A Handbook of Zen Meditation- Opinions wanted.

[Taiji Bum]

Please make comments on the writing, structure and content.

A HANDBOOK OF ZEN MEDITATION

There is no God.

There is no reincarnation.

There is only, awakening

What Is Awakening?

"While walking down a wooded path the visible universe changed. I went from seeing the dirty gravel trail and the moss covered trees, to seeing a path of glowing gemstones and blazing fountains of living-fire covered in crystals. My entire visual field was transfigured. The ground seem like golden glass and I could see into and through all things. More than that, I saw and knew that the living-fire was giving life to all things, was the same living-fire giving life to me. I felt myself in all things and I knew all things. There was also more than that as my consciousness also seemed to penetrate into the past and I saw and knew the evolution of all life on this planet. I was pervaded with the calm and peace of knowing everything was right and complete in the world. It felt like I woke up and was seeing true reality for the first time."

 

Things You Need To Do First

1. Be very careful if you join a meditation group of any kind. When you begin to meditate more than them, they will try and stifle your enthusiasm. You become who you hang out with, and they will try and drag you down to their level.

2. Buddhism has the correct method, but don't get caught up in the Buddhist religion. When Buddha said he didn't want to start a religion, he meant it.

3. Keep things simple. As Buddha says, "You don't need to know who shot you with the poisoned arrow, who made the poisoned arrow or even what kind of poison was used. You just need to pull the arrow out, bind the wound and take the antidote for the poison."

 

The Three Jewels Of Buddhism

1. I take refuge in the Buddha.

2. I take refuge in the Dharma.

3. I take refuge in the Sangha.

 

The Four Noble Truths

1. Life is bondage.

2. The origin of bondage is craving.

3. The cessation of bondage is possible.

4. The path of the cessation of bondage is the eight-fold path.

 

The Eight Fold Path

1. Right Understanding: Realizing that the four noble truths are true.

2. Right Thought: Resolving to follow the eight-fold path.

3. Right Speech: Avoiding untrue and abusive speech.

4. Right Conduct: No stealing, no sexual misconduct and practicing pacifism.

5. Right Employment: Never work a job that violates the eight-fold path.

6. Right Attitude: Cultivate positive thoughts and emotions.

7. Right Mindfulness: Practice meditation correctly.

8. Right Concentration: Staying focused first on awakening and then ascension.

 

Prerequisites To The First Stage Of Meditation

1. Start in your low to mid-twenties. Before that your frontal lobe hasn't finished myelinating , so your brain just isn't ready for it.

2. For best results become a vegetarian.

3. For even better results, live simply.

 

How To Practice Concentrative Meditate

1. Sit where where you are comfortable like a chair with a straight back. Hands in lap, palms up.

2. Focus on the center point in your body. This point is about 1.5 inches below your belly button and 3 inches in.

3. Take long, slow, silent inhales and exhales to this center point. When ever your mind wanders just gently bring your breathing and awareness back to this point.

4. Practice 20 minutes a day every day, adding 5 minutes a week. Practice at the same time every day. Build up to 1 hour, 4 times a day. More is better.

 

The Common Mistakes In Meditation:

1. The first big mistake in meditation is not starting. Above is enough information to get you to sit down and start. The only way to get good at meditation is to start badly. Everyone has a crazy mind in the beginning. Time and practice make you better, not reading about it. There are no secrets. Just sit down and practice. The practice is the practice.

2. The second big mistake in meditation is not trying. You sit there and then let your mind do what it wants without trying to bring your attention back to your breath. Only when you think the timer is about to go off do you think to yourself, "OK, now I will do it". You must want to meditate and to get good at it, in order to get good at it.

3. The third big mistake in meditation is doing it for the wrong reasons. You need to practice for the sake of meditation itself. You need the intrinsic motivation to practice and not for reasons outside of yourself. Doing it for liberation, enlightenment or Union with God are good reasons. Doing it for psychic powers or for fame as a guru are not good reasons.

