As its name implies, the ‘Mindfulness of Breathing’ uses the breath as an object of concentration. By focusing on the breath you become aware of the mind’s tendency to jump from one thing to another. The simple discipline of concentration brings us back to the present moment and all the richness of experience that it contains. It is a way to develop mindfulness, the faculty of alert and sensitive awareness. And it is an excellent method for cultivating the states of intense meditative absorption known as dhyana. As well as this, the mindfulness of breathing is a good antidote to restlessness and anxiety, and a good way to relax: concentration on the breath has a positive effect on your entire physical and mental state.

The meditation has four progressive stages leading to a highly enjoyable level of concentration. To start with five minutes per stage is a good period of practice.

1. In the first stage you use counting to stay focused on the breath. After the out-breath you count one, then you breathe in and out and count two, and so on up to ten, and then you start again at one.
   
   

2. In the second stage you subtly shift where you breathe, counting before the in-breath, anticipating the breath that is coming, but still counting from one to ten, and then starting again at one.
   
3. In the third stage you drop the counting and just watch the breath as it comes in and goes out.
   
4. In the final stage the focus of concentration narrows and sharpens, so you pay attention to the subtle sensation on the tip of the nose where the breath first enters and last leaves the body.

Listen to or download full guided introductions to the Mindfulness of Breathing.

There are many things in life that are beyond our control. However, it is possible to take responsibility for our own states of mind – and to change them for the better. According to Buddhism this is the most important thing we can do, and Buddhism teaches that it is the only real antidote to our own personal sorrows, and to the anxieties, fears, hatreds, and general confusions that beset the human condition.

Meditation is a means of transforming the mind. Buddhist meditation practices are techniques that encourage and develop concentration, clarity, emotional positivity, and a calm seeing of the true nature of things. By engaging with a particular meditation practice you learn the patterns and habits of your mind, and the practice offers a means to cultivate new, more positive ways of being. With regular work and patience these nourishing, focused states of mind can deepen into profoundly peaceful and energised states of mind. Such experiences can have a transformative effect and can lead to a new understanding of life.

Over the millennia countless meditation practices have been developed in the Buddhist tradition. All of them may be

described as ‘mind-trainings’, but they take many different approaches. The foundation of all of them, however, is the cultivation of a calm and positive state of mind.

Learning meditation

Each year thousands of people learn meditation with the Triratna Buddhist Community. We teach two basic meditations that were originally taught by the historical Buddha. These help develop the qualities of calmness and emotional postivity: the Mindfulness of Breathing and Loving-Kindness (Metta Bhavana) meditations .

The techniques of meditation are very simple. However, reading about them is no substitute for learning from an experienced and reliable teacher. A teacher will be able to offer you guidance in how to apply the technique and how to deal with difficulties. Perhaps most importantly, a teacher can offer the encouragement and inspiration of their own example.

At Triratna Centres, meditation is taught by members of the Triratna Buddhist Order, who are experienced meditators. Classes and courses are open to everyone: you need not be interested in Buddhism. Motives for learning meditation vary. Some people want to improve their concentration for work, study, or even sports; others are looking for relief from stress and peace of mind. Then there are people trying to answer fundamental questions about life. With regular practice, meditation can help all of us to find what we are looking for.

Meditation Courses are excellent contexts for learning. Meditation Retreats offer ideal conditions to take things further.

Preparation

When you sit down to meditate you need to set up your meditation posture in a way that is relaxed but upright, usually sitting on a cushion and probably cross-legged. If this is not easy you can sit kneeling or else in a chair. Then you close your eyes, relax, and tune in to how you are feeling. It is important to be sensitive to your experience

because this is what you work with in meditation. It is a good idea to take some time to sit quietly before starting a meditation, to slow down and relax. Some gentle stretching can also help.

Resources

There are lots of resources available to help you learn meditation – or to take your practice deeper. And in our Online Meditators Group you can now sit with others too, wherever you are in the world!

Read an excellent meditation posture guide by Bodhipaksa, from Wildmind.

You can find answers to some common questions about Buddhist meditation with Clear Vision video.

For a comprehensive set of free audio and text resources on learning meditation, see free buddhist audio’s meditation pages.

The Buddha advised his followers that if they were to thrive they should ‘meet together regularly and in large numbers.’ So festivals are central to the life of the Triratna Buddhist community. They provide an opportunity for celebration and the expression of devotion and gratitude to the Buddha and his teachings. 

