Why Meditate?

In life we are often faced with unwanted circumstances -- an insult, an injury, bad luck, death of a loved one and so on. Once it happens, though, nothing can be done about it; yet we continue to roll in varying degrees, with the emotions of the past. The same imbalance occurs with positive circumstances and projections into the future.

Meditation is about staying real. And there is only one reality -- whatever is happening in the present moment. When we let go of the past and the future, there is a deep sense of joy as if you just relaxed for the first time and ironed out the crinkles on your forehead.

What is meditation?

In a broad, rational sense, meditation is about living in the present moment. But perhaps it's exact meaning is to be experienced by each individual. Ramakrishna once said, "As many minds, so many paths." Just in the way that two people can watch the same movie and get two entirely different things out of it, meditation also yields different experiences.

What to "do"?

Consider a shaken-up, muddy glass of water. It is hard to look past it but if you let it sit still for a while, the mud goes to the bottom and the water is clear on the top. Similarly, in meditation we sit still to see what is going on underneath the surface.

Some people simply watch the breath, as it is; if thoughts come up, acknowledge them like a guard outside a castle but don't participate in them. A zen master once said, "In meditation, leave your front and back door open. Let your thoughts come and go; just don't serve them tea." Impressions of the past, which surface as thoughts, often cloud our experience of the present moment but by simply observing, we lighten the load of past and future that we are unncessarily carrying.

 

Passage on meditation courtesy of CharityFocus.org