4. The forth big mistake in meditation is settling for the booby prizes of out of body experiences and the other stupid psychic stuff. Don't get lost in the mental phenomena. As long as you are stuck in the mind powers, you will NOT awaken.

5. When you have practiced meditation for months, you may experience loud noises like ten thousand thunders or waterfalls. the sensation of high speed upward flight or liquid lightening blasting up your spine may erupt. You may have the experience of flying through a tunnel and into a bright light. Just ignore the bells and whistles of meditation and continue without dwelling on the visions and voices. It is just your mind clearing itself out. They are sometimes called rapture or kundalini and will eventually stop, usually a few years after awakening. Ignore them.

 

The Stages Of Meditation

1. Letting go of unhealthy feelings and desires, and feelings of joy and well-being arise.

2. Letting go of discursive reasoning and ruminating thoughts and wisdom arises.

3. Letting go of striving and equanimity arises.

4. Letting go of self and awakening.

 

The Marks of Awakening

• Brief and usually lasting less than a half hour.

• All things seem to be made of fire, light and crystals.

• Consciousness penetrates all things with omnipotence.

• Consciousness penetrates all time with omnipresence.

• Consciousness permeates all beings with omniscience.

 

Seated Mindfulness Meditation After Awakening

1. Sit where where you are comfortable like a chair with a straight back.

2. Place your hands in your lap with the left hand cradling the right hand in its palm, thumb tips touching and thumbs and fore fingers should be forming a circle.

3. Take slow deep silent breaths.

4. When your mind wanders to thoughts or emotions, return awareness to your breath.

5. After a few days when you get good at noticing your thoughts and returning your attention to your breath, you no longer need to use your breathing as a crutch. Just return your attention to the calm void of "no-thought" over and over.

6. The practice is not stopping your thoughts. That is impossible. The practice is returning your attention to the calm-void place between the thoughts, over and over.

7. You should already be good at practicing for 4 hours a day so just turn your practice over to mindfulness meditation instead of focusing meditation.

 

The Stages After Awakening

1. Continue seated meditation and let it do its work.

2. Pass the Desert Temptations of body, intellect and emotions.

   1. Don't get crazy with the fasting or you will die. Levitation and glowing is not a sign from anything or anyone. It's just some weird bodily thing that happens.

   2. You are not destined to rule the world. You are having delusions of grandeur. Relax, they will go away.

   3. You don't have magical powers and are not immortal. No matter how good the euphoria feels, try to remember you are just a human being and don't go testing your "powers" by jumping off a cliff.

3. Final tunnel rising and brain sealing- The vision of the flaming swastika/Ezekiel's Wheel is the mark of a newly minted buddha.

4. Passing on what you have learned.

5. Leaving your students when it is time to do so.

6. Final purification and alchemical transformations of body.

7. Ascension

[rex]

This has got the informal tone of a no nonsense uncle speaking to his nephew.

 

It appears to be quite idiosyncratic, eclectic with a bit of scientism thrown in i.e. not meditating when young because the brain hasn't developed which appears spurious as surely the younger the better to establish good habits and a foundation in formative years?

 

Don't the Noble Truths mention suffering and not bondage? Can't recall if I've ever heard or read of the concept ascension in Buddhism (I know little of Zen) or newly minted buddhas or Ezekiels's wheel, let alone kundalini and alchemical transformations of the body. Why not decribe the fruits of a path in its own terms rather then alluding to other paths?

 

Awakening to what? Surely after awakening there will no longer be the need for any instructions? The meditation instructions have a certain cold rigidity to them too.

 

As can be gathered I don't particularly warm to this, but each to their own.

 

Edit: typos cerctrod

Edited March 27, 2014 by rex

[Taiji Bum]

Thanks, Rex. It's Korean Zen Buddhism with Tibetan (ascension/rainbow body). Dukkha actually translates directly as "thirst" and not suffering or bondage. You are right about mixing other paths. I will remove those. Thank you again!

 

I set out to write out my understanding of Zen before I applied to a Zen Buddhist seminary to become a dharma teacher. It just grew into a manual so I thought I would share it.

