Koten Benson, Rev. Master

Taken from the Booklet ‘How to Meditate’, a transcription of a series of talks offered in 2016. It was transcribed and edited by Tracy Kitagawa, Michelle Feist, Pierre Kohl and Rev. Master Aurelian, with minor revisions for ease of reading.

Part 2

In part one I talked about what the Buddha did underneath the Bodhi tree and how this is the basis for how and why we meditate in the Serene Refection tradition. I also talked about the relationship between what we practice and what the Buddha discovered for himself which he then taught to others. In this tradition what we practice is literally just sitting. I do mean, just sitting. However, it is not possible for most of us to fully comprehend what this actually means without undertaking the practice of it for a long period of time.

When we say that our meditation practice is not something that is done in stages we mean that we do not practice meditation as a progression of stages or steps. That is not to say that over time one’s meditation practice does not deepen or that there isn’t sometimes an arriving at an understanding or insight. As a matter of fact, such arriving at insight and understanding is absolutely necessary.

We just mean that in our tradition, when we sit, we are not trying to attain levels of jhanas or samadhis or various states of meditation. These various types of meditation states, particularly the more deeper ones, do occur in people who practice Serene Refection Meditation.

However we are not deliberately trying to achieve any particular state. In essence, we are not trying to make anything happen. Rather, we are simply practicing the fundamental meditation of the Buddhist tradition – out of which all the other various types of skillful means come.

It is why Zen Master Dōgen in his Rules for Meditation says, “The means of training are thousandfold.” These thousandfold means of training are what the Buddha used and are still being taught to the present day. Thus, if somebody comes to the teacher with a very distracted mind, the teacher may very well recommend that they count the breath during meditation, or touch the earth during meditation to anchor themselves, or focus on their breathing to help calm down an agitated mind. All of these things are included in the various skillful means of training.

However, Dōgen also said, “but pure meditation must be done.” Pure meditation, in the sense of just sitting without adding anything to the practice, is the fundamental basis of all types of meditation in the Buddhist tradition. It is the fundamental basis of Shikantaza (Serene Refection Meditation), of Vipassana and Shamata and of all the varieties of meditational practices found within the Tibetan tradition. Therefore, it is essential that people learn how to practice just sitting in order to understand how to engage with the Buddhist tradition, or undertake Buddhist training.

When we say just sitting, we do not mean a type of mindfulness on the act of sitting itself.

This is not to say that mindfulness cannot be practiced as one of the myriad means of training. By mindfulness I simply mean paying attention to what you are doing. I do not mean any other fancy state. Mindfulness, in the Buddhist tradition, is paying attention to what you are doing. Paying attention to what the mind is doing does not depend upon whether the mind is in a pleasant or unpleasant state. It is not dependent on whether one is serene or non-serene. It is about paying attention to what your mind is doing.

In the same way that mindfulness is a useful means of training so too are the various means of calming the mind. The various means of bringing the mind back from distraction are all excellent and should be practiced very much within the context of daily life. But one must realize that Shikantaza, Serene Refection Meditation, the meditation practiced by the Buddha underneath the Bodhi tree, is something much more fundamental than what we do with the mind.

The Buddha said that within this six-foot long body is to be found the entire universe of training. This means that within our body and mind right now is everything that we need to train ourselves and everything that we need to meditate effectively.

Meditation instruction can be like “fingers pointing at the moon” so it is important to understand what this phrase means. Think of it as a road sign telling us to go along a particular road to reach a particular town. If it weren’t for the road sign we would get lost and could wander about for some period of time without ever finding the town. However, it does not mean that we would never find the town if we didn’t have the road sign. And it also does not mean that the town does not exist until we find it. This is very important to ponder. The town exists already. The road sign simply points us towards it.

