What is meditation?

Watching, the Soul of Meditation

Meditation is an adventure, the greatest adventure the human mind can take. Meditation is just being, not doing anything - no action, no thought, There are no emotions, you are just being, and it is total joy. When you are doing nothing, where does this joy come from? It comes from nowhere, or it comes from everywhere, and it has no cause, because existence is made of the stuff called joy.

When you are doing nothing - physically, mentally, on any level - when all activity has ceased and you are just being, just being, that is meditation. You can't do it, you can't practice it: you can only realize it.

Whenever you can find just being, then throw away all doing. Thinking is also doing, concentrating is also doing, and contemplation is also doing. Even just for a moment when you are not doing anything, you are just in your center, completely relaxed - that is meditation. And once you get the hang of it, you can stay in that state for as long as you want, and eventually you can be in that state twenty-four hours a day.

Once you have become aware of the way your nature can remain undisturbed, then slowly you can begin to do things that will keep your nature undisturbed and alert. That is meditative. Part Two - First, learn how to be, and then learn to act a little bit. Sweep the floor, take a shower, but keep yourself centered and then you can do more complex things.

For example, I am giving a speech to you, but my meditation is not disturbed. I can continue to speak, but in my center, there is not even a slight ripple, it is just tranquility. Completely peaceful.

So meditation is not against action, it does not ask you to escape life, it just teaches you a new way of life: you become the center of the whirlwind, your life continues, in fact it will Go on more intensely - with more joy, with more clarity, more insight, more creativity - but you are detached, just a watcher on the top of the mountain, just watching you Everything is happening around you.

You are not the doer, you are the witness.

That is the whole secret of meditation - you become a witness. "Doing" continues on its own level, there is no problem: chop wood, fetch water, you do small things and big things, but one thing is not allowed, that is, your center should not be lost.

That awareness, that witnessing should always be maintained, unobstructed, undisturbed.

In Judaism, there is a rebellious mystical sect called Hassidism. Its founder, Boal Shem, is a rare person. One midnight he came back from the river - that was his habit. Because the riverside at night was completely peaceful and quiet, and he often just sat there, doing nothing - just looking at himself and the viewer. That night, when he came back, he passed by a rich man's house and there was a gatekeeper standing at the door.

The gatekeeper felt very strange, because every night at this time, this man would come back on time, so he ran out and said: "Please forgive me for disturbing you, but I can't help it anymore." I am curious, you are on my mind day and night, what are you doing? Why do you go to the river? I have followed you many times, and there is nothing there - you just sit there for a few times. hours, and at midnight you come back.”

Bel Shem said: "I know you followed me several times, because the night is so silent, so I can hear your footsteps, and I know you hide behind the door every day, but this It's not only your curiosity about me, but also my curiosity about you: What are you doing?" He said: "What do I do? I'm just a janitor."

Bel Shem said: "Oh my God! You have given me a key word, and this is my business!"

The gatekeeper said: "But I don't understand, if you are a gatekeeper, you should be looking at a certain house, a certain palace, and what are you looking at there on the beach?" Belshem said: "Yes? A small difference: you are looking outside and someone may enter the palace; I am just looking at the looker, who is the looker? This is my life's work, I look at myself."

The gatekeeper said: "But this is a strange thing, then who will pay you?"

He said: "This is such happiness, such joy, Such a great blessing, a great reward in itself, is just this moment, and all treasures cannot compare with it”.

The janitor said, "That's strange, I've been watching all my life and I've never had such a wonderful experience. I'll go with you tomorrow night, just give me some advice, because I know how to watch - —It just takes a different direction, you're looking in a different direction."

There is only one step, and that step is in direction and level. We either focus our awareness outward, or we close our eyes and focus our awareness inward - and this is what you will do Know, because you are a knower, you are awareness, you never lose it, you just entangle your awareness in countless things. Take your awareness away from everywhere and just let it rest within yourself, and you are already home.

The most basic core, the soul of meditation is to learn how to watch.

A crow is cawing... You are listening, these are two aspects - the object and the subject, but you cannot see which is the witnessing of the two? ——The crow, the listener, and someone watching the two. This is a very simple phenomenon.

You are looking at a tree: you are there and the tree is there, but can't you discover something else? ——You are looking at the tree, and there is a witness inside you watching you looking at the tree.

Looking is meditation. It doesn’t matter what you look at. You can look at the trees, you can look at the river, you can look at the clouds, and you can look at the children playing around you. Looking is meditation. What you look at is not the key, and the object is not the key.

The quality of seeing, the quality of awareness and alertness - that is where meditation is.

Remember one thing: meditation means awareness. Whatever you do with awareness is meditation. Behavior is not the problem, but the quality you bring to the behavior is the problem. If you walk with awareness, walking can become meditation; if you sit with awareness, sitting can become meditation; if you listen with awareness, listening to birds singing can also become meditation. A form of meditation; just listening to the noise inside your head can be a form of meditation if you remain alert and mindful.

The whole key is that you don’t act unconsciously, then whatever you do is meditation.

The first step in awareness is to observe your body. Slowly, slowly you will become aware of every posture and every movement. When you become aware , a miracle begins to happen: many of the things you were used to doing suddenly disappear, your body becomes more relaxed, your body becomes more coordinated; a deep calm begins to appear in your body, a wonderful feeling The music pulses through you.

Then, start to be aware of your thoughts. You must do the same with your thoughts. They are more subtle than the body and certainly more dangerous. And when you become aware of your thoughts, you will be You will be surprised by what is going on inside you. If you record everything that is going on inside you at any time, you will be surprised. You will not believe that this is what is going on inside you.

After ten minutes, you read it - you will see a crazy mind in it! Because we are not aware of it, this whole madness is constantly flowing, like an undercurrent. No matter what you are doing, it affects you, or you are not doing anything, it affects you, it affects everything, and the total sum of it will be your life! So this madman must be changed. And the miracle of awareness is that you don't have to do anything except just become aware.

It is to change it by observing its phenomenon. Slowly, slowly, the madness disappears. Gradually, gradually, the thoughts begin to fall into another form, and their confusion is gone. , they become more orderly, and then again, a deeper stillness occurs, and when your body and your mind are still, you will see that they are in harmony with each other, and there is a bridge there, now They are no longer running in different directions, they are no longer riding different horses, for the first time they are coordinated, and that coordination helps a lot in the third step - becoming aware. Your feelings, emotions and state of mind.

That is the most subtle level and the most difficult level, but if you can be aware of thoughts, then it is just a step further, requiring a little higher awareness, and you begin to reflect your Your state of mind, your emotions, your feelings, once you are aware that all three of them can be connected into one phenomenon, and when all three of them are one - completely functioning together and humming together, you will Feel the music of all three, they have become an orchestra - then the fourth step happens, and this is something you can't do anything about, it happens according to itself, it is a gift from the whole, it is given Those who did the three steps reported back.

This fourth step is the ultimate awareness that leads to awakening. A person becomes aware of his own awareness - that is the fourth step, which creates an awakened Buddha, and Only in awakening can people understand what joy is. The body knows pleasure, the mind knows happiness, the heart knows happiness, and the fourth step is to know joy. Joy is the goal of the disciple or seeker, and awareness is the way to the goal.

The important thing is that you are observing, you do not forget to observe, you are always watching... watching... watching, and slowly, slowly, when the observer changes It becomes more and more unified, more and more stable, and less and less volatile. A change occurs, and everything you look at disappears.

For the first time, the viewer himself becomes the one being seen, and the observer himself becomes the one being observed.

You have returned home.