Guided Meditation With Venerable Pomnyun Sunim
The fifth session of social distancing sangha meditation with Ven. Pomnyun Sunim, recorded live from Dubuk, South Korea, on May 10th, 2020 with appx. 3,500 online participants from around the world. This has English interpretation. It includes 26-minute instruction, 30-minute quiet time for meditation, and a 7-minute wrap-up with live chat Q&A.
Transcript
Hello,
Everyone.
Hello,
All.
I am a student of the Korean language teacher,
And I am a teacher of French.
I am a teacher of the American language teacher,
And I am a teacher of the American language teacher.
Being the second week of May,
Korea is covered like a fresh green carpet with newly budding plants and flowers.
I am very happy to be able to meet you.
I am very happy to be able to meet you.
And last night with a slight spring drizzle,
Which makes this morning's greenery much brighter,
Much fresher,
And makes for a very good environment for farming.
I am very happy to be able to meet you.
I went to Moon Gyeong Training Center yesterday and engaged with the senior leaders of the JTS Society as an organization and discussed our way forward.
I am honored to be able to meet you.
I am very happy to be able to meet you.
Before we get started with the meditation itself today,
Let me respond to some of the questions from the non-Korean speakers we got from last week.
I am very happy to be able to meet you.
You mentioned last week that because you are beginners,
We only meditate for 30 minutes.
My question is,
How long can I meditate per session,
The better I become at it,
And how many times per day is effective?
I am very happy to be able to meet you.
First,
Usually the cycle is we meditate for 15 minutes and about 10 minutes afterwards.
If 15 minutes is a little too long,
We meditate about 40 minutes.
If you are not able to meditate for 30 minutes,
You can meditate for 30 minutes.
If you are not able to meditate for 30 minutes,
You can meditate for 30 minutes.
If we are doing frequently or one after the other sequencing,
We can do it for 40 to 50 minutes,
Then allow your legs to relax and then re-engage for 40 to 50 minutes.
If you are not able to meditate for 30 minutes,
You can meditate for 30 minutes.
If you are working regularly,
I think the best cycle might be you meditate for 40 minutes,
Then do a walking meditation,
Allow your legs to relax for about 10 minutes,
Then follow with another 40-10 minute cycle.
If you are not able to meditate for 30 minutes,
You can meditate for 30 to 50 minutes,
Then allow your legs to relax for 30 minutes,
Then allow your legs to relax for 30 minutes.
When we are engaged in a very dedicated and focused meditation day sessions,
What we do is we do 40 minutes sitting meditation,
10 minutes walking meditation,
Then 40-10,
40-10 those cycles for about 10 to 12 times a day.
If you are not able to meditate for 30 minutes,
You can meditate for 40 minutes,
Then follow with another 40 minutes,
Then do a walking meditation,
Then follow with another 40-10,
40-10,
Then follow with another 40-10,
And then follow with another 40-10.
Can you become so deep in the meditation that you completely forget all stimuli around you?
Do you get some kind of profound insight to your existence?
Or is it more like a spectrum of experience,
Like a little bit more relaxed than a beginner,
But nothing very different?
The objective of meditation is not to become comfortable.
The objective of meditation is to become comfortable.
Relaxation and comfort is the basis foundation to starting a meditation.
What is the basis of meditation?
It consists of three things.
First,
You must be able to have a singular focus on a single object or a single thing while your body and mind is relaxed.
You must be able to have a singular focus on a single thing while your body and mind is relaxed.
You should avoid any purpose or any intent to do well.
That's right.
If you are not able to have a singular focus on a single thing while your body and mind are relaxed,
You should be able to have a singular focus on a single thing while your body is relaxed.
Just as you watch the tides come in and waves come in and go out in the ocean,
You must be relaxed and watch and just observe without intent.
You must be able to have a singular focus on a single thing while your body and mind are relaxed.
Second condition is that you must be awake to what you are observing.
Clearly awake,
For example,
If the ocean is coming in,
Know that it's coming in.
As it goes out,
Know that it's going out.
If you are awake,
You must be awake to what you are observing.
Third,
There will come a time when you lose focus because you are distracted by stray thoughts or other external stimuli.
At that point,
Do not engage in regrets,
But just refocus and regain that wakefulness and mindfulness.
So all you have to engage in is to refocus once you lose it.
