MB 09 Meditation On The First Sunday Of The Month Ceremony

So having paid respect to the triple gem,

From this moment forth all of us will sit for meditation.

Sit cross-legged with your right leg on your left leg,

Your right hand on your left hand,

The index finger of your right hand touching against the thumb of your left hand,

With your hands resting palm upwards on your lap.

Close your eyes very gently,

In a way similar to the way you close your eyes to go to sleep.

Never squeeze your eyes closed,

Make sure there's no pressure around your eyes,

But close your eyes very gently,

Each and every one of you.

And adjust your posture so there are no blockages in your breathing or your circulation.

Our posture is something which is very important to us,

It has to be a comfortable one.

If our body isn't comfortable,

It will be hard for our mind to relax.

The comfortable posture is a starting point for the relaxed mind.

If the body is not comfortable,

It will be hard for the mind to become peaceful,

And if the mind is not peaceful,

It will never meet up with the pathway to Nirvana.

Therefore,

A comfortable position and a spacious mind are both necessary components of attaining enlightenment,

So adjust yourself as well as you can.

Fill your mind with happiness and joy,

So your mind is peaceful,

Clear and bright.

Don't let any irritability,

Absent-mindedness,

Sleepiness or anxiety,

Or any other sorts of hindrance upset your mind or influence your mind,

Whether it's the thought of work,

Friends,

Study,

Family or any other things.

Let go of all the worries about the things of the world,

So that your mind can be empty and spacious,

And give yourself the feeling that you are sitting alone in the world,

As if you have never had anything on your mind in the past,

Filling your mind with happiness and joy.

The difficult part of training the mind is that it's reluctant to come to a standstill.

The mind,

Unfortunately,

Is used to moving around the whole of the time,

Thinking about the study,

Work,

Family or friends,

Along with many other things.

It gets caught up in various sensual perceptions,

Which fill the mind with unskillful emotions.

Since the mind has become habituated to these sorts of things,

We have to make a special effort to reverse the habits of the mind,

To return it to its full potential by bringing it to a standstill instead.

Our mind tends always to go to the things that it's used to.

If it's used to thinking about study,

It will be preoccupied with study.

If it's used to thinking about work,

Then it will go to thoughts of work.

If it's used to thinking about family,

It will be caught up in thoughts about the family.

Therefore training our mind to come to a standstill at the centre of our body is something quite challenging in the beginning.

And the difficulty gets proportionately harder as we move to more subtle inner bodies.

However,

Once we master it,

It will bring us benefits for the rest of our lives and beyond.

The seventh base of the mind in the centre of our stomach is the point where we will gently focus the mind.

Because it's the point which is the trailhead of the pathway to Nirvana,

The point at which all the Buddhas,

Pacheka Buddhas,

Arahants and Buddhist saints have passed on their way towards Nirvana.

Through this point and nowhere else,

There is no other place by which you can start off on your journey towards Nirvana.

It's the only way into the central axis of the mind which leads into the deeper dimensions of ourselves.

Along the inner path,

They have managed to shed all the remaining defilements in their minds.

They have brought their minds to a standstill at the seventh base of the mind.

And once the mind was properly adjusted,

They attained the Patma Magga sphere at this point,

Seeing a bright,

Clear sphere there.

And once the mind has become properly settled,

They see something like a diamond sphere in the centre,

Clear and unblemished,

Without any sort of scratches or flaws.

Where the smallest size will be the size of a star,

Where the medium size will be the size of the full moon,

And where the largest size,

It will be that of the midday sun.

And as they allow their mind to penetrate through the centre of the Patma Magga sphere,

They will meet up with the various spheres and inner bodies within.

Looking out in meditation,

We should imagine a visual object at the centre to help overcome the tendency of the mind to wander.

In addition,

We should repeat a mantra to ourselves to help overcome the tendency of the mind to think without end.

We should imagine a bright object at the centre of our body,

As if at the centre of the body there was a bright,

Clear crystal ball,

Rather like a polished diamond.

A diamond which has been polished into a sphere about the same size as the tip of our little finger.

We create this image in our mind.

For as long as we can imagine the image,

Then our mind will be at that point.

So we imagine it at the centre of the body.

We should imagine it as clearly as we can,

Almost as if we are seeing it with our own eyes.

But we should imagine it very gently and subtly.

We imagine that this bright image appears at the centre of our body,

Imagining it very gently,

And imagine this bright,

Clear object keeping our mind at a standstill at the centre of the bright object.

