Meditation Advice to Beth Aug. 11th ‘05
Byron wrote: “Seek out – less often sought than found –
A soldier’s grave …”
Set me thinking that maybe the secret is not to seek so much, rather
to say or think “I’ve found something”, then concentrate on that.
Can’t think of anything worse as one takes the last breath to think – assuming one can think! I wish I’d found more rather than kept looking.
I sent you something I wrote on meditation before, I think. So won’t repeat.
I’ll never forget some things my mum said, simplistic and too dismissive to me many years ago, but now imbued with wisdom. Here’s one:
“Oh, all that meditation and stuff is fine, but what it all comes down to is
the ability to be with yourself alone and enjoy being with people
when you have to.” Something like that. I’m sure you get the drift.
Anyway, we are here for a very short time (I think my mum said that, too), and it’s important to make the most of it (She definitely said that!). But I often wonder if making the most isn’t to do with doing less.
We know the art of being lies in doing nothing, certainly meditating is like that. It’s a pity we have to do so much to do nothing!
Regular meditation returns us to a calm place. Each meditation produces more peace. A lot of meditating gives you solidity and some surprises. It makes life less bouncy but more interesting.
I looked for a piece I like on meditation, but maybe the book’s not here.
I found something in an anthology of modern spirituality. It was “Ego and Spiritual Materialism” by Chogyam Trungpa. I summarise:
In Tibetan Buddhism there are the three Lords of Materialism used to describe the functioning of the ego: Form, Speech and Mind.
1. Pursuit of comfort.
2. The use of concepts to screen us from direct perception.
3. The effort of consciousness to be aware of itself, using spiritual
disciplines to hold on to our sense of self.
So ego converts everything to its own use, even spirituality.
The Three Lords seduce us by creating a myth, that we are solid beings.
We have to see how this works. How? The Buddha used meditation. He struggled only to find answers didn’t work.
“The practice of meditation involves letting be, trying to go with the pattern, trying to go with the energy. In this way we learn how to deal with these, how to relate to others with them, not in the sense of causing them to mature in the way we would like, but in the sense of knowing them for what they are and working with their pattern.”
The Buddha said,
“In your meditation practice do not impose anything too forcefully on your mind, but also don’t let it wander.’
That’s the teaching of letting the mind be in a very open way, of feeling the flow of energy without trying to subdue it and without letting it get out of control, or going with the energy pattern of the mind. This is meditation practice.”
Blessings be upon you, searcher disciple Bee!
(If you’d care to read some more meditative stuff, look for an extract from a Doc. Dialogue in this book, the title “The Answer to all my Problems?”)