A-na-pa-na-sa-ti Mindfulness with Breathing Third Lesson commentary

Transcription

1 Page 1 of 36 A-na-pa-na-sa-ti Mindfulness with Breathing Third Lesson commentary Smart Phone Edition Terton Lama: Jigme Gyatso, Rime Rinpoche 2018-b12-26a

2 Page 2 of 36 Opening Compassionate Intention Simplicity, patience and compassion for all! 1 repetition

3 Page 3 of 36 Opening Material Body Ka-ya Table of Contents Opening Intention.pg. 2 Contents pg. 3 Tao Te Ching Syllabus.pg. 4 How long breath?...pg. 5 How short breath?...pg. 6 Feeling form!...pg. 7 Feeling Ve-da-na Mind Cit-ta Phenomena Dham-ma Appendix..pg. 8 Advancing as a Contemplative pg. 9 Syllabus pg. 10 Concise Twelve Elemental Permutations...pg. 11

4 Page 4 of 36 Tao Te Ching Syllabus Lesson Volume Chapters 1 st A-na-pa-na-sa-ti Sut-ta 2 nd 1 st of 14 1 st 6 th 3 rd 2 nd of 14 7 th 12 th 4 th 3 rd of th 18 th 5 th 4 th of th 24 th 6 th 5 th of th 30 th 7 th 6 th of st 36 th 8 th 7 th of th 42 nd Lesson Volume Chapters 9 th 8 th of rd 48 th 10 th 9 th of th 54 th 11 th 10 th of th 60 th 12 th 11 th of st 66 th 13 th 12 th of th 72 nd 14 th 13 th of rd 78 th 15 th 14 th of th 81 st

5 Page 5 of 36 The Third week s Lesson

6 Page 6 of 36 He trains thus: Experiencing the whole body, I will breathe in he trains thus: Experiencing the whole body, I will breathe out.

7 Page 7 of 36 Let s take a closer look at the root text: He trains thus: Training Experiencing the whole body, I will breathe in There seems to be a persistent myth that meditation is supposed to be an escape from reality wherein the mind does not think, and the body feels naught but bliss. However the use of the verb trains infers the contrary.

8 Page 8 of 36 Sometimes our body serves us well, other times it is sick, weak, uncomfortable, or injured. There are times our body could feel glorious, there are other times it could seem grotesque. There are times when we spontaneously feel grateful for our bodies, and other times we really do not want to even be aware of it. Buddha s solution is NOT to coerce us into contriving an analog of gratitude wherein we rail against our spontaneous emotions and try to force ourselves into feeling something we do NOT really feel.

9 Page 9 of 36 Rather, in his third set of meditations Gautama the Buddha teaches us to vulnerably, and passively allow our awareness to be viscerally aware of our bodies : virtues, short-comings and all.

10 Page 10 of 36 Let s take another look at the root text: He trains thus: Whole body Experiencing the whole body, I will breathe in The second chapter of the Tao Te Ching infers that our brains seem hard wired to compare and contrast as well as praise and condemn.

11 Page 11 of 36 There are some features of our bodies we re taught to present to the world, and others that we re taught are dirty or shameful and must be hidden away, even from ourselves. Clearly NOT a puritan, Gau-ta-ma the Buddha taught us to passively and non-conceptually allow our awareness to be vulnerable to any spontaneous perception of any feature of our body, be it comfortable, painful, grandiose, realistic, inaccurate or utterly fictional.

12 Page 12 of 36 Let us NOT fool ourselves, meditation demands that we exercise the courage of the vulnerability that some Tibetan teachers refer to as naked awareness.

13 Page 13 of 36 Body s four Exercises Ka-ya 3 3 Left Index-finger 6 Left Ring-finger 9 Left Little-finger 12 Left Middle-finger 2 Both Ring-fingers 5 Both Little-fingers 8 Both Middle-fingers 11 Both Index-fingers 1 Right Index-finger 4 Right Middle-finger 7 Right Index-finger 10 Right Ring-finger IN-breath: Feeling form OUT-breath: feeling form! Three breaths IN-breath: Feel OUT-breath: form! Thirty-three breaths

14 Page 14 of 36 Pecking out of our shell Like a baby chick, pecking its way out of the limiting confines of its shell, we too, passively expand the sphere of our awareness beyond our mere breath to encompass our entire body. How do we do that? Through the power of words; for words lead intention and intention leads mind.

15 Page 15 of 36 Let s take a look at the third, three syllable meditation: Which words shall we use? IN-breath: Feeling form OUT-breath: feeling form! Three breaths

16 Page 16 of 36 Feeling form During the 1970 s Bandler and Grinder taught Neuro-Linguistic Programing, wherein they explained that of our five senses, humans rely mainly upon sensation, sound and sight, which sounds an awful lot like Buddhist tantra s references to body, speech and mind. In this presentation of Gautama the Buddha s ninth set of meditations we ll watch our mind. In this presentation of the seventh set of meditations we ll listen to our thoughts.

