Guided Meditation With Ven. Pomnyun Sunim (Jul26, 2020/S16)

Science – An I have been working on the meditation for about 15 months now.

I have been working on the meditation for about 15 months now.

I have been working on the meditation for about 15 months now.

As to what's going on in eastern Asia,

In China especially,

There has been pouring rain for the last month or so.

So you hear of potential flooding along the Yangtze.

And also in Japan,

The southern parts of Japan,

There has been heavy rain leading to flood damages.

Korea is going through its regular monsoon season,

But there has been especially heavy rain down in Busan,

Southern area of Korea,

Which killed three people already.

It looks like the monsoon is going to peter down throughout this week and afterwards we can expect real heat to come.

However,

This monsoon season compared to Japan and what China suffered through,

Korea was relatively unscathed.

But scientists do say that these dramatic extreme weathers are related to the ongoing climate change.

So we try to do better for ourselves by advancing our technology and civilization,

But that in effect actually destroyed nature,

Which have come back to us as danger to our survival.

But we have to do our best to avoid the climate change.

We have to do our best to avoid the climate change.

We have to do our best to avoid the climate change.

Until now to advance our own well-being,

We saw nature as a target for conquest and we always wanted to conquer nature.

We have to do our best to avoid the climate change.

We have to do our best to avoid the climate change.

We have to do our best to avoid the climate change.

If you look back and you see what's happening with climate change and environmental degradation,

We have to repent and realize that we were actually destroying the basis of our fundamental life.

And realize that nature is not a target for conquest,

It's actually foundation of our life.

So we have to rethink on how we rebalance and harmonize our lives along with nature.

So what Buddha taught us is that the reality of the world is that we live in an interconnected world.

He taught that not just among human beings but among everything on earth,

Everything is interconnected like a web.

Until now we thought our reality,

Our existence was really different resistances in living in the same place.

Therefore,

Our value system really was built on competition and winning among this assembly of existences.

But Buddha has told us that this happens because of that and that happens because of this,

That we are all interconnected.

And he said peace can be defined by showing respect to the diversity and the differences among us.

And the world we live in,

We see there is an increase in competition among nations.

In the beginning of the 20th century,

We went through two world wars.

So at the end of the second world war,

We created and established the UN in order to prevent any such wars from happening.

And the lessons learned from that led to relative peace for the rest of the 20th century.

We thought that in the 21st century we build upon the tradition of peace.

However,

The competition is actually ever increasing.

If this continues of peace,

Then we will be soon facing a new danger to us.

So we see the national leaders are becoming more dictatorial and also jingoistic.

And we see even among the public differences of opinion leading to hostile tribalism.

So I think it is at this point that Buddha's teaching is not just a past teaching.

It is salient to the problems we face today.

Buddha's teaching does not remain just with personal peace.

What goes around can be applied to the peace of the world itself.

But in order to solve a lot of the conflicts and problems we face in the world today,

Individuals who solve these problems,

Us,

Need to maintain the equilibrium of our minds in order to solve these problems peacefully.

With these issues in mind,

Let us engage in meditation today.

Before we start,

I will respond to two questions we have this week.

So during this meditation,

There were moments of peace just being purely focused on my breathing.

Then a feeling of fear takes over me and stops the feeling as if my mind does not want to experience that sensation.

Happens to me often.

Why such resistance?

When the temperature rises during the spring or falls during the fall,

Any changes you experience in the world today does not happen linearly at a consistent basis with a single slope.

Every change actually zigzags and goes up and down as the trend slowly shifts.

We have experienced a lot of things since we were born.

We have had direct experiences.

Then we have inherited certain experiences from our parents.

And there are indirect experiences we got from our society,

Our schools,

What not.

So these have nestled among us as a comprehensive set of experiences that we carry with us.

We have experienced a lot of things from our parents and parents.

We have experienced a lot of trauma from our parents.

We have experienced a lot of pain and pain.

We have experienced a lot of trauma.

So this becomes a set of kind of cognitive habits that continue to drive us,

Whether it's a form of trauma,

Whether it's a form of certain habits,

What not.

And the amalgamation of these cognitive habits,

We call it karma.

So you have this set of cognitive karma in your subconscious that when it collides with information you get from your ears,

Nose,

Taste from your tongue,

Sight,

Touch,

And there's a sensation that happens at that collision between external stimulus and your internal set of your own karma.

Because we all each carry a different set of karmas,

Although we may experience the same exact stimulus from the outside,

The result,

The outcome of that collision is all different for each one of us.

So we may see the same thing,

But I may feel bad,

But you may feel good about it.

And that reaction leads to an emotion.

And that emotion leads to some kind of a desire or a judgment,

Whether I like this or I don't like it.

And if I like something,

I want it.

If I don't like something,

I want to throw it away.

That leads to a desire of some action.

And that leads to some kind of action or words,

Some kind of expression of that desire.

And that action actually reinforces the underlying karma or the cognitive habits that originally triggered the original reaction.

And usually,

When these cycles of reactions and stimulus and actions happen,

They turn to be negative.

So what we're trying to do is change this negative reaction cycle into a positive one.

However,

Your original karma that actually owns the original negative cycle is bound to resist.

This is like Newtonian law in physics.

It's like the law of momentum of the object in motion tends to be,

Remain in motion,

Object that's static has to remain in static.

So you have to apply force in order to stop something that's moving or in order to start something that's stuck.

So that's why if you want to change your karma,

You have to apply a force to change it.

And the speed,

The velocity by which your karma changes,

You either can apply a strong force immediately or a continuous force steadily.

But as you apply the force,

The change doesn't happen immediately or in a linear fashion.

It resists and it stops three steps forward,

Two steps back.

So it happens gradually.

Like when you meditate,

Sometimes you can focus really well,

Sometimes you can't.

