Commentary To A Basic Method Of Meditation, by Jason Espada

‘Meditation is the development of the basic ability of the mind to attend to something.’  It can be thought of as cultivating singleness of involvement with an object.  This brings many benefits by itself - including peace and health.  It can also strengthen the good things we do, bring depth to our study, and provide a basis for insight. 

Now, on the matter of thoughts during meditation: If there are thoughts, don’t be concerned; and if there are no thoughts, in that case, don’t get excited.  Just continue your practice with equanimity and mindfulness.

There are Zen teachings that say, ‘If you try to quiet the mind, the very effort will fill you with activity’, and ‘Meditation means, under all circumstances, not to give rise to any thoughts.’  Of course, this doesn’t mean we don’t have thoughts, instead it means that when thoughts surface we don’t follow them, we don’t ‘feed’ them.

By being aware of one object, and letting go of everything else, not attaching, with time the mind will naturally settle down on its own.  
The example is given of a pool of water - if we don’t stir it up, but allow the particles of sand to settle, then naturally the pool of water will become clear on its own.

Once we know how the mind works, then this meditation is just a matter of practice.

At first you are taking someone else’s word for it that this is how the mind works, but soon enough this will be your own experience.  We can practice with a mind of faith.
As a general rule, we should keep our practice as simple as we can, and use only the minimum amount of method necessary.

The basic practice presented here is conscious breathing with an awareness of the body.  We can use the movement of the lower abdomen, with the in-breath and out-breath, as our reference point.

There are a few different ways this basic practice can be done:

1. With non-verbal awareness;

2. Using a few words to lightly note what is experienced, or to guide the mind; and, 

3. Using counting along with the method of conscious breathing.

Experiment and see what works for you.

1. We can follow the inhalation and exhalation with non-verbal awareness.  If our mind is clear, and free of restlessness and wandering, we can use this approach.  Try it out.

Breathe naturally.  If the breath wants to be long, let it be long.  If it wants to be short, let it be short.  Don’t try to make it longer or shorter.  However your breath is, just let it be that way, and be aware of how it is.

Here, notice: How does the breath feel?  Is it comfortable?  Fast or slow?  Short or long, obstructed or free flowing?  How does the breath feel in the body?

This is the basic practice, conscious breathing with an awareness of the body.

Whatever variations of conscious breathing we may use, we should orient ourselves toward this way of practicing, with 
non-verbal awareness.  We should gradually make our way there.

At this point, you have a choice.  See for yourself - is this approach alone sufficient?  If so, then stay with it.  If not, you can use other ways of practicing with the breath, as a support.

2. If the mind wanders, or is restless or dull, we can try using a word to lightly ‘note’ what we experience.  For example, when we breathe in, we note ‘in’, and when we breathe out, we note ‘out’.

Or, in the Buddha’s words, ‘Breathing in a long breath, I know that I am breathing in a long breath’, Breathing out a long breath, I know that I am breathing out a long breath’.

If we notice that we are settling down, then ‘settling’; if we notice that we are happy, then ‘happy’; ‘sleepy’; ‘awake’, and so on.

Noting can help to sharpen the mind, and bring it to the object of meditation, in this case the breath and body.

A few words can also be used to ‘lead’ or to guide the mind to having a certain type of experience.  It’s interesting to notice the effect of giving ourselves a simple suggestion.  For example, if we tell our self, ‘relax…relax…’, then to some extent our body and mind can calm down because of this.

We may like to use the Buddha’s words, from the Discourse on The Full Awareness of Breathing, ‘Breathing in, I am aware of my body, Breathing out, I am aware of my body’.  (a few times) (then)
‘Breathing in, I am aware of my body, Breathing out, I am making my body calm and at peace’.  Or: ‘Breathing in and out, I am making my body calm and at peace’.  Or we can just use a word, such as ‘calming…’.

At this point, we may like to try one of Thich Nhat Hahn’s ‘gathas’, or short meditation poems along with the conscious breathing.

Here’s one:

‘In…Out…, Deep…Slow…, Calm…Ease…, Smile…Release…,
Present moment…Wonderful moment…’

Each line can be repeated as many times as you like.

Again, just use the minimum amount of method necessary to guide the mind to a state of calm awareness.

Optional: Here are two more gathas by Thay (Thich Nhat Hahn):

(Each line as many times as you like:)

‘In…Out…, Flower…Fresh…, Mountain…Solid…, Water…Reflecting…, Space…Free…’

This gatha, one line per out-breath:

‘I arrive…, I am home…, In the here…, And the now…, 
I feel solid…, I feel free…, In the Ultimate…, I dwell…’

You can practice any one of these gathas alone, or you can do them one after the other.
3. If the mind is quite restless, then we can try the variation of counting with the breath.  For example, breathing naturally, while breathing in, count to four, and while breathing out, count to four.  Try this a few times.  It brings some evenness to the experience of body and mind.

Also, counting can be used as follows: following the inhalation and the exhalation all the way through, count ‘one’;  inhalation, exhalation, ‘two’, and so on.  You can count to three, four, ten, or twenty-one, as it suits your needs.

Experiment and find the best use of each approach, then just be with the breath and the feeling of  peace and  awareness.’  Again, gradually make your way to practicing with non-verbal awareness.

