Teachings related to the Mahamudra Curriculum
for Bodhi Path Centers

Teachings presented at the Bodhi Path Center
in Remetschwiel, Germany, August 2004

Part 4

Day one: afternoon

Shi'nay (Calm Abiding Meditation)

This afternoon session marks the start of a program of teachings at the Bodhi Path Centre. I now begin with a teaching on Shi'nay.

Training the mind and a trained mind are two different things. To practise Shi'nay is training, and it is different from a 'trained Shi'nay'. There are different varieties of Shi'nay practices but they all serve one purpose and it is to train the mind to be in Shi'nay.

Shi'nay is an ordinary level of mind. To attain a trained Shi'nay does not depend on purification of mind, or the accumulation of merit, or Lhakthong (Vipassana) meditation. So it will not take long to achieve the results of Shi'nay. But success in Shi'nay does, however, depend very much on how many times a day, and how long you can do it. What is essential is consistency of practice.

Mind does not exist substantially, or physically. Once you are trained, then you will have the flexibility of mind to do many things. How well you have trained will determine how much freedom of mind you have to remain in one level, while thinking, or concentrating. You are considered trained when your mind has this kind of freedom. This is the trained state, and to get there, you employ the methods of training.

To have this flexibility of mind of Shi'nay is very useful. You have heard of the so-called Five eyes and the Five extensive powers of the mind to know hidden things. You can access these states after you have achieved the training of Shi'nay. If you have wings then you can fly anywhere you'd like. If you are a good swimmer, you can swim in whichever way you want. Mind has limitless skills. When you have trained your mind, you will have more freedom than you do now. Since mind is not physical, it is very easy to use it everywhere. Through training, you will know more extensively than what you do now, which is rather limited.

At present, your mind has no peace because you are not free to be at peace. Because the mind is in the habit of thinking constantly, like a waterfall, it is totally overwhelmed by thoughts. The habit of thinking is very strong. All the time, you are thinking because the mind connects to everything and everywhere. The thoughts are therefore incessant, and you have no freedom, only distractions. If you hear something, mind connects to the sound. If you feel anything, or see anything, your mind is right there. Mind is totally inundated by contacts. There is no rest, no peace. Peace of mind means to be free from thoughts. You need freedom of mind to have control of your mind. This means you need to be free from confusion. Then you will be able to maintain your mind in its peace.

Because mind has no form or substance, the extent of mind's peace is limitless. There is just peace. When you are able to go deeper into the nature of mind, then it is called a realization of mind, which can get rid of the ignorance of mind. First you should have the freedom to rest in the peace of mind. Later, you develop the skill to realize the nature of mind, and then you will be free of the ignorance. These are the steps.

To achieve some freedom of mind, you practise Shi'nay. The level of Shi'nay within the ordinary level of mind does not take long to achieve. However, it does depend on effective methods. They are effective in pacifying the mind, to free it from thoughts, or to give it some freedom. One very effective method to gain control over the habit of thinking is to concentrate on the breath.

breathing and meditation sitting posture

The main causes for mind's restlessness are ignorance and dualistic attachments. But temporarily, an imbalance in the physical posture can also disturb the mind.

To maintain a proper balance in the internal circulation, you need to know how to breathe gently. When your breathing is proper, it brings about a very balanced circulation in the body. It makes your mind comfortable and clear. The Buddha gave a lot of advice on health, too. One such advice is proper breathing, which keeps your physique very steady and comfortable.

To make mind peaceful, the sitting posture must be correct. A wrong sitting posture will give you physical as well as some nervous problems. Sit in the shape of a pyramid (triangular-shaped) where all sides of the body are properly balanced. It was exactly how the Buddha sat under the tree. He sat on a stone-seat with some kusha grass layered on top. Nowadays, we use cushions, and we don't need to go to the forest either.

Here are the points for a proper sitting posture (They include all the points of the seven-point posture) :

• While sitting, the backside should be a little higher. The lap in front is thus lowered and slopes slightly downward. If you sit as you would on a sofa with the front higher and the back lower, then you cannot meditate. The full lotus posture for the legs is fine. If you cannot sit fully cross-legged, then you can adopt the half lotus posture with the left leg in and the right leg out.
• Regarding the two hands, the right hand is placed on top and in the left hand. Both hands are resting on the lap.
• The two elbows should not be bent. They should be straight, but not too much. If you have long arms that reach past the lap, you could rest the hands on the feet to give them support.
• The shoulders should be raised up slightly.
• Your eyes are open and looking downward and slightly ahead of you so that you can see the tip of your nose.
• The head or neck is tilted very slightly forward and not too much.
• The stomach should be in. Below the navel is the abdomen. When you gently press in the stomach, the breath will go down to the abdomen so just keep it there. In this way, you will feel very comfortable. If you keep the breath in the stomach then it will become uncomfortable to meditate.
• The back should be straight, and when it is, your whole posture will naturally be proper. And the inner circulation of the breath will be smooth.
• The mouth is gently closed and you breathe through your nose. You should not breathe through the mouth. Just naturally, breathe very gently.

What is beneficial for health is to visualize the breath as a very bright (not straight, but slightly arched) beam of crystal light. This will prevent you from falling asleep, or feeling drowsy. The bright light brightens your mind and keeps away dullness. But do not attach to it. You should not have a vision of crystal as practised in some crystal religion. The object here is for your mind to concentrate on your breath. When breathing out, the light is almost touching to the ground, and when you breathe in, it comes back into you and down into the navel. The light is just a visualisation. It is not real. It is not like the tongue of a lizard, going out and in again. The light should be independent of you.

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