Meditation Session Techniques (Audio and Unedited Transcript)

By Lama Thubten Yeshe
Melbourne, Australia, 1975 (Archive #329 005)

An audio recording and unedited transcript of a teaching given by Lama Yeshe at a five-day meditation retreat in Australia in 1975. The edited version of this talk has been published as Chapter Two in the book Ego, Attachment and Liberation.

...“Why my uncontrolled mind, or soul, is strongly tied up with sensational, this body, such so long time, such combination, uncontrolled mind associated with uncontrolled body? It seems totally agitated internal environment. When I was child, I use other people, let them work and take care of me, my body. Since I grow up, also, having this body, trying to live in this earth, so much effort. Even just simple sometimes getting job is so difficult. If I don’t have uncontrolled this body, even that I don’t need. So, the uncontrolled body association with uncontrolled mind, I tied up with small atom. All those problems from deep root by the attachment ego, ego mind. Ego mind makes you tied up with such condition, giving no chance internal peace and freedom, freely joyful.”

So when I talk, instead of your sense are occupied another object, same time, you meditate; when I lecturing, you meditate. Same time, you checking. Do not listen as school attitude mind, when you are child.

Even such short time uncontrolled, one hours cannot control your sense body, that is identified of your own mind. If your body is cannot keep control, relax environment, nervous system is not relaxing. Your nervous system is not relaxing, brain or your mind is not relaxing. That makes interrupting to be able to see reality, inner peace. When your mind is relaxing, your nervous system is peaceful environment. There is space to grow knowledge-wisdom. You don’t need push; there is method.

Even when you have pain in your knees, the ego mind make up too big. Like solid, sort of, iron; that pain is iron, sort of, unchangeable iron, which is totally wrong conception, unrealistic interpretation. So when you realize that is, pain is digested into wisdom, and disappear, because your feeling pain in knee is not itself; it’s the combination ego’s function and knee association makes this one. When the one disappears, combination is disappears too. [silence]

You don’t need push to have good meditation. Just close your eyes and relax as much possible, the mind with just watching. Do not expecting bad thought coming, good thought coming. Just relax, just watching: how the thought comes, how goes; how pain comes, how goes; how the agitated mind comes, how goes. Just watching. Check up where is “agitated”; what is “agitated”? When you check up analytically, by the wisdom, automatically disappear. It goes itself because agitation is not the bone, not the meat, not the physical thing. It’s only mental expression. Just don’t pay attention your sense perception—eyes, nose, hearing, touch, taste—you don’t pay attention. Better, close eyes and these thing, just close, natural close, because the meditator mind is not sense perception. Sense perception is blind perception. Blind, blind. Sense perception is not intelligent mind. But the mind totally opened, and aware. [silence]

When the mind is reach beyond pain, let stay there. [silence]

When you concentrate your mind on feeling, the object feeling is it disappear. Let stay there…without concentrating on feeling, sensation. [silence]

The mind is distracted by the external sense object…then you breathing, you breathing in, you breathing in from the nose, deep breathing, deep breathing, completely bring in and pushing down in navel, navel, near the navel—below the stomach, breath energy is pushing; breathing in, deep and completely, and pushing little bit down. Then, then, then, then lower, then lower, sex chakra, the muscles, you tight and lower energy is, energy coming, and coming from down energy is meeting below the navel. Even you can touch, your hand. Then you feel joyful sensation. So the mind automatically come, concentration on sensation. [silence]

When the feeling pain in the nervous system, then breathe slowly, naturally out. But mind concentrated on feeling. [silence]

Do five times, bring in breath, and little bit pushing, and then keep below the navel. Then lower muscles tight. So you feel energy coming from bottom, and from out, and meeting together, at the navel. [silence]

Actually, when the two energies are meeting together, when they’re meeting, there is electricity energy, light energy vibrating in navel, in navel, below the navel, nervous system, and it is affective all the your nervous system. [silence] And feeling blissful…without grasping, concentrated, with feeling, and unified your mind with feeling. Your mind sink into that feeling, rather than separate, “I am feeling blissful.”

When the mind is becoming sluggishness or becoming sleeping, the energy light at the navel, below your navel, and try to more clear, bright, visualizing more bright, radiation. So the foggy mind is disappear. The nature of foggy, sluggishness mind is perceiving dark view, so that when you visualize light, it automatically disappears. Do not think this is just only hallucination. Into your body the electricity light energy is there. Especially when the energy, two energy meeting, electricity light is functioning. This is not religious trip; scientific experience.

