AUXILIARY PRACTICES TO MEDITATION
Forgetting the Ox and One’s Self
Meditation is often performed without making use of the numerous practices that were created to augment and sustain the practice. Perhaps the most important and universal auxiliary practice is the cultivation of virtue. Any number of the following practices may be used in conjunction with meditation. Some are to create a state of mind conducive to the development of meditative insight and tranquility while others are used to form a basic attitude or character socially desirable or that is suitable for experiencing and assimilating deep states of insight or mystic-type experiences in a safe and beneficial way. The various practices deal with many aspects of being and have manifold effects on consciousness when applied over time.
CONTEMPLATION OF HUMAN BIRTH, IMPERMANENCE, DEATH, KARMA AND SUFFERING
These contemplations are very important for a realistic perspective of our life experience. It is easier to not become caught up in meaningless activity when we are fully aware of the preciousness of this life, its limited duration and the uncertainty of its length. These contemplations give impetus to our practice and search for the meaning of life. The contemplations of suffering and death are not morbid, brooding kinds of negative thinking but the type that looks clearly and directly at the subject without prejudice or preconception. In the Tibetan tradition these contemplations form essential preliminary practices called ngondro, which are done before one is taught the tantric meditations. For many people, these kinds of thoughts are what eventually drive them to seek a means of spiritual development. As these aspects of our nature cannot be overcome we can only learn to deal effectively with them when we fully accept them as part of our true nature. One that need not be viewed negatively but which, properly viewed, gives more meaning, more purpose and more need for useful action in the present moment.
TAKING REFUGE IN THE TRIPLE GEM
This refers to a simple ceremony often taken by people when they are going to become Buddhist or by Buddhists about to begin a ceremony or meditation retreat. It is commonly done with a monk or nun but may be done in the company of anyone or alone. The Three Gems are the Buddha, Dharma and the Sangha. The Buddha is not just the historical person but also the faculty of awareness common to all sentient beings. The Dharma is both the teaching of the Buddha and Truth as a principle of reality that is constant. The Sangha is the monastic order and the people that support it as well as well as lay practitioners. Ceremonies do not need to have a magical property assigned to them that cannot be explained by simple psychology although in shamanic traditions like Tantra there is widespread belief in magical qualities dependent on the attainments of the lama performing them. All spiritual traditions record the occurrence of miracles. Not surprising since they cannot do more than record the experiences and views of the people who consciously or unconsciously created them. A ceremony has many potential effects and can help to sustain our commitment to practice. The mind’s entrenched proclivities will weigh against the efforts applied to restraining it. Ceremonies can serve as symbolic teachings that form an oral transmission unavailable to non-initiates. This need not be the result of enforced secrecy although it often is. In any field or endeavor one must acquaint oneself with the terms, theories, skills and experience necessary for their successful application.
Taking refuge does not mean that we look to something outside ourselves for support, salvation or redemption. It does not mean that we must start praying to Buddha and his disciples. It is just the opposite of this attitude. It is a conscious decision to be responsible for ourselves. We take full responsibility for ourselves and our actions knowing, or at least believing, that we are the source and origin for our own suffering and joy. That it is within our ability to both positively and negatively affect the state of our mind and that because our actions affect others as well, we have an ethical responsibility to govern our behavior so as not to create hardships for others. The Buddha is the wisdom faculty or “that which is aware,” that part of ourselves which is beyond all mere mental phenomena, concepts or systems of belief. The Dharma is Truth in all its mystery and not “Buddhist” truth and the sangha are those individuals of all places, times and peoples who have sought truth and not only those in the Buddhist monastic system. As fellow travelers on the path we can all benefit from the experiences and knowledge of those who have gone before us. The sangha can also be thought of as our commitment to the precepts or the vinaya, the rules of the monastic order or to our practice vows.
DEDICATION OF MERIT
This refers to the dedication of the merits of one’s actions. Similar to a prayer, it is a mental or verbal declaration of the intent to give to other beings the positive karma derived from mental cultivation, spiritual practice and good deeds. It is commonly done at the beginning or end of meditation and sometimes both. It may be offered to all beings or to individuals. Dedication of merit can be performed with any wholesome act. It makes manifest in actions what might otherwise remain only potential in thought. In other words, rather than simply understanding the practice as being beneficial to us we make a conscious declaration to make the practice beneficial to other beings. This brings wholesome intention into our practice that creates positive karma of which we will inevitably benefit.
The developing stage of practice is a time when it is very easy for the mind to become self-engrossed. Some degree of introspective absorption is needed because it is our task to be introspective and attentive. There is the danger that introspection will lead to a state of self-centeredness that is not balanced by compassion or an understanding of the inter-relatedness of all beings and things. Offering merit brings a selfless quality to practice, affirms our inter-relatedness to all beings and things and cultivates sympathy and compassion for others.
