the buddhist centre

meditation 
introduction
what is meditation?
There are many things in life that are beyond our control. However, it is possible to take responsibility
for our own states of mind – and to change them for the better. According to Buddhism this is the most
important thing we can do, and Buddhism teaches that it is the only real antidote to our own personal
sorrows, and to the anxieties, fears, hatreds, and general confusions that beset the human condition.
Meditation is a means of transforming the mind. Buddhist meditation practices are techniques that
encourage and develop concentration, clarity, emotional positivity, and a calm seeing of the true nature
of things. By engaging with a particular meditation practice you learn the patterns and habits of your
mind, and the practice offers a means to cultivate new, more positive ways of being. With regular work
and patience these nourishing, focused states of mind can deepen into profoundly peaceful and
energised states of mind. Such experiences can have a transformative effect and can lead to a new
understanding of life.
Over the millennia countless meditation practices have been developed in the Buddhist tradition. All of
them may be described as ‘mind-trainings’, but they take many different approaches. The foundation of
all of them, however, is the cultivation of a calm and positive state of mind.
Learning meditation
Each year thousands of people learn meditation with the Triratna Buddhist Community. We teach two
basic meditations that were originally taught by the historical Buddha. These help develop the qualities
of calmness and emotional postivity: the Mindfulness of Breathing and Loving-Kindness (Metta
Bhavana) meditations .
The techniques of meditation are very simple. However, reading about them is no substitute for
learning from an experienced and reliable teacher. A teacher will be able to offer you guidance in how
to apply the technique and how to deal with difficulties. Perhaps most importantly, a teacher can offer
the encouragement and inspiration of their own example.
At Triratna Centres, meditation is taught by members of the Triratna Buddhist Order, who are
experienced meditators. Classes and courses are open to everyone: you need not be interested in
Buddhism. Motives for learning meditation vary. Some people want to improve their concentration for
work, study, or even sports; others are looking for relief from stress and peace of mind. Then there are
people trying to answer fundamental questions about life. With regular practice, meditation can help all
of us to find what we are looking for.
Meditation Courses are excellent contexts for learning. Meditation Retreats offer ideal conditions to
take things further.
Preparation
When you sit down to meditate you need to set up your meditation posture in a way that is relaxed but
upright, usually sitting on a cushion and probably cross-legged. If this is not easy you can sit kneeling
or else in a chair. Then you close your eyes, relax, and tune in to how you are feeling. It is important to
be sensitive to your experience because this is what you work with in meditation. It is a good idea to
take some time to sit quietly before starting a meditation, to slow down and relax. Some gentle
stretching can also help.
Resources
There are lots of resources available to help you learn meditation – or to take your practice deeper.
And in our Online Meditators Group you can now sit with others too, wherever you are in the world!
Read an excellent meditation posture guide by Bodhipaksa, from Wildmind.
You can find answers to some common questions about Buddhist meditation with Clear
Vision video.
For a comprehensive set of free audio and text resources on learning meditation, see free buddhist
audio’s meditation pages.
mindfulness
the mindfulness of breathing
As its name implies, the ‘Mindfulness of Breathing’ uses the breath as an object of concentration. By
focusing on the breath you become aware of the mind’s tendency to jump from one thing to another.
The simple discipline of concentration brings us back to the present moment and all the richness of
experience that it contains. It is a way to develop mindfulness, the faculty of alert and sensitive
awareness. And it is an excellent method for cultivating the states of intense meditative absorption
known as dhyana. As well as this, the mindfulness of breathing is a good antidote to restlessness and
anxiety, and a good way to relax: concentration on the breath has a positive effect on your entire
physical and mental state.
The meditation has four progressive stages leading to a highly enjoyable level of concentration. To start
with five minutes per stage is a good period of practice.
1.In the first stage you use counting to stay focused on the breath. After the out-breath you count one,
then you breathe in and out and count two, and so on up to ten, and then you start again at one.
2.In the second stage you subtly shift where you breathe, counting before the in-breath, anticipating the
breath that is coming, but still counting from one to ten, and then starting again at one.
3.In the third stage you drop the counting and just watch the breath as it comes in and goes out.
