The Buddhist Society of Western Australia hosts a forum that’s bursting with discussion threads related to Buddhist practice, study, and life. In the “meditation discussion” area is posted Ajahn Brahmavamso’s “Basic Method of Meditation,” which is his personal instruction in the Theravada tradition’s five stages of meditation.

Says Ajahn “Brahm” (who is spiritual director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia and abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery), the essence of all meditation is letting go of material and mental burdens. We can’t allow the past to reverberate in our present mind.

“I describe this as developing your mind like a padded cell. When any experience, perception or thought hits the wall of the ‘padded cell’, it does not bounce back again. It just sinks into the padding and stops right there. Thus we do not allow the past to echo in our consciousness, certainly not the past of yesterday and all that time before, because we are developing the mind inclined to letting go, giving away and unburdening.”