If you get distracted,
Refocus.
Just repeat that refocusing.
Do not try to make a judgment of whether you're doing this well,
This is not so well,
You did this poorly.
Do not engage in any sort of those types of judgment.
Even the judgment based on this meditation is working for me or it's not working for me.
Do not even engage in those types of evaluations.
Just in a relaxed state,
Focus on the edge of your nose and be mindful of the breath going in and out.
If you lose it,
Then regain that focus.
You have to be steady and consistent in that.
Then as you become consistent,
You gain the capacity to realize the emotions that arise in your everyday encounters.
You develop the capacity to be awake to the different emotional feelings that arise in your everyday interactions.
In some ways,
You are able to maintain a very sensitive self-diagnostic capacity so that you are immediately aware of what happens to yourself.
You also are able to free yourself from everyday judgments of whether you're doing this poorly or whether this is good or bad.
Ultimately,
You are able to free yourself from the negative emotions of whether there's hatred or anger or other negative emotions.
In a state in which those negative emotions have been extinguished,
That's a state we call nirvana.
Even the thought of what happens,
What's the objective,
What do I achieve through meditation,
What are the goals I can achieve through meditation,
Even those statements or thoughts of intent should be let go.
The most difficult part of teaching meditation is that people will need to let go of any intent or judgment or evaluation of their performance.
Doing meditation and that's very difficult to do.
I'm 7 years old.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
I was in the hospital for 2 months.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
It was easy when there was pain in the leg,
For example.
The attention goes there.
It seemed that tonight it was easier to go back to the breath.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
But when a thought becomes like a chatter,
It was harder to be aware of it quickly and to get out of it.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
Why is this?
Is this the habit called the monkey mind?
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
So when you close your eyes and you're relaxed,
The first visitor is sleepy.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
If you can overcome sleep,
Ignore sleep,
Then the second visitor are those distracting thoughts from the past,
All these memories.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
Or you're also visited by distractions of the future,
All the different plans you have for the future.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
These are natural phenomenons.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
Because our mental acuity runs on these types of things.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
I was in the hospital for 3 months.
So do not even try to get rid of it intentionally,
All these natural phenomenons,
All these natural distractions that happen to you.
If you can't get rid of them,
Then you can't get rid of them.
You can't get rid of them.
You can't get rid of them.
You can't get rid of them.
What you're practicing in meditation is you are trying to maintain that focus on your breath in spite of these distractions which are natural.
I'm not trying to get rid of them.
I'm trying to get rid of them.
Say you're crossing some vocifer,
A noisy place into an objective,
Into a goal.
If you don't get rid of them,
You can't get rid of them.
As you walk through a noisy market,
And you have all these merchants yelling at you to buy their wares,
You can't get rid of them.
They even grab at you to try to pull them into their stores.
They can't get rid of them.
You might be led by them into their store to look at their merchants.
If you don't get rid of them,
You can't get rid of them.
Or you may go on your wares and not be distracted by the merchants.
You can't get rid of them.
But if you engage in these type of interactions,
Whether yay or nay,
It's very difficult to go through their noisy market.
So when they're trying to grab at you and get your attention to buy their stuff,
That's what they do.
These are tradespeople.
They're merchants.
But it's up to you to just walk through them,
Not be distracted.
Whatever they say.
Whether they grab you or not.
You just go on your way.
And to not be distracted nor resist.
So basically,
In other words,
You are letting them do what they naturally do,
While at the same time you do what you want to do.
Basically,
Your perspective in engaged meditation should be whatever external distractions or internal distractions that may happen,
Let them happen naturally,
While you maintain your own focus on your way.
Fourth question.
Do you think doing yoga before meditation will help you with meditation and concentration?
When I'm in this monkey mind,
Trying to meditate a little movement of my neck where it's painful on my back,
Sometimes it allows me to go back to concentration on my breath and the tip of my nose.
Would that be helpful?
I think that's a good question.
I think that's a good question.
As I said,
Any kind of evaluation or any kind of thought about whether this helps or that helps,
Even that thought,
You have to be able to let go.
I think that's a good question.
You know,
With your body and mind relaxed,
Just focus your mind on the breath at the end of the edge of your nose and know the ins and outs of your breath.
Whatever thought comes,
Whatever noise you hear from the outside,
What sensation arises in your body?
