MED101 03 Teachings and Meditations

Teachings and meditations recorded by Ven. Constance Miller, 2008.
Transcribed by Mark Evans.

Edited and reorganized by Ven. Joan Nicell, FPMT Education Services, 2018.
© FPMT Inc.
Contents
Session 1: Meditation in Buddhism 3

THE TEACHINGS 5
Part 1. About Meditation 5
Part 2: How to Meditate 11
THE GUIDED MEDITATIONS 16
Meditation 1: Counting the Breaths 16
Meditation 2: Bare Attention 18
THE MEDITATION JOURNAL 20
THE POINTS FOR REFLECTION 20
Session 2: Mind in Buddhism 23

THE TEACHINGS 25
Part 1. Mind is Clarity and Awareness 25
Part 2. Mind is a Continuity 30
Part 3. Mind is Like the Sky and the Ocean 33
Part 4. Mind is the Source of Everything 36
Meditation 3: Mind Like the Sky 40
Meditation 4: Mind Like the Ocean 43
Meditation 5: Nine-Round Breathing 46
Session 3: Types of Meditation and Obstacles to Meditation 51

THE TEACHINGS 53
Part 1. Types of Meditation 53
Part 2. The Five Obstacles to Meditation 58
Part 3. The Five Negative States of Mind 62
Part 4. Meditation Transforms the Mind 66
THE GUIDED MEDITATION 69
Meditation 6: Transforming Negative Experiences 69
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Session 4: Meditation Session, Meditation Place, and Visualization Meditation 75
THE TEACHINGS 77
Part 1. Setting Up a Meditation Session and a Meditation Place 77
Part 2. Visualization Meditation 84
THE GUIDED MEDITATION 90
Meditation 7: Purification with Light 90
Session 5: Meditation Stops the Roller Coaster of Emotions 95

THE TEACHINGS 97
Part 1. Recognizing our Biased Attitude 97
Part 2. Remedying our Biased Attitude 102
Part 3. Meditating in Daily Life 106
Meditation 8: Body of Light 110
Meditation 9: Generating an Altruistic Motivation 112
Meditation 10: Cultivating Equanimity 114
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Session 1: Meditation in Buddhism
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THE TEACHINGS
Part 1. About Meditation

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Meditation is a tool or skill that we can use to become more and more familiar with our
inner world—with our thoughts, our perceptions, our conceptions and ideas, our emotions,
all of these things that make up our experience. Meditation helps us to get acquainted
with all of these aspects of our inner world so that we can work with those elements for
greater peace of mind.
– Ven. Connie Miller
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You can either listen to the audio file—Session1-Part1-About_Meditation.mp3 (30 minutes)—of Ven. Connie
Miller’s teaching or read the transcript of the teaching below.
Introduction and Motivation for the Course

[0:00 min] My name is Venerable Connie Miller. I have been an ordained Buddhist nun since 1978 and
have been teaching Buddhist philosophy and meditation since about 1980. This course is an
introductory course on basic Buddhist meditation techniques. It’s for complete beginners. It does not
assume that you know anything at all about meditation, nor about Buddhism. Some of the topics that
we’ll be covering are for example: what is meditation; what is a good meditation posture and how do
we arrange the body during meditation; what are the purposes and benefits of meditating; what kinds
of skills do we develop in meditation and how might these also be useful in our daily lives; what are
the different kinds of meditation; and what are the obstacles that we might encounter as we meditate
and what kinds of antidotes can we apply [to counter them]. We’ll talk about setting up a meditation
session. We’ll talk about setting up a long-term meditation practice and we’ll be looking at a variety of
different types of meditations, specifically, breathing meditations, mindfulness meditations,
visualization meditations, and analytical meditations. All of these different terms will be explained
during the course.
Now very briefly, in order to establish a positive groundwork at the beginning, think to yourself:
why am I here? In order to make this experience as positive as possible, it’s good to have a positive
motivation and it’s good to think beyond ourselves. So let’s think that we are engaging in this process
of learning meditation, not for ourselves alone, although happiness and peace of mind for ourselves is
a good thing, but let us engage with this course in order to bring happiness and peace of mind, not
just to ourselves, but to those around us as well.
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(Generate an altruistic motivation for doing this course.)
What is Meditation and Why Meditate

[3:40 min] First of all, let’s talk about what is meditation. My training comes from the Tibetan
Buddhist tradition. In the Tibetan language the word for “meditation” is gom. That’s the Tibetan term
that is translated as “meditation.” But the literal meaning of that term is, in fact, “familiarization”—to
become familiar. If we think about it in psychological terms, familiarity means that we have in one
way or another developed habitual patterns of thought and/or behavior, and habitual ways of seeing
the world. The point of meditation is to develop familiarity with the positive—with our positive
qualities, with our more positive behaviors—and to diminish our familiarity with the negative—with
our faults, with our more harmful behaviors.
What we think, what we say, and what we do, all of these aspects of ourselves and our actions
have causes. Whether we think and speak and behave in positive ways, these behaviors have causes.
The same is true for our negative actions: our negative thoughts, our negative words, and our harmful
deeds. So, in terms of familiarity, we are trying to become familiar with the positive side and,
therefore, to become familiar with what brings happiness and satisfaction in life, and we are trying to
become less familiar with what brings suffering and unhappiness.
Since we were babies in our mother’s arms and toddlers running around the house and young
children in elementary school, we have been intensively learning about the outside world: giving
names to things—animal, vegetable, mineral, figuring out how things work, and then using that
knowledge to make ourselves happy, to make ourselves more comfortable, and inventing things that
make life easier, that make life more entertaining. We are very, very familiar with our external world
and yet even when we surround ourselves with the things in the external world that we think are
going to make us perfectly happy, still we are not perfectly happy. Something breaks, something goes
wrong, something gets lost, or even none of those things [happen] but we are still not completely
satisfied.
So happiness and satisfaction, which are inner experiences, must come from somewhere else. They
don’t come from outside of us; they come from within. So one of the questions is: how familiar are we
with our inner world? How much do we actually know about our emotions, our thoughts, our
perceptions, and how they work? Not just in general, but how do they work within our experience to
bring about happiness and satisfaction or dissatisfaction and unhappiness?
Meditation is a tool or skill that we can use to become more and more familiar with our inner
world—with our thoughts, our perceptions, our conceptions and ideas, our emotions, all of these
things that make up our experience. Meditation helps us to get acquainted with all of these aspects of
our inner world so that we can work with those elements for greater peace of mind.
Meditation is different from relaxation exercises. Basically it’s a difference of short-term or
immediate versus long-term and lasting. Relaxation exercises help us to feel better in the moment.
They help us to let go, to release our tensions. But beyond that immediate feeling better for the
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moment, there is the long-term. We as human beings have immense, untapped potential. We hear
quoted that we are only using five percent, ten percent maybe, of our brains’ capabilities, for
example. We as human beings have a lot of growing to do. We have many unrealized capabilities.
Meditation can help us to actualize that potential, not just to feel better today, but to transform our
inner world, to root out the difficulties, the faults, the obstacles, that cause our suffering, and to
develop and increase the positive, altruistic, exceptional aspects of ourselves that bring happiness and
peace.
This is the purpose of meditation. It goes far beyond just feeling better right now, because
sometimes just feeling better doesn’t get at the root of the problem. The purpose of meditation is to
get at the root of the problem and to find a long-lasting solution.
Seven-Point Meditation Posture

[14:09 min] We are going to look at, first of all, the basics. The first step is to go into our meditation
posture. How do we place our body in a position that’s conducive to being able to meditate? One of
the things is that we want our minds to be able to operate freely and without distraction, and the
body can in fact, be a distraction—if it’s uncomfortable, if it’s fidgety, if it’s unstable. There are many
reasons that the body can get in the way. The objective of developing a good meditation posture is so
that the body can be comfortable and to get it out of the way so that the mind can do its work.
Meditation works with the mind. It needs to have this space without distraction to be able to fulfill its
function.
So, what are the characteristics of a good meditation posture? It is called “the seven-point
meditation posture” and we’ll be going over these seven points.
1. Legs
We’re going to start with the legs. Now, of course, you’ve all seen images or pictures of the Buddha,
who is sitting in what, in our tradition, is called “the vajra position,” or sometimes more commonly
called “the full-lotus position.” This is the most stable and conducive position, providing the best
support to both the body and the mind. It enables the back to stay straight, virtually effortlessly.
However, this is not an easy position to come into. One has to place each foot, sole upward, on the
thigh of the opposite leg, which creates a virtually immovable base for the body; but it’s difficult to
achieve. You can over time train your body, the flexibility of your legs and hips and so on, to be able
to sit in the vajra position. If you’re able to do so, it’s great; it is, however, not essential.
Coming down from there, in terms of difficulty we have the half-lotus position, where you’re sitting
cross-legged—one foot is on the floor under the opposite leg and the other foot is on top of the
opposite thigh. This, of course, does provide a fair amount of support and stability as well, although it
is not as stable as the full-vajra posture.
If you are going to sit in any sort of cross-legged position, it’s desirable to sit on a firm cushion.
Especially if you are not able to sit in the vajra position but are sitting either in a half-lotus position or
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in a simple cross-legged position with both feet resting on the floor under the opposite knees, it’s
desirable to use a firm cushion that raises the buttocks up considerably higher than the knees. This
can greatly help in providing you with the kind of position and support that helps you to keep your
spine straight. It can also help you to sit for longer periods of time.
Oftentimes when we sit cross-legged for any length of time, we experience pins and needles, our
feet or our legs fall asleep. Having a cushion that raises your buttocks relatively high, so your knees
are lower, can help prevent these kinds of problems.
These are some of the possibilities for sitting cross-legged. If you have difficulty sitting on the floor,
sitting on a cushion, sitting in a cross-legged position, some other alternatives might be using a low
meditation bench, in which you are kneeling and sitting on the bench with your legs extended
backward under the bench. You can sit in a chair. If you do sit in a chair, it’s desirable to have your
feet flat on the floor, not crossed at the ankles or going in different directions, but flat and stable on
the floor. However you decide to sit, in whatever configuration, whether cross-legged or not, the
most important element is to have your back straight and to be comfortable, so that you are not in
pain in any sort of way.
2. Back
Coming to the back, your back is the most important. The energies of your body flow through your
back, so it is important that your back be straight; not stiff or rigid, but relaxed, upright. One useful
way to think is to think of the vertebrae in your spine as like a stack of blocks, effortlessly resting in a
pile, one on top of the other, straight up and down. With a straight back your energy flows freely;
your mind is able to be more alert and clear in meditation.
The position of your legs is strongly linked to how easy it is to keep your back straight for any
length of time. This is another reason why the vajra position is so useful. Having a cushion to raise
your buttocks can also help you to keep your back straight for longer periods of time. In any case, you
should experiment to figure out what actually works for you and your body.
3. Hands
Then, what do we do with our hands and arms? In our tradition we hold our hands loosely in our lap
and we rest our right hand in the palm of the left, palms upward, with the thumbs pointing upward
and lightly touching. This forms the shape somewhat like a teardrop or a flame. If you rest your hands
on your thighs, this puts your hands two or three inches below the navel, approximately. In our
Buddhist tradition, the right or right hand, symbolizes method, whereas the left symbolizes wisdom.
So here our method, or our compassion, is cradled within our wisdom; our right hand cradled within
our left.
4. Shoulders
Your shoulders and arms should be relaxed. Shoulders slightly back, arms should be slightly akimbo,
leaving a bit of space between your arms and your body, so that air can circulate. This helps to
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prevent sleepiness during meditation. It helps to keep your body cool so that it doesn’t get too warm
and make you drowsy.
5. Eyes
Now let’s move upward, looking at the eyes. Many people think of meditation as with their eyes
closed and in the beginning sometimes this can be very helpful. Some people are never able to do
anything but meditate with their eyes fully closed. However, it is said in meditation manuals that it is
advantageous to the meditator to meditate with eyes just slightly open to let in a little light. At the
beginning, this may be difficult. It may take practice to develop this ability but what this does, if you
can do it, is to help you stay awake and not become sleepy.
If you meditate with your eyes slightly open, you admit a little light. As you do so, you basically
direct your gaze downward and do not focus on anything in particular. Your attention is directed
elsewhere, inwardly to the activities of your meditation. Because when we meditate with the eyes
closed, this may contribute to a tendency towards sluggishness or even day dreaming, it’s
recommended, as we get into our meditation practice and develop greater abilities, that we try to
also develop this ability to meditate with our eyes half open.
6. Jaw, Mouth, and Tongue

Let’s move on to the jaw and the tongue. Your jaw and your mouth should be relaxed, without the
teeth clenched. It’s even good to have your teeth just slightly apart and your lips lightly touching. Your
tongue should rest lightly on your upper palate with the tip of your tongue just very lightly touching
the back of the upper teeth. This position can reduce the flow of saliva and the need to swallow. Both
of these things can end up as obstacles or distractions to your meditation.
7. Head
The last point is the position of the head. Your head should be centered, leaning neither left nor right,
and just slightly inclined forward so that your gaze is directly and naturally toward the floor in front of
you. If you hold your chin too high, you may have problems during meditation with mental wandering
and distraction. If you drop your head too far forward, this can bring on mental dullness and
sleepiness. So there’s a balance to be struck here. Again, experiment, work on this yourself, see what
works for your body.
These points come from the Buddhist texts on meditation. But what’s important, is that you find,
using these as guidelines, the position that works for you, that helps you to be comfortable and alert
and aware during your meditations; as much as possible free of distraction from your body.
Meditation Paraphernalia
[27:57 min] In addition to how you place your body, there is also the question of paraphernalia: what
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clothing to wear, cushions, sitting apparatus, and so on. There are a variety of meditation cushions
that are available, some softer, some harder. There are zafus, which are the round stuffed meditation
cushions that often come in a set with a zabuton, which is the flat mat that goes on the floor
underneath the zafu. There are half-moon-shaped cushions. All of these kinds of cushions come in
versions—some are harder, some are softer. There are meditation benches of different types. All of
these things for sitting are out there and available to you. Again, it’s up to you to discover and
experiment with what works best for you.
As far as clothing is concerned, suitable clothing for meditation tends to be loose, so that you can
be as comfortable as possible and not feel tight or bound in any kind of way. Some people like to use
a meditation shawl.
Some people like to use what’s called “a meditation belt,” especially if you’re sitting cross-legged.
It goes around the body, around the back, and around the knees, and helps to provide support to the
back while sitting.
There are lots of possibilities. Explore them and see if you can find something that is easy, that’s
practical, and that functions, so that your meditations work the best for you.
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Part 2: How to Meditate

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Concentration is the ability to set the mind on a single thing without distraction for a
period of time, and mindfulness is the ability to be awake and aware and observant of
what is happening, as it’s happening. These two skills are both necessary and desirable in
every kind of meditation.
___________________________________________________________________________________
You can either listen to the audio file— Session1-Part2-How to Meditate.mp3 (37 minutes)—of Ven. Connie Miller’s
teaching or read the transcript of the teaching below.
Applying Mindfulness and Concentration

[0:00 min] Here we are going to talk about the skills of mindfulness and concentration. Now what is
concentration and what is mindfulness? And how do they differ, one from another? Concentration is
the skill of being able to set the mind on one thing and to keep it there, fixed, without moving and
without distraction. One term that in Buddhism one will often hear is “single-pointed
concentration”—concentration on a single point, or single object, for as long as one desires.
On the other hand, we have mindfulness. Mindfulness is a kind of inner awareness or observation.
Mindfulness is the skill of being aware of what’s happening, when it’s happening. It’s like a large
spotlight. Concentration, on the other hand, is like a tiny spotlight focusing on one thing and not
moving.
These analogies may lead you to think that somehow concentration and mindfulness are
contradictory. These two skills are definitely complementary; they help each other to function better.
When we are concentrating, for example, on our breathing, mindfulness is operating in the
background, helping us to notice when we become distracted, when our mind wanders off to
something else. If we are focusing more on developing concentration, then, yes, mindfulness is
operating as a secondary skill, but nevertheless it works together with concentration in our
meditation. This is also true in the reverse. When we are practicing a meditation that is focusing more
on the skill of mindfulness, the ability to be concentrated allows us not to wander, for our
mindfulness not to become fuzzy and indistinct. So these two skills are always present if we are
meditating properly. They are present in different doses in different meditations, but nevertheless
they are always present and helpful as a part of our armory of meditation weapons.
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Counting the Breaths Meditation

[3.54 min] Take just a moment to put yourself in a suitable position for meditation. Pay attention to
your back. Make sure that it is straight but that you are comfortable and relaxed, your mind alert.
Take a few deep breaths in order to bring your attention inward.
Now focus your attention, very specifically, at the opening of your nostrils and breathe naturally
through your nose. Don’t try to control your breathing. At the opening of your nostrils as the air
passes each time you inhale and exhale, notice those very small, subtle sensations of the little hairs as
they move as the air passes in and out, feeling coolness when you inhale or warmth as you exhale. It’s
not necessary to follow your breath into your body or out into the surrounding environment; just
focus on those subtle sensations at the opening of your nostrils.
Now, in this exercise, we are going to count our breaths. This is an exercise in which we are
developing our skills of concentration: the ability of the mind to stay fixed, single-pointedly in one
place for as long as possible. Our objective is to keep the mind focused without distraction at the
opening of our nostrils. As we breathe in and out, we are going to count every inhalation and
exhalation together as one; in-out, one; in-out, two; in-out, three; and so on. Keep your attention
focused at the opening of your nostrils, on those very subtle sensations. If, as you’re counting, you
discover that the mind has become distracted, has wandered, don’t judge, don’t get upset, just take
note of what’s happened and bring your attention back to watching the breath, and start your
counting over again at one. Try to focus continuously and count your breaths all the way up to ten.
Let’s do this exercise.
(Silent meditation for three minutes.)
One thing to notice about the meditation on counting the breaths, and this will be true of other
meditations that begin similarly with focusing our attention on the subtle sensations at the opening of
our nostrils: those subtle, small sensations are actually a very small object of focus. It’s quite different
from focusing our attention, for example, on our entire head and all of the various sensations we
might be feeling in various places on our head. That’s a fairly large object of focus. By focusing our
attention on these vary small, subtle sensations at the opening of our nostrils, it’s as if we are taking a
large spotlight and reducing it to a laser beam, something very precise and refined. This helps to
develop our ability to focus and concentrate our minds. The larger is the object of our attention, the
fuzzier is our attention and our concentration. For this reason, we choose small, refined objects,
subtle objects, as the objects of our concentration and focus in meditation.
We’ll be talking more about concentration and mindfulness as skills but for now just keep in mind
that concentration is the ability to set the mind on a single thing without distraction for a period of
time, and mindfulness is that ability to be awake and aware and observant of what is happening, as
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it’s happening. Also keep in mind that these two skills are both necessary and desirable in every kind
of meditation.
Bare Attention Meditation

[16:09 min] A further meditation that falls into the category of a mindfulness meditation is called
“bare attention.” This meditation is a very simple mindfulness meditation to help us to develop that
skill of mindfulness, of wakefulness, of being aware of what’s happening as it’s happening.
During this meditation what you’ll be doing is, first, to focus on those subtle sensations at the
opening of the nostrils as a kind of base point, something to hold your mind to, while at the same
time allowing yourself to take in and be aware of whatever is occurring within the space of your
awareness. So this is slightly different than counting the breaths. In counting the breaths we try to be
exclusively focused on those subtle sensations; as we inhale and exhale throughout the meditation,
for the mind to remain fixed on that object of our focus. Here, we loosen, slightly, our concentration,
our focus, so that our mindfulness can be aware of anything that’s arising within its sphere of
consciousness.
Find yourself an appropriate position. Get comfortable with your back straight. Take a couple of deep
breaths. Let go of thinking. Just let your mind become clear and present.
Now, focus your attention at the opening of your nostrils, specifically on those subtle sensations
associated with your breathing. Just let yourself breathe naturally as you focus here.
Now using this point at the opening of your nostrils as a kind of anchor for your mind, a kind of subtle
focal point, let your concentration loosen just slightly, not a lot, and, while continuing to focus on the
breath, be aware of whatever arises in your mind, whatever arises within the sphere of your
awareness. You may become aware of sensations in your body. If you do, just note them and come
back to your breath. You may become aware of sounds in the environment. Once again just note
them and return to the breath. Thoughts or images may arise in your mind. Don’t get involved with
their content, just note that a thought or an image has arisen, let it pass, and return to the breath.
(Silent meditation for two minutes.)
Dealing with Distraction

[25:49 min] One thing that will happen as you meditate is that you’ll become distracted, obstacles will
arise, your mind will wander. It’s not used to being disciplined in this sort of way. It will want to think
about all sorts of things, like what you’re having for dinner tonight, and the errands that you have yet
to run, or the things that you forgot to say to that person the other day. Any number of things will
arise in your mind and take you away from your meditation. This is completely natural and, in fact,
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just being aware of these thoughts or emotions that arise is part of your job of being mindful—being
aware of them as they’re arising. But oftentimes we are not fully aware. What happens is we are
trying to focus on the breath, or on these sensations more specifically, and these thoughts arise in the
mind and suddenly we find ourselves, perhaps even several minutes later, in a reverie, daydreaming,
and we are not even completely sure how we got there because our mindfulness lapsed and stopped
doing its job. If we were aware throughout that whole time, we would have seen exactly how that
series of thoughts took our mind gradually further and further away.
When this happens, don’t worry. It’s not a problem; its part of the process. When you wake up
within that daydream, within that world of thoughts, then, just take note, notice it, be aware of it; let
your mindfulness do its job. If you get upset, that’s just one more distraction on top of the distraction
that’s already there. That’s not being mindful. So don’t get upset, don’t judge yourself, don’t think,
“Oh, I’m failing,” “I’m a terrible meditator”; that’s just more thoughts and more distractions. Just
notice, take stock, take note of what’s happened—thinking, daydreaming, planning, whatever it
happens to be. And then, a little bit like a fisherman who is very gently trying to reel in a fish, bring
your mind back and place it again on the object of your meditation, those subtle sensations at the
opening of your nostrils, and continue. And it’ll happen again, and again, and again, but that is part of
the process—practicing waking up whenever these distractions take us away. With practice, we start
to wake up and be aware sooner each time. So that, eventually, as soon as one of those thoughts
arises that’s about to carry us away, we are already aware of it, because we are always awake.
Review and Dedication

[30:07 min] In our first session we talked about meditation a bit. We talked about some of the skills
that we are going to try to develop during this course, skills that we make use of during meditation
but also that we make use of every single day, in every moment of our day. There are a number of
skills that we make use of in meditation but we’ve focused so far on two: the skill of concentration
and the skill of mindfulness—two complementary skills that are present in different doses, different
quantities, according to the kind of meditation that we are engaged in.
These two skills aren’t the same; they’re different and, again, they are complementary. They work
to help each other. Concentration is the ability to focus and rest the mind on a single object for an
extended period of time. Mindfulness, on the other hand, is the ability to pay attention, to be awake,
to be aware of what is happening in the present as it’s happening, to be aware of what you’re
experiencing in the moment.
We learned two separate meditations and each of those meditations emphasizes one or the other
of these skills. Counting the breaths primarily emphasizes the skill of concentration: keeping the mind
focused without distraction on the rhythm and process of the breath, not allowing the mind to
wander to other things. But, of course, not only concentration is employed in such a process; you
have to be mindful at the same time. You have to be aware when your mind does wander in order to
bring it back to your object of concentration. You have to be aware of the distractions, aware of the
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level of your concentration, aware if, for example, you’re starting to become sluggish or drowsy.
Concentration keeps the mind in place; mindfulness allows you to be aware of both the quality of
your concentration and the distractions that may become obstacles.
The other meditation that we learned, bare attention, emphasizes the skill of mindfulness over
concentration. Within the bare attention meditation, your objective is to be awake, to notice.
Although we use the breath as a kind of anchor to prevent the mind from becoming too scattered or
agitated, nevertheless we allow the mind to move, to be aware of sounds, inner sensations, thoughts,
and so on. This is part of the process of bare attention. The concentration element is slightly reduced.
What’s important is that this process of noticing doesn’t become distracting, that we aren’t carried
away by the contents of our minds. And so concentration, although reduced, is necessarily present to
keep us anchored and grounded. So, as you can see, once again, these two skills are very
complementary.
We’ve reached the end of this class. I’d like to dedicate, together with you, all of the positive
energy, the insights, the learning that has taken place as we have explored together these aspects of
meditation to the well-being and happiness of all beings in our universe, ourselves and others, all
beings of all kinds, animals, human beings, and so on. I’d like to dedicate that there might be peace on
our planet within our lifetimes, and peace within the heart of each and every living being.
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THE GUIDED MEDITATIONS

Before you do the next class in this series, I would suggest that you take a few days and do
the meditations on counting the breaths and bare attention. Do these several times, say
ten to fifteen minutes each time, so that you get some experience with each of them and
begin to notice your own abilities and difficulties during these meditations.
Meditation 1: Counting the Breaths

When you have finished listening to or reading the transcript of this section of Ven. Connie’s teaching and have the
time and a conducive situation for meditation, do the following meditation on counting the breaths while either:
❖ listening to the audio file: Meditation01-Counting_the_Breaths.mp3 (duration: 27 minutes) or
❖ reading the transcript of the meditation below.
At the end of the meditation, if you like, make some notes about your experience with the meditation (see The
Meditation Journal on p. 20).
NOTE: This version includes a period for (1) settling the body and calming the mind, (2) generating a positive
motivation, (3) doing the actual meditation, and (4) dedicating the positive energy created by doing the meditation,
thus making it complete in all four parts of a meditation session. (Note: These four parts will be explained in Session
2 of this course.)
Introduction
This is a simple technique, which is also very good for building one’s concentration.
Calm the Mind

First, we are going to start by focusing our attention on our breathing in order to calm the mind. Just
focus your mind on the rising and falling of your chest as you inhale and exhale. Allow your mind to
settle and become calm and present in this moment and in this place, ready to engage in meditation.
Generate a Positive Motivation

Now, in the calm and quiet space of your mind, create a positive motivation for this meditation
session. Think to yourself that you’re not doing this just for yourself alone, just for your own needs,
but that instead you’re engaging in this meditation practice in order to develop your mind, in order to
become a better, wiser, more compassionate individual, one that is able to bring happiness and well-
being into the lives of others. Take a moment to generate just such a positive motivation.
(Silent meditation for about two minutes.)
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Actual Meditation on Counting the Breaths

Now we enter into the main body of this meditation. Start by focusing your attention at the opening
of your nostrils. Breathe naturally through your nose, paying close attention to the very subtle
sensations at the opening of your nostrils as you breathe in and out.
You can feel very subtle sensations as the air passes, as the small hairs there move. Sometimes it feels
cooler as you inhale and warmer as you exhale. Just pay attention to all these various experiences. As
you breathe, don’t follow the air into your body with your mind or out into the surrounding
environment. Just place your attention at the opening of your nostrils, on those tiny sensations
associated with the breath.
Your job is like that of a gatekeeper. A gatekeeper doesn’t follow people in or follow people out. A
gatekeeper sits and pays attention at the gate and similarly, your job is to keep your attention firmly
placed on those small sensations at this point only.
Now, as you inhale and exhale, mentally count each inhalation and exhalation together as one. See if
you can count from one to ten as you concentrate on the sensations associated with your breath. If
you become distracted, if the mind wanders to other things or moves away from the point of
concentration, then begin your counting again at one. If you can remain concentrated and reach all
the way to ten, that’s fantastic. Then start over again at one and see if you can do it again.
However, even if you never get past two, this is not in any way a problem. The point is to train your
mind to focus on this single point only and concentration can take some practice to attain. So don’t
get discouraged.
Now we’re going to practice this technique of counting the breaths.

