Excerpted from
The Meditation On Peace:
Discourses by Namgyal Rinpoche,
Edited by Karma Chime Wongmo;
Bodhi Publishing, Kinmount, Ontario; 1987

Now we come to exercises by which you can calm the senses and the mind. There is a way to go into a meditation and a way out that is conducive to wholesome results. It is good to prepare for any meditation session -- or any kind of work or study you engage in -- by following these four basic steps:

STEP 1. Physical Exercise -- Do some type of brisk exercise like running or swimming. If you are unable to run, go for a good long walk. Whatever exercise you choose, be sure it has an invigorating or refreshing effect.

Question: Would something like aikido qualify as brisk exercise?

Rinpoche: That could precede more vigorous movement exercises. There are more ancient exercises such as ju jitsu and kendo. These were originally created to defend other people from committing unwholesome acts of violence. They were established by the Order. In seeing that there were beings who wanted to do violence, the Buddha allowed the monks to stop them in their tracks. When people engage in unwholesome activity, before they hurt anyone else they hurt themselves first. I realize that today these disciplines are practiced for self-defense, however originally they were intended to defend the others from harming themselves.

STEP 2. Posture -- Establish a posture that is relaxed but alert; there must be a sense of balance between these, between relaxation and alertness. So don't be too alert or too relaxed, either can lead to unwholesome states. Choose any balanced, geometric posture in which you feel calm and alert. This applies to walking, standing, sitting or lying down. The eyes are open, unfocused and gazing straight ahead of you at a distance of about 18 inches.

STEP 3. Breathing -- Start with short, quick, rapid breathing. Do this for approximately 30 seconds or until you feel slightly giddy or faint. This helps to stabilize the energy. Now center your awareness and take three to four deep breaths, letting them out fully. Then sit and watch the breath. As you inhale, feel the whole body. As you exhale watch the breath with your awareness held at the tip of the nose. Feel the breath as a narrow stream moving horizontally away from the nostrils. Wait until the breath settles and calms down. As the breath calms down, so does the mind. there is a direct correlation between the two.

STEP 4. Aspiration -- You must explore your motivation, your aspiration. State what this is. Why are you meditating/ What is your life goal? It could be the establishment of peace for awakening, or to become a loving being, etc. As a universalist I teach non-doctrinally. You do not have to believe in this or that doctrine in order to practice this or any other meditation. What you must do is explore your motivation, the moving force of the universe. Not just in words, you must feel the effect of your aspiration within the body.

It is important for beings to search and come to their philosophy or view, to know why they are meditating. For instance, you could be an agnostic searching for truth. There is the practice of non-clinging awareness but most meditations are about a set theme. You set the theme for your exploration before going into the main body of the practice. It may be that in aspiration you form a question, what is peace? What is Nibbana? or make the statement, I want to become a peaceful being.

After these four steps are established we come to the main body of the meditation.

Sight/Eye Consciousness

What is unique about the world's most ancient form of meditation on peace is that you begin with your eyes. Choose one of the eyes -- the right or the left -- and enter that eye area with the thought of peace. Repeat the word for peace until you feel an embodiment of peace within that area, feel a radiant and happy state there.

When you work for the dissolution of the unwholesome you go into an area and feel the stores proclivities of karma or activity there. Energy is unusually blocked within the area of the eyes because of what the eyes have experienced during childhood. People who are prone to being upset by what they see have been traumatized by past experience. When the energy is blocked in an area you need a restoration there. With non-clinging awareness feel detachment and serenity entering the eye. You work locally until you feel peace has been restored in that area. There should be a twinkle, the eye will feel radiant.

Then you go over to the other eye and proceed in the same way. After you do each eye, you do both together. You want to calm and clear the senses and in the process balance them. While you are doing this you might feel one part of your face is calm while the other part has stored anger.

Also it's good when you're walking, standing, talking or listening to others to continue reflecting on khema, peace. Repeat the word silently. As you look at the person, calm and clear the seeing.

Sound/Ear-Consciousness

When the eyes feel radiant, go on and do the ears, first one at a time, then both together. Feel the stored anger in the ear. There are things you don't hear because the way in which you were conditioned set up a proclivity to hear certain things and not to hear others. As you focus on each ear separately and then together, you develop detachment or dispassion; you bring serenity and peace into those areas.

The Pali words used in the text have further dimensions of meaning. Bahukaram means more expanded action. By the recollection of peace there is an increase in radiance or radiant activity. Bahu by itself means more or much. For example, we say of someone with a wide or broad scope of reading that they are 'well-read'. The ancient texts were transmitted orally so the equivalent in Pali to 'well-read' would be bahu sutta: 'heard-much' or 'well-heard'. Thus the faculties or senses are not only restored, they are expanded. The Pali word upasankamanam means peace causes the higher faculties or formations to come into being. Kayanupakasena and cittanupakasena refer to calming the body and calming the mind. Again there's a little bit more meant here than just calming. Peace is for forming a higher (upa) body (kaya) and mind (citta) . We could say the recollection of peace is for becoming aware of the better body, the better mind, or the upper body, the upper mind. Another rendering is, by that method -- the higher activity of peace -- the body and mind become radiant. As you practice you should feel radiance entering the areas or parts of the body you are focusing on. Again, kayanupakasena points to the expansion of consciousness in these areas.

If you feel an area is deadened, perhaps one or both ears, and you bring peace to the area, you will feel the area become alive and radiant. In fact, you should feel a twinkle in the ears. If you do it in order, first one ear, then the other, and then balance the two, you will hear people from calm, clarity and peace.

Go through the rest of the senses in the same way until you feel a sense of peace, an embodiment of peace within those areas. Imagine that each area has a 'stored war' that must be overcome with peace. You will experience peaceful force, a degree of warmth, a touch of transcendent healing.

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