The Teaching g of Ajahn Suchart

The Teaching g of Ajahn Suchart

Question:  In sitting meditation, is cross-legged the posture to meditate or is there any other positions?

Than Ajahn:  Well, sitting cross-legged is the ideal sitting position. If you can do it, it will be good for your meditation in the long term. There are two types of sitting cross-legged: half lotus and full lotus. In Thailand, we usually sit in half lotus position. Sitting cross-legged is a balanced position for the body and we can sit for a long period of time. But when you start, if you cannot sit in that position, you can sit in any position you like. You can sit on a chair or on a bed, but eventually, as you progress in your meditation, you’d want to try to sit in the lotus position because you’ll find it better for your practice. However, don’t use this (the inability to sit in lotus position) as an excuse to not do the practice.

When you start, if you cannot sit in lotus position, you can sit in any position you want.

What’s important is not the position of the body. What’s important is the mind whether you can keep it still or not, whether you can keep it away from thinking aimlessly or not.

That’s the purpose. So, the first step is to develop mindfulness because mindfulness will be the one that can stop your thoughts.

Once you can stop thinking, when you sit down, you’ll feel comfortable in whichever position you choose. If you cannot stop thinking, your mind will be desiring to go do something else and you’ll find that sitting is very uncomfortable.

So, the important thing is not the position of the body, but mindfulness—the ability to stop your thoughts. If you can stop or reduce your thoughts, when you sit, you won’t feel uneasy. The reason why you feel uneasy is because your mind wants to go do something else and you keep thinking about it. Once the mind keeps thinking about something, it wants to go and do it. But if you can stop it from thinking about anything, when you sit down, it won’t have any desire to do anything, then you can sit and be still and calm very easily.

So, when you first start, if you cannot sit in lotus position, you should just sit in any position that you find it comfortable, although after a while, this position won’t make you feel comfortable too because it’s not a balanced position like the lotus position.

If you sit in lotus position, the weight of the body is equally distributed.

“Dhamma in English, Jan 12, 2019.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

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