To meditate in Buddhism, learn the idea of meditation – what it is. Then learn the techniques to make it happen and deepen. The best approach is the nine stages of shamatha meditation as taught by the Buddha.
Part II of 9 Stages – How to meditate Correctly
Table of Contents
| 3 Areas | 6 Powers | 9 Stages | 5 Obstacles | 8 Antidotes | 3 Qualities | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hearing/ contemplating | 1: Placecement | Laziness Forgetting the instructions | Faith Aspiration Exertion Shinjang | Stability | Movement/ Waterfall |
|
| Preparation | 2: Continuous placement | |||||
| 3: Repeated Placement | Elation & Dullness | |||||
| Actual Meditation | Mindfulness Introspection/ Awareness | 4: Close Placement | Elation & Dullness | Introspection / Awareness | Clarity | Attainment / Brook |
| 5: Taming | Familiarity Slow River |
|||||
| 6: Pacifying | Power / Strength | |||||
| Actual Meditation | Exertion | 7: Thoroughly pacifying | Not applying antidotes | Applying antidotes | Power / Strength | Stability / Calm Lake |
| Increasing Meditation | 8: One-pointedness | Overapplying antidotes | Resting in Equanimity | |||
| Thorough Familiarity | 9: Equanimity | Perfection/Mountain |
How to Meditate for Beginners
The first part of meditation in Buddhism is preparation to meditate. This includes hearing and contemplation, of course, the understanding of what meditation is, which is the first power of mind. During this phase we’re not really meditating yet because the mind is not stably upon the object. Stability on the object is when meditation actually begins.
pDF – How to Meditate in Buddhism
What is Real Meditation?
Real meditation in Buddhism occurs when the mind no longer completely forgets it is meditating. At that point, in the fourth stage, it will flip from being mostly frustrating to mostly pleasant. Once the mind attains stability on the object, meditation develops an almost blissful quality.
If you want to learn to meditate, you have to accept that the first period is difficult. Many people get stopped there, they give up on meditation because it’s not very fun at first and they think, well, meditation isn’t fun.
But they haven’t actually begun meditating. It’s like going into a flight simulator and saying, well, it’s kind of boring. Flying is boring, you just sit in a box and it moves you around. But they haven’t actually flown. They’ve just pretended to fly.
It’s like that with meditation, we have to work with the difficult part first. The first stage of meditation is called placement. We’re just learning what we’re doing with meditation. Here’s the object of meditation. This is the introduction of mindfulness, the introduction to familiarity with the technique and the object.
We place the mind on the breath, on breathing. At first we just want to look at the breathing as it comes out of the nostrils. It’s very simple, very basic. We need that basicness at first, that things don’t become complex, they don’t wander away.
Learning to meditate takes effort.
Effortless meditation comes much later.
But it will come.
We do that for a while: you can count seven or twenty-one breaths to see if the mind can maintain and hold itself there. This is a typical thing, to count seven breaths. Once the mind can do that without thoughts coming up, then you move on to twenty-one breaths. This would somewhat be associated with the second stage of training the mind: Continuous placement.
If you can do roughly seven breaths, eight, nine breaths, six breaths, something like that, and then a thought comes up and the mind wanders away, and then you realize, oh, I’m meditating. So you come back and place the mind on the object of breathing again, counting seven breaths, counting another seven breaths, counting another seven breaths. And if that is stable, then you begin to count to twenty-one breaths.
How to meditate like a yogi
and enter profound samadhi
At this point we’re maybe ready to move on to the third stage, repeated placement. So in repeated placement we’re getting more stability, we’re trying to get to a hundred and eight breaths. A hundred and eight is a mystical number, two times two times three times three times three in Buddhism. Don’t worry about it. They just like the number a lot.
A hundred breaths is fine too, but just pick a number around a hundred and use a hundred and eight if you feel like you like the mystical manifestation. It doesn’t really make that much difference at this point though.
Then try and work up to sustaining a hundred and eight, focusing on a hundred and eight breaths through counting. The goal is to get beyond the counting, but the counting helps focus the mind a little more. It helps develop the mindfulness and strengthen the mindfulness in the beginning.
Once you can maintain mindfulness on a hundred and eight breaths more or less without losing the object, without forgetting and having to come back. “Oh, I’m meditating on the breath” and reminding yourself.
How to Meditate in Buddhism Stage 4: Close Placement
That is generally considered the fourth stage of shamatha, definite or close placement. The mind no longer wanders from the object but remains with it. The counting generally falls away and one simply focuses on the breathing.
For the first three stages, this is not yet meditation. It’s frustrating because the mind keeps going away. It’s very easy to get frustrated and think, why would I meditate? This is so much work. Meditation is hard. Where’s all this peace I’m supposed to be hearing about? It’s not there because this is not yet actual meditation. This is still training to meditate.
Meditation in Buddhism is difficult. It takes work. It takes effort in order to develop it, in order to strengthen it because it’s never been done before. It’s like trying to shoot a ball through the hoop in basketball. If you’re just throwing it and you never get it through the hoop, you’re not really playing basketball. If you’re just running around passing to each other, you’re not playing basketball. You need to have another team, two teams of five players and you need to get some balls through the hoop and then you’re actually playing.
