First Chapter Why Meditate? Human beings are afflicted by suffering, anguish, and a number of fears which they are incapable of avoiding. The function of meditation is to eliminate this suffering and anguish. We generally think that happiness and suffering come from external circumstances. Constantly preoccupied reorganizing the world, in one way or another, we try to rid ourselves of a little suffering here and accumulate a little happiness there, without ever obtaining the desired result. From the Buddhist point of view, as well as that of meditation, happiness and suffering do not fundamentally depend on the external circumstances, but on the mind itself. A positive mental attitude engenders happiness; a negative attitude produces suffering.
How can we understand this mistake which makes us look outside for that which we can only find inside? A person with a clean and clear face who looks in the mirror sees a clean, clear face. While a person whose face is dirty and covered with mud sees a dirty, mud-stained face. The reflection in the mirror has no true existence; only the face itself exists. Forgetting the face, we take its reflection as real. The positive or negative nature of our mind is reflected in outward appearances which reflect back our own image. This external manifestation is an echo of the quality of our inner world. The happiness that we hope for will not come from restructuring the world which surrounds us but from reforming the one within.
The unwanted suffering will cease, only if we do not tarnish our mind with negativity. As long as we do not recognize that both happiness and suffering have their source within our own mind, and do not know how to distinguish between that which is helpful or harmful for our mind, allowing it to remain in its ordinary unhealthiness, we remain powerless to establish a state of genuine happiness. We would be powerless to avoid continual reappearance of suffering. Whatever our hopes, we will always be disappointed.
If we discover in the mirror's reflection that our face is dirty and begin to wash the mirror, we can scrub it for years, but it will not make a difference. Not the smallest amount of dirt nor the tiniest stain will disappear from our reflection. Because our efforts are not directed toward the right object, they will be totally in vain. This is one of the first principles of Buddhism and meditation: the understanding that happiness and suffering do not fundamentally depend on the external world but upon our own mind. If we do not understand this, we will never turn inward, and will continue in vain to base our energies and hopes on external pursuits. Understanding, we can wash our face, and thus the reflection will appear clean in the mirror.
Helpful Conditions For Meditation Meditation concerns the mind. However, effective meditation requires a number of helpful conditions without which our efforts would not be fruitful.
First, after having understood that happiness and suffering essentially depend on our mind, we must have an intense aspiration to meditate and feel joy at the prospect.
Second, guidance by an instructor who teaches how to meditate is necessary. If we decided to go somewhere in an uncharted region without the help of a guide, we might not reach our destination. Left to chance, we would only get lost or take very long detours. In a similar way, without a master to guide our meditation, we would only get lost on crisscrossing paths.
Third, the place where we meditate is important, particularly for beginners. The circumstances in which we are living actually exert a very constraining influence upon us and encourage a profusion of thoughts that paralyze our attempts to meditate. Therefore, retiring to a place removed to some extent from mundane activities is necessary. A wild animal living in the high mountain forest cannot endure the agitation of the city. In the same manner, the meditative mind cannot develop in conditions where continuous, external distractions and temptations reign.
How To Meditate Once we have set ourselves in an isolated place, we must free our body from all external activity, free our mind from thoughts concerning the past and future, and free our speech from profane conversation. Our body, speech and mind can then rest in a state of natural ease.
Bodily posture is important. Our body is covered by a network of subtle channels (nadis) in which circulate the subtle winds (prana). The production of thoughts is linked with the circulation of these winds. The agitation of the body causes the agitation of the channels and winds which in turn induce mental turbulence.
Activity of speech, the formation of sounds, also depends on the activity of the winds. Talking too much disturbs them and increases the production of thoughts, while remaining silent aids the meditation.
In this way, tranquility of speech and body creates the conditions for inner calm by avoiding the production of excessive thoughts. Just as a rider is at ease when he or she handles his or her mount well, the mind will rest when body and speech are under control.
There are some false notions concerning meditation. For some people, meditation is reviewing and analyzing the events of daily life and of the past days, months and years. For others, meditation means considering the future, reflecting on how to act or planning long or short-term projects. These two approaches are both in error. Production of thoughts about the past or future is in itself contradictory to the establishment of mental calm even if the body and speech remain inactive. As far as an exercise does not lead to inner peace, it is not meditation.