(Silent meditation for about fifteen minutes.)
Dedicate the Positive Energy

Now, we’ll bring this meditation exercise to a close. To conclude, dedicate whatever positive energy
and insights that you may have gained from this meditation session, not only to your own well-being
and happiness, but also to the well-being and happiness of all living beings.
To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement, you need to this meditation at least three times. Keep track of the
meditations you have done using the Activity Log (offline) or the Checklist for the Certificate of Achievement
(online).
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Meditation 2: Bare Attention

time and a conducive situation for meditation, do the following meditation on bare attention while either:
❖ listening to the audio file: Meditation02-Bare_Attention.mp3 (duration: 30 minutes) or
At the end of the meditation, if you like, make some notes about your experience with the meditation (see The
Meditation Journal on p. 20).
Sit Comfortably
Sit in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. Place your body in a comfortable position suitable
for meditation with your back straight. Try to find a position that’s stable, a position in which you can
remain for at least a short period of time without moving.
Calm the Mind

Start by focusing your attention on your breathing. Just breathe naturally without controlling your
breath. In order to calm the mind, use one of the breathing meditations: counting the breaths (p. 16)
or the nine-round breathing meditation (p. 46). You can use one or the other according to your
preference and according to which one you find to be the most effective. Take a few minutes
meditating on the breath to settle your mind, to bring it to a state of deeper focus and concentration,
as much as possible free from distractions and ready to engage in this meditation.

Now let’s take a few moments to lay further groundwork for our meditation by clarifying our
motivation. Basically, this is a process of being clear about why we are sitting down to meditate. If we
can cultivate a positive motivation that goes beyond our usual reasons for doing things, this can help
us to broaden and open our minds and to develop qualities such as a sense of altruism of thinking of
the welfare of others, as well as of our own welfare. For this reason, we try to generate a very positive
motivation.
So think to yourself that you are here to meditate not only for your own benefit, but also to be able
to become a kinder, more insightful, and sensitive person, one who is able to bring happiness and
peace to others. Take a moment to generate a similar, strong positive motivation in your own words.
Actual Meditation on Bare Attention

Now place your attention very specifically at the opening of your nostrils. As you inhale and exhale,
you will note very small sensations. Focus your attention on those subtle sensations. Those sensations
18
change with the rhythm of your breath. In this very subtle way, we observe our breathing.
Don’t follow your breath into your body or out into the surrounding environment. Simply focus on
your breath at the opening of your nostrils, like a gatekeeper who simply observes people as they go
in and out of the gate without following them, just watching them pass. In this way, concentrate on
the gentle rhythm of your breathing, in and out.
Sometimes your breathing will be deep and slow, at other times shallow and fast. You may feel
warmth or coolness as the air passes in and out. Just gently focus on your breathing, observing,
vigilant, without thinking, without judging. Just watch and let it be.
(Silent meditation for about four minutes.)
As we practice this mindfulness meditation, our objective is to watch with keen interest but in a
detached sort of way. When we do this, we can either focus the beam of our attention very tightly or
we can widen its somewhat. If you find that you are concentrating tightly on the point at the opening
of your nostrils, loosen the tone of your mind slightly, widen that beam of your attention.
Using the breath as an anchor, be vigilant for other things that may arise. When thoughts arise in your
mind simply let them come and observe them. Don’t get involved with them, simply watch them from
a slight distance. Let them come and let them go, and then, very gently, bring your mind back to the
breath, breathing in, breathing out, letting go.
If you find that your mind becomes caught up in the flow of thoughts, don’t get disturbed. Don’t
judge. These things just become further distractions. Simply take note and bring your mind softly back
to observing the breath. This is an integral part of the practice of mindfulness: waking up to whatever
is happening, being aware of whatever arises as it arises. Whatever appears in your mind don’t get
involved; simply observe, let it come and let it go. Meditate in this way for several more minutes.

Now to conclude. Whatever positive energy and understanding or insight we may have gained
through meditating mindfully in this way, whatever good results there may be from that, may we
dedicate those results to the happiness and peace of mind of ourselves and of all living beings: our
friends, our family, those people we’re having difficulty with, and all those many, many beings that we
don’t know but who also wish for happiness in their lives. May they all benefit from the positive
results of our efforts.
Now, having concluded the meditation, just sit for a moment, quietly, to reflect on this mindfulness
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method. Think about how you might find it useful during your daily activities, how you might find it
useful not only while sitting on your meditation seat, but throughout your day, how you might make
use of it. Reflect on this for a few minutes.
(online).
___________________________________________________________________________________
THE MEDITATION JOURNAL

One thing that I would suggest is that you get yourself a meditation journal, a little
notebook, where you keep notes of the experiences that you’re having in meditation, the
difficulties that you’re having, the questions that arise for you.
Whenever you do one of the meditations from this course, spend a couple of minutes after the
session reflecting on your experience of the meditation. If you find it helpful, you can also keep a
meditation journal in which you write a summary of what you experienced, including any difficulties
you might have had as well as any new insights you might have gained. You can use the online
meditation journal or a notebook, whichever works best for you.
Note: This journal is optional and will not be reviewed by the Meditation 101 elder.
___________________________________________________________________________________
THE POINTS FOR REFLECTION

You can reflect on the following questions either in the form of an analytical meditation while sitting
on your meditation seat or by writing out your answers while sitting at a table. You can contemplate
as many questions as you like at any one time. Begin each session of reflection by generating an
altruistic motivation.
1. What was your understanding of meditation prior to studying this session of teachings? Has
your understanding of what it means to meditate changed? Was your previous understanding
of meditation influenced by any of the common misunderstandings about meditation present
in your society or culture?
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2. What was your understanding of the purpose of meditation prior to this session of teachings?
Has your understanding changed? If so, what is your new understanding? Are you more or less
inspired to want to practice meditation on a regular basis?
3. Are there some particular thoughts and emotions that you would you like to work on reducing
with the help of meditation? Similarly, are there some particular thoughts and emotions that
you would you like to work on strengthening with the help of meditation?
4. What is concentration? What is mindfulness? How are they different? How do they work
together in different kinds of meditations?
5. When you meditate are their particular thoughts (worries, fantasies, memories, etc.) that arise
to distract you? Are you able to let them go and continue your meditation? Are there some
that are particularly difference to let go of?
Conclude the session by dedicating the positive energy you have created to be able to develop your
qualities and deepen your knowledge so as to be of more and more benefit to yourself and all
sentient beings, including the members of your family.
You can share your thoughts with the Meditation 101 elder using The Points for Reflection.
To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement, you need to comment on at least two of the above five points. Your
answers will be reviewed and commented on by the elder.
If you would like to share you reflections with other students, you can post them on the Discussion Forum. Please
also respond to other students' posts by sharing your reflections and experiences with them.
___________________________________________________________________________________
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22
Session 2: Mind in Buddhism
23
24
THE TEACHINGS
Part 1. Mind is Clarity and Awareness

___________________________________________________________________________________
The mind is the medium through which we are able to know ourselves and others, to know
the world around us. Our mind is able to be aware of both internal and external things.
Every state of mind that we experience, both positive states and negative states, can be
defined by these fundamental qualities of clarity and knowing.
___________________________________________________________________________________
You can either listen to the audio file—Session2-Part1-Mind_is_Clarity_and_Awareness.mp3 (duration: 33

minutes)—of Ven. Connie’s teaching or read the transcript of the teaching below.

[0:00] Find a comfortable position for meditation, paying special attention to your posture.
Remember the seven points, starting from the position of your head, which should be centered,
leaning neither left nor right, and just barely inclined forward. Your eyes can be closed or half closed
according to your preference. Your neck and jaw should be relaxed, not rigid or stiff. Pay special
attention to this area as this is where we hold a great deal of tension. Your teeth should be just lightly
touching and the tip of your tongue gently touching the back of your upper teeth. Your arms should
be slightly akimbo with space between your body and your arms so that air can pass, your hands
resting in your lap, right hand cradled in your left with your thumbs just gently touching, forming the
shape of a flame just below your navel. Whether you’re sitting on a cushion on the floor or in a chair,
your legs should be in a position of stability, a position that you can maintain without distraction or
without adjustment so that you can concentrate fully on your meditation.
Now take a few moments to focus on your breath in order to settle your mind. For each inhalation
and exhalation simply count in your mind silently, one; inhale, exhale, two; and so forth, keeping your
attention on the breath, on the rhythmic in and out cycle. Don’t try to control your breathing in any
way; just let it come and go naturally.
Maintain your focus on your breathing as you count all the way up to ten. If along the way you find
that you have become distracted, the mind wandering elsewhere, then just very gently take note of
this, without reacting, and bring your mind back to observing your breath. Start your count again at
25
one. Settle the mind with this breathing meditation.

Motivation for the Session

[7:26 min] Cultivate a positive motivation for this teaching session, for the actions of listening and
learning. Think about yourself seated in the room where you are. You may think of yourself as alone,
but actually you are not at all alone. All you have to do is broaden your perspective to take into
account an infinite number of living beings—all of the creatures, reptiles, insects, fish, birds, all of the
people in your neighborhood, in your city, in your state or province, in your country, on this planet.
Now come back to yourself for just a moment. Think about going through a day in your life, all of
the various activities and things that you do, decisions that you make, conversations that you have,
and think for a second about what motivates all those activities. Basically, at the most fundamental
level, all of us, yourself included, are trying to be happy, to be comfortable, to have a good life. We
are trying to avoid problems, to avoid pain and suffering, and to achieve some level of happiness in
our life. Not only is this true for you, it’s true for all human beings. It’s true for all living beings. We all
have this in common. Our methods may be very different but our underlying motivation, our goal, is
the same. And not only do we all want to be happy, we all deserve to be happy.
As your fundamental motivation for sitting here, for engaging in this course on meditation, is
already the wish for yourself to be happy, let’s see if we can’t expand that just a little bit because, if
we can act, not only for our own well-being, but in order to bring about the well-being and happiness
of others, then our lives truly become worthwhile and meaningful. It’s very easy to act on selfish
motives, to work for ourselves alone, but what’s truly meaningful is to be able to bring peace and
happiness to others.
Take a few moments now to generate just such a positive motivation, thinking something like:
“May I become a kinder, more compassionate, and wiser individual sensitive to the needs of others,
and helpful in fulfilling the needs of others, so that whoever I come in contact with might have greater
well-being in their lives. And may I achieve greater well-being as well.”
(Generate an altruistic motivation for learning about meditation)
Meditation Develops the Mind

[15:36 min] In this session, we are going to focus on what is the mind. The presentation of the mind
that I’m going to give you is rooted in Buddhist psychology. I’ve found it to be a useful model and I
hope you find it to be useful as well.
At the beginning of this course, I said very clearly that you don’t have to become a Buddhist or be a
Buddhist to take this course, to gain benefit from this course. Nevertheless, since most of the
techniques, and the theory that these techniques are based on, come from Buddhism, I believe that
it’s helpful to you to have a bit of context. So let me just talk for one moment about the goal of
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Buddhist practice.
From the standpoint of a dedicated practitioner of Buddhism, the goal is very simple: to become a
buddha. What does that mean? If we look at the etymology of the word “buddha,” it’s a Sanskrit word
and it means “to wake up,” to become conscious or aware. Generally, it’s used as a generic title for
anyone who’s attained perfect spiritual awakening. So, to wake up to what? Basically, to wake up to
our own true nature and to the true nature of everything around us, to stop being asleep.
When translated into the Tibetan language the word for “buddha” is sanggye. Etymologically
speaking, this term has two syllables that combine in order to convey the meaning of “buddha.” The
first syllable, sang, means “awakened” or “purified,” and the second syllable, gye, means “fully
developed.” On the one hand we have purified all faults, and, on the other hand, we have fully
developed all qualities. So we are seeking to wake up from an unconscious state, a state of confusion
and ignorance, to a state in which our full potential has been developed and awakened.
A buddha is fully awake, open, and free from obscurations. His or her mind is completely luminous,
clear, free of faults. All of the positive qualities that we associate with spiritual awakening—endless
compassion, profound wisdom, infinite spiritual energy and power—have been perfectly attained and
are spontaneously expressed by someone who has reached the state of a buddha, full enlightenment.
This is the ultimate goal for a Mahayana Buddhist. But if this is the long-term goal, we have to be
practical. Just like when we build a huge skyscraper, we start with the foundation and we build
upward, brick by brick, level by level, a practitioner has to be fully cognizant of where he or she is on
this path of awakening and then dedicate himself or herself to taking the next step, not trying to make
a huge unrealistic leap to the end of the path. Whether we look upon our meditation practice as a
spiritual practice, it is a practice of inner development for ourselves, and that can only take place one
step at a time.
One other point about Buddhists is in Buddha’s time and in the centuries afterwards Buddhists
weren’t called “Buddhists”; they were called “inner beings.” This meant those who look for spiritual
awakening, for inner development, within themselves. Meditation allows us to get involved in that
process of inner development and as we learn more about our minds, not theoretically but
experientially, we’ll be able to gain more and more experience of how this inner development takes
place.
Without such a process, most of our life is spent in a state that’s not too far off from sleepwalking.
We go through our days doing this, doing that, working, shopping, relating to the people around us,
eating, watching TV, washing the dishes, and so on. Our lives are full of doing, lots of busyness, but
there’s very little stillness. There is very little looking inside and just being. There is very little
awareness of what’s happening at a deeper, inner level beneath the doing—what’s driving all that
doing. And sometimes we are pretty much asleep at the surface level as well: we drop things, we stub
our toe, we walk into a door, we inadvertently run a red light, we get angry with someone. All of
these are signs that we are not very awake.
So meditation becomes a process of uncovering, of peeling away layers, shining a light on levels of
27
consciousness beneath the surface of our gross day-to-day awareness, taking a look at hidden areas
of the mind where our unconscious intentions reside. These unconscious intentions push us and pull
us in all sorts of directions, directions that we don’t foresee because we are not aware of what’s
happening. As we uncover more and more layers, we also become aware of the deepest, most
profound, and fundamental level of our minds, underlying all the specific states of mind that we can
experience. This is actually where the deepest inner transformation takes place.
Definition of “Mind”
[26:40 min] Let’s take some time now to look at the mind. What is it? How does it work? The
definition of the mind, of consciousness—I’ll be using these two terms synonymously—is “mere
clarity and awareness.” We can also talk about these defining aspects of the mind as luminosity,
which would be synonymous with clarity, and knowing. The mind is the medium through which we
are able to know ourselves and others, to know the world around us. Our mind is able to be aware of
both internal and external things. Every state of mind that we experience, both positive states and
negative states, can be defined by these fundamental qualities of clarity and knowing.
Let’s go into these terms that make up this definition as each one gives us a clue. “Clarity” or
“luminosity” is the kind of illumination of the objects of the mind that enable awareness to take place.
“Awareness,” on the other hand, is this knowing function—knowing the object, holding or grasping
the object, engaging the object. Illumination is the quality of that knowing that is experienced. The
initial word of the definition, “mere,” means that clarity and luminosity are enough. Nothing else
needs to be present, nothing else needs to be going on, for there to be mind.
If you think further, you can see also from this definition that consciousness or mind is not physical.
It has neither form nor color, so it’s clearly not the brain. It does, however, have a very close intimate
relationship with the human brain and with the sense organs: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body. In a
human being, for example, the mind depends on the brain, the nervous system, and the sense organs
for its functions and expression. But the brain itself, that gray matter, is not consciousness. It’s not the
mind.
This experiential consciousness, our mind, which is clear and aware, which knows objects, is not
physical and it can’t be found in the physical world. It can be understood as an occurrence, which is
expressed and experienced through the brain, the nervous system, and by means of our physical
actions and our speech. We have thoughts and opinions, ideas and emotions, and all of these are
generated in our mind and expressed via our brain, our body, and our voice. But those opinions and
emotions are not the brain, they are not the sense organs, they are not the nervous system. There is
clearly an interconnection, but they are two different things, one with form and matter and the
other—clarity and luminosity and awareness.
Of course, especially now there’s a lot of scientific study going on about all of this, whether mind
even exists or if there is only brain. But there are no final conclusions. You shouldn’t just believe or
not believe what I’m telling you; you should investigate. When you perceive an object, when you hear
28
my voice, for example, where is that awareness? Is that awareness in your ear? What is that
awareness? Is it your ear itself? Or is your ear merely a conduit? Question your perceptions, question
your experiences, investigate these things so that you can come to your own conclusions on the basis
of your own experiences.
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Part 2. Mind is a Continuity

___________________________________________________________________________________
The stream of consciousness is a ceaseless flow of changing thoughts, changing emotions,

always changing, hardly ever still. Sometimes tinged with happiness, sometimes wrought
with anger or sadness, sometimes calmer, sometimes more agitated and upset, sometimes
positive, sometimes negative, but always all of these fluctuations are within that field of
clarity and knowing.
___________________________________________________________________________________
You can either listen to the audio file—Session2-Part2-Mind_is_a_Continuity.mp3 (duration: 16 minutes)—of Ven.
Connie’s teaching or read the transcript of the teaching below.
Mind is a Stream of Moments

[0:00 min] Our consciousness—this illumination and awareness—is a continuity, like a stream or a
flow. This is one way we can think of the continuous nature of our minds. Within Buddhism we talk
about beginningless mind; that our mind is a continuum from moment to moment and that we can’t
find a beginning to it. But you can, in fact, sit quietly and very easily experience the moment-by-
moment stream of your consciousness. The nature of this momentary stream of consciousness is
fluidity, change, impermanence, and in actuality it’s free from any inherent or essential
characteristics. Go back to the initial definition: mere awareness and luminosity. All of the contents of
our minds, all of our states of mind, the different feelings and emotions that arise, are extra. They are
optional. They come and they go. They are transitory. We still have mind, which is fundamental
awareness and luminosity, even without those contents. That stream of consciousness is a ceaseless
flow of changing thoughts, changing emotions, always changing, hardly ever still. Sometimes tinged
with happiness, sometimes wrought with anger or sadness, sometimes calmer, sometimes more
agitated and upset, sometimes positive, sometimes negative, but always all of these fluctuations are
within that field of clarity and knowing.
As you are trying to maintain your awareness of the breath in the counting the breaths meditation,
or as you our trying to practice bare attention, does it seem like your mind is never still? That all of
these contents, thoughts, emotions, images, past and future, are like a chaotic stream? They never
settle down and they carry your awareness away and distract you.
It’s actually said in the Buddhist teachings that in the space of one finger snap there are sixty-five
mind moments. That’s a whole lot going on continuously. In each of those moments, something is
happening in the mind, something is arising. How much of that are we actually aware of? We are
30
lucky if we are aware of one thought over several seconds.

Wow, sixty-five things happening in just one finger snap; that may seem really complicated and
impossible to manage or control. But, actually, the experience in meditation is that as you practice, as
you become more and more adept, all of those moments begin to slow down. They become
distinguishable, discrete, perceivable. And in each of those moments, you have the opportunity for
choice. In any one of those moments, you can change the direction of your life for better or for worse.
Right now, it’s constantly changing and you’re not aware. You are not in control. But, by becoming
aware, by waking up, by unpeeling those layers and shining a light on all of those moments, you have
the opportunity to choose.
Individual Moments of Mind

[6:59 min] Let’s look at these moments. Each moment of consciousness is a discrete, individual
experience. Each moment is dependent upon and arises from the previous moment. That’s why we
have a flow, a stream—one moment leads to the next, which leads to the next. Our mind, again, is not
physical; it’s not the body. So the cause of our mind is also not the body; it’s not the brain, it’s not the
chemicals, it’s not our nervous system. The body has physical causes: two human beings come
together, and sperm and ovum meet, and this gives rise to a human body. However, consciousness,
which is mere clarity and awareness, can only arise from a similar nonphysical cause. The core cause
of each moment of consciousness—each of our thoughts, emotions, projections—is the mind
moment that went before. Mind causes mind. The body has physical causes; our consciousness is
caused by the previous moment of consciousness.
Now because each of these moments is, in fact, an individual discrete moment of consciousness, of
awareness, it’s not possible for us to have more than one mental event occurring at one time. We
don’t have multiple streams of consciousness going simultaneously. For example, if you are
experiencing a moment of anger, you cannot at the same moment have a moment of love. This is an
important thing to remember. This is especially important when it comes to transforming our minds.
It’s especially important when we begin to think about how to change our mental habits. In other
words, if you are in the middle of an experience of a positive attitude, positive thinking, you create
within yourself an experience in which there is no place for negativity to arise because you can only
have one thing going on at any given time. If you are cultivating, for example, a positive attitude of
patience and forgiveness, you cannot also generate anger. There is no place for anger at that
moment. This is what many of our practices in meditation are all about: learning how to cultivate,
how to generate, these positive attitudes that transform the mind, leaving no space for the negative
habits that we have engaged with in the past to arise. Because our stream of consciousness is always
changing, is always impermanent, this kind of transformation becomes possible. Nothing is fixed.
Everything is changeable. Everything can be transformed into the positive.
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Moments of Mind Leave Imprints

[12:52 min] Each of these mind-moments that we have, and the attitude, the thought, the emotion
that arises within each moment, leaves an impression within us. Sometimes we call these “imprints.”
These impressions become stronger and stronger, the more and more similar types of imprints we
leave. For example, each moment of anger that we have leaves an anger imprint on our minds, and
the more moments of anger we engage with, the stronger and stronger those imprints become. This
is how we develop inner emotional and attitudinal habits. This is why, for example, the more we
continue to get angry, the more it becomes our habitual reaction pattern. Or the more we are
compassionate and kind, the more we develop this as a habit, as the way we react to difficulty and to
suffering.
Although everything is impermanent, that doesn’t mean that it’s nothing. That doesn’t mean that it
doesn’t have consequences, effects. This too is an element that we take into account in this process
of inner transformation. The more we generate positive attitudes, the less space there is for negative
attitudes, negative reactions, harmful reactions. The more impressions of a positive kind we are
leaving within ourselves, the more we are developing these positive attitudes as positive inner habits.
Meditation is our method for changing these inner habits. The practice of meditation gives us, each
day, an intensive period of concentration, of mindfulness, of focusing inward. Throughout the rest of
our day, our attention is often scattered. It’s diffuse. It’s not focused. Hopefully we can bring the skills
that we gain through our meditation practice into the rest of our day and the rest of our life. But it’s
important for inner transformation to take place that we have a period each day where that is our
singular focus through our meditation practice.
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Part 3. Mind is Like the Sky and the Ocean

___________________________________________________________________________________
Meditation gives us space, gives us the opportunity to make choices, and, most
importantly, gives us the opportunity to take responsibility for our own well-being.
___________________________________________________________________________________
You can either listen to the audio file—Session2-Part3-Mind_is_Like_the_Sky_and_Ocean.mp3 (28 minutes)—of

Ven. Connie’s teaching or read the transcript of the teaching below.
Mind in Terms of Analogies

[0:00 min] We’ve talked about the definition of mind, of consciousness: mere clarity and knowing.
We’ve talked about what that means. We’ve talked about the mind as a continuity, an ever-changing
flow of thoughts, emotions, mental events, all sorts of mental contents. Let’s think about the mind for
a moment in terms of an analogy. Let’s think about the fundamental basic, profound quality of our
mind—it’s clear and knowing nature—in terms of the sky. The sky is huge, enormous, vast. It doesn’t
have boundaries. It’s clear. There is no obstruction. Our minds, our fundamental consciousness, are
clear in a similar way.
All sorts of things pass through the sky: birds, airplanes, rockets, clouds. The sky, that spacious,
vast quality, isn’t really affected. The clouds come, the clouds go; there’s still the sky. The sky doesn’t
get perturbed at the presence of all these things. There is a calm, vast, spaciousness that allows for all
those things and yet remains untouched.
Now think about your mind. It’s very much similar to this. The natural, peaceful, pristine, clarity of
your mind is filled with thoughts and emotions, things you’ve heard, memories, thinking about
tomorrow, images, music; all sorts of things floating around in there. All these contents can arise
because of this mere clarity and awareness that is the fundamental quality of your mind. That
fundamental quality remains completely untouched by the arising of all of these mental contents.
They are like the clouds passing through the sky.
When we meditate, especially the meditation on bare awareness, when we take the perspective of
that observer, when we simply step back just a bit and observe all those thoughts arising, emotions
arising, it’s as if we take the perspective of our clear fundamental mind. We take the perspective of
the sky. Thoughts arise and pass away. Emotions bubble to the surface and dissipate. And still there is
this vast, clear, calm, spaciousness of our mind, of our consciousness. We identify with that and we
dis-identify with all of the busyness, all of the turbulence, of the arising thoughts, emotions, and so
on.
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Meditation on Mind Like the Sky

