Module 2: Foundations of Buddhist Meditation I: Shamatha · The Buddha’s Path
The Nine Stages (5-9) and Taking Appearances as the Path
David Oromith · 83 minutes · recorded February 28, 2024
David guides a cycling meditation from the Buddha's instructions to Bahiya: sight, sound and touch attended without labelling, eyes open, before turning to the mind and watching whatever arises. He then covers stages five to nine of shamatha, including the stage where suppressed memories and emotions surface and must simply be witnessed, not analysed. Questions cover floatiness and laxity, letting a mind that feels like it is floating away go safely, and whether practice changes who you are.
I encourage you to engage in this meditation practice, practising with your eyes at least partially open, once a day for the next week. The method is 'taking appearances as the path' where we cycle through some of the senses, ending with attending to the mind and mental events. Follow the Buddha's brief instructions: "in the seen let there be only the seen; in the heard, let there be only the heard, in the sensed let there be only the sensed, in the cognised let there be only the cognised." This practice is primarily about passively attending to what reality presents to you, not what we add or subtract away from reality. Attend to the visual impressions as they are, not your concepts of 'table' or 'chair.' Attend to the sounds as they are, not your concepts of 'dog barking' or 'people talking.' Attend to the tactile sensations as they are, not your concepts of 'my arm' or 'my knee pain.' Attend passively to the mental events as they are, not identifying or grasping onto them.
Distraction and attention Shamatha (calm abiding)