Buddhism without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening

by Stephen Batchelor

FIND A QUIET, comfortable place. Sit still. Make sure the back is unsupported and upright, but not tense. Check to see if there are any points of tension in the body: the shoulders, the neck, around the eyes. Relax them. Take three long, slow, deep breaths. Then let the breathing resume its own rhythm, without interference or control. The formal practice of mindfulness begins with a heightened awareness of the sensory array that is the body. Central to this is breathing. When meditating on the breath, let go of any picture you have of some invisible stuff being sucked in then pumped out of the lungs. Likewise, if you have an image of the meditating self peering down on the breath from above the head, let that go too. Experience the breath as the body experiences it: a rhythm of sensations that starts with the impact of cool indrawn air on the opening of the nostrils and ends with a warmer current leaving that same point moments later. Only when you start paying careful attention to the breath do you notice how complex and subtle are the range of sensations involved. As each inhalation and exhalation takes place, delve deeper into the multilayered intricacy of this vital act. When you become calm, centered, and alert to the breath, slowly expand awareness to include whatever other bodily sensations are present. Focus your attention on the crown of the head, then calmly and patiently move over every detail of your scalp, face, and neck, through the torso and limbs, to the ti...

The most perfect encpsulated descripton of what meditation is