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A Beginner's Guide to Meditation ABOUT THE BOOK As countless meditators have learned firsthand, meditation practice can positively transform the way we see and experience our lives. This practical, accessible guide to the fundamentals of Buddhist meditation introduces you to the practice, explains how it is approached in the main schools of Buddhism, and offers advice and inspiration from Buddhism’s most renowned and effective meditation teachers, including Pema Chödrön, Thich Nhat Hanh, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Sharon Salzberg, Norman Fischer, Ajahn Chah, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Sylvia Boorstein, Noah Levine, Judy Lief, and many others. Topics include how to build excitement and energy to start a meditation routine and keep it going, setting up a meditation space, working with and through boredom, what to look for when seeking others to meditate with, how to know when it’s time to try doing a formal meditation retreat, how to bring the practice “off the cushion” with walking meditation and other practices, and much more. ROD MEADE SPERRY is an editor and writer for the Shambhala Sun magazine. Sign up to receive news and special offers from Shambhala Publications. Or visit us online to sign up at shambhala.com/eshambhala. A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO Meditation Practical Advice and Inspiration from Contemporary Buddhist Teachers Edited by Rod Meade Sperry and the Editors of the Shambhala Sun SHAMBHALA Boston & London 2014 Shambhala Publications, Inc. Horticultural Hall 300 Massachusetts Avenue Boston, Massachusetts 02115 www.shambhala.com © 2014 by Shambhala Sun Cover art: André Slob Cover design: Liza Matthews All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A beginner’s guide to meditation: practical advice and inspiration from contemporary Buddhist teachers / edited by Rod Meade Sperry and the Editors of the Shambhala Sun.—First edition. pages cm eISBN 978-0-8348-2964-0 ISBN 978-1-61180-057-9 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Meditation—Buddhism. I. Meade Sperry, Rod. II. Shambhala Sun. BQ5625.B45 2014 294.3′4435—dc23 2013024625 CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction PART 1 Let’s Get Started Basic Breath Meditation: It Doesn’t Get Simpler Than This Melvin McLeod On Motivation: Meditate as a Hobby, Not as a Career Clark Strand Getting Started Norman Fischer What Meditation Isn’t Bhante Gunaratana Dedicating Your Practice Sharon Salzberg Finding Your “Breathing Room”: How to Create a Meditation Space Thich Nhat Hanh What’s What Ajahn Chah The Four Foundations of Mindfulness Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche PART 2 Cultivating Calm and Insight (and More) How to Practice Shamatha Meditation Gen Lamrimpa How to Practice Insight Meditation Sayadaw U Pandita Who Will Tame the Tamer? Tsoknyi Rinpoche A Mind Like Sky Jack Kornfield Working with “Method 2” Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo Developing Insight Sylvia Boorstein Getting Grounded through Walking Meditation Thich Nhat Hanh Compassion and Loving-Kindness Meditation Noah Levine PART 3 A Taste of Zazen This Life Which Is Wonderful and Evanescent Blanche Hartman Sitting Zen John Daishin Buksbazen The Practices of Zen James Ishmael Ford Going Nowhere Lewis Richmond The Power of Koan Practice John Tarrant Study Yourself Shunryu Suzuki Roshi PART 4 Indo-Tibetan Innovations What the Practice Can Do John Powers Relaxing with the Truth Pema Chödrön Developing the Mind of Great Capacity The Fourteenth Dalai Lama Looking Into Lojong, or Mind Training Judy Lief You Can Do It! Pema Chödrön Mahamudra and Dzogchen: Thought-Free Wakefulness Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche PART 5 Keep Your Practice Going It’s All in Your Mind Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche Bringing the Practice Home Larry Rosenberg My First Meditation Retreat: A Checklist Karen Maezen Miller Sangha: Practicing in Community Gaylon Ferguson Yoga Body, Buddha Mind Cyndi Lee and David Nichtern Stabilize Your Practice Andy Karr Building Your Mental Muscles Thanissaro Bhikkhu Keeping It Real: Working with Boredom and without Self-Deception Carolyn Rose Gimian Signs of Spiritual Progress Pema Chödrön Glossary Contributors Credits About the Editor E-mail Sign-Up ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank so many people for the inspiration and guidance—direct and indirect—that made the honor of working on this book possible for me. Thank you to Beth Frankl, my editor at Shambhala Publications, and to Melvin McLeod, Andrea Miller, Jim Gimian, Andy Karr, and all my colleagues at the Shambhala Sun Foundation. Thank you to John Golebiewski and Oliver Glosband at Shambhala Publications for all their assistance. Thanks also to Tracy Davis for her copy editing and to Liza Matthews and André Slob for their cover work. Thanks to all the fantastic teachers whose essays are