Meditation Techniques For Beginners

Buddhism Meditation. Who else could represent it better than Buddha himself? Here is his story.

One happy morning, while he was deeply absorbed in meditation, unaided and unguided by any supernatural power and solely relying on his efforts and wisdom, he eradicated all defilements, purified himself, and, realizing things as they truly are, attained Enlightenment (Buddhahood) at the age of 35.

He was not born a Buddha, but he became a Buddha by his own striving. As the perfect embodiment of all the virtues he preached, endowed with deep wisdom commensurate with his boundless compassion. he devoted the remainder of his precious life to serv humanity both by example and precept, dominated by no personal motive whatever.After a very successful ministry of 45 long years the Buddha, as every other human being, succumbed to the inexorable law of change, and finally passed away in his 80th year, exhorting his disciples to regard his doctrine astheir teacher.

The Buddha was a human being. As a man he was born, as a man he lived, and as a man his life came to an end. Though a human being, he became an extraordinary man (Acchariya Manussa), but he never arrogated to himselfdivinity. The Buddha laid stress on this important point and left no room whatever for anyone to fall into the error of thinking that he was an immortal divine being. Fortunately there is no deification in the case of the Buddha. It should, however, be remarked that there was no Teacher, “ever so godless as the Buddha, yet none so god-like.”

The Buddha is neither an incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu, as is believed by some, nor is he a savior who freely saves others by His personal salvation. The Buddha exhorts his disciples to depend on themselves for their deliverance, for both purity and defilement depend on oneself. Clarifying His relationship with His followers and emphasizing the importance of self-reliance and individual striving, the Buddha plainly states: “You should exert yourselves, the Tathagatas are only teachers.”

Buddhism Meditation
First of all, it must be mentioned that there are not petitional or intercessory prayers in Buddhism. However much we may pray to the Buddha we cannot be saved. The Buddha does not grant favors to those who pray to him. Instead of petitional prayers there is meditation that leads to self-control, purification and enlightenment. Meditation is neither a silent reverie nor keeping the mind blank. It is an active striving. It serves as a tonic both to the heart and the mind. The Buddha not only speaks of the futility of offering prayers but also disparages a slave mentality. A
Buddhist should not pray to be saved, but should rely on himself and win his freedom.

How to Do Buddhism Meditation

Be still and peaceful.
Recite three times – Nammo Buddhaya – (Honor to the Buddha)
Recite three times – Araham – (The pure one)

Recite:
Budddham saranam gacchami – (I go to the Buddha for refuge)
Dhamman saranam gacchami – (I go to the Dhamma for refuge)
Sangham saranam gacchami – (I go to the Sangha for refuge)

Think thus:
My mind is temporarily pure, free from all impurities, free from lust, hatred and ignorance, free from all evil thoughts.
My mind is pure and clean. Like a polished mirror is my stainless mind.
As a clean and empty vessel is filled with pure water I now fill my clean heart and pure mind with peaceful and sublime thoughts of boundless loving-kindness over-flowing compassion, sympathetic joy and perfect equanimity.
I have now washed my mind and heart of anger, ill will, cruelty, violence, jealousy, envy, passion and aversion.

Think ten times:
May I be well and happy!
May I be free from suffering, deisease, grief, worry and anger!
May I be strong, self-confident, healthy and peaceful!

Think thus:
Now I charge every particle of my system, from head to foot with thoughts of boundless loving-kindness and compassion. I am the embodiment of loving-kindness and compassion. My whole body is saturated with loving-kindness and compassion. I am a stronghol, a fortress of ling-kindness and compassion. I am nothing but loving kindness and compassion. I have sublimated myself, elevated myself, ennobled myself.

Think ten times:
May I be well and happy!
May I be free from suffering, deisease, grief, worry and anger!
May I be strong, self-confident, healthy and peaceful!

Think:
Mentally I create an aura of loving-kindness around me. By means of this aura, I cut off all negative thoughts, hostile vibrations. I am not affected by the evil vibrations of others. I return good for evil, loving-kindness for anger, compassion for cruelty, sympathetic joy for jealously. I am peaceful and well-balanced in mind. Now I am a fortress of loving-kindness, a stronghol of morality.
What I have gained I now give unto others.
Think of all your near and dear ones at home, individually or collectively and fill them with thoughts of loving kindness and wish them peace and happiness, repeating May all beings be well and happy! Then think of all seen and unseen beings, living near and far, men, women, animals and all living beings, in the East, West, North, South, above and below, and radiate boundless loving-kindness, without any enmity or obstruction, towards all, irrespective of class, creed, color or sex.
Think that all are your brothers and sisters, fellow-beings in the ocean of life. You identify with all. You are one with all.

