The Meditation Process: Raja Yoga and Buddhist Shamatha

Copyright © 2019 by Lyle Olson

All photos are Copyright Registered

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover photo: Shivling Mountain, south of Gangotri Glacier, Himalayas.

Back cover photo: Bhagirathi Parbat, north of Gangotri Glacier.

Website: TheMeditationProcess.com

Email: [email protected]

Published by: Larchfire LLC

Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ordering information: BookShop

Print ISBN: 978-1-54396-733-3

eBook ISBN: 978-1-54396-734-0

Contents

Preface

1 Posture

Various Postures

Ergonomic Answers

2 The Breath

Chest Breathing

Sympathetic Nervous System & Parasympathetic Nervous System

Abdominal Breath

Diaphragmatic Breath

The Circular Breath

Length of Breath

The Pause

Hatha Yoga

Raja Yoga

3 Dharana

Defining Dharana

Vitarka and Vichara (Sanskrit), Vitakka and Vicara (Pali)

A Tethering Practice

Counting and Other Breath Practices

From Sensory to Mental

Pratyahara of the Auditory Sense

Pratyahara of the Somatic Sense

Pratyahara of the Visual Sense

From External to Internal

Nasagre and Anapana Sati

Using the Somatic Sense

Restrain Thoughts About the Breathing Process

Restrain the Visual Sense

Restrain the Auditory Sense

One Practice, Briefly:

4 Working with Thoughts

1) Following the bird out the window.

2) A bird flies in. You observe it as it flies out.

3) Watch the thought without reaction.

4) Waiting for the next bird to fly in; waiting for thoughts.

5) You notice a bird and quickly return to the focus.

Noting and Framing

Cognitive Loops

Disrupting Thoughts

6) Your attention is on the focus, and a bird flies by in the background

5 Nostril Balance

Ida and Pingala

Nostril Dominance

Swara Yoga

Right Nostril Dominant

Left Nostril Dominant

Brain Hemisphere Functions

Physical Methods

Breathing Practices

From Bhastrika to Prana Dharana

Prana Dharana

Subtleties of Doing Practices

Asanas

Sleep

Moderation

Nasal Wash

Nasal Mysteries

6 Development of Dharana

Attention and Awareness

Thinker and Thinking

Not Thinking

Versions of The Formula

But, a Word About Formulas

Routines

Don’t Push!

Effort

Expectations

Patience

Calmness

Refining the Meditation Object

Nasagre and/or Mantra

Gross and Subtle Conflict

Location of the Meditation Object

Location of the Subject

Developing Dharana/Access Concentration

Tending the Process

Introspection, Inspection

Sleeping and Sinking Mind vs. Time Disappearing

Difficulty

Concentration is Necessary

The Razor’s Edge

Nimitta and Tattwas

The Special Delight

Mantra

7 Dhyana & Jhana

Maturing of Concentration

The Shift to Access Concentration

The Shift to Dhyana, Jhana

Joy and Piti

Why Joy?

Stay, Stay

Conserve Energy

Bilateralization

Intermingling

Devitalization

Kevala Kumbhaka

Alternative Practices for Accessing Sushumna

Primary Skill

The Mystery of Meditation

The Meditation Object and Samadhi

Reflections on the Process

The Short or Direct Path

The Traditions

8 Samadhi

Samadhi With an Object

Samadhi Without an Object

9 Vairagya and Dispassion

Vairagya and Meditation

Misunderstanding Vairagya

Phenomenology and Psychology

Developing Vairagya

Philosophy and Belief

Avoiding Repression

Withdrawal

Simplicity

Nature

Self-Study

Vairagya in Action: Mauna

Remembering

Neutrality and Non-Ownership

Vairagya and Lifestyle

Lingam and Chatnag

10 Mantra

Receiving a Mantra

Mala Japa

Ajapa Japa

Purashcharana

11 Sitting Times

Schedules

Length of Time Sitting

Group Sittings

12 Relaxation

61 Points and Yoga Nidra

Shithali Karana

13 Awareness

Be Here Now

The Observer

Mindfulness

Mindfulness Meditation

The Witness

Preface

THIS IS A STUDY of the concentration meditation process for intermediate and beginning meditators. If you are interested in meditation, you want to know how to turn your attention inward and what happens when the mind becomes still. Meditation is our tool for liberation. It is a practical, scientific, and systematic technique for knowing yourself on all levels. The highest mystery is to discover the nature of our thinking, to cleanse the mind of coloration and uncover our true nature.