collected in this book. Thank you, James Ishmael Ford, Larry Rosenberg, Barry Boyce, Josh Bartok, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Maddy Klyne, and Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche. Thanks too to those who’ve come into my life one way or another (some, over the Internet!) who, while not formal dharma teachers, have been inspiring if only by example. This book is dedicated to all beings, not least of all dogs and “worst horses,” those among us who feel we have a long, long way to go when it comes to the meditator’s path. Lastly, thanks to Maura Meade Sperry, for your loving, good heart. You are the best. INTRODUCTION Welcome to A Beginner’s Guide to Meditation. This is not an advanced meditation book, nor is it a complete, definitive presentation of all the possible approaches to Buddhist meditation. Such a thing might not be possible in a hundred books, let alone one. Instead, what this book is meant to be is sufficient, meaning that these writings by eminent contemporary Buddhist teachers should be more than enough to get you started meditating with regularity and confidence. What you’ll find here is meant to help you to get clearer about meditation—even excited about it—without becoming overwhelmed. Many books on Buddhist meditation focus on a particular school, approach, or technique. A Beginner’s Guide to Meditation keeps in mind that there are so many different practices under the rubric of Buddhist meditation because there are so many kinds of people. What might work best for one person might not work well for another. My hope is that the sampling of teachings gathered here will help you find an approach that works for you. If you’re just getting started, it might be helpful to reflect on the reasons people want to meditate. Meditation is, of course, a timetested method for reducing anxiety and coming to terms with the short- and long-term mental afflictions that we all face. Ultimately, though, there’s more to get from it than just an increased sense of calm. The more you stick with the practice, the more you stand to gain insight into what makes you tick and find more cohesion and connection with the people in your life, too. A meditation practice can help you in a number of ways: • slow down and break patterns of obsessive or compulsive behavior • connect more with loved ones and be more present with others in general • come to terms with loss, addiction, and ill health • foster better health and body awareness • create a foundation for further investigation into Buddhist concepts Part 1, “Let’s Get Started,” presents the practice in its simplest form so that you can see from the beginning that meditation is entirely doable and really not anything extraordinary. From there, you’ll get advice and guidance to help you start your practice off right. In part 2, “Cultivating Calm and Insight (and More),” you’ll be introduced to the two basic forms of Buddhist meditation— shamatha, or tranquillity meditation, and vipashyana, or insight meditation—as well as other classic practices for cultivating a more spacious and friendly attitude toward others. You’ll get a glimpse into the world of Zen in part 3, which explains the practices of shikantaza, or “just sitting,” and koan introspection, which is perhaps the best-known and yet most misunderstood meditation approach found here. Part 4, “Indo-Tibetan Innovations,” shares teachings that spread from the regions of India and Tibet. These practices involve methods of cultivating loving-kindness and compassion, training the mind through the use of ancient and powerful slogans, and looking directly at the mind to analyze what we see. Finally, part 5, “Keep Your Practice Going,” gives you what you need to do just that, so that you can practice at home or with others at a practice center or extended retreat with enthusiasm, engagement, and confidence. There are even helpful yoga tips to keep you limber and refreshed. Having originated in northern India more than 2,500 years ago and then spread across the globe, Buddhism has a sprawling terminology that draws from many languages, with much of its terminology from Pali, Sanskrit, Japanese, and Tibetan. Different traditions use terms from different languages, so you’ll see, for example, that the Buddhist teachings themselves may be referred to with the Sanskrit word dharma or the Pali word dhamma. The practice of insight meditation is called vipassana (a Pali word) in the Theravada tradition; others use the Sanskrit term vipashyana. Zen Buddhism has its own specialized lexicon from the Japanese. There’s a glossary in the back to help you. The wide range of meditation practices, approaches, and teachings presented in A Beginner’s Guide to Meditation represent the many schools of Buddhist thought. Don’t let it all overwhelm you. There’s no need to worry that you have to “get it” all. Keep in mind that in Buddhist meditation, curiosity—the spirit of inquiry—is key.
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