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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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To live is to suffer.
Suffering has a cause.
Suffering has an end.
There are many ways, this way is Awakening Mind.
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 mistake for 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 situation 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. The mind 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 built up over time -- a result of our past actions and experiences.
Starting wherever we are right now, 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 areas of our life we do actually want to spend time and energy in.
Free thoughts from disturbances.
By applying wisdom, understand there is at least 3 choices in every moment. Identify positive choices with ethics. Resist harmful tendencies with diligence. Grow positive results with patience. Ignore disturbances with detachment. Overcome obstacles with experience. Share arising surpluses with generosity without attachment to outcome. The happiness arises of its own accord and stays while conditions agree.
Repeat until happiness stays.
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If interested to know more, make contact to experience non-faith-specific meditations for yourself, workplace or group. If you would like to experience Buddhist meditations, contact directly your nearest Buddhist meditation centre.