In Buddhist teachings, there are a few descriptions for what’s called ‘continuity’.  It’s taught that the mind should stay with its object continuously, ‘like a steady stream of water being poured from one container to another, or, ‘like the sound of a bell, continuously ringing’ (when the sound fades, then we apply just enough effort again to keep the sound going); also, the mind staying with its object has been compared to ‘an unbroken thread’.

However we say it, the meaning is the same - they all represent the mind staying peacefully with its object.

To show how we practice this, here’s an illustration of mindfulness ‘following’, or staying with the breathing:

The teacher, (Thay),  held up a pen in his left hand, horizontally (lengthwise), and said: ‘Let’s say this is the length of your breath’.
then he held up the first finger of his other hand and said, ‘And let’s say this finger is your mindfulness.  When mindfulness touches the breath, it’s like this: (so saying, he placed his finger on one end of the pen).

‘When we breathe in, if we choose to, we can think ‘in’ (and as he said this he moved his finger along the length of the pen to the other end), and when we breathe out, we can think ‘out’ (and so saying he moved his finger back along the pen to the starting point).  ‘In’ (moving along the pen to the end), ‘Out’ (moving back to the beginning).  This is how we should practice, mindfulness staying with the breathing.

He continued, ‘When we leave our object, it’s something more like this: It would be like thinking ‘In’ (finger moving along the pen), 
‘Out’ (and back), ‘In’ (and then) ‘Oh!, I forgot to turn off the light in my room’ (and with this the finger leaves the pen and flies off into the air…)  This is called leaving the object, or distraction’.

Instead of being distracted, we should remember what it is to stay in touch with the breathing (with, and then without words).  Then practice will be much easier.

So, in actual practice, you may start with noting, ‘in’, ‘out’, a few times, and then just be aware of each in-breath and out-breath.  Then, if necessary, note a few more times, ‘in’, ‘out’.

Then, you can think, ‘Breathing in and out, I am aware of my body’ (and look throughout and observe the body).  Do this a few times.  Then, ‘Breathing in and out, I am making my body calm and at peace.’  Then experience this, breathing in and out for a while.  Then, again note: ‘in’, ‘out’, and breathe quietly a few times, or more if you like.

Then perhaps, if you choose to, you can use a gatha: ‘in’, ‘out’, for a few breaths, then without  words, just being aware of the breath and the body; ‘deep’, slow’, in the same way, for a few breaths, then just being aware of the breath and the body; and so on.  The practice should be enjoyable.

Or, you can count in any of the ways described to begin a session, and then go on to another way of practicing with the conscious breathing.  Or you can count the breaths for the majority of the sitting, gradually including some practice with non-verbal awareness.

You don’t have to use too many ways of practicing, but experiment with these and see what works best for you.  Then, of course, you can let go of the counting or words and just be with your experience.  This way, the practice is easy to work with.

Each method or way of practicing has its own benefit - noting can sharpen the awareness of what one is experiencing; giving a suggestion or ‘leading’ the mind with words is a creative method to cultivate a certain type of experience; and counting is good when the mind is restless (but not sleepy) or when the breath and body is feeling somewhat ‘erratic’ - this variation of the way of conscious breathing can soothe and calm the body and the mind; then as we practice with non-verbal awareness, we are in touch with what we experience, with a clear and quiet body and mind.  See what works best for you.

When we practice meditation, peace and wakefulness are practiced together.

Regarding ‘no spacing out’ - it may be helpful to consider one definition of mindfulness as ‘non-mechanical-ness’.  
As Lama Thubten Yeshe said, ‘You should always know what you are doing, and why you are doing it.’

Keep your power of discrimination active.

Regarding mental wandering - curb the outgoing tendency of the mind using mindfulness.  Cultivate non-distraction.

Interest develops attention.

In meditation there should be no struggle, or tension in the body or the mind.  The reason is that the means have to be consistent with the end we practice to accomplish.

This can be illustrated as follows: If we wish to build a mansion of gold, then each brick should be made of gold; or, if we want to walk ten miles to a particular destination, then each step should go in that direction.

In the same way, an awake and calm mind is produced by the very practice of calm awareness itself, every step of the way.

When you practice, give an equal amount of attention to the beginning, the middle, and the end of the inhalation, and the beginning, middle and end of the exhalation, without necessarily dividing them up with the thinking,  Just have a continuous awareness throughout the whole length of the inhalation and the exhalation, in…, and out…

Then make each breath equal in terms of the awareness that you give to it, and relax.

One breath at a time.

Encourage yourself

‘Gradual improvement should be noted, as this gives one energy and incentive to practice.’ - Swami Sivananda (the next two points are also from his teachings)

If you have one hundred wandering thoughts in one sitting session, and you can make it ninety, that’s a ten percent improvement!  Good!  Keep going like this, gradually, gradually…

In meditation, gradually limit the range of your attention.  Bring the mind together slowly, slowly having fewer thoughts and associations.  Then, eventually, with time and practice, you will be able to comfortably place the mind on one object of observation.

Cultivate these: 

cultivate stillness when sitting; when sitting, walking, or engaged in any other activity, cultivate a quiet mind, or peace;

cultivate awareness;

and cultivate one-pointed concentration.

Then there will come a time when naturally, by themselves, these will flow together, like three rivers joining together, they will become one.