That's a very natural phenomenon of change.

So if you were able to focus well,

But the next time you can't,

Doesn't mean you have retreated.

It means that you will have gone forward to the next obstacle you have to overcome.

So it's almost like walking upstairs when you're facing these difficulties.

But once you have gone to a certain platform and if you can focus well,

It's like being on a flat surface again.

And next time you're not as good as focused,

Doesn't mean you're going back downstairs,

It's like you have started going upstairs again at the next step.

And this cycle repeats hundreds,

Thousands of times on your journey.

And steadily we climb up.

And I like to make an analogy.

This is like peeling off the onion.

So the thick layers of the onions are the obstacles we face.

And the little really thin membrane between the thick layers are the really fleeting moments where we think we're doing well or focusing well.

So it's a repetition of facing really thick obstacles that you feel,

Really fleeting moments of some type of advancement,

Then facing obstacles again.

So it's not helpful to actually have an achievement mindset in which you have a certain metric that you want to meet.

This is a matter of just focusing and continuing.

And eventually all of a sudden you realize how far you've come.

So just because you experienced momentary peace doesn't mean you're doing quote unquote well as compared to when you're feeling and you're not focusing as well.

You're just continuing on this journey and it's bound to this difficulty,

Obstacles and momentary focus is bound to happen and cycle over and over again.

However,

If you become too attached and enjoy that momentary peace,

Then it actually turns itself into an obstacle to your advancement.

So if you become too attached to that sense of momentary peace and use that as a goal,

Then you have in effect created a straw man by which you'll be chasing forever,

Ever after going from different meditation discipline to another,

To another,

Looking for the next teacher to another,

To another.

So in effect become a meditation addict looking for that momentary high.

Of course it is important to meet the right teacher.

But it is up to you to actually walk that path.

So don't be so challenged by the resistance you may feel because these are the phenomena that you'll face repeatedly as you go on your journey.

Next question.

I am distracted by the difficulty in setting the right posture for my body while doing meditation because my inability and issues with my hips and legs,

It's difficult to keep my back straight while I am meditating.

So there is a close relationship between body and mind.

So meditation,

Health of the physical body is important to meditation.

But physical health is not the essence of meditation.

So meditation is about focusing your mind.

However,

The basis of that is your physical body.

And if you lie down you would have experienced that your body is relaxed so is your mind.

But after a little bit,

Either you feel drowsy lying down or you have a lot of distracting thoughts.

So you become dull although your body is relaxed.

But if you stand up,

You are not drowsy anymore,

Your mind is clear.

However you are a little anxious though.

Of course after you've been practicing a bit,

It is entirely possible to meditate while standing or even walking.

However,

In the beginning meditators your mind is more relaxed sitting down than when you are standing.

And of course your mind is not as dull as you are lying down.

But if you are not drowsy,

You are more relaxed.

However,

If you are not drowsy,

You are more relaxed.

So no matter what type of meditation tradition throughout the world,

For the beginners they all recommend sitting down as the optimal position.

If you have physical challenges and obstacles,

Sitting on a chair or lying down is possible.

But if at all,

I think sitting down in this lotus position is the optimal position for the beginner meditator.

And the only one thing asking is you believe in the Emb fly sideark for the beginner meditators But if you take the entry and return in35,

You'll remain under your root?

But if we developed the habit to sit down like this in this position,

It will be a lot easier.

But if you don't,

You'll still exist for a living.

And that resistance takes a form of pain.

But even pain that you feel after cutting off blood flow to your leg or cutting your legs off,

After a while actually it does get better.

But the majority of people who give up actually cannot overcome that physical pain.

But if you are at all healthy physically,

Maintaining this posture and sticking with it will actually do you good after a while.

That's why for a beginner,

Although focusing your mind and maintaining equilibrium of the mind is important,

One of these goals should be to also discipline your body to maintain this optimal position.

So during meditation,

Obviously pain is an issue,

But also your body tends to relax and not maintain the disciplined posture.

It basically goes back to its original comfort posture.

That's why if that happens while maintaining focus on your breath,

You should slowly correct your posture.

And if you have trouble maintaining a straight spine,

Put either 10 cm,

15 cm or however high cm of cushion underneath the back so that you can maintain this straight posture.

So you only really experience that physical pain in the beginning and eventually it's actually going to do you good because what you are doing is going back to your natural straight posture.

However,

If you have a physical disability or if the pain is too much,

Then you shouldn't be too attached on the physical position itself because that's the situation you face and you have to adapt.

And with this,

Let us begin.

Really straighten your posture.

Your back as well.

And both hands gathered in front of you like this.

And if your arms are short so it doesn't reach and rest easily on your legs,

You can just put them like this on your knees.

Close your eyes comfortably.

Focus your breath.

Focus on the tip of your nose.

So you are actually seeing with your mind's eye the edge of your nose.

And know that you are breathing.

And know that the breath is coming in and it's going out.

Aware of the breath as it goes in and aware of the breath as it leaves.

The beginning is easy to become aware of the breath.

But you lose that focus as time goes.

Because you start losing concentration.

And second,

Your breath becomes lighter.

And that space vacated by your concentration flows the distracting thoughts from the past or the future.

And you can't stop that flow of thoughts.

However do not imbue them with any meaning and do not chase after them.

The only thing that I can sense and feel at this moment is the sensation that happens as a direct consequence of the breath.

And everything else is just an automatic kind of reactions of the brain that flows through.

It's almost like an old video tape that's running in the background.

So do not pay attention and watch the old videos as running but watch what's happening exactly now.

Notice that breath should be the only thing that's meaningful to you right now.

That's the mental discipline that's required for you to become aware of your breath.

Otherwise you'll be drowning in your thoughts.

Let us begin.

Let us begin.

Thank you.

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