The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness

by Culadasa (John Yates)

Purposely directing and redirecting your attention is an important part of meditation training.

You want to continuously cultivate your ability to intentionally direct attention to any object you choose, regar...

You do this by redirecting attention, over and over again, back to the meditation ob...

This is how directed attention leads to st...

If you’re reluctant to let go of an object you find particularly engaging, evoke ...

Discipline doesn’t mean forcing the mind to do something it can’t, but rather a firm, intentional resolve to let go of an object that’s captured ...

Being diligent means doing this consistentl...

Sustaining Attention on the Meditation Object

Once you’ve redirected attention, you want to increase the periods of sustained attention to the meditation object.

A technique that helps is called followi...

To begin, try identifying the exact moment the in-breath starts and the exact moment it ends.

Likewise, try noticing the exact moment the out-breath begins and ends.

You will find the beginning of the in-breath easy to identify because of the sharp impact of coo...

The start of the out-breath will probably be obvious as well, though less distinct, sin...

By contrast, the exact ends of the in- and out-breaths...

You will also notice brief pauses between the in- and out-breaths, and between ...

If you find it hard to perceive the ends of the in- and out-breaths clearly, it helps to identify the pau...

Once you’ve found the pauses with some certainty, as well as the start and end of each part of the breath cycle, try observing ...

If it’s helpful, you can note “Beginning, end, beginning, end.”

Remember, willpower is not very effective for anything in meditation, including sustaining attention, so the mind must find further challenges to stay actively engaged.

QUICK REVIEW OF STAGE TWO PRACTICE

The instructions for this Stage are simple. You sit down, finish the Preparation for Practice, make the gradual transition to the sensations of the breath at the tip of the nose, and count ten breaths.

Hold the intention to follow and sustain attention on the breath se...

Very soon, however, you’ll find yourself forgetting the breath and mind-wandering, sometimes for seconds ...

Eventually, you’ll abruptly “wake up” to the fact that, even though you intended to watch the breath, you’ve bee...

Feel happy and pleased about this “aha!” moment of intros...

Then, gently direct attention back t...

To engage more fully with the meditation object, practice fo...

As long as you appreciate the moment of “waking up” to mind-wandering, diligently return attention to the object, and fully engag...

If you sit through the entire session without getting discouraged and if you keep returning to the breath when your mind wanders, con...

Focusing on the Meditation Object Without Losing Peripheral Awareness

Stages One through Four aim at gaining more stability of attention.

Beginning meditators often try to stabilize attention by focusing intensely on the breath and pushing eve...

Don’t try to limit peripheral...

Instead, to cultivate mindfulness, do just the opposite—allow sounds, sensations, thoughts, and feelings ...

Be careful of the tendency to become so closely focused on the breath that periph...

But if you maintain peripheral awareness, you’ll eventually learn to notice potential distractions when they arise, and atten...

If one of these background distractions does momentarily capture attention, simply let it be while redirecting attent...

The approach is always the same: let it come, let it ...

Learn to accept these distractions, recognizing that they will go away by themselves, onl...

The Meditation Object Will Not Always Be at the Center of Attention

In Stages One through Three, you train the mind so that by Stage Four the meditation object is never completely lost from attention.

But at this Stage, it doesn’t matter if the breath is at the center of attention or so...

Always feel satisfied with any stretch of time where the meditation object remains in the fi...

“You” Are Not in Control of “Your” Mind

Mind-wandering happens constantly.

Even the simplest instruction like “Keep your attention focused on the breath” reveals how the mind, in a sense, has a mind of its own.

Believing we should be in control of the mind only creates problems for our practice.

Rather than pass judgment, let your meditation practice illuminate what’s really going on: there is no self in control of the mind, and therefore nobody to blame!

The mind is a collective of mental processes operating either through consensus, or through a very temporary dominance of one process over the others.