Put yourself in a comfortable position for meditation. Focus on your breathing for a minute or so to
calm your mind. Let go of your thoughts, simply focus and concentrate on your breathing. If it’s
helpful you can engage in the meditation of counting the breaths in order to aid your focus.
Now very, very gently loosen your concentration just slightly from your breath in order to be able to
watch your mind. Whatever thoughts, sounds, inner sensations, whatever enters your field of
awareness, just observe it without getting involved, without reacting.
Your field of awareness is vast and spacious. It is calm and silent. It is clear and luminous, like the sky.
Whatever thoughts or mental contents arise, think of them as like clouds. Simply observe them as
they arise, as they change, as they pass away. Identify with the sky, with the clarity of your mind, and
let all other things simply come and go.
(Silent meditation for four minutes.)
Meditation on Mind Like the Ocean

[16:35] The meditation on the mind like the ocean is very similar to this meditation on the mind like
the sky, simply using a different metaphor. These metaphors can help you to understand more deeply
the process that you’re experiencing as you meditate. Some people relate to the metaphor of the sky
better and others relate to the metaphor of the ocean, thinking of the fish and the turbulence at the
surface of the ocean as the thoughts and emotions that we experience in the mind. When we go into
the depths of the ocean, we are going into the depths of our fundamental mind, our consciousness,
that is merely clear and knowing, that’s peaceful and vast, where that turbulence is calmed.
Try both of these meditations and see if one or the other works better for you or if, perhaps, they
work in different situations. This will be up to you to discover in your own practice.
Mind Observes the Mind and Makes Choices

[18:01 min] In all of these mindfulness meditations, the key point is the role that we take as
observers. We’ve talked about the mind as a flow, a stream, of individual mind moments. We’ve
talked about the fact that as our meditation practice deepens, that flow slows down, time shifts, and
we are much more able to experience that flow moment by moment, rather than in huge coarse
blocks of many, many moments lumped together. This role as an observer, seeing how one moment
leads to another, dis-identifying ourselves from those thoughts and emotions that are arising and
simply watching them, allows us to make choices. Each moment is an opportunity for choice. As
negative thoughts are arising, as observers we can choose to follow them or not, to engage with them
or not, to identify with them or not. As positive attitudes arise, positive thoughts and emotions, we
can choose to engage and identify, to follow or not.
We talked about how each mind moment leaves an impression within us, but there are ways of
34
manipulating and managing those impressions. If we have angry emotions that begin to arise within
us and we completely engage with those angry emotions and become angry, then the impressions
that we leave are deep and strong. But if we see the emotion of anger start to bubble up and arise
within us and we simply observe, we give that emotion no energy, we don’t identify with it, it simply
peters out. Granted, if we have strong habitual patterns for anger, it may not easily peter out right
away, it may not fade. It may have a great deal of momentum behind it because of the past
impressions we’ve put into our minds. But nevertheless, if we simply observe and don’t identify, it will
dissipate, whereas if we identify and engage, it will only gain momentum and make us miserable.
As observers, we have power. We can make choices. Each of those moments can send our life into
a positive or negative direction. If those moments are arising and we are not aware of them, we have
no control over our emotions and so on. But as aware, awake, watchful observers, we take that
power to choose back.
Additionally, the mere process of dis-identifying ourselves from these emotional arisings in our
minds, this turbulence of emotion, shifting from one emotion to another, creates immense peace and
space and relaxation inside of us. It’s finally calm and quiet. There may be a lot of turmoil that we are
observing and watching but because we are not identifying, because we are not giving that turmoil
energy, it eventually calms down.
How many times have we had a really busy day and come home and sat down in a chair and just
gone: “Whew, I really need some peace and quiet.” This is where we can find it—right inside
ourselves. We can find peace and quiet and calm, even in the midst of great activity around us, by
simply withdrawing our attention, going inward and watching our breath.
This is one of the advantages of a meditation practice. As we learn in our sessions to disengage, to
find that quiet space, to choose between the thoughts and emotions that bring us happiness and well-
being and the thoughts and emotions that bring us problems and suffering, we can carry those skills
into our every day busy lives. Those skills of being able to observe what’s happening in our minds, to
go deeper and be aware and awake, to be mindful all the time, carry over into our workday, into our
active hours. They don’t just stay on our meditation cushion; they affect how we live our lives in very
positive ways.
Meditation gives us space, gives us the opportunity to make choices, and, most importantly, gives
us the opportunity to take responsibility for our own well-being.
35
Part 4. Mind is the Source of Everything

___________________________________________________________________________________
Our mind is the source of our happiness and suffering, but generally this is not how we live.
We see things outside of ourselves as being the causes of our inner well-being or our inner
distress. The people we like, we think they make us happy. The people we don’t like, we
think they make us suffer.
___________________________________________________________________________________
You can either listen to the audio file—Session2-Part4-Mind_is_the_Source_of_Everything.mp3 (duration: 22

minutes)—of Ven. Connie’s teaching or read the transcript of the teaching below.
Mind is the Source of Happiness and Suffering

[0:00 min] Let’s think about happiness and suffering. Where do happiness and suffering come from?
Think about the last time you had a really nice experience that made you happy. Where was that
happiness? Outside of yourself? In your stomach? Where was that experience?
Think about a situation that you have experienced where your reaction was disproportionate to
the external situation. For example, things are going disastrously, everything around you seems to be
falling apart, everyone else is really upset or angry or unhappy, and you’re just fine. Somehow it’s not
a problem. Or, conversely, everything seems like its going wrong, but everybody else is doing just fine,
and somehow you’re the one who’s falling apart. Where is the experience of the happiness or
unhappiness? Outside of yourself or inside yourself? In the externals or in your mind?
The thing is our mind is the source of our happiness and suffering, but generally this is not how we
live. We see things around us as being the sources of our happiness and the sources of our suffering.
We see things outside of ourselves as being the causes of our inner well-being or our inner distress.
The people we like, we think they make us happy. The people we don’t like, we think they make us
suffer.
Some people adore chocolate and when they’re unhappy, that’s the first place they go. Ice cream,
friends, the latest movie, to all of these things outside of ourselves we attribute power over our well-
being. We put our expectations into these things, but none of these things are inherently satisfying.
They will always disappoint us. They cannot provide lasting satisfaction. It’s simply impossible. Our
expectations of them are misplaced and, to the degree that we hold onto this view that our happiness
and our suffering somehow come to us from outside, we have relinquished our control over our own
well-being, and we are holding on to a fundamentally mistaken view of our own psychological reality.
External things cannot provide us with the lasting contentment and inner peace that we are looking
36
for. Sometimes chocolate will make us feel better; sometimes, if we eat too much, it will make us sick.
Think about this in depth: as long as we are counting on things that are unreliable, we’ll never be able
to find deep and lasting, fulfilling happiness in life.
If we observe the mind carefully in order to understand more clearly where our happiness and
where our suffering come from, we begin to learn a bit about our states of mind and how they make
us feel. Positive states of mind are those that contribute to our fundamental well-being, and negative
states of mind are those that take away from that, that bring us problems. It’s important that we
observe carefully what our states of mind are and how they affect us.
Nine-Round Breathing Meditation

[8:07 min] We are going to do one more meditation during this session. The nine-round breathing
meditation comes from the more esoteric collection of meditation practices that are contained in
Buddhist tantra. It’s a very simple but very profound method that helps to clear up the energy
channels in the body and make the mind more serviceable for meditation. In tantra, it’s explained
that there are subtle energies in the body that are known as winds. These are very similar to, if not
synonymous with, chi in Chinese medicine and prana in Indian yoga. The mind is said to ride on these
winds, very much like a rider on a horse. If the winds are serviceable, flowing, then the mind is also
serviceable, able to function well. The nine-round breathing meditation is a way to bring balance to
these winds as they flow through the body and thus bring balance to the mind. For us, this is a
method that can help us to bring the mind to neutral in order to generate a positive motivation for
our meditation. We’ve also done the counting the breaths meditation. Breathing meditations are
helpful to practice at the start of the session because they make use of a completely natural
automatic process: our own breath. The nine-round breathing meditation is one of the particular
methods that my teacher, Lama Thubten Yeshe, taught to his students to help prepare the mind for
an effective meditation.
To start adjust your posture. Make sure that you’re sitting in a relaxed position, that your body isn’t
stiff or rigid, that your position is one that you feel you can maintain with some stability.
In this meditation we rely on a visualization, a mental image. This is slightly different than the
meditations we’ve done so far. If you have difficulty with visualization or just difficulty at the
beginning because it’s new process, don’t worry about it. Do the best that you can. That’s all right.
We are going to visualize within our bodies three tubes of light. Visualize the first starting at the point
just between your two eyebrows. This tube of light is about the size in diameter of your little finger. It
runs from that point between your eyebrows, inside your skull up and back, a bit like the handle of an
umbrella, and then down through the center of your body just in front of your spine to a point about
four finger widths below your navel. Imagine this tube is very soft and flexible and luminous.
37
Now imagine there are two slightly smaller tubes, or channels, each running on the right and left sides
of this central channel. These two lateral channels are slightly smaller in diameter, like the size of the
straw. They too are very soft and flexible and luminous. They each begin at the opening of your
nostrils, one on the right, one on the left. They too run upward inside your skull, one on each side of
the central channel, and then down through the center of your body, just in front of your spine, to the
same point four finger widths below your navel. At the bottommost point, all three channels join.
They flow into each other.
We are going to do three rounds of three breaths each, one breath being made up of an inhalation
and an exhalation. The first round, take your index finger and, as you inhale, close your left nostril and
breathe in through your right nostril and imagine the air flows all the way down the right channel.
When you exhale, move your finger, close your right nostril, and exhale out your left nostril, imagining
that the air flows upward through the left channel and out. Just concentrate on imagining this
visualization as you breathe in through the right and out through the left three times. If you’re
uncomfortable for any reason using your finger to close your nostrils, it’s not necessary. You can
simply do this meditation through your imagination. Either way is fine.
For the next round, we close our right nostril and breathe in through the left nostril, imagining the
air flowing down through the left channel. Then close the left nostril and exhale out through the right,
imagining the air flowing up and out through the right channel. In through the left, out through the
right—three times.
For the last round of three, breathe in through both nostrils, imagining that the air flows through
both the right and left channels, all the way down to the bottom. Then, as you exhale, imagine that
the air flows up and out the central channel. Of course, physically you’ll be exhaling through your
nostrils, but in your visualization imagine that the air comes up through your central channel and exits
through the opening between your brows.
We’ll do this nine-round breathing meditation for a couple of rounds. Remember, breathe in
through the right and out through the left three times; breathe in through the left and out through
the right three times; and breathe in through both nostrils and out through the central channel three
times. As you breathe, breathe quietly and do the meditation at your own pace. When you’ve
practiced a couple of rounds, relax your concentration and bring your meditation to a close.
(Do three rounds of the nine-round breathing meditation.)
Conclusion and Dedication

[20:20 min] Since we created a positive motivation at the beginning of this session, take a moment to
remember that motivation. As you’ve been listening to these teachings a great deal of positive energy
and insights have been generated. That energy, those impressions and imprints in your mind, will
ripen for you in the form of positive experiences in the future, but you can share the results of this
38
positive energy that we have created together through dedicating it to the welfare of not just yourself
but of others. May they experience the good results as well. May you bring happiness and well-being
into the lives of others as a result of this positive energy. May the world benefit from whatever
positive energy all of us create in big and small ways, so that all living beings may be free from
suffering and experience happiness and true well-being.
39
___________________________________________________________________________________

Before you move on to the third teaching session, I would suggest that you practice a
number of times the meditations associated with this session: mind like the sky, mind like
the ocean, and the nine-round breathing meditation. After each meditation, take a few
moments for reflection and jot down a few notes about your experiences, including your
insights, your questions, the things that you’d like to work on that you found difficult as
you were meditating, and the successes that you had. Make sure that at the end of each
session you take a moment to rejoice in the progress that you have made and the insights
that you have gained. This is very important in order to keep the momentum going in your
meditation practice.
Meditation 3: Mind Like the Sky

time and a conducive situation for meditation, do the following meditation on mind like the sky, while either:
❖ listening to the audio file—Meditation03-Mind_Like_the_Sky.mp3 (duration: 45 minutes)—of Ven. Connie

Miller’s guided meditation or
Sit Comfortably
To start, find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. Prepare your meditation seat and sit there,
whether it’s on the chair or a cushion. Once you’re in a sitting position, check your posture. Go
through the seven points with regard to meditation posture. Your legs should be in a position that
helps you to be stable while you meditate. Your hands should be in your lap, left hand cradling right,
with your thumbs gently touching. Your arms should be slightly away from your body, allowing air to
move. Your shoulders should be level, your head centered, not leaning left or right, and inclined only
very slightly forward. Your mouth and jaw should be relaxed, your tongue resting very gently against
your upper palate and the back of your upper teeth. Your back should be straight. This is the most
important point. This allows the energy to flow freely within your body and helps your mind to remain
clear and alert.
Calm the Mind

Once you’ve settled your body into a comfortable and suitable position for meditation, take a few
moments to focus your mind, to allow your mind to settle and become calm and ready for meditation.
It’s helpful to do one of the breathing meditations, counting your breaths (p. 16), the nine-round
breathing meditation (p. 46), and so on, according to your own preference and what you find most
40
effective for you. Take a few moments to meditate on the breath in order to calm and settle your
mind.

Now take a moment to clarify your motivation. For every action that we do, there are reasons.
Sometimes those reasons are conscious; sometimes they are not. If we focus on generating a clear
and conscious motivation, we can in fact transform even small action in our life into an official
activity. Take a moment to think about the other people in your life, people that you have contact
with every day. Some of those people you care about deeply, they are your friends, your family, and
so on. Some of those people you have difficulty with, they irritate you or make you angry, or perhaps
the other way around, they are angry or irritated at you. And still others, so many others, we simply
encounter in passing. We don’t know them; they don’t know us.
These are all the people of our lives and with every encounter, whether brief or lasting, we have an
effect on them. Remembering the effects that each of us has on the others in our lives, think first
about what you want—to be happy, to have peace of mind, to be free from problems—and then
remember that each and every one of those other individuals, whether friends, enemies, or strangers,
wants the same thing.
Try to expand the good wishes you have for yourself and your own welfare to include the well-being
of all those other individuals. Think that you are engaging in this meditation in order to develop your
wiser and kinder side so that not only you can be happy, but you can spread happiness to others as
well. Take a few moments to generate just such a positive motivation in your own words in your own
mind.
Actual Meditation on the Mind Like the Sky

Now we’ll move into the main portion of this meditation session. Place your attention on your
breathing, the rhythm of in and out, in and out. This time we are going to focus our attention on the
lower abdomen. Be aware of the gentle expansion and contraction as you inhale and exhale. One
advantage to focusing the mind at this point is that it helps to settle the mind. It brings the mind
down, literally, and is especially helpful if your mind is somewhat agitated or excited, a bit too
energetic. Just breathe naturally and gently; don’t try to control your breathing. Center your mind in
that gentle cyclic rhythm of inhalation and exhalation. Sometimes your breath will be long and deep,
sometimes shallow and fast. Whatever is happening, just let it happen. Just watch, observe.
(Silent meditation for about five minutes.)
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Now as thoughts or emotions, mental images, maybe sounds in the environment, arise to distract you
from your awareness of the breath, just take note of them when they appear. Let them come,
observe them, and let them go as they pass. Don’t get involved with them. Don’t start thinking those
thoughts. Just be aware when they arise, observe them, and then bring your mind back to the breath.
Sometimes you’ll find that such distractions actually carry your mind away, sometimes without your
even realizing it. But when you do become aware, don’t judge, don’t get upset, just take note and
very gently bring your mind back to observing your breathing. Think of yourself as a cool, scientific
observer in your inner laboratory: neutral, detached, but very vigilant, very interested, very awake
and aware.
(Silent meditation for about one minute.)
Our minds are completely clear, spacious, infinitely spacious. Whatever appears within the sphere of
our consciousness can only appear there because of the absolute clarity and spaciousness of our
minds. Think of your mind, your consciousness, as like the sky: open, clear, luminous, and spacious.
All of these things that arise in the mind—our thoughts, our feelings, our sensory experiences, such as
things that we hear or see—are like clouds. If we focus on them too tightly, get involved with them,
it’s as if they fill that sky. It’s as if they are all that there is. Instead, our consciousness is this enormous
spaciousness within which all of these objects simply arise. They arise and they pass away. They come
and they go.
Concentrate on your experience of this vast spacious clarity. Identify with it. When thoughts arise,
there is no need to identify with them. The sky doesn’t worry about the clouds; it lets them come and
lets them go. See these thoughts, images, sounds, emotions that arise within your consciousness as
just like the clouds. Watch them. Let them be. The clarity and spaciousness of your mind isn’t
compromised by their presence, just as the sky isn’t compromised by the clouds. They merely come
and go.
Your consciousness is clear and luminous, spacious and vast, just like the sky. Identify with that
quality, with that experience. Whatever thoughts or mental events arise within this great open
spaciousness of your mind, let them come, just observe, and let them go.
(Silent meditation for about five minutes.)
Whenever we identify with or are carried away by a thought, a feeling, we lose our awareness of this
spacious clarity of our mind. Each thought or feeling occurs within this clarity, within this vast clear
42
and knowing nature of our consciousness, but we forget the big perspective, that big space, and
instead our perspective becomes small and constricted. It’s as if all there are are clouds and we’ve lost
the sky. Consequently, we lose that wonderful open spaciousness.
But when we can step back, just slightly, and simply observe these thoughts and feelings that are
rising within this larger field of openness and clarity, when we can observe them without
involvement, without latching onto them, then we can identify with this sky rather than the clouds.
We can reside in that spacious purity of our basic clarity of mind. That space is not only clear and vast,
but there’s a sense of calm and peacefulness when we are residing in that space: free of agitation,
free of upsetting thoughts, of delusions, free of anxiety. We experience a certain sense of deep
satisfaction because we are not being pulled this way and that by our attachments and our aversions.
Continue to practice this meditation on the mind as like the sky for several more minutes.
(Silent meditation for about three minutes.)

Now, to bring our meditation to a close, remember the motivation that you cultivated at the start of
this session and think to yourself that because of having engaged with this meditation, you have
created positive energy, a positive effect, within your own mind, and that positive effect will have
ramifications. It will bring results both now and in the future. Let us dedicate and share those results
so that not only we may experience the peace and well-being that arise from them, but that other
living beings everywhere may also experience those results of peace and well-being in their lives. As
we become wiser and more compassionate individuals, may we be able to bring happiness to all the
others whose lives we touch.
(online).
Meditation 4: Mind Like the Ocean

time and a conducive situation for meditation, do the following meditation on mind like the ocean, while either:
❖ listening to the audio file: Meditation04-Mind_Like_the_Ocean.mp3 (duration: 31 minutes) or
43
Sit Comfortably
Sit comfortably on your meditation seat. Spend a few moments assessing your posture and position.
Use the various guidelines of the seven-point meditation posture to help you find a most appropriate
position that’s conducive for meditation. Pay special attention to your shoulders, neck, jaw, and head.
If you’re holding any tension or rigidity, especially in your neck and shoulders and your jaw, then relax
that tension. Finally, pay special attention to your back. Make sure your back is straight while at the
same time not being stiff or rigid.
Calm the Mind

Take a few moments to focus on your breathing in order to calm and settle your mind. You can count
the breaths (p. 16) or utilize the nine-round the breathing meditation (p. 46). Whatever breathing
meditation works for you and is especially effective, do that. Take a few moments to prepare your
mind for meditation.

Now generate a strong positive motivation. Setting our motivation is like creating the foundation for
our meditation to be able to work. Normally the reasons that underlie the things that we do focus
exclusively on ourselves—our own needs and wants. But when we meditate we try to expand our
perspective to take into account the needs and wants, not only of ourselves, but also of others. We
are not alone in this world and all of our own happiness depends on others around us. So we try to
generate a motivation that seeks to benefit ourselves and others too, to bring happiness and well-
being to all beings rather than only to ourselves.
One of the ways that meditation can benefit us is by helping us to overcome our self-centered, selfish
attitudes. And just the simple act of creating a motivation that is concerned for the welfare of others
helps us to do this. So think that you are meditating now in order to become a kinder, wiser, and
more compassionate individual. Think that you are meditating not just for yourself, but also for the
sake of other living beings. Take a few moments to cultivate just such a positive motivation in your
own mind, in your own way, and in your own words.
Actual Meditation on the Mind Like the Ocean

Now very gently focus your attention on your breathing. Allow your awareness to rest on the in and
out cycle of your breath as you inhale and exhale. Bring your attention to your lower abdomen where
you can feel a gentle rising and falling each time you breathe in and breathe out. Use this awareness
of your breathing, that rising and falling of your abdomen, to center and ground your awareness.
Breathe naturally, don’t try to manipulate or control your breathing at all. Anchor your mind in this
44
very rhythmic cycle of rising and falling with each in and out of the breath.
When thoughts arise, or you hear sounds in the environment, whatever appears to distract your
awareness away from the breath, just let these things go without reacting, without getting involved,
and gently bring your mind back to the breath.
Sit quietly and still, breathing in, breathing out. Whatever arises, simply observe it and let it go. Your
field of awareness within which appears the breath, your thoughts, sounds, sensations, is clear and
limpid, completely spacious, luminous. You can think of your consciousness as like the ocean: vast,
clear, without end. In the ocean, the deeper you go, the more quiet and serene is the environment.
On the surface there is lots of activity—churning, waves, agitation, ships, buoys, lots of things
happening, lots of things passing—but in the depths of the ocean it is quiet and clear.
The thoughts that arise, even when our mind is quiet, are like fish: they come and they go. The ocean
doesn’t get attached to the fish. It doesn’t follow them. It doesn’t react to them. Our consciousness,
our awareness, is like the clear transparent water through which the fish swim: clear, vast, and
spacious. The nature of our mind is clarity, awareness, luminosity, and all the mental events—
thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations, images, and so on—simply arise within that clear, luminous
nature. The surface of our minds have lots of activity, so many thoughts, feelings, constant
turbulence, but in meditation we can go deeper. We can learn to experience the depths of our minds,
to experience that clear nature where our minds are calm, quiet, concentrated, and aware; like going
into the depths of the ocean.
Using your breath as an anchor, following the rhythm of the in and out of your breathing, and letting
go of the arising of thoughts and distractions, letting them pass, observing them, simply focus on this
meditation for the next few minutes.
(Silent meditation for about seven minutes.)
Whenever we identify with or are carried away uncontrollably by a thought or a feeling, we lose
awareness of this spacious clarity of our minds. Our perspective becomes small, tight, constricted. It’s
as if all there are are the waves, the fish, the noisy ships, and foghorns. We’ve lost the depths of the
ocean. We’ve lost that open and quiet spaciousness of the depths of our own minds. But when we
simply observe these thoughts and feelings arising, without involvement and without reaction, then
we reside in the ocean. We reside in that spacious purity of our own basic clarity and awareness of
mind. Then we experience calm, peace, open spaciousness, without agitation, without anxiety,
without dissatisfaction.
45

Whatever taste or experience we may have had of this wonderful, blissful clarity of mind that is within
each of us, let us dedicate that experience and its continuation to the happiness and benefit of all
living beings, ourselves included. May each of us find that state of calm, clarity, and peaceful
happiness as soon as possible and be able to share it with others.
(online).
Meditation 5: Nine-Round Breathing

time and a conducive situation for meditation, do the following meditation on the nine-round breathing, while
either:
❖ listening to the audio file: Meditation05-Nine_Round_Breathing.mp3 (duration: 25 minutes) or
Calm the Mind

Start by focusing your attention on the breathing. You can use the technique of counting the breaths
to settle the mind and bring it to a state of deeper focus and concentration so that you are ready to
engage in this meditation. We’ll take a short period of silence so that you can meditate on counting
the breath (p. 16).

Now, in the spacious calm of your mind, generate a positive motivation. Think that you are
meditating, not for your own benefit alone, but also to be able to share that benefit with those
around you; to bring greater peace and happiness into the lives of others as well as of yourself. Take a
moment to generate just such a positive motivation in your own way, in your own mind.
Visualize the Three Channels

Now we’re going to enter into the main body of the nine-round breathing meditation. Begin by
visualizing within your body three psychic channels or tubes through which energy moves.
The central channel is colored blue. It starts at a point midway between your eyebrows. It curves up
46
and backwards along the inside of your skull, much like the handle of an umbrella, and then goes
down along the inside of your spine to a point approximately four finger-widths below your navel. The
central channel is about the size of your little finger in diameter.
On either side of the central channel are two lateral channels. These psychic channels are round and
hollow about the size of a straw. They are very fine and smooth, flexible and luminous. The channel
on the right is red. The channel on the left is white. These two channels start at the opening of your
nostrils. The right channel corresponding to the right nostril, the left channel to the left nostril. They
too run slightly upward and then down alongside the central channel on each side all the way down to
the point four finger-widths below your navel. The ends of these three channels join together at this
point below the navel. Take a moment to focus on this visualization.
Actual Meditation on the Nine-Round Breathing

This meditation involves utilizing the breath conjoined with this visualization of the channels. So first
I’ll describe the meditation in some detail and then we’ll leave a period of silence for practicing the
meditation.
These nine rounds consist of groups of three breaths. The first group of three is done as follows. With
your index finger, very gently hold your left nostril closed. Inhale slowly and fully through your right
nostril while at the same time imagining that you are sending your breath all the way down through
the right channel into your belly to the base of all three channels. Move your index finger to close
your right nostril as you exhale, imagining that you exhale fully and slowly by way of the left channel,
out your left nostril. We do this three times, inhaling through the right nostril down through the right
channel, exhaling through the left nostril up through the left channel. As you exhale each time
imagine that all possible impurities, such as distraction and mental dullness, are expelled with the
breath.
Then we reverse the process. Holding the right nostril closed, we inhale slowly and fully through the
left, down through the left channel. Then holding the left nostril closed, we exhale through the right
nostril upward through the right channel, again imagining all the impurities are expelled with each
breath. So this second round of three, we breathe in through the left nostril deeply down through the
left channel, we exhale through the right channel and out the right nostril, three times.
For the last round of three, we leave both nostrils open. We inhale slowly and deeply through both
nostrils, imaging that the air flows downward through both the right and left channels. At the base,
we imagine that the air moves into the central channel so that as we exhale we imagine that the
breath is expelled upward through the central channel and out. As you exhale, imagine that you are
47
expelling all impurities out through the point between your two brows.
So, just to review briefly, for the first round, we inhale through the right nostril down through the
right channel and exhale through the left nostril three times. For the second round, we inhale through
the left nostril and the left channel and exhale through the right channel and the right nostril three
times. And for the final round, we inhale through both nostrils and both channels, right and left, and
we exhale, expelling the air, by means of the central channel. Of course physically, in the last round,
we will be exhaling through both nostrils but you should imagine that the air comes up through the
central channel and is actually expelled from the point between your two brows. At the end of this
process, you imagine, with complete conviction, that all three of these psychic channels are
completely clean and luminous; that all impurities of your body and your mind have been expelled
totally, completely, with none remaining.
You can do these nine rounds one time or several times depending on how distracted you feel that
your mind is. Once you have completed your rounds, then spend just a few moments breathing gently
and evenly, imagining your breath flowing freely through the inner channels of your body.
Now we are going to practice the nine-round breathing meditation. There will be a silent period so
that you can practice on your own, at your own speed.
(Silent meditation for about seven minutes.)

