The following four subjects for contemplation are the basis of all Dharma instructions: (a) the precious human form, (b) death and impermanence, (c) actions and their results, and (d) the faults of cyclic existence. We should meditate thoroughly on these four points and try to realize them correctly from the very beginning of our practice. If we fail to do this, our meditation will lack a firm foundation, and it will be impossible to realize the more profound aspects, such as the relative and ultimate awakening mind. Just as a person who wishes to become a school teacher and teach others effectively must first gain the prerequisites by following the appropriate studies, so must we first engage in all the preliminary practices in order to attain higher realizations.

To ensure the success of any meditation that we practice, we should always prepare by taking sincere refuge in the Three Rare and Supreme Jewels: the fully awakened being (buddha), the truth (dharma), and those intent on virtue, or the spiritual community (sangha). When meditating, try to sit in the full adamantine posture with legs crossed, the feet resting on the opposite thighs or calves, the hands placed in the lap, the spine straight, the eyes slightly opened and focused along the nose, and the mouth relaxed with the tongue pressed gently against the palate.

Prior to the main meditation we shall discover many extraneous thoughts breaking like a storm into our mind. Since these must be eliminated for any successful contemplation, we should initially practice simple breath awareness. First, as we breathe out, visualize very fine smoke coming up from the heart and out through the nostrils. Then as we inhale, visualize this fine smoke re-entering gradually and evenly. While placing the concentration on the breath in this way, there are four things to avoid:

• breathing so heavily that we can hear our breath going in and out,
• giving effort to breathing,
• breathing out so far that we have to suck back in quickly, and
• breathing too rapidly.

In doing this initial meditation our mindfulness should ride on the wind of the breath like a person rides a horse. It should not be distracted to one side or the other.

Placing the mind on the breath is like looking down on a busy market place and watching the movements of just one person. The confused bustle gradually fades into the background. It is up to the individual to determine when these extraneous thoughts have been pacified and to realize whether or not firmness of concentration has been achieved. For some people it takes only seven or twenty-one rounds of breathing to reduce internal gossip, but for others it may take much longer. When a state of mental stability has been attained, we can proceed to the more advanced objects of contemplation, because now the mind will be more able to remain on them steadily.

THE PRECIOUS HUMAN FORM

We should realize that there is nothing that we cannot accomplish if we put to good use our precious human life. We have this potential because human beings are endowed with a special intelligence not possessed by other beings, and it is through the power of this intelligence that anything becomes possible. Yet, though all human beings are born with this intelligence, many do not use it well, and some even misuse it, continually wasting their potential on unnecessary worldly diversions. If the human life is used for a mundane purpose, no matter how far-reaching it may be, that purpose always has a limit. However, by harnessing this intelligence to spiritual development, it can lead to complete freedom from confusion-the fully awakened state, which is separated from all obstacles and pain and is endowed with infinite virtuous qualities.

Initially, it is most important to realize that all people have this ability, or potential, and power of mind within them

Copyright Brian Beresford, 1977, 1996. Excerpted from Advice from a Spiritual Friend, with permission of Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm St., Somerville MA 02144 U.S.A, www.wisdompubs.org