How To Meditate (Advice to Rahula)

Selected verses from The Buddha's advice to his son, Rahula. (MN:62) Mahārāhulovādasutta. How to meditate like earth, water, fire, wind, and space. Plus other profound instructions...

https://suttacentral.net/mn62/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain

Meditate like the earth. For when you meditate like the earth, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind. Suppose they were to toss both clean and unclean things on the earth, like feces, urine, spit, pus, and blood. The earth isn’t horrified, repelled, and disgusted because of this. In the same way, meditate like the earth. For when you meditate like the earth, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind.

Meditate like water. For when you meditate like water, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind. Suppose they were to wash both clean and unclean things in the water, like feces, urine, spit, pus, and blood. The water isn’t horrified, repelled, and disgusted because of this. In the same way, meditate like water. For when you meditate like water, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind.

Meditate like fire. For when you meditate like fire, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind. Suppose a fire were to burn both clean and unclean things, like feces, urine, spit, pus, and blood. The fire isn’t horrified, repelled, and disgusted because of this. In the same way, meditate like fire. In the same way, meditate like fire. For when you meditate like fire, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind. 

Meditate like the wind. For when you meditate like wind, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind. Suppose the wind were to blow on both clean and unclean things, like feces, urine, spit, pus, and blood. The wind isn’t horrified, repelled, and disgusted because of this. In the same way, meditate like the wind. For when you meditate like wind, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind.

Meditate like space. For when you meditate like space, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind. Just as space is not established anywhere, in the same way, meditate like space. For when you meditate like space, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind.

When you practice loving-kindness meditation, hostility will be abandoned. 

When you practice compassion meditation, cruelty will be abandoned. 

When you practice rejoicing meditation, discontent will be abandoned. 

When you practice equanimity meditation, aversion will be abandoned. 

When you practice non-beauty meditation, lust will be abandoned. 

When you practice impermanence meditation, the conceit of self-existence will be abandoned."