Finally, to conclude this meditation session, dedicate all the positive energy, clarity, insights, whatever
you have gained from this meditation session, not only to your own well-being and peace of mind and
happiness, but to the happiness and well-being of all living beings everywhere.
(online).
Note: Watch His Holiness the Dalai Lama do a more elaborate version of the nine-round breathing
meditation here.
___________________________________________________________________________________

If you have started keeping a kind of journal of your experiences in meditation, then take
this moment to review your experience, how this meditation was for you. If you have any
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particular things that happened that you would like to make note of, such as any insights
you may have gained, it’s good to note these down so that you don’t forget them and so as
time goes on in your meditation practice you can remember the things to work on and also
to deepen in your practice.
You can use either the online meditation journal or an actual notebook to make notes of your
experience with the meditations for this session: mind like the sky, mind like the ocean, and nine-
round breathing.
___________________________________________________________________________________

1. What is a buddha? Do you think that change is possible to the degree indicated by the
meaning of the word “buddha”? Do you think that it is possible for you to achieve this amount
of change? Why or why not?
2. What is your understanding of the meaning of “mind”? Does it or does it not accord with the
Buddhist definition of mind?
3. According to Buddhism the mind is not physical, and therefore not the brain, but is a
beginningless and endless stream of moments of consciousness, which include thoughts,
perceptions, emotions, and feelings. Does that make sense to you? Why or why not?
4. What are some habitual attitudes and emotions, good and bad, that you have? Is it the case
that you have generally been developing and strengthening them by following them?
5. Are there certain emotions and feelings that are difficult for you to dis-identify with?
6. Can you think of some examples from your own life that show that your mind is the creator of
your happiness and your suffering?
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7. Can you think of some examples of things (people, situations, places, etc.) that you initially
thought were satisfying and fulfilling but in the end did not live up to your expectations?
To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement, you need to comment on at least three of the seven points. Your
___________________________________________________________________________________
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Session 3: Types of Meditation and
Obstacles to Meditation
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Session 3: Types of Meditation and Obstacles to Meditation
THE TEACHINGS
Part 1. Types of Meditation

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Stabilizing meditation is primarily concentration meditation: learning how to develop the

powers of concentration so that one can keep the mind stable on a single point for an
extended period of time. Analytical meditation is different from stabilizing meditation in
that it makes use of thought processes. We think. We reflect. We contemplate the object
of our meditation.
___________________________________________________________________________________
You can either listen to the audio file—Session3-Part1-Types_of_Meditation.mp3 (duration: 45 minutes)—of Ven.
Connie’s teaching or read the transcript below.
Nine-Round Breathing Meditation

[0:00] First, start by paying attention to your sitting position. Make yourself comfortable. Pay close
attention to the position of your body using the seven points. Check the position of your legs, your
arms, your hands in your lap. Check carefully your shoulders and neck; relax these areas if needed.
Check your jaw, mouth, and tongue, the position of your head. And, most importantly of all, make
sure that your back is straight and erect, that you’re not leaning to one side or the other, that you’re
not hunched over.
Now, in order to settle and calm the mind, do the nine-round breathing meditation. Imagine within
your body the three psychic channels. The central channel extends from the point between your two
brows, up and back along the inside of your skull, and down through the middle of your body just in
front of your spine, ending about four finger widths below your navel. This central channel is about
the diameter of your little finger. Imagine the two lateral channels to the left and right of this that
begin at your two nostrils and follow the same path: up and back, down through the center of your
body to each side of the central channel, connecting with the central channel at the base, four finger
widths below your navel. These two lateral channels are slightly smaller than the central channel,
about the diameter of a straw. All three channels are very soft and flexible, luminous, almost as if they
are made of light.
First, breathe in through your right nostril, the air flowing down through the right channel all the
way to the base, and breathe out through your left nostril, the air passing upward all the way through
the left channel and out; three times in through the right and out through the left. Then, three times
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in through the left nostril, the breath flowing all the way down and, as you exhale, the air flows
upward through the right channel and out your right nostril. Then, finally, breathe in through both
nostrils, the air flowing downward through both lateral channels all the way to the bottom. As you
exhale imagine the air flowing up and out the central channel. Be sure to remember to imagine this
airflow through your channels. This helps this meditation to be most effective. Do this meditation
three times, three rounds of nine. Do it at your own speed. Breathe quietly and keep your mind
concentrated on the flow of your breathing.
(In short, breathe in through the right nostril and out through the left three times; breathe in through the left nostril and
out through the right three times; breathe in through both nostrils and out through the point between your eyebrows
three times. Do this three times.)

[12:17] Having calmed and settled the mind, we can generate our positive motivation for this session.
Take a moment or two to just reflect upon why you are engaging with this meditation course. What’s
your goal? What do you want out of it? Many of us want to learn how to meditate in order to relieve
stress, to become more relaxed, to be able to achieve greater peace of mind. We may even find
within ourselves somewhat less grandiose motivations. Some people think meditating is somehow
cool, an attractive thing to do. Some people want to learn to meditate to add to their good reputation
or to appear to be a more spiritual person. We may find within ourselves all kinds of motivations,
some more wholesome than others.
At the beginning of each session, by focusing on consciously generating a positive motivation, first
of all we learn about our motives, even the less attractive ones, and, secondly, we learn how to
transform those motives, to elevate them. This is one way of working with our minds. So even as we
bring to light the various layers of motivation that we have within us, just as we’ve done in our bare
attention meditation observing the contents of our minds, we can simply observe these motivations
that rise to the surface. Some we can let go of. Some we can cultivate.
One aspect of Buddhist practice with regard to developing our motivation is to try to broaden our
perspective, to develop a greater vision of ourselves and our relation to those around us. One thing is
certain: for us to be happy in life, we depend on others. All the good things in our lives come to us
because of, or in dependence on, other beings. Many, many others contributed to the food we eat,
the clothes we wear, the house we sleep in, all of these things. The farmers, those who drove the
trucks bringing our food, those who work in the grocery store; the construction workers who built our
house, the architect, those who grew the trees for the wood or who made the bricks; those who grew
the cotton or worked in factories to produce the cloth, those who sewed our clothes; an immense
number of people, and other creatures as well, contributed to the material things of our lives. Our
jobs, our income, depend on others. Our entertainment depends on others. Our good qualities
depend on others. All aspects of our happiness depend on others.
If we look at things in this way and then turn around and simply work for our own happiness and
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well-being alone, it seems a bit narrow-minded, a bit self-centered, because, if we are working just for
our own benefit, in the end, we use others just to get what we want. Instead, we can make use of our
own life, not only to maximize our own well-being, but also to contribute to the well-being and
happiness of those around us, those who help us so much. The first step in this is to cultivate a strong
positive motivation to live our lives in this way. Learning about our own minds, our own underlying
motives, can help us. Knowing ourselves better can help us contribute even more to the happiness of
ourselves and others.
Take a few moments right now to be clear about your own motivation and to generate within your
own mind, very clearly, a positive motivation to make your life worthwhile and meaningful through
learning how to meditate.
Different Types of Meditation

[23:44] We are going to talk about different types of meditation and we are going to talk also a bit
about obstacles in meditation. First, let’s talk about different types of meditation.
The first two divisions, or types, of meditation that I’d like to present are called, respectively,
“analytical meditation” and “stabilizing meditation.” These are two major categories of meditation
within Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism. Stabilizing meditation is primarily concentration
meditation: learning how to develop the powers of concentration so that one can keep the mind
stable on a single point for an extended period of time. Obviously, both the skill of concentration and
the use of that skill within the broader context of stabilizing meditation are very important within the
Buddhist path. These are also very important skills for all of us as human beings on a day-to-day level.
If we can’t concentrate on what we are doing, we are easily distracted. Our mind jumps here and
there and can’t stay focused. We may find this to be the case for ourselves already, but most of us are
able, to some degree, to have some concentration when we work, when we study, and so on. The
more concentration we have, obviously the more effective we are in accomplishing the tasks we have
to do. So, this skill is incredibly important even just on a day-to-day mundane level.
Analytical meditation is a very broad category. It’s different from stabilizing meditation in that
analytical meditation makes use of thought processes. We think. We reflect. We contemplate the
object of our meditation. The mind is moving, active. This does not, however, signify that the mind is
scattered and all over the place, so, clearly, there must be some element of concentration and focus
even when we are meditating analytically.
Mindfulness and Concentration in Meditation

[27:32] With regard to analytical and stabilizing meditations, both of these types of meditation make
use of the skills of mindfulness and concentration. Clearly, concentration is the predominant skill
made use of when we practice stabilizing meditation. Within Buddhism, one of the primary kinds of
stabilizing meditation is called “calm abiding.” The objective here is to train the mind to be able to
55
settle on a single object for extended periods of time without distraction. There are numerous
benefits, not only the ordinary practical things that we’ve talked about previously, to being able to do
this. Because the mind is calm, still, utterly still, and resting on a single object, there are benefits to
the mind and the body that are developed through this meditation. A level of flexibility and pliancy of
the mind is developed that far exceeds anything that we have ever experienced. This kind of pliancy
or suppleness also begins to pervade the body.
As we’ve talked about in our simple meditations, even in stabilizing meditation one must also make
use of the skill of mindfulness. In some translated texts, mindfulness is sometimes called
“recollection.” So when we are mindful, there is also an element of memory that we make use of.
Even in our simple meditations where we use the breath as an anchor for our attention, we have to
remember that the breath is serving that purpose so that when we become distracted, when
mindfulness kicks in, we remember: “Oh, I’m not contemplating the breath right now. I’m thinking
about my grocery list.” We remember the breath and bring the mind back. Recollecting the object is
one way in which we make use of mindfulness within the practice of stabilizing meditation.
Clearly, in whatever meditation we are doing, if we don’t remember and be aware, our mind can
wander anywhere. So, we should think about mindfulness here, not only in terms of being aware of
what’s happening as it’s happening, but recollecting the focus of our meditation.
Meditation Relates to Different Objects in Different Ways

[32:27] There are many types of objects of meditation and, whether we are engaging in analytical
meditation or stabilizing meditation, there are different ways in which we put the mind in relation to
those objects. For example, we may want to understand the impermanent and changing nature of
ourselves, our minds, and the world around us, so the object of our meditation is impermanence and
change. Through contemplation about the nature of the things around us and the nature of ourselves,
we come to understand more deeply impermanence—it’s all pervasiveness. So we meditate on
impermanence to understand it more deeply.
On the other hand, we may meditate on compassion. The purpose of such a meditation isn’t to
understand compassion more deeply, as much as it is so that our minds actually develop this quality
to become more compassionate. We are seeking to unify our minds with the quality of compassion.
Our objective is somewhat different, so we are not so much meditating on compassion as becoming
compassion through meditation.
When we first started this course, we talked about meditation as familiarization. In fact, even
before we started this meditation course, we meditated all the time. Some of us meditated on
chocolate (thinking about chocolate, remembering the taste of chocolate, cultivating a desire for
chocolate), or ice cream, or any number of things. Our minds became very familiar in this way with
the objects of our desire, of our attachment. We also meditated on the negatives of our lives. If
someone made us angry, we contemplated that situation, that person, all the bad things that they
had done, how we didn’t deserve to be treated in that way. We meditated on anger and familiarized
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ourselves with it profoundly, with great perseverance, in fact. In these ways, we developed great
familiarity with and deep habitual thought patterns of both desire and anger through meditating on
them again and again, day after day.
In the same way that we make our minds and our hearts angry, we can also become
compassionate. We can make our minds and hearts one with compassion, just as we can become
incredibly familiar with a desire for ice cream by thinking about it and contemplating its qualities. We
can also, just as easily, understand how things are constantly in flux, are constantly changing, so that
we suffer less from attachments and disappointments. It all depends on our aims, our goals, what we
want, and how skillful we are at understanding how our minds work—what leads us to greater inner
peace and well-being and what leads us to greater dissatisfaction and unhappiness.
Analytical Meditation Corrects Misconceptions

[40:03] One of the ways in Buddhist practice that we make use of analytical meditation is through a
process of contemplation. As we engage in the steps along our spiritual path, we may discover that
certain ways that we have ordinarily thought about things in our lives may be, from a spiritual
perspective, quite mistaken. These are ways of thinking that we have learned, perhaps over many
years, that are pretty entrenched within us, that affect our behavior, but that we want to change.
If we go back to the theme of impermanence, for example, we may have grown up thinking that
things last, that relationships last, that we last. In fact, many of us naturally think of our lives as going
on for many, many years, even though that won’t necessarily be true. We may have a fairly deep-
seated sense that things are permanent when, in fact, they are not. Because we see things in that
way, when they break, when they die, when they simply go away, when they change, whether things
or people or relationships, we’re surprised. We’re shocked. Often we’re hurt and disappointed. We
think that things and people stay the same but they don’t. We don’t have to think this way. We can
change our way of thinking to make it more realistic, to help ourselves experience the suffering of
disappointment far less. One of the methods we can use is contemplating the reality of change—the
fact that people and things naturally, automatically change. We can contemplate these points in
analytical meditation almost like an internal discussion, or debate, with ourselves, breaking up our
entrenched way of thinking, our resistances, examining our patterns of thinking to see if they’re
realistic, if they’re true, and so on.
Through analytical meditation, through this process of inner discussion, we seek to bring ourselves
to a more beneficial way of thinking. One session of meditating on change isn’t going to completely
alter our thinking patterns, but, gradually, as we challenge our misconceptions, our patterns of
thinking will in fact change. This is one way we make use of what we call “analytical meditation.”
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Part 2. The Five Obstacles to Meditation

___________________________________________________________________________________
It’s very important to keep in mind that obstacles are part of the process. Sitting down to
meditate doesn’t mean attaining perfect concentration for one’s entire session
immediately. This takes many years to actually achieve.
___________________________________________________________________________________
You can either listen to the audio file—Session3-Part2-Five_Obstacles_to_Meditation.mp3 (duration: 26 minutes)—

of Ven. Connie’s teaching or read the transcript below.
Identifying the Five Obstacles

[0:00] The next topic we are going to discuss is the various obstacles that we experience in our
meditations. Classically, within Buddhism, there are generally five obstacles that are talked about. The
first is laziness. The next is forgetting the object of meditation. The third is actually two wrapped up
together: mental excitement, or agitation, on the one hand, and mental dullness, or laxity, on the
other. The fourth is not applying the appropriate antidotes to whatever problems are arising when
such antidotes are needed. The last is over applying the antidotes; for example, applying antidotes
when, in fact, they aren’t needed at all. Here we are going to primarily be looking at the first three.
Let’s start with the first one, laziness.
1. Laziness
[1:53] If you’re trying to develop a meditation practice especially at the beginning laziness is a factor
because sometimes you feel like meditating and sometimes you don’t. But the only way that you are
going to gain the greatest benefit from a meditation practice is by making it a regular discipline.
Otherwise, a kind of hit-and-miss process isn’t going to get you much in the way of results. One way
to counteract laziness—the “I’m too tired to meditate today” or “I’ve got too many other things to do
to meditate today” syndrome—is to think extensively about the great benefits that developing these
skills of meditation can bring you, and focusing on developing your aspiration to achieve these results,
remembering how these benefits are going to help you in your life.
When we go to the doctor and the doctor prescribes medicine to us for some sort of illness that we
are experiencing, sometimes that medicine isn’t so pleasant to take. The reason that we take it
however—regularly, according to the schedule, and so on—is because we understand the benefits.
We want to get well and we are willing to undergo a bit of discomfort because we know we’ll feel
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much better later. Sometimes sitting down to meditate can feel like hard work and it’s easy to put
that off if we don’t remember the benefits that we can achieve. Basically, it’s up to you. If you want
those benefits, this is a sure way to achieve them and that takes discipline. That takes meditating. But
the thing is also that there are some immediate results from meditation. I’m sure you’ve already
experienced them. You get signs of the long-term positive results almost immediately. Remember
these as well; they’ll help you to keep up your meditation practice.
2. Forgetting the Object

[6:01] Then, of these five, the second obstacle is forgetting the object of meditation and we’ve
already talked about this a bit. The antidote to this is recollection, mindfulness, retaining the object of
meditation within our focus.
3. Excitement and Dullness

[6:29] The third obstacle, or set of obstacles actually, is where we are going to put the most emphasis.
Mental excitement is the first. This is when the mind is distracted, when the mind is just a bit too
energetic, thinking about this, thinking about that, anticipating something later today, thinking about
things that happened yesterday—that speedy, scattered kind of mind. This is the nature of mental
excitement. The mind is a bit too high. If you’re a musician, especially one who plays a stringed
instrument, you know that there is an optimum level of tightness to the various strings so that they
sound beautiful. If you tune your violin too tightly, your strings may break. If you tune the strings too
loosely, they sound terrible. There is an optimum level of tightness and the same is true of the mind
relating to the level of energy.
Here we have two kinds of obstacles that are basically symptoms of each end of that spectrum of
energy level. Mental excitement is the mind is too tight, too much energy, leading to being scattered,
being distracted. On the other hand, we have mental laxity or dullness. Everything is too loose, too
relaxed. The energy level of the mind is too low in fact and this can lead to drowsiness and even to
nodding off and falling asleep. Dullness, this lower level of energy of the mind, is also a kind of
dimness. Remember when we talked about the definition of mind we talked about the mind in terms
of luminosity, clarity. If we take this analogy further, in talking about the obstacles, mental agitation is
when the light of the mind is far too bright. Mental dullness, on the other hand, is when this
luminosity is too dim. The light is turned down too low.
Think about your own meditation sessions. Think about instances when you may have experienced
these states of either mental agitation or mental dullness. Get to know these obstacles in terms of
your own experiences, not just as theoretical terms. Become familiar with these obstacles and how
they’re described so that you can identify them when they arise in your own meditation. Once you
identify them, you can observe them, explore them, understand how they work, and also learn how
to apply the antidotes.
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Antidotes to Excitement and Dullness
General Antidote to Excitement and Dullness

[12:01] In the case of mental excitement and mental dullness, the first antidote overarching both of
these is vigilance, being vigilant and alert to when these obstacles arise. If they arise in our minds and
we are not aware, we are just sort of sinking in them or carried away by them, we won’t apply
antidotes at all and our meditation will become meditation on agitation and meditation on dullness.
Our vigilance helps us to be aware of what’s happening as it’s happening, so when our mind becomes
scattered and agitated, we are alert to this. When our mind begins sinking into dullness we are aware
that it’s taking place.
Then, having become aware, what do we do? Basically, we either loosen or tighten the intensity of
our concentration. In the case of mental excitement and scattering, we need to bring down our level
of energy slightly. In the case of mental dullness, we need to brighten things up. We need to tighten
our concentration, increase the energy level of our mind.
Specific Antidotes so Mental Excitement

[14:35] There are a number of techniques that we can apply here. When we are distracted, our mind
easily wandering, difficult to stay put, first of all we can shift our attention within our meditation
simply to the breath. We can focus firmly, really concentrate on the breath, in order to calm the mind.
We can use such techniques as counting the breaths, which emphasizes the concentration element.
Another thing that we can do, if we are engaged in a visualization meditation, say we are visualizing
the Buddha, then we can imagine this image that we visualized as being very heavy. This helps to
stabilize the mind.
Another technique is to imagine the visualized image as very, very, small, tiny. Another technique
that we can use is to imagine at the level of our naval, within our body, a very small seed, the top half
of which is white and the bottom half is red. Imagine this small seed in your belly at the level of your
naval and just concentrate on that image. This helps to bring the mind down, to lower the level of
energy, to ground the mind.
Another very practical thing to do is that we should check our physical posture. We may find that
our head has dropped back a bit, that we are holding our head too high. Instead, incline the head
slightly forward. This can help contribute to settling the mind. Also check the level of light in the room
where you are meditating. It may be too bright and that may be contributing to your mental
excitement.
Another technique is to engage in a short analytical meditation reflecting on a serious and sobering
subject. Meditating on death, for example, can be very helpful in this regard, thinking how we must all
die and it’s uncertain when we will die, so, therefore, we must make the best use of our life in this
and every moment. Simply contemplating our own mortality for just a few moments can help to
ground the mind.
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Last of all, be patient. Be tolerant with yourself. Don’t be hard on yourself. Don’t get impatient or
agitated in the face of difficulties. Difficulties are inevitable and difficulties and obstacles are in fact
how we learn. So take them as just that—steps in our learning process.
These are some very practical suggestions of things to do to counteract mental scattering,
distraction, and agitation.
Specific Antidotes so Mental Dullness

[19:47] On the other hand, there’s also mental dullness. Here are a few suggestions of things to do
when your vigilant and alert mind realizes that you are experiencing mental dullness and laxity in your
meditation. Again, as was suggested before, check your body posture. Your head may be dropping too
far forward or your spine may not be straight, you may be slumping, so sit up. Shift your body a bit to
wake yourself up. Straighten your back. You might try, if you’re not already doing so, meditating with
your eyes halfway open rather than closed. Raise the amount of light in the room where you’re
meditating. A bright light can often counteract drowsiness.
Also, visualize that same red and white seed at the level of your naval within your body, then
imagine that that seed shoots up through the center of your body and out the crown of your head. It’s
as if your mind and that seed are one thing, so imagine that your mind experiences that trip out of
your body, opening up and experiencing the spaciousness and light above you. Concentrate on that
experience.
You can also engage in a short reflection on something very uplifting and joyful, something that
gives you energy. Also, check your general state of mind for signs of sadness or depression. If
necessary, cut short your meditation, stand up and take a walk. Energize your body. Get some fresh
air. And, of course, very practically, get enough sleep so that when you do sit down to meditate, it’s
not an opportunity to take a nap.
These are all very practical and immediate suggestions of ways to help you deal with the
experiences of both agitation and dullness in your meditation. Especially at this beginning level, these
are some of the primary obstacles that you’ll experience.
4–5. Not Applying and Over Applying Antidotes

[23:54] The last two in this official list of five that we mentioned earlier, not applying the antidotes
when they’re needed or over applying the antidotes when they’re not needed, are rather self-evident.
It’s very important to keep in mind that obstacles are part of the process. Sitting down to meditate
doesn’t mean attaining perfect concentration for one’s entire session immediately. This takes many
years to actually achieve. Perfect mental alertness, vigilance, mindfulness, are somewhere in the
future, but, of course, one of our objectives as we meditate is not to be trying to anticipate the future
as much as trying to work with what is arising for us in the present, to deal with that beneficially,
skillfully, and effectively, to learn about deeper and deeper layers of our minds, in every moment.
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Part 3. The Five Negative States of Mind

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Generally, within Buddhism, we think of positive and negative not in terms of some kind of
judgment call, but in terms of the effects that something has. Positive states of mind,
therefore, are those states of mind that bring positive effects—happiness, well-being,
peace of mind. Negative states of mind are those that bring suffering, that harm in some
way or another, whether we are speaking of ourselves or others.
___________________________________________________________________________________
You can either listen to the audio file—Session3-Part3-Five_Negative_States_of_Mind.mp3 (duration: 26

minutes)—of Ven. Connie’s teaching or read the transcript below.
Identifying the Five Negative States

