WEBVTT

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<Attaining Enlightenment
Through Meditation>

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(Questioner) Hi Sunim, thanks 
for giving me a chance to ask a question.

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So, I have a question on meditation
and studying Buddhist scripture.

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I learned that the Buddha achieved
a peaceful mind and profound enlightenment

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through meditation.

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I am trying to practice meditation
for the same purpose,

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but as a beginner who hasn't gone
through the path, I have some doubts

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about how I can achieve such a deep state
of enlightenment through not thinking.

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Could you explain how meditation can lead
to such peace of mind and enlightenment?

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(Sunim) All our suffering actually happens
because we think too much.

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So, we need to truly liberate ourselves
from our preconceptions of ethics,

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morality, religious faith, and other
paradigms. These guard our thoughts.

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For example:

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Say a man and a woman who like
each other have become lovers.

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So, in a regular relationship between
two ordinary people, you like each other.

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However, if you are Buddhist clergy
or Catholic clergy, you have been taught

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not to engage in sexual relationships.

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So, those people
who are trained in that way,

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while they enjoy being with the other
person in a romantic relationship,

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also feel guilt.

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So, all that guilt, that negative feeling,
is not a result of having this romantic

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relationship with another person you like.

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It comes from your own preconceptions
that you shouldn't be doing this.

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So, a lot of the suffering and issues
we experience today actually happen

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because of the contradiction or collision
between what is happening in reality,

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what we experience in reality, and our
preconceptions of how things should be.

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That suffering disappears
when you erase the contradiction

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by choosing to abandon a preconception
and accept reality

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or adhering to that preconception
and foregoing your desires.

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However, we can never solve this problem
as long as we simultaneously adhere

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to a preconception and desire 
what we want in reality;

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that contradiction will persist.

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So, another example:

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If traditional ethics dictate
that men and women of a certain age

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cannot be romantic partners,
then such relationships create suffering.

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Similarly, if we are taught that divorce
is unacceptable after marriage,

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yet circumstances call for separation,
this contradiction creates suffering.

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However, observing the natural course
of relationships,

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people come together and separate
all the time.

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It is all part of life.

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It shows that separation or divorce is
not inherently a cause of suffering.

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It's your preconceptions of "what ought to
be" that actually causes suffering,

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whether it is a first meeting
or a separation.

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If you can just erase
"what ought to be,"

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then you eliminate
much suffering from internal conflict.

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For example, when we teach our daughters
that premarital sex is a sin,

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it causes them internal suffering
when they engage in it.

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But we do not teach our sons 
this to the same extent,

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so they may not feel the same guilt.

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This is all due to the preconceptions
we instill in our children.

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For example, if you stop thinking
right now, there is no cost to suffer.

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That is why the foundation of
our meditation is stopping your thinking.

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What posture you take, how you breathe,
none of that really matters.

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Many people say they are meditating,
but they end up thinking quietly.

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That is thinking, not meditating.

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Thinking good thoughts does not mean
you meditate well.

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Meditation is
a state of absence of thoughts.

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If your thinking stops,
most of your suffering will go away.

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But once you try it, you will find
your thinking does not stop easily.

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Your thinking is naturally amplified
many times over.

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So when you are meditating,
your body may be still,

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but you are always thinking.

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How do you stop thinking?
Intending to stop thinking amplifies it.

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That is why the old teachers told us this:

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There's dust flying in the room.

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We don't see it well.
It is almost invisible.

NOTE Paragraph

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But if there is a ray of sunlight
that comes through the room,

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we suddenly realize
that dust floats in the room.

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We are trying to get rid of the dust
in the room with a duster or a cloth.

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Then, we are realizing that
trying to do so only creates more dust.

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Then, what do we do?
We just have to let it be.

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As time passes,
most of the dust will gradually settle.

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They mean we constantly live in a flux
of thoughts and distractions,

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but we do not realize it without that
"ray of light" to illuminate them.

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Realizing how "dusty" your mind is
isn't a meditation failure;

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it is part of the process
of meditation to recognize that.

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It's the same as seeing that ray of light
illuminate all that dust.

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The first key is to realize
that "I live amidst distracting thoughts".

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When you practice
performance-oriented meditation,

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which aims to meditate better and faster,
it creates more distractions.

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It may cause more dust to fly.

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You have to just let it be.

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But it doesn't really settle that quickly
because it just flies around.

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That's why the strategy is
to focus your thoughts on one thing.

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The easiest thing to focus your thoughts
on is your breath.