Meditation developed in the caves of the Himalayan Mountains, having a recorded history going back at least 5000 years. The Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad of the 14th century BCE lists sixty-nine generations of meditation teachers and students that had existed up to that point. Gautama Buddha taught around 500 BCE, and Patanjali later codified yoga practices. Since that time, millions of serious men and women, who refuse to be satisfied with dependence upon the words of others, have applied themselves to the art and science of meditation as it spread from the Himalayas throughout the world.¹

Most of the concentration meditation practices described here are drawn from the traditions of Raja Yoga and Shamatha in Buddhism. Their similarities allow the meditator to benefit from studying the practices of both traditions. There are primarily three approaches to meditation. Concentration is cultivating one-pointed attention on a meditation object. Open-awareness is opening the mind to the awareness of whatever is happening such as in shikantaza of Zen. Mindfulness and Vipassana are combinations of concentration and open awareness. No matter what approach to meditation is used, the requirements, obstacles and objectives are similar.

This is a how to do book with an emphasis on being practical. Many skills in the art and science of meditation need to be developed into a process of quieting and purifying the mind. These practices are designed to help you sit in comfort, breathe smoothly, handle distractions, bring the mind to quietude, establish one-pointedness and meditate. This study of the process of meditation describes the transformation of mind that occurs due to the evolving relationship between the mind and the object of meditation.

If you have some sitting experience, you are familiar with the question What is going on with my meditation? It is helpful to have a map to know where you’re going, what the obstacles are and when you are getting off track. I have gathered and used many pointers from Yoga and Buddhist teachers over the years, but you will want to verify which alternatives work for you. Attributions are included to help with your own research.

You may come to meditation by way of a tradition: Yoga, Buddhism, Christian, Hindu, Muslim/Sufi, Sikh, Taoism or Zen. The traditions all started with or have meditation at their beginnings.² You could go it alone in meditation, but the traditions have thousands of years of accumulated experience for us to use. Whether you are meditating for the transformation of mind, in a search for truth, with enlightenment in mind, or because of its many other benefits, you need all the help you can get. Still, you are basically on your own with this solitary work. There are no shortcuts and those who say meditation is easy are doing something else altogether.

The beginning meditator is usually given a simple set of instructions. Then, when they run into the many obstacles and look for help, little more can be said while most of the literature is written by and for those who are quite advanced. In between the beginners and the adepts are the vast majority of intermediates who need thorough and practical advice in this challenging endeavor. After 40 years of studying many books and articles, spending much time in darshans, seminars, monasteries, retreats and years in ashrams, I found many wonderful pointers about practice. Unfortunately, they were scattered everywhere and often buried under an excess of words. Meditation is a long process measured in decades, which doesn’t give us much time for finding necessary help. The process needs to be shortened. As a student of meditation, my intention is to make the teachings more accessible.

Like many other meditators, my searching started with an attraction to philosophy and the writings from various traditions around the world. Whenever I found writings by those who appeared to be the wisest, there always seemed to be a form of meditation involved. It became clear to me that to be at all serious about my questions, I would need to meditate or I would always be left with hearsay and suppositions. Having grown up in a Christian tradition that did not embrace a meditation option, I took up TM in 1973 but mostly window-shopped for the next 15 years. It was 1989 before I came to Raja Yoga to learn meditation with any seriousness. My journal entry at that time read The Plan: gather pointers on the process of meditation. My teacher, a Master Yogi, suggested I take the best from all the traditions which suited me well since my personal inclination has long been the study of various processes.