[0:00] Now let’s talk about a different set of obstacles. We’ve been talking more or less generally
about positive and negative states of mind. Let’s focus for a moment more specifically on what we
mean by “negative states of mind.” Generally, within Buddhism, we think of positive and negative not
in terms of some kind of judgment call, but in terms of the effects that something has. Positive states
of mind, therefore, are those states of mind that bring positive effects—happiness, well-being, peace
of mind. Negative states of mind are those that bring suffering, that harm in some way or another,
whether we are speaking of ourselves or others.
We’ve been talking about meditation as a skill, a technique, that helps us to familiarize ourselves
with positive states of mind to develop them further within ourselves, and by doing so we diminish
our familiarization with the negative. We begin to eliminate our negative states of mind gradually
over time. So, what are these negative states of mind? Let’s look at just a few.
In Buddhism, we talk about, for example, the three poisons. We talk about attachment, or desire,
on the one hand; aversion and anger, or hatred, on the other; and then ignorance and confusion.
There are other negative states of mind that we can address as well, such as, for example, pride or
jealousy and envy. Let’s look at these five as a basis.
1. Attachment
[3:06] First of all, let’s talk about attachment. It’s important to be clear that we are talking about
attachment and desire here in their manifestation as negative or unwholesome states of mind,
attitudes that cause us suffering, that create problems for us, that in some way create harm.
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Attachment, in this context, is an attitude that exaggerates the object that it’s focused on. It becomes
overly involved. It exaggerates the positive qualities, no longer seeing the object as it is, but projecting
things onto the object that don’t exist and then clinging, wanting that object in some way or another.
Because of the unrealistic view that attachment has, disappointment is an inevitable result.
A number of years ago I used to talk often at local high schools. One thing that high school
students know about is a crush, really falling hard for some girl or guy and how that feels, what that
experience is like. One thing about having a crush on someone, which is often from afar, is that
attachment plays an enormous part psychologically in that experience. It’s so easy to only see all the
wonderful, attractive, desirable qualities of that person, to exaggerate them, to project some that
aren’t even there, and to completely ignore the negatives, so that in the end one has a crush on a
fantasy, a person who doesn’t really exist. But eventually what happens is that those negative
characteristics come to the fore and suddenly this person isn’t who you thought they were. It never
fails. One experiences disillusionment, disappointment, real pain, and suffering. And also, a real
bewilderment of, “How did this happen? How did I not see this? How come this person suddenly
changed so much?” This is the ignorance aspect of attachment—the fact that we get so caught up in
our projections we can’t see how our mind is keeping us from perceiving reality.
2. Anger
[8:05] Let’s think about anger. Anger is based on aversion. Anger is at the other end of the spectrum
from attachment. Anger sees only the negative aspects, the things that we don’t like. It often
exaggerates them. It ignores completely the positive—the kindnesses, the attractive elements—and
suddenly we paint a person or a thing completely black, completely negative. Often anger includes
the wish to retaliate because we feel harmed, we feel slighted. But whatever harm or slight we may
feel we have experienced from that person, anger only makes it worse. The harm is long gone but we
still feel awful because we are angry.
Think about the last time you were angry at someone. Of course, all your focus was on them, not
on you, but think about you, how you felt. Were you happy? Did you feel a sense of contentment and
peace of mind in the midst of all that anger? Oftentimes we get angry and resentful toward another
person and they’re blissfully oblivious. We are not hurting them at all, even though that’s our desire,
but we are definitely hurting ourselves. We are miserable and they are just fine.
3. Pride
[10:50] Then, there’s pride. Pride is a kind of attitude of superiority, of “I know this already,” “You
have nothing to teach me, “I’m better than you.” All of these kinds of attitudes find themselves within
the sphere of pride. Pride separates us from others. Pride has this comparative element because
whenever we are thinking “better,” at the same time we are often thinking “worse.” Rather than
being pleased at whatever good qualities another person might have, pride has the tendency to want
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to find fault so that we can feel better about ourselves. We focus on the negative in others so that we
can contrast that with what we perceive as the positive within ourselves. But the view of pride is very
selective and therefore very unrealistic. We over-exaggerate our qualities. We may even project
qualities we don’t even have so that we can feel better than others, smarter than others. In terms of
spiritual development, pride is especially insidious because with pride we have no space to learn
anything. We think we already know it all. We cannot learn with a prideful attitude so we close off all
possibility of growing, of improving, of expanding ourselves. With pride, it’s like we put ourselves on a
mountaintop and become completely inaccessible, separate and isolated, unable to learn and unable
to grow.
4. Jealousy
[14:26] Then, there’s jealousy, or envy. This too is a kind of comparative mind. One thing about
jealousy is that it also has a kind of flavor of anger. Often jealousy manifests in a form where we don’t
want others to experience good things because we want them for ourselves. We are unhappy when
good fortune comes to others because it didn’t come to us. So there is this subtle sense of anger at
the happiness of others, as well as a kind of miserliness, of wanting all that happiness just for us. This
is a truly sad state of mind in that we can’t be happy for others, and we are certainly not happy within
ourselves because we never have enough. We never have what we want to have, especially if we see
someone else with it. With jealousy, we make ourselves miserable. A jealous mind is never a happy
mind.
5. Ignorance
[16:29] The last of these five major delusions is ignorance. You will have seen elements of ignorance
in the four delusions we’ve talked about already. Ignorance is a state of not knowing, of confusion,
ignoring the reality of something, ignoring some of its reality, ignoring all of its reality. With
attachment and anger we project some aspect of the person or object we are thinking about. We
exaggerate the positive or we exaggerate the negative but we ignore the reality.
One common element that you’ll find in all of these five deluded states of mind is a strong element of
self-centeredness or selfishness. Each one is heavily concerned with “me,” “just me,” at the cost of
everyone else. It’s as if the sphere of our perceptions is so narrow and small that only we matter. This
is another aspect of ignorance.
The thing about all of these five delusions is that they, first of all and foremost, bring harm to us.
There is nothing about them that contributes to our happiness, to our fundamental well-being. When
we are angry or when we are jealous or when we feel attachment, in those moments we may think
that this is the way to become happy, but if we really explore these states of mind we discover they
bring us no happiness at all. They make us miserable. They create problems—short-term problems
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and long-term problems.
Delusions Inevitably Arise in Meditation

[20:06] As far as our meditations are concerned, these delusions arise inevitably. Because we are so
familiar with them, they are strong parts of our habitual patterns of thought. For example, as we are
practicing mindfulness meditation, just watching the contents of our minds, sometimes they arise and
they stick. They just won’t go away and we are so habituated to following these thoughts—to not just
seeing anger arise but to being angry—that we automatically identify with these thoughts as they
appear. We become them. We are no longer mere observers. We become them and we perpetuate
them. Then, as we meditate, we wake up and realize, “Oh dear, I’ve lost my object of meditation,” let
go, return to the breath, and yet here come these thoughts again, pervading our mental space—really
strong. We keep trying to let go and they keep hanging around.
You will definitely experience this in your meditations. We talked about how each moment when
we identify with our thoughts and feelings and emotions, how these moments create imprints and
these imprints become stronger and more entrenched. The more we repeat this identification, the
more involved we become. Clearly we already have many imprints, many impressions in the mind,
especially impressions of these negative attitudes, these delusions, so when they arise, they are
arising from a position of strong presence already. If we are to weaken these habits, we simply have
to continue, over and over, to make those choices to dis-identify ourselves with them, to take note of
their presence, to step back and observe them, to let them go.
Think about this as you practice the meditations. Keep this in mind. Some things that arise in your
mind will be light. They’ll come, they’ll stay for a moment, and they’ll disappear. Be aware that others
won’t be like this. They’ll be heavy and strong. They’ll stick for a while and you’ll have to put extra
effort into simply letting them go, over and over again.
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Part 4. Meditation Transforms the Mind

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By replaying and changing our reaction patterns in our imagination, we can gradually
change our thinking and our behavior. If every time we fall into negative behavior we
practice this technique, we can gradually actually dismantle our negative patterns and
replace them with new positive ways of thinking and behaving.
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You can either listen to the audio file—Session3-Part4-Meditation_Transforms_the_Mind.mp3 (duration: 21

Transforming Negative Experiences into Positive

[00:00] Now before we conclude this session we are going to go over the meditation called
“Transforming Negative Experiences into Positive.” As we’ve discussed, we have many, many habitual
patterns that are embedded in our thinking and in our behavior. This meditation provides us with a
method of exploring and observing those habitual patterns. We replay our day’s situations, our
actions, our reactions, and so on in our meditation session and we transform those habitual patterns
that have made themselves evident from negative to positive. By doing this, by replaying and
changing our reaction patterns in our imagination, we can gradually change our thinking and our
behavior. If every time we fall into negative behavior we practice this technique, we can gradually
actually dismantle our negative patterns and replace them with new positive ways of thinking and
behaving. So, this meditation is especially good to practice in the evening at the end of the day.
Take a moment to readjust your sitting position. Make yourself comfortable. Make sure that your
back is straight, that you are reasonably relaxed and yet at the same time awake and alert, ready for
meditation.
Revisit your motivation, thinking that you are about to train the mind in order to develop the ability to
experience inner and outer difficulties with a calm, clear, and gentle, positive approach.
Spend a moment thinking about the actions of your day, say yesterday. Think about the experiences
that you had, things that happened to you, interactions that you had with others, and how you
reacted within those situations. Focus especially on difficult situations that may have arisen,
uncomfortable moments, situations in which you may have become impatient or lost your temper, in
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which you may have seen others as problems or even as enemies. Maybe you even got angry and
lashed out verbally at someone. Bring to mind a situation like that in which your behavior was less
than perfect. Keep in mind as you do this, however, that the situation is in fact over; it’s in the past.
That what you are doing is simply experiencing memories of something that’s gone. Take a moment
to recollect what happened in that situation from beginning to end. As you replay the situation bring
to bear all of the skills that you have been using in your mindfulness meditations. Don’t identify with
the feelings that you are remembering; just watch and observe whatever it is that’s taking place in
this replay.
Now think about the negative reactions that you experienced in that situation. Are these things
helpful or harmful? Was it advantageous to you to having that situation end well that you had those
kinds of negative reactions? Or was it disadvantageous? Think of how it felt to be impatient and
angry. Did you feel happy in those moments? Did you feel comfortable? Did you feel at peace? And
when that angry feeling led to angry words, what effect did that have on you? Did you feel better or
worse? What effect did those angry words have on others around you? Did they make them happy?
Did those words make the situation any easier or help to bring the situation to a positive conclusion?
Did lashing out angrily help everyone, yourself and others, to feel good and understand each other
better in that situation?
Now reflect on how you might have handled that situation differently. Think about how you might
have behaved within that situation without anger or impatience or resentment. What if you had
reacted calmly, if your responses had been balanced, if your attitude had been perhaps more open? If
that had been the case, in the end what would have been your experience of that situation? What
experience would others have had of that situation?
Think deeply for a moment of how incredible it might be to be able to actually manage difficult
situations just like that one with equanimity, with calm, with a peaceful attitude, with a mind
uncontrolled by anger, agitation, and impatience. Perhaps you know others who actually have this
ability. Are they admired for it? Is this not a quality to think about cultivating?
Now take a moment to replay that entire situation again from beginning to end, imagining it
completely differently. Relive that situation and imagine yourself reacting totally differently than
before: perfectly, with understanding and openness toward the other people, with calm and balance
and without any anger or agitation. Imagine how that situation might have played itself out in a
totally different way.
Is the outcome different? At the end of this interaction how do you feel about yourself now? Are you
pleased or disappointed? In your imagined replay, what kind of experience do the other people have
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in that situation, positive or negative?
Diligently replaying and reimagining, in a positive way, situations that we’ve experienced negatively is
training the mind. We gradually train ourselves to develop just those qualities, those reactions and
responses that we imagine. Make a strong determination now that the next time you encounter a
difficult situation, something that tries your patience, you will take a breath and step back. You will
bring to play mindfulness, and you will try to respond with openness and patience just as you did in
your imagining: letting go of anger, letting go of impatience, residing in that open spacious place of
awareness.
In addition, make a strong determination within yourself that in the future each time you find yourself
responding with impatience, agitation, or anger, you will make sure to do this very same meditation
later on, in order to gradually overcome those negative response patterns and train the mind to
respond with kindness, balance, and openness.
Take just a few moments to just bring this meditation positively to a conclusion.
Dedication
[20:44] Let’s conclude this session by dedicating all of the positive energy and insights that we have
gained so that each of us may achieve true happiness within ourselves, overcome our delusions, our
ignorance, our self-centeredness, and so that each of us may bring happiness into the lives of all other
beings that we encounter in every moment.
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THE GUIDED MEDITATION

Before you listen to the next teaching session, practice the meditations that you have
learned so far. If possible, do a meditation at least once a day. Each session should include
sitting down in a comfortable position, calming the mind with one of the breathing
meditations, generating a positive motivation, and then doing the actual meditation.
In addition, at the end of each day, take a few moments to reflect on the positive and
negative actions that you did with your body, speech, and mind throughout the day. If you
recall engaging in negative actions, use the following meditation on transforming negative
experiences into positive. Try to make this exercise a regular part of the conclusion of each
day in order to train your mind away from negative reactions and toward the positive.
Meditation 6: Transforming Negative Experiences

time and a conducive situation for meditation, in particular at the end of the day, do the meditation on
transforming negative experiences, while either:
❖ listening to the audio file: Meditation06-Transforming_Negative_Experiences.mp3 (duration: 40 minutes) or
Introduction
We have many habitual patterns embedded in our thinking and in our behavior. By replaying our
day’s actions in our meditation session and transforming those habitual patterns from negative to
positive in our imagination, we can gradually change our thinking and our behavior. We can become
happier individuals and bring greater happiness and well-being to others through our interactions. If
we engage in this practice every time we fall into negative behavior, replaying what we’ve done and
reliving it in the most positive way we can imagine, we will gradually dismantle our negative patterns
and replace them with new positive ways of thinking and behaving. This is a good meditation to
practice in the evening at the end of the day.
Sit Comfortably
Begin the meditation by focusing on your sitting position. Sit comfortably. Your body shouldn’t be
rigid or tight. You should be reasonably relaxed, yet at the same time alert. Your back should be
straight. This is very important in order to facilitate the flow of energy through the body. Pay special
attention to your neck and shoulders and jaw. Release any tension that you may be holding in those
areas.
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Calm the Mind

Once you’ve found a comfortable sitting position, shift your attention to your breathing. Take a few
moments to practice the meditation of counting the breaths in order to focus your attention, to
ground your consciousness, to become centered in this place, at this moment (see p. 16).

Now, having reached a calmer, clearer state of mind, let’s take a moment to generate a positive
motivation. Pose to yourself the question: why am I sitting here? Why am I meditating? What do I
want to get out of my meditation? What aspirations, what goals, do I have? As you pose these
questions to yourself, just allow the answers to rise to the surface. Just observe what appears in your
mind as responses.
Now take a moment to examine the nature of the responses that arose for you. Are they by any
chance wishes for you to be a happier more peaceful person? Are they concerned with your own
happiness and well-being? All of us want to be happy, whatever that may mean for each of us. All of
us want to avoid difficulties and suffering. This is universal; from the smallest being to the largest,
human being or animal, it doesn’t matter. If these aspirations and goals that have arisen for you
actually come to pass, consider what effect that will have on you. Will you be a happier person? A
better person?
If those goals and aspirations come true, what effect will that have on others? Will they experience
more happiness in their lives? Will something better happen for them?
Just as you want to be happy and want peace of mind, greater well-being in your life, the exact same
is true for others. Might it be possible to expand your motivation, your aspirations, to include not only
your own well-being but also the well-being of others around you? See if you can reword your
aspirations to expand them to include the welfare of others as well as your own.
Replay a Difficult Situation

Now with this positive motivation as a basis, take a few moments to think about the experiences that
you have had during the day, in particular, the interactions that you have had with others. Now focus
especially on any difficult situations that may have arisen, situations in which you may have become
impatient, short tempered, in which you may have seen others as problems or enemies, situations in
which you may have even perhaps lashed out at others verbally. As you call on these memories, keep
in mind that, in fact, the situation is over, that you’re simply experiencing memories now of
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something that is already gone and is now in the past. Keeping this in mind, bring one difficult
situation into your mind. Remember what happened in detail, from beginning to end, and, as you
replay this situation, watch and observe your mind and your behavior. Use all the techniques that we
have learned of mindfulness in order to dis-identify with the feelings that arise, to simply watch, and
observe dispassionately.
Contemplate the Disadvantages of a Negative Response

Now having reviewed this situation, think about the disadvantages and the harmful nature of the
negative responses that took place during that event. Think about how you felt while you were
impatient and angry. Did you feel happy, comfortable, relaxed, at peace?
If that angry feeling led to angry words or actions, what effect did that have on you?
What effect did that have on others? Did it make those around you happy? Did it make the situation
any easier? Did that angry behavior help to bring the situation to a more positive solution?
In the end, did those angry words help everyone, yourself and the others included, to feel good and
understand each other better?
We can all most likely agree that impatient and angry words and actions only bring harm, harm to
ourselves, and that we feel terrible. We don’t feel happy and relaxed or comfortable or at peace. They
make others angry as well, cause them distress and upset. Angry words and actions cause schisms in
friendships, make reconciliations difficult, if not impossible, make it more difficult for us to
understand each other.
So come to a clear, conscious conclusion with regard to the harmful and negative effects of impatient
and angry words and behavior.
(Silent meditation for about one minute .)
Contemplate the Advantages of a Positive Response

Now think about how you might have handled the situation differently, with a calm, balanced, and
open attitude, without anger or impatience or resentment. Think about how your experience and
other’s experience of the situation might have been completely different. What if you had been able
to respond in that situation with good humor, with kindness, with lightness, so that rather than the
situation becoming heavy and difficult, it stayed light and pleasant?
Consider just how extraordinary it would be to be able to manage difficult situations just like this one,
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with a calm and peaceful mind, uncontrolled by anger and agitation.

Replay the Difficult Situation with a Positive Response

Now replay the entire situation in your mind from beginning to end, imagining it completely
differently. Relive that situation in your imagination and imagine yourself reacting perfectly, with
warmth and openness towards the others present, with calm and balance, and without any anger or
agitation. Imagine in detail how the situation might have played itself out in this totally different way.
Is the outcome different? How do you feel about yourself at the end of the interchange? Are you
pleased or disappointed? What kind of experience do the others have in your replay, positive or
negative?
Take a few moments now to imagine the situation very differently and to reflect upon it.
Determine to React Differently the Next Time

Now, having done this exercise, make a strong determination within yourself that the next time you
encounter difficulties that try your patience, you’ll take a breath and step back, observing your own
mind, disengaging from those spontaneous negative reactions. Instead, you will choose to try to
respond with openness and patience, just as you did in your meditation. If you are able to imagine
yourself responding in this way, then you are able to actually do it.
In addition, make a strong determination that each time you find yourself responding with impatience
or agitation or anger in the future, you will practice the same meditation afterward in order to
gradually overcome these negative response patterns in order to gradually train the mind to respond
with kindness, balance, and patience. To transform your interactions with others from negative to
positive is an extraordinarily beneficial thing to do.

To conclude, let’s dedicate all of the positive energy and results of this meditation so that all of our
interactions with others, whether small or large, may always be positive, may always bring greater
happiness to ourselves and to others, that our interactions may never cause any harm in any
direction, but only bring greater peace and benefit into the world. May all of those aspirations that we
gave voice to in our motivation at the beginning of our meditation be fulfilled completely. May there
be peace on this planet and peace in the hearts of each and every living being.
(online).
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experience with the meditation for this session: transforming negative experiences.
___________________________________________________________________________________

1. What is your understanding of stabilizing meditation and analytical meditation? What are their
different purposes and benefits?
2. Other than impermanence, what are some other examples of things that we can meditate on
in order to understand them more deeply? Other than compassion, what are some other
examples of things that we can meditate on in order to transform our mind into them?
3. What are the five obstacles to meditation? Have you encountered any of them in your
meditation? If you have, what have you done to counter them and did it work?
4. What are some examples of people and things you are attached to? Why are you attached to
them? Does your attachment to them bring you happiness? Would your life be better off if
you had less attachment and a more balanced relationship with them? Do you think this is
possible to achieve?
5. What are some examples of people and things that make you angry? Why do you get angry
with them? Does your anger with them bring you happiness? Would your life be better off if
you had less anger and a more balanced relationship with them? Do you think this is possible
to achieve?
6. Can you think of an example of difficult situation to which you reacted in a less than perfect
way? How could you approach that situation differently if it were to occur again?
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To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement, you need to comment on at least three of the six points. Your
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Session 4: Meditation Session, Meditation
Place, and Visualization Meditation
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Session 4: Meditation Session, Meditation Place, and Visualization Meditation
THE TEACHINGS
Part 1. Setting Up a Meditation Session

and a Meditation Place
___________________________________________________________________________________
These are the four parts of a meditation session: your preparation, calming the mind;
generating a positive motivation; the actual meditation practice; and concluding with a
dedication. You may add all sorts of other elements to your meditation session as time
goes on, as you learn more about Buddhist practice, or another spiritual path. It doesn’t
matter; these four parts are basic. They ensure that your meditation session is effective
and beneficial.
___________________________________________________________________________________
You can either listen to the audio file—Session4-Part1-Setting_Up_a_Meditation_Session_and_Place.mp3

(duration: 47 minutes)—of Ven. Connie’s teaching or read the transcript below.

[0:00] Start by sitting comfortably. Take a moment to attend to your body. Find a comfortable
position remembering the seven points. Release any tension that you find that may become a
distraction to your meditation. Check, your head, neck, and shoulders. Make sure, especially, that
your back is straight but don’t sit too rigidly. Don’t be stiff. Be relaxed and comfortable yet alert.
Focus your attention on your breathing. Let yourself breathe naturally, normally, without trying to
control your breath in any way. Practice the meditation of counting your breaths in order to calm and
settle your mind.

[5:11] We are going to set a positive motivation. Start by simply looking within in order to examine
what spontaneously comes up when you ask yourself the question, “Why am I here?” “Why am I
listening to this class?” Just look inside and see what arises in response to these questions.
(Pause to reflect.)
We all have lots of reasons and motivations floating around in our minds. For every action that we do,
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behind that action there is always a motive. It may be as simple as: “Because I want to,” “Because it
will make me feel good.” Sometimes our motivations are much more complicated than that. But one
thing is for sure—the character of our motivation determines the nature of our actions.
The more positive a motivation we can generate within ourselves, the more positive will be the
actions arising from that motivation, whatever they may be. In general, we think about meditation as
a positive action but whether that action is indeed positive depends on why we meditate. It depends
on the motivations behind our sitting down to meditate. For this reason we take time at the beginning
to cultivate a specifically positive motivation to ensure that we get the most out of our meditation.
In general, we think of people who are altruistic, who are selfless in their activities and in their
lives, as extraordinary, positive people. We can apply the same rule of thumb here. The more we can
broaden our motivation to encompass the welfare of others, the more positive it becomes. This way
we get outside of ourselves; we kind of get out of our own way. We broaden our vision of ourselves
and the world.
Take a few moments now to generate just such a positive motivation, thinking how this
meditation course might become beneficial not only for you but for others around you that you touch
and encounter.
(Generate an altruistic motivation.)
The Four Parts of a Meditation Session

