Dear Dharma friends,
Starting from today, every Tuesday for the next 11 weeks I will post the notes that was compiled during our weekly classes. Our teacher was Bro. KC Ng who was patient and kind enough to lead us for that 11 lessons.
1) What is Meditation?
Meditation can be defined as mental cultivation or simply put,taking care of the mind. If you don't take care of the mind, mental defilements such as craving, desire, expectation, anger, hatred, jealousy, worry, anxiety, fear, etc can easily arise. This leads to suffering.
2) Name of Meditation
Mindfulness or Vipassana [insight].
3) Purpose of Meditation
To purify one's mind from mental defilements and thereon experience freedom from suffering or peace.
Purification of one's mind can take place:
i) Temporarily and
ii) For good.
4) Method of Meditation
Through the development and application of mindfulness. To be mindful means to be aware/to know/to remember.
How to be mindful:
a) Pay attention on the happening of the here and now.
b) Focus on the happening of the here and now.
c) Observe the happening of the here and now.
Main Principle of Mindfulness:
To be Present. To be present means one's mind [attention] is in the here and now.
Benefits of Being Present:
a) Mind will be at peace.
b) Whatever you do, you can do more efficiently.
c) Can appreciate better what you are doing e.g. eating, driving, etc.
Objects of Mindfulness
They are the objects in which yogis pay attention to/focus on/observe as a means to developing and applying mindfulness.
The Buddha taught the Four Foundations of Mindfulness which represent the four categories of objects of mindfulness. They are :
i) Body
ii) Feeling
iii) Mind (to be dealt with later)
iv) Dhamma (to be dealt with later)
The body has 3 aspects:
a) Posture
b) Bodily sensations
c) Bodily movements.
Body is the best object to bring the mind to the present as it is always a present object plus it is the grossest object (easier to be mindful of).
There are 3 types of feeling:
a) Pleasant feeling : i) worldly pleasant feeling (sensual in nature; grosser)
ii) unworldly pleasant feeling (spiritual; more refined)
b) Unpleasant feeling
c) Neutral feeling
The pleasant and unpleasant feelings experienced can be of varying intensity.
There are two types of mindfulness practice:
a) Formal - a setting where the yogi dedicates the time purely in the practice of meditation such as sitting meditation and walking meditation without contending with other affairs/tasks.
b) Informal - applying mindfulness in daily life amidst daily activities such as brushing teeth, washing, changing, eating, drinking, walking (informal), driving, working, etc.
Method - just be present in whatever you are doing.
Sitting Meditation
Objects of mindfulness:
a) Primary object - preliminary and intentional object i.e. the rising and falling movements of the abdomen.
b) Secondary objects - incidental and unintentional phenomena (occurrences) e.g. bodily sensations, thinking, etc.
5) Fulfill these 3 conditions in order to benefit from the meditation practice
a) Having RIGHT UNDERSTANDING on the practice.
b) Having RIGHT ATTITUDE with regard to the practice.
c) Apply the RIGHT PRACTICE (practise correctly as guided).
Right Attitude:
1) Be relaxed.
2) Not to have any expectation.
3) Having the right aim/aspiration/intention viz. to purify the mind.
4) Enjoy the practice.
5) Be happy to be at the class (come willingly and happily).
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