As
to the length of practice, in the beginning, it should not
be too long. Later on, when you are more trained, you can
practise for a longer period. To concentrate means to focus
the mind on the breath, and to keep the awareness. To be
aware means you know what you are doing. And at the same
time, you can count by mind. You can also use a mala, a counter,
or you can use a clock, and time yourself for five minutes.
Afterwards, relax a little, feeling free, and then you can
start again. It does not matter whether you do it for five
minutes, or for three, the point is to do it with quality.
This means to keep the awareness, and try not to think unnoticed.
Training means to
develop new habits. Your habit now is thinking constantly.
You don't need training in that. You already do it
all the time. To train a new habit depends on the accumulation
of the desired new habit. This means to accumulate 'quality',
which is to focus with awareness – this is proper training.
If you do one hour without resting during which time you are
very distracted, then you are nurturing a bad habit again. Therefore,
do it for just a short while, but with quality. There's nothing
wrong with that. To be clear means you realize, you are fully
aware, whether you are concentrated or not. True, awareness is
also thought, but that does not matter for now.
A
5-minute session with quality counting to 10, is much better
than a 10-minute session of lower quality where you are distracted.
In the latter case, you are not accumulating good habits. Instead,
you are practising making mistakes. Therefore, do the five minutes
well, and take breaks in between. If you can manage a count with
quality to 10 for a five-minute period, then you will be trained
very quickly. Soon you will be able to increase the duration
to ten quality minutes with counting to 10. Many of my students
in Washington D.C. in America can comfortably count to 100. There
is even one member there, who could count to one thousand. Then
mind is very, very peaceful and you will experience the wide
peace of the mind. For extensive training, the practitioners
train to have the capacity to count up to many thousands. This
means that they are then fully trained.
the
levels of Shi'nay
Counting
the breaths is the first level. Not counting, or letting the
mind to simply follow the breath is
the second,
and subtler
level. A third level is where the mind does not even follow
the breath. Mind just rests on the breath. Between these
first three
levels, you progress from coarse to more subtle, to very
subtle. All three levels fall within the very preliminary levels
of
Shi'nay.
Another three levels that are even subtler follow the preliminary
levels. The first of these is called realization of the connection
of mind and breath where the realization of the described connection
becomes the object of focus. When you are able to control mind
then you will know how to do it. If you don't have the control
then it is difficult to imagine. But, that is the first step
of the advanced Shi'nay.
Once you have become proficient in the first, you can then progress
to the second level called playing. At this level, you will play
a lot with the mind in order to extend the skills of the mind.
The next or third level is called pure level. This level is
connected to Lhakthong (Vipassana). There you will enter into
the natural peace of the mind. There is a way to enter into a
more profound, deeper, or subtler state of mind.
You will be taught these levels according to your own progress
in your practice. What I have presented to you is for your information
only. The main thing for you to do now is to start the practice
of the counting of breaths. The first three preliminary levels
are very important. To dance in the water, you must first know
how to swim. So, start from the counting.
Shi'nay
is very important. Without Shi'nay you can never meditate.
There is no chance, no way to meditate without Shi'nay. Think
about it, how can you meditate with this busy mind? You cannot
keep the candle lit in the wind. You cannot ride a wild horse
without taming it first. Mind is like a wild horse so you should
train it. And discipline is quite important in order to train
the mind to be clear and energetic.
advice
regarding eating
Usually,
the advice for Shi'nay meditators is not to eat very heavy
foods after 1p.m. This is very true
from experience.
When
we do summer retreat in the monastery for 45 days, we do
not eat after 1p.m. Mind is indeed very clear at that time.
During the time when Buddhism flourished in India, many highly
qualified Indian monks and meditators had meditated very well.
And when the Dharma was first introduced in Tibet, the Tibetans
could not follow and meditate exactly like the Indian masters
did. Their meditations were less successful but still good. One
contributing factor for the difference had to do with eating.
The very good Indian meditators had strictly kept the discipline
of not eating after 1p.m. This was something the Tibetan meditators
were unable to do. Meditators in China were even less successful
than the Tibetan monks because they liked to eat a lot. Here
we are talking about success in meditation. However, where karma
is concerned, the Chinese monks in general, have less karma because
they are vegetarians. The Tibetan lamas on the other hand, had
to eat meat of the lamb and yak, especially in the olden days,
when there were no other foods.
Milarepa's diet consisted only of nettles. His diet, too, became
a training tool for him. You can find this in his biography.
He would think to himself in this way.
Food needs salt. Salt is food. Nettle is food. To add salt,
I eat more nettles.
He was not making fun in the least. He would reason with himself
and then he would apply the reasoning in his own experience.
This was his line of reasoning.
Salt is food. Between food and salt, there is no difference
so they are equal. Therefore, instead of adding salt, I will
eat some more nettles.
Food needs butter. But butter is food. As far as their natures
are concerned, food and butter are the same. So instead of butter,
I will eat some more nettles.
So Milarepa ate only nettles. Not everybody can do what he did.
Therefore, it takes the rest of us longer.
To
be vegetarian like the Chinese monks, and then to eat only
twice in the morning and not after 1p.m. will certainly make
one very successful at practice. This was difficult for many
people in the past especially for travellers who had the added
problem of inconvenience. But nowadays, health foods are very
popular and readily available. Meditators could easily manage
to have more proteins in their diets. One could eat more in the
morning, and only very light foods in the afternoon. This should
prove very helpful for meditation. When the meditation is already
advanced, then diet, or the timing of meals, will no longer exert
as much effect on it.
be
careful of attachments
In
general, your job or everything else you do to make your daily
life run smoothly is very important.
As I explained
this morning,
attachment is the main chain, which ties up your mind. A
very important advice then is to curb your attachments. They
are
the chains that tie you down. It is not your work or anything
else
that you have to do that binds you. It is your grasping and
attachment. If you can make your mind freer from this kind
of grasping, then
the Western way of life will not deter or disrupt your meditation.
Again, how to sit is very important; sit in the right posture
as I have demonstrated. The next is how to concentrate, how to
keep your mind in the awareness of your concentration. And then
comes discipline. These three points are key to the success of
Shi'nay meditation.
The S h a m a r p a