The same thing is true for learning to meditate in the Serene Refection Meditation tradition. The Sōtō tradition agrees very much with the Dzogchen and the Mahamudra traditions as well as the basic Shamata and Vipassana traditions. In the earliest Buddhist scriptures, and this is something found within all of the above traditions – it says, “Our essence of mind is intrinsically pure.” This statement comes from the Pali Canon and can be found in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Zen Ancestor as well as in the aforementioned Great Perfection (Dzogchen) and Great Seal (Mahamudra) traditions. Our essence of mind is intrinsically pure. Our essence of mind is intrinsically pure.

Therefore, when sitting in meditation, let go of analyzing what meditation is or should be. Let go of speculating about the past. Let go of anticipating the future. That does not mean to say that you will not find yourselves thinking of the very things that you need to let go of. But that is not a problem. The essence of the practice of meditation is found in that letting go.

Do not look for a type of clarity as a state attained by you. Rather, get yourself out of the way. How do we get ourselves out of the way? We learn to see through, to look through our ideas, thoughts, and opinions rather than at them.

You must understand that meditation is not simply something that is done when sitting on one’s cushion, bench or chair. An old master, Tōzan I believe, once said, “I practice what I cannot meditate and meditate what I cannot practice.” This means that what you do throughout your daily life very much has an impact on your meditation practice, and the other way around. This is called movement and stillness. Or, going in and going out. Or, “Sometimes we raise the eyebrows of old Shakyamuni, and sometimes we do not.”

If meditation is just something that you do once a week with others or even something that you do every morning, then it is not meditation in the Buddhist tradition unless one practices throughout all of one’s daily life. This is because meditation in the Buddhist tradition is not something you simply do with your mind; it is something that you do with the body as well. Otherwise, meditation simply becomes like taking a yoga or macramé class or getting together for tea with people – all of which can become a means of reinforcing the self, of reinforcing selfishness.

Meditation in the Buddhist tradition cannot be divorced from practice. It cannot be divorced from your daily life. If meditation is simply something you do in the morning or the evening or both, or on a weekend, and has no impact on your daily life, then it is not meditation as the Buddha taught. What the Buddha taught was very much the importance of what we, ourselves, you as an individual do with our lives, what we do with our body and mind.

Part 3

Dōgen advises in Fukanzazengi (Rules for Meditation, or Zazen Rules) to “control mind function, will, consciousness, memory, perception and understanding.” By control he doesn’t mean one should try to force anything. It is important to remember this. It is also helpful to remember that when we sit in formal meditation, either on our own or with others, we don’t bring our “what is going on with us” into the meditation; rather, we bring the meditation into what is going on with us.

One of the best descriptions on how to meditate is the following passage from the Buddhist tradition titled Six Words that Hit the Nail on the Head. It says that when we are sitting, “Don’t recall, don’t imagine, don’t think, don’t examine, don’t control, rest.”

When it says, “Don’t recall” it means let go of what is past. “Don’t imagine” – let go of what may come in the future. “Don’t think” – let go of what is happening now. “Don’t examine” – don’t try to figure anything out. “Don’t control” ­– don’t try to make anything happen. “Rest” it says. Relax right now and rest.

Now, about the past. When you are sitting in meditation there may be occasions when past memories arise and unfold in front of you, in your mind’s eye. Sometimes they might be a full recollection and sometimes they could be simply a flash, i.e. a fleeting glimpse of a past life. This is not a problem as long as you don’t try to force them to arise or stop them from happening. If and when they occur consider them as just natural thoughts and let them go.

Do the same with thoughts that arise about the future. While you are sitting in meditation, let go of planning. This does not mean however that from time to time a solution to a possible future difficultly will unfold in your mind without you trying to force or suppress such thoughts. Again this is part of natural thought and not a problem.

The same holds true for thoughts that arise regarding one’s current situation. Sometimes a solution to a difficulty that you are dealing with at the present time will propose itself in the middle of a sitting. This is not a problem either, as long as you do not seek after it or try to maintain it after it has passed, or try to dig it up again while you sit in meditation.

