Intro + Questions: off-cushion practices

Front Page Forums Dharma Practice in Daily Life Intro + Questions: off-cushion practices

This topic contains 6 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by  Matthew Immergut 10 years, 7 months ago.

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  • #190

    Hello Dharma friends,
    My name is Khemako, I’m a Western monk in the Theravada lineage of Ajahn Cha. I’ve been practicing since about 1999, though only got serious about it lately. I’m 54, and I ordained last year.

    You might think that a monastic lifestyle would be ideal for serious practice, and there are certainly a lot of advantages. But alas one’s non-monk mind comes along into the robes. Although the teaching, resources and support at the monastery are very good indeed, I’m still keen to learn from other practitioners.

    In my search I came across the work of Ven. Culadasa and found his guide to the stages of meditation to be quite helpful. I don’t think there’s anything quite this structured, accessible and systematic within the Thai Forest Tradition.

    My initial question has to do with what Ven. Culadasa refers to as “ancillary off-cushion practices”. I’m at a phase where more continuity is important. There are a lot of techniques I’ve tried derived from e.g. the Pali Canon to maintain mindfulness, guard the sense doors and so forth between formal meditation sessions. None of them suit me perfectly and I haven’t developed a solid routine with any of them.

    Since I’ve found so much value in Ven. Culadasa’s systematic presentation and instructions on developing samatha, I wonder if there might be a similar resource regarding off-cushion practices? Are there specific practices recommended for the various stages of samatha development?

    Any input would be appreciated.

    #191

    Blake Barton
    Keymaster

    Hello Ven. Khemako,

    In Culadasa’s Plain English Meditation Guide which I am attaching. He mentions some exercises to do during walking meditation that supplement the sitting practice. For most stages of samatha meditation, he has an off the cushion awareness exercise to be done for that stage.

    He also recommends using the precepts as a mechanism for staying mindful in daily life. For example, practicing Right Speech helps us to have mindfulness of our speech.

    Hope this helps,
    Blake

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    #194

    Hi Blake,
    Thanks for the response. Somehow I overlooked the detailed walking practices in my earlier read-through of the Plain English documents, so now I’ve got a bit more to experiment with.

    I’ve found working with precepts to be quite good for helping me to maintain mindfulness . . . at first. It has been with mixed feelings that I find my sila running on automatic pilot after a few years at the monastery. The precepts are becoming habits now and the amount of attention required to keep from running afoul of them has become much less. I’m far from perfect in that area and I have to keep setting challenges for myself around things like speech to push the refinement envelope.

    The best thing about habitual sila is that there’s very little remorse to stir up the mind. In my case it mostly gets stirred up around events, interactions, work projects, and suchlike.

    You mentioned that Ven. Culadasa has an off the cushion awareness exercise for most of the stages of the samatha development. Could you brief me on those?

    Kind Regards,
    -Khemako

    #197

    Blake Barton
    Keymaster

    Hello Ven. Khemako,

    The awareness exercises are embedded within the walking instructions. For example,

    “Thereafter, following a few minutes of closely following the sensations of walking, just stop walking and direct your attention to all of the tactile and other bodily sensations that are present in addition to your feet and legs, and meditate on these sensations for a few minutes or longer. Resume walking. After a several more minutes of closely following the sensations of walking, stop and direct your attention to your sense of hearing and meditate on the sounds that are present for a few minutes or longer. Just open your consciousness up to sound, and take it all in. Resume walking. After a few minutes more, stop and direct your attention to your visual field and meditate on visual sensations for a few minutes or longer. Resume walking. Continue to alternate meditating on the sensations of walking with stopping and meditating on the contents of these three sensory fields with a frequency and duration that is comfortable and enjoyable. While examining the contents of these various sensory fields, you may think about them, but non-verbally. When the thoughts start forming into words, just let the words go.”

    I can see where the precepts might not be as effective in a monastic environment. Culadasa also teaches positive versions of the precepts once the basic version is mastered. For example, one should practice speech that is uplifting and soothing.

    Another practice that Culadasa teaches is reflection on mindfulness each time you sit. When you first sit down take a few moments to reflection on the amount of mindfulness that you have had since your last sit. One does this without judgement or blame. This reflection can help one be more mindful between sits.

    Thanks,
    Blake

    #198

    Hi Ven. Khemako

    I think one of the most important elements in taking the practice off the cushion is staying clear on Culadasa’s distinction between awareness and attention. I will assume you know the distinction, if not, we can discuss.

    The breath, as I’m sure you’re aware, is a somewhat of an arbitrary object. It of course has many benefits as a meditation object but other objects can be equally conducive to working to maintain a balance between awareness and attention. In other words, you can practice using attention and awareness on anything. Place your attention on the movement of your feet, for example, and maintain peripheral awareness of the world around you. Use the computer and focus on the typing but also maintain peripheral awareness – both introspective and extrospective awareness. Notice how when you focus attention more intensely, such as typing or doing something else that demands intense attention, awareness begins to collapse. Notice as you begin to go to sleep at night the fading of attention and awareness. Notice how when someone does something that pushes your buttons, awareness collapses and attention becomes hyper focused… try not to let this happen 🙂

    My point is that with Culadasa’s method your always working to strike a balance between attention and awareness no matter what you’re doing. This optimal balance between awareness and attention is the key to developing mindfulness both on and off the cushion. This balance is also absolutely essential for developing samatha.

    I hope this helps a bit.

    On another note, I’m reading Venerable Father by Paul Breiter. It’s about his life at the Monastery and living as Ajhan Chah primary assistant. It’s a wonderful, fascinating read. Do you know of it? Have you read it?

    Matthew

    #200

    Matthew, thanks for the reminder about the distinction between awareness and attention. I’m still working on stabilizing the simultaneous perception of both faculties. It often seems I can only do one or the other, but occasionally when conditions converge I can experience both clearly, which in turn seems to further deepen both. But its a delicate and fragile balance as yet.

    I haven’t read Paul’s book, though I’ve heard many of the anecdotes along the way, plus a lot of Ajahn Cha lore in general, just by being here at the monastery. It’s really great, part of the reason I ordained in this tradition.

    -Khemako

    #201

    Yes, it is delicate especially because we have conscious control over attention but awareness is unconscious, stimulus driven response. In other terms, attention is “top down” whereas awareness is “bottom up.” As a result, we tend to over emphasize attention and neglect awareness…. we could say we all suffer from Awareness Deficit Disorder.

    And yes, the intention to use both does deepen both as well as strengths both.

    Also, what we do with attention, trains awareness. If I take attentive interest in sports cars or birds that becomes information for awareness. Thus awareness learns to alert attention anytime shiny cars or feathered flying things appear.

    A part of Culadasas method is using attention precisely this way in meditation to “check in” with the mind, see if any distractions are around, and if so tighten attention back on the breath. Thus awareness not only becomes stronger but more alert to potential distractions that cause us to forget the breath.

    M

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