The principal Triratna Buddhist festivals celebrate ‘the Three Jewels’: the Buddha, the Dharma (the Buddhist Teaching), and the Sangha (the spiritual community). Get dates for Buddhist Festivals till 2025.

Buddha Day: the celebration of the Buddha’s Enlightenment (the full moon of May/June)
The Buddha’s Enlightenment is the central event in Buddhism and we mark this event on Buddha Day (sometimes called Wesak), the most important festival in our calendar. Many of the Buddha’s disciples also attained Enlightenment, and in the centuries that have followed there have been many other Enlightened masters. They too are recalled at Buddha Day with readings of accounts of their lives or from works they wrote themselves. But Enlightenment is also an ideal to which all Buddhists aspire. So Buddha Day is a chance to reflect on what it might

mean for individual Buddhists.

Watch Buddha Day celebrations.

Listen to talks from Buddha Day celebrations, and on the general theme of Enlightenment.

Read Who Is The Buddha? by Sangharakshita.

Dharma Day: the celebration of the Buddha’s teaching (the full moon of July)
Soon after his Enlightenment the Buddha rose from where he had been sitting, went to find his former disciples and shared his experience with them. This event, which happened at a place called Sarnath in northern India, might be called the start of the Buddhist religion and it is this that Dharma Day celebrates. On Dharma Day there are often readings from the Buddhist scriptures and a chance to reflect deeply on their contents. Above all, on Dharma Day Buddhists feel profoundly grateful that the Buddha and other Enlightened masters did share their teachings with other people.

Watch a Dharma Day festival.

Listen to evocations of Dharma Day.

Read What Is The Dharma? by Sangharakshita.

Sangha Day: the celebration of spiritual community (the full moon of November)
All of us need other people to learn from. If we are to practise the Dharma we need the example and teaching of others who have done so before us, especially those who have gained insight into the nature of reality themselves. It’s a joyous thing to mark the fact that we don’t have to go it alone – to rejoice in our friends and those who inspire us every day. So on Sangha Day we celebrate both the ideal of creating a spiritual community, and also the actual spiritual community which we are trying to build. 

Watch the Sangha Day Online Festival of Light  |  Read What Is The Sangha? by Sangharakshita  |  Listen to talks on Sangha.

Parinirvana Day: the death of the Buddha (in Triratna, the 15th of February))

The Buddha’s death came when he was eighty years old after spending some forty years teaching following his Enlightenment. The notion that all things are impermanent is central to Buddhist teaching and, for Buddhists, loss and impermanence are things to be accepted rather than just being causes of pain and grief. The Maha-parinibbana Sutta gives a moving and dignified account of the Buddha’s last days and passages from it are often read on Parinirvana Day.

The day is used as an opportunity to reflect on the fact of one’s own future death and on people whom one has known who have recently died. Meditations are done for the recently deceased to give them help and support wherever they might be now.

Listen to talks on Parinirvana, and on the theme of death and dying.

What are Buddhist ethics about?
To live is to act, and our actions can have either harmful or beneficial consequences for oneself and others. Buddhist ethics is concerned with the principles and practices that help one to act in ways that help rather than harm. The core ethical code of Buddhism is known as the five precepts, and these are the distillation of its ethical principles. The precepts are not rules or commandments, but ‘principles of training’, which are undertaken freely and need to be put into practice with intelligence and sensitivity.

The Buddhist tradition acknowledges that life is complex and throws up many difficulties, and it does not suggest that there is a single course of action that will be right in all circumstances. Indeed, rather than speaking of actions being right or wrong, Buddhism speaks of the being skilful (kusala) or unskilful (akusala). In Triratna, our faith in the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha finds everyday practical expression in our aspiration to live by ethical precepts, to the best of our ability.

The Five Precepts
1. Not killing or causing harm to other living beings. This is the fundamental ethical principle for Buddhism, and all the other precepts are elaborations of this. The precept implies acting non-violently wherever possible, and many Buddhists are vegetarian for this reason. The positive counterpart of this precept is love.

2. Not taking the not-given. Stealing is an obvious way  in which one can harm others. One can also take advantage of people, exploit them, or manipulate them. All these can be seen as ways of taking the not given. The positive counterpart of this precept is generosity.

3. Avoiding sexual misconduct. Over the centuries different Buddhist schools have interpreted this precept in many ways, but essentially it means not causing harm to oneself or others in the area of sexual activity. It includes avoiding breaking commitments in the area of sexual relations, and avoiding encouraging others to do the same. The positive counterpart of this precept is contentment.