There is a distinction between mindfulness and meditation. Sitting in formal meditation, which is essential to the practice, is not exactly the same thing as mindfulness, because we are not trying to focus on what is in front of us. Mindfulness, that is paying attention to what we are doing and bringing our minds back from distraction, should be practiced throughout the day.

However, when we sit in meditation, we let go of the present moment. We do not try to do anything with the present. We do not try to control it or figure anything out. Nor do we analyze our state of mind or try to figure out what is going on. Let go of all the cogitation and for the period of the meditation simply rest.

The following passage from the Tibetan tradition is a good description of what we are trying to do during formal meditation:

Rest in the natural Great Peace.

This exhausted mind, beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thought,

relentless in the infinite ocean of samsara,

rest in the natural Great Peace.

We do not rest in some sort of “mind state” because all states of mind are impermanent. We simply, as Dōgen says, literally just sit. Don’t try to accomplish anything by sitting, don’t try to be somebody else, don’t try to be somewhere else, don’t try to analyze anything – for the period of the meditation simply drop everything. When you are in the midst of the activities of daily life it is necessary to pay attention to what you are doing. Practice mindfulness and plan when you need to plan. Look at the past to see what was done with it and consider the future when you need to do so. However, when you are sitting in meditation let go of all of that. Then, as you practice meditation over a period of time, the stillness, that fundamental stillness, will begin to permeate your daily life. Signs that this is occurring may include becoming less agitated, less irritated, less angry or less distracted by or with other people and events. Sometimes it is others who notice such changes in us before we do.

It is very important, as I’ve already stated, not to think of meditation as an isolated practice divorced from the rest of one’s daily life. Formal meditation in the Buddhist tradition must be accompanied by the continual working on oneself – that is, considering one’s actions from an ethical perspective, examining one’s actions with respect to the Buddhist Precepts. It is essential to practice these things together. In fact, in the Buddhist tradition, without the practice of Precepts and working on oneself, it is impossible to understand what meditation is about. There has to be both the working on oneself in daily life and the sitting still. They go hand in hand. If one attempts to practice meditation and being still without doing something about oneself, then meditation will simply become a mental state to which you will become attached, because it will have become a distraction from the events of daily life. It is important that this not happen.

In Buddhism there are five kinds of preceptual behaviour. To briefly summarize, one should refrain from the following: killing or harming; lying or saying that which is not true, which includes engaging in harmful speech; taking that which is not given and the various forms of stealing; the various forms of what the Theravadans call sensual indulgence – that is, losing oneself in various aspects of the senses. Misuse of sexuality is emphasized, but the intended and broader meaning of this precept is to refrain from misusing the senses.

And then, what strikes many people as kind of funny, is the fifth Precept, which has to do with refraining from intoxicating oneself. On a mundane level it means to abstain from taking substances (e.g. alcohol and drugs) which cause one to become intoxicated. However, the real meaning of this particular Precept is to keep one’s mind clear in order to make ethical decisions, and not to do anything that will muddy one’s thinking. This can include imbibing ideas as well as substances. It is to refrain from getting drunk on ideologies or getting caught up in other people’s ideas and delusions.

This Precept is particularly applicable when it comes to politics. It is easy to become drunk on other people’s ideas and opinions. To a degree, people who follow harmful teachers are doing the same thing. They are drinking somebody else’s wine, and becoming intoxicated on somebody else’s delusions. In such a case it can be extraordinarily difficult to break free.

It is important to remember that the various scriptures that are recited, particularly in our tradition, all have to do with meditation. They are all pointing towards what one is doing when one sits. This is particularly true of the Heart Sutra, i.e. the Scripture of Great Wisdom. Many, maybe even most people, looking at this scripture, think of it as a philosophical document. But in fact, it is talking about the practice of meditation.

The full booklet is available as a dana publication from Lions Gate Buddhist Priory, write to the Priory or email: lionsgatebuddhistpriory@gmail.com

This article is available only as part of the Spring 2020 Journal of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives.  

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