Bhavana Meditation

• Buddhist Meditation
• Mounting Meditation
• Gain Effortlessness

Bhavana Meditation

An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea. - Buddha

Through zeal, knowledge is gotten; through lack of zeal, knowledge is lost; let a man who knows the double path of gain and loss thus place himself that knowledge may grow. - Buddha

"Simple living habits are of the best." - Buddha

In the outline below, delving and diving stand for contemplation, alias deep meditation, dhyana and Zen. One needs to know how to do it. Methods are found. In Zen and other forms of Buddhism, basic stuff may or may not be spoken of through symbols.

DHARANA AND DHYANA. Dharana is Sanskrit for focusing (concentration). Dhyana is Sanskrit for contemplation, which is inner diving. A Buddhist contemplation method is hinted at above. Increasing awareness through contemplation (meditation) and other methods has a central place in Buddhism. Basic contemplation helps insight, clarity, and wisdom. Insight is here taken to mean "seeing things as they are". The teaching is that great insight goes along with inner purity, which is to be aimed at by contemplation. Ancient sutras (suttas in Pali) in the Anguttara Nikaya (Collection of the Gradual Sayings) state that there are three areas where training is needed: in conduct, focus (concentration, dharana), and insight. What to contemplate on, may vary. One compendium, the Visuddhimagga (Way to Purity) by Buddhaghosa from the early 400s AD, advices how to choose what accords with character or inclination.

STAGES OF DIVING. Inner diving (contemplation ways) and interiorised experiences are shown in a structured way in the Visuddhimagga compendium of Theraveda teachings. Four stages of interiorisation of the mind (called dhyanas in Sanskrit and jhanas in Pali) are enumerated in it. The work describes how meditators train their attention and the landmarks and stages they could encounter while boring and gliding along "within themselves". Practice hardly leaves out systematic cultivation of virtuous thought, word, and deed. Daniel Goleman of Harvard shows the work's "road map" for inner diving and its flashes of joy and bliss. Goleman goes on to compare other well-known contempation techniques with the contemplative points and streams of development of the Visuddhimagga. [Yy] [DHYANAS]

A VARIETY OF TECHNIQUES ARE FOUND. Also, several contemplation techniques are in use. One is the Vipassana method of observing, others include the "wall-staring" of Zen, a method attributed to Bodhidharma (Daruma in Japanese). In Esoteric Buddhism you find many more methods under the heading Vajrayana (Vehicle of the Diamond or Thunderbolt). Mantrayana (Vehicle of the Mantra) is a way that is recommended by such as Tibet's great, Medieval yogi Milarepa. Mantrayana uses mantras (sounds, sets of syllables, etc) to increase subtlety and gain awareness within.

THERE ARE SYMBOLS TO STUDY. Inner experiences are referred to in very symbolic language.

CULTURAL FINDINGS SPEAK OF PAN-INDIAN SIMILARITIES. Finally, the stages of Buddhist meditation show many similarities with Hindu meditation (Buddhist Yoga and Hindu Yoga have similar practices). Both may take off from a common tradition in ancient India. Buddhist contemplation developed marked variations in different traditions.

Mounting Meditation, Bhavana Meditation

Part 1. Meditate in the here and now somehow

TO KNOW where your main effort should be directed, have some understanding that the everyday goal of meditation is to train yourself to delve, so to speak.

To delve should lead to inner development of mind - to deep developments.

This process may establish a good foundation for future work too.

Buddha once said about the future, "Whatever you think it will be" - it can produce such unexpected results.

Be free to contemplate in the moment.

For we can refine the present and the moments by silent awareness here and now.

Part 2. Recognise the inner side to yourself

REAL NOW is magnificent.

We think we know the world.

In the door of every moment, all you can do is to greet.

Recognize such as "the space between thoughts" only if there is some point to it.

Go inside well.

Go back to the primary existence by a root exercise, it is "tall breathing".

Following the breath you should have let go of chatter long ago. ◊

Be experiencing the first flowering of bliss to your ability.

Part 3. Adhere to this single moment-stream's mindfulness to be able to delight too

DO SOMETHING, do what it takes to maintain a "full awareness of breath" easily.

"The cat with a smile on her face" stands for The Deep Breath.

Breath awareness without a single moment's break may be allowed to disappear:

Then comes the nimitta (mind sign, for example a nice light).

If unstable it is because the "doing you" interferes, assumedly.

Let the mind incline where it wants. ◊

Enjoy good confidence in the Buddha's teachings - The first bliss of elevated mind states (jhanas) should not be feared but should be delighted in often (See "Latukikopama Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya").

High Jhanas go on for hours.

Gain Effortlessness

Meditate toward great effortlessness. "Identifying the mind essence . . . is the easiest of all meditations. All other exercises and practices are merely preparations for it . . . to recognize the nature of one's own mind, or at least to glimpse it." Then it "will always shine brightly within him."

"After the recognition [of it] there is still a very long way to go, yet the first glimpse is regarded by all Buddhist sages as the most important thing, that which every yogi must first try to obtain. Once the "gateless gate" is entered, meditation will no more be a "practice" or an effort. It now becomes a natural and spontaneous act of life . . . No effort needs to be made, and no object or idea need to be worked upon."

"In order to reach this gateless gate, one must work . . . practice," writes Garma Chang impressively. [Prz 214-15] The method is described in books by W. Y. Evans-Wentz: Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation (p. 202ff), and Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines.

The Tibetan teaching of Padma-Sambhava is: "The deep mind remains eternally Reality." To realise it, conform to "Easy - Subtilise - Enter dhyana (deep meditation) to a spontaneous flow - Consolidate, and so on." Fruitful practice gives clear wisdom alias self-knowledge. And there is not really a need to fall under the sway of trusting, or of ignorance. Transcending and uninhibited Deep Mind is the Great Symbol (mahamudra) [Lik 220-240, passim]

To know it first-hand you may decide to practice meditation.

Literature  

The first article above is based on materials from a book by abbot Ajahn Brahmavamso (born in London in 1951, ordained in Bangkok at 23, now the Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia.
[www.buddhistforbundet.no/bs/basicmethod.shtml]

Ebu: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. London: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2007, sv "Buddhist meditation", "Buddhism", "Visuddhimagga".

Yy: Goleman, David. The Varieties of the Meditative Experience. London: Rider, 1975.

Recent Results of Meditation Research in the Media

Law, Naomi. Scientists probe meditation secrets. BBC News. 31 mars 2008.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7319043.stm

BBC 1. Meditation 'brain training' clues. BBC News. 13. juni 2005
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4613759.stm

BBC 2. Buddhists 'really are happier'. BBC News. 21. mai 2003. news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3047291.stm

BBC 3. Meditation mapped in monks. 1. mars 2002. news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1847442.stm



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