What meditation is supposed to accomplish

Asians are not too big on formal meditation. I think they realize that just sitting on one’s backside it not going to accomplish much. It might even be unhealthy since blood-clots can often form. Asians, I know, want to at least get an accurate idea of the context of Buddhism. Westerners seem not that interested. In fact, Westerners have pretty much concluded that Buddhism is a form of materialism, blending nicely with science.

It is difficult for many of those who practice meditation in Buddhism to understand, fully, what meditation is supposed to accomplish. I assume most believe it is an exercise that helps cope with the stresses of daily life. But this is not what meditation is, essentially, about.

Let us take the example of breath meditation. It has a goal. The goal is to take us beyond normal respiration to the primary source (pari-mukha) which is pure Mind. But why the emphasis on breathing, in particular? It is because our consciousness, which is presently tied to being breath bound, can also turn to what is beyond respiration. Our consciousness is understood in Buddhism to be a kind of cognitive focus of the mind (citta) which localizes. In terms of rebirth, consciousness localizes on the ovum. In the process of breathing, our consciousness is localized on our respirations. But we can also be conscious of being prior to our respirations as if to be conscious of what is not the in or out breath.

Because normal respiration, according to the Buddha, is something bodily, does it make any sense to follow the breath as some Buddhists believe? Rather we should detach our consciousness from continually attending to the breathing process in order to find, using a Zenic phrase, our original face before our birth. We can only do this by being mindful of the ultimate source of our breathing (i.e., the mukha) rather than simply attending to breathing as we do normally.

In the commentarial literature (UdA 188) that supplements the Udana found in the Pali Nikaya discourses of the Buddha, there is no particular reference to focusing on the nose or the mouth which, unfortunately, is a common meditation practice. The term 'mukha', in a particular commentary, is treated as being synonymous with niyyanattho which means: having the characteristic of leading to release or deliverance. Even in the Pali-English Dictionary by Rhys Davids and W. Stede the passage “parimukham satim upatthapetum” is translated “to surround oneself with watchfulness of mind”. Again, there is no reference to focusing on the mouth, the nose or following the breath. The Indo-Aryan word “mukha” has a significant number of possible meanings. In the Sanskrit Dictionary (MacDonell) besides referring to the mouth; the jaws; the snout—mukha can also mean the head; the chief; beginning; original cause of the action of a drama; source; occasion of; means.

We might ask, “How is focusing on the nose or one’s jaws going to effect nirvana?” In all candor, it seems stupid to focus on the nose or the mouth. But it does make a whole lot of common sense to attend the source of our respirations, or the beginning of breath, or the means of our breathing.

If we think about meditation as being a way to connect with the eternal life-giving part of ourselves, then meditation becomes a vital asset even in our mundane lives. It is, at least, a way to reclaim our spiritual life that is buried in the daily grind which is all for the sake of the temporal body instead of spirit.

Comments

[Bodhiratna]

The author is quite correct in this article. Most Westerners don't understand the meaning (and/or the practice) of real Buddhist meditation.

To merge with the Deathless it makes a whole lot more sense to focus on, as the author has pointed out in countless time, that which animates the body.

Whoever thinks Buddha is breath dependent is NOT a real Buddhist, or at least misguided by human teacher who themselves are Mara in Buddhist robes.
Furthermore most Westerners (and/or the the majority of the Theravadin Buddhists) who immediately reject the correct meditation teaching of the Buddha, are often themselves very attached to the 5 Skandha.

Grandmaster Hui-neng once told his monks that the Teaching is very direct and clear, it is only the people's mind in doubt that is obstructing them from seeing Truth. Very clear, he was mentioning about the common people's propensity to reject and fear the Light when it is revealed to them.

Bodhiratna

[greenfrog]

Come now. You can think of no utility of focusing on the breath, whether at the mouth, the nostril, the back of the sinuses or elsewhere?

If not, does that say more about the practice or more about you?

Even the Buddha practiced shamatha meditation (which is what breath-focus is) after enlightenment.