 

What do you mean by "rigid" in the meditation instructions? In the Zen tradition they are very exacting. Everything has to be precise. I swear its like being Catholic again. Bow to that statue, bow to the other statue, kneel, prostrate, kneel, prostrate, walk around the temple, kneel, prostrate….

[thelerner]

I like it. Succinct but thorough. You start out w/ controversy, probably negative controversy. I'm talking about the No God, No reincarnation on top. Which should shake up two different groups. Do you want to start readers a little off balance or is that dogma creeping in?

[Maddie]

Ok this may be a little off topic but its the only meditation thread in the Buddhist section I saw at a glance. What I've noticed is that if I do Vipassana for a while my mind seems to settle down, but if I do Samatha meditation it seems like afterwards that all kinds of crap gets stirred up in my mind. The odd thing is, is that I thought the opposite was supposed to happen?

[doc benway]

Ok this may be a little off topic but its the only meditation thread in the Buddhist section I saw at a glance. What I've noticed is that if I do Vipassana for a while my mind seems to settle down, but if I do Samatha meditation it seems like afterwards that all kinds of crap gets stirred up in my mind. The odd thing is, is that I thought the opposite was supposed to happen?

Your experience is very normal.

As the mind quiets and looks at itself in Shamatha practice, the coarse thoughts become very obvious.

As they begin to space out and subside, the next layer of incomplete thoughts and images, feelings, and ideas is unveiled.

And boy, is there a lot of shit there that we weren't aware of.

It's not so much that things are getting stirred up as that they are becoming exposed.

As those fragments and images subside, even more subtle layers are exposed, emotional impressions, fleeting images and feelings, etc...

Shamatha is like peeling an onion...

[Maddie]

Your experience is very normal.

As the mind quiets and looks at itself in Shamatha practice, the coarse thoughts become very obvious.

As they begin to space out and subside, the next layer of incomplete thoughts and images, feelings, and ideas is unveiled.

And boy, is there a lot of shit there that we weren't aware of.

It's not so much that things are getting stirred up as that they are becoming exposed.

As those fragments and images subside, even more subtle layers are exposed, emotional impressions, fleeting images and feelings, etc...

Shamatha is like peeling an onion...

Thanks... very good explanation ;-)

[rex]

Thanks, Rex. It's Korean Zen Buddhism with Tibetan (ascension/rainbow body). Dukkha actually translates directly as "thirst" and not suffering or bondage. You are right about mixing other paths. I will remove those. Thank you again!

 

I set out to write out my understanding of Zen before I applied to a Zen Buddhist seminary to become a dharma teacher. It just grew into a manual so I thought I would share it.

 

What do you mean by "rigid" in the meditation instructions? In the Zen tradition they are very exacting. Everything has to be precise. I swear its like being Catholic again. Bow to that statue, bow to the other statue, kneel, prostrate, kneel, prostrate, walk around the temple, kneel, prostrate….

You're welcome Taiji Bum. Thanks for your gracious response, the context of the text is much clearer now. If I had looked before leaping I should have twigged that it was written by you

 

I think context of presentation is important. As seen from my feedback you will get different and perhaps more informed opinions from fellow Zen practitioners attending a Zen centre than you would from an open forum such as this. Intended audience is also significant and the text may have to be pitched to different audiences

 

As a testament to you personal practice, drawing up all the threads of inspiration and weaving them into something of value to pass on to others it's sound. I think the issue for me was calling it a handbook of Zen Meditation which for good or ill sets up a train of particular associations and expectations in readers (first off Japan,not Korea flashed up in my mind).

 

The coldness and rigidity in the meditation instructions for me were signalled by the absence of words such as peace, compassion and wisdom. This is also perhaps my reaction to Zen discipline and minimalism and certain aspects of Japanese samuari society that I find alien and harsh rather than the value of the instructions themselves (seen 47 Ronin?)

