<Attaining Enlightenment Through Meditation>
(Questioner) Hi Sunim, thank you for giving me a chance to ask a question.
I have a question about meditation and the study of the Buddhist scriptures.
I learned that the Buddha achieved a peaceful mind and profound enlightenment
through meditation.
I am trying to practice meditation for the same purpose.
But, as a beginner who hasn't gone through the path,
I have doubts about how I can reach such a deep state of enlightenment
simply by not thinking.
Could you explain how meditation leads to peace of mind and enlightenment?
(Sunim) Most of our suffering arises primarily from our thoughts.
So, we must free ourselves from our preconceived notions of
ethics, morality, religious beliefs, and other paradigms that shape our thoughts.
For example, consider a man and a woman
who have feelings for each other and become romantically involved.
In a typical relationship between two ordinary individuals,
they can simply like each other.
However, if they are Buddhist or Catholic clergy, they have been taught
not to engage in romantic or sexual relationships.
So, those who have undergone such training,
while experiencing joy in their romantic relationship,
also struggle with guilt.
That guilt, the negative feeling they get, does not stem from the relationship itself
but rather from their belief that they should not be engaging in it.
Much of the suffering and issues we experience today occurs
due to the clash between reality, what we truly experience,
and our preconceived notions of how things should be.
This suffering disappears when we resolve the contradiction in one of two ways:
either by letting go of our preconceptions and accepting reality as it is,
or by clinging to our preconceptions and giving up what we desire in reality.
However, we can never truly resolve this problem
if we attempt to hold onto our preconceptions,
while simultaneously trying to attain what we desire in reality,
because that contradiction will inevitably persist.
Let's take another example.
If there are traditional ethics or morals dictating that
men and women of certain ages should not see each other as romantic partners,
then engaging in such relationships leads to suffering.
Similarly, if we're taught that divorce is unacceptable after marriage,
yet circumstances call for separation or divorce,
this contradiction results in suffering.
But it's natural that, in life, people may come together and go their separate ways.
Coming together is not the cause of suffering,
and separation or divorce is not the cause of suffering, either.
Rather, it is our preconceived notions of "what ought to be" that create suffering,
whether it's meeting for the first time of a relationship or separating.
If we can let go of the idea of "what ought to be,"
we can eliminate much of the suffering that arises from internal conflicts.
For example, when we teach our daughters that having sex before marriage is a sin,
if they are later forced into premarital sex,
it causes them significant internal suffering.
But we do not emphasize this as much when teaching our sons,
so if they experience such an ordeal, they may not feel the same level of guilt.
This is entirely due to the preconceptions we instill in our children.
If you were to stop thinking right now, there would be no suffering.
This is why the foundation of meditation is to stop thinking.
What position you take, how you breathe, none of that truly matters.
Many of you say you meditate, but, in reality, you are thinking quietly.
That is thinking, not meditating.
Thinking positive thoughts does not mean you are meditating properly.
Meditation is the state of being free from thought.
If you stop thinking, most of your suffering will disappear.
However, once you try it, you will realize that your thoughts do not cease.
In fact, they may become amplified twofold, threefold, or even tenfold.
So, while your body remains still during meditation,
your mind is constantly engaged in thinking.
Then, how can we stop thinking? If you set an intention to stop thinking,
that intention itself becomes another thought.
That is why the old masters taught us this analogy:
Imagine there's dust flying all over the room.
The dust is barely visible to us.
But if there's a ray of sunlight coming through the room,
we suddenly become aware of how much dust is floating in the air.
We take a cloth or a duster and start cleaning to remove the dust.
Yet, instead of eliminating the dust, we only end up stirring it up even more.
Then, what should we do? We must simply let it settle on its own.
As time passes, most of the dust will gradually settle.
This analogy shows that we live constantly filled with thoughts and distractions,
but we are unaware of that
because we lack that single ray of light to illuminate them.
Thus, when you sit down to meditate and start noticing how cluttered your mind is,
this is not a failure in meditation.
It's actually a process of meditating properly.
It's just like seeing that single ray of sunlight revealing the dust in a room.
It is the first realization that you are surrounded by endless distracting thoughts.
Then, you may start approaching meditation with a performance-oriented mindset,
striving to meditate better and faster.
This, in turn, creates more distractions just as letting dust fly even more.
