Attaining Enlightenment Through Meditation

<Attaining Enlightenment
Through Meditation>

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

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

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 some doubts

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

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

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

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

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

For example:

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

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

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

not to engage in relationship with,
in a sexual relationships.

So, those people
who are trained in that way,

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

they also feel guilt.

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

relationship with another person you like.

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

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

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

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

That suffering disappears
when you erase the contradiction

of choosing abandoning a preconception
and accepting reality

or adhering to that preconception
and foregoing your desires.

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

to a preconception and desire
what we want in reality;

that contradiction will persist.

So, another example:

If traditional ethics dictate
that men and women of certain age

cannot be romantic partners,
then such relationships create suffering.

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

yet circumstances call for separation,
this contradiction creates suffering.

However, observing the natural course
of relationships,

people come together and separate
all the time.

It is all part of coming together.

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

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

whether it's a first meeting
or a separation.

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

then you eliminate
much suffering from internal conflict.

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

it causes them internal suffering
when they engage in it.

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

so they may not feel the same guilt.

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

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

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

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

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

That is thinking, not meditating.

Thinking good thoughts does not mean
you meditate well.

Meditation is
a state of absence of thoughts.

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

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

Your thinking is naturally amplified
many times over.

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

but you are always thinking.

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

So the old teachers said:

There's dust flying in the room.

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

When a ray of sunlight shines
into the room from the outside,

we realized that dust floats in the room.

We are trying to get rid of dust
in the room with something.

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

What do we do?
We just have to let it be.

As time passes,
most dust will gradually settle.

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

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

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

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

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

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

When you practice
performance-oriented meditation,

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

It causes more dust fly.

You have to just let it be.

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

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

The easiest place to focus your thought on
is your breath.

Basically, it is a strategy
of focusing

on the inhalation and exhalation
of your breath.

In Pali, it is called Ānāpāna.

Another strategy that came up
during the Zen Buddhist tradition is

to focus on one single thought.

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

Just focus on that single question.

Other thoughts will constantly be there.

You just let them be.

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

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

You know, there are birds tweeting.

You hear a stream.

And you have cars down the road.

So you can't really focus.

If the cars weren't running,

if the birds stopped tweeting,

if the stream stopped running;

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

But you can't stop those things.

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

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

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

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

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

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

you are in that zone of focus.

So, meditation is
all about the absence of thoughts,

but from a strategy perspective,

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

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

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

You're not thinking
about the breath coming in.

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

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

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

This is experiencing, not thinking.

You are just experiencing
that breath.

You might think of your mother
at that time.

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

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

on a picnic with my mom?
What about the time

we had an argument with her?"

So, you actually create narratives
around those thoughts.

This becomes a distraction.

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

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

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

And then the thoughts kind of dissipate.

Then other thoughts will come.

You'll think about coffee.

But nevertheless, you focus on the breath.

Then the thought of coffee dissipates.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If I focus on here, I lose focus there.

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

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

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

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

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

when you start creating stories
around those thoughts.

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

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

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

It will actually increase.

So, the attention span
on that single breath will continue

to increase,
and you will experience less distraction.

Then you start actually gaining autonomy.

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

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

because all these past memories come
haunting you.

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

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

then all your anxiety and nervousness will
go away.

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

without being captured
by your past memories or the future

that has not yet come.

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

that is just another distraction.

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

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

of the exploring that question is
a distraction.

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

or even Buddha's own teachings
are just distractions.

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

if you think about the Buddha,
kill the Buddha.

If you encounter your teacher,
kill the teacher.

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

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

They're just distractions.

Sorry for the lengthy response.

(Sunim/Questioner Laughter)

(Questioner) Thanks.

(Audience Applause)