Instruct them to walk mindfully, and to acknowledge the movements in their mind in some such way as "Right moves thus, Left moves thus." Teach them also to be mindful while standing and turning around.
b. Instruct them how to concentrate in the sitting position, i.e. to meditate on the rising and falling of the abdomen, acknowledging the movement "Rising, Falling," and teach them how to recline in a posture suitable for concentration. (Note of the translator: In meditating on the rising and falling of the belly one has to employ what is called in Physiology diaphragm breathing, which is the sinking in and bulging out of the belly in succession. Meanwhile the chest is kept at the rest, as diaphragm breathing is employed when the body is at rest and the mind is not too emotional. In the sitting or reclining posture meditate on the rising and falling of the body only, and not on the passage of air through the nostrils. This kind of diaphragm breathing in itself prevents strong emotions from arising and is a physiological key to the prevention of the various defilement (Kilesa) from entering the mind).
c. Instruct them to meditate on various feelings (Vedana) and acknowledge them accordingly. For example, when one is in pain, acknowledge the pain, "Painful, Painful," etc.
d. Instruct the students to meditate on thought when various ideas arise. For example, when one is thinking, acknowledge the thought (citta) "Thinking, Thinking."
e. Instruct them to meditate on the six doors of the senses, the eyes) ears, nose, tongue, body and mind, and acknowledge the perceptions thus:
1. While seeing, acknowledge the sight, "Seeing."
2. While hearing, acknowledge the sound, "Hearing."
3. While smelling, acknowledge the smell, "Smelling."
4. While tasting, acknowledge the taste, "Tasting."
5. While experiencing a cold, hot, soft or hard touch, acknowledge the touch, "Touching."
6. While thinking, acknowledge the thought, "Thinking." (or imagining).
f. Instruct the students of Insight Meditation (Vipassana) to meditate on the movements of the body and acknowledge them as described; for example, to step forward, to step backward, to turn right, to turn left, to crouch, to stretch, to hold the begging bowl, to dress, to cover the body with blanket, to eat, to drink, to chew, to taste, to discharge excretion and urine, to walk, to stand, to sit, to He, to sleep, to wake up, to speak and to keep quiet.
Note:
On the first day the instructor should examine those who are beginning
the practice. If they know the Doctrine only a trifle or are old people,
then he should instruct them to walk mindfully, to acknowledge the rise
and the fall of the belly and to acknowledge various feelings and thoughts.
This is enough. Subsequently the instructor can give them more instruction
after again examining the state of their perceptions and mental states
(or making psycho-analysis). This procedure applies also to young people
and children.
The practitioners should then prostrate themselves before their instructor
in salutation and retire to their cells to begin the practice.
The instructor must go and see the students to examine their perceptions
and mental states every day and give further instruction in practice according
to the stage of knowledge or awareness achieved. For example when the practitioners
have achieved the knowledge of discriminating mental and physical states
(namarupaparicchedanana), the instructor should give further exercises,
i.e. teach them to acknowledge their thoughts from then on whenever they
want to crouch, to stretch or to rise up. When the practitioners have achieved
the knowledge of discriminating cause and effect (paccayapariggahanana),
acknowledgment of the movements while walking is increased two steps, to
include, "Lifting, Treading," In the sitting posture the practitioners
should now acknowledge both the rising and falling of the belly and the
posture.
The important point is not to increase the number of exercises by more
than two in the same day.
Question:
What should the practitioners be thought?
Answer:
They should perform various exercises as follows:
| 1. While sitting, meditate on the abdomen which rises on inhaling and falls on exhaling. Acknowledge the rising and falling in your mind: "Rising, Falling," according to whether it is a rise or a fall. |
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| 2. While reclining, do the same and acknowledge a similar manner. |
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| 3. While standing, acknowledge the posture "Standing, Standing." |
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| 4. While performing the mindful walking, acknowledge in stages as follows: When the right foot advances, acknowledge the movement, "Right goes thus," keeping the eyes fixed on the tip of the right foot; when the left foot advances, acknowledge the movement,"Left goes thus", keeping the eyes fixed on the tip of the left foot. Acknowledge every step in this way. Having traversed the space allowed for the mindful walk and wishing to turn back, stand still first, acknowledge the posture, "standing, standing", then turn back slowly and composedly, and acknowledge the movement "turning, turning." Having turned right round, stand still first, acknowledging "Standing, Standing", then continue to walk mindfully, acknowledging movements as before. |
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EXERCISE 2
| 1 While sitting, acknowledge the awareness in three stages: "Rising: Falling: Sitting." |
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| 2. While reclining, also acknowledge awareness in similar stages. (See Note below) |
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| 3. While standing, acknowledge your posture, "standing, standing", until you walk or sit down. |
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| 4. While walking mindfully, perform Exercise 1 for about 10-30 minutes. Then change your acknowledgment of the movement, i.e. when you advance your right or left foot, acknowledge the movement in two stages, "Lifting, Treading", for about 10-30 minutes. |
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a. Acknowledge your movements while performing the mindful walk, "Right goes thus, left goes thus," for about 10-30 minutes.
Note 1.
(For this 2nd exercise concentrate, if only momentarily, on the postures
until the images of sitting and reclining appear distinctly in your mind
as if reflected in a mirror)
Note 2.
Acknowledgment of "sitting" occurs after awareness of "falling"
e.g. "Rising.....: falling.....: sitting."
Sometimes, the abdomen movements are not clearly recognized; when this happens it is useful to be mindful of "sitting" as soon as the awareness of "falling" has ceased or has become indistinct. The length of "falling" often varies; some examples may make the problem of acknowledgment clearer e.g.
(1) "Rising...: falling...: sitting... : rising...: falling...: sitting..."
and so on.
(2) "Rising... rising...: falling... falling...: sitting...: rising..."
(3) "Rising... rising...: falling.. falling.. falling...: sitting..sitting...:
rising..."
Explanation: -
Each word above (e.g. "rising", "falling") represents one's acknowledgment;
that is mentally saying in word. The dots (...) represent one's awareness
or mindfulness of the particular phenomenon. When awareness of one stage
(such as rising) ceases (i.e. "Rising..."), acknowledgment and awareness
of the next stage begins (e.g. "sitting...").