17 Page 17 of 36 And in this presentation, of Gautama the Buddha s third set of meditations we ll feel our bodies. Rather than force our perception to expand beyond our: nose, sinuses, throat, lungs, and diaphragm, all we have to do is silently and mentally recite: IN-breath: Feeling form OUT-breath: feeling form! Three breaths in harmony with our natural, and uncontrived breathing.

18 Page 18 of 36 A rose by any other name In the context of Buddha s third set of meditations the word form functions as a synonym for body. We ll notice that each set of meditations contains a three syllable practice and it s one syllable counter-part. It has been my experience that if a contemplative phrase contains more than three syllables it s effectiveness is diminished. I don t know why, it merely seems to be a consistently observable phenomena. Which leads us to an import point

19 Page 19 of 36 Beware of the quicksand In the Buddhist teachings, the five aggregates are sometimes translated as: form, feeling, label, story and mind. As the temporary owners of the three pounds of wrinkly stuff we call a brain, we are often faced with a choice of: present moment, or story. Story could be any mental activity that takes us away from the here and now including: recalling the past, imagining the future, or getting lost in the tall weeds of conjecture.

20 Page 20 of 36 Contrary to cultural conditioning our greatest insights come NOT from gutting it out, but from flashes of insight that come after we have passively and vulnerably absorbed the available data. Contemplatives employed in the S.T.E.M. fields of: science, technology, engineering and math have found that when they ve hit a proverbial brick wall, the best solution could be to spend some time practicing meditation, and in a surprisingly short period of time new possibilities can dawn upon them, that they might apply to the dilemma at hand, in harmony with the scientific method.

21 Page 21 of 36 It is so important to cultivate the tranquility that gives rise to the humility and wisdom that are comfortable confronting the limits of our knowledge without feeling the burden of diving into story s irrational conjecture to contrive an ungrounded and unnecessary explanation of a trivial question.

22 Page 22 of 36 Serenity NOW! IN-breath: Feeling form OUT-breath: feeling form! Three breaths Feeling form feeling form! is NOT an affirmation, for an affirmation is a lie that we tell ourselves, either verbally or mentally, about our: mind, emotions, body, or circumstances; that we hope will cause them to improve.

23 Page 23 of 36 Imagine a sales professional, stuck in a traffic jam, late to the most important meeting of his career, with his cellphone forgotten at home. His heart is racing, his blood pressure is climbing and his voice has grown hoarse from the constant and maniacal recitation of I am successful and serene!

24 Page 24 of 36 When we silently and mentally recite: Feeling form feeling form! in harmony with our natural and uncontrived breathing we are NOT telling ourselves, or the universe, that we are currently perceiving our body. Rather, we are using words to gently guide our intention. For this is NOT yang s path of aggression, but rather yin s path of gentleness.

25 Page 25 of 36 Passively, vulnerably and non-conceptually playing with these words in harmony with our natural and uncontrived breathing could have a profound effect upon our subtle awareness that the Tibetan Nyingma sect refers to as Rig-pa in Tibetan, the Ma-ha-ya-na Buddhists refer to as A-la-ya or base consciousness in Sanskrit, or that the The-ra-va-da Buddhists refer to as Sa-ti or mindfulness in Pali.

26 Page 26 of 36 It is important NOT to confuse hard and rigid concentration with soft and gentle mindfulness. Contrary to the insistence of the rigid and controlling elitists, mindfulness is not mysterious or supernatural, it is a component of every sentient organism, and is merely revealed, accessed and therapeutically utilized by these easy meditations.

27 Page 27 of 36 The second stimulating set Just as the second set of meditations, How short breath? is somewhat stimulating, likewise the third set of meditations, Feeling form! could also be stimulating.

28 Page 28 of 36 Concise After counting three rounds of the three-syllable meditation upon our left Middle-finger we shift gears and play with it s one syllable counter-part: IN-breath: Feel OUT-breath: form! Thirty-three breaths The thirty-three repetitions are collected by counting the three sets of creases upon each of the remaining eleven finger positions that we explored exhaustively in the first lesson.

29 Page 29 of 36 Third week s homework Every morning we ll play with Buddha s first through third sets of meditations for about twelve minutes per session. We ll repeat it every evening as well.

