MEDITATION ACTIVITY Archives - Mindful Happiness

November 12, 2014 By Admin

Advanced Meditations on Perception -Part 2

Advanced Meditation Practices on Perception

As the Sutra story goes, the Buddha instructed Ananda to visit the ailing venerable Girimananda, who was very, very ill. In an effort to help the ailing man, the Buddha told Ananda to guide him in the Ten Meditation on Perceptions (on sensory input and the objects of mind). According to the story, Girimananda improved after the meditations.

We begin with basic instructions on how to meditate. Be in a quiet place, both inside and outside. Sit in a stable and somewhat comfortable posture, while keeping your back straight. Bring your attention to the present moment directly in front of your eyes – here, now. Without controlling the breath, bring your full attention to it as you breathe in and out; notice the breath as it passes at the nostrils, the chest, and in the belly. Just notice your breath as it moves in and out, long and short, shallow and deep – just be with it as it is now. Be gentle with yourself, and remain in a positive and peaceful state. Do not judge or evaluate anything. Just be one with the breath!

The Ten Meditations on Perception deal with the five aggregates of attachment, desire and, clinging. These are of form, feeling, perception itself, volitional actions, and overall consciousness – all of which are impermanent in nature. These are difficult meditation to practice. Do your best without becoming discouraged or afraid of the deeper meanings of these meditations.

1) First meditate on the reality of impermanence and the five aggregates. Focus attention without evaluation on each aggregate – form, feeling, perception, volitional actions, and consciousness.

2) Now meditate on the realization of no-self (no authentically real ego, I, Me, Mine in the realities of atomic time and space). These are simply defensive ego-constructs to separate us from others and the world as a whole. Work on meditating on all sensory inputs and experiences as simply happening but without self-attachment to the experiences. This can be the most difficult meditation to practice.

3) Meditate on unattractiveness of the body and its self-consciousness of parts. All parts of the body, including mind, will decay and deteriorate over time; as they decay, they become more gruesome, even ugly. Decaying body and mind is not a pretty sight to behold. Notice your own defensiveness here, and how it relates to protecting your ego-self from dying off into impermanence of form.

4) Now meditate on the dangers of illness to both body and mind. This is the ultimate decaying and impermanence as it may lead to illness even the death of the living body.

5) Meditate on abandoning all thoughts and perceptions of you harming others – both things and sentient beings. Abandoning harmful thoughts, feelings, and behaviors will lead to more compassion, caring, and kindness. As the next unhelpful, harmful thought arises, abandon it. Observe your reactions to people, places, and things you do not enjoy or like. When we abandon these unhelpful processes, we reduce the level of negativity in ourselves and in the world.

6) Meditate on dispassion – that is the energy placed in attachment, desire, and clinging. Be at peace inside as you work on letting go of cravings, especially cravings for material acquisitions. Let go, let go, let go! Practice being satisfied with what you have now, not waiting to be happy with some future acquisition of something concrete or emotional.

7) Meditate on cessation, or the absolute liberation of your mind-body from suffering. If there is no attached craving, there is no emotional disappointment. Wanting, desiring, attaching, craving, and clinging are all causes and effects of human suffering. Cessation brings freedom and liberation from suffering. It will also open you up more peace and happiness.

8) Do your best to meditate on letting go of your personal delight in being in experiences you find pleasurable. This does not mean you should not enjoy happiness when it exists. It does mean you should practice letting go of craving for happiness and sense-pleasures as a way of being, as a way to create happiness. All life experience, both pleasant and unpleasant, are impermanent experiences – they always change in one way of another. You cannot hold on to pleasant life experiences – just be with them fully when they occur.

9) Meditate on the actual impermanence of all conditioned experiences and phenomena. If you become effective here, you will notice that your suffering decreases dramatically. This, itself, is part of the path to liberation and realization. This is also a most difficult meditation to practice.

10) End your Ten Meditations on Perceptions with mindfulness on the breath. Just simple mindful awareness of your breath, in and out, short and long, shallow and deep, into and out of the body, the arising and falling away of the breath experience – as simply impermanent. Rest yourself in the reinforcing rapture and deep peace of pure awareness on the breath. Appreciate the breath for keeping you alive here now.

Hopefully you will have the self-discipline and motivation to practice these perception meditations. They will be most helpful to you on your own personal path to enlightenment.

For more information refer to Gunarantana, B. (2014). Meditation on Perception: Ten Healing Practices to Cultivate Mindfulness. Boston: Wisdom Publications. Also The Girimananda Sutta from Bhikku Bodhi (2012) in The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Arguttara Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications, pp. 1411-15.

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!