4.In the final stage the focus of concentration narrows and sharpens, so you pay attention to the subtle
sensation on the tip of the nose where the breath first enters and last leaves the body.
Listen to or download full guided introductions to the Mindfulness of Breathing.
metta
loving-kindness meditation
The original name of this practice is metta bhavana, which comes from the Pali language. Metta means
‘love’ (in a non-romantic sense), friendliness, or kindness: hence ‘loving-kindness’ for short. It is an
emotion, something you feel in your heart. Bhavana means development or cultivation. The
commonest form of the practice is in five stages, each of which should last about five minutes for
a beginner.
1.In the first stage, you feel metta for yourself. You start by becoming aware of yourself, and focusing
on feelings of peace, calm, and tranquillity. Then you let these grow in to feelings of strength and
confidence, and then develop into love within your heart. You can use an image, like golden light
flooding your body, or a phrase such as ‘may I be well and happy’, which you can repeat to yourself.
These are ways of stimulating the feeling of metta for yourself.
2.In the second stage think of a good friend. Bring them to mind as vividly as you can, and think of
their good qualities. Feel your connection with your friend, and your liking for them, and encourage
these to grow by repeating ‘may they be well; may they be happy’ quietly to yourself. You can also use
an image, such as shining light from your heart into theirs. You can use these techniques — a phrase or
an image — in the next two stages as well.
3.Then think of someone you do not particularly like or dislike. Your feelings are ‘neutral’. This may
be someone you do not know well but see around. You reflect on their humanity, and include them in
your feelings of metta.
4.Then think of someone you actually dislike — an “enemy”, traditionally— someone you are having
difficulty with. Trying not to get caught up in any feelings of hatred, think of them positively and send
your metta to them as well.
5.In the final stage, first of all you think of all four people together — yourself, the friend, the neutral
person, and the enemy. Then extend your feelings further — to everyone around you, to everyone in
your neighbourhood; in your town, your country, and so on throughout the world. Have a sense of
waves of loving-kindness spreading from your heart to everyone, to all beings everywhere. Then
gradually relax out of meditation, and bring the practice to an end.
Listen to or download full guided introductions to the Metta Bhavana.
triratna system of meditation
the system
At our Buddhist centres the Mindfulness of Breathing, the Development of Loving-kindness (Metta
Bhavana) and Just Sitting are the main meditation practices taught. In addition to walking
meditation, reflection and devotional practices, these are the primary meditations up to the point of
ordination into the Triratna Buddhist Order. This is because concentration, mindfulness and
emotional positivity are the essential basis for meditation. Our approach emphasises the importance of
steadily developing the qualities one needs to meditate.
At the point of ordination, which is a wholehearted commitment to make Dharma practice the core of
one’s life, Order members usually take up a meditation on a Buddha or Bodhisattva. They also take on
Insight meditation practices — such as contemplating Conditionality, or the insubstantiality of the Six
Elements of mind and body.
The Triratna system of meditation can be seen as a consecutive set of meditations that you progress
along, or as a ‘mandala’ a circle or spiral of practices, which you go around in order to approach the
centre, Enlightenment. In fact, this system reflects the two main approaches to meditation found in
virtually all Buddhist schools: samatha (‘calming’) and vipassana (‘insight’), plus Just Sitting, which in
a sense isn’t a practice at all but is simply allowing whatever happens to happen, in awareness.
In the Triratna system, the calming approaches are described as ‘integration’ and ‘positive emotion’
(most often put into practice as, respectively, Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta Bhavana), while the
insight approaches are ‘spiritual death’ and ‘spiritual rebirth’.
All of these practices are followed by Just Sitting — so there is a pattern of activity then letting-go, or
making effort followed by receptivity. This dynamic is very important in mitigating two possibly
unhelpful directions: wilful, goal-oriented striving on the one hand, or vagueness and spacing-out on
the other.
Listen to some full explorations of the System of Meditation.
integration
There are a number of practices that could be done to cultivate each of the four stages in the System of
Meditation. However, this is not a rigid system — most meditation practices could be used to cultivate
the whole system. For example, although Mindfulness of Breathing is usually the first practice taught
to cultivate ‘integration’, it can in fact be used to cultivate all four aspects of the system. The same is
true of Metta Bhavana, and so on.