[11:05] In this teaching session we are going to talk about a variety of things. We are going to start by
talking about setting up a complete meditation session and the parts that should be present in a
complete meditation session. We are going to speak a bit about setting up a conducive place to
meditate at home and what that might look like. And we are going to go on to talk a bit about another
technique that we use in meditation, which is visualization.
Let’s talk about how we should set up our meditation session. It’s helpful to know what structure
we should use when we sit down to meditate so that we can plan what we do during our meditation
session. It’s helpful to know at the beginning how long we are going to meditate for, so that we can
plan out that time, so that each aspect of our session has its own time slot. There are four parts to a
complete meditation session. Now this is a very basic structure. As you learn other kinds of
meditations you might add to this structure, but basically these four parts make up the structure that
you will use no matter what kind of meditation you’re engaging with.
1. Preparation
[13:08] The first step of these four is preparation. As I’m sure you’re aware by now, when we sit down
to meditate we are shifting gears. We are seeking to shift our minds from our ordinary, everyday,
multitasking, distracted state of mind into a meditative state of mind, a more concentrated and
mindful state of mind. We are hoping to do this, partly, in order to take those qualities of
concentration and mindfulness back out into our ordinary, everyday consciousness, to bring greater
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concentration and mindfulness into everyday living. But when we first sit down, we are in that
ordinary, distracted state of mind, so there needs to be a transition, a kind of settling-in period that
allows us to become truly ready for meditation.
The first thing we do in our preparation is pay attention to our bodies. Our bodies and our minds
are strongly connected, so if our bodies are uncomfortable or twitchy, if we can’t sit still, for example,
or we are just simply experiencing discomfort in some way, it’s going to be very difficult for our minds
to settle in and concentrate. So first we need to pay attention to our bodies. We’ve talked about the
seven-point meditation posture. We need to make use of those guidelines in such a way that it works
for us. Not all of us, for example, are able to sit cross-legged on a cushion, so we need to figure out
what does work for us, whether it’s sitting on a chair or using a meditation bench and kneeling. It’s
very important that we find what works for our bodies.
Once we’ve settled our bodies comfortably, we shift our attention to our minds and we prepare
our minds for meditation. We’ve learned a number of different meditations and techniques for simply
calming and settling the mind. Breathing meditations are very effective for this. They help us to calm
the mind, to get beyond those surface waves, all of those agitated thoughts that are flying here and
there. Bare attention meditation is also very effective. Any of these calming and settling techniques
can be made use of according to what works for you. This is your meditation session and this is your
mind. As we learn to meditate, we learn to work with our own minds, to apply the things that we’ve
learned, in the moment, according to what’s needed.
2. Motivation
[18:09] Once we have centered and grounded our minds, brought them to a state of greater stillness
and silence, calmed our distractions and so on, we move to the second step: our motivation. This is an
extremely important part of meditation practice and, certainly within the Buddhist tradition, an
extremely important part of spiritual practice as a whole. From a Buddhist perspective, our motivation
is all-important in that it determines the nature of our actions. All of our actions—our deliberate
thoughts, the words that we speak, the physical actions that we do—originate in the mind with our
intention. Intention and motivation for all intents and purposes here are pretty much synonymous.
If our intention is positive, is altruistic in nature, the actions that flow from that—the words that
we speak, the physical actions that we do—will also be positive in nature. As a result, they will
eventually ripen in the future in experiences of happiness, of well-being. On the other hand, if our
intention is negative in some way, intending harm, selfish, all of the actions that flow from that
intention will also be negative and will eventually ripen in unhappiness and suffering.
Let’s take a very simple example: a person who is relatively well off, who is very active in their
community, who gives a great deal to charity. Those actions of giving, from the outside, may appear
to be very positive, giving to the poor, giving to worthy nonprofit activities. All of these things may
appear to others to be very good and altruistic actions, but from the standpoint of that person’s inner
reality it’s necessary to examine what their motivation is. We can imagine that person practicing
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generosity in these ways for the highest of motives, with no hidden agendas, with no selfish
motivations, simply thinking of those who will be benefited by his or her giving. That’s certainly one
possibility, in which case, because of that person’s positive motivations, those actions are indeed
positive and altruistic. But we can, on the other hand, imagine that person making donations for the
sake of his or her own reputation, in order to appear to others to be a generous person, in which case
there’s an ulterior motive. The giving doesn’t take place selflessly but instead happens with an
expectation of return. In this case, the intention is selfish, it’s tainted, it’s not really positive at all, so
the external appearance of those actions is deceptive. They are not really as positive as they seem.
Our motives are very important. Our motives really determine who we are in the long run. If we
are always focusing on me, me, me, our actions will be rooted in that less-than-positive motivation. So
we try, as we develop our motivation for our meditation session, to expand our motivation to include
the welfare of others. This may be that we are seeking to improve ourselves not for our own sakes
necessarily, or at least not for our own sakes only. Of course, we all want to be happy and there’s
nothing wrong with that. But if our efforts not only bring about our own happiness and well-being but
also contribute to the well-being of others, how much better is that? So we try to remember these
points as we generate the broadest, the highest, the most altruistic purpose for our meditation
session possible.
By generating just such a motivation for our meditation session, this also spills over into our day,
affecting how we think about the things that we do during the day. Again, this happens through the
power of familiarization. The more familiar we become with this way of thinking, with this type of
intention, the more natural it becomes to us and the more we are transformed. So this practice of
consciously and deliberately generating a positive motivation at the beginning of our meditation
session is also a kind of training. We are training our minds, transforming our minds, in a positive
direction. Specifically we are transforming our mental habits of intention, becoming more familiar
with a bigger vision that understands how our well-being and the well-being of others are completely
interconnected.
3. Actual Meditation
[29:02] We proceed to the actual meditation that we are going to do in our session, whatever that
may be. We may be experiencing a lot of distraction in our lives and so we actually may return for our
meditation to our breathing—to counting the breaths, to the nine-round breathing meditation—or
other very simple but effective techniques for overcoming distraction. We may practice some of the
other meditations that we have learned or will learn in this meditation course, such as transforming
the negative into positive or purification with light or the equanimity meditation. Whatever practice
we have chosen for this session, this is the point where we do it, for however long we have
designated.
Now with regard to how long we sit in our meditation session, it’s very important to give this some
thought, to really pay attention to how we feel when we sit and to how we feel at the end of our
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session. We may enter into meditation practice with a great deal of enthusiasm and then we may
overdo it. If we set ourselves a thirty-minute meditation session, for example, but really our minds are
only ready for maybe ten or fifteen minutes, then by the time we reach thirty minutes we’ll be tired,
we’ll possibly be annoyed, and we won’t really want to come back and sit and meditate again because
we’ve finished our experience in a negative state of mind. One little trick: when you get up from your
meditation you should already feel like you want to come back. You should always make your session
too short, perhaps just barely too short, so that you want to come back and do it again, like you never
got enough while you were there.
So don’t push yourself too hard as far as the length of your meditation sessions are concerned.
Make them just long enough to feel like you want to come back again, to feel like that meditation seat
is beckoning you and you can’t wait for your next session. This is really one of the keys to having a
long-term meditation practice that allows you truly to go inside and develop your mind significantly.
4. Dedication
[33:10] The last part of your meditation session is the dedication. When you come to the end of your
meditation session, however that meditation session has been, due to the power of your motivation
at the beginning you will, without doubt, have generated positive energy. Now sometimes you’re
going to have really great meditation sessions and sometimes you’re going to come to the end and
feel it wasn’t so great, it was hard, it was all distraction and no concentration, and you’re going to feel
as if nothing positive was created but don’t believe it. It’s not true. Your effort and your positive
motivation together have created a great deal of positive energy in your mind stream.
The purpose of dedication is to harness and direct that positive energy. It’s kind of a way of sealing
it, channeling it if you will, so that you and others can reap the greatest amount of benefits from it.
Having generated such positive energy, without dedication it might ripen and be dissipated in all sorts
of trivial or temporary good experiences but nothing very profound. Dedication helps to direct that
positive energy so that you can get the most out of it in the most significant ways, so that it ripens in
not only positive but meaningful ways in your own life and in the world.
So we give some thought to dedication in the same way we give some thought to motivation. It’s
helpful to think back, when you dedicate, to the motivation that you first made at the beginning of
your session. It’s helpful to dedicate the positive energy that you have generated in the most
profound and broadest possible ways that you can think of. The thing about positive energy is that,
once dedicated, it goes on and on until those dedications are completed. For example, if you dedicate
that positive energy towards a completely peaceful, happy world, that positive energy will continue to
ripen in all the ways that are necessary for a happy and peaceful world to come about. And until it
does come about, that positive energy will be perpetuated. It will be joined with all the other prayers
and wishes around the world for the same goal. If, on the other hand, you dedicate your positive
energy in order to have a great bowl of ice cream this evening, as soon as you’ve had that great bowl
of ice cream that positive energy will disappear because it will have done its job and be finished.
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When you make your dedications—you can think of them as prayers, you can think of them as
wishes, however you like—think big! Be generous with your energy. Think of as many positive ways as
you can that that energy might manifest in the world and dedicate for those things. Dedicate for
those that you know who are ill, or even those that you don’t know, that they might experience good
health. Dedicate for those who are hungry to have food and be satiated; for those who are thirsty to
have plenty to drink; for those who are experiencing war and conflict to be at peace; for those who
have harmful minds, harmful thoughts, to be at peace within themselves, to experience love and
compassion instead of hatred and anger. Dedicate so that you might become the person who can
make all of this happen in reality. This is what I mean by “thinking big.”
These are the four parts of a meditation session: your preparation, calming the mind; generating a
positive motivation; the actual meditation practice; and concluding with a dedication. You may add all
sorts of other elements to your meditation session as time goes on, as you learn more about Buddhist
practice, or another spiritual path. It doesn’t matter; these four parts are basic. They ensure that your
meditation session is effective and beneficial.
Setting Up a Place for Meditation

[41:54] Let’s talk about setting up a place to meditate in your home. In setting up a meditation
location, obviously it’s important to try to find a quiet spot where you can sit and meditate and not be
disturbed. It can be helpful to set up a place where you can sit and meditate in the same place every
day. The place, over time, takes on a familiarity, so that it becomes less and less of a distraction in
your meditation. It’s good to pay attention to the things that happen around that meditation spot. If
ordinarily you watch TV, for example, in the place where you set up your meditation cushion and so
on, that energy may be a distraction. Your body and mind are used to that kind of agitated sensory
input. In that environment, it may be difficult for you to switch gears, even with the TV off, and to
meditate with calmness and tranquility.
Some people like to meditate sitting on their beds. My own teacher actually discouraged this
because our bed is where we sleep and our bed has that kind of energy of sleepiness and so that
energy can also invade our meditation. It was actually quite funny that my teacher, Lama Thubten
Yeshe, said that the bathroom was one of the best places to sit and meditate, mostly because there is
very little in the bathroom that we are attached to, that we cling and grasp at. It’s a very neutral sort
of environment. I’m not sure if you want to choose the bathroom as your meditation spot but the
lesson that he was trying to teach us was that your meditation spot should be something that’s
comfortable for you but at the same time isn’t filled with things that distract your mind, such as
objects of attachment. Your meditation spot should engender within you the qualities that you are
trying to achieve in meditation: calmness, detachment, compassion, tranquility, concentration. So
whatever there is in the world that distracts you from these qualities, you should leave outside of
your meditation spot.
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If you are engaged in a spiritual path of some kind, whether it’s Buddhism or another spiritual path,
you might want to have an altar. That is completely up to you. Generally the purpose of an altar is as a
kind of focal point reminding you of your spiritual path, with significant objects, a place to make
offerings, and so on. But this may not be for you. What’s important, again, is that your meditation
spot helps you to find calmness, to focus your attention within, to be successful in your meditation.
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Part 2. Visualization Meditation

___________________________________________________________________________________
Visualization takes concentration, especially when we are trying to imagine and then set
the mind on a particular visualized image without moving. In Buddhist meditation we tend
to visualize buddhas. There are many different buddhas and we visualize these beings for a
variety of purposes. One of the main purposes is that a buddha symbolizes the perfection
of all our positive qualities and a complete lack of all our faults. Visualizing a being who
has these particular characteristics and imagining what a person like that would be like is
one method of familiarizing ourselves with these qualities in their fully developed forms.
___________________________________________________________________________________
You can either listen to the audio file—Session4-Part2-Visualization_Meditation.mp3 (duration: 48 minutes)— of

Ven. Connie’s teaching or read the transcript below.
Visualization in Daily Life

[0:00] Now we’ve discussed the basic four parts of a meditation session, let’s go on to talk about
another technique that we use in meditation, which is visualization. In fact, you and I practice
visualization all the time. If I were to ask you, for example, to close your eyes and imagine your
favorite dessert, I don’t think you’d have any problem in coming up with a mental image of that: a big
chunk of chocolate cake, a marvelous ice cream sundae. Whatever it is that tweaks your fancy, you
are very familiar with it and generating a mental image of that is probably not such a big problem for
you.
Visualization is something that we do every day. We imagine the people in our lives when we think
about them. We imagine them in a whole variety of situations. We can sit and daydream, even with
our eyes open, with a whole variety of mental images passing through our minds of things and people
that we are thinking about. Visualization in meditation is certainly not very different from this, but in
meditation we choose our objects of visualization carefully—we are trying to effect a change, a
transformation, in our minds, in ourselves.
The objects that we visualize can have a powerful effect on this transformation both in positive and
negative ways. Think, for example, of the last time you had an argument with someone at work or in
the grocery store or wherever that didn’t end well. Did you go away from that argument still upset
and angry? Did you relive it? Did you remember it and play it over again and over again? Did you think
to yourself things like, “I should have said this or that,” that would have made a difference? Every
time you replay that situation you are imagining that other person, you are imagining yourself, you
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are visualizing that event. And every time you replay it you’re putting more and more imprints of
anger in your mind. Every time the image of that other person arises in your mind it makes you
agitated. It makes you upset and angry. That image triggers the anger. Each time you do this, you
fortify, even further, the habitual pattern of anger and make it stronger and stronger.
The opposite is true when we think about and replay positive situations that we have participated
in. When we perform an act of kindness or generosity toward another person, each time we replay
and remember that situation, each time we visualize it, we reinforce further our habits of kindness. If
we feel good about these actions, if we rejoice in them, this even further reinforces those habits. This
is equally true of the situation of anger as it is of the situation with kindness; if as we remember the
argument we rejoice, we create an even stronger habit pattern.
These are the ways that we naturally make use of visualization in life. All of these examples—
reimagining the argument, reimagining the act of kindness, thinking about our loved ones faces,
imagining our favorite dessert—are common practices that we naturally do all the time. Visualization
and imagination are integrally tied up together.
Visualization in Meditation
[7:36] In meditation we try to take this a bit further. We try to develop our skills of visualization even
beyond their natural uses. Visualization takes concentration, especially when we are trying to imagine
and then set the mind on a particular visualized image without moving. In Buddhist meditation we
tend to visualize buddhas. There are many different buddhas and we visualize these beings for a
variety of purposes. One of the main purposes is that a buddha symbolizes the perfection of all our
positive qualities and a complete lack of all our faults. Visualizing a being who has these particular
characteristics and imagining what a person like that would be like is one method of familiarizing
ourselves with these qualities in their fully developed forms. For example, we often simply imagine
the figure of the historical buddha, Shakyamuni. We imagine him in a particular way, in a particular
sitting position, his hands placed in this way and that, a particular color, and so on. All of these
elements have symbolic meanings but, in addition, especially for those of us who have grown up in
the West, or not in India or Tibet let’s say, the figure of Shakyamuni Buddha isn’t necessarily
especially familiar to us, so it takes concentration, it takes effort, to visualize that figure. The more
familiar we become, the less effort is required. When we practice different kinds of visualization
meditations, what we discover is that the element of familiarity is related to the amount of effort we
have to put in our visualization. The more familiarity, the easier visualization becomes.
Also, visualization meditation makes use of both analytical and placement meditation skills. When,
for example, we visualize the Buddha in front of us, in order to construct that visualization we have to
remember all of the bits and pieces one by one. Imagining that his head is like this, his shoulders are
like that, this hand is placed here whereas that hand is placed there, his clothing looks like this, he is
seated in such and such position, bit by bit, element by element, we construct the image. This is
analytical meditation. This is making use of the analytical faculties of our minds. Once, however, we
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have our visualization constructed and relatively clear, as clear as we are going to get it, then we
practice placement meditation. We allow our analytical skills to subside and we simply rest the mind
single pointedly in concentration on that image.
As we’ve discussed before, even in placement meditation we make use of mindfulness in order to
be alert to the obstacles that may arise to our meditation. If dullness takes over or if our minds
become too agitated, too excited, it’s mindfulness that alerts us to these problems so that we can
apply the antidotes that we learned about in our last session. So whether we are concentrating on the
breath or a visualized image, it doesn’t matter. The element of mindfulness must still be present as a
part of our meditation in order to keep us awake and alert, in order to notify us of possible problems
arising so that we can take care of them, so that they don’t drag us away from our concentration on
the object of our meditation.
Purification with Light Meditation

[15:06] Apart from images of buddhas and so forth, which if you’re not interested in Buddhism may
not interest you at all, one useful type of visualization meditation involves the use of light. The
purification with light meditation is an example of just such a meditation technique. In this meditation
we visualize light entering our bodies, completely filling our bodies, purifying all the problems that we
experience physically and mentally, all the obstacles, all the wrong conceptions we carry around
within us, all the illnesses. We also imagine that as we exhale all of those negative elements are
exuded from our bodies with the breath in the form of black smoke. We send all of these negative
elements away, out of ourselves. As we breathe in white light, it pervades our bodies and pushes out,
in the form of black smoke, all that is negative and suffering and painful within us.
This is a very simple kind of meditation involving visualization. It’s not that we have our eyes open
and we are looking down at our own bodies watching this light do its work. As you imagine inhaling
this white light, imagine it as happening within your actual body. You are not seeing this with your
eyes; you are visualizing it with your imagination. As you expel all of your negativities in the form of
black smoke, imagine them gathering and being expelled with your breath. This doesn’t happen in
your head, it happens in your body, and that’s where you imagine it.
Take a few moments to adjust your sitting position. Make sure you are comfortable. Make sure your
back is straight. Stretch a little bit to relieve any tension that may have gathered.
Take a few deep breaths, concentrating on the sensations of your inhalations and exhalations.
Start by focusing on your breathing. Breathe normally and naturally. In this meditation, focus on the
complete duration of each inhalation and exhalation of the breath.
As you exhale, imagine that all your negative energy, your past mistakes, distorted conceptions, and
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disturbing emotions leave your body with the breath. Visualize all this negative energy as black
smoke. Send it out into space with each exhalation where it disappears completely.
Visualize this over and over again. As you breathe out these negativities feel confident that you are
gradually freeing yourself from all traces of negativities, faults, illnesses, or delusions.
Continuing this visualization of expelling black smoke with each exhalation, as you inhale imagine that
all the positive energy in the universe enters your body with the breath in the form of pure, radiant,
white light. Visualize this light flowing through your nostrils down into every part and corner of your
body, pervading every cell, every atom. Gradually your body becomes clearer and clearer, lighter and
lighter, more and more transparent. You feel more relaxed, lighter, more blissful. Continue to
visualize this again and again. Breathe out the black smoke of your problems, your illnesses, your
negative energies, and breathe in the white light of purifying, blissful, good energy.
If you become distracted by feelings or sensations, thoughts, or other input from the environment,
simply observe these distractions without reacting or getting involved. Imagine that these distractions
turn into black smoke and then breathe them out into oblivion.
Nine-Round Breathing with Light Meditation

[29:53] One thing you can do with this meditation of light and black smoke is to combine it with it the
nine-round breathing meditation. Together with the visualization of the channels, using the same
structure of the nine-round breathing meditation, you can imagine with each inhalation breathing in
purifying white light, and with each exhalation breathing out these negativities and substances in the
form of black smoke. This visualization of the channels is a very effective meditation for developing
concentration and also for simply clearing out the body and the mind. To combine that with this
meditation involving light and black smoke can make it even more effective, but this, again, depends
on you. You should try these kinds of combinations and see what works best for you. Some days the
additional visualization may be helpful; other days perhaps not. Your meditation practice is something
that you learn how to manage and manipulate in such a way that it becomes the most beneficial for
you as an individual as you learn more about your mind and how it works.
Now we are going to practice a couple of rounds of the nine-round breathing meditation. Take a few
moments to visualize the three channels within your body.
Breathe in through the right nostril, down through the right channel, and breathe out through the left
nostril, the air passing through the left channel, three times. Then, reverse the process, breathing in
through the left nostril, down through the left channel, and then out through the right channel and
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right nostril three times. Finally, breathe in through both nostrils, the air passing all the way down
through both the left and right channels to the base of the channels, and then passing upward
through the central channel as you exhale.
You can combine this meditation with white light and black smoke, imagining that with each
inhalation you inhale white light that flows down through your channels, clearing out all obstacles and
negativities. That white light pushes out, with each exhalation, all of those negativities in the form of
black smoke, completely clearing out your channels and purifying your body and mind.
Do this process of nine rounds twice.

(Silent meditation for four minutes.)
Reflection on the Benefits of Meditation

[38:51] I would like you to do a kind of exercise involving your meditation journal. I’d like you to spend
twenty minutes or a half an hour at some point, reflecting on anything that you may have begun to
notice in terms of any benefits in your daily life that you may be experiencing now that you have been
engaged in a basic meditation practice for a little bit of time. I’d like you to pay special attention to
these kinds of benefits. See what happens in your life if, for example, through practicing the
meditation on transforming the negative into positive you have found that in a difficult situation, say
with a colleague at work or with another person of some sort, you were about to let fly with
unpleasant words, but somehow you were able to step back, to detach yourself slightly, to simply
observe the situation rather than get involved in it. This may not yet be the case but it may. This
would be an example of a benefit that arises in everyday living from your practice of mindfulness.
It’s important to pay attention to these results, to these benefits, in your life. When we go to the
doctor and the doctor prescribes for us some sort of unpleasant treatment for whatever illness we are
experiencing, the reason that we do that unpleasant treatment, the reason that we take terrible
tasting medicine, is because we recognize the long-term benefit. We want to feel better and we have
confidence that that medicine or that treatment will bring about that result of making us feel better.
If we don’t pay attention to the benefits that we gradually accrue from our meditation practice, our
enthusiasm for meditation will disappear because we started a meditation practice in order to
experience benefits. So we have to pay attention to them, notice them as they occur, and rejoice in
them, really feel good about the progress that we are making. This is very important.
It’s also true that we need to pay attention to the obstacles and take care of them. But what I’ve
noticed as a teacher of Buddhism, of meditation and so on, is that we who grew up, especially we
who grew up in the West, become a bit obsessed with the problems and we forget to focus on the
positive things, on the progress, on the good things that arise. It’s very easy to have a negative view
and difficult to feel encouraged. So what I would like is in your meditation journal, any benefits that
you notice in your everyday life that are arising because of your meditation practice, write them
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down. Really pay attention to them and really feel good about them. This will give you great
encouragement. It will keep you going in your meditation practice so that you’ll experience more
benefits as time goes on because of persevering.
Dedication
[44:27] Having come to the end of our session, let’s take a moment to dedicate, remembering the
positive motivations that we generated at the beginning of this session. Let’s think about all the
positive energy, all the insights that we have learned during this session, and let’s share those things
with others. May those insights grow within us. May they also grow within other living beings so that
those others may experience the benefits of those insights. May that positive energy ripen in such a
way that anyone in the universe who is unhappy, who is suffering, who is experiencing anxiety, might
become happy and experience joy in their life. May those who are suffering from poverty have
wealth. May those who are suffering from hunger have food. May those who are suffering from thirst
have drink. May those who are cold be warmed and those who are hot be cooled by refreshing rains.
May all living beings everywhere experience only love and compassion in their hearts for others,
never anger or hatred. May each of us develop all of our qualities and overcome all of our flaws,
developing along the way the inner power to make all of these wishes come about and to bring
happiness and well-being to all living beings everywhere.
Take a few moments to generate your own dedications, your own vast positive wishes, for the fruition
of your positive energy.
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THE GUIDED MEDITATION

Between now and the next teachings session, try to establish a very simple daily
meditation practice. Make sure that you include within each of your meditation sessions all
four parts that we discussed in this session: calming the mind, setting your motivation, the
actual meditation, and dedication.
Practice the purification with light meditation at least three times or so between now and
the next teaching session. Also, utilize the meditation on transforming negative
experiences into positive in your life as needed. Replay and transform any negative
situations that take place in order to transform them into positive and to re-program your
habitual reaction patterns gradually over time.
Meditation 7: Purification with Light

time and a conducive situation for meditation, do the following meditation on purifying with light, while either:
❖ listening to the audio file: Meditation07-Purification_with_Light.mp3 (duration: 33 minutes) or
Sit Comfortably
Sit in a quiet place, somewhere where you won’t be disturbed. Arrange a meditation seat that is
comfortable and suitable for you. Sit comfortably and adjust your posture. Use the guidelines of the
seven-point meditation posture to help you.
Make sure your legs are in a position that enables you to be stable, whether you are seated on a
cushion or seated in a chair. Pay attention to your arms and hands. Your hands should be resting in
your lap, left hand cradling your right, with your thumbs lightly touching, forming the shape of a small
flame just below your navel. Your arms should be akimbo, leaving a bit of space between your arms
and your body so that air can pass freely. Your shoulders should be level, not twisted in any direction.
Your neck and jaw should be relaxed, not stiff or rigid. Your mouth should be relaxed with your teeth
just lightly touching, your tongue resting against your upper palate and the back of your upper teeth.
Your head should be centered, not leaning left or right, and inclined just slightly forward. If you can
meditate with your eyes half closed, this is very good, but if not then just gently close your eyes. Most
importantly, your back should be straight and your position should be comfortable, not stiff or rigid.
Take a few deep breaths and take a few moments to adjust your posture.
Calm the Mind

Now focus on your breathing. Breathe naturally, don’t manipulate or control your breathing in any
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way. You can place your attention either at the opening of your nostrils or on the rising and falling of
your abdomen as you inhale and exhale. Just become absorbed in the cyclic rhythm of your breathing.
Just focus your attention here, not tightly, but gently. Whatever else arises, just let it come and let it
go. Allow your mind to settle and become calm, with deeper focus and greater concentration, ready
for meditation.

Now let’s take a moment to cultivate a positive motivation. To start, think that you are surrounded by
the people in your life that you care about, your family members, your friends. Allow your mind to fill
with the warmth and love that you feel for these people. Really feel how you want them to be happy,
to not suffer, to not experience problems in their lives. Allow your heart to open to that feeling. Just
as you want to be happy, just as you would like to avoid problems, difficulties, pain and suffering, this
is certainly just as true of all of them.
Now imagine that also around you are all sorts of people that you encounter every day who are
strangers to you: all the people you pass at the supermarket; all the people in the cars on the streets
where you drive; the teller who helps you at the bank; the checkout people at the grocery store, at
the drugstore. We don’t think about them. We don’t know their names. For the most part we ignore
them. But, just like those loved ones you were thinking about a moment ago, all of these people who
are strangers also want to be happy, also don’t want to suffer or have problems. There’s not one
person among them for whom this is not true. Just for a moment, we encounter them. We touch their
lives and they touch ours. See if you can even imagine feeling the same kind of warmth and caring for
these people that you feel for your loved ones.
Now imagine all those people with whom you have some difficulty: people who irritate you, who
make you angry, people who are angry or irritated at you, whoever poses a problem for you. All those
people that you would like to avoid in your life, they too are present. Just like all the other people,
your friends and family, your loved ones, all those strangers, all these problematic people also want
nothing more than to be happy and to avoid suffering and problems. They are just like us. They are
just like our loved ones. Friend, enemy, stranger, ourselves, we are all alike in that we wish for
happiness and we wish to not suffer. We are all equal in this regard. We are all the same.
So think about this as you generate your motivation. We sit down to meditate because we ourselves
want to be happy. If we can achieve something more than short-term happiness, if we can achieve
lasting happiness, then, of course, that’s even better. What’s even better than that is if we can share
that happiness with others, if we can learn to benefit others, to bring them happiness and peace of
mind, as we do for ourselves. So, if possible, let this be your motivation. Take a moment to generate
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clearly, in your own mind and in your own words, a positive motivation for this meditation.
Actual Meditation on the Purification with Light

Now focus on your breathing. Breathe normally and naturally. Focus on the complete duration of
each inhalation and exhalation. This time we’re going to follow the breath whether it’s into the body
or out into the environment. With each exhalation, imagine that all your negative energy—your past
mistakes, distorted conceptions, and disturbing emotions—leave your body with the breath. Visualize
all this negative energy as black smoke. With each exhalation, send it out into space. Every time you
exhale, more and more negativities exit your body in the form of black smoke. Blown out into space, it
disappears completely. Visualize this over and over again.
As you breathe out these negativities as black smoke again and again, feel strongly confident that
you’re gradually freeing yourself from all traces of faults, illness, delusions, or negativities of any kind;
that all of these are completely leaving your mind.
Now imagine with every inhalation all the positive energy in the universe enters your body with the
breath in the form of pure, radiant, white light. As you inhale, visualize this light flowing through your
nostrils down into your body and into every part and corner of your body, into every cell, every atom,
every organ. With every inhalation your body gradually becomes clearer and clearer, lighter and
lighter, more and more transparent. You feel more relaxed, you feel lighter and more blissful with
every breath.
Continue to concentrate on this experience, breathing out the black smoke of your problems,
illnesses, and negative energies and breathing in the white light of purifying, blissful goodness.
If you become distracted by feelings or sensations or other input from the environment, simply
observe these distractions without reacting or getting involved. Imagine that they too transform into
black smoke and then breathe them out into oblivion. Continue to meditate like this for several
minutes of silence .