You have to just let it be.
But it's very hard to simply let it be because thoughts keep arising.
That's why the strategy is to focus your thoughts on one thing.
The easiest thing to focus your thoughts on is your breath.
It's a strategy of focusing on the inhalation and exhalation of your breath.
In Pali, it is called Ānāpāna.
Another strategy that emerged during the Zen Buddhist tradition is a Koan,
which is focusing on one single thought.
One single question like "Who am I?"
Just focus on that single question.
Other thoughts will constantly arise.
Just let them be.
The only thing you should truly focus on is that single question.
For example, imagine you are reading a book in the middle of a forest.
You hear birds tweeting.
You hear the sound of a stream.
And you hear cars passing on a distant road.
Because of these distractions, you find it difficult to focus.
If the cars stopped running,
if the birds stopped tweeting,
and if the stream stopped running,
then you would be able to focus in that quiet forest, right?
But you can't stop those things.
And even if you could eliminate those external distractions,
it wouldn’t necessarily mean that you could focus.
But if you truly immerse yourself in the book,
the birds may tweet, but you won’t notice them.
Cars may pass on the road nearby, but you won’t pay attention to them.
Nor will you notice the stream beside you.
It's because you are deeply focused and fully absorbed in what you are reading.
While meditation is about the absence of thoughts,
from a strategic perspective, it is about concentrating on a single thought.
Let's say you focus on breathing in and out.
When the breath comes in, you notice the breath entering.
You are not thinking about the breath coming in.
This is a kind of sensory experience, the flow of air as it moves
over your skin, through your nostrils, and into your lungs.
And you also feel the tactile sensation of the breath leaving your nose.
This is experiencing, not thinking.
You are simply experiencing the breath.
You might think of your mother at some point.
But once you actually become distracted by the thought of your mother,
you start thinking, "Oh, what about the time we went on a picnic together?
What about the time we had an argument?"
You unconsciously follow the thought and start creating narratives around it.
This becomes a distraction.
You can't stop the thought of your mother from rising.
But whatever thoughts come to you, you keep focusing on your breath.
Basically, do not pay attention to the thought or give it energy.
Then, the thought naturally dissipate.
But soon, other thoughts will arise.
You might suddenly think about coffee.
Nevertheless, you stay focused on your breath.
Then, the thought of coffee also dissipates.
No matter how many thoughts arise, if you do not pay attention to them,
they will simply come and go again and again.
But once you actually engage with a thought of coffee,
you start following it and creating a story:
"What kind of coffee do I want? Who do I want to drink this coffee with?"
At that moment, you have already lost your focus on the breath
because you can only focus on one thing at a time.
If you focus here, you lose focus there.
And if you pay attention there, you lose attention here.
Thoughts are just that.
As long as you don't pay attention to them, they will simply rise and fall.
So, when we say we are distracted,
it is not the random thoughts themselves that are distractions.
They become distractions when we start creating stories around them.
If you keep practicing, the amount of time you can sustain focus on your breath
before getting distracted can increase,
first to 1 minute, then to 5, then to 10. It will gradually increase.
Your attention span for focusing on your breath will continue to grow,
and you will experience fewer distractions.
Then, you start to gain autonomy.
You will no longer be bound by past memories or future expectations.
The reason you feel anger, frustration, hatred, or resentment is that
past memories resurface, bringing back the wounds you once experienced.
You become fearful, anxious, and nervous because you are thinking about the future.
If you are no longer held captive by thoughts of the future,
then your anxiety and nervousness will naturally fade away.
That is why we teach to awaken in the here and now,
without being captured by past memories or the future that has not yet arrived.
Even if thoughts about the Buddha arise unbidden during meditation,
they are still distractions.
Maintain singular focus on your breath, and everything else is a distraction.
If you are meditating on a Zen Koan,
anything beyond exploring that question is a distraction.
In that state, even what you read in scriptures, sutras,
or even the Buddha's own teachings become distractions.
That is why there is a teaching: "If you see the Buddha, kill the Buddha.
If you encounter your teacher, kill the teacher."
Of course, this does not mean to literally kill them.
Rather, it means not to give them any attention.
They are simply distractions.
Sorry for the lengthy response. (Sunim Laughter)
(Questioner) Thanks. (Audience Applause)