Our room in this New York City hotel towers over the St Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church which was built 130 years ago in 1892. Once the prominent building on this area of 31st Street, the city grew up and over it. From such a high loft it is easy to lose perspective. The lesson here is that we are only temporary guests in this room and the buildings we see are only temporary structures in this world. Everyone and everything we know here will turn to dust and be forgotten. None of this matters when we remain consciously aware in this moment, letting go of our desires, our aversions, and the knowing of our mind. Awareness never changes.
This pale blue dot is what the Earth looks like from 3.7 billion miles away. Do as we will on this little speck, there is nothing we do here that will have any meaningful consequence to the Universe. Yet here we are… with the opportunity to be loving and kind to ourselves and others; grow a compassionate heart for our friends and enemies; share the joy of the miracle of conscious awareness, laugh, dance, and play; learn to be at peace in the stillness that exists even in the most chaotic storm. There is nothing that needs to be done in order be enlightened; nothing that needs to be acquired or attained; simply call off the search and let go. Recognize the teacher in your heart, they have always been there; they have never judged you; they have never shamed you or made you feel guilty, that can only come from this world of egos, this is to be forgiven. You have a friend that will never leave you, betray you or let you down. Call it by any name you prefer, it is simply another word for love.
Becoming consciously aware is not a difficult challenge. It doesn’t require the study of complicated forms of mathematics or the memorization of rules and regulations. Becoming aware and maintaining awareness does however require willingness. Simple breathing meditation is one effective way to realize conscious awareness. Through repetition of this method we begin to improve our ability to maintain this state. With time it becomes part of our nature and the method that introduced you to conscious awareness may no longer be required. It may be helpful to strip away some of the preconceived ideas regarding the requirements for meditation.
Things you do not need in order to mediate:
A meditation cushion, rug, or special mat
To recite a chant or mantra
Burn Incense or use perfumes
To sit cross legged in the lotus position
Hold your hands in a particular way
A smartphone app or other device
A chime, gong, or singing bowl
Perfect quiet or lighting
The only thing you need to begin your practice of breathing meditation is the ability to breathe and a desire to quiet your mind. In fact you may find that the requirements and accessories you add to your meditation may serve as a distraction to the practice itself. That being said, after time, many practitioners of meditation enjoy some ceremony or rituals in their practice. The important thing to remember is that these are never a requirement.
Start by taking two or three deep cleansing breaths, the exact number is not important. You may wish to close your eyes or focus them somewhere that will not distract your mind. It may be helpful to sit comfortably, but, with practice, meditation can also be done standing or laying down. As you breathe in and out, remain relaxed, and focus on the sensation. The feeling you notice may be the feeling of air on the edges of your nostrils, it may be your abdomen rising and falling, pick one feeling and think only of this as you continue to breathe.
Soon your mind may chime in with a thought, perhaps something you need to do later, something from your past that bothers you. Perhaps a negative thought about the meditation process. When you notice this, take a moment to celebrate the noticing and return again to the breath and the sensation of breathing. Remember that noticing the wandering mind is not a moment for anger or frustration, it is a joyful moment that allows the return. Imagine returning to the breath to be like coming home or embracing a loved one. Your mind may wander many times at first, there is no limit to how many times we may notice distraction and return to the breath. Each time it is a moment to happily come home. With each return from wandering our practice becomes stronger. In summary, here’s what’s required…
Things you need to practice breathing meditation:
Be comfortable and continuously breathe in and out at a relaxing pace
Think only about the sensation of breathing
When you notice your mind wander, happily return to thinking of the sensation of breathing again
As you practice this, you may become aware of the feeling of an energy field throughout your body. Focusing on different parts of your body may help you become aware of this. If you don’t notice this right away, don’t worry, give it time. You may also notice that this energy field extends beyond your body. When we focus only on this moment and release our thoughts of the past and future, we find a place where our problems do not exist. This is conscious awareness in the moment, it is not contingent upon cognitive thought; it has always existed and always will. Conscious awareness was there before our birth and will be there after we leave this place. It is equally present everywhere in the universe. There is no place or environment in which it is weaker or stronger. It pervades everyone and everything equally. By connecting with conscious awareness we connect with a deeper understanding than we could possibly imagine through the thinking mind. All love, compassion, joy, and acceptant immeasurable peace springs forth from it. Every force, particle, field, and wave owes its existence to it. It is the source of all of your inspiration and creativity. It is a priceless gift that, once realized, can never be taken from you. Enjoy.
Being egotistical does not mean having high esteem for oneself. Even the act of humbling oneself is an action of the ego as it lets go. It is possible to be highly egocentric and have very low self-esteem. In fact, hostility towards oneself, guilt, and shame are all selfish expressions of the ego; unforgiving grudges held against the self. Our opinions and judgements of others, both positive and negative are egotistical. Our addictions to idols of substance, celebrity, and scripture are expressions of the ego. Our hostility towards ideas, integration, and idolatry are also expressions of the ego. Whenever we choose to cling or push away, this is an expression of the ego. The belief that we are separate; that we have a beginning and end; that there is a distinction between what we are and what we are not, this is egoic. It is this insanity that keeps us ignorant in a cycle of delusional suffering.
There is another way, by recognizing the still small voice within us in this moment, call it what you may, we can connect with a source of endless love, unbridled compassion, immeasurable joy, and a peace beyond all understanding. Know without an inkling of a doubt that we have always been forgiven for our desire to remain separate from our brothers and sisters and that we have always been and always will be welcomed in the heart of togetherness.
