We usually talk a great deal about the path of non-effort beyond meditation (the yoga of non-meditation). This is the pinnacle of the spiritual path. Although it is explained to the disciple from the very beginning, it is not something we master at once, instantly. It is something we come to after we have learned lower methods of meditation and concentration.
Traditionally, the very highest is explained first, on the assumption that the disciple possesses the highest capacities. Then, when it becomes clear that he does not possess such capacities, a lower teaching is explained. It is believed that one who possesses the highest capacities has already passed through the levels of sutra and tantra in past lives. These capacities do not arise just like that, spontaneously. This means that a powerful cause has been created, which manifests these capacities in this life. We will talk about the practice of effort and, in fact, about meditation.
The Importance of Proper Meditation
When you practice in a monastery, it is very important to establish yourself in the habit of meditating correctly and to cut off the habit of meditating incorrectly. If over several years the habit of meditating incorrectly has taken root in you, something must be done about it. Otherwise, as one saint said, you will remain “like sacks of rice and clothes hangers.” We have three sessions a day and a week or five days a month. If you apply proper meditation, your meditation grows. On the contrary, if even after eight years you have still not managed to break through beyond approaching concentration, then you need to come and clarify what exactly you are doing wrong and how to do it correctly. In other words, there is no other way out except to become true masters of meditation, as the saints taught. Such meditation becomes the basis of our presence in everyday life.
On the path of proper meditation, effort should be applied when it is necessary. If we do not apply the right effort, it is considered that our meditation is moving in the wrong direction.
The Dharani of Flawless Samadhi
Now I will read the “Dharani of Flawless Samadhi,” based on the instructions of the saints. If you repeat this dharani before meditation sessions in retreat or daily Mahashanti, you will always be free from the possibility of incorrect meditation. You can list
