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<Attaining Enlightenment
Through Meditation>

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

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I have a question about meditation
and the study of the Buddhist scriptures.

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I learned that the Buddha attained
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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However, as a beginner
who has yet to follow the path,

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I have doubts about how I can reach
such a deep state of enlightenment

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simply by not thinking.

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Could you explain how meditation leads
to peace of mind and enlightenment?

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(Sunim) Most of our agony arises
primarily from our thoughts.

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So, we must free ourselves
from our preconceived notions

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of ethics, morality, religious beliefs, and
other paradigms that shape our thoughts.

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For example: Consider a man and a woman

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who have feelings for each other
and become romantically involved.

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In a typical relationship
between two ordinary individuals,

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they can simply like each other.

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

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that engaging in romantic
or sexual relationships is forbidden.

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As a result, those
who have undergone such training,

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while experiencing joy
in their romantic relationship,

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also struggle with guilt.

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That guilt, the negative feelig they get,
does not stem from the relationship itself

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but rather from their belief
that they should not be engaging in it.

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Much of the suffering and issues
we experience today occurs

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due to the clash between reality,
what we truly experience,

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and our preconceived notions
of how things should be.

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This suffering disappears when we resolve
the contradiction in one of two ways:

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either by letting go of our preconceptions
and accepting reality as it is,

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or by clinging to our preconceptions
and giving up what we desire in reality.

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However, we can never truly resolve
this problem

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if we attempt to hold onto
our preconceptions

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while simultaneously trying to attain
what we desire in reality,

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because that contradiction
will inevitably persist.

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So, another example:

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If there are traditional ethics or morals
that say men and women of certain ages

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can't see each other as romantic partners,
then doing so creates suffering.

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Similarly, if we're taught that divorce is
unacceptable after marriage,

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yet circumstances call for separation
or divorce,

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this contradiction creates
suffering.

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But in the natural course of things,
people come together

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and separate all the time.

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It's all coming together.
It's not the cause of our suffering.

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Separation or divorce is
not the cause of our suffering.

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It's our preconceptions of "what ought to
be" that actually cause our suffering,

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whether it's a first meeting
or a separation.

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If we can just erase "what ought to be,"
then we actually eliminate

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a lot of suffering
from our own internal conflicts.

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For example, when we teach our daughters
that having sex before marriage is a sin,

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and they then engage in premarital sex, it
causes them a lot of internal suffering.

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We don't teach our sons this as much,
so they may engage in premarital sex

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without the same level of guilt.
This is all because

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of the preconceptions
that 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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So, that is why the foundational piece
of our meditation is to stop thinking.

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What position you take,
however you breathe,

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all that doesn't really matter.

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Many of you say you meditate,
but you end up quietly thinking.

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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 know your thinking does not stop.

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Naturally, your thinking is amplified
by 2, 3, 10 times more.

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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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So how do you stop thinking?
Because if you intend to stop thinking,

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that intention itself gets
amplified.

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That is why the old teachers told us
this:

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There's dust
flying all over the room.

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And we don't see it well.
It is almost invisible.

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But if there's a ray of sunlight coming
through the room,

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we suddenly realize
that a lot of dust is floating around.

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And we take a cloth or duster
and try to dust it off.

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We realize
that we are actually creating 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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So basically, what they're saying is
that we constantly live

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in a flux of thoughts and distractions,
but we don't realize it

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because we lack a single ray of light
to actually illuminate them.

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So, the fact that you actually sit down
and start realizing

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how dusty the room in your mind is,
is not a failure in the meditation.

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It's actually a process
of meditating on that recognition.

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

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That first realization
that "I live amidst all this dust,

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in these distracting thoughts".

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Then you start engaging in a kind
of performance-oriented meditation,

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in which you want to do meditation
better and faster.

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Thereby creating more distractions
and letting dust fly even more.

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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 Zen Buddhist tradition is a Koan,

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just 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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You know,
other thoughts will constantly be there.

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You just let them be.

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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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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 were not 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 into the substance,

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birds may tweet,
but you don't pay attention;

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cars may run on the road nearby,
but you don't pay attention,

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nor do you pay attention
to the stream beside you

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because you are really focused;
you are in that zone of focus.

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So, meditation is all about the absence
of thoughts, but from a strategic

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perspective, 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 are 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 actually get 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.

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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 your attention can only focus
on one thing at a time.

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If you focus on here,
you lose focus there.

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And if you pay attention there,
you 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 time
you can sustain focus on a single breath

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before getting distracted can increase
to 1 minute, then 5 minutes,

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and then 10 minutes.
It will gradually 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.
You are no longer beholden

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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

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or the future
that has not come yet.

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So even if a thought
about Buddha comes unbidden to you

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while meditating,
that is just another distraction.

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So, just 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 is why there is 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 to
literally kill them,

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but obviously, we are saying is
to not pay them any mind.

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They are 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)