Trauma Informed Care – Avoidance Process Although more and more clinicians are learning about and using principles/practices of Trauma Informed Care, too few understand the behavioral dynamics of negative reinforcement in the avoidance of trauma-related cues (people, places, things, internal sensations, emotions and images). This post will give a very brief description of negative reinforcement […]

More on Yoga Nidra Yoga nidra is sometimes called yoga sleep or yoga relaxation. It is a very powerful mindfulness technique that allows one to relax the body and limbic brain area, while holding mental control for deeper relaxation and projective practices without falling asleep. For some it may be like lucid dreaming, but a […]

Relational Suffering and Buddhist Practice Recently I experienced a deep, sudden, afflictive emotional experience. This sudden and profound sense of loss was due to temporary heartbreak; the temporary heartbreak dealt with rejection from a younger woman I found to be interesting and attractive (inside and outside). My “lost” person seemed to possess all the attachment […]

Mindfulness-Based Emotion Regulation The following emotional regulation practices (also called emotional balance skills) have been supported by over 2500 years of mindfulness training and current psychological research on human emotions. These practices/skills are to be practiced before they are needed, and directly applied when they are needed. Here is the list. 1) Practice noticing and […]

Mindfulness Defined… There are many definitions of mindfulness. Here I have combined several popular views into one. This definition and process may be helpful to readers who cannot quite grasp what it is, what it feels like, and what steps can make it happen. Good luck in your regular practices! Mindfulness is: Paying […]

Forgiveness Meditation Practice – Mindful Happiness – Dr Anthony Quintiliani Sit comfortably in a meditation posture. Allow your breath to remain natural without any intentional modification. Allow your body to relax, and allow your mind to be open to and to expect forgiveness. Focus attention on your heart area deep within your soul, and allow […]

Self-Care as Ritual Self-care for Americans is often considered a luxury. Due to our technological demands and addictions (Demons as they are), and the slow slipping of our economic structures, we are often at the mercy of the bottom line at work. Over-paid CEOs and CFOs and their many assistants eat up so, so much […]

My blog site mindfulhappiness.org has many posts on meditation, Buddhism, education, clinical practices and self-activated emotional health practices. Perhaps you may wish to initiate a Reflective Journal practice after you do practices presented on the site. There are many benefits from maintaining a written journal about personal experiences and practices. Not only does a […]

Advanced Practice in Tara Brach’s RAIN Protocol So often we humans find ourselves in a state of limbic disarray, with ego defenses stimulating our need to protect ourselves from others – even from ourselves. We feel something is very wrong in this moment, and we allow separateness to pull us into a frenzied effort to […]

Counseling/Psychotherapy with Self-Compassion Please begin by ending all conversations, and PLEASE shut-off your phones and/or laptops. Simply be for a moment in the quietude of your inner self. Please close your eyes if you wish to do so. Contemplate the sacred nature of your profession – saving lives, reducing suffering, being a constant object, practicing […]

Mindfulness Skills and Psychotherapy Outcomes There are at least ten good reasons why mindfulness training and regular practice may improve psychotherapy outcomes. These reasons assume the training is presented by a well-trained clinician-mindfulness practitioner. Of course improved outcomes also depend upon the client’s motivation and energy to actually practice mindfulness skills on a regular basis. […]

Behaviors People Display When in Groups After more than 35 years of facilitating hundreds of classes, workshops, family therapy sessions, group therapy sessions, and work project groups it has become clear that we do some strange things when we participate in groups. It appears to me that many of these in-group functions serve both ego […]

Interoceptive Practices for Generic Tai Chi & Chi Kung Postures By Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D. From The Eleanor R. Liebman Center for the Study of Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont These practices will require either knowledge of Tai Chi/Chi Kung postures or following pictures of the same postures. Be prepared before you begin to practice. […]

Meditations and Mantra: Try Them Out in Your Practice There are many forms of meditation. In most cases, the common meditation forms fall into one of two categories: Mindfulness and Insight. There are also demanding concentration meditations, chakra meditations, and mantra meditations. Here we’ll deal only with the two forms noted above and the use […]

Our Brains React to Worry According to research by The American Psychological Association in 2015, some of the core sources of severe stress reaction for Americans are: financial problems, job-related problems, family problems, and health problems. Our lives are complete only with joy/happiness, suffering and boredom – sometimes referred to as pleasant, unpleasant and neutral […]

Trauma Therapy: Basics from Some Expert Clinicians For many years trauma therapist have used many approaches in their psychotherapy. Most of these approaches lack strong empirical support for outcomes, and are often the “favorites” of these therapists. One might wonder what benefits therapists derive from using approaches that are not evidence-based. If an intervention fails […]

A Tribute to Ram Dass (Richard Alpert) Recently Ram Dass died at his home in Maui. He was 88 years old. He was born into a well-off Boston family, and enjoyed materialism in his early professional years. When completing a Ph.D. in Psychology at Stanford University he was still into material things. His spiritual awakening […]

Mindfulness – Self-Kindness Practice Befriending the self is one of the most difficult things for Americans to do. It is probably true that self-kindness is difficult for most people; however, the current rampant criticism (I am right! You are wrong!) and extreme greed manifesting in the United States tends to produce two opposite extremes: […]

Mind Training Over Our Impulses Mindful awareness of our impulses is a very important pathway to improved emotion regulation and, perhaps, more happiness in life. It can be unusually helpful to people suffering from anxiety, depression, and substance misuse. Vedana refers to the feeling tone in our body. It is one of the foundations of mindfulness […]

How to Find & Choose an Effective Therapist Recently The Harvard Health Newsletter posted some interesting questions to ask while seeking out a psychotherapist. I will add a few more details and areas of inquiry in this post. Keep in mind that these questions and inquiries do not mean you will be happy and improve […]