WHAT IS MEDITATION?
"It is extremely hard to rest undistracted in the nature of
mind, even for a moment,
let alone to self-liberate a single thought or emotion as it rises.
We often assume that simply because we understand something intellectually,
- or think we do -
we have actually realised it.
This is a great delusion.
It requires the maturity that only years of listening, contemplation,
meditation, and sustained practice can ripen."
Some words directed at Westerners from Sogyal Rinpoche's book The
Tibetan Book of Living and Dying:
"We are so addicted to looking outside ourselves that
we have lost access to our inner being almost completely. We
are terrified to look inward, because our culture has given
us no idea of what we will find. We may even think that if we
do, we will be in danger of madness. This is one of the last
and most resourceful ploys of ego to prevent us from discovering
our real nature.
So we make our lives so hectic that we eliminate the slightest
risk of looking into ourselves. Even the idea of meditation
can scare people. When they hear the words egoless or emptiness,
they think that experiencing those states will be like being
thrown out the door of a spaceship to float forever in a dark,
chilling void. Nothing could be further from the truth. But
in a world dedicated to distraction, silence and stillness terrify
us; we protect ourselves from them with noise and frantic busyness.
Looking into the nature of our mind is the last thing we would
dare to do."
Please realise that these pages just deal with
Buddhist meditation, some techniques are found exclusively in Tibetan
Buddhism. The Tibetan word for meditation, "gom" can be translated
as familiarising, habituating. In short, it means to familiarise
with a positive state of mind, which actually refers to training
the mind. Meditation is not just relaxing, rather it is trying to
develop a highly concentrated and clear state of mind which one
can use for clear analysis, and which can be blissful to be in.
This blissful state is called "Shamatha" in Sanskrit (see below).
Once we have reached this very advanced concentrated state of mind,
we can learn what we want very quickly, including transforming our
mind and developing deep wisdom and insight. Not only our conscious
thoughts can be brought under control, also our emotions and 'unconsciousness',
as they are all based on concepts which can be changed.
WORKING WITH THE MIND
In Buddhist meditation, we try to develop wisdom,
learn to observe our own mind, decrease negative mind states and
develop positive mind states. To develop wisdom and insight, we
need a calm, clear and concentrated mind. To observe our own mind,
we need to develop a kind of inner "spy" - a part of our attention
that checks our state of mind. To decrease negative mind states
we need to understand where they come from and transform them into
positive energy with the wisdom developed from observing our own
mind. To develop positive mind states, we need to focus away from
selfishness and again develop wisdom by observing our own mind.
As you may realise from the above, we should actually become our
own psychologist, or like the title of a booklet by Lama Yeshe:
"Becoming Your Own Therapist".
In order to find the right state of mind for meditation,
we need concentration instead of being scattered, and clarity of
mind instead of dullness. We need to observe our own thoughts and
mind states instead of getting lost in emotions or becoming prejudiced.
We need to be honest towards ourselves instead of fooling ourselves
and walk away from unpleasant problems. Furthermore, we need to
be patient (one does not become a meditation master over night),
generate self-acceptance, confidence and enthusiasm to make the
All these factors need to be in balance: we need to be somewhat
relaxed as well as concentrated, we need to avoid both sleepiness
A quote from the late Lama Yeshe:
"Many meditators emphasise too much on concentration:
if you are squeezing, then there is no control of anger if someone
disturbs you. The beauty of real meditation is, that