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SITTING MEDITATION |
Written by Daniel Jowssey
Thursday, 24 January 2008
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Just Sitting isn't about changing ourselves or about self-development. We do change and we certainly do learn and develop through meditation, which is wonderful, but that's not what meditation is about. It's not about getting rid of our so-called bad qualities and replacing them with so-called good ones. It's not about having special or cosmic experiences. These may happen but are not what it's about. Just Sitting isn't about blanking our minds or getting rid of thoughts. It's not about getting rid of anything. However, our minds do tend to be quieter as time goes on, which is great, but it's not what it's about. It's not about trying to change our selves into a certain type of person. In fact this trying to change ourselves gets in the way, it's the self-reinforcing the self. What Just Sitting meditation is about... I believe Just Sitting is about Seeing. (I use seeing because it's got that ""ah I see"" quality to it, as this seeing is done with our whole being. I also however, substitute the word seeing with the words watching and noticing) Just Sitting meditation is about seeing who we are. It's about simply sitting (or any other activity) and having a good honest look at who we think we are. It's about seeing that who we think we are is just a story. It's about seeing what's going on right here and right now. It's about watching the experience that we are having and not getting lost in wishing for an experience that we're not having. Of course we tend to drift into fantasy etc, and that's fine, but we notice that and return to our immediate felt experience of the body. The art of Just Sitting is to simply notice the bodily sensations and thoughts (the story which reinforces the ""I""), which take us away from an open and direct experience of the moment, to notice what takes us away from life as it is right now. Just Sitting isn't about who we can become but about who we are. It's not about changing ourselves into a different type of person, into a perfect person (we will never be perfect) but about having a full - blooded experience of ourselves as we are, and accepting everything, absolutely everything about ourselves, and this takes courage. Just Sitting for me is an invitation. It's a throwing open of the doors and windows of being and allowing all aspects of myself to enter, without judging them in any way. It might be lust, joy, ill will, anxiety, resentment, bliss, violent thoughts, whatever, but they are all welcome. Everything passes in front of the impersonal witness. The witness just witnesses, it doesn't judge, it doesn't try to manipulate, it just sees the truth of whatever arises...that all is impermanent and not-self. It is this ability to witness, irrespective of what is witnessed that is the crux of meditation. It is this watching that leads to freedom. Out of this watching (without trying to change or manipulate anything) our true nature unfolds. Through watching we come to see the story of who we think we are. As the story comes under the scrutiny of the impersonal witness the story begins to crumble. The story is really a story about me, about the ""I"". What we tend to do is to try and write a better story, that is to become a better person. There is nothing wrong with this of course, but it's not freedom, it's still in the realm of the story of me. What the Dharma is about is seeing the truth of this, seeing that there is ""no doer of the deed to be found"" that there is nobody at central control running the show and never has been. This is the truth of no-self, the essence of the Dharma. Our experience is that ""I'm running the show,"" but when this is seen or even glimpsed to be just a story (thoughts) then we can relax and let life just happen, it is anyway. It is then seen that what we are is Pure Awareness itself, that we are whole and complete as we are. Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com |
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Find health mind and more useful information about Buddha at this Buddha directory.
Find health mind and more useful information about Buddha at this Buddha directory.
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