(6.4) Theravada - The Practice Guide (Preparation Steps)

[Niết Bàn Tầm]

THERAVADA

3. THE PRACTICE OF PARI-AJNA EKAGRATA

3.2. PREPARATION STEPS

3.2.1. BODY HARMONIZATION

 Meditation posture

The best meditation posture is a simple, balanced, stable, and comfortable posture. There are two basic postures: sitting and lying.
▪ Sitting posture: It does not matter as to where or how you sit as long as you feel stable, secured, and comfortable. If you want to sit in a half lotus position, you should follow the instructions described in Hatha Yoga (remember to put your right foot on your left thigh). If you sit on a chair, do not forget to bring your heels to slightly touch each other.
▪ Lying posture: It does not matter as to where or how you lie down as long as you feel stable and secured.

 Directional issue

Some people are relatively more sensitive (or even phobic) to certain geographical directions. If so, they may experience one of the following:
▪ Do not feel entirely relaxed or safe when facing a direction.
▪ Suddenly turn the head towards another direction.
▪ Have a feeling of tilting while in fact sitting straight.
▪ Feel like oscillating regardless of the meditation posture.

Solution: Face a slightly different direction after each session until the most comfortable direction is found. For example, if straight north does not seem the right direction, face north eastern in the next meditation session. Yet unhappy with that, choose straight east in the following session. Note the clockwise rotation when changing direction.

 Relax your body

Apart from keeping your mouth closed with the tongue pressed against the hard part of your upper mouth, relax all other muscles as much as possible. The purpose of a pressed tongue is to keep you off undesired, wandering thoughts which often arise at the beginning of the session. While relaxing your muscles slowly from toes to head, if you feel tense in any body part, stretch it a little bit and then suddenly let it loose.

Tibu's way of body relaxation is as follows. I use one breath (in and out) to loosen up one part of the body. Specifically, when inhaling I focus on my toe, and when exhaling I relax it. Then I move to the calves, thighs, buttocks, shoulders, and neck.

3.2.2. BREATH CALCULATION AND HARMONIZATION

 Breath Calculation

While breathing (with closed eyes), try to draw (or rather imagine) in your head a digital number ranging from 1 to 12. Draw one number for each full breath, and the number does not need to be clear, i.e. a blurry number would be sufficient. Repeat the number drawing three cycles of twelve numbers each. This will help you get rid of thoughts that are unwanted or associated with your busy daily job.

 Breath Harmonization

Attention or mindfulness on the breath only helps you to relax your muscles and achieve access-concentration at best. Breath mindfulness will never lead you to full concentration (e.g., the First Jhana). When inhaling, your energy flow is blocked. When exhaling, the energy circulation resumes. This is why it is easier for you to relax your body muscles when breathing out.

Harmonizing your breath well will assist you to free your mind from undesired thoughts and keep it calm in the stage of access-concentration, which then makes it easier for you to enter full concentration in the main PAE session. At the access-concentration level, greed and worldly desires are still plentiful. When you achieve full concentration, these negative qualities will reduce substantially and in accordance with the level of absorption you have. Therefore, while you are strenuously striving to reach attainment concentration any uninvited mental activity will result in loss of meditative focus.      

The technique to harmonize your breath is to imitate the baby breath. We have two entries (nose and mouth) and two places to hold the breath (lung and abdomen). In the concept of yin (–) and yang (+), the nose is of (+), the mouth (–), the lung (+), and the abdomen (–). So if you combine the nose (+) with the lung (+) in your breathing, you have too much positive energy (+, +), which explains why you may become anxious or stimulated easily, and find it hard to relax. If you breathe in with your mouth, regardless of the holding place, you will be sick and exhausted, for sure. If you combine the nose (+) with the abdomen (–) in your breathing, you become more stable (+, –), which is the baby breath.

The formula for one cycle of your breath is as follows: inhale (3 counts of Om), hold (2 counts of Om), exhale (5 counts of Om), and hold (2 counts of Om). The air comes through your nose and ends at your abdomen. Going back to the technique of number visualization above, you should draw a number and make it distinct while exhaling (because exhalation is longer and does not obstruct the energy flow). Remember to breathe slowly and try to open up your belly when breathing in. Practice and you will get used to this baby breath and its rhythm before you know it!

3.2.3. SELF-PROTECTION

Note: Cultivators of Pure Land Buddhism do not need self-protection.