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Basically, it is a strategy
of focusing

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on the inhalation and exhalation
of your breath.

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In Pali, it is called Ānāpāna.

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Another strategy that came up
during the Zen Buddhist tradition is

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a Koan, to focus on one single thought.

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Or one single question, like "Who am I?".

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Just focus on that single question.

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Other thoughts will constantly be there.

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You just let them be.

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But the only thing you actually focus on
is that single question.

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For example, say you read a book
in the middle of the forest.

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You know, there are birds tweeting.

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You hear a stream.

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And you hear cars down the road.

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So you can't really focus.

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If the cars weren't running,

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if the birds stopped tweeting,

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if the stream stopped running;

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then you could actually focus
in a quiet forest, right?

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But you can't stop those things.

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Just because you stop those externalities
doesn't guarantee that you can focus.

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But if you really focus on the book
and get really into the substance

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of the book, birds may tweet,
but you don't pay attention to them.

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The cars may be running on the road
next to it,

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but you don't really pay attention,
nor do you pay attention

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to the stream running beside you
because you are really focused;

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you are in that zone of focus.

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So, meditation is
all about the absence of thoughts,

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but from a strategic perspective,

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it's all about focusing
on that one single thought.

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Let's say you focus
on the breath in and breath out.

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So, when the breath comes in
to know that the breath is coming in.

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You're not thinking
about the breath coming in.

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This is a kind of sensory experience:
the flow of the air as it actually travels

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over your skin, through your nostrils,
as it enters your lungs.

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And you also feel that kind of tactile
sense of the breath and leaf in your nose.

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This is experiencing, not thinking.

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You are just experiencing
that breath.

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You might think of your mother
at that time.

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But once you are actually distracted
by the thought of your mother,

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you start thinking,
"Oh, what about the time we went

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on a picnic with my mom?
What about the time

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we had an argument with her?"

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So, you actually create narratives
around those thoughts.

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This becomes a distraction.

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So, you can't really stop the thought
of your mother rising.

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But despite whatever thoughts come to you,
you keep focusing on the breath.

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Basically, do not pay attention
or give energy to that thought.

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And then the thoughts kind of dissipate.

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Then other thoughts will come.

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You'll think about coffee.

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But nevertheless, you focus on the breath.

NOTE Paragraph

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Then the thought of coffee dissipates.

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So you will have countless thoughts
rise and fall, rise and fall,

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as long as you don't pay attention
to them.

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But once you start actually doing it,
when you think of coffee,

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you kind of follow it and create a story
out of it;

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"What kind of coffee do I want?
With whom do I want this coffee?".

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At that time, you have already lost
that focus on your breath.

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Because our attention can only focus
on one thing at a time.

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If I focus on here, I lose focus there.

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And if I pay attention there,
I lose attention here.

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Thoughts are just that;
as long as you don't pay attention

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to them, they will just rise and fall,
rise and fall.

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So, when we say we are distracted,
those random thoughts are

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not distractions in themselves.
It really becomes a source of distraction

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when you start creating stories
around those thoughts.

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So, if you keep practicing,
the ability to sustain that focus

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on a single breath will increase.
It may be one minute

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before you are distracted,
then five minutes, and ten minutes.

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It will actually increase.

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So, the attention span
on that single breath will continue

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to increase,
and you will experience less distraction.

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Then you start actually gaining autonomy.

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You are no longer beholden
to your past memories or future hopes.

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The reason you get angry, you get sad,
you feel this emotion and that is

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because all these past memories come
haunting you.

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You become fearful, anxious, and nervous
because you are thinking about the future.

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So, if you are not captured by thoughts
of the future,

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then all your anxiety and nervousness will
go away.

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So that is why we teach to be awakened
in the here and now,

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without being captured
by your past memories or the future

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that has not yet come.

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So even if a thought about Buddha comes
unbidden to you while meditating,

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that is just another distraction.

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So, a singular focus on that breath;
everything else is a distraction.

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If it's a Zen Koan,
anything that falls outside the scope

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of exploring that question is
a distraction.

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And so, in that state, even what you read
in the scriptures, sutras,

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or even Buddha's own teachings
are just distractions.

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That's why there's a teaching:
if you see a Buddha,

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if you think about the Buddha,
kill the Buddha.

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If you encounter your teacher,
kill the teacher.

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So, we don't really mean
literally kill them,

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but obviously,
we're saying not to pay them any mind.

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They're just distractions.

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Sorry for the lengthy response.

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(Sunim/Questioner Laughter)

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(Questioner) Thanks.

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(Audience Applause)