Hello everyone,
Thank you for listening to my audio.
This is LP Pichit GTM.
In this audio,
I will talk about the four foundations of meditation.
In the earlier audio,
Introduction to the Middle Way Meditation,
Also known as Dhammakaya Meditation,
I had mentioned about the foundations of meditation,
Which are mindfulness and relaxation.
However,
Those are just introductions.
In this audio,
We will go into further detail about what they are.
So the four foundations that we are talking about in this audio,
It will be very necessary for you in order to progress in meditation.
The four foundations of meditation are 1.
Mindfulness 2.
Relaxation 3.
Consistency 4.
Observation These four are very important.
You must maintain them from the beginning until the end throughout your meditation practice.
They are just like the pillar that support your meditation.
So let's talk about them one by one.
1.
Mindfulness Mindfulness is the beginning that you must have in your meditation.
In every activity you do,
When you want it to be success and complete,
You need to focus.
Likewise to our meditation,
When you practice meditation,
The first thing that requires is your mindfulness.
You must focus.
However,
When you are focusing,
It must be on the basis of the second foundation,
Which is relaxation.
Mindfulness and relaxation,
These two,
They must go together hand in hand.
Otherwise,
It will be quite difficult for one to progress because having too much or too less on both,
It will not be able to progress.
They must be in balance.
Just like when you read the book that you enjoy,
For example,
The novel that you like,
Whether they are sci-fi or fantasy or love story,
When you enjoy them,
You read them,
You read them,
You forgot about the time and you remember almost every detail that they describe in the book.
This is because the balance between mindfulness and relaxation are well synchronized together.
What it would be like if you're losing the balance?
Imagine this,
When you go to school,
You take one class from the first day of the semester until the end.
You have not started reading any of that.
But on the day that you have final exam,
You begin to read everything of the book on the last day before the exam.
How much can you remember?
Some may be able to remember all,
But mostly are not because you are trying to remember and go into every detail.
But at the time,
You cannot relax at all because the time is limited.
So that you only remember what you can read and scrim through it.
But instead,
If you are able to read from the beginning of the semester every day,
Bit by bit,
You enjoy the time,
You have yourself more relaxation in order to study.
So when the time comes for final,
You are more likely to perform better in the exam than study at the last minute.
Right?
So this is one of the example of how mindfulness and relaxation must go together from the beginning until the end of our meditation.
Next,
The third foundation of meditation is consistency.
When you are practicing meditation,
As mentioned earlier,
Mindfulness and relaxation must go together.
So consistency here is meaning that we must maintain its consistency and your meditation will be allowed to progress.
However,
How do you know if you are improved?
The next foundation is required,
Which is observation.
When you observe your meditation,
You will be able to feeling whether you are relaxed at the moment.
Are you still mindful?
Some people when they meditate,
After the meditation is over,
They found out that they are very relaxed and enjoy.
But when they were asking to explain any experience along the way,
Sometimes they cannot.
And if they cannot remember,
That means mindfulness has been lost or falling asleep.
So that they are not maintain consistency and unable to observe.
This is why observation is also important because you need them to observe how you start,
How you progress during meditation and after the meditation.
What is the result?
Once you maintain the fourth foundation of meditation throughout your meditation practice with observation,
When you check back after the meditation,
It would allow you to be able to evaluate what makes you progress,
Make you achieve stillness faster and longer.
If this action that you had done or try in your meditation is work,
You can repeat the same step next time you come to practice.
Or if it doesn't work,
You can try out another way to achieve your stillness.
This is why observation is important to help you progress in meditation.
So as I said,
Meditation.
So I hope the explanation in this audio file about the four foundations of meditation will be benefit to everyone who are listening here.
If you like it,
Don't forget to follow me,
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And I will continue to make more good audio about meditation and more.
Thank you very much.
In case you're interested for further learning,
I also have my record of live meditation on Facebook and YouTube.
The name is Great Teaching Monk.
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See you again in the next audio.
