Training requires dedication and a fierce drive to overcome barriers to meditation practice

Training 1.

WordsUpon the oxen of a mind free from doubt I put the yoke and plow of skillful means and wisdom. Steadfastly I hold the reins without distraction. Cracking the whip of effort, I break up the clods of the five poisons. I cast away the stones of a defiled heart, and weed out all hypocrisy. I cut the stalks and reap the fruit of action leading to liberation....

Realization does not arise out of words. Understanding does not come from mere suggestions. I urge all those who work for Enlightenment to meditate with perseverance and effort. Endurance and effort overcome the greatest of difficulties. May there be no obstacles for those who seek enlightenment.

The Life of Milarepa, trans. by Lobsang P.

Training 2.

We need to understand the concept of practice and what makes it spiritual. Practice is an activity that is regularly performed and is an open-ended process, never reaching a point of perfection. We can develop skills or even mastery with practice, but there always remains a quality of something new to learn. If approached with a dull mind, even the most exotic practice becomes a rote expression.

A person could spend a lifetime in practice this way and accomplish no more than a perfunctory exterior form without any spiritual substance. Unfortunately, many people find themselves following a traditional practice for the wrong reasons. They make all the right moves, but there is no heart in it.

We should approach the most mundane practice with a bright, open beginner's mind and regularly discover new insights, whether brushing our teeth, washing the dishes, or making the bed.

David A. Cooper, Silence, Simplicity and Solitude

Training 3.

The life history of a butterfly is similar to our practice. We have some misconceptions about both, however. We may imagine, for example, that because butterflies are pretty, their life in the cocoon before they emerge is also pretty. We don't realize all that the worm must go through in order to become a butterfly.

Similarly, when we begin to practice, we don't realize the long and difficult transformation required of us. We have to see through our pursuit of outward things, the false gods of pleasure and security.

We have to stop gobbling this and pursuing that in our shortsighted way, and simply relax into the cocoon, into the darkness of the pain that is our life. Such practice requires years of our lives. Unlike the butterfly, we don't emerge once and for all.

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special: Living Zen

Training 4.

Practice is twofold. The first part is training; the second is the act itself. And these are not two things; when you train, the act itself is happening; when you are the act itself, your training is deepened. Practice is to work "as if." The lawyer practices as if she or he were an attorney. The doctor practices as if she or he were a physician.

Being and learning are one and the same. It is just as though you were trying to play the piano with Mozart's hands. At first such action "as if" is awkward, but with practice your music becomes your own best creation. In the same way, our zazen becomes your own best inspiration, and your interaction with others expresses the love which has been in your heart from the very beginning.

Robert Aitken, Encouraging

Training 5.

There is only one teacher. What is that teacher? Life itself. And of course each one of us is a manifestation of life; we couldn't be anything else. Now life happens to be both a severe and an endlessly kind teacher. It's the only authority that you need to trust. And this teacher, this authority, is everywhere.

You don't have to go to some special place to find this incomparable teacher, you don't have to have some especially quiet or ideal situation: in fact, the messier it is, the better. The average office is a great place. The average home is perfect. Such places are pretty messy most of the time--we all know from firsthand experience! That is where the authority, the teacher is.

Charlotte Joko Beck, in Everyday Zen

Training 6.

In India, I was living in a little hut, about six feet by seven feet. It had a canvas flap instead of a door. I was sitting on my bed meditating, and a cat wandered in and plopped down on my lap. I took the cat and tossed it out the door. Ten seconds later it was back on my lap. We got into a sort of dance, this cat and I. I would toss it out, and it would come back. I tossed it out because I was trying to meditate, to get enlightened. But the cat kept returning.

I was getting more and more irritated, more and more annoyed with the persistence of the cat. Finally, after about a half-hour of this coming in and tossing out, I had to surrender. There was nothing else to do.

There was no way to block off the door. I sat there, the cat came back in, and it got on my lap. But I did not do anything. I just let go. Thirty seconds later the cat got up and walked out. So you see, our teachers come in many forms.

Joseph Goldstein in Transforming the Mind, Healing the World from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

Training 7.

The five spiritual faculties--faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom--are our greatest friends and allies on this journey of understanding. These qualities are most powerful when they are in balance. Faith needs to be balanced with wisdom, so that faith is not blind and wisdom is not shallow or hypocritical.

When wisdom outstrips faith, we can develop a pattern where we know something, and even know it deeply from our experience, yet do not live it. Faith brings the quality of commitment to our understanding. Energy needs to be balanced with concentration; effort will bring lucidity, clarity, and energy to the mind, which concentration balances with calmness and depth.

An unbalanced effort makes us restless and scattered, and too much concentration that is not energized comes close to torpor and sleep. Mindfulness is the factor that balances all these and is therefore always beneficial.

Joseph Goldstein, in Seeking the Heart of Wisdom

Training 8.

Like a man floating in water who dies of thirst, afraid of drowning: so are those who are learned who do not apply the teaching. Like a person skilled in medicine who can't cure his own disease: so are those who are learned who do not apply the teaching. Like a deaf musician who pleases others, not hearing himself: So are those who are learned who do not apply the teaching. Like someone on a corner saying all kinds of fine things, while having no real inner virtue: so are those who don’t practice.

The Flower Ornament Scripture, trans. by Thomas Cleary