Do not imbue those with any significance.
Just merely be focused on your breath.
If you lose it,
Regain that focus.
Aside from that focus,
Do not imbue anything else with any significance,
And this will occur naturally.
Yes,
I understand.
One more.
If you lose it,
You will be able to go back to your mind.
So my wife tells me that I need to sit straight doing meditation.
I will be able to go back to my mind but as time goes by,
My body relaxes and it's not straight anymore.
Do I need to concentrate on the way I sit as during meditation?
Or can I just focus on my breath?
The most important thing is to be aware of your breath.
But when your body is not in the right state,
That phenomenon usually occurs when you lose focus on your breath.
While you are focusing on your breath,
And if you realize that your body's position is not where it should be,
And you can strain yourself out,
Correct your posture,
While maintaining that focus on your breath.
So it's not a binary,
Right?
It's not a choice between straightening your posture or maintaining focus on your breath.
You should correct your posture while maintaining focus on your breath.
So let's conclude with Q&A with that.
Strain out your position.
Or the lotus position.
Strain your back.
And strain your head as well.
Both hands in front of you.
And close your eyes,
Relaxed,
Comfortable.
Focus your mind on the edge of your nose.
And be awake to the movement of the breath in and out.
If breath is long,
Realize that it is long.
As your breath goes out,
Realize that breath is going out.
And if your breath is quick,
Just realize that it is quick.
And if your breath becomes rough,
Just be mindful that it is becoming rough.
And your breath is calm and peaceful,
Just realize that it is calm and peaceful.
Do not try to manage your breath.
Just notice the condition and the state of your breath.
Whatever bad memories come to you from the past,
Whatever great plans might come to you from the future,
Do not imbue them with any significance.
Just let them be.
Just be mindful of the breath.
If you lose it,
Just realize that you lost it.
And once again,
Refocus on your breath coming in and out.
If you lose it 10 times,
Regain it on the 11th time.
Or if you lose it 100 times,
Regain it on the 101st time.
Just be consistent in your focus on your breath.
Do not give up out of frustration because you lost it.
But do not get excited just because you're able to maintain that focus.
Do not try to perform well.
Just in a state of relaxation and calm,
Just be consistent in your focus.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
Let us begin.
So we have a tendency in our mind to imbue something with significance through our intent.
So that's not the way you want to engage in meditation.
You want to engage the part of their mind that can be watchful without generating intent.
So some of you are complaining that there are a lot of distracting thoughts.
You're led astray by different thoughts.
But you have to realize that thoughts arise as a natural part of your mental activities.
Even when you sleep,
Thoughts are expressed themselves into random bits of dreams.
So you must be able to maintain their focus even in the midst of those distracting streams of thoughts.
Say when you're dreaming,
You're being chased by a mugger in your dream.
Then you wake up.
If you are practitioner,
That's all you need to do.
Realize that it was just a dream and let it go as a dream,
As a distracting bits of thoughts.
Not try to interpret that dream and imbue that dream with some type of significance.
So just likewise,
If you lose the focus on the breath,
Just realize you lost it and just regain it.
Just as it's not useful to try to interpret your dreams as a good dream or bad dreams,
Good omens or bad omens.
Once you're awake from a dream,
Just realize that you just dreamt.
It's not useful for you to judge how well you're performing on gaining or regaining or losing the focus on your breath.
Just realize that you lost the focus and without judgment,
Just regain that focus.
We get comments that your legs hurt and you were forced to kind of straighten out your leg.
So during meditation,
You'll come across different sensations.
You'll feel sleepy.
Your legs will hurt.
Sometimes you get hot.
Think back to the past when you were hurt and you realize that hurts.
You have these great plans that come to you unbidden about the future.
Once again,
Do not imbue them any significance.
Because these are natural parts of what happens to your mind.
In the midst of this distracting stream of your thoughts,
The critical factor is,
Did I lose the focus on your breath?
Did I maintain that focus on my breath?
And do not fear losing the focus on the breath.
It's just something that you realize and you regain.
It's almost as if this is too easy.
It's almost as if we are all conditioned to achieve something,
To overcome a challenge,
To perform well.
But that's not how you go about doing this.
It's in a midst of relaxation and comfort.
You're just observing.
And we'll conclude with that thought today.
We'll see you again next week.
Thank you,
Jason.
Thank you.
