How to Practice Shamatha, Calm Abiding Meditation

Shamatha meditation is a beautiful practice of paying attention. It is the development of mindfulness, in which we pay attention to what’s happening, starting with our breath. You can’t exist, without breathing. It’s quite natural. Shamatha doesn’t involve some esoteric type of breathing;  that’s not necessary here. Natural, simple breathing is best. Shamatha, or calm abiding, also means the development of peace. Calmness, a peaceful state. This does not have the usual meaning of “peace,” such as world peace. In this case, peace means “nonaction.” When there’s a lot of action, there’s no peace usually. So the “nonaction” here, or on-movement, is within. Again, we’re talking about facing inward. So, there’s no action inside – no movement, or not too much movement.

So when we sit down in Shamatha meditation, there should be this sense of, “Haahh,” really letting go and relaxing. Like when you finally sit down after a long period of work.

When you sit down on your cushion to meditate, or if you have health problems, on a chair. You can use a chair or back support, or whatever support you need. But if you don’t have health issues, it’s recommended to sit on a cushion.

So when you sit on a cushion to meditate, one very important thing here is don’t make it a big deal, about it, all right? Don’t puff up and think, “Now I am going to meditate.” No. That’s the cause for not meditating. So don’t make it a big deal. Just sit down and relax. 

The Meditation Posture

We have certain guiding instructions on the meditation posture. Some of the key important points of the posture are 

• Straighten your back. You straighten your neck and your whole spine. If you push your lower back just a little bit forward, your spine will naturally become straight. That’s why a lumbar support cushion is very useful when you’re sitting in a chair, especially working. You can also use a lumbar support for meditation, if you have back problems, for example.
• Place your hands on your knees. We call this “the gesture of resting the mind.”
• Feel your breath. Just your natural breath, nothing fabricated. You don’t have to breathe any special way. However you’re breathing, that’s fine.
• Then sit quietly, at your home, or with your group. Sit quietly and listen to your breathing. Listen to the subtle sound of your breathing going out and coming into your nostrils. Just do that for a little bit.

And then, you have to begin to work with the state of your awareness. When we sit in that way, one problem we have is thoughts. When the thought processes will come, of course. And then you need your awareness to notice that it’s coming, right? You notice that you’re getting distracted. And then you bring your mind back, you bring your attention back to your breath.

Relaxation is the key

So when you sit in this way, don’t hold yourself too tight. Relax a little bit. Don’t worry about it or make it a big deal. It’s just breathing. But this time, you’re breathing with awareness. Breathing with awareness is beautiful. So, don’t hold yourself too tight. If something is too tight, it snaps easily. Held too tight, your mind will snap. So relax your mind.

My Dzogchen teachers and Mahamudra teachers all told me that, actually, there’s nothing to do in meditation other than relax. We have a saying: “Those who have the best relaxation have the best meditation. Those who have middling relaxation will have a middling relaxation experience. And those who have the least relaxation? Forget it.” That’s my version of the saying. 

No matter whether you’re practicing Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dzogchen, or Mahamudra meditation, relaxation is the key. That’s what meditation is.

So, once you’ve taken the meditation posture, don’t move – just relax and follow the out-breath. As you breathe out, your attention goes out with your natural breath. Breathe out as long as you feel comfortable. And then, physiologically, your body will naturally breathe in. You don’t have to make an effort to breathe in. You don’t have to think, “Oh, now I need to breathe in.” Don’t worry about it. The inhalation just naturally happens. As your body breathes in, relax. Then, when you breathe out, pay attention to it going out. As the outbreath goes out and dissolves, allow your mind to relax, and naturally settle. 

And then there’s a gap before breathing in. You can see a little gap there. Relax. Again, for breathing in, you don’t need to do anything. The body will do it. 

