It’s like a little child learning how to walk. When it first tries to walk, it moves not only its legs but also its arms, and sometimes its head, stiffens up its neck. It gets all kinds of unnecessary muscles involved because it doesn’t understand what’s necessary and what’s not. But as it gets more skilled at walking, more and more observant, it begins to see that it doesn’t have to move its arms in that way, doesn’t have to stiffen up its head in that way. It can begin to relax different parts of the body until walking is not such a major effort. ~ The same with the meditation: As we center the mind we realize after a while that we’re doing all kinds of unnecessary things to keep it centered. To keep the mind strapped down in the present moment, we sometimes force it too much, sometimes thinking that we have to pull the breath here or pull the breath there or force the mind here, or tense this here or tense that there. When you begin to realize that these things aren’t necessary, you begin to let go. As you let go of those activities, the act of centering the mind becomes more natural—you’re more at ease in the present moment—and you get clearer and clearer about what you’re doing. ~ It’s through peeling these layers away that you get to a point where ultimately you can let go of that companion here in the present moment, so that the mind is truly secluded. At that point it goes beyond even time and space. It touches another dimension. That’s when you learn what it’s like to be truly free of the stress and suffering you create for yourself. That’s when you have your first taste of what it’s like to find true happiness, true ease, true wellbeing. ~ So the practice takes you step by step by step from all your entanglements and all this unnecessary suffering you cause yourself, peels them away, strips them away, layer by layer by layer, until you find that what the Buddha taught was true. Yes, through your own efforts, you can come to the spot where the mind opens up to this other dimension that he calls deathless, free from aging, free from illness, free from death, free from separation… ❀❀❀ ~ The Pursuit of True Happiness Thanissaro Bhikkhu April, 2002 ~ Link: bit.ly/1z8dUi0
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 08:41:28 +0000
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