4. Avoiding false speech. Speech is the crucial element in our relations with others, and yet language is a slippery medium, and we often deceive ourselves or others without even realising that this is what we are doing. Truthfulness, the positive counterpart of this precept, is therefore essential in an ethical life. But truthfulness is not enough, and in another list of precepts (the ten precepts or the ten kusala dharmas) no fewer than four speech precepts are mentioned, the others enjoining that our speech should be kindly, helpful, and harmonious.

5. Abstaining from drink and drugs that cloud the mind. The positive counterpart of this precept is mindfulness, or awareness. Mindfulness is a fundamental quality to be developed the Buddha’s path, and experience shows that taking intoxicating drink or drugs tends to run directly counter to this.

At ordination, members of the Triratna Buddhist Order undertake to practise a further six precepts, making ten in total:

The Ten Precepts (1- 4 as above, then also abstaining from:)

5. Harsh speech. The positive counterpart is in developing kindly speech.

6. Frivolous speech. The positive counterpart is in developing meaningful speech.

7. Slanderous speech.The positive counterpart is in developing harmonious speech.

8. Covetousness.The positive counterpart is in developing tranquility.

9. Hatred. The positive counterpart is in developing compassion.

10. False views.The positive counterpart is in developing wisdom.

The first precept in both sets of precepts expresses the overarching Buddhist ethical value - ahimsa, or non-harming - to abstain from causing harm and to cultivate loving kindness. We aspire to express these values generally in our everyday lives, particularly in teaching Buddhism and meditation to all who wish to hear about them, whether Buddhist or not.

For a deeper exploration of the basis and practice of Buddhist ethics, read or listen to Sangharakshita’s classic paper The Ten Pillars Of Buddhism.

Explore more perspectives on Buddhist ethics.

Read Sangharakshita’s Living Ethically: Advice from Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland.

Read Not About Being Good: A Practical Guide to Buddhist Ethics by Subhadramati.

Now, Kalamas, do not be led by reports, or tradition, or hearsay. Be not led by the authority of religious texts, nor by mere logic or inference, nor by considering appearances, nor by the delight in speculative opinions, nor by seeming possibilities, nor by the idea: “This is our Teacher”. But, O Kalamas, when you know for yourselves that certain things are unwholesome and wrong and bad, then give them up… and when you know that certain things are wholesome and good, and that the wise believe them to be so, then accept them and follow them. 

The Buddha (Anguttara Nikaya)

The Buddhist path needs to be reflected upon and understood if one is to practise it, so study of the Buddha’s teachings, and reflection upon them are important at all levels of practice in Triratna.

For the Dharma, or the Buddha’s teachings, to take you to Enlightenment, Buddhist tradition says that you must do three things: listen, reflect, and meditate on it.

First it is important to know what Buddhism teaches. The Buddha had a radical and distinctive approach to life which underlies the meditation and other practices Buddhists engage in. These teachings are challenging and inspiring, and reveal a unique vision of human potential, but often they need interpretation and discussion if their relevance to our lives is to become clear. Talks, courses, and study groups, that are held at every Triratna centre, are opportunities to hear the Dharma in this way, and to make sense of it in terms of one’s own life. Many centres also have bookshops with books from across the Buddhist traditions.

Reflecting on the Dharma can be done individually or with others. Study groups give a chance to clarify understanding, share experience, and learn new approaches along with others, so these are an important part of how teaching happens in Triratna.

Some people in the Triratna Buddhist Community have made thorough studies of aspects of the Buddhism. Sangharakshita is a respected scholar whose works have been influential in both the East and the West. A number of

Order Members are academics, studying and teaching Buddhism in Europe and the US. The task for thinkers in our community, academics or otherwise, is not simply to know how Buddhism has been articulated in the East, but also to make links between it and western culture, and to help show how the tradition applies in the modern world. Sangharakshita emphasises the need for a critical and historical awareness of the Buddhist tradition that draws on a range of commentarial material in study, including the findings of modern scholarship, the Buddhist commentarial tradition, and even comparative literature.

Meditating on the Dharma is the third stage. Buddhism aims at an understanding of life which transforms one’s entire being. Study often takes place in the context of retreats and seminars, and there is often an opportunity to reflect on Buddhist teachings in the context of meditation.

Listen to a talk on ‘The Art of Reflection’ by Ratnaguna. You can also now buy his excellent book of the same name.