Meditation

What mindfulness meditation isn't?

• In meditation we watch the functioning of our mind in a calm and detached manner so we can gain insight into our behaviour.

• The goal is awareness, an awareness so intense, concentrated and finely tuned that we will be able to pierce the inner workings of reality itself.

• There are a number of common misconceptions about meditation. It is best to deal with these things at once, because they are the sort of preconceptions which can block our progress.

Misconception #1
Meditation is just a relaxation technique

• The problem here is the word 'just'.

• Relaxation is a key component of meditation, but Vipassana-style meditation aims at a much loftier goal. Vipassana seeks another goal-- awareness.

• Concentration and relaxation are necessary concomitants to awareness. They are required precursors, handy tools, and beneficial byproducts.

• But they are not the goal. The goal is insight. Vipassana meditation is a profound practice aimed at nothing less that the purification and transformation of our everyday life.

Misconception #2
Meditation means going into a trance

• Mindfulness meditation is not a form of hypnosis. We are not trying to black out our mind so as to become unconscious. We are not trying to turn ourselves into an emotionless vegetable. If anything, the reverse is true.

• We will become more and more attuned to our emotional changes. We will learn to know ourselves with ever- greater clarity and precision.

Misconception #3
Meditation is a mysterious practice which cannot be understood

• Meditation deals with levels of consciousness which lie deeper than symbolic thought. Therefore, some of the data about meditation just won't fit into words.

• It is not something that we can learn in abstract terms. Meditation is to be experienced.

• We can never really predict exactly what will come up in any particular session. It is an investigation and experiment and an adventure every time.

• Learning to look at each second as if it were the first and only second in the universe is most essential in Vipassana meditation.

Misconception #4
The purpose of meditation is to become a psychic superman

• No, the purpose of meditation is to develop awareness. Learning to read minds is not the point. Levitation is not the goal. The goal is liberation

Misconception #5
Meditation is dangerous and a prudent person should avoid it

• Take a shower and we could break our neck

• Meditate and we will probably dredge up various nasty-matters from our past. The suppressed material that has been buried there for quite some time can be unpleasant. It is also highly profitable.

• Vipassana is development of awareness. That in itself is not dangerous, but just the opposite. Increased awareness is the safeguard against danger.

• Properly done, meditation is a very gently and gradual process. Nothing should be forced.

Misconception #6
Meditation is for saints and holy men, not for regular people

• This attitude is very prevalent in Asia, where monks and holy men are accorded an enormous amount of ritualized reverence.

• It is true, of course, that most holy men meditate, but they don't meditate because they are holy men. They are Holy because they meditate!
  

• A sizable number of students seems to feel that a person should be completely moral before he begins meditation. It is an unworkable strategy.

• Morality requires a certain degree of mental control. We can't follow any set of moral precepts without at least a little self-control.

Misconception #7

Meditation is running away from reality

• Incorrect. Meditation is running into reality.

• It does not insulate us from the pain of life. It allows us to delve so deeply into life that we pierce the pain barrier and go beyond suffering.

• What is there is there. We are who we are, and lying to ourselves about our weaknesses only binds us tighter to the wheel of illusion.

• Vipassana meditation is not an attempt to forget ourselves or to cover up our troubles. It is learning to look at ourselves exactly as we are. See what is there, accept it fully. Only then can we change it.

Misconception #8
Meditation is a great way to get high

• Well, yes and no. Meditation does produce lovely blissful feelings sometimes. But they are not the purpose, and they don't always occur.

• Furthermore, if we do meditation with that purpose in mind, they are less likely to occur than if we just meditate for the actual purpose of meditation, which is increased awareness.

• Bliss results from relaxation, and relaxation results from release of tension. Seeking bliss from meditation introduces tension into the process, which blows the whole chain of events.

Misconception #9
Meditation is selfish

• It certainly looks that way. There sits the meditator parked on his little cushion. Is he out giving blood? No. Is he busy working with disaster victims? No.

• But let us examine his motivation. Why is he doing this? His intention is to purge his own mind of anger, prejudice and ill-will. He is actively engaged in the process of getting rid of greed, tension and insensitivity. Those are the very items which obstruct his compassion for others.

Misconception #10
When you meditate, you sit around thinking lofty thoughts

• Wrong again. There are certain systems of contemplation in which this sort of thing is done. But that is not Vipassana.

• Vipassana is the practice of awareness. Awareness of whatever is there, be it supreme truth or crummy trash. What is there is there.

• Of course, lofty aesthetic thoughts may arise during our practice. They are certainly not to be avoided. Neither are they to be sought. They are just pleasant side-effects.

• Vipassana is a simple practice. It consists of experiencing our own life events directly, without preference and without mental images pasted to them.

• Vipassana is seeing our life unfold from moment to moment without biases. What comes up comes up. It is very simple.

Misconception #11
A couple of weeks of meditation and all my problems will go away

• Sorry, meditation is not a quick cure-all. We will start seeing changes right away, but really profound effects are years down the line.
  

• At each sitting we gain some results, but those results are often very subtle. They occur deep within the mind, only to manifest much later.

• And if we are sitting there constantly looking for some huge instantaneous changes, we will miss the subtle shifts altogether. We will get discouraged, give up and swear that no such changes will ever occur.

• Patience is the key. If we learn nothing else from meditation, we will learn patience. And that is the most valuable lesson available.