Meditation for Laypeople

In the Buddha’s time, a monk couldn’t make progress in his practice. His older brother, also a monk, decided that his younger brother didn’t have enough merit to stay a monk and should leave the monkhood to make merit as a layperson instead. The younger brother felt he was simply unlucky. He had practiced hard for years with no results and nothing getting any better. So he planned to leave, as his brother told him to.

But before leaving, he went to pay his respects to the Buddha and say goodbye. The Buddha told him to sit and meditate, rubbing a clean white cloth while repeating the words “Rajoharanam, rajoharanam,” meaning “getting dirty, getting dirty.”

At first, he wondered why the Buddha would call a pure white cloth “dirty.” But out of respect for the Buddha, he sat and repeated the words as instructed. He had gone to see the Buddha early in the morning. As the day went on and the sun grew stronger, sweat from his palms slowly stained the clean white cloth, just as the words he repeated did. In that moment, he saw that nothing lasts. He came to understand the Dhamma and finally became enlightened, all because of the words “getting dirty” (rajoharanam).

Another monk was walking past a rice field when he heard a village boy happily singing while herding his water buffalo. The monk stopped to listen and let his mind focus completely on the sound of the boy’s voice. The song was about how love doesn’t last and changes because people’s hearts change, just as nothing in the world is certain or permanent. The monk reflected on this and truly saw that nothing lasts, just as the song said. Right then, he became enlightened.

This example shows that anything can be an object of meditation. A meditation word or object is just a tool that gives the mind something to hold on to. It carries the mind beyond the physical level and into the mental level. Once the mind crosses over, the meditation word drops away. You leave the word behind, and only the state of mind remains.

The meditation methods most people know and are taught today are the “Buddho” method, the “rising, falling” method, the “Samma Araham” method, and Anapanasati (focusing on the breath). You can choose any of these based on your personality and what you naturally like. These are the main principles that set the basic framework, but when it comes to actually practicing in real life, there are some finer details worth understanding.

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