Meditation - What's in it for You?

By E. Raymond Rock

What can we expect to gain from meditation? Nothing, in the beginning, except for a somewhat annoying practice that always seems to get in the way of our doing something more important! If we are half-way serious about our practice, however, we will persevere, and eventually get to a point where we can stand back from the many thoughts that trouble our mind.

At first, our thoughts will overwhelm us. Regardless of how hard we try to concentrate on our meditation object, we will end up lost in thinking. After awhile, however, we kind of catch on and find a way to interrupt the constant stream of thought with a bigger thought; which is keeping our attention on our meditation object; for example, our breathing. In the texts, this is called "Applied Thought." In other words, we keep applying our mind, over and over, like a hammer striking a bell, to the thought of our meditation object - we keep coming back to our meditation object.

We will lose our attention to our meditation object time and again, hundreds, thousands of times, but if we are warriors, and not satisfied to allow thoughts to control us, we will come back again and again to our meditation object and never give up. This coming back time and again is called "Applying our Thought."

In life, this teaches us to focus and to persevere.

As we become proficient in doing this, something happens; we find ourselves remaining on our meditation object longer and longer. When we can remain on it steadily, with no intervening, stray thoughts to interrupt our concentration, we have reached a little milestone, called "Sustained Thought." The analogy is that here the hammer no longer has to strike the bell continuously; the bell continues ringing on its own. This is a big step in the right direction. Rather than a mind that wanders aimlessly from one thought to another, we have now controlled the mind to think only one thought, such as our breathing.

In life, this enables us to to concentrate on issues until they are solved.

We are, however, still plagued by stray thoughts at this stage and will find ourselves alternating between Applied Thought and Sustained Thought until we are able to remain in sustained thought more confidently. Then, other sensations arise, such as happiness (which result from the relief from constant, uncontrolled thought, which is the bases of our stress), and we will also experience pleasurable body sensations.

In life, this builds ease, regardless of our goals.

The next big step is when Applied Thought and Sustained Thought disappear. No longer do we have to apply our mind to a meditation object, or sustain our attention there. Automatically, the mind remains absorbed in the meditation object, such as our breathing, with no effort whatsoever. This is when the happiness, resulting from concentration, is accompanied by confidence and one-pointedness of mind, which is concentration.

In life, we now develop authentic insight where problems no longer require detailed, intellectual analysis. We can feel what is right and wrong. Also, the desire for happiness, which has caused us so many problems in the past, is now not so strong. We have the capacity of equanimity, which means we can be satisfied without constant sense stimulation and this in turn infuses us with constant feelings of joy.

During the third phase, we begin to lose our infatuation with happiness, but still find bodily pleasure arising, even though our mind is becoming more attracted to bare equanimity and mindfulness.

In life, we are now really developing wisdom beyond merely worldly concerns.

The fourth stage involves a complete decoupling of both pleasant and the unpleasant feelings, both pleasure and pain, both joy and grief, as we dwell in bare equanimity now, with a purity of mindfulness.

In life, we are now immune to all negative emotions and their devastating effects. We feel equally about all things.

As we go deeper into meditation, we may eventually notice that there is nothing but space behind and around our meditation object. When this happens, we will lose interest in our meditation object, which will be replaced by the idea of infinite space.

In life, we now develop an overview. We can step back from physical existence, see it for what it truly is, and this brings up great compassion and a desire to help our fellow human beings.

Infinite space, in time, will succumb to the realization that there is nothing. When this happens, our object of concentration will automatically become infinite nothingness. Then, as we realize internally that our perception of infinite nothingness depends on consciousness, we will immediately lose interest in nothingness, with the interest switching to infinite consciousness as the object of our concentration.

In life, although we continue with our efforts and our responsibilities, we are no longer attached to the results of those efforts.

Eventually the realization will come that all of this is dependent upon perception, and when we see this, we will lose interest in perception, and dwell in neither perception nor non-perception.

In life, our love now becomes unconditional for all beings.

And finally, when we see through this perception and non-perception, we give up perception and feeling totally.

In life, it is all now seen as merely dancing of the goddesses.

This is the culmination of concentration practice, after which we begin working on the advanced phases of meditation, which are investigation and insight. These advanced phases will eventually take us to full enlightenment, where the self no longer exists.

E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center, http://www.SouthwestFloridaInsightCenter.com His twenty-nine years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents, including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. His book, A Year to Enlightenment (Career Press/New Page Books) is now available at major bookstores and online retailers. Visit http://www.AYearToEnlightenment.com

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