To conclude, let’s dedicate all the immense positive energy that we have gained through this
meditation, specifically the purification of our negativities and the development of our qualities, as
well as the positive results of happiness and well-being that come from such a process. Let’s dedicate
and share all of these good things with all the many living beings in our world and beyond, those we
know and those we’ve never met, who desire only happiness and hope to avoid all problems and
suffering. May they have every happiness they wish for. May they be free of pain and problems. May
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they have peace in their hearts. And may all this come to pass because of our efforts and our
meditations.
(online).
___________________________________________________________________________________

You can use either the online meditation journal or an actual notebook to make some notes about
your experience with the meditation for this session: purification with light.
Reflection on the Benefits of Meditation

I would like you to do a kind of exercise involving your meditation journal. I’d like you to
spend twenty minutes or a half an hour at some point reflecting on anything that you may
have begun to notice in terms of any benefits in your daily life that you may be
experiencing now that you have been engaged in a basic meditation practice for a little bit
of time. I’d like you to pay special attention to these kinds of benefits.
So what I would like is in your meditation journal, any benefits that you notice in your
everyday life that are arising because of your meditation practice, write them down. Really
pay attention to them and really feel good about them.
If you have been keeping a meditation journal, spend some time looking through it to remind yourself
of the experiences you have had in meditation since the beginning of this course. Then, spend 20–30
minutes reflecting on the beneficial effects your practice of meditation has had on your daily life, at
home, at work, and so forth. Focus on them and feel really good about them. Then write these
benefits down in your meditation journal.
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1. What are the different parts of a meditation session? What is the purpose of each part?
2. Do you agree that the things (including people and situations) that we visualize, or imagine,
can have a powerful effect on us both in positive and negative ways? What are some examples
of visualizations that had a beneficial impact on you? What are some examples of
visualizations that had a harmful impact on you?
To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement, you need to comment on at least one of the two points. Your answers
will be reviewed and commented on by the elder.
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Session 5: Meditation Stops the Roller
Coaster of Emotions
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Session 5: Meditation Stops the Roller Coaster of Emotions
THE TEACHINGS
Part 1. Recognizing our Biased Attitude

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To distinguish and discriminate one thing from another is a very, very basic function of the
mind. But, in fact, in some ways we have overdeveloped that function and over apply it
even when it’s inappropriate to a situation. We are constantly making distinctions and
calling attention to differences as we look at the world. We are constantly discriminating
among people.
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You can either listen to the audio file—Session5-Part1-Recognizing_Our_Biased_Attitude.mp3 (duration: 48

Body of Light Meditation

[0:00] Let’s start with a brief meditation Take a few moments to adjust your sitting position. Sit
comfortably. Go through the seven points. Let the tension flow out of your body. Make sure you’re
sitting position is stable and comfortable and allows you to be alert. Make sure your back is straight.
Imagine in the space above your head a sphere of white light, not something solid, but pure,
transparent white light. This sphere is somewhat smaller than the size of your head and is simply
floating in space above you. Just contemplate this sphere very gently; don’t concentrate on it too
hard. Don’t worry if you can’t seem to imagine it in great detail or sharply. Just feel the presence of
this radiant white sphere above your head, floating in space.
Contemplate that this sphere of light represents and embodies all universal goodness, all loving
kindness, all universal wisdom, the fulfillment of your own highest potential.
Imagine that this floating sphere of light becomes smaller and smaller until it becomes about the size
of a ping-pong ball. Imagine that this small sphere of pure white light descends through the top of
your head down through the center of your body to your heart center. It stops at your heart and there
it begins to expand once more. That pure radiant white light expands to fill your entire body,
pervading every organ, every muscle, every bone, every cell, every atom of your body, until they
simply dissolve into light.
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Gradually, your body becomes completely made of light. Concentrate on this experience. All the
heaviness disappears. All the tension, all the aches and pains, all the problems of the body totally
vanish and so too all the problems of the mind. All the negative attitudes, anxieties, worries, all the
disturbing emotions, obstacles, illnesses dissolve into this wonderful white light. All the kindness and
compassion and wisdom of the universe fill you completely. Feel serenity and joy. If any distracting
thoughts or emotions arise, simply observe them and allow them to dissolve into white light.
Contemplate strongly that you have reached a state of complete wholeness and perfection. Meditate
on the blissful experience of that state.

[14:13] Now, in the clear stillness of your mind, imagine that surrounding you are all of the people of
your life. Your friends are to your sides and behind you. Those with whom you have difficulties are
seated in front of you. Surrounding you are all the other various strangers that you encounter day by
day. Really pay attention in this moment to all of these individuals. Feel their presence. You care
deeply about some of these people. Others you would rather avoid. And still others, many, many
others, you tend to ignore. Take a few moments to simply acknowledge and recognize these kinds of
reactions that we have to different people in our lives.
Now, not forgetting all of these individuals you have imagined around you, take a few moments to
reflect on what brought you to this meditation course. What interested you in doing this at the
beginning and then, as time went on, what were the reasons, what were your motivations, for
continuing with this course all the way to the end. What have your aspirations been in regard to doing
this meditation course? What do you want to take away with you here at the end? What are your
goals?
Take a few moments to actually pay attention to those goals and aspirations. How might the
fulfillment of these aspirations affect not only you, but also these people around you? If your goals
are fulfilled will that bring benefit to you, make you a better or happier person? Will the fulfillment of
those aspirations also bring benefit to the other people in your life? See if you can think about your
goals, your aspirations, not just within the context of benefiting you, one person, but in terms of
bringing benefit to all of those other people you’ve imagined around you.
Whatever good thoughts we have, it can always be helpful if we can expand those good thoughts to
include not only ourselves but also others, as many others as possible. This helps to expand our
hearts, to help us to think big in the most positive of ways.
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Now, make a strong determination in your mind, in your heart, to reap all these benefits of this
course, everything that you have wanted to achieve, not only for yourself but also for all of the people
of your life. Make a strong determination that this will come to pass and that you will make it happen.
Our Biased Attitude

[25:06] In our classes up until now, as well as in the various meditation exercises that we have done,
we have covered a variety of different kinds of meditation in order to give you a selection of different
techniques that you can make use of in your practice. In this concluding session, I’d like to talk just a
little bit more about how analytical meditation can be used to gradually transform habitually harmful
or unproductive patterns of thinking or emotional responses and thereby to develop and enhance
positive emotional responses and patterns of thinking.
As human beings we have highly evolved brains and the functions of our minds that are in fact
made available to us by means of the organ of our brains are vast and considerably more advanced,
for the most part, than in other beings, or certainly in other beings that we are familiar with. One of
these skills or functions that, as human beings, we have made particular use of and that we have put a
lot of emphasis into developing is our discriminating mind, our ability to discern this from that. We
make use of it in philosophy, we make use of it in interpersonal relationships, we make use of that
skill in the sciences and engineering, in music, in pretty much every human activity. Discrimination as
a skill is, for the most part, a neutral skill. Whether it becomes something positive or negative
depends on how we use it. Also within Buddhism we make a distinction in that regard. We make a
distinction between the skill of discrimination that we can justifiably call “discriminating wisdom” and
the function of the mind which falls into “discriminating bias,” into the tendency toward being
opinionated, the tendency to judge and pre-judge situations. The distinction that we can think about
here is the difference between an attitude of openness and clarity and one of closed-minded bias.
To distinguish and discriminate one thing from another is a very, very basic function of the mind.
But, in fact, in some ways we have overdeveloped that function and over apply it even when it’s
inappropriate to a situation. We are constantly making distinctions and calling attention to
differences as we look at the world. We are constantly discriminating among people. Let’s look at the
application of this function of our minds within the interpersonal realm.
As we saw in our visualization, it’s not difficult for us to pull up examples in our lives of people that
we would call “friends,” others that we would distinguish as troublesome or “enemies,” and still
others that we think of as “strangers.” At first glance, we see nothing unusual about this; this is quite
normal. Everybody has these categories, don’t they? But how did we arrive at these distinctions and
are these distinctions, in fact, as concrete as we seem to think they are?
We’ve talked a bit about the three poisonous attitudes of aversion, attachment, and ignorance. To
the extent to which they control our reactions to things and render our thought patterns, our actions,
our reactions to people and things in our lives negative, these three negative states of mind taint our
minds, our words, and our actions.
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Habitually when we see a person, what do we do? Oftentimes we tend to look at their appearance,
their dress, their mannerisms, their voice and we make a judgment. Many of us make snap
judgments, “Oh, I like that person;” “Oh, I don’t really like that one,” “Uh, stay away from him,” “Oh,
she looks fun. I’d like to be her friend.” We have all sorts of reactions that arise out of preconceived
notions that we carry around within us. To what extent do our preconceived notions actually apply to
that person? Difficult to know, especially at a distance, especially before we get to know them. But,
nevertheless, we make these judgments and we continue to make these judgments even as we
become more acquainted with that individual. Even in the course of a single relationship with one
person we are judging, constantly judging, constantly discriminating, “This is good,” “That is not.”
Where are these judgments coming from? Where is our opinion coming from? So many times we
think that our judgment, our opinion, somehow derives from the person. That it’s their fault. They did
this, therefore, we think this. They did that, therefore, our opinion of them is x-y-z. It’s good to
actually watch this process, to observe it carefully, minutely, in great detail. Over time we discover
that these judgments, these biases, these opinions, come from within us, and sometimes even have
little or nothing to do with the person themselves. Our mind of aversion, our mind of attachment,
both of these are kind of on autopilot, kind of freewheeling. They find an object to latch onto and
manifest views about. They color our views. Sometimes aversion is stronger and that affects how we
see others around us. Sometimes attachment is stronger. But so much is coming from our habitual
thought and emotion patterns and simply covering the people that we meet with a view that they are
this way or that. As a result, we find ourselves, because of these basic negative minds, pushing away
or pulling towards us everything that we encounter. We push away things we don’t like, that we have
aversion toward. We try to hold on to, keep close to ourselves, all of those things we develop an
attachment for. So what are we doing? Constantly pushing and pulling, pushing and pulling,
desperately trying to hold on to the things outside of ourselves that we think, make us happy;
desperately trying to keep at a distance those things that make us uncomfortable, that we are averse
to.
Equanimity is unheard of. We are in a constant state that my own teacher used to call our “yo-yo
mind,” up and down, up and down, and always the prey of the surrounding conditions we happen to
find ourselves in, pleasant or unpleasant. We hold them close or push them away, never any stillness,
never any peace. In the case of things and people that are neutral to us, this isn’t a state of peace as it
turns out; it’s a state of ignorance, of indifference. All those strangers that we imagined in our
visualization at the beginning of this class that surrounded us, together with our friends and enemies,
are the mass of disregarded beings. We don’t know them, we don’t know their names, they don’t
know ours, but more than that we don’t care. We are indifferent. We don’t dislike them, we don’t like
them, so we don’t hold them close and we don’t really push them away with aversion, we just walk
by.
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The Source of Our Biased Attitude

[41:11] These three states of mind, aversion, attachment, and ignorance, all basically come down to
one even more fundamental attitude, which in Tibetan Buddhism we call “self-cherishing.” These
states of aversion, attachment, and ignorance are all in relation to me, I, at the center—what is
pleasant to me in any given moment, what is unpleasant to me at any given moment, and what I don’t
care about. This central primary concern for the self above all else gives rein to aversion, pushing
away what we don’t like, what is uncomfortable or unpleasant; to attachment, trying to get and keep
what we like, what is pleasant, what makes us feel good and comfortable; and to ignorance, not
caring about, being indifferent to people or things that don’t make me feel good but don’t really make
me feel bad either, so therefore we just don’t care.
This basic self-centeredness, self-cherishing, is our root obstacle. It is our root problem. We can see
it functioning through such mental habits as aversion, attachment, and ignorance. We can see how
self-centeredness closes our minds, disturbs the peace and stillness of our minds. All of those
obstacles in meditation—that we went over when we went over the main list of obstacles to
concentration—come from the root of self-centeredness, of self-cherishing. Now, it’s important that
you understand that when I’m talking about self-centeredness or self-cherishing, I’m not talking in
that grosser sense of the obnoxious people that we have all encountered at one time or another who
are just simply oblivious to others and only care about themselves in the grossest possible ways. Of
course, that’s a manifestation of self-centeredness but that’s at the biggest, coarsest, level.
We all have self-cherishing. We all have self-concern at the center of our beings. We may think:
well, of course, how else would we possibly survive? But the degree to which we can become
conscious of that self-cherishing and the degree to which we can minimize its negative effects, to that
extent is it possible for us to overcome our afflictive emotions and to develop a greater altruistic
concern for others and our planet. To the extent to which we can keep the reins on our self-
cherishing, we have the incredible opportunity to develop our more altruistic characteristics and
qualities. But first we must acknowledge its presence. We must understand not only that it’s simply
there but how it functions. It’s within us and within our own minds, so by means of the skills that we
have learned, by means of our ability in meditation to look within, to observe our own minds, then
moment by moment, day by day, we understand the layers of our inner obstacles more deeply—all
the way down to our self-cherishing and our most fundamental ignorance—and thus gain control over
them, thereby gaining control over our lives, our experiences, our actions.
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Part 2. Remedying our Biased Attitude

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It’s interesting to consider on the other side of the spectrum what takes the place of
aversion, attachment, and ignorance and the emotional roller coaster that they take us on.
It’s interesting to contemplate what the mind of equanimity might be like. Aversion,
attachment, and ignorance tend to put people and situations in boxes, categorizing them
quickly because then we feel we have a handle on everything. There are only a few
possibilities provided by the minds of aversion, attachment, and ignorance of where people
and situations fit. The subtle nuances of human beings and their situations are lost.
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You can either listen to the audio file—Session5-Part2-The_Remedy_to_Our_Biased_Attitude.mp3 (duration: 34

Life would be Different with Equanimity

[0:00] It’s interesting to consider on the other side of the spectrum what takes the place of aversion,
attachment, and ignorance and the emotional roller coaster that they take us on. It’s interesting to
contemplate what the mind of equanimity might be like. Aversion, attachment, and ignorance tend to
put people and situations in boxes, categorizing them quickly because then we feel we have a handle
on everything. There are only a few possibilities provided by the minds of aversion, attachment, and
ignorance of where people and situations fit. The subtle nuances of human beings and their situations
are lost.
Closed-mindedness is an inevitable result of the filters on our minds placed by aversion,
attachment, and ignorance. Think for a moment about removing those filters and seeing things as if
for the first time without having to categorize them immediately; meeting a person and not having to
somehow slot them into “friend,” “enemy,” or “stranger,” but meeting them on their own terms
without judgment. As we know, human beings are complex individuals and situations can be complex
because many human beings are often involved, but think for a moment about being able to leave the
mind clear, open, observant, without biases, without judgments, without pre-judgments, without
immediate reactions of aversion and anger, or attachment, desire, or the dismissive indifference of
ignorance.
How different would our experiences of life be if we could slowly turn down the strength of our
three poisonous minds while turning up the strength of our equanimity and openness? At one place in
the Buddhist teachings the mind of equanimity is likened to a clean slate. As long as we are under the
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influence of aversion, attachment, and ignorance, our minds are painted one color or another. We are
seeing through colored glasses, whereas the mind of equanimity is clean and open, as if we’ve taken
all the glasses off, as if all the filters have been removed. That constant movement and dance of
pushing away or pulling toward, stops. We’re not pushing. We’re not pulling. We just let go. We just
observe. We just look and see clearly with openness whatever the person might be, whatever the
situation might be.
See if you can compare what it’s like to be controlled by aversion, attachment, and ignorance, on
the one hand, and what it would be like to approach life with equanimity, on the other. What benefits
do you think equanimity might bring? Find some time and just sit down and think about this. Even
write yourself a little list. It’s always a good idea when engaging with these meditations to give some
thought to what they are trying to cultivate, and what the benefits of that are, and what that quality
seeks to overcome, and what were the disadvantages of that. Compare the two, consciously in your
own mind. Really give some thought to it. This will always help boost your meditations.
Cultivating Equanimity Meditation

[8:24] Take a few moments to establish your meditation posture. Get comfortable. Take a few
moments as well to focus on the breath in order to calm the mind and prepare it for meditation.
Generate in your mind a strong intention to do this meditation for the purpose of overcoming self-
centered bias and judgments and to develop a mind of perfect equanimity and balance toward others
in your life.
Now imagine in front of you three different people: one person that you like, one person whom you
dislike, and someone who’s a stranger that you feel indifferent toward. Choose three different
individuals and then maintain those same three individuals throughout this meditation.
Start by focusing on your friend. Allow whatever feelings you have for your friend to arise strongly.
Feel the affection that you have toward this person. Really feel how this person is truly a friend to you
and that they care about you. Think about how this person is good to you, how this person fulfills your
needs and your wants. Also reflect on the fact that because this person is your friend you want them
to be happy. All of these are very positive feelings. Concentrate on them and identify with them.
Now shift your focus to the person that you have visualized that you don’t like, the one that you call
your enemy. Perhaps that person isn’t kind to you or doesn’t fulfill your needs. Perhaps he or she
annoys you or makes you angry, hurts your feelings or is angry at you. Think carefully about this
person and your feelings about this person. Examine them clearly. Feel how they make you feel.
Finally, shift your attention to the person that you just barely know, the so-called stranger. You
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neither like that person nor dislike them. Look carefully at this individual and at the same time look
carefully at your feelings of indifference and disregard for this person.
Now, release your concentration on the stranger and mentally take a step back. Consider for a
moment that the nature of your relationships with each of these three people and the labels that you
have put on each of them—friend, enemy, stranger—are based solely on what each of these
individuals does or does not do for you at this point in time. Just at this point in time.
In Buddhism there is a strong conviction that we have all lived past and will live future lives. If one
considers this as even just a possibility, then in all of these infinite past lives that we have had we
have all encountered each other multiple times and had many different kinds of relationships. It
would follow that everyone has been our friend, has been our enemy, has been a stranger to us
countless times before. It may be that we don’t remember but that doesn’t necessarily mean it didn’t
happen.
But, apart from past and future lives, we all recognize, at least theoretically when we think about
it, how relationships change throughout even one life. People who are our friends now were certainly
strangers to us previously, before we knew them. Some of those people who are friends to us now
were previously enemies. And some people who are our enemies at the moment were once our
friends. How very changeable. These labels that we place on these different individuals, these boxes
or categories that we put people in, although they seem to be so permanent and concrete, are really
terribly fragile and changeable. They are not very substantive at all, actually, but yet we believe in
them so concretely in the moment, when in fact they could change any second.
Think once again about the friend that you have visualized in front of you. Imagine a situation that
would cause your friendship to change. Imagine that friend turning against you, for example, and
imagine the anger and hurt that you would feel if that person betrayed you. Do you still feel those
warm and friendly feelings toward that person? Do you still wish that person well? Do you want them
to be happy? What happened to that label of “friend”? Remember that before you were acquainted
with that person, they weren’t your friend. Things can always change. Think to yourself that there’s
really no sound reason for having kind and friendly, even loving, feelings only toward the friend of this
moment.
Now shift your attention once more to the enemy you’ve visualized in front of yourself. Imagine a
situation in which you and that person might be drawn together and might even become close. What
if that person did you a kindness, gave you a gift, praised you for something that you’ve done? What
happens to your feelings about that person? Do they soften? Do you begin to have at least some
warm feelings toward that person?
We can learn to feel warmly toward our enemies; it’s happened before and it will certainly happen
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again. But first we need to see through the concrete concept, the label, that we place on any person
as enemy. We need to let go of grasping on to that concept as somehow perpetually real.
Now move your attention once more to the stranger visualized in front of you. Imagine that person
doing one real act of kindness for you or, alternatively, imagine that person giving vent to anger
toward you. How quickly would your feelings toward that person change from indifference to friendly
on the one hand or averse on the other? How quickly would that person seem to turn before your
very eyes into a friend or an enemy? There is no inherently existing stranger. There’s really no sound
reason for the feelings of indifference that we hold toward the people we put in this category. At one
time or another everyone was a stranger to us, but It’s all changeable.
So, think of these three individuals before you. Contemplate the fragile impermanence of these
relationships. It’s only our misconceived belief in the concreteness of the labels we put—friend,
enemy, stranger—that holds our minds back from the possibility of change and fluidity. Think about
this for a few moments.
Now also contemplate that our friends, our enemies, and all those strangers in the world, all want
happiness just as much as we do. In this respect we are all equal. In addition, everyone is equal in
having the potential to develop their minds to the fullest extent and to achieve ultimate clarity and
compassion. We all have this potential, no exceptions. We may see differences within different
people but those differences are superficial, based on our discriminating mind that arises from our
preconceived notions rooted in aversion, attachment, and ignorance. Contemplate this for a few
moments.
Bring your meditation to a conclusion that equal concern, equal regard, the mind of equanimity
toward others and toward their well-being, whether they are helping us or whether they are harming
us in this moment in time, is the best state of mind to be in. Recognize that the labels that we put on
others are so often arbitrary, mistaken, and always very changeable.
Take another few moments to just bring your meditation to a conclusion.

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Part 3. Meditating in Daily Life

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Analytical meditation is an opportunity in a quiet moment during your day to reflect on

what’s happened in your life during that day, the actions that you’ve done, the situations
you’ve experienced, and to bring to bear on those experiences your greater wisdom.
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You can either listen to the audio file—Session5-Part3-Meditating_in_Daily_Life.mp3 (duration: 23 minutes)—of

Ven. Connie’s teaching or read the transcript below.
Using Analytical Meditation to Counter Negative Patterns

[0:00] This meditation on equanimity is another example of an analytical meditation. You are bringing
to bear within your meditation the various skills we have learned during this course: mindfulness, an
awareness of obstacles as they arise and applying the counter agents, the antidotes, to those
obstacles; and concentration, focus. All of those elements play a part as you engage in analytical
meditation. But analytical meditation isn’t simply a process of meditatively sitting still; your mind is
active. You are contemplating a topic and directing that contemplation toward a particular positive
conclusion. But at the same time analytical meditation isn’t something that you simply do by rote. You
bring your own experiences into your meditation, you bring your doubts and your fears and your
difficulties into your meditation, and you use that focused opportunity to address them. If you are
meditating on equanimity and you have thoughts that have arisen in your daily life about equanimity
that cast doubts on its benefit, then your equanimity meditation is just the place to raise those
doubts, to challenge them, and to allow your doubts to challenge your meditation structure as well.
Generally most of these meditations will stand up to our doubts, but if we bring our doubts out into
the open and confront them and debate them, discuss them, then our understanding of our
meditations becomes even deeper.
Analytical meditation is an opportunity in a quiet moment during your day to reflect on what’s
happened in your life during that day, the actions that you’ve done, the situations you’ve
experienced, and to bring to bear on those experiences your greater wisdom. For example, one very
helpful use for analytical meditation is as follows. A friend of mine shared with me that she had for
many years had a strong problem with anger. She had a hot temper. She tended to say hurtful things
spontaneously, without a great deal of control. But even more than that it was a state of mind that
made her miserable and unhappy and it was an old strong frequent habit. One of our teachers
recommended to her that she do the following. Whenever she had an angry episode, which at that
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time invariably involved harsh words, after the fact she was to go away, wait a little while until she
had calmed down, and then sit down on her meditation cushion and relive that situation, re-imagine
it very clearly just as it had happened, but as much as possible to simply observe the memory of that
event, not following the emotions, simply being a witness, a neutral bystander. Then, she was to do it
again, remember it again, from the top, but this time her task was slightly different. She was to relive
that situation in her imagination and do it differently; imagine herself responding completely
differently—in the most perfect, ideal, calm, caring way possible. No harsh words. No flaring temper.
Just listen to what the other person had to say, respond kindly and calmly, and imagine the situation
playing itself out completely differently. She was to do this exercise every single time she had an
episode of anger, and she did. She really took it to heart and did it religiously.
What she found over time was that at the beginning old habits die hard and nothing really changed
for a little while. Then, things started to shift. She would find that somehow in the middle of these
angry responses, it would be almost as if she’d wake up and realize what was going on and stop
midsentence and she’d just leave. She wouldn’t finish the argument. She’d just stop and just walk out.
She said that her experience was that up until that point it was as if she was on autopilot and then,
suddenly, she had become conscious of what was happening. Slowly, slowly that moment in time of
awakening to the pattern while it was happening would come sooner and sooner and sooner until, at
a certain point, she’d realize what was happening just as she started to say something and she’d just
stop and get out of the situation. Not long after that, she’d wake up to the situation as soon as she
began to get angry, until eventually she’d catch herself even before that point—at the beginning of
that rising curve that was her anger, when that emotion was more like annoyance, irritation, when it
was mild enough so that she could do something about it rather than when it was a raging inferno.
This is analytical meditation: using meditation to change our minds for the better, to overcome our
negative inner patterns, our thinking patterns, our emotional patterns, enabling us to wake up, to be
conscious of what we are doing as we are doing it, so that we can make choices. We can choose to say
this or not to say that. We can choose to be angry or choose not to. By waking up we have a choice.
These different kinds of practices—concentration, mindfulness, analytical meditation—serve different
functions. They combine to make an effective meditation practice because we have a whole toolkit of
possibilities to use according to what’s appropriate in different situations.
Establishing a Long-Term Meditation Practice

