Accurately Predict Your Future using a 10-Minute Buddhist Meditation Technique
Regular readers of our blog will know that we advocate a very down-to-earth approach to Buddhist practice and are not great supporters of any spiritual approach promising quick-win results or mystical experiences. It may therefore come as a surprise that in today’s post we provide instructions on a 10-minute Buddhist meditation technique that, if correctly practiced, we guarantee will enable a person to predict certain events in their future with 100% accuracy.
However, a word of caution before you read on. Before practicing the 10-minute meditation technique that we outline below, readers should know that for individuals in the past who have taken this practise to heart, it has completely changed their entire outlook on life. In fact, based on the accounts of previous practitioners of this meditation approach, there is a very strong possibility that if you practice it regularly not only will you be able predict with clarity the ultimate outcome of certain events and situations pertaining to both yours and others’ lives, but it will instil in you a firm desire to awaken spiritually and to regard the cultivation of lasting happiness as more important than all other aspects of your life. Therefore, if you are somebody that does not want to know the truth about your future and/or who is completely satisfied and fulfilled by your life as it is, then we suggest you do not attempt to practice the technique we describe. However, if you are somebody who thinks that it might be time for a change in how you live your life and who would like to know what fate the future holds, then feel free to read on.
The Buddhist meditation technique to which we are referring is divided into 2 separate phases – each of 5 minutes duration. The first phase simply involves collecting and calming the mind in order to prepare it for the second phase (which is where the procedure for predicting the future is carried out). Although phase 1 is effectively ‘inactive’ from the point of view of being able to see the future, it is important to know that the meditation undertaken in phase 2 simply won’t work if phase 1 is not completed properly.
All that is required for phase 1 is to rest one’s awareness on the natural flow of the in-breath and out-breath. We use the words ‘rest one’s awareness’ quite deliberately because it is important to differentiate between (i) meditation that engages a one-pointed focus on its object (which in this case is the breath), and (ii) meditation that uses the meditative object more as an anchor or reference point for the mind. The type of meditation that we are referring to and the type of meditation that is required during phase 1 is the second of the abovementioned meditative formats (i.e., where the breath is used as a meditative anchor). What this means in practice is that although the breath should be the main object of concentration, one’s attentional focus should not be so narrow that it prevents other sensory and psychological experiences from entering into the attentional sphere. In other words, one uses the breath to steady the mind in the present moment, not to shut-out the present moment.
Having followed the natural flow of the in-breath and out-breath for about five minutes, the mind should have begun to establish at least a small degree of meditative calm and spiritual presence. This should be adequate preparation for commencing phase 2 of the meditation. In phase 2, the objective is to keep observing the breath as in phase 1, but to now begin contemplating and tuning-in to a particular truth or law of existence. The truth or law of existence that we are referring to is that of impermanence. As we discussed in our post on ‘Exactly what is the Present Moment’, everything that exists is in a constant state of flux. Without exception, phenomena are born, they live, and they die. Nothing – absolutely nothing – endures indefinitely. Due to the fact that all things ultimately cease to be, animate and inanimate phenomena are flowing in a stream of continuous transience and this stream culminates in their complete dissolution.
Rather than engage in excessive mental activity, what we should be aiming to do during phase 2 of the meditation is to simply relax into and observe impermanence. In other words, impermanence is a truth – it is all around us. Therefore, if we sit in meditation and contemplate or mentally envisage what is implied by the term impermanence, then we are already separating ourselves from the impermanence that is happening all around (and within) us. We don’t need to think about impermanence, we just need to tune into it. We do this by observing it, breathing it, and becoming it.
When we perform phase 2 of the meditation correctly and begin to abide in unison with impermanence – this is the stage where we begin to see with absolute clarity the future that lies ahead of us. By meditatively resting our awareness on the truth of impermanence, we will see clearly that in the future it is inevitable that we will meet with our death. At the point of experiencing this profound insight, if we are intelligent, we will put off whatever task or event was next on our ‘to do list’ in order to reflect upon its implications. What we should have observed during phase 2 of the meditation is something that we already knew but probably chose to ignore – at some uncertain point it is certain that we are going to die. Allowing this knowledge to penetrate and infuse our being should cast every single thing we do in life in a totally different light. Everything we are sweating blood for – career, wealth, status, good looks, possessions – will amount to absolutely nothing. These things simply cannot endure. No matter how hard we try or how determined we are, none of our efforts to get ahead can actually bear any long-term fruit. As we discussed in our post on ‘Life: A Near Death Experience’, these endeavours are, in effect, completely meaningless.
After reading the introduction to this post, perhaps some readers were hoping the 10-minute meditation we described would help them to predict things such as whether they will be rich, who they will marry, or what position they will rise to in their career. However, in our opinion, the ability to predict such trivialities pales in significance to the value of the spiritual vision that arises from seeing and accepting the truth of impermanence. The reason for this is because, by taking to heart the message of impermanence and the looming nature of our death, there is a chance that we will not completely squander this life and dedicate ourselves to evolving spiritually.
Ven Edo Shonin and Ven William Van Gordon
Dr Edo Shonin 