“WHAT WOULD BE THE SIMPLEST form of meditation?”
“uh… um… Good question actually… hmm… I don’t know…”
“Let me answer that… I think it is to sit-and-shut your eyes and focus on a still point… Like my guru said… As simple as that…”
“Nah… that one’s rather complicated… It works okay only in the beginning may be, but ends up as boring… I suppose the simplest one is the one that is not prescribed but self-cultivated…”
“I don’t think so… You need a guide to take you along, and for that to work for you, you need to take the path that is rather prescribed - to use your word…”
“Oh well, I was coming from the fact that a meditation does not require religion; rather it’s the other way around…”
“That’s absurd! Why would you meditate at all if not for a religion or a practice…?”
“That’s selfish, ain’t it?”
“Wait a minute, what I meant was to meditate for the sake of meditation rather than anything else, and that includes your religion part as well…”
“That doesn’t make sense… uh? You are drunk already!”
“Hey, listen everyone… before we get into that getting drunk thing and argue till we all start throwing up, Jim is right I suppose… Meditation should be for the sake of meditation, that is primary; using a certain religious technique is secondary perhaps - say its the means rather than the end…”
“the very essence of meditation has a very selfish motive at its core, though its outwardly reflections may perhaps be translating into selfless conducts and thoughts…” That was a recent discussion that I was having among a bunch of us guys over the New Year long weekend. And I think it is interesting enough to pick it up again, rub it a bit more and let it continue to become a more interesting one. I suppose Jim was right because apparently (as it is true for most beginners) he was pointing to the very essence of meditation - which has a very selfish motive at its core, though its outwardly reflections may perhaps be translating into selfless conducts and thoughts. As you begin, doing meditation is selfish for I do it for my own sake, for my own self-realization. One may argue that it is for my peace of mind, or for my better understanding of self, or for a proper meaning of my life, or for my joy and enlightenment, or for a divine experience for me, of for my Nirvana, or for my this or my that; each and every of it is for my own sake, that is in the main, and that’s that. And it appears to me that that is the ultimate selfish motive of all in the world. Having said that, I don’t think there is anything wrong in that either.
On the other hand, meditation - or say the premise of meditation - is making of losers. Yes, spare a moment to think about it. The more you go deeper into it, you got to give up this and that - materials and motives, desires and feelings, senses and pleasures - the very aspects that term you as human as per the biological definition accepted by the state. The more you focus on your meditation-life and more it takes you away from your role in the life and society as a “normal” member for you would be even dropping the most basic of the rules of society - buy, borrow or still; you would rather beg. Financially a disaster, socially a failure, personally a walking self-delusion, professionally an unprofessional. The bid of self-mastery would not help even the physical body of the person - how many of the so called christen leaders (Pope John XXIII), masters (Gungthang Rinpoche) and Gurus (Ramakrishna) of the world have died rather tragically due to cancer or similar pitiful terminal ailment.
That leads me to a very important and interesting turn of thoughts - so, what do I expect? What do I expect out of meditation…?
The classical answer is: Nothing.
I propose to elaborate further on the subject with more in-depth thinking, contemplation, and reviews during next few posts...
“uh… um… Good question actually… hmm… I don’t know…”
“Let me answer that… I think it is to sit-and-shut your eyes and focus on a still point… Like my guru said… As simple as that…”
“Nah… that one’s rather complicated… It works okay only in the beginning may be, but ends up as boring… I suppose the simplest one is the one that is not prescribed but self-cultivated…”
“I don’t think so… You need a guide to take you along, and for that to work for you, you need to take the path that is rather prescribed - to use your word…”
“Oh well, I was coming from the fact that a meditation does not require religion; rather it’s the other way around…”
“That’s absurd! Why would you meditate at all if not for a religion or a practice…?”
“That’s selfish, ain’t it?”
“Wait a minute, what I meant was to meditate for the sake of meditation rather than anything else, and that includes your religion part as well…”
“That doesn’t make sense… uh? You are drunk already!”
“Hey, listen everyone… before we get into that getting drunk thing and argue till we all start throwing up, Jim is right I suppose… Meditation should be for the sake of meditation, that is primary; using a certain religious technique is secondary perhaps - say its the means rather than the end…”
“the very essence of meditation has a very selfish motive at its core, though its outwardly reflections may perhaps be translating into selfless conducts and thoughts…” That was a recent discussion that I was having among a bunch of us guys over the New Year long weekend. And I think it is interesting enough to pick it up again, rub it a bit more and let it continue to become a more interesting one. I suppose Jim was right because apparently (as it is true for most beginners) he was pointing to the very essence of meditation - which has a very selfish motive at its core, though its outwardly reflections may perhaps be translating into selfless conducts and thoughts. As you begin, doing meditation is selfish for I do it for my own sake, for my own self-realization. One may argue that it is for my peace of mind, or for my better understanding of self, or for a proper meaning of my life, or for my joy and enlightenment, or for a divine experience for me, of for my Nirvana, or for my this or my that; each and every of it is for my own sake, that is in the main, and that’s that. And it appears to me that that is the ultimate selfish motive of all in the world. Having said that, I don’t think there is anything wrong in that either.
On the other hand, meditation - or say the premise of meditation - is making of losers. Yes, spare a moment to think about it. The more you go deeper into it, you got to give up this and that - materials and motives, desires and feelings, senses and pleasures - the very aspects that term you as human as per the biological definition accepted by the state. The more you focus on your meditation-life and more it takes you away from your role in the life and society as a “normal” member for you would be even dropping the most basic of the rules of society - buy, borrow or still; you would rather beg. Financially a disaster, socially a failure, personally a walking self-delusion, professionally an unprofessional. The bid of self-mastery would not help even the physical body of the person - how many of the so called christen leaders (Pope John XXIII), masters (Gungthang Rinpoche) and Gurus (Ramakrishna) of the world have died rather tragically due to cancer or similar pitiful terminal ailment.
That leads me to a very important and interesting turn of thoughts - so, what do I expect? What do I expect out of meditation…?
The classical answer is: Nothing.
I propose to elaborate further on the subject with more in-depth thinking, contemplation, and reviews during next few posts...