Buddha said; “True meditation starts the minute we get up from meditation.”
From this we realise that meditation is not simply about sitting thoughtlessly but about being in the moment every second of the day. It is a mind constantly focused inward, without confusion, resting in virtue. In other words it is mindfulness of our every intention, thought and action, even when we are sleeping.
I believe that we are attached to outer objects - things, people, our conditioning etc, our inner mind is perturbed. When we are free from attachment the mind will be at peace. Our essence of mind (heart) is intrinsically pure, and the reason why we are perturbed is because we allow ourselves to be carried away by the circumstances we are in. I feel that if we are able to keep our mind unperturbed, irrespective of circumstance we are practising true meditation.
The question becomes how to retain detachment. We must remain mindful of ourselves yet interact with external life without losing mindfulness. It is one thing to say it and realize its value intellectually but another thing to do it in practice.
One could say that meditation is a condition of no-mind, and you’re right; it isn’t found sitting on a pillow, but in every moment. If we focus on ‘practice’ then we have an attachment to ‘practice’. Stillness of mind is the most difficult simple thing I have ever attempted. I’d like to say that I’m always successful in doing so, but you’d know I was lying…errrr, fooling myself.
Oddly, I find meditation only when I’m not thinking about it. Like all of that which is way, It is ‘just so’.
Unfortunately for me when I’m not thinking about it I’m thinking about other things. For me it is focussed attention - it doesn’t come easily. It’s not that I’m thinking about meditation - it’s more that I’m carefully considering the moment at hand. I’m awake, alive, centred and alert. It is a prayerfulness, it is rooted in faith, and sincerity - it is mindfulness (not mindlessness) - mindfulness means to be aware of everything that is happening internally and because we are aware of what is happening internally, we become aware of what is happening externally. This is an open secret. Meditation is not having an empty mind, it is using our heart to direct our mind. That is meditation.
Nick,
The way we think about it is very important. If we are trying to retain detachment, is that not yet another attachment? We must turn our minds. I like that way of putting it very much. To turn our minds is to shift our perception. How we interact with the external enviroment is important. I would say the first step is introspection. If we are able to introspect and observe ourselves then we are able to witness the difference between our conscience and our mind or our opinions or our conditioning. The conscience is the key - it is like the voice of our heart - all we have to do is begin to hear it, and then to follow it. This is meditation. To know what our heart is saying at any given moment and to act according to it.
two things about two completely different subjects.
First one I was in a busy city of and was standing in the road when a trolley went flying by at about 200 MPH. Somehow I jumped on the trolley, and got to the center of the city (which is where it went) and at the center of the city was a dark room where my ego resided. (from the dream I remember thinking this.)
I asked my ego where I should look for god, and it told me “don’t ask me ask god”.
The second one, I went back to high school. What was meditative about this? unlike my previous high school dreams I felt like my time had purpose. And upon waking up my first thought was, with my new mindset if I went back to do something from the past would the results be different?
Maybe we can go back and do it again through dreams? does dream experience = real experience, if you learn something from them?
DR,
In a world filled with strife, there are many who have found inner peace through meditation. To find a quiet retreat one need only oneself, for one can meditate in the din of the crowd. Even tossed about on a tumultuous sea, one can find peace in being at once one with nature and its forces.
There are some who can find peace no matter the circumstance. I’ve had moments like that, where outside of me is tumultous chaos, yet I feel strangely at ease.
Beautiful. That you would never find God by using your mind/ego. You have to use your heart, using your heart you begin to understand who and what God is. This misconception that it is something outside of us is starting to fade for you. Also from the dream I can see that your questioning is sincere.
The second dream I would say that it’s not about going back into the past and doing things differently it’s about recognising that if you had done things differently there would be a different outcome. That the past is significant in that our current circumstances are the effect of our past. You are having insight to the workings of the laws of cause and effect. What you sow, so shall you reap. You are lucky, you have an opportunity to observe your mind in action, your ego and know that if you act our of your ego, the outcome will be a certain way, but if you act out of your heart the outcome will be totally different. A most profound set of dreams.
I’d like to think so, but then that would only boost my ego.
interesting interpretation. Certainly our past affects where we are in the present, but what we do today will affect where we are tomorrow. I try to practice that philosophy in life, but sometimes the mire of the past won’t let you concentrate on the present. I’m not usually one for what if’s. But occasionaly I get a determinist streak like “if I hadn’t done thing A, thing B would never have happened, which would make thing C an impossibility.”
But I think the past is determined and the future is determined only to the extent of what we’ve already done. We can always change what our response to a situation will be right?