In order that the mind should see light instead of darkness, so the entire soul must be turned away from this changing world, until its eye can learn to contemplate reality and that supreme splendor which we have called the good. Hence there may well be an art whose aim would be to effect this very thing.

— Plato, The Republic, Book VII.

Acknowledgements:

Many thanks go to Gail Cleveland for her patient editing and to Roger Hill for his fine illustrations.

1 Posture

The correct sitting posture is that in which one can sit comfortably for a long time.

—Patanjali, Yoga Sutra 2:46

Concentration meditation usually requires longer sitting sessions than other types of meditation, increasing the importance of good posture. Muscles and joints that handled being under tension for 20 minutes may not be comfortable for an hour or two. The minimum requirement is to sit with head, neck, and trunk straight, comfortably and without pain, for at least an hour without moving. While the need for longer sittings increases the importance of posture, fortunately, it is also the easiest obstacle to overcome.

The first step in meditation is to eliminate gross sensation of the body by sitting absolutely still and in comfort. For an image of good posture, visualize a ballet dancer, or a yoga student standing in the Mountain pose (Tadasana): the head is held level and high.³ The ear is aligned directly above the point of the shoulder and the elbow, the three points making a straight line. If the ears or elbows are forward of the shoulders, they will eventually draw the shoulders and the upper torso forward resulting in a slump and eventual pain in the back. With an elongated and vertically stacked spine, upper body alignment can be maintained comfortably for hours without movement or discomfort.

The key to good upper body posture is in the neck and shoulders. A primary compromise of this vertical alignment is caused by letting the head hang out in front of the body, thirteen pounds of weight on top of the neck pulling the shoulders forward and the back into a curve. To counter this pernicious tendency, slide the head back horizontally as far as you can and hold it for a few seconds so that when released, your head sits high as if suspended by a cord. Rotate the shoulders up, back, down and relax. Let the hands rest in whatever manner is comfortable. If you have an asana (posture) routine, you might include the unsupported Cobra (Bhujangasana), Boat (Naukasana) and Spinal twist (Matsyendrasana) to aid in developing good upper body alignment.

After a few minutes of sitting, you may have the sense that your breath does not have a straight shot up the spine. A minor but surprisingly effective correction is to let the chest rotate upward maybe a half-inch. Once good upper body alignment has been developed, strive to keep good posture throughout the day whether standing, sitting, or walking. The most important things in our practice are our physical posture and our way of breathing —Suzuki Roshi.

For meditations measured in hours instead of minutes, the sitting postures we usually see are impractical for most bodies. Body type plays a big part in determining which sitting posture is optimal. Those who naturally have loose joints’ and pliable muscles can often assume a cross-legged position and need only to elevate the pelvis to aid in a natural curve of the spine. However, the loose-jointed" are in a minority while most of us struggle to hold the typical posture through varying degrees of pain. The implications are dire. Those who find that the usual sitting positions create pain often decide that they aren’t suited for meditation, a great misfortune. When sitting, whatever happens below the waist is unimportant unless it causes discomfort, which it often does. If you have a sitting posture at this time that is comfortable for an hour or two, you can skip this next section.

Geeta Currimjee by the Ganges River at Rishikesh

Various Postures

Sukhasana, the easy pose, is the simple cross-legged posture. If the knees are up in the air and not lying on the floor, it will usually take about 15 minutes before pain in the knee joint begins. The knee is a one-way joint, as in the finger, and is not built for twisting. Knees can be propped up which only adds complexity to a shaky and short-lived posture. It helps if the knee joints have some natural looseness and can lie on the floor, which requires more than the usual length of the adductor muscles on the inside of the thighs and also lengthening of the radii of muscles holding the ball of the femur in the pelvis. Pressure points will occur where one leg crosses the other and where the sides of the feet press against the floor. When it fits the body, the Burmese style is a good variation of sukhasana: sit elevated on a zafu or blankets so that the knees are lower than the hips. The knees are bent in a cross-legged position while the lower legs lie parallel.