 

How about doing two versions, a strictly Zen one and a personal testimony leaving in all the references to other traditions and call it something else? I liked the introduction about the Awakening experience - I missed the full significance of this on the first reading - though perhaps add a lead into the main text with something like, 'let me take you by the hand and guide you through the steps taken to experience this marvel' - a bit flowery but hope you get the drift.

 

Zen discipline a bit like Catholicism? Funny that, I went to Tibetan Buddhism from Catholicism and still find statues, incense and threats of hell ...

 

Edit: typos

Edited March 27, 2014 by rex

[Taiji Bum]

I like it. Succinct but thorough. You start out w/ controversy, probably negative controversy. I'm talking about the No God, No reincarnation on top. Which should shake up two different groups. Do you want to start readers a little off balance or is that dogma creeping in?

I was looking to put awakening in perspective. It's like that saying, "Before enlightenment chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment chop wood and carry water." I would say before enlightenment, gods and reincarnation. During enlightenment no gods or reincarnation. After enlightenment, gods and reincarnation."

[Maddie]

So I have been doing a lot of Vippasana this weekend looking at various forms of craving. After the last session I have felt unusually tired, dizzy, and disoriented. Can this be a result of meditation or an indication that meditation is doing something?

[GrandmasterP]

That Zen Meditation handbook's a meritorious ambition Taiji Bum, good luck with it and every success to you.

Not a quibble but a question....

Your...

"Be very careful if you join a meditation group of any kind. When you begin to meditate more than them, they will try and stifle your enthusiasm. You become who you hang out with, and they will try and drag you down to their level."

 

That...

"a meditation group of any kind." would of necessity include Buddhist groups such as a group cultivating zazen.

Might your wording there be wilfully misinterpreted as disrespect to the sangha?

 

Here's a link to a free handbook written by the Abbot of a Zen abbey in England.

http://www.throssel.org.uk/sitting-buddha-book

Edited March 30, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[ChiForce]

I just want to add that there are reincarnations. If it wasn't for reincarnations, there would be no karmas. If there are no karmas, you won't be cultivating your mind to become liberated from the world of Samsara. Also, the degree of your cultivation process depends on your past life merits and whether or not, in your past life, you have reached certain cultivation levels. Yet, you can't obtain the complete liberation in a single life time because....the process takes a long time, few life time of merits. Some people may be more advanced in their cultivation levels not because they are smarter and hard working... Is because they have accumulated enough merits from their past life which allows them to advance in their cultivation levels more quicker.

 

When your third eye is open as well as the center channel, you will have visions about your past life, trust me on that.

Edited March 31, 2014 by ChiForce

[ChiForce]

I was looking to put awakening in perspective. It's like that saying, "Before enlightenment chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment chop wood and carry water." I would say before enlightenment, gods and reincarnation. During enlightenment no gods or reincarnation. After enlightenment, gods and reincarnation."

Hmmmm...not exactly because there are various stages of enlightenment process based on the degree of your Samadhi levels. One thing for sure, you aren't even close to become enlightened if you haven't experienced various state of Samadhi and Dhyanas. Also, not just anyone can obtain the final liberation in one life time. So, hell yeah, you will be reborn again. If you have acquired certain degree of cultivation, you may be reborn again as one of the gods in the heavenly realm but would only need to reborn again as a human being once in an eon.

Edited March 31, 2014 by ChiForce

[Brian]

"While walking down a wooded path the visible universe changed. I went from seeing the dirty gravel trail and the moss covered trees, to seeing a path of glowing gemstones and blazing fountains of living-fire covered in crystals. My entire visual field was transfigured. The ground seem like golden glass and I could see into and through all things. More than that, I saw and knew that the living-fire was giving life to all things, was the same living-fire giving life to me. I felt myself in all things and I knew all things. There was also more than that as my consciousness also seemed to penetrate into the past and I saw and knew the evolution of all life on this planet. I was pervaded with the calm and peace of knowing everything was right and complete in the world. It felt like I woke up and was seeing true reality for the first time."

 

I've experienced this.^^^