Posture
of Meditation, Part 2:
Standing
Posture
of Meditation Series:
Posture
of Meditation, Part 3: Eyes
Standing
meditation
Considering
that standing posture is one of the four main postures of buddhist
meditation, it has not been widely practiced as main method of it's
own in other buddhist countries than China. It comes as a bit of a
surprise when you think of it. Why not? In China both taoists and
buddhists have practiced it throughout the centuries, and still
today, although often from purely secular point of view, separated
from larger philosophical context which may or may not be a good
thing. In China standing meditation, often in connection with inner
martial arts and self-healing, is known by many different names.
Here, I'll refer to it simply by ”standing meditation”.
Meditation
is a multilayered practice. Considering all the things that happen in
the mind space, it is comparable to juggling. A beginning juggler is
able to juggle for a brief moment until due to limited skills, balls
fall to the ground. To manage all the different elements of the mind,
such as thoughts, ideas, emotions and energies together with sensory
information of the physical body, including the possibility of
becoming distracted or subconscious, is not that easy and simple.
When
meditation is practiced in a standing position or positions, it is an
art of it's own. It is different from sitting meditation for the
obvious reason that the body is an active element of the meditation.
In sitting meditation, body is also central but in this case body has
a more passive role in the meditative process.
Personally
I think that standing meditation can be a great help in one's
meditation when one has 1. recognised open awareness and has become
familiar with it, 2. when one wishes to put more emphasis on how open
awareness is embodied and 3. how the abstract mind-awareness
functions relate to the structure of the physical body.
Of
course standing practices can be done to begin with, without
nondualistic insights and without any physical preparation such as
rushen,
but pursuing standing meditation as a primary method from the
beginning, is hindered by many problems. I don't recommend it.
Perhaps
this is the reason why the yogic traditions of India or Tibet never
dove deep in standing meditation, although their traditions of
sitting meditation have been exemplary. Perhaps masters and yogis
didn't see it that important after advancing in their sitting
practice.
The
view from the top of the mountain
What
is essential in all forms of meditation, is to recognise knowing
awareness (first gear). By knowing awareness I refer to open
awareness. It is our mind without dualistic content, without the
sense of separation. Please refer to many texts on awakening and
purification of the mind found from this blog, if you are not
familiar with what this means.
So,
whatever type of meditation we are talking about, it is the
recognition of knowing awareness what makes the practice a
”meditation”. Concentration practice where intention is
cultivated to attend the body-space, or the movement of the breath or
made to act according to a mental image, is not really meditation.
So,
the principle of open awareness should be clearly understood.
Training
of standing meditation
When
the recognition of open awareness is effortless and common, it is
possible for the practitioner to put more emphasis on the embodying
aspect of meditation. This is the meeting point of the third and
fourth gears of ”Four
Gears of Open Awareness”.
In
sitting posture, the third gear, where open awareness (related to the
primary sense organ) is met with the heart-space and the whole body,
can already be thoroughly studied. However, when this is applied in
standing posture, it takes on a different, physically more
concretical spin. The connection of awareness in relation to action
(based on intention/focus) can be studied and realised in a ”fleshy”
way. Mind and awareness becomes flesh and bones. It becomes concretic
because our physical bodies made of physical elements, are more
actively looked as a central theme of our meditation. Here the
dualism between non-physical absolute, open awareness, and physical
relative body evaporates. ”Form is emptiness, emptiness is form”,
as the Heart sutra says.
I
find that it is absolutely crucial to stick with the panorama that
opens from ”the top of the mountain”, referring to the first
gear, because it is that open mind space, also termed as attention,
bare attention or naked awareness which puts the whole practice and
the method in a context that it actually is.
Nearly
all inner martial artists have deficiency regarding this essential
requirement. Without the first gear, and nonduality, standing
meditation cannot and does not result in thorough understanding,
traditionally called as wisdom and compassion.
-
Kim Katami, 26.6.2016
Open
Heart,
