RIGHT MINDFULNESS
Establishing Mindfulness of Body
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A person goes to the forest
or to the root of a tree or to an empty place and sits down. Having
crossed the legs, one sets the body erect. One establishes the presence
of mindfulness. (MN 10) One is aware: “Ardent, fully aware, mindful, I
am content.” (SN 47.10)
When lying down, one is aware: “I am lying down.”. . . One is just
aware, just mindful: “There is body.” And one abides not clinging to
anything in the world. (MN 10)
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Practicing in a
prone position is not essentially different from practicing in the
other three primary bodily postures: sitting, standing, and walking. The
instruction is simply to be fully aware of all the bodily sensations
that arise and pass away in your experience. The most common form of
doing this is the body scan, wherein you systematically focus on all
bodily sensations from head to toe or from toe to head.
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In addition to
practicing while sitting, standing, and walking, become familiar with
meditating while lying down. The particular challenge there is to avoid
falling asleep. In the other three positions muscle tension helps
prevent this, but when you are prone it is very easy to doze off. You
will find the ability to practice lying down especially valuable if you
are sick and stuck in bed.
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RIGHT CONCENTRATION
Approaching and Abiding in the First Phase of Absorption (1st Jhāna)
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Having abandoned the five
hindrances, imperfections of the mind that weaken wisdom, quite secluded
from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, one enters
and abides in the first phase of absorption, which is accompanied by
applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of
seclusion. (MN 4)
One practices: “I shall breathe in experiencing rapture"; one
practices: “I shall breathe out experiencing rapture.” This is how
concentration by mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated so
that it is of great fruit and great benefit. (SN 54.8)
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Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna
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