The Essence
It is crucial to properly comprehend meditation’s essence, its benefits to us, and its potential to aid others. At its heart, accurate meditation involves noninterference with what IS. There is no struggle or effort to accomplish anything; instead, one merely experiences the mind and body as they are in the given moment. This awareness creates a divide between the observer and the observed, thus unveiling the NOW and significantly reducing ignorance and suffering.
This essence of authentic meditation is to see what is genuinely present, allowing our consciousness to lead the way. The past holds no sway over the present.
It’s crucial to understand that our assistance isn’t reliant on others but exists within us, accessible through present-moment awareness. We must recognize that we haven’t been abandoned. We possess exactly what we require to free ourselves from suffering.
We don’t need to be victims of circumstances, emotions, thoughts, mental or emotional phenomena, or ignorance.
As the Tibetan Buddhist monk Chogyam Trungpa precisely puts it, "meditation isn’t about striving for ecstasy, spiritual bliss, tranquility, or self-improvement. It’s about carving out a space where we can uncover and dismantle our neurotic games, self-deceptions, and hidden fears and hopes."
Suffering or stress is a universal affliction, not exclusive to any religion or belief system. It is a phenomenon that occurs, has reasons for its existence, can be ended, and there’s a way to terminate it. This is the core of Buddha’s Four Noble Truths:
Suffering/stress exists.
Desire/craving triggers it.
It can cease.
A practice exists to end it.
Many Misconceptions and Myths Surround Meditation.
Some people argue they can’t meditate due to a busy mind, lack of stillness, incessant thoughts, or lack of time. Others consider it boring or can’t visualize or feel anything. On the contrary, others perceive meditation as a blissful vacation from life, experiencing extraordinary sensations, exiting their bodies, or reaching a state of carefree bliss.
Both experiences demonstrate a misunderstanding of authentic meditation.
Authentic meditation involves noninterference with what IS, no visualization, no mental control, no breath control, no mantra, no striving for higher states of reality, no becoming, no unbecoming, no reliance on external devices, and no effort. What ‘doing’ is necessary is to allow your mind and body to exist as they are, and for your awareness to recognize them. This knowing creates separation from the Known, revealing the NOW and diminishing ignorance.
In essence, Passana is the regular vision of how things appear, while Vipassana involves seeing things as they genuinely are. Vipassana is a direct experience practice of examining our internal landscape and understanding its workings so we no longer conflate it with our Self.
By discerning the ultimate truth through apparent truth, we understand the psycho-physical (mind-body) structure. Through understanding, we witness the end of suffering and the Three Poisons:
Moha: Delusion/Confusion
Raga: Greed/Sensual Attachment
Dvesha: Aversion/Hate
Then, peace becomes you, and your inner life gains a pleasant quality. We transcend the attachment to nouns and the rise and fall of things.
Authentic meditation is about discerning it before being ensnared by it. As a Buddhist monk once said: “It is easier to blow out a matchstick than a house fire.”
Authentic meditation helps you understand your mind and body and all its phenomena to avoid being swept away into ignorant thoughts, words, and actions. It aids in distancing yourself from the process of psycho-physical material.
This practice doesn’t distance you from feelings or empathy, nor does it leave you in a non-functional or altered state, detached from others. Quite the contrary, it makes you more aware, receptive, and sensitive to the experiences and challenges of others in a holistic manner rather than a personalized one. This comprehensive, or sacred indifference, helps maintain a balance of compassion; it prevents overcompensation or under-compensation but facilitates the right help stemming from the heart-mind, the purified and awakened higher mind.
To find yourself, you must first lose yourself.
Welcome to authentic meditation: The art of dissolving the self that you are not.
Vipassana is one form of authentic meditation, sometimes known as Insight Meditation.
However you decide to better yourself, I would suggest keeping one simple wisdom in mind:
The journey to self-realization, to an authentic experience of ourselves, is not about addition, but subtraction: In the absence of Who You are Not (thought)… there you Are.
Let’s look out for each other
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