At this point we’re not playing yet. We’re just practicing. This is still practice. We’re not ready for a game and it takes a lot of effort. That effort needs a lot of diligence. In order to attain that, you need to understand what you’re up against and how to work with it. These are the obstacles. The obstacles are what’s holding you back and the antidotes, what to do about it.
Obstacles and Antidotes in Meditation
The obstacles: how to meditate in Buddhism
The first obstacle to meditation is laziness. In the upper stages, laziness and forgetting the instructions. I’ll go ahead and mention all six. For now, I’m only going to talk about the first obstacle, which is laziness. Laziness is not an unwillingness to do things.
It’s almost like a sense of befuddlement. There’s not a lot of clarity about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. There’s no conviction in the meaning of the activity of meditation. This is where hearing and contemplation come in. As you study meditation, you learn why to do it.
When you learn why to do it and you see that it’s done good things for other people, you develop what’s called faith. A sense that this is meaningful, that it’s useful, and you want to do it, you want to engage in it. These are the first four antidotes.
There are actually four antidotes that apply specifically to laziness. Laziness is the obstacle to begin actually meditating. The other obstacles are obstacles to deepening meditation, The obstacles that come later.
But first, it’s very important to get around this first obstacle. It’s so large and so intractable that it takes four antidotes. The four antidotes are faith, aspiration, exertion, and shinjang.
The faith is just knowing the why of meditation. You’re coming towards peace. You’re overcoming the pain of existence just by developing a settled, stable mind. This might be more useful for many more things as well in the future.
Anyone can meditate, if they believe they can.
There’s also a sense of faith that you can do it. You have this capability. It exists in your mind. Others have done it before. And you can do it.
Aspiration is kind of two things. It’s the sense of really, really wanting to do it, and the conviction that you have the capability to do it. That you’re worthy, and that within your own mind is the power to do it. So there’s a sense of belonging.
“I would like to become a powerful meditator, someone who can really stabilize their mind on the object of meditation and use that for great benefit.” You can’t really do much on the Buddhist path without meditation, so this has to be done to walk the path.
There’s no other way around it. So you make a sincere aspiration to do so. And you can even supplicate the teachers if you like. “Please grant me this ability in meditation.”
That actually helps a lot. You can supplicate the deeper aspects of your own mind, your own awareness if you like, your own wisdom. “Please grant me the ability to meditate.” So you have to really want it.
Then there’s exertion. This is the work to become a great meditator- which you can do. You have to sit down and try again and again and again. It takes a tremendous amount of effort. Learning to meditate is effortful. It is not easy. Accept this as a reality and determine to do the work. Make the aspiration, make the commitment, even make a vow.
Promise yourself: I will learn to meditate.
“I will develop the ability to meditate and I will deepen that. I will not give up until I have done it.” It’s like learning to juggle or any other skill.
The fourth one is shinjang, thoroughly processed. This is basically internalizing the first three and internalizing what you have heard and contemplated. With shinjang, you know what you’re going to do in meditation. You’re going to place the mind on the object of meditation and allow it to stay there.
With shinjang, you have overcome laziness by having internalized the sense of faith. Meditation is worthwhile. It is meaningful. There is something very, very profound that is being done here. You internalize the aspiration and hold it in your heart. “I want to do this and I will do this.” I am committed to doing this. I aspire to attain the ninth stage of meditation.”
You have internalized the exertion. I go every day. I sit down and I bring my mind back. I don’t sit there mindlessly. When I do, I correct it without blame. I simply come back. I accept that it is not going to be easy and I am willing to work with that. In fact, I am eager to work with it. I like the work and I am ready to get on with it.
Flow, the profound mental state, also called Peak Performance, can be attained with meditation and can be ‘triggered’ at will, with enough discipline. Guide to Flow Mastery will teach you how.
In terms of learning all the nine stages, it is probably more beneficial at this point to learn the first three stages so you can mark where you are, mark your progress, and understand the progress. Even with an eye to the fourth stage, the stabilized mind on it, on the object. Know the definition of meditation, placing the mind on the object and leaving it there. Know the obstacle of laziness.
Not having a sufficient motivation to meditate is basically the laziness. Know the four antidotes of faith, aspiration, exertion and shinjang. And finally, know what you are going for in this stage of meditation, which is stability, the mind being focused on the object of meditation.
Conclusion
As a final note for this phase of the practice, it can be very helpful to state your motivation. It can always be a good idea to state what you are doing in meditation when you sit down. So when you first sit down, if you are taking refuge, do that of course, or the bodhisattva vow, do that. And then state what you are doing in that session of meditation.
I am doing shamatha. I will stabilize the mind on the object of meditation. Again, another idea is the three factors that make for a complete meditation session. Refuge, bodhicitta, the actual practice, and dedication of merit.
Part IV of 9 Stages: Samata / Shamatha Meditation
May all beings be happy
May all beings be peaceful
May all beings be safe
May all beings awaken to the light of their true nature
May all beings be free
