Most practitioners have experience with mindfulness of breathing meditation (ánapanasati in Páli). However, it may happen that they will still have difficulties accurately describing their observations during the interview with the teacher. This document could help practitioners in how to proceed during the interview:
Sitting meditation:
1. First, describe the origin of your primary meditation object.
2. Then describe how you labeled your primary meditation object.
3. Finally, describe what you experienced or felt during this labeling. For example, during an interview you can say:
“While experiencing the inhalation, I labeled it as a “inhalation”. I felt inhalation as cold air entering the nostrils and exhalation as warm air leaving the nostrils. In some cases, I have observed that inhalation and exhalation enter and exit from the same nostril. Exhalation is warmer than inhalation. And exhalation is shorter than inhalation. I was able to observe these specific qualities when I focused my attention intensely on breathing.”
4. How long can you observe the primary meditation object without interruption? During such an observation, how long can you keep your attention on inhaling and exhaling?
“I observed the exhalation after the inhalation was completed. I was only able to keep my attention on the inhalation and exhalation for a short time. Then came the thoughts. However, there were phases when I was able to maintain attention for 20-30 breaths without interruption. But then the thoughts came again.’
It is important that you describe the primary meditation object clearly, accurately and precisely. The description must be as honest as possible and reflect your own experience.
If the practitioner has other experiences that they would like to share, they should do so only after completing the description of the primary meditation object.
5. If additional experiences appear during sitting meditations, you can describe them in the following way:
“I feel pain in my body. The pain first intensifies and then eases. Sometimes it feels like burning in the back or on the feet. Sometimes I feel cold and sometimes warm, like electric currents running from my head to my feet. I have good samádhi (concentration), but sometimes thoughts attack the mind, then ideas come, I make plans and projects.”
If you feel irritation, aversion, greed, euphoria, or envy, conceit, or any similar mental experiences, please describe them precisely to the teacher. If you experience such mental states, you can report them in the following way:
- If you experience mental states (e.g. aversions, greed), how do they manifest?
- What was your reaction to such an experience? How did you label it?
- What was your understanding of such an experience?
- Were there any consequences after this experience?
- What were your experiences after this event?
If the mind leaves the primary object due to bodily pain:
- I felt pain in my knee
- The exact location of this pain was … there and there …
- It was a pain… stabbing, piercing, vibrating…
- It was mild at first, but gradually got stronger.
- I labeled it pain as “pain”
- It gradually became less painful and more tolerable, finally it stopped bothering me completely and so I turned my attention to the primary object.
- Or this pain was constantly intensifying and I observed it continuously.
- Then again the mind left the primary object. Then I noticed a change in my attention and after a while the mind returned to the primary object.
- This repeated several times.
Walking meditation
During the interview, it is also important to describe walking meditation. It should look like this:
As you lift your leg, observe “lifting, lifting”. And then label “lifting, sliding, laying” as you move and place your leg. The meditators then mark the beginning, middle and end of the leg movement in an arc. After about 10-15 steps, meditators may notice that the mind has left the walking process and wandered off to external thoughts, sounds, or visual sensations. Please label this distraction that distracted the mind from the primary meditation object.
- I noticed that the mind wanders away from the feet.
- I observe that this is happening and that the mind has wandered off to thoughts.
- I have noticed that if I observe it in this way, the thoughts are less prominent and gradually weaken.
- I was able to go back to observing the movement of the feet indicating lifting, shifting, placing.
Many meditators find this method very useful.
This method helps to observe the movements of the body and at the same time the mind that observes these movements. This helps maintain awareness throughout the walking process. At the same time, it prevents the uncontrolled spread of thoughts and daydreaming. The mind stops wandering and becomes more focused on the object of meditation. This ultimately leads to deep understanding and realizations in one’s own practice.
As the meditator notes his/her meditative experiences in this way, it brings sharpness and clarity to the mind.