How to Begin Meditation from In TRAINING by Erik Pema Kunsang

Most of us have seen a picture of a meditator with the body placed nicely: straight back, legs loosely crossed, head balanced on the spine, palm on the knees or in the lap. The body is supposed to simply sit and keep on sitting. Imitate that, and your body is now in meditation posture. But you are not the body. You are in a body. It is not the body that meditates; it’s the mind. Meditation takes place in the realm of consciousness: that in you which is aware and thinks, feels and experiences.

The body is your vehicle, your temporary dwelling. Mind wills, body does.

My teacher, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, taught that meditation means to be unswayed when something happens. It means that your awareness is able to just be. In that continuous state of simple being, we can use techniques to allow transcendent wisdom and compassion to unfold.

Meditation for beginners.

Relax on your seat, with upright spine, and for a little while just sit. Then think: I’ll use this time to be the best I can be, the most aware, gentle and open-minded, to help myself and all others.

Breathe naturally, relax every muscle from deep within and just be.

Try this for some time and see what happens. Don’t bring in a lot of ideas, about meditating and meditation. Just allow yourself to be. That is the basis for a beginner.

Every time you forget what you are doing, just start from the beginning one more time. Stop after five minutes and make a wish: May the goodness of being present, gentle and open-minded, bring benefit for both myself and everyone else.

Slowly, you will get some personal experience about how it actually is to just be without doing anything, in a state of readiness.

This is a simple foundation, and it can be expanded endlessly.

—In TRAINING by Erik Pema Kunsang