 even if you
are disturbed, you can allow space and time for this."
Another misunderstanding about meditation is that
we should stop thinking. I assume this comes from the emphasis in
many Zen schools to "stop thinking" - which I understand
to mean that one cannot realise or experience emptiness when being
only caught up in conceptual thoughts about it. That would be similar
to trying to experience a beautiful sunset while discussing with
yourself, "Is it the colour of the clouds that make it beautiful,
or is it the quietness; why does the sun turn red etc."
As Allan Wallace writes in Tibetan
Buddhism from the Ground Up:
"The point of Buddhist meditation is not
to stop thinking, for ... cultivation of insight clearly requires
intelligent use of thought and discrimination. What needs to be
stopped is conceptualisation that is compulsive, mechanical and
unintelligent, that is, activity that is always fatiguing, usually
pointless, and at times seriously harmful."
Or, as the late Ajahn Chah said:
"Try to be mindful, and let things take
their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any
surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful,
rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly
see the nature of all things. But you will be still. This is the
happiness of the Buddha."
But can we change our mind just like that? His
Holiness the Dalai Lama explains in 'An
Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life':
"Though not physical, our states of mind
also come about by causes and conditions, much the way things
in the physical world do. It is therefore important to develop
familiarity with the mechanics of causation. The substantial cause
of our present state of mind is the previous moment of mind. Thus,
each moment of consciousness serves as the substantial cause of
our subsequent awareness. The stimuli experienced by us, visual
forms we enjoy or memories we a react to, are the cooperative
conditions that give our state of mind its character. As with
matter, by controlling the conditions, we affect the product:
our mind. Meditation should be a skillful method of doing just
this, applying particular conditions to our minds in order to
bring about the desired effect, a more virtuous mind."
^Top of Page
The definition of shamatha is: the ability to hold
our minds on the object of meditation with clarity and stability
for as long as we wish, conjoined with mental and physical pliancy.
It is also called single pointed concentration.
With shamatha, the mind becomes extremely flexible and drastically
reduces the power of disturbing attitudes, gross anger, attachment,
jealousy etc. do not arise.
"People learning the way should first empty
and quiet their minds. This is because the mind must be empty
before it can mystically understand the subtle principle. If the
mind is not emptied, it is like a lamp in the wind, or like turbulent
water, how can it reflect the myriad forms?"
Yuan-hsien (1618-1697) - Excerpted from "The Teaching
of Zen" edited by Thomas Cleary
Prerequisites to achieve full-blown calm abiding:
1. Agreeable place: easy to obtain food without
wrong livelihood, powerful place (blessed by holy persons) and
quiet, not disease-ridden, proper companions and one should have
heard and studied the teachings.
2. Have few desires in terms of food, clothes etc.
3. Knowing satisfaction: acceptance of what you haven and who
4. Pure ethics: try to prevent any negative actions.
5. Forsaking commotion/excitement: few purposes outside meditation,
reduce any other activities
6. Abandoning thoughts of desire and lust: contemplating faults
of desire and impermanence.
As you may understand from the above, the achievement
of shamatha is not a small task. It is said that if one is completely
focused on the practice in solitary retreat, some people can achieve
it in 6 months. There are not many people around who can claim to
have mastered shamatha. To seriously engage in this practice, the
advice of a teacher should be sought, and several good books have
appeared on the subject.
A warning from
Venerab