The Power of Meditation

Extract from The Power of Meditation by Christopher Titmuss

Chapter Eight

EXPANDING THE HEART, AWAKENING THE MIND

One of the key words in worthwhile spiritual teachings is practice. Practice covers a wide range of areas. As we develop our practice, we may find that we increase our interest and awareness in a broad range of areas of life. We do not have to confine practice to one or two areas such as stress reduction or for healing. If we do, we may forget that we have the potential to awaken every area of our life. It is up to us to reflect on how far we wish to take our meditation practice.

What is Practice?

Practice is for freeing the body of destructive patterns, habits and acts of carelessness.
Practice is for freeing the mind from greed, hate and confusion.
Practice is cultivating inner awareness, to discover depths of meditation and to realise psychological and spiritual insights into the nature of things.
Practice is the active work of the individual transforming herself or himself, alone or with others.
Practice includes equally the social, religious and political features of existence. We influence the world by our practice with the willingness to challenge abuse of power.
Practice includes working with various challenges so that all experiences and situations belong to practice. At times, struggle is an essential factor for practice.
Theory without practice is irresponsible. Practice without reason is blind. The route of practice is awareness, experience and application.
Practice is the starting point for insight and awakening. In practice, awakened knowledge manifests as purposeful activity for the welfare of others.
Practice is translating living perception into a resolute awareness, compassionate action, transcendent seeing and liberation.

Meditation directs us to a warm heart and clear mind but also to a depth of awareness to discover what it means to realise a liberated and enlightened life in daily circumstances. We must not lose sight of the fact that meditation belongs to a comprehensive body of teachings embracing ethics, inquiry, contact with like-minded people, compassion and wisdom. Through meditation we can uncover emotional and psychological insights and a profound and liberating sense of the here and now. 

As we develop our meditation practice, we might find ourselves naturally looking into every area of our life. There can come about a wish to integrate our regular meditation practice with our deeper values and activities of body, speech and mind. Meditation develops love for mindful and conscious living with respect for the countless features of daily life.

Ten Areas for Inquiry

Here is a list of some areas for inquiry that can contribute significantly to the deepening of our meditations and understanding of daily life. 

1 To reject any livelihood that is threatening or destructive to people, animals and the environment and to create useful and sustainable activities. To put it in another way, the Buddhist tradition emphasises the importance of right livelihood rather than career. Application of right livelihood encourages us to consider our work and its consequences in relationship to others and the environment. Career can put self-interest above all other considerations.

2 To abide with moderation in life-style and to make possessions last. This requires a degree of mindfulness and demonstrates care for all material things. Meditation helps expand our awareness to include paying attention to all that we have contact with - sentient and insentient.

3 To be clear about the number of hours we spend weekly facing a screen, whether it's a television, computer or cinema. We can lose the resolution to use the off switch, even when the remote control is in our hand. Do we spend many hours a week on the computer at the expense of loved ones or exercise? While watching television or when we are at the movies, we can see patterns arising within us –desire, anger, boredom, restlessness and fear. We can watch these responses or reactions arising, see them come and go, learn to stay calm, clear and present. It can be an invaluable training for real situations in real circumstances.

4 We make a strong intention and commitment to work on ourselves. This includes the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical, as well as how we relate with others. Spiritual sensitivities arise through meditation, reflection on deep values, contact with nature and exposure to like-minded people. Generosity, compassion and clarity overcome greed, hate and delusion. Wisdom is the willingness to put aside that which is unhealthy for the mind and concentrate on that which we see is nourishing and insightful. 

5. In daily life, we often find ourselves in situations where we need to be respectful to agreements. If we say “yes”, “no”, or “I will let you know”, it is important that we mean it. We practice to honour agreements we have made with others. If we neglect this area, we might find judging others, defending ourselves or trying to cover up our behaviour consumes our meditations.

6 We can experience contact with like-minded people through community, friends, meetings, pilgrimages and retreats. There is a great deal of kindness and wisdom to be found in the hearts and minds of others through such association. There are people who have much experience in the practice of meditation from whom we can learn a great deal.

7 To appreciate and enjoy: being over having, sharing over taking, letting go over grabbing hold of, and openness over withdrawal. We can definitely experience this shift taking place in us. We can then discover an expansive understanding of the way things are.

8 We learn to appreciate the importance of giving support through our service or money, or both, to the wide range of individuals, charities and organisations expressing wisdom and compassion. 