There is a special type of energy produced when the dedication of merit is spoken aloud and with conviction. For this reason, it may prove beneficial to find or create a dedication that is meaningful to the practitioner on a personal level. It makes no difference whether merit is actually transferred or not. It is the mental state the practice produces which is important. Listed are a couple of traditional dedications of merit:
May all beings, without limit or end, have a share in the merit just now made, and in whatever other merit I have made. Those who are dear and kind to me, beginning with my mother and father, whom I have seen or never seen, and others, neutral or hostile, beings established in the cosmos, the three realms, the four modes of birth, with five, one or four aggregates, wandering on from realm to realm: If they know of my dedication of merit, may they themselves rejoice. And if they do not know, may the devas inform them. By reason of their rejoicing in my gift of merit, may all beings always live happily, free from animosity. May they attain the Serene State, and their radiant hopes be fulfilled.
Whatever wholesome karma or worthy action done by me with body, speech or mind, leading to a good destination in the heaven of the thirty-three: May all the percipient beings there are, and all the unpercipient, share in the merit I have made. To those who know well what I have done, I give the fruit of my merit. And as for those who do not know, may the devas inform them. May all the beings in the world that live by means of nutriment all receive delightful food through the power of my merit. May all living beings always live happily, free from animosity. May all share in the fruit of the merit I have made.
This is a chant pervading the world with the Divine Abidings: loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. All beings may they be free from animosity, free from ill-treatment, free from trouble, may they care for themselves with ease. All beings, may they be free from suffering. All beings, may they not be parted from the good fortune they have gained. All beings, are owners of their karma, heirs to their karma, born of their karma, related to their karma, supported by their karma. Whatever karma they do, for good or for evil, to that will they fall heir.
PROSTRATIONS
The act of bowing is an interesting and useful form of practice. While a bow or series of bows can be directed to a god-image, a buddha or teacher, etc., it does not require their presence. One may bow to the universe, nature, truth, or to oneself, one’s inherent nature, or to others. Bowing is a psychological exercise and does not require material objects or conceptual ideas of an ultimately real nature to receive the bow, although they may be used. Prostrations may be done in conjunction with the dedication of merit or offerings or done simply as a practice of mindfulness. A ngondro (preliminary) practice used in the Tibetan tradition involves doing over 100,000 prostrations. This practice can take many months to complete. Bowing can be done for long periods of time and some monks and nuns have made it their main method of practice.
Many people do not like the idea of bowing which may reflect their attitudes of independence and equality or superiority. The practice of bowing deals with the cultivation of humility, faith and mindfulness. We humble ourselves before the awesome powers of life, nature and the mind. In doing so we directly confront the ego and its conceit. We also gain the potential to make manifest those powers that, though part of our nature, seem separated by our fixation to the ego. Thus we can utilize energy that might appear to come from outside ourselves, from “God,” our higher self or the universe. From the standpoint of practice, it makes no difference whether these powers are derived from ourselves or a source outside ourselves. Prostrations can also help develop a feeling of reverence for life. This is valuable in refining the four Divine Abodes of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. Equanimity means detachment not indifference. As in the practice of making offerings, this method can often seem mechanical but can still occasionally produce profound emotional experiences.
CHANTING OR PRAYERS
Chanting is another form of practice that can be used as a form of contemplation, as a technique for developing mindfulness or as a channel for the emotions. The voice and hearing can have a strong impact upon the emotions. Chanting is often done with a monotone rhythmic voice that can be very relaxing both to those doing it and for those hearing it. Often chants are in a language unfamiliar to the practitioners. In the Theravadin tradition chants are in the Pali language and few monks or nuns actually understand what the words mean although they may understand the gist of the chant. For the purposes of relaxation, mindfulness and channeling the emotions this makes little difference. It may even help since the content or meaning does not then distract from the act of chanting which can be very soothing.
Most Theravadin chants consist of teachings found in the sutras or are praises to the Buddha and his disciples. Using chants as contemplations necessitates either an understanding of the language the chant is in or a translation. If the translation is properly understood the chant can still be done in its original language. One need not understand each word but should know in general what teaching is being conveyed. There are practitioners that use chanting as a form of prayer. In effect, beseeching the Buddha and other “deities” in a way that cannot really be ascribed to the Buddha’s teachings. He never taught people to pray to him and was always conscientious about not being equated with a god or prophet. Some people make chanting the foundation of their practice but meditation is more common although many Buddhists do not do either. For some, their practice of Buddhism is mostly about the cultivation of virtue. While chanting can have many benefits it is doubtful that it can produce the full range of attainment states that are characteristic of meditation. No chants are here listed as there exist far too many and each person should find chants in whatever language, on whatever subject and with whatever rhythm they feel suitable.
PERSONAL OR CULTURAL RELIGIOUS RITUALS
Rituals, among other possible definitions, are actions that are the physical manifestation of religious principles, teachings or beliefs. Some rituals seek divine intervention in