February 28, 2015 By Admin

Advanced Meditations – The Middle Way

Advanced Meditations – Middle Way -Wisdom Path Between Extremes

These meditation practices are advanced, and combine complex ideas from Nagarjuna (Indian Master), T’ong-Kha-Pa (Tibetan Master), and The 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso). In keeping with the mixed secular nature of my meditation center, I have decided to present these complex ideas with several of my own contemplative meditation practices (Christian meditation, Thomas Merton, and multi-level Lectio Divina formats). Such an integrative combination of ideas and approaches best fits the integrative nature of my meditation teaching. In summary, the ideas come from the foundations of Tibetan Buddhism, the guided content of the meditations comes from me, and the style of meditation comes from Christian contemplative traditions. The practice of meditating on the middle way is quite serious, and requires three major changes in one’s life. These changes are: renunciation of samsara, altruistic awakening of compassion (Bodhichitta and Bodhisattva stages), and holding correct Buddhist views (causes and effects, dependent origination, non-duality, wisdom, no-self, and ultimate emptiness of all phenomena). In turn, these practices and beliefs require compatibility with the Four Noble Truths, the Eight-Fold Path, and the three jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha). The Four Noble Truths note the presence of suffering via dissatisfaction and impermanence as well as the cessation of suffering (happiness), while the Eight-Fold Path guides the meditator to ultimate enlightenment (complete understanding to nirvana). The Buddha reminded us that the ultimate wisdom to attain enlightenment already lies within us (and that it also may be ultimately empty). The mantra – Om Muni Muni Mahamuniye Svaha – translates into “The able one, The great able one” who becomes enlightened. The Dalai Lama reminds us that there are many paths to these ends – Middle Way, Great Middle Way, Great Seal, Great Perfection and others all lead to the same ends: renunciation, compassionate actions, and correct view.

Meditation Practice on Renunciation

Using Christian contemplative meditation – repeatedly bringing attention back to and deeper and deeper into concentration on the object of meditation – let’s begin our practice.

1) After settling into a comfortable meditative state, contemplate deeper and deeper on the conditioned cycles of short-term joy and general suffering via repeated conditioning from impermanent sensory experiences we attach to. Here we are clinging and attaching to anything that satisfies us, and avoiding anything that causes us pain. This extreme seeking/attaching/avoiding way of life ends up with us simply suffering.

2) Contemplate deeply on how you grasp and cling to impermanent people, places and things.

3) Contemplate deeply on how you avoid experiences (people, places, things) that may bring suffering and pain.

4) Contemplate deeply on why you cannot simply be content with whatever arises and falls away in your life. It is all impermanent.

Meditation Practice on Compassion

1) Contemplate deeply on how your own soft-heartedness and loving kindness feel in your body.

2) Using body, speech and mind – contemplate deeply on the last time you used compassionate action to reduce the suffering of others.

3) Contemplate deeply on non-duality and interconnection of all things – and why this should help you be more compassionate.

4) Work hard to develop self-compassion now. Contemplate deeply on how your own self-compassion feels right now, right here.

Meditation Practices on Emptiness

1) Contemplate deeply on what emptiness means to you – remember it has nothing to do with nihilism.

2) Contemplate deeply on the last time you experienced a glimpse of emptiness in personal experience.

3) Contemplate deeply on why/if the idea/experience of emptiness causes discomfort in your mind and body.

4) Contemplate deeply on how you may utilize ultimate emptiness as a way to experience less suffering and more happiness.

Now take a few calm, deep, slow breaths and return your attention back to the group or your environment (if meditating alone).

I hope this advanced meditation helped to bring you closer to your personal goals and to attaining a glimpse of enlightenment.

For more information refer to The Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) (2009). The Middle Way: Faith Grounded in Reason. Boston: Wisdom Publications, pp. 119-147. Also refer to The Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) et.al. (2011). Meditation on the Nature of Mind. Boston: Wisdom Publications.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!

Vipassana Meditation Practice – Introductory Journey 1 This is the first of a series of posts on vipassana-based meditation practices. The introductory journey set will not be pure vipassana; rather this set of meditations will be about practice with core principles and learning experiences in regular vipassana meditation. Rather than explain background information, I will […]

The True Nature of Phenomena Here I will present common steps in the process of vipassana meditation. My presentation will end with a brief discussion of nirvana (enlightenment). 1) It will be helpful not to have strong conceptual intention about your goal of attaining insight. You will know when you have entered it via your […]

The Basics of Teaching Mindfulness and Meditation Training: Clients,Consumers and Professional Helpers No matter how experienced you are as a mediator and therapist, and no matter how helpful mindfulness practices could be for your clients, it will not matter if your clients do not DO the training practices. I have noted below a few common […]