Repeat ten times:
May all beings be well and happy
and wish them all peace and happiness.

Mindfulness of Breathing. This technique helps you to relax your body and release the pain and stress. Just concentrate on your breathing, in and out, in and out. Don’t think, just focus on the physical existence and the essential part of it: breathing. The goal is to not to think – just ease your mind and let go the problems. Do not think.

Visualization. This is one of the easiest techniques. You simply have to think of a physical object in your mind. Visualize it, just look at it and admire it. Stop thinking about other things just dedicate all your attention to this chosen object. You will be able to enter a state where you become one with the world around you – you are the object!

Concentration. Concentrating means being at the centre, focusing only on a single point. All you have to do is shut off your thoughts apart from the one that you are focusing on. When you do that properly you don’t sense time – because time doesn’t exist. Only you and your chosen point. To practise concentration all you have to do is to look at a physical scene then close your eyes and recreate the picture mentally. See every little detail, feel every move! Exclude all other thoughts just live in the picture! This technique will help you to develop mental imagery and you will be more focused. Try to practice this every day for at least a few minutes!

Transcendental meditation. This type of meditation is an ancient Vedic technique introduced by Maharishi Mahesh yogi in 1958. This is a simple yet powerful process – just sit comfortably with eyes closed and look inward. In this silent and peaceful level of consciousness your body gains deep rest and gives you inner energy.

As you can see these techniques are easy to do, even for those who have never practised meditation or yoga. What tends to be difficult though is making the time to actually do it. But knowing the proper techniques is essential since chasing wrong methods can lead to a state where you do more harm than good! Find a good and reliable source!

Flame Mediation

In this method, light and place a candle at eye level in a semi dark room.

Prior to focusing on the candle, sit down close your eyes and do deep breathing like in the previous methods.

Next, open your eyes and focus on the flame while breathing deeply.

Do not think of anything but the flame.

Now, close your eyes and visualize the flame for as long as you can conveniently.

When the image of the flame disappears while your eyes are closed, open your eyes and focus on the flame again.

Visualization Method of Meditation (Essentially for tension and stress)

In this method, sit down, close your eyes and start breathing like in the previous form. Now, start visualizing your each breath going in through your nose, filling up your lungs and as it goes out.

Start to visualize all the positive thoughts coming in and the negative thoughts going out with each breath.

Then visualize an image or situation that instills a feeling of calmness and serenity in you.

Gradually visualize all your senses like smell and touch.

Jiddu Krishnamurti (writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects) once said, “Man, in order to escape his conflicts, has invented many forms of meditation. These have been based on desire, will, and the urge for achievement, and imply conflict and a struggle to arrive. This conscious, deliberate striving is always within the limits of a conditioned mind, and in this there is no freedom. All effort to meditate is the denial of meditation. Meditation is the ending of thought. It is only then that there is a different dimension which is beyond time.”

So you have heard about meditation. But what is meditation exactly? Why is it good?

- Meditation can cease psychosomatic illnesses
- It can resolve the mental barricade that is responsible for sorrow and unhappiness
- Meditation creates harmony, brings balance to your life and gives inner peace
- It can increase your awareness about life, goals, other people and happiness
- Makes you look younger
- Lowers blood pressure

What is the goal of meditation?

- Releasing stress
- Easing the mind
- Creating a state where you are free and happy

The advantage of meditation
The biggest advantage of meditation – especially breathing meditation – that you can do it anytime, anywhere. Even at your workplace, before an important meeting, on the street, in a traffic jam, etc.

Physiological effect
If you live a stressful and busy life your brain produces more electrical tension – the problem of our era: the headache arises. Meditation reduces significantly the electrical tension in our brain, so it can rest for a few minutes and heal itself. You will feel much more alive, clean and fresh after a few minutes of relaxation.

Research shows that during sleeping and meditation metabolism also slows down. Metabolism indicates the inner balance of your body. If it’s slow then it needs more time to convert food into energy therefore using less oxygen.

The deep and real relaxation activates the healing power of the body which starts certain processes that make you look younger. The metabolism slows down so the body can focus on healing and renewing itself.

During sleep our metabolism slows down by 8% after 4-5 hours. When you meditate it slows down by 20% in just half an hour therefore it gives you quality rest. Warning: meditation cannot be a substitute for sleep!

Stress contracts the vein walls and that causes high blood pressure. Meditation eases up the veins and creates a better way for the blood flow.