Hi Raj,
In addition to what Lal have shared with you.
“What does Buddho mean”
Sometimes we can try to investigate into the answers ourselves first. In my opinion, one of the most important qualities that one should develop while walking on the path is to be able to investigate and discern for oneself what is most beneficial or closes to the truth based on what we know / understand. One day we might not always have someone to answer our questions; as well we can’t and don’t want to always depend on others for our answers. We can listen to what other’s share or teach and seek help when we’re stuck or want to get another opinion / view. But ultimately, it’s through our own effort and investigation that leads to us to Nibbana.
I’m not sure if you have looked more into what Buddho can possibly mean besides the dhamma talks that you listened to.
Someone shared their experience with Buddho meditation.
“I’ve been doing Buddho meditation for several months now. I wasn’t sure what I was doing was correct, just mentally saying bud on the inhale, dho on the exhale. I must have read it somewhere and decided to try it. I’ve never said it out loud as I didn’t want to activate my ear “door”.
So one night during vipassana meditation class, Ajahn asked me how my meditation was going. I replied that on that particular night, I was frustrated because I couldn’t stay focused on my breathing, I could see the thoughts arise but would jump to them.
Luckily I was able to return to my breathing but became frustrated that I couldn’t remain on the breath like I have before. He said several things. First, I was becoming too attached to the expectation that I would always be in the best states of mind. Sometimes you have a bad night. After 30 years he said sometimes it can be struggle but he doesn’t get frustrated because he’s doesn’t have expectations. More time spent doing Vipassana will cure that–impermanence will be understood easier. Then he told us a story of a time during a nine long year retreat in a cave when he was younger. He went to visit a friend in the next cave over and found him pounding his leg furiously saying, Buddho….Buddho…Buddho. He said, that was Samatha meditation. Concentration.
I’ve spent more time doing Vipassana but I’m really trying to practice Buddho. I think its good because its easy to remember and you can approach it in a couple of ways. You can mentally repeat Bud (BOOD) on the inhale, dho (DO) on the exhale. Don’t worry about the breath. If its slow, mentally say Bud slow. If the breathing is quick, then repeat the syllables quicker. You can also vary the speed and say buddho buddho when you sense a thought approach. The thought will be like a bubble that never surfaces. Through the will of the mind, you push it down and Buddho is the tool. Don’t jump to the thought! Best of luck.”
My only comment is does this meditation purify the mind . . . One can decide for themselves.
“Kayanusati (the disgusting contents and the nature of the body)”
If I may offer what I understand about kayanusati. To me it’s not about the disgusting the body, but rather the unfruitful / in vain nature of the body. To me, thinking / taking things as disgusting is patigha. I believe the purpose of why monk’s go to the cemetery’s and practice there is to help one to reflect on that one day we’ll end up in the same place, all our worldly efforts to seek sensual pleasure will end up in vain at the break up of the body. This is to show us the unfruitful nature in our worldly endeavors.
Another teaching on kayanusati that I learned is to see and understand the suffering that’s associate with the 5 senses. For example the eyes, in order to see beautiful visions or function normal in this world, we need eyes. But the majority of people never think about how much suffering the eyes brings, we only think how we can use / own the eyes for enjoyment / pleasure. Starting in the womb, if the fetus doesn’t get enough nutrients or the mother contracts a disease, it can cause the new born baby to be blind. Living in this world, sights are important for us living beings. One mostly needs the eye to function normal in this world, but if one doesn’t have eyes to see in this world, that’s a vexation / suffering on the person.
Even if one has the eyes to see, we need to maintain and continue to provide nourishment to maintain our eyes / vision. As well protect them from getting injuried, etc . . . If the eyes get’s diseased / injuried, then that brings suffering to our minds. The eyes can’t even enjoy, but they can bring dukkha dukkha upon us. Now let’s say even if one’s eyes works perfectly well till one’s death. After one’s death, the body breaks up, the eyes goes back into the dhatu’s. All the beautiful visions one has seen in one’s life, all for nothing at the end, ends up as a pile of rubbish. Not only that, the eyes pretty much forces us to continuously seek pleasure / enjoyment since they can’t be fulfilled, it’s always been like this and will continue to be like this until we remove avija, raga, anusaya, etc . . . In seeking sensual pleasures for the eyes or the other sense organs, we end up committing dasa akusala’s which later on can send us to the apaya’s.
With Metta,