Meditation — Our Inherent Peacefulness – Part 2
“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”~~~ Buddha
On Thursday, last week, I started an article about how we are ALL inherently peaceful beings. We talked about “peaceful abiding” in our meditations and that the purpose behind “peaceful abiding” is to quiet the mind-chatter that’s going on all the time and bring our focus onto our breath and into the peaceful silence. We also talked about some of the ways to help keep our focus on the breath and not get lost in all the “thinking” going on in our heads.
As I was writing, I realized that there was more that needed saying on this topic, so today we’ll pick up where we left off.
I’m going to leave the same meditation video that I used on Thursday. This one is about 9 minutes long that will play some quiet, peaceful meditation music for you. I hope you enjoy it. Don’t forget to turn on your speakers. Just click the “Play” button — and then you can continue reading today’s article as you listen. When you’re done reading, play it again as you do one of your meditation sessions for today. (Yes! That is a blatant hint — meditation needs to be an every day practice!)
As I mentioned on Thursday, in Buddhist teachings, the human being isn’t naturally aggressive, instead, we are inherently peaceful. That’s a hard pill to swallow when we see how we react to certain things, like anger or jealousy. But those ways of reacting happen only because we have lost control of our minds. The ego-mind has taken over. This mind – the ego-mind – is the illusion that who we are is the “me” of us. When we think of who we are, it is usually in the sense of “me”, “mine”, and “myself”.
“If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.”~~~ Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama
In some reading I’ve done over the past few weeks in a book by Eckhart Tolle, called “A New Earth”, he uses the example of a new child as a way to explain about how this ego of ours gets started.
Think about a new child. I don’t personally believe that a child is born with an ego – with a mind that is already filled with ideas about who they are. Naturally, as time passes, the parents of this newborn will focus a great deal of their time and attention on the baby. After some time, the child will begin to recognize that certain sounds made by the parents are his or her name. It isn’t too long after this that the child begins to equate his or her name with the concept of, “I” or “Me”. Soon, certain objects will become associated with the “I” or the “Mine” — their bottle – or their toys – the various objects around their crib, for example. The early ego is beginning to develop. They are learning a sense of self. The essence of who they truly are is being pushed into the background. It isn’t too much later that attachment to the things that are “mine” begins to appear. If a toy breaks or is taken away, suffering comes into the child’s life as a result of the attachment to that thing. The child developed a thought about the toy as being “mine” and the toy became a part of the child’s sense of who they are.
Is it any wonder that we often evaluate who a person is by what they have?
One of the reasons why adding the practice of peaceful abiding meditation to your daily life is that you can begin to see the illusion for the illusion it is. Once you can begin to see that what you think of as yourself is really an illusion manufactured by the ego, the illusion will begin to disappear. This takes training. This requires spending some time every day in focusing our minds on our breath and learning how to quiet the flow of thoughts that keep running through our heads.
We’ve already spent a lifetime training ourselves to chase after this wild mind of ours as it shoots out this never-ending volume of new thoughts and emotions every day, so it’s no wonder that it will also take time, patience and practice to learn to bask in the stillness of the moment.
“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.”~~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Once we start peacefully abiding each day, we’ll begin to see how these thoughts and emotions work. If we give them the attention they want, they’ll turn into irritation, anxiety, attachment, passion, aggression, jealousy, greed and pride – all of which will eventually lead to some kind of suffering. Once we begin to train our minds to rest in the moment – to turn off the chatter of the ego – that ego sense of self will fade a bit and we’ll get a glimpse of our true reality. Our sense of reality becomes more acute as we continue our daily practice.
“When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere”~~~ François de la Rochefoucauld
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If you’re new to us here, be sure read the other articles about meditation. You can find links for them over in the left sidebar under the “Recently Posted” section. They all have a title starting with the word, “Meditation”. They start with the January 24, 2008 post.
Don’t forget, spend at least 10 minutes twice each day meditating. Meditate for longer if you can. If you’ve been doing 10 minutes, take it up to 15. If you’ve been doing 15, see if you can take it up to 20 minutes. The longer you can maintain your focus on just your breath, the better.
“Those who really seek the path to Enlightenment dictate terms to their mind. Then they proceed with strong determination.”~~~ Buddha
Namaste!
And, as I always say in closing — remember these words …
You are the most precious gift you can give yourself. Every day look in the mirror and say, “I’m available to more good than I have experienced, realized or imagined ever before in my life!” Do this every day while you look into your own eyes.
You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.
Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)
“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”~~~ Buddha
~~~ DBL-R
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