Think of the object the whole of the time,

And bring our mind to a standstill at the centre of the bright object.

Maintain your mind there gently the whole of the time.

Imagine the object while bringing the mind to a standstill at the clear,

Bright centre of the spherical crystal ball,

Which is so clear and bright,

Rather like a diamond which has been polished into a sphere without any blemishes or flaws about the same size as the tip of our little finger,

Clear and bright at the centre of our body.

Two finger breaths above the navel,

Maintaining our mind at this point the whole of the time.

Those who are new sometimes doubt if they have really managed to find the seventh base of the mind.

But in the beginning,

We have to give it the benefit of the doubt,

Taking any point which feels the best for us.

We have to take a guess in the beginning and maintain our mind at the point of our choice the whole of the time,

While maintaining the sound of the mantra in our mind with the words coming from the centre of the body at the seventh base of the mind.

The sound of the mantra coming from the centre of the bright sphere with the words,

Samma arahang,

Samma arahang,

Samma arahang,

Maintaining the sound of the mantra Samma arahang all of the time.

While at the same time imagining the image of the bright object which is bright and clear,

Rather like a polished diamond sphere,

Maintaining the mantra and the visualisation at the same time,

At the centre of our body,

Doing both at the same time,

Not allowing our mind to slip anywhere else.

Don't let the bright object slip your mind,

But if it does,

Always bring it back again to the centre of the body.

Keep the sound of the mantra going,

Samma arahang,

Samma arahang,

Samma arahang,

The whole of the time.

When our mind starts to become unified with the sound of the mantra,

We won't have any other thoughts coming up in our mind.

We will come to a certain point in our meditation,

Which is rather like we have forgotten to continue with our mantra.

However,

Our mind isn't thinking about anything else anymore.

It will have simply come to a standstill at the centre of our body.

Once we reach this sort of point in our meditation,

Where our mantra seems to die away of its own accord,

If we find that our mind is already at a standstill inside ourselves,

To the point that we don't feel a need for the mantra anymore,

That we would prefer just to keep our mind at a standstill,

This means that our mind is actually at a standstill,

And we have reached the standstill of the mind,

And there's no need to continue with the mantra anymore.

If we come to such a point in our meditation,

We simply maintain the mind at a standstill from that time onwards.

There's no need to think about any other matter.

Irrespective of what may happen in our meditation,

We must pretend we are not interested,

Maintaining the mind impartially at the centre of the body.

If we maintain the mind in this way,

It will gradually become more refined,

And we will start to advance the frontiers of our inner experience.

We will have a feeling as if our body has become hollow and transparent.

We will feel inside us as completely spacious.

Sometimes we will feel as if our body has disappeared completely,

As if we were sitting alone in empty space.

But in fact we feel contented with this experience,

As if we would like to stay like this for a long,

Long time.

There's no feeling of being bored with such an experience.

We feel that we would like to stay with such an experience the whole of the time.

Today as we meditate,

We'll take the opportunity to explore the importance of the ceremony for offering sustenance to the Lord Buddha,

Which is conducted at Wat Padamakaya in Thailand every first Sunday of the month.

This ceremony is already common as Buddha Puja throughout the Buddhist world,

In the form of offering samples of food on the shrine in a physical way.

But it was only when Kunyai Chandra Konokyung and Kunyai Tongsuk Samdengpan,

The leading disciples of the great abbot of Wat Padamakaya,

Discovered that meditation could be used to elevate the physical offerings to actual subtle elements pure enough to be offered directly to the Buddhas in Nirvana,

Was a monthly tradition established,

Which is celebrated now throughout the world on a monthly basis at a time in synchrony with the ceremony in Thailand.

This means that although the ceremony is conducted from 9.

30 to 11 in the morning in Thailand,

Europeans must follow the ceremony at 2 or 3 in the morning on the Sunday,

And in America it is on the Saturday night.

The merit from the ceremony will flow to nourish the inner bodies on every level of our being.

This tide of merit in ourselves will be the origin of all successes and happiness in our life,

As well as happiness in the cycle of existence all the way to the happiness of Nirvana itself.

It is a tide of merit which will bring us great happiness,

Which has no admixture of suffering.

Therefore,

Offering sustenance to the Lord Buddha is like building a tide of merit which will be accumulated at the centre of every inner body,

To give its fruits in every lifetime until we enter upon Nirvana.

The way we hold this ceremony on the first Sunday of the month is by imagining the various offerings of sustenance which we have brought with us from our homes in order to offer to the Lord Buddha.

