Как выполнять ежедневную практику 13 — Медитация в офисе (1998, Нью-Йорк), занятие 1

[Speaker 1]
Try to get your position right. It's your right leg up on your left thigh, okay? Something on your lap to hold your hands.

Left hand down first. Right hand on top of that. Thumbs touching.

Back very straight. Neck straight. Chin not too far up, not too far down.

Eyes straight ahead. Either close them or look down. Some are in space here, but don't focus them.

Close your eyelids halfway and look down or else close them all together. Then watch your breath. Normally we count ten breaths.

I found that about three rounds is good for a typical meditation. So count your breath coming in and out. One out and one in counts as the first one.

And then out and in counts as the second one and like that, okay? So we'll do this for about a few minutes and then we'll move on to a standard meditation warm-up.

[Speaker 2]
Mouth very loose.

[Speaker 1]
Next step of the preliminaries of the warm-up is to try to imagine why you're going to meditate. What do you hope to accomplish? And the main thing is to realize that you are inevitably getting older and going to die.

And that everything you're doing with your life is... If you leave it like that, it's doomed to fail or to end and you'd like to find some other way.

[Speaker 2]
That's taking refuge. That's the main reason to meditate.

[Speaker 1]
The next step of the warm-up is to think of bodhichitta, compassion. Try to think of someone that you know who is sick or not well, mentally or physically, and wish that you could help them.

[Speaker 2]
The next part of the warm-up is to visualize a holy being in front of you.

[Speaker 1]
Could be anyone that you feel is holy. But be sure that you try to visualize the most perfect being you can imagine. Then try to think of their good qualities and we say bow down to them in your mind, but think of some good quality, holy quality they have that applies to you personally.

Meaning which is helpful to you or which you would like to learn to have yourself. Next make some offering to them, even if it's just in your mind, but something that they would like from you. You can think of a flower or you can cover the sky with flowers or offer the ocean or your own good deeds are very good to offer also.

Something good you did in the last day or two. Something could please them.

[Speaker 2]
Which is the meaning of the word puja.

[Speaker 1]
The next step is to purify your mind and think of something negative that you've done in the last 24 hours or so. Something very specific.

[Speaker 2]
And try to think about how you'll try not to do it again.

[Speaker 1]
Then next step is to think of something good you've done in the last 24 hours. Something specific that you did nice for someone else. Good thing that you did.

And be happy about it. Rejoice in it. There are two more steps to the preliminaries or warming up.

The next one is to request teachings. And that could be formal teachings like these teachings or it could be informal teachings like someone getting angry at you and showing you how short your temper is and that you learned something from them. So request those kinds of teachings.

[Speaker 2]
Request that you always find teachers.

[Speaker 1]
The last step is requesting those teachers to stay in the world like His Holiness the Dalai Lama or any other great teachers in the world that you ask them to stay in this world. Because without them we wouldn't be able to learn anything. We wouldn't be able to do much on our own.

Can we start a small meditation? Think of that holy being. Make the outline clear in your mind as if it was a silhouette.

[Speaker 2]
Like there was a light behind them. And then focus on the face.

[Speaker 1]
Try to get the eyes clear. Just the eyes. So you have a silhouette and then the eyes.

[Speaker 2]
The outline of the eyes and the eyebrows. Then try to get the nose and the mouth. Then the hair and the rest of the face.

Then the chest and the arms. And then their whole body and their whole face and their head. The whole thing.

Then try to fill it in with the other senses. Fill in the warmth of their body. And then give them some kind of scent.

Some nice scent to them.

[Speaker 1]
And then lastly all the little movements of the body like the chest breathing and moving up and down. The eyes blinking once in a while.

[Speaker 2]
Little movements of the body. And then their mind.

[Speaker 1]
Think of their mind inside the body. Totally happy and totally loving. No anger.

No negativity at all. Just perfect. Beautiful thoughts.

Wanting to help people.

[Speaker 2]
Then the last step is to ask them to bless your mind.

[Speaker 1]
And you're going to ask them to come inside of you.

[Speaker 2]
They start to rise from their seat and then as they rise they get smaller.

[Speaker 1]
And they turn to face the same way as you and they rise to the top of your head and they sit on the top of your head. And they're very small, about two, three inches high. And finally they rest on the top of your head.

[Speaker 2]
Facing the same way as you.

[Speaker 1]
Then they get smaller and smaller and they start to come down towards your heart. They move down in front of your backbone. Back should be very straight.

About an inch in front of your backbone and they start coming down. Now they're about the size of like a peak. And then you see them at your heart or a little bit behind your heart, closer to the backbone.

About an inch in front of the backbone and then you're inside of this beautiful little golden chamber. And see them there and feel the warmth of them, the light. And they're sitting there very, very happy, very relaxed, very happy with you and the light from them is blessing your body all day long.

[Speaker 2]
Then the last thing we do is to...

[Speaker 1]
Just doing that meditation is a very powerful good karma. And you imagine that that light goes out of your body. They say it goes out of your pores, of your skin, like thousands and thousands of rays of light.

And they go out and strike other people and make them happy. They give them what they hope for.

[Speaker 2]
So imagine that. That's the last thing. Okay, relax then.