Attaining Enlightenment Through Meditation

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#meditation #enlightenment #thoughts

Ven. Pomnyun's Answer to “Attaining Enlightenment Through Meditation”
Selection from Casual Conversation with Ven. Pomnyun Sunim(법륜스님) (Sep. 14, 2024)

Question:
How can we reach enlightenment through meditation during which we are not supposed to think about anything?

<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 attained
a peaceful mind and profound enlightenment

through meditation.

I am trying to practice meditation
for the same purpose,

However, as a beginner
who has yet to follow 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 agony 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

that engaging in romantic
or sexual relationships is forbidden.

As a result, those
who have undergone such training,

while experiencing joy
in their romantic relationship,

also struggle with guilt.

That guilt, the negative feelig 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.

However, 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 involves the beginning
of a relationship or its end.

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,

and they later engage in premarital sex,

it causes them
significant internal suffering.

But we do not emphasize this as much
when teaching our sons,

so they may engage in premarital sex
without feeling 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 effectively.

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 amplified.

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 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
a 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, creats 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.

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 Zen Buddhist tradition is a Koan,

just to focus
on one single thought.

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

Just focus
on that single question.

You know,
other thoughts will constantly be there.

You just let them be.

The only thing you actually focus
on is that single question.

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

There are birds tweeting.

You hear a stream.

And you hear cars down the road.

So you can't really focus.

If the cars were not 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 into the substance,

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

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

nor do you pay attention
to the stream 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 strategic

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

If you focus on 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 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 practicing, the time
you can sustain focus on a single breath

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

and then 10 minutes.
It will gradually 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 come yet.

So even if a thought
about Buddha comes unbidden to you

while meditating,
that is just another distraction.

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

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

of 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 is why there is a 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 to
literally kill them,

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

They are just distractions.

Sorry for the lengthy response.

(Sunim/Questioner Laughter)

(Questioner) Thanks.

(Audience Applause)