9 If we sit regularly in meditation, we will notice views, opinions, standpoints, beliefs and ideologies arising and dissolving in our mind. We become aware of what contributes to the arising of suffering and what resolves it. 

10 We can be receptive and thankful to the many joys of life through meditation, contact with others, nature, creativity, the arts, awareness, insight and freedom. We have the opportunity to celebrate the wonders and mysteries of life. In many respects, meditation is indispensable to a full, well-balanced and emancipated way of being.

Tears and Raindrops – a poem

Hear this song of our physical selves,
Dwell where our body speaks quietly of itself.
None can settle apart even with what we know.

Common link of our participation in a green world,
Where intimacy trusts the everyday imperative,
And joy is the signal of this meeting place.

This uncombed hair of the head grows
Like the wild grasses of this round world.

This body lies on its side with
Undulating contours of hills and valleys.

Long deep breaths flow in and out
Like the wind flowing along the edges of the moor.

The blood winds along veins and arteries,
As the streams and rivers in soft countryside.

With eyelids that close on rolling plains,
And reveal the darkness of the night.

Hear the occasional sneeze that storms
Across the Earth like a hurricane,
And daylight is turned into night.

And the hard bones and joints,
Knuckles and elbows, are but 
Rocks and tors of granite existence.

This benediction bestows 
A revelation of harmony,
When all is revealed,
When “I” is forgotten,

And in the dampness of the pounding body,
Where sweat pours across this land,
Like the damp mists of sublime nature.

From time to time,
Tears well up and flow
As a dramatic happening,
Like large raindrops of a summer's storm.

Patches and growth of clustered hair,
Like copses amidst unwoven plains.
As human life speaks not only of itself.

Words emerge out of this blood remembering,
Home dwells not where the heart is
But deep in this landscape,
Where there is no measurement.

Hear this song of ourselves.

Signs of an Enlightened Life

We must not lose sight of the fact that meditation belongs to a comprehensive body of teachings including ethics and wisdom. The core ethic is to refrain from harming others or ourselves through actions of body, speech and mind. Buddhists have divided this ethic into five areas for reflection. 

Ethics

The practitioner undertakes the practice to:
1. Restrain from killing, 
2. Restrain from stealing, 
3. Restrain from causing sexual harm, 
4. Restrain from lying
5. Restrain from abuse of alcohol or drugs. 

At various times, we can be challenged in any one or more in these areas. Our clarity and integrity suffer when we ignore respect for any of them. All five are worth meditating on. We show disrespect and create suffering for ourselves and others when we:

1. Condone killing
2. Go for what we want regardless of the harm we cause
3. Abuse another for sex
4. Speak without regard for facts or feelings
5. Distort the balance of our mind through intoxicants.

Meditation – an overview

Meditation makes a substantial contribution to an awakened life. Through meditation we may become exposed to a wide variety of spiritual experiences of which we may be able to make sense or not. Some meditators like to place these experiences into a religious form of language and some like to leave descriptions out altogether. It is not always easy to tell whether an unusual experience is deep and profound, or simply a passing event in consciousness. What matters is not necessarily the quality of the experience, itself, but the understanding that emerges out of it. 

Although the experience itself will fade away, it does not mean to say the benefit from the experience also fades as well. Certain experiences change the direction of our life or give deep renewal and support for dedicated action. Our meditation practice, including working with difficulties and inner transformation, contribute to enlightening our life. There is much for us to discover and realise about our life in this world. Our heart and mind act as a wonderful resource for clarity and understanding. Meditation enables us to discover the full potential of our inner life and to live with integrity, happiness and creative expression. It is the totality of our daily life that shows how deep our inner transformation.

Meditation contributes to a fresh sense of what it means to be alive and alert to daily life. The benefits of meditation help us find genuine fulfilment as a human being, and the regular practice of meditation sheds light on enlightenment. This includes:

1. Realisation of the Immeasurable Truth that embraces diversity and unity, sameness and evolution, relativity and absolutism.
2. A heart filled with deep friendship and love for all.
3. Understanding the conditions for suffering. 
4. Respect and application of teachings that honour ethics, meditation and wisdom.
5. Daily experience of a free mind and generosity of spirit.
6. Happiness, kindness, humour and noticeable absence of suffering.

May all beings live with awareness
May all beings live with insight
May all beings realise an enlightened life