Proper self-protection will keep us safe from negative, evil interferences, and help close the important energy points (chakra) in our (spiritual) body and avoid unexpected disembodiment of our soul. Protection mudras are also to appeal to Dharma Protectors to come and protect us during a meditation session.

 Step 1: This step is required as an additional step for female cultivators

Look at the area between the two legs in the picture we see that it looks like the upper part of a human figure: The genital area represents the head top, the two thighs are the shoulders, and the calves are for the sides of the body. When someone thinks of or mentally indulges in sexual activities, that human-looking area generates a very strong suction power to attract someone else of the opposite sex. If this person gets kind of addicted to such imaginative sexual indulgence, the God (or Demon) of Human Universal Energy will sooner or later be attracted, occupy that area, and perform sexual acts with this person. This leads to various sorts of genital diseases. This situation is more likely to happen to females because their imagination power is roughly a thousand times stronger than males, and some of them often have this imagination habit during religious cultivation.

To reduce and destroy the suction power in the human figure area between the legs, female cultivators should do either of the following:
(1) Read 'Om, Krodana Hum Jah' (7 times). While reading, look at the genital area for sanitizing and avoiding interferences by unseen beings and forces. This mantra was found by our Masters.
(2) Clearly visualize the word AUM right at the genial area. The sound of AUM originates from the sixth chakra (i.e., the third eye, Ājñā). Its vibration power is only second to that of heart mantras (e.g., Hrih, Vam, etc.) in the universe. The sound of these heart mantras goes from the seven chakra (i.e., the crown, Sahasrāra). In very few special cases (where a person possesses two genitals) this kind of visualization is needed. The appearance of the AUM and its sound at this special place make beings in various spiritual worlds scared to death (and run away).

 Step 2: This step is for male cultivators, and female cultivators who have done step 1.

Use Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva's 'Om Driym' mantra and the associated self-protection mudra. Usually, you should find someone who has good experience in Tantric Buddhism cultivation and directly learn this mudra from him/her. This would give your mudra more protection power than if you learn and form it yourself (after making a vow).

Join both hands into the praying hands position. The joining pressure is just enough to hold a cigarette paper. Bend the two index fingers such that they are parallel to each other and the left index finger is tucked between the right index and middle fingers. Finally, the thumbs are straight, slightly touching each other, and gently resting on the right index finger.  

Once the mudra is formed, slowly bring it to each of the following six places. At each place, make a slight touch while reading in your mind the 'Om Driym' [i.e., 'Om Dri-dim'] mantra at the highest possible pitch.
(1) The Spirit Courtyard, located 0.5 cun after the middle of the anterior hairline.
(2) The Hall of Seal, located midway between the inside edges of the eyebrows.
(3) The Cloud Gate on the right chest, located in the hollow just below the lateral end of the right collar bone.
(4) The Cloud Gate on the left chest, located in the hollow just below the lateral end of the left collar bone.
(5) The Chest Center, located at the center of the chest bone midway between nipples.
(6) The middle of the closed mouth.

Perform the above rituals seven times.

Note that the palm and fingers' muscles of your mudra must be relatively relaxed. What is 'relatively relaxed'? It is like this. Open your palm with the fingers close to (i.e., touching) each other. Then turn it upside down and place it on a table. Loosen up all the muscles. If the fingers form a 'C' shape, they are too relaxed. If they curve approximately at 45 degrees, they are relatively relaxed. When the fingers of the mudra are relatively relaxed, your vital energy will be able to connect and sync well with your mind power.

 More information on self-protection

▪ The above self-protection mudra is for new, inexperienced cultivators and those who
 + Practiced some form of mystic martial arts;
 + Have studiously learned mystic martial arts and often used them in fighting, sickness treatment, and spell; or
 + Find that doors open or furniture moves automatically without any physical force while they are meditating.

▪ For cultivators who are culminating in the Third Jhana, they may have an unexpected tendency of soul disembodiment or chest pain during practice. These phenomena happen because at this stage of concentration, the primary chakras, especially the heart (anāhata) chakra, tend to open too much. What should be done is: The cultivator visualizes the image of a yellow eclipse (like a chicken egg with two equally big ends). In this eclipse sits a bald monk (it is actually the cultivator himself/herself) wearing a yellow robe (kāṣāya). Next, the cultivator visualizes the bald monk to perform self-protection rituals as described above. When the monk touches one of the six places, that place will light up. The degree of brightness measures the protective power, i.e., the brighter is the more powerful.