So when you breathe in, just let it be. Let it be, and let your mind drop any and all kinds of focusing or paying attention, or whatever. Drop it, and relax. And then when you breathe out, you focus on that breath going out. Just do that. This is a very beautiful meditation practice. Because in this way we are able to bring our mind to the present moment. Being in the present moment is the key to liberation, the key to enlightenment, the key to freedom. Simply being in this moment.

So with this kind of breathing technique in meditation, we can be present. We can be right here, now. Instead of sitting here but with our mind wandering off into the past, or into the future. 

What to do when thoughts come up

And then what do we do if thoughts arise? We just let them arise. It is said that we should not try to block our thoughts. If we try to block out our thoughts, they only become stronger.

In the meditation teachings, they give this example of a person who goes to visit a town they’ve never been to before. And they’re having a really pleasant time in that new town, really enjoying themselves,  thinking, “Gosh, I could stay around here for a while.”

But then one day, the sheriff comes and says, “I’m here to inform you that you are not allowed to leave this town. Ever. Blah blah blah, by the authority of the local government, and so on, you are not allowed to leave and must stay here permanently.” From that point onward, the only thought on the visitor’s mind is, “How can I get out of here?”

They’re still in the same place where they’d been thinking, “I love this town, I could really stay here for a while.” But now they only have one thought: how to escape.

Our thoughts are just like that when we hold onto them. So, let thoughts come, and let them go. Let it come, let it go. Because if you try to stop your thoughts, they just get more intense.

So, just let the thoughts come through. You don’t have to do anything to “let it go.” Because when you say, “let it go,” we feel pressured: “Oh! How can I let it go?” But don’t worry, you don’t have to do anything. Thoughts are always moving. So just let them through, that’s the only thing we have to do. In terms of departing, thoughts take care of that all by themselves.

A sense of openness: buddha mind

When you get used to doing that, you begin to find there’s a sense of openness. Then you don’t find the thoughts threatening, or helpful, or positive. At some point, thoughts just become like general gossip. General chatter. Like when you’re in a big, busy restaurant and you hear all kinds of things going on. At some point, it just becomes background noise. Like in the city, you can hear the traffic. Sometimes we hear an ambulance or a police siren. Or people shouting.

At some point, it becomes like background noise. It just goes on and on and on. You know, traffic, motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, trains, they all move, and become like background noise. Thoughts are like that, these thoughts that go through and become like general gossip.

At some point, with those thoughts, you feel like, “So what? What do you want me to do?” This is described as being free of benefit or harm. And this is how we are taught to look at our thoughts. This is what they talk about in Dzogchen, in the context of meditation, that when you meditate, eventually thoughts are liberated in being free of benefit or harm.

For example, sometimes a bully gets power because you give them the power. And if you do that, then they bully you again and again. It’s the same when we give power to our thoughts. The thoughts bother us more, and more, and more. But if you just let the thought come through, and let it move on, there’s no power there.

If you give thoughts power, they will keep throwing more stuff at you. Scary stuff. So don’t do that. Just let it come, and let it go.

This is how we work with our meditation. And when you do that, then you can see your thoughts, you can see your patterns. You can see how calm your mind is, how busy your mind is, how many different kinds of thoughts you’re having. Negative thoughts, positive thoughts, and what have you. You get to know yourself a little bit more. 

In this way, you can actually get to know your own mind. By knowing your own mind, you can remedy whatever you need to, in order to transform your mind.

I also want to throw this in here, for your analysis: Our hypothesis, in the Buddhist teaching, is that your mind is free from the beginning. Your mind is always free. Your mind is actually awakened, right from the beginning. 

Your mind is the buddha mind. “Buddha” means “awakened,” it’s not a person, per se. So the person who’s totally awakened is also called Buddha. Since your mind is buddhamind, since your mind is enlightened from the beginning, we have this notion of buddhanature. For by discovering your mind, you will also be on the road to discovering your nature, your deeper nature, which is awakened and which is right there, in between two thoughts. Yes, right in between two thoughts, when you see the gap, there’s your Buddha.