Holiday “Blues” and a Few Antidotes It is common for many people to experience a full range of emotions during the holiday season. It is also quite common for many people to experience holiday “blues.” In a more clinical understanding, this condition often includes both sadness/depression and anxiety/apprehension. Ideally, we should be able to experience […]

A Buddhist Sutta on Your Desires and Suffering This post is about the Buddhist Sutta called The Gilana Sutta (SN 35:74). It is a touching story about a young monk, who became very ill. Another monk informed The Buddha of the young monk’s health conditions. Buddha visited and hoped he had improved and held on to […]

Your Regular Practice: Impact on Yourself From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont Compassion Training: Here is a quick self-assessment process to see if your regular compassion practice has had positive effects on you. Review the questions below and decide what your answers are. I hope you have noted pleasant […]

Consciousness, Emptiness, and Well Being This is an advanced post on the complex relationship among consciousness (awareness), emptiness, and well being. Readers with advanced understanding of Buddhist Psychology will recognize the inherent relationships among consciousness, emptiness, and well being and interactions with core Buddhist concepts and experiences such as happiness and suffering, impermanence, non-dual nature, […]

Henry David Thoreau & Walking Meditation Henry David Thoreau is, perhaps, the most individualistic of the American Transcendentalists. He asked us to consider what we have learned that is useful as we travel our own “stream of life.” He cautions us not to regret when we die that we “had not lived.” He advised us to […]

Meditating in the Gap of Nothingness The Buddha taught about your four best friends, that is how the body changes physiology when you sit, stand, walk/move and every time you are lying down. Modern Western neuroscience now supports this statement of 2500+ years ago. Thich Nhat Hanh added the importance of your breath, walking meditation, […]

Using Lectio Divina to Enhance Your Happiness Lectio Divina is an ancient Christian (Benedictine) meditation; it is a form of meditative prayer called “sacred seeing.” We will use a modified version of the process here. Follow the steps noted below. Sit quietly in meditative form, calmly abiding yourself here now. After a […]

Mindfulness & Happiness – Tools In this post I will provide basic instructions for several mind-body practices that allow calm equanimity both at rest and in action. We will cover RAIN, RAINDROP, Cloud Journeying, Gratitude, Tapping, and other Body-Based practices. RAIN (Tara Brach) – This simple to use approach helps you to maintain a cognitive […]

Using Mindfulness and Contemplation in Education and Therapy During the past few months I have been engaged with four small groups regarding how to use mindfulness and contemplation in education and/or therapy. The groups have variations: two groups are university faculty members meeting to discuss specific books related to these topics; one group is in […]

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy “gems” In my opinion there are about eleven such “gems” in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Use of these interventions in various types of psychotherapy may improve clinical outcomes beyond insight. Although these curative interventions have often been associated with treatment of psychological trauma, object loss, and inner conflict, they may also be useful in the […]

College Students – Mental Health in The US R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC The Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors has released data on the mental health status of American college students. Two survey between 2016 and 2018 yielded results from as far back as 2014. Here are some selected statistics (rounded): Anxiety 47-61%; […]

Anahata – Heart Chakra Meditation Practice Rumi noted that to reach the sky we must use our hearts. The Heart Chakra is a very popular focus of meditation practice. Here we will simply review some characteristics and then move on to a meditation practice. Specific characteristics: Green color, YAM sound (say at least three times […]

Benefits of Solitude in Contemplation are Many Socrates noted that our primary mission in life is to understand the complex relationship between self and soul. The Transcendentalist, R. W. Emerson, noted that a primary function of education is to draw out our soul. Zen teacher, J. Tarrant hinted that the soul is the energetic connection […]

Mindful Happiness: Joy is Within Reach – It is Up to You to Choose It! We all live in a very troubled world with lots of greed, hate, warfare, and danger. Many of us use distractions (addictions, cell phone habits, eating, gathering, games, etc.) to make it through the days. This is true! However, […]

Vipassana Meditation -No-Self Journey 3 In this third vipassana meditation I will guide you on a meditation dealing with the experience of no-self. No-self is a highly advanced experience in Buddhist meditation and wisdom practices, and it is, perhaps, one of the most misunderstood concept and experience. Along with impermanence, dependent origination, typical reality […]

Mindfulness-Based Therapy for Trauma In line with the thousands of studies now available supporting the use of mindfulness-based interventions in depression, anxiety, chronic pain and addictions (via emotion regulation and interoception), this post will review recommended mindfulness interventions for trauma and PTSD. The post will note information from two recent books on this topic. Also recognize […]

Expanded Information about Your Compassion Practices and Benefits Compassion Practice Tips and Exercises The Buddha noted that one should not dwell on the past, become too attached to future outcomes, but instead concentrate our mind only on the present moment of our experiences. The Dalai Lama noted that compassion is a necessary condition for inner […]