Photos courtesy of Dazla; Angkor Wat, Angkor, Cambodia.
'Buddhist meditation has two aspects - shamatha & vipashyana. We tend to stress the importance of vipashyana ("looking deeply") because it can bring us insight & liberate us from suffering & afflictions. But the practice of shamatha ("stopping") is fundamental. If we cannot stop, we cannot have insight.
Remember the story of the man & the horse. Our habit energies pull us. We are at war with ourselves, & we can easily start a war with others.
We have to learn the art of stopping - stopping our thinking, our habit energies, our forgetfulness, the strong emotions that rule us. When an emotion rushes through us like a storm we have no peace. We turn on the tv & then we turn it off. We pick up a book & put it down. How can we stop this state of agitation? How can we stop our fear, despair, anger & craving? We can stop by practicing mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful smiling & deep looking in order to understand. When we are mindful, touching deeply the present moment, the fruits are always understanding, acceptance, Love, & the desire to relieve suffering & bring joy.
But our habit energies are often stronger than our volition. We say & do things we don't want to & afterwards we regret it. We make ourselves & others suffer & we bring about alot of damage. We may vow not to do it again, but we do it again. Why? Because our habit energies (vashana) push us.
We need the energy of mindfulness to recognize & be present with our habit energy in order to stop this course of destruction. With mindfulness, we have the capacity to recognize the habit energy every time it manifests. Mindfulness is the energy that allows us to recognize our habit energy & prevent it from dominating us.
Forgetfulness is the opposite. We drink a cup of tea, but we do not know we are drinking a cp of tea. We sit with the person we Love but we don't really know she is there. We walk but, but we are not really walking. We are someplace else, thinking about the past or the future. The horse of our habit energy is carrying us along & we are its captive. We need to stop our horse & reclaim our liberty. We need to shine the light of mindfulness on everything we do, so the darkness of forgetfulness will disappear.
The first function of meditation is to stop.
The second function of shamatha is calming. When we have a strong emotion, we know it can be dangerous to act, but we don't have the strength or clarity to refrain. We have to learn the art of breathing in & out, stopping our activities, & calming our emotions. We have to learn to become solid & stable like an oak tree & not be blown from side to side by the storm. The Buddha taught many techniques to help us calm our body & mind & look deeply at them. They can be summarised in five stages;
1). Recognition - if we are angry, we say, "I know that anger is inside of me."
2). Acceptance - when we are angry, we do not deny it. We accept what is present.
3). Embracing - we hold our anger in our two arms like a mother holding her crying baby. Our mindfulness embraces our emotion & this alone can calm our anger & ourselves.
4). Looking deeply - when we are calm enough, we can look deeply to understand what has brought about this anger to be, what is causing our baby's discomfort.
5). Insight - the fruit of looking deeply is understanding the many causes & conditions, primary & secondary, that have brought about our anger, that are causing our baby to cry. Perhaps our baby is hungry. Perhaps his nappy pin is piercing his skin. Our anger was triggered when our friend spoke meanly to us & suddenly we remember that he is not at his best today because his father is dying. We reflect like this until we have some insights into what caused our suffering. With insight, we know what to do & what not to do to change the situation.
After calming, the third function of shamatha is resting. Suppose someone standing along side the river throws a pebble into the river. The pebble allows itself to sink slowly & reach the river bed without any effort. Once the pebble is at the bottom, it continues to rest, allowing the water to pass by. When we practice sitting meditation, we can allow ourselves to rest just like that pebble. We can allow ourselves to sink naturally into the position of sitting - resting, without effort. We have to learn the art of resting, allowing our body & mind to rest. If we have wounds in our body or mind, we have to rest so they can heal themselves.
Calming allows us to rest & resting is a precondition to healing. When animals in the forest get wounded, they find a place to lie down & they rest completely for many days. They don't think about food or anything else. They just rest & they get the healing they need. When we humans get sick, we just worry! We look for doctors & medicine but we don't stop. Even when we go to the beach or to the mountains for a vacation, we don't rest & we come back more tired than before. We have to learn to rest. Lying down is not the only position for resting. During sitting or walking meditation (yoga practices include; meditation - kaya stairayam, antar mouna, relaxation - yoga nidra) we can rest very well. Meditation does not have to be hard labour. Just allow your body to rest like an animal in the forest. Don't struggle. There is no need to attain anything. I am reading a book, but I am not struggling. I am resting also. Please read in a joyful, yet restful way. The Buddha said, "My Dharma is the practice of non-practice." Practice in a way that does not tire you out, but gives your body, emotions & consciousness a time to rest. Our body & mind have the capability to heal themselves if we allow them to rest.
Stopping, calming & resting are preconditions for healing. If we cannot stop, the course of our destruction will just continue. The world needs healing. Individuals, communities & nations need healing.'
Extract from Thich Nhat Hahn's "The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings."