[12:25] We are coming to the end of this class. Before we conclude I’d like to talk just a little bit about
establishing a long-term meditation practice. Meditation is, presumably, something new that you
have added into your life. Meditation is something that requires some time each day and we are all
aware of the fact that each day only has twenty-four hours. We all have responsibilities; we all have
priorities in our lives. The reality is that we can only fit so many things that take time into a twenty-
four-hour day. If gaining the benefits that a meditation practice can bring you is important to you,
then meditation needs to go on that list of daily priorities and, generally, what this means is that
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something else falls off the list. This is simply something that we should be aware of from the
beginning. We often try to squeeze in so many things because we don’t want to prioritize and we
don’t want to have to give up anything. Generally, it doesn’t work that way. If we are trying to
maintain an exercise regimen the same is true—we can’t do exercise and everything else too. We
have to give up some things. The same is true of meditation. If we try to squeeze it in, we won’t be
able to give it our full attention when we actually do sit down on our chair or cushion. Eventually we
may even feel resentment and our practice won’t last. So give some thought at the beginning to how
you’re going to manage to fit it into your life in such a way that it will continue to fit into your life, so
that you can gain some of the long-term benefits of having a meditation practice over time.
Another element with maintaining a long-term practice is keeping up our enthusiasm and our
perseverance. Dealing with our inner stuff, our inner garbage, isn’t always fun. It’s extremely
rewarding but it definitely is not always fun. Sometimes it feels like our inner garbage never ends and
we get discouraged. It’s important when we make progress, when we achieve something in our
meditation, that we acknowledge that and that we rejoice in it. That’s not pride; that’s rejoicing in our
buddha nature, in our discovering more that is positive about ourselves. It’s important to not just
slide over our victories, but to acknowledge them and feel joy, to celebrate.
Secondly, it’s important, as I mentioned before, to contemplate the benefits of a meditation
practice, remembering why you meditate, what you get out of it, and the disadvantages of not having
a meditation practice. If, for example, you were to become very sick and then get treatment from
your doctor who put you on a strict daily regimen of some kind, diet, exercise, medications, and so on,
not all of which was necessarily pleasant, but yet you do it. Why? Because you remember what it was
like to be sick and you know this is the way to get better. You know what the advantages and benefits
of this health regimen are and you are willing to experience the discomforts and hardships in order to
become healthy, to gain that benefit. It’s always important to remember the benefits of what we are
doing, especially things that in our lives require us to put out a bit of effort and to experience a bit of
hardship or discomfort for greater gains. So every once in a while just sit down and review.
Remember the disadvantages of an uncontrolled mind, of the three poisonous minds, and all the
afflictive emotions simply running rampant and out of control. Remember the advantages of
cultivating clarity, stillness, mindfulness, and concentration as a basis for all of those even greater
inner qualities of kindness, compassion, equanimity, and so on.
Review and Conclusion of the Course

[20:23] Just briefly to review before we conclude. We have during this course covered topics such as
what is meditation; how do we sit in meditation—what is our posture and how to arrange our bodies;
what are the purposes and benefits of meditation; what kinds of different skills do we use in
meditation and how are those same skills useful in our daily lives; what is the difference between
meditation and simple relaxation. We learned a bit about two main types of meditation: analytical
meditation and stabilizing or concentration meditation. We learned about the various obstacles to
108
meditation and their antidotes. We talked about how to set up a meditation session and what are the
different parts of a complete meditation session. Throughout this course we have contemplated how
to use the benefits of meditation in our everyday lives, and today we’ve talked a bit about
establishing a long-term meditation practice.
Specifically, with regard to the meditation exercises that we have done, we’ve covered such things
as breathing meditations: counting the breaths and the nine-round breathing meditation. We’ve
covered various kinds of mindfulness meditations: bare attention, mind like the sky, and mind like the
ocean. We’ve done a couple of different kinds of visualization meditations: the body of light
meditation and the purification with light meditation. And we’ve done a couple of different kinds of
analytical meditations: the meditation on equanimity and transforming negative experiences into
positive.
I hope that this has been a successful course for you. Congratulations for coming through all five
sessions and all of the meditations. I wish you all the best in your meditation practice over the years.
Thank you very much.
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___________________________________________________________________________________
Meditation 8: Body of Light

time and a conducive situation for meditation, do the following meditation on body of light, while either:
❖ listening to the audio file: Meditation08-Body_of_Light.mp3 (duration: 25 minutes) or
Sit Comfortably
Sit comfortably on a meditation seat or cushion. Sit with your back straight. Go through the seven-
point posture for meditation. Make sure your body is in a position that you can maintain for this
meditation session so that it doesn’t become a distraction to your meditation.
Calm the Mind

Breathe naturally and normally. Don’t control your breathing in any way. Start by using one of the
various breathing meditations, such as counting the breaths (p. 16) [or the nine-round breathing (p.
46)] or one of the mindfulness meditations [such as bare attention (p. 18); mind like the sky (p. 40); or
mind like the ocean (p. 43)], to settle your mind, to bring it into the present, to bring your mind to a
deeper, more concentrated state.

Now from this calm, clear state, cultivate an altruistic motivation for this meditation session. See if
you can generate a motivation that goes beyond yourself and your own individual well-being, and
takes into account also the welfare and peace of the world and all those who are living within it.
Cultivate your motivation realistically on the basis of the benefits that you wish to accrue from
meditating: developing your own mind, becoming a kinder and wiser person, and remembering the
effects that those personal improvements may have on the lives of others that you touch. Take a few
moments to cultivate your own positive motivation within your own mind and in your own words.
Actual Meditation on the Body of Light

Now visualize in the space above your head a sphere of white light, pure, translucent, very bright, and
radiant, and somewhat smaller than the size of your own head. Just concentrate on feeling the
presence of that light sphere. Don’t worry if it doesn’t appear very clearly, it’s just enough to feel its
presence, to feel that it’s there. So concentrate on this for the next minute or so.
110
Contemplate that this sphere of light represents all universal goodness, love, and wisdom, that this
sphere represents the fulfillment of our highest potential. All of our perfected qualities are embodied
by this ball of light. Now imagine that this sphere gradually decreases in size until it becomes a small,
bright sphere about one inch (2cms) in diameter, very small, very intense, very bright. This small ball
of pure white light descends through the top of your head, down through your body, to your heart
center, right in the middle of your chest. Just imagine it there for a moment. Feel the presence of
universal love and goodness and wisdom right at your heart.
As you focus on this ball of light, it very gently and slowly begins to expand, slowly spreading out until
that light fills your entire body. As it spreads, all the solid parts of your body dissolve and themselves
become light. Your organs, your bones, your blood vessels, your flesh, your skin, all become pure,
radiant, white light. Concentrate on this experience of your body as pure white light. Think that all
your problems—your negativities, faults, hindrances, physical and mental suffering of all kinds—have
completely vanished, dissolving into white light.
Be strongly convinced that you yourself have reached a state of wholeness and perfection. Imagine
this and feel great joy and serenity. Concentrate on your body as a body of light, radiant, blissful light
and transparent.
If any thought or distracting object appears in your mind, just let that also dissolve into white light.
Continue to concentrate on this experience for the next several minutes.
Now very slowly and gently relax your concentration. As you bring this meditation to a close and
reenter the activities of the day, don’t think that somehow this experience has been limited to this
meditation time, that your experience of wholeness will now somehow stop because the meditation
is coming to a close. Take that experience out with you, out of your meditation and into your daily
activities. Be convinced that this wholeness, this perfection, is your true nature, not just a fleeting
imaginary experience.

Now to conclude our meditation, dedicate your positive energy, your positive experience through
meditating, to the well-being and happiness of all living beings, to the alleviation of their sufferings.
May there be peace everywhere in this universe and peace in the hearts of each and every living
being. Take a few minutes to generate your own good wishes and dedications, sharing your positive
111
energy created through meditating with others.
(online).
Meditation 9: Generating an Altruistic Motivation

time and a conducive situation for meditation, do the following meditation on generating an altruistic meditation,
while either:
❖ listening to the audio file: Meditation09-Generating_an_Altruistic_Motivation.mp3 (duration: 30 minutes) or
Introduction
What follows is a slightly longer motivation based on Buddhist principles that you can choose to do if
you wish. Since the motivation is the foundation for our meditation practice, setting the direction and
the attitude, we consider it to be extremely important.
Sit Comfortably
As you always do at the beginning of your meditation session, first establish your sitting position. Take
a few moments to go through the seven-point sitting posture for meditation. Release the tension in
your body. Pay special attention, of course, to your neck, your jaw, your shoulders. Make sure your
back is straight. Initially, you might want to simply take a few deep breaths just to bring yourself into
your meditation.
Calm the Mind

Now take a few minutes to practice one of the meditations for calming the mind. You can practice
counting your breaths (p. 16) or the nine-round breathing meditation (p. 46), for example.
Actual Meditation on Generating an Altruistic Motivation

Once the surface agitation, all of the thoughts and movement of your mind, are calm and still,
imagine that seated around you are all the people of your life. You are sitting in meditation and they
are sitting in meditation with you. Imagine that to your left and right and behind you are all your
friends, relatives, and loved ones—all of those people you care about deeply, with whom you have
positive, constructive relationships. Imagine all of them with you.
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Imagine, seated in front of you and facing you, are all of those people with whom you have some
difficulty, those people you find irritating, those people for whom you feel anger or perhaps they are
angry at you—whoever poses a problem for you, all those individuals in your life that you would
prefer to avoid. In this meditation, we don’t put them out of sight and, therefore, out of mind, we put
them right up there in front, facing us. We look them straight in the eye.
Now imagine, surrounding all of these people that you already visualized, are all of the strangers in
your life. People you encounter when you go shopping at the mall, at the supermarket, the drivers in
the other cars on the road. All of the people that we encounter day to day in passing that we don’t
really think about, we don’t really pay attention to. We don’t know them, we certainly don’t know
their names, and, for the most part, we ignore them. But these people are in our lives as well. So
imagine them surrounding all the rest as far as the eye can see, as far as your mind can imagine, in all
directions.
And remember that all of these surrounding sentient beings—friends, enemies, strangers—are sitting
here with you, are reflecting and meditating with you, right this moment. Take a minute or two now
to remember who all these people are that you have imagined and to feel their presence with you.
Now, keeping in mind this visualization, the presence of all these people here with you, contemplate
as follows. “I am extremely lucky that my death did not occur last night while I was sleeping. So,
consequently, how incredibly wonderful and fortunate it is that today I’m still a human being. To be a
human being is a state that is extremely rare, especially if we compare it to the animal kingdom—the
infinite number of insects, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and so on, not to mention mammals, birds.
“To be born as a human being is an incredibly rare and precious opportunity. But not only do I have a
human body, I also have leisure in my life. My life is very fortunate. I am able to do more than simply
subsist. I have an inclination towards spiritual things in my life, towards expanding my inner world.
“Through meditation, I’ve begun to learn how to be a better person from the inside out. This too, is
extremely rare and precious. I have so many fortunate circumstances in my life and I should not waste
my life in any way. I should make my life as useful as possible for all living beings.
“The peace and happiness of others depends on me and my happiness is only received from the
kindness and efforts of others. So if I dedicate my life to becoming as useful and beneficial as possible
to other living beings, then this becomes the means to achieve happiness and success in my own life
as well. This is what can give my life depth of meaning.”
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From a Buddhist perspective, the purpose of our lives as human beings is to free all living beings from
their sufferings and from the causes of suffering, as well as to lead them not only to temporary
happiness but to everlasting, permanent happiness and well-being, peace and satisfaction, which we
call “enlightenment.”
As human beings this is our responsibility. In fact, each one of us individually is responsible for the
happiness of each and every living being that we meet. How can this be? Because our own actions are
completely within our own control and depend totally on our own minds, on whether we have
compassion and kindness that motivate our actions or not. So whether our actions are helpful or
harmful to others depends solely on us. It doesn’t depend on anyone else.
Therefore, by generating compassion and kindness within our hearts and acting out of that, we
immediately benefit other living beings. We cease to create harm and, instead, our actions serve to
benefit.
So, “If the ultimate purpose of my life is to work perfectly to benefit others, then in order to be able
to do that, I have to overcome my own inner obstacles, my own negative and harmful states of mind.
And the way to do that, is through this meditation practice that I’m about to engage in.”
There are many positive reasons that we may have as well for sitting down and engaging in
meditation. But if all of those positive reasons are cradled within this much greater motivation,
wishing to benefit all living beings, then all of them receive the power contained within that greater
motivation. All of those more limited reasons will certainly come to pass and at the same time our
larger, altruistic motivation will come to pass as well and will transform our lives.
So make a strong affirmation to yourself: “In order to be able to benefit all living beings, to release
them from their sufferings, to help them achieve happiness in whatever way necessary, in order to
become open and available to living beings in each moment, and to overcome my own inner
negativities and limitations, I’m going to engage in the following meditation.” Make this strong
determination in your own words and then concentrate on it. Concentrate strongly so that it absorbs
into the deeper levels of your heart and mind.
Meditation 10: Cultivating Equanimity

time and a conducive situation for meditation, do the following meditation on cultivating equanimity, while either:
❖ listening to the audio file: Meditation10-Cultivating_Equanimity.mp3 (duration: 60 minutes) or
114
Sit Comfortably
Begin the meditation by focusing on your sitting position. Make sure you are sitting comfortably in a
position that you can maintain without effort for the length of this meditation. Make sure that your
back is straight so that the energy flows in your body. This also helps to keep you alert. Pay attention
to your head, your neck, your shoulders, and especially your jaw. These are areas where we tend to
hold tension in the body. Relax those areas; make sure your jaw isn’t clenched. Your head should be
centered, not tilted left or right, not leaning too far forward, just slightly, and definitely not leaning
backward. Also, your shoulders should be level. Take a moment to adjust your position, your posture,
and make sure that you are in a position suitable for meditation.
Calm the Mind

Now for the next couple of minutes focus your attention on your breathing. Use your breath as an
anchor, especially if your mind is particularly distracted. Practice one of the various breathing
meditations, such as counting the breaths (p. 16) or the nine-round breathing meditation (p. 46), in
order to settle your mind into the moment and into a more concentrated state. Take a couple of
minutes just to calm the mind.

Now with your mind in a calmer, clearer state, focus on your motivation, your purpose for engaging in
this meditation. This meditation on equanimity is for the purpose of developing an attitude of equal
concern, equal regard, for everyone, all beings, for their well-being and welfare, whether they are
helping us or harming us at this point in time. This meditation serves to call attention to the fact that
the labels that we put on others are often arbitrary, very often mistaken, and without doubt, very
changeable.
For example, we can engage in this meditation in order to overcome our biased attitudes, our
judgments, in order to develop an attitude of perfect equanimity and balance towards others. Think
for a moment about our judgmental mind. We all have this mind. Often we judge others on the basis
of external appearance alone or preconceived notions of what certain kinds of people look like, our
preconceptions about the type of people we want to associate with and the types of people we don’t
want to associate with.
Consider how our judgmental mind has affected us in our life. Consider how the judgments of others
may have affected us and how our judgments have affected other people. Through this meditation,
we’ll explore, together, the nature of this judging mind and explore as well how we might learn to
overcome it.
115
Visualize a Friend, Enemy, and Stranger

Start by imagining in the space in front of you, three separate people. Imagine, first, a person that you
like, someone you definitely like, and you consider to be your friend. Second, imagine someone that
you don’t like. And, third, imagine someone that you feel indifferent towards, someone who is a
stranger to you. Keep these images of these three individuals in your mind throughout this
meditation.
Focus on the Friend

Now, first, focus on your friend. Allow all of the good feelings that you have for this person to arise
within you very strongly. Feel how much you care for this person and how much they care about you.
Think about what you would do for them; think about everything that they have done for you. Feel in
your heart this strong conviction that this person is definitely and truly a friend, someone who is good
to you and who fulfills your needs and wishes. Also, feel how you really want this person to be happy.
Don’t just observe these feelings arising, identify with them and allow yourself to feel them. But as
you feel these feelings, also be aware of what you are feeling.
Focus on the Enemy

Now, we’re going to shift the spotlight onto the enemy, the person you have imagined whom you
dislike. Allow your feelings for that person to arise strongly. Really feel them while at the same time
being aware and observing the feelings that you’re having. Really think about this person, how that
person annoys you or makes you angry, isn’t kind to you, doesn’t satisfy your needs. Regard this
person very carefully and at the same time look carefully at the feelings that you experience about
this person. Feel strongly your conviction that somehow this person is definitely and truly not your
friend, that this person is your enemy or something like an enemy.
Focus on the Stranger

Now we’re going to move the spotlight to the stranger, the last individual. Shift your attention to this
person and look carefully at that person noting also, very attentively, your feelings about that person.
You barely know this person. Perhaps you don’t even know their name. You neither like them nor
dislike them, one way or the other. Notice the feeling of indifference and disregard that arise within
you. Notice the very clear label of “stranger” that seems to fit this person, not “friend,” not “enemy.”
116
Contemplate the Reasons for the Labels

Now take a moment to step back and look at all three individuals and your relationships with each of
these three people. Each one bears a label: friend, enemy, stranger. Now consider for a moment: are
these labels that we have put on each of these three individuals based solely on what they do or don’t
do for us at this given point in time. Might this be a possibility? Think about this for a moment.
Also consider this: what if, as Buddhists believe, there is the possibility of past lives and rebirths? If
this were the case, then it would follow that every single person that we know, every single person on
this planet in fact, would have been our friend, our enemy, or a stranger to us countless times before
in our previous lives. Everyone would have been a friend at one time or another. Everyone would
have been kind to us, helped us, taken care of us at one time or another in the past. Given this
possibility it might be reasonable then to at least consider being kind to our enemies now because
they have been our friends before.
Re-Focus on the Friend

Now once again shine the spotlight on your friend. Imagine a situation that would cause your
friendship with that person to end. Imagine that person turning against you, stabbing you in the back,
harming you in some way, betraying your trust. Actually allow yourself to feel the resentment and
anger and hurt that you would feel in just such a situation. As you imagine this happening, does your
attitude towards this person begin to change? Do you still feel the same warm, friendly feelings
toward that person who has now betrayed you? Do you still wish that person well, want that person
to be happy? Where is the person on whom the label “friend” fit? Where is that friend now?
Also, remember that this person was not your friend before you were acquainted. You met this
person, who at that time was a stranger, you got to know this person. Your good feelings arose and
grew about this person over time, so this person went from being a stranger to being a friend.
Recognize also how easily this person could cease to be your friend now, just as you have imagined.
So think to yourself that there is really no sound reason for feeling kind and loving only toward the
friend of this moment. Relationships have changed in the past; they will continue to change. Today’s
friend can become tomorrow’s enemy. Our attachment to our friends is misplaced; not our kindness,
not our loving attitude, but our attachment.
Re-Focus on the Enemy

Now shift the spotlight to the person you have labeled enemy. Imagine a situation in which the two of
you could be drawn together, could become close. This might be a common interest or simply a word
of praise or kindness, a slight shift in attitude. Look carefully at that person and look carefully as well
117
at your feelings towards them. Really think about what might melt this icy rift that exists between
you. As you consider this, might it be that your feelings are already softening just a bit, becoming
warmer?
Perhaps we already know someone in our life who we regarded previously as an enemy who has now
become a colleague or a friend. We can learn to feel warmly toward our enemies. It’s happened
before and it will happen again. Our attachment to the label “enemy” is misplaced. It’s a concept in
our minds. Why is it that we hold so strongly to the concepts and labels that we put on others,
whether friend, or enemy, or stranger, when all of these relationships are so changeable?
Re-Focus on the Stranger

Now shift the spotlight to the person who is the stranger. Imagine how one act of kindness from this
person could immediately turn him or her into a friend or how one act of cruelty or anger could
immediately turn that person into an enemy. Sometimes for someone to shift from being a stranger
into a friend, all it takes is learning their name and shaking their hand. And sometimes all it takes to
turn a person into an enemy is a dirty look.
There is no definite, inherent, stranger imagined before you. There is really no sound reason for the
feelings of indifference and disregard that we hold onto. The other two individuals, our present friend
and our present enemy, were once both strangers to us. This stranger could become a friend or an
enemy ever so easily.
Contemplate the Fragile Impermanence of Relationships

The people we call friends are not inherently friends. The people we call enemies are not inherently
enemies. The people we call strangers are not inherently strangers. Maintaining your awareness of
these three people imagined in front of you, think about the fragile impermanence of these
relationships. It’s only our misconceived belief in the concreteness of these labels that keeps our mind
from understanding the possibility of change and fluidity in our relationships.
Contemplate How Everyone is Equal and Equally Deserving of Your Care

These three individuals, friend, enemy, and stranger, all want happiness just as much as you do. In
this respect, we are all equal. Also, everyone is equal in having the potential to develop their minds to
the fullest extent and achieve ultimate clarity and compassion. The differences that we see in people
are just superficial, based only on our mistaken and narrow self-centered view. We tend to see people
through the filter of what we want or don’t want, through the filter of what we like or don’t like,
118
rather than seeing and accepting them just as they are. But by seeing and accepting them just as they
are, we begin to realize that in fact everyone is equal in deserving our care and compassion, not just
our friends.
So to bring this meditation to a close, contemplate this: all living beings want happiness whether they
are our friend, our enemy, or a stranger. All living beings have infinite potential to achieve ultimate
clarity and compassion whether they are our friends, our enemies, or strangers.
We generally impute the labels of friend, enemy, or stranger simply as a result of our own self-
centered needs and judgments. In fact, our relationships with others are constantly changing, fluid,
and impermanent. Enemies can become friends, and friends, enemies. Strangers can become friends
or enemies. But the bottom line is that all of these differences that we see are just on the surface and
that at the deepest level every living being, every person we meet, deserves equally our care, our
compassion, and our friendship. So contemplate this for the next several minutes.

Let’s conclude this meditation by dedicating all of the positive energy of equanimity that we have
generated together to the well-being and happiness of each and every living being, of our friends, our
enemies, and of all the millions of strangers in the world. With this newfound mind of equanimity,
may we be able to regard them all as friends with an attitude of caring and compassion. May we
develop this mind of equanimity and balance. In our way of regarding others, may we overcome our
usual self-centered ways, our mind of judgmentalism, in order to be able to see all living beings in the
light of friendship. May this bring peace into our own hearts and into the hearts of others and may
that peace spread to encompass our entire planet.
(online).
___________________________________________________________________________________

experience with the meditations for this session: body of light, generating an altruistic motivation,
and cultivating equanimity.
119
___________________________________________________________________________________

1. Is it true that you are constantly making distinctions and developing judgments as you look at
and encounter other people? Can you think of times when your opinion about people was
proven wrong? If so, what does this show you?
2. What is the source of your own and others’ biased attitudes? Would it be worthwhile to strive
to free yourself from these biased attitudes?
3. Would you like to be free from the roller coaster of emotions, such as aversion and
attachment, and have a more balanced attitude or do you think this would make your life
boring? What would be some possible benefits of cultivating equanimity and what would e
some disadvantages?
4. Do you think it is realistically possible to train yourself to react differently by imagining an

alternative reaction in meditation? If you did this meditation over and over, would it gradually
have an impact on your life? Can you see yourself gradually developing a more healthy way of
reacting to a particular difficult situation in your life?
5. What are your plans concerning keeping up a meditation practice? If you are interested in
doing so, what kind of schedule would realistically work for you?
6. What is your overall experience with the meditations in this course? Are there some
meditations that were particularly useful to you?
To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement, you need to comment on at least three of the six points. Your
120
________________________________________________________________________________
Colophon
The teachings and meditations were recorded by Ven. Constance Miller for FPMT Education Services, 2008, and
transcribed by Mark Evans. The entire course, including both audio and text files, was lightly edited, reorganized, and
reformatted and The Points of Reflection were added by Ven. Joan Nicell, FPMT Education Services, 2018.
121

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MED101 03 Teachings and Meditations

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Teachings and meditations recorded by Ven. Constance Miller, 2008.

Transcribed by Mark Evans.

Session 1: Meditation in Buddhism 3

Session 2: Mind in Buddhism 23

Session 3: Types of Meditation and Obstacles to Meditation 51

Session 5: Meditation Stops the Roller Coaster of Emotions 95

Part 1. About Meditation

Introduction and Motivation for the Course

(Generate an altruistic motivation for doing this course.)

What is Meditation and Why Meditate

Seven-Point Meditation Posture

6. Jaw, Mouth, and Tongue

Part 2: How to Meditate

Applying Mindfulness and Concentration

Counting the Breaths Meditation

Bare Attention Meditation

Dealing with Distraction

Review and Dedication

THE GUIDED MEDITATIONS

Meditation 1: Counting the Breaths

❖ listening to the audio file: Meditation01-Counting_the_Breaths.mp3 (duration: 27 minutes) or

❖ reading the transcript of the meditation below.

Calm the Mind

Generate a Positive Motivation

Actual Meditation on Counting the Breaths

Now we’re going to practice this technique of counting the breaths.

Dedicate the Positive Energy

Meditation 2: Bare Attention

❖ listening to the audio file: Meditation02-Bare_Attention.mp3 (duration: 30 minutes) or

❖ reading the transcript of the meditation below.

Calm the Mind

Generate a Positive Motivation

Actual Meditation on Bare Attention

Dedicate the Positive Energy

THE MEDITATION JOURNAL

THE POINTS FOR REFLECTION

Part 1. Mind is Clarity and Awareness

You can either listen to the audio file—Session2-Part1-Mind_is_Clarity_and_Awareness.mp3 (duration: 33

Counting the Breaths Meditation

one. Settle the mind with this breathing meditation.

Motivation for the Session

Meditation Develops the Mind

Part 2. Mind is a Continuity

The stream of consciousness is a ceaseless flow of changing thoughts, changing emotions,

Mind is a Stream of Moments

lucky if we are aware of one thought over several seconds.

Individual Moments of Mind

Moments of Mind Leave Imprints

Part 3. Mind is Like the Sky and the Ocean

You can either listen to the audio file—Session2-Part3-Mind_is_Like_the_Sky_and_Ocean.mp3 (28 minutes)—of

Mind in Terms of Analogies

Meditation on Mind Like the Sky

Meditation on Mind Like the Ocean

Mind Observes the Mind and Makes Choices

Part 4. Mind is the Source of Everything

You can either listen to the audio file—Session2-Part4-Mind_is_the_Source_of_Everything.mp3 (duration: 22

Mind is the Source of Happiness and Suffering

Nine-Round Breathing Meditation

Conclusion and Dedication

THE GUIDED MEDITATIONS

Meditation 3: Mind Like the Sky

❖ listening to the audio file—Meditation03-Mind_Like_the_Sky.mp3 (duration: 45 minutes)—of Ven. Connie

❖ reading the transcript of the meditation below.