Posture

Legs should be crossed. All the classic sitting meditation positions involve a stable three point base. So, you should sit in either the Lotus Position (padmasana), Half-Lotus or in the "Indian" or "tailor" fashion. In the Lotus, you sit with each foot placed on the opposite thigh, the way Sakyamuni Buddha is usually depicted. Unless you’re really limber or practice yoga, you’ll probably find this position difficult if you don’t sit on a cushion. Tibetan Buddhists use square cushions, Zen use round zofu, but a pillow or a folded blanket work as well. For the three point base to work, both of your knees must rest on the floor. Plant yourself firmly.

There are many hand positions for meditation, called mudra. But most place their hands either on the knees or in the cosmic mudra (The dominant hand is held palm up holding the other hand, also palm up, so that the knuckles of both hands overlap. The thumbs are lightly touching, thus the hands form an oval, which can rest on the upturned soles of your feet if you’re sitting in Full Lotus).

The back is kept straight, like an arrow or a stack of coins. Extend your neck as though reaching toward the ceiling with the top of you head. Your ears should be in a line parallel to your s in Soto (Gradual Enlightenment) Zen; while others meditate facing the world like Sakyamuni Buddha, as in the Rinzai (Sudden Enlightenment) School. Choose the way that works better for you.

The hara, which literally means ‘belly’, refers to the center of gravity, located in the abdomen three fingers below and two fingers behind the navel. Called the dantian in Chinese (’red field’) and the Svadhisthana Chakra in Kundalini Yoga. It is considered the seat of one’s spiritual energy. You should anchor your mind in the hara, thinking with your guts, not with your head. When you breathe, you should imagine the breath going down to the hara and returning from there.

Breathing

There are different pranyama, or breathing techniques for meditation. But one should begin by counting the breath, either on each inhalation, exhalation, or counting both. When you get to ten, start over at one. If you wish, you can count up to ten and then down to one. The counting is a feedback to help you know when your mind has drifted off. If you get distracted and lose count, don’t worry and just start over. After a while, you’ll notice your thoughts settling as you gain mastery over your mind. As your thoughts quiet down, counting becomes easier. When you feel your mind is sufficiently calm, you can stop counting and just focus on the in-out breath. Over time, you’ll notice your breathing slow down. While on average a person at sea-level breathes fifteen times a minute, one in deep meditation breathes at a rate of only two or three breaths a minute. Heart rate, circulation and metabolism also slow down, which is why masters are able to live on little or no sleep and one or less meal per day.

Concentration

By focusing on the breath, you bring your attention to what you’re doing in the present moment. Sati, or mindfulness, is the awareness of your thoughts and actions here and now. It applies equally to bodily actions and the mind’s thoughts and feelings. Right mindfulness, samma sati, is the seventh of the Buddha’s Eightfold Path and is a prerequisite for right concentration. You must develop an awareness of yourself before you can reach the awareness of everything else.

Buddhist meditation consists primarily of two aspects. Shamatha is the gradual development of mental and physical calmness (in Tibetan it is zhi gnas or ‘peaceful abiding’, in Chinese chih or ’stopping’). Vipashyana is the heightening of awareness, sensitivity and observation (a.k.a. lhag thong or ‘penetrating vision’, kuan or ’seeing’). Some meditations are calming, others aim for clarity, yet others do both. It is important that a balance is maintained and that one aspect is not enhanced at the expense of the other. Calmness without awareness is dozing; awareness without calm is ‘tripping’.

Samadhi is the Sanskrit word for concentration or one-pointedness. It is the ability to fully focus all your attention on the object at hand, keep it there for as long as necessary and shift it effortlessly at the appropriate time. Concentration is detachment. It is only by being able to let go of everything else, that we can fully concentrate on any one thing. Each time you return to the breath, you are training your ability to direct the mind where you want it to go. Fully developed, this is right concentration (samma samadhi), the eighth of the Eight Fold Path that leads to the realization of the noble truth: the way out of suffering is to eliminate attachment and desire.

Above all, perseverance. Don’t get discouraged by physical pain or psychological discomfort. They will pass as your mind-body get used to sitting. It is said that when Bodhidharma came to China, in order to attract students he sat in meditation in front of a cave for nine years. The first three years, people would come by and make fun of him. During the second three years, people grew tired of bothering a boring statue and they ignored him. In the final three years, a few realized his great accomplishment of sitting in meditation for so long despite the hardship and began to join him. By the end of the nine years, Bodhidharma spoke in front of thousands of totally receptive students, every one of them became instantly enlightened. His sermon was called the Lotus Sutra, the lotus symbolizing the anabasis through a world of ignorance and suffering, just as the flower rises above the muddy water from which it grows.

Congratulations! You are now enlightened. Just kidding. Now go meditate.