When we respond with attack, we perpetuate a system that is doomed to create suffering and dissatisfaction. From this, there is nothing worthwhile that maintains its value for the possessor. The fleeting rush of victory soon fades and our proceeds remain closely guarded while we constantly prepare a defense for the onslaught we imagine will come. We cannot truly find peace and enjoyment that would make these pursuits beneficial, we reserve this only for another day. We find ourselves, huddled with our bounty, worried of how it may be seized, while our minds and bodies fall ill from our fears of the very world that provided the now tarnished object of our desires. The end is always the same, we survive for a time in a world of “shoot first and ask questions later”, “kill or be killed”, and “he who dies with the most toys wins”. The vast majority of our moments are wasted in worry and dread as we grow old, become sick, and leave this place losing everything and everyone we loved in the few unwasted moments we allowed ourselves to enjoy.
There is another way, by letting go of our desires, focusing our awareness on acceptance of the world as it is in this moment, and expressing love and forgiveness through positive action we can escape the endless cycle of attack and realize liberation. Although the yearnings of our will may go unfilled, we can learn to see them for what they truly are, a prison that binds us with fear and distrust of our brothers and sisters. From the vantage point of desirelessness, love, and compassion we can see the struggle as it unfolds for others and learn to gently help them realize the truth about the source of their discomfort. Do not fall victim to the longing to punish those who seek glory in attack. In time, all of these lessons lead the observer to their own truth. Who knows what treachery occurs inside the chrysalis before the butterfly is born.
It can be difficult for us to forgive, especially when we feel justified in our condemnation of others. We live in a world where the human ego can set in motion a disastrous sequence of events. A series of unskillful actions can lead many astray while others cheer on their debauchery encouraging them to go even farther. The end is always tragic and causes pain and suffering for the innocent. We tend to dehumanize the perpetrators the same way we perceive they have dehumanized their victims. Now they become the object of our attacks and the cycle continues.
Finally, when justice is served, those involved may take great pride in participating in the process and the punishment. Some who see themselves as the deliverers of decency may even delight in not forgiving nor forgetting. Yet when the convict is sentenced we are left with a dull sense of dissatisfaction, it never seems to be enough even when the penalty is death. It is not uncommon for adoration and celebrity to be showered upon those who work to see the culprits punished, further exacerbating the rollercoaster ride that provides heights of egoic pride and lows of internal strife as we brace for future revenge. We find ourselves imprisoned by our own retaliations as our minds devise a blame game that always finds others guilty for our internal misery.
In our hearts remains a tension, a feeling of unease as though another attack will soon come. Many times we believe that this is our lot in life; to constantly be “A warrior for good” fending off each imagined assault as they continue to pervade our fictional views of the future. We struggle to realize at the very core of our tension and discomfort is our belief in the battle of “good over evil”; “good guys versus bad guys”; “the moral struggle against the immoral”. We live in this trap believing it is normal, each of us fighting for what we believe is right. However, what we hold as forthright and just is different for everyone. Upon investigation we will always find points on which we disagree. Herein lies the lock that keeps us in this prison of our own making, it is the fantasy that there is evil in the hearts of ourselves and others which we must constantly battle but none of us completely agree upon. How can we free ourselves from this insanity?
The truth is simple, it is not evil that causes us to do monstrous things, it is simply ignorance and the unskillfulness that springs from the ego’s desires. When we attack perpetrators in the name of justice, we perpetuate a system of separation which results in the hardening of our own hearts. We come to realize a false reality in which the battle of the virtuous is never ending. We often revel in locking offenders in prisons designed to be tortuous and terrifying, hoping they are beaten or raped by others who share their same fate. Years later we may set them free to be among our loved ones again even more damaged and broken then when they began their sentence. How does this make our world safer? It is no wonder why we remain discontent and anxious in our hearts waiting for the other shoe to drop from the counterattacks we believed would save us. We arm ourselves with weapons that kill and injure our loved ones more often from our own mistakes and anger then protect us from the “evildoers” we imagine will exact their revenge on us. Each moment we spend lost in these hellish fantasies we steal only from ourselves.
There is another way, by understanding the ignorance and unskillfulness of others, we can learn to love and forgive in our hearts even the most hideous deeds. We can become proficient in responding in a way that deescalates the cycle of attack and creates a safer world for our loved ones and ourselves. This does not mean the end of justice, it simply means justice administered from love as opposed to retribution. Yes, we still need protection from dangerous individuals and they may need to be placed in an environment that provides a better degree of safety for others and themselves, one in which they can learn, heal, and make amends. It is also true that a responder or soldier may need to use deadly force for those that pose an immediate mortal threat to others, nevertheless, even this can be done with love and understanding. Prejudice and anger are not required for ending the life of a violently insane individual, this must always be a last resort.
Learning to forgive is not always an easy task, for many, this requires a profound change of mind. If we are willing, we can start with forgiving ourselves for our own unforgiving natures. This offers us a priceless gift, it is liberation from the unease and dissatisfaction we have condemned ourselves to in this world. When we love and forgive, we can live our lives free from the worry and fear of the next attack. Happiness becomes genuine and is no longer a false mask we wear for others. Even if our lives are cut short by an assailant, we will have increased our own joy and the joy of others tenfold.
Zen Momentum 