What is Meditation ?

What is Meditation?

Years ago meditation, along with yoga, tai chi and various other esoteric practices were labeled eastern and only really practiced by those who were seen to be looking for an escape from ordinary modern life. These days, much has made of the benefits of meditation both by spiritual teachers and western doctors alike resulting in a surge of interest in the ancient practice. And consequently more and more products have hit the market which promise to make meditation easier.

The availability of software to help you meditate or put you in a state of deep relaxation has meant that people seeking the benefits of meditation are choosing to shortcut the experience and not taking the time to fully understand or appreciate what meditation really is.

Most of us can accept the definition that meditation means ‘a cessation of the thought process’ or a ‘state of deep relaxation’. But if we take into account the fact that the word ‘meditation’ comes from the sanskrit word ‘medha’ which means ‘wisdom’, this gives the concept of meditation a whole new dimension.

 In fact there is no direct translation of the word ‘meditation’. In the language of the original practitioners, the word actually corresponds to 3 different words and it is these three different words which form the basis of the practise of meditation. These words are ‘concentration’, ‘absorption’ and ‘integration’.

Sangharakshita, a Buddhist teacher and writer, and founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, gave a talk in 1975 (old I know but some things never change) in which thses terms were explained. He is generally accepted to be the expert on buddhism and meditation in the west and I have found his insights and opinions to be the best ones to follow when trying to get a grasp on meditation.

1) Concentration

The term ‘concentration’ refers to the concentration of attention and of energy and can be thought of as a unification which can be both horizontal and vertical. Firstly there is integration of the ordinary waking consciousness to itself and also there is the unification of the conscious mind with the sub-conscious mind. The conscious mind unifies with itself by recollecting scattered thoughts and ideas. Sometimes our thoughts and ideas are so scattered that we really don’t know who we are. This state is called mindfulness.

There are three types of mindfulness. You can be mindful of your body, meaning you know exactly where your body is and what it is doing; your emotions, meaning you know exactly how you feel; and also of your thoughts, meaning you know exactly what you are thinking and this extends to thought patterns that you repeat on a regular basis. Once this is achieved, we can be said to be completely self-conscious or human.

The conscious mind must also be integrated with the sub-conscious mind and this can be achieved when the mind has an object of concentration. But this stage can’t be achieved until 5 mental hindrances have been supressed. These hindrances are

1) The desire for sensuous experience via the five physical senses, especially sensuous desires connected to food and sex.

2) Hatred, or the ill-will that is generated when we can’t reach the object of our desire

3) Inertia that keeps on the plane of sensuous desire, the kind of animal-like state we are used to finding ourselves in nearly all of the time.

4) Restlessness: the inability to settle down to anything for very long, and

5) Doubt: indecision or an unwillingless to commit oneself or admit that there is a higher state of consciousness.

When these 5 hindrances are suppressed, the mind becomes clear and is now ready to take an object of concentration, for example your breath as it comes in and goes out, a sound or mantra, a human virtue such as generosity, the body or a mental image.

If a person is able to integrate the conscious mind with itself and with the sub-conscious, then great changes will take place and your consciousness will start rising from the plane of ordinary experience to the world of higher thought.

2) Absorption

This usually divided into four levels, through which the process of integration continues.

• During the first level, there is a certain amount of mental activity present but the thoughts won’t be about everyday things. You should be feeling bliss, hope and happiness.

• During the second level, you should feel calm, clear and peaceful, as though you were preparing to phase in a higher state of consciousness.

• But the actual phasing in is the third level of absorption.

• The fourth level occurs when one becomes enveloped by a powerful aura which is radiated outwards from you.

 During this fourth level, you should feel some sort of warmth and positive aura radiating out from you and into the world around you.

3) Integration

Once the absorption phase has passed, you should enter the final stage, which is integration. While you are in this phase, you should experience clearer vision or perception of the real nature of things. You should feel that wordly things cannot give you any real happiness and also that these things are transitory. There are  knowledges associated with this phase.

1. Firstly there is the knowledge of the totality of things. This knowledge is completely objective, like a mirror being held up to you where the world is reflected as it really is.

2. Secondly, there is a knowledge of things in their similarity and also knowledge of things in their difference. You will see things as absolutely one and as absolutely seperate, and

3. Knowledge of what is to be done in order to increase the spiritual welfare of other living things.

These knowledges are symbolised in buddhist art by the various different coloured buddhas with different objects. Once you have these five knowledges, according to buddhist theory, you should get a vision of the different buddhas appearing, in various colours and as such, you have become yourself and meditation has been practised to its limits. Then and only then, one can understand what meditation really is.

For tips on how to make the most of your meditation, check out my more recent post.

Tags: meditation