This is so simple, isn’t it? You breathing energy slowly and deep; you bring all they way down in your navel, below your navel, and a little bit pushing, and then the lower muscles tight, the energy coming from the lower then meeting below the your navel place.

From the navel, electricity energy light vibrating all your nervous system of body, vibrating into your heart, vibrating into your neck, vibrating in your brain; vibrating in your leg, and knee, feet. That way sometimes you feel the unity of total, sort of, total unity; electricity light energy. Let stay there, if that way feel.

When you meditate, mouth is closed, closed mouth. Breathing is only going, coming from the nose. Naturally closed. Natural.

If you want now session breaking, then you get up slow, with feeling. Perhaps your fingers put this way. This way. And go, when you walk, you go with feeling; just relax, go. Go pee-pee and come back with consciously, with feeling. All meditation, dear; sure. Your walking is meditation; you sit down is meditation. All becomes meditation. That’s all. So simple. Meditation does not mean always sitting, do nothing. You walking can be totally conscious, and that is also meditation. So, you can go now, breaking time, perhaps. Thank you. And then slowly come back. So, now pay more attention inside feeling. Don’t forget the blissful feeling at the below your navel.

[session break]

Do not expect your concentration is perfect on sensation feeling. Like we nail on the wood. [silence]

But outside, relax; inside, be mindfulness. When the other thought come, when distraction come, your mindfulness wisdom penetratedly watching, or observing, how the ego mind identify, how the reaction. Be fully conscious. When the thought object disappear, let stay mind without thought. [long silence]

When the old, desirable experience memory comes, mindfully observe how ego grasping or identified, or…. [silence]

Instead of rejecting, you feel. When you try to feel, itself disappear and digested. When your mind reach beyond the grasping experience memory, just leave there; let stay there. [silence]

When old bad experience memory and guilty memory and depressed memory comes, the mindfulness wisdom watching and observe, how the ego rejecting, how the ego mind rejecting. [silence]

You can see, ego mind want immediately escape from the bad experience feeling, rather than face and want know what its nature is. [silence]

The ego mind, when see desirable experience, magnetically tied up or drawing, running that side. Don’t want to search reality, what is. So the bad experience comes, want escape immediately. Even one minute feels [like] one year. That is ego mind. Unrealistic, according reality or nature. And countless lives, or, since you born up to now, accumulated into your mind. Unbalanced, unequally, and makes automatically agitated, which we call dualistic mind. Making judgment, such superficial imagination, rather than seeing reality. [silence]

According reality, ego mind painted on the reality, and hallucinate and judging, “bad and good.” Not realistic, almost cheat us—our basic nature cheat us; ego mind cheat us—by giving hallucination ego’s projection on the reality. [silence]

If the mind reach beyond the bad experience memory, beyond good experience memory, let stay there and let go. [silence]

So you can see, the guilty mind is manifestation of ego mind, rather than wise, wisdom mind. [silence]

So, you don’t necessarily to pushing to control mind. Just be wise, trying to understand the function of the ego’s movement, identification. Automatically, you control. So your mind healthy and happy. That’s all. So simple. Mind control also nature, is the natural, is natural thing. Not artificial, you know, pretending. [silence]

So, even session break time, session break time, as much possible, mindful. Even if you love your friend, you be wise. You just talking conversation is you helping your friend or not, you check up. OK? You check up that. You really love your friend, and that is conversation make your friend make happy? If make happy, of course, of course. You be wise, which way you want help your loving friend, which way you want help? Best way you help. Be wise. Don’t think, “If I not talk, my friend freak out.” Must be silly mind; ego freak out. Not the realistic mind freak out. It’s good; let ego freak out; then ego can easily recognize time this. True, isn’t it? Many times we want help our best friend. But our ignorant mind making more agitated. Instead of helping, it disturbing. We know. So, we be careful this time too. If need, some are disturbing mind, want to have some question, according, psychological, mental treatment, of course, you speaking worthwhile. But not just emotion conversation; it’s not worthwhile. So, therefore, session break time is also becomes session. It depends on your mind. For sure, in session break time is becomes meditation. It’s possible. Try, that also meditation. So worthwhile.

In Tibet, we emphasis very much during session break time, you be careful. Not go old habit mind. Otherwise like that, you making sweeping here, clean, clean, clean; when the session finishes you put again old dirt here, PAM! Then when the session comes, you again like that! So, OK. I think, very simple. Thank you so much. OK. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.