30 Page 30 of 36 Body s four Exercises Ka-ya 1 3 Left Index-finger 6 Left Ring-finger 9 Left Little-finger 12 Left Middle-finger 2 Both Ring-fingers 5 Both Little-fingers 8 Both Middle-fingers 11 Both Index-fingers 1 Right Little-finger 4 Right Middle-finger 7 Right Index-finger 10 Right Ring-finger IN-breath: OUT-breath: How long breath how long breath? Three-breaths IN-breath: How OUT-breath: long? Thirty-three breaths

31 Page 31 of 36 Body s four Exercises Ka-ya 2 3 Left Index-finger 6 Left Ring-finger 9 Left Little-finger 12 Left Middle-finger 2 Both Ring-fingers 5 Both Little-fingers 8 Both Middle-fingers 11 Both Index-fingers 1 Right Little-finger 4 Right Middle-finger 7 Right Index-finger 10 Right Ring-finger IN-breath: OUT-breath: How short breath how short breath? Three-breaths IN-breath: How OUT-breath: short? Thirty-three breaths

32 Page 32 of 36 3 Left Index-finger 6 Left Ring-finger 9 Left Little-finger 12 Left Middle-finger Body s four Exercises Ka-ya 3 2 Both Ring-fingers 5 Both Little-fingers 8 Both Middle-fingers 11 Both Index-fingers 1 Right Little-finger 4 Right Middle-finger 7 Right Index-finger 10 Right Ring-finger IN-breath: Feeling form OUT-breath: feeling form! Three-breaths IN-breath: Feel OUT-breath: form! Thirty-three breaths

33 Page 33 of 36 Appendix Gradually Progressing as a Contemplative Syllabus Concise Twelve Elemental Permutations

34 Page 34 of 36 Gradually progressing from a Beginning to an Intermediate Contemplative Week Duration Week Duration 1 st 3.75 minutes 2 nd 7.50 minutes 3 rd minutes 4 th 15 minutes 5 th minutes 6 th minutes 7 th minutes 8 th 30 minutes 9 th minutes 10 th minutes 11 th minutes 12 th 45 minutes 13 th minutes 14 th minutes 15 th minutes 16 th 60 minutes

35 Page 35 of 36 Week Rumination Recitation Meditation First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Anapanasati Sutta or it s Commentary Twelve Elemental Permutations 1 Mindfulness of Breath Length Tao Te Ching 1 st 6 th Chapters Compassionate Opening Intention 2 Mindfulness of Breath Brevity Tao Te Ching 7 th 12 th Chapters Gradually Progressing as a Contemplative 3 Mindfulness of Form Tao Te Ching 13 th 18 th Chapters Compassionate Closing Intention 4 Calming One s Form Tao Te Ching 19 th 24 th Chapters Two Paths 5 Mindfulness of Physical Pleasure Tao Te Ching 25 th 30 th Chapters Four Levels of Practice 6 Mindfulness of Emotional Pleasure Tao Te Ching 31 st 36 th Chapters The Path of Mastery 7 Mindfulness of Thoughts Tao Te Ching 37 th 42 nd Chapters The Means of Mastery 8 Calming One s Thoughts Ninth Tenth Eleventh Twelfth Tao Te Ching 43 rd 48 th Chapters Tao Te Ching 47 th 54 th Chapters Tao Te Ching 55 th 60 th Chapters Tao Te Ching 61 st 66 th Chapters 9 Mindfulness of Mind 10 Gladdening One s Mind 12 Freeing One s Mind 11 Collecting One s Mind Thirteenth Fourteenth Fifteenth Sixteenth Tao Te Ching 67 th 72 nd Chapters Tao Te Ching 73 rd 78 th Chapters Tao Te Ching 79 th 81 st Chapters Retreat Instructions 13 Contemplation of Change 14 Contemplation of Fading 15 Contemplation of Cessation 16 Contemplation of Relinquishment

36 Page 36 of 36 Concise Twelve Elemental Permutations 1 Right Little-finger Cardinal-fire Crown Adventurous Courage 2 Both Ring-fingers Fixed-earth Throat Wealth and Sexuality 3 Left Index-finger Mutable-air Upper limbs Playful Creativity 4 Right Middle-finger Cardinal-water Stomach Mother Henning 5 Both Little-fingers Fixed-fire Liver Charismatic Leadership 6 Left Ring-finger Mutable-earth Guts Considerate Meticulousness 7 Right Index-finger Cardinal-air Kidney Love and Beauty 8 Both Middle-fingers Fixed-water Crotch Deep Desires 9 Left Little-finger Mutable-fire Thighs Big-picture Thinking 10 Right Ring-finger Cardinal-earth Bones Affluence and Power 11 Both Index-fingers Fixed-air Calves Laid-back, Smart Generous 12 Left Middle-finger Mutable-water Feet Surrendered Sagehood