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H.H. Gyalwa Karmapa Thaye Dorje, the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. http://www.karmapa.org/ This reference is included as an expression of gratitude to this teacher of this tradition, and to all teachers past and present. They are interpreters for us who come after. This reference is offered as a sign of respect, personal gratitude and not of implied personal endorsement. |
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There is suffering.
Suffering has a cause.
Suffering has an end.
There are many cures, understanding mind is one of them.
If we agree with these statements (also known as the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths), then the following might also be useful.
Why meditate?
The Buddha explained that personal suffering is not caused by temporary things outside of us, instead it is the inner disturbances that we think are real and then act on. If we begin to learn how mind works, how to let go of the unuseful habits and tendencies, promote and nurture the useful ones, we begin to minimise our current suffering and sow the seeds to avoid future suffering.
We don’t need to be Buddhist to catch a glimpse of this: if we go to bed late or angry, this causes disrupted sleep that causes a day full of irritations. While we are irritated, we may say or do negative things to others.
If it is not anger, it is sorrow. If it is not sorrow, it is anxiety. If it is not our expectations of how things should be, it is our fear of losing the things. If it is not our fear, it is our hope of the new things to come. The thing that comes together, will stay for awhile, then will also come apart. This cycle is also known as our closed loop of suffering.
To minimise our suffering, we begin by understanding that it is not the outer things that get happy or unhappy, it is our mind, a mind that is present always. A mind that is naturally joyful, wise and compassionate if only it wasn‘t so distracted being angry, sad or anxious. It is useful to think of this anger, sadness and anxiety as layers of dust obscuring our mind that have built up over time -- a result of our past actions and experiences.
Starting wherever we are right now, by using seated Buddhist methods for non-Buddhists we begin to polish these layers of dust off our minds. The more we polish, the less we suffer, the more joyful we naturally find ourselves. When we no longer need to devote so much energy to cleaning, there is more time and energy for the areas of our life we do actually want to spend time and energy in.
Useful meditation leaves us refreshed with a clearer state of mind, leaving others joyful that we arrive and not that we depart.
If you’d like to experience faith-non-specific meditations for beginners, come to home. If you would like to experience Buddhist meditations, contact directly your nearest Buddhist meditation centre in Victoria