Sometimes an asana practice is pursued in an attempt to make the body fit the desired sitting posture; years are spent trying to reshape the body which may only delay the emergence of pain. If an asana program is attempted to stretch the muscles to fit a sitting posture, be aware that muscles don’t stretch, they only contract. Muscles can elongate to their physical maximum, and then fibers start to break. It is possible to loosen the fascia that surrounds bundles of muscle fibers to some degree, allowing the muscles to move within. Any success in lengthening muscles needs to be paired with a program to strengthen them. A young body has better prospects of adapting to a cross-legged posture, but if pain occurs near the beginning, the odds of sitting pain-free for an hour are not good. Listen to the body instead of the mind. Pain is a message of impending damage to a muscle or joint, and numbness indicates threat to a nerve. It is a mystery why pain and numbness are not seen as conflicting with the comfortable posture called for by Patanjali. In addition to being a warning sign of impending injury, pain is a major discouragement to meditation from the outset and a barrier to the longer sittings to come.

In a typical yoga setting, most meditators will be sitting on a prop such as a blanket or buckwheat hull pillow that is 2 – 3 inches high with the pelvis rotated forward to allow sitting on the sitz bones. In a Buddhist setting, most will use a zafu type of cushion that is 6 – 8 inches high. The advantage of a higher prop is that the thighs are angled downward more, tipping the pelvis forward and helping to preserve a natural curvature of the spine. When the thighs are level or angled upward, the pelvis is pressured to tip up in front and thereby straighten the lower spine and eventually rounding the back. When more muscle tension is needed in the back to keep the spine in its natural S curve, weakness sets in over time, the posture is compromised, and back pain begins.

Swastikasana in its full form consists of placing one foot against the opposite thigh with the big toe showing above the crease behind the knee. Pull the other big toe up into the opposite crease until it is showing. More twisting and compression of the knee is necessary than in the easy pose. With elevation of the seat, this posture or a variation of it is good when it fits the body.

Siddhasana is often considered the ideal yogic meditation posture but is rarely attained. There are variations in difficulty, but the full form roughly consists in placing one heel at the perineum (between the anus and urogenital triangle) and under the scrotum. The ball of the other ankle is placed directly on top of the first. Compression of the knee joint is great. An easier variation, though an uneven one, is to put one heel at the perineum and the other foot tucked between the opposite leg and thigh. The female variation is yoni siddhasana with the heel pressing between the labia.

Padmasana (lotus) is also seldom performed fully and consists of the soles of the feet being level and pointing straight up while resting on the opposite thigh. The knee is twisted severely, and natural lordosis (curvature of the lower spine) is compromised. Padmasana is often used when models are portraying meditation though not usually recommended for meditation in yoga, one reason being that the perineum is wide open, making mula-bandha difficult. The more common use of the lotus is while performing other asanas.

Maitryasana: a straight-backed chair is sometimes used but has many compromises: the back of the chair can’t be used because if the ribs are touching it, breathing creates a rocking motion. If the thighs are level, natural curvature of the spine is compromised resulting in an eventual slump. If padding is added to create a sloping seat, there’s a tendency to slide forward.

When meditators have only 15-minute sittings because pain sets in, keeping a regular meditation schedule becomes less likely. If a meditator complains about the pain, they may hear comments such as you’ll get used to it or meditate on the pain. But comfortable means without pain. For many people, trying to fit the legs into a pretzel eliminates serious meditation.

Ergonomic Answers

There are answers: the ergonomic chair and the seiza bench. There was a period in the 80s when ergonomic, body-friendly designs were created for many items we used. It was a time when office work meant many hours of tediously entering data. The ergonomic chair was designed to provide a fixed position for sitting a long time with alertness and without fatigue. It didn’t go over big in offices because people do not like to work while sitting still like a statue. We lean this way and that and move around in all sorts of ways. On the other hand, the ergonomic chair is designed for sitting still and erect for long periods which has been found ideal for meditation.