March 13 - 14

Why Meditation? (Part 2) - March 13

Meditation as many of us recognize it today first developed in Buddhist India and Taoist China in the 5^th to 6^th century BCE. It was a central tenet of many Asian cultures and greatly influenced spirituality and religion, chiefly among them Buddhism. Meditation’s simplicity and easy accessibility helped it proliferate across Asia, and many adherents customized the practice to align with their personal beliefs. As a result, meditation expanded and evolved into many forms, with some of the most followed branches today being Zen and Vipassana.

Different forms of meditation espouse many of the same techniques, such as mindfulness of breath and freeing of thoughts. And despite subtle nuances, most forms of meditation aim to help the student gain an enlightened and heightened awareness of his surroundings.

Meditation is key to Buddhism because it is a practice that helps end suffering. Buddhism teaches that feelings such as pleasure and pain are fleeting vibrations that are constantly changing every moment. Chasing pleasant feelings and avoiding painful ones is a futile action because even if you succeed, the feeling goes away and you must begin all over. Because of this, the root of suffering is not pain, nor suffering, nor even meaninglessness, it is the never-ending and pointless pursuit of ephemeral feelings, which causes us to never feel satisfied. Even when our mind experiences pleasure, it is not content because it fears that this feeling might soon disappear, and craves that it should stay or intensify.

People are liberated from suffering when we understand the impermeable nature of all feelings, and no longer crave them.

In meditation, you observe your body and mind, witness the ceaseless arising and passing of your feelings, and realize how pointless it is to pursue them. When the pursuit stops, your mind becomes relaxed, clear, and satisfied. You live in the present instead of fantasizing what might have been.

An apt and powerful metaphor for the experience is to imagine a man on a beach attempting to catch the good waves and push back the bad waves. Compare that to a man who simply accepts that there will be good waves and bad waves, who sits down and allows the waves to come and go as they please.

Meditation (sum-up) - March 14

It is easy for us to be distracted by our thoughts and feelings. By not exercising any control over our mind, we can easily fixate on negative and unproductive thoughts. However, it does not need to be this way. Just as you can exercise your body to keep it healthy and productive, you can train your mind to keep it energetic and focused.

Through meditation, you learn to dissociate from unhelpful thoughts. Chiefly among these are cravings: the desire for pleasant feelings. The chase for pleasant feelings is a trap because it is meaningless for us to constantly seek fleeting sensations. When we obtain them, the feeling is brief and quickly dissipates, which leads us to start all over again. We cannot even fully appreciate pleasant feelings, because we desire that they continue or intensify, and fear that they may go away. When we are ceaselessly chasing for something we cannot truly have, we can never be permanently satisfied.

In Buddhism, suffering is not caused by discomfort, loss, or even meaninglessness. Suffering arises only when we desire something we do not have. Our craving for pleasant feelings is the most basic form of desire, and thus is the root of our unhappiness.

Meditation helps us overcome craving by forcing us to witness the impermeability of our thoughts and our body sensations. As we observe our feelings come and go, we understand that the craving for pleasant feelings is an ephemeral sensation like everything else, and that we can simply choose to acknowledge it exists without acting on it. Meditation enables us to realize that much of what we think and feel are impulses – we can make note of them and move on.

My favourite metaphor for this realization goes like this. Imagine a man on a beach who is constantly trying to catch the good waves and avoid the bad waves. Compare him with someone who sits by the water and lets all waves wash over him. We know that the waves will come and go as they please – how we react to them is up to us to decide.

What is Meditation (sum-up) - Bonus

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 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 lead to a new understanding of life.

Over the millennia countless meditation practices have been developed in the Buddhist tradition. All are 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.