We imagine the offering as if we see it at the centre of our body,

As if the image of that food is at the centre of our body.

For those whose mind is not properly at a standstill,

They will not be able to see it that clearly.

They may see it as if they were squinting down at something inside a jar.

However,

If you have attained a certain level of inner experience,

You will be able to see the food you have brought for an offering as clearly as the inner bodies you have attained.

Rather than seeing it like an outsider,

It will be as if you are at the centre of the object.

It will be as if you are at the centre of the object if you are doing it in the correct way.

We will be able to see the image of the food we have brought for offering clearly,

Clear and bright at our centre.

It will be as if we are using the inner bodies we have attained to perceive the food we have brought for offering.

It won't be like stooping down to look at something inside our stomach.

Rather we would see it just as we would an ordinary object,

But at the centre of the body the whole of the time.

It may sound strange to a newcomer,

But it will come as second nature for those who already attained something in their meditation.

It's only then that we will start to understand what we mean by seeing 360 degrees at the same time.

And we bring this food in offering to the Lord Buddha,

Not just one,

But every Lord Buddha in Nirvana.

In Nirvana the number of previous Buddhas is countless.

We simply spread the sustenance as far as our awareness extends.

As far as we can see and know.

The better our attainment,

The broader will be our awareness.

We will see the countless number of the Lord Buddhas.

We multiply the quantity of the sustenance we are offering in homage to the Lord Buddha.

The amount of merit accruing to us from the ceremony for offering sustenance depends on just how still our mind is.

The more still our mind is,

The more merit we will get.

If your mind is only still now and then,

Then the amount of merit you get will be less.

The merit will affix itself to the centre of the body inside us,

Helping to bring us happiness in the present lifetime.

Whether it be success in earning a living,

Swift promotion,

Going far in our studies,

Harmony in our household life,

There will be success and happiness at all levels because the tide of merit flowing at the centre of our human body will help our physical body to become strong and healthy and bring us fulfilment in every good wish of ours,

According to the strength of the merit which we have accrued for ourselves.

We will be brought good health and long life without any oneness,

So that we may pursue perfection for a long,

Long time to come.

We in our wealth will be protected from fire,

Flood,

Robbers and weapons,

Even from black magic.

We will encounter only good,

Beneficial and wholesome things in our lives and will have good complexion.

We will be contented to practice the teachings of the Lord Buddha and be endowed with inspiring words,

Whether in our business lives or when encouraging other people to do good deeds.

We will be endearing to all who we meet with a charm which disarms other's stubbornness towards our advice.

We will be blessed with an unending stream of wealth to enable us to pursue all forms of perfection or advance our business in every way required,

So we'll never have to worry about where our next meal is coming from,

While helping to vanquish any previous unwholesomeness still lingering on in our lives which will otherwise bring us obstacles in life,

Whether it be through anger,

Depression,

Boredom or despair which come as a result of our defilements.

Such negative emotions can only come into our minds because unwholesome thoughts previously took control of our minds.

Without merit,

Such defilements can stir up disharmony in our family life.

If we are studying,

We will end up being unable to understand.

We will have obstacles cropping up in our business lives,

Sometimes cash flow problems or threats from others.

But all these sorts of problems will disappear from us through the power of the tide of merit arising from the ceremony for offering sustenance to the Lord Buddha.

Merit will also help us be bright and clear inside ourselves,

And when we come to practice meditation we will be able to attain the true experience known to the Lord Buddha with ease.

These are some of the fruits of the merit you can expect from regularly joining the ceremony for offering sustenance to the Lord Buddha.

We will be reborn only in two worlds,

The human realm and the heaven realms,

Until we can enter on nirvana while facilitating wisdom and mindfulness to have insight into the reality of all things,

Of the material and the spiritual worlds.

The merit can also be of benefit to loved ones of ours who have passed away,

So that they may reduce any suffering they may have and multiply any happiness they may have in their new rebirth.

So these are some of the reasons which we should give our full participation to the ceremony for offering sustenance to the Lord Buddha.

It is something we should never overlook the importance of.

We should put aside other commitments which we may have in order to cultivate our merit in this way.

We must try to cultivate the maximum of merit for ourselves,

Worthy of the fact that we've been born a human in the first place,

To fulfill our aim in life of pursuing perfection,

Making sure that every day of our life is filled with meritorious deeds.

So now that we know the importance of the merit arising to those who participate in the ceremony for offering sustenance to the Lord Buddha on the first Sunday of the month,

Each to our own meditation practice now for a few more moments in silence until we come to the appropriate time.