▪ Self-protection at the 'Constant Triple Refuges' [9] stage is for cultivators of the Fourth Jhana or higher. At this level, the cultivator could see on the spiritual topknot of his/her hair (ushnisha) a number of Buddhas and Masters sitting or standing. They are organized in the following order: The lowest level is his/her direct Master or a mandala he/she is cultivating. The next levels include Masters of Masters. The higher levels are for Buddhas. If the cultivator has not attained samādhi in the Formless Realms, the highest Buddha is Vairocana Buddha with sky blue radiant aura. If the cultivator has reached one of the Formless Realms, the Buddha on the very top is the Black Buddha with rainbow radiant aura. Since these Masters and Buddhas permanently reside on the cultivator's ushnisha, he/she is understood to be in the 'Constant Triple Refuges' state of mind.

Although this state of mind is very advanced in Vajrayana cultivation, it also has different levels. Specifically, if the aura of these holy images are bright, shining, and smoothly changing but their bodies are stiff and motionless, the cultivator with this kind of ushnisha should 'give more to religiously gain more' by way of spreading the Dharma, and helping and supporting others in their cultivation. If both the aura and body of these holy images are shining and moving as real beings, the cultivator has achieved the highest level of Vajrayana cultivation. At this stage, whatever the cultivator does can be regarded as mudras and whatever he/she says can be regarded as mantras.

 Step 3: Read the following vows at the lowest possible pitch.

▪ May Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva safeguard me during this practice!
▪ May all sentient beings cultivating with me be safe and well!
▪ May Dharma Protectors drive all negative and evil influences out of this monastery!
▪ May Dharma Protectors be quiescent from bodily movements, quiescent from Dharmic performances, and absolutely quiescent from all activities!

 Step 4: Meditation mudras

After having done the self-protection rituals and vows, you should change to a different mudra, which will be maintained during your meditation session.

▪ Vajra samādhi mudras

These mudras are for cultivators who have not attained up to the Fourth Jhana solidly. There are two mudras of this type: one-handed mudra and two-handed mudra. The one-handed mudra looks similar to the 'OK' hand signal. In this mudra, the tips of the thumb and index fingers touch each other forming a circle while other fingers are relaxed naturally. A cultivator who has strong mind power should use the two-handed mudra because it better suits them. Below is how it is formed.
 + The right hand makes an Amrta mudra: The ring finger touches the thumb to make a circle, other fingers rest normally.
 + The left hand forms a Bhaisajya mudra: The middle finger touches the thumb to make a circle, other fingers rest normally.
 + Face the two mudras upward, and fingers point to each other.
 + Slowly push the two hands towards each other. The left and right fingers will be naturally interposed.
 + Release the two circles made above. Apart from the thumbs, all fingers are now interlocked: the right index finger on top of the left index finger, the left middle finger on top of the right middle finger, the right ring finger on top of the left ring finger, and the left little finger on top of the right little finger.
 + Finally let the thumb fingertips touch each other and rest on the right index finger.

Notes:
 o Although the fingers are interlocked, they do not create pressure on each other, i.e., the pressure is as light as holding a cigarette paper.
 o Place the completed mudra on the hollowest part of your sitting position to secure it.
 o Relax your arm muscles. Between the tensest (10) and the most relaxed (0), the correct relaxation of your arm muscles is around two and three.
 o The right hand is of yin (–) with vital energy flowing down while the left hand is of yang (+) with vital energy flowing up. The combination of the left and right hands in a vajra samādhi mudra ensures a harmonious flow of yin and yang vital energies. In addition, because the fingers are interlocked, they are less likely to get loose and break the mudra, especially while the cultivator is in deep meditative state. This is very important because if the mudra is broken during meditation, the cultivator may become sick due to inconsistent or unstable flows of vital energy (This explains why many cultivators in the old days used to tight their hands together while holding a great samādhi (dhyana) mudra during meditation.)

▪ Dhyana mudra

For cultivators who have reached the Formless Realms in their meditation or have experienced samādhi in the Realm of Cessation of Sensations and Perceptions (Nirodha Samāpatti), this mudra is well suitable. This mudra is formed by placing the right hand on the left hand with all fingers fully stretched and the palms facing upwards. The tips of the two thumbs touch each other forming the shape of a triangle. [10] Place the mudra on the level of your stomach, or the thighs while sitting.

▪ Release the mudra

After the meditation, bring your mudra to touch the forehead before breaking it (with your palms backwardly smoothing your hair).


Endnote:
[9] Triple Refuges mean to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.
[10] This triangle represents the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.