Integration implies bringing mental and emotional ‘energies’ together so that attention is not
fragmented or divided. This is usually achieved by bringing attention to an object (say, the breath, a
visual object, a sound), or using that object as an anchor for awareness. In everyday life, as well as in
formal meditation, integration is also developed through mindfulness practices such as walking
meditation and body awareness. Mindfulness can be cultivated in any circumstances whatsoever.
Listen to talks exploring the theme of Integration.
positive emotion
‘Positive’ emotions are essentially those that are not self-centred. They are more outgoing and
orientated towards others, though their positivity naturally includes ourselves. The most fundamental of
these positive emotions is metta — a Pali word which means unlimited loving-kindness or
benevolence. The development of metta (Metta Bhavana) is generally the first practice taught to
cultivate this aspect of the system of meditation.
Metta Bhavana is one of a traditional set of four practices that cultivates different aspects of positive
emotion. When, with metta, we encounter pain and suffering, the well-wishing naturally becomes
compassion. When we encounter happiness, it becomes sympathetic joy; we delight in someone else’s
good fortune. When we contemplate all the ups and downs of human (and non-human) existence, the
positive emotion becomes equanimity; this is a steady, empathic and unshakeable positivity, which
embodies deep insight into the human condition.
Achievement of a reasonable degree of integration and positive emotion (samatha) is the basis for the
next two aspects of the system, involving the cultivation and realisation of insight.
Listen to talks around the theme of positive emotion.
spiritual death
This term may be slightly off-putting, but it isn’t meant to suggest physical death. What ‘dies’ are all
our illusions and delusions about who we are and how things really are. This is usually spoken of as
‘insight practice’ (vipassana). Insight can be cultivated through a huge range of meditation,
mindfulness and awareness practices. All of those already mentioned have insight dimensions. Others
widely practised in the Triratna Buddhist Community and Order include reflections on the
three lakshanas (‘Characteristics’, or ‘Marks’) of conditioned existence.
The first, impermanence, involves contemplating the transitoriness of all composite things. Then comes
contemplation of unsatisfactoriness: reflecting that seeking security or meaning for our life in such
transitory things will inevitably lead to being let down and consequent suffering. Finally, reflection on
insubstantiality involves contemplating that there is no ultimately existing, graspable ‘essence’ in
anything. Contemplations such as this can lead to a loosening of the human tendency to grasp onto life,
and opening up to the ultimate mystery of our true nature.
Explore talks on insight into the nature of existence.
spiritual rebirth
The third stage, of Spiritual Death, is not of course the end of the process. After you have been
integrated, made your mind positive and refined, and ‘died’ spiritually, the question arises – ‘What is
there? What is left? What comes into being?’. What comes into being, in Sangharakshita’s system of
meditation, is a new being, the new you – a new being based not on selfishness, but on wisdom and
compassion. That new being is the Bodhisattva. So the meditator is reborn (not literally, of course, but
metaphorically) as a Bodhisattva. He or she becomes something quite new, quite different. Instead of
being driven by ego it is the Bodhicitta that comes through you: this is the stage of spiritual rebirth.
Read and listen to a comprehensive set of explorations of the Bodhisattva Ideal.
just sitting
When a session of practice of any the four ‘active’ aspects of the System of Meditation is over, it is
important to ‘just sit’ for some time before finishing. Just Sitting is a space of non-action in which
anything can emerge. Often the fruit of the previous practice only emerges when you stop ‘doing’ it.
And Just Sitting is the non-doing space in which that may (or may not) happen. Just Sitting also allows
assimilation of what has just been done, and provides the necessary counterpoise to activity and effort.
Just Sitting is a matter of simply ‘being’ with whatever happens in awareness, without attaching to it or
rejecting it.
Especially when done as a meditation in its own right, Just Sitting enables the qualities of the previous
four stages of the System of Meditation to emerge.
Here’s a great introduction to Just Sitting by Subhuti.