Meditation isn’t about turning off the mind and not paying attention to your thoughts. I believe there is a widespread misconception that when we meditate that we’re supposed just to sit and zone out. This misconception is particularly the case when it comes to sitting with difficult feelings and thoughts. When painful feelings arise, how often do you sit and meditate on those feelings?
If I’m completely honest with myself, I don’t sit down with every painful emotion as it arises. I mean who wants to sit with pain? However, there are significant benefits to be found when we do sit down and contemplate unpleasant feelings and the negative states of mind like anger, jealousy, deluded pride and so forth that cause us so much suffering.
One of Buddha’s oldest teachings is that of the Four Noble Truths, and it’s a beautiful teaching. In the Four Noble Truths, Buddha reminds us that we as human beings have a unique opportunity to work with non-virtuous states of mind as they arise and transform them into the spiritual path. This opportunity is not afforded to animals or other beings here on earth, so we must take advantage of this right set of circumstances to cultivate a peaceful mind.
In the Four Noble Truths, Buddha says:
1. You should know sufferings
2. You should abandon origins
3. You should attain cessations
4. You should practice the path
Let’s dig a bit deeper.
You should know sufferings
To begin working with difficult feelings and emotions, we first have to understand that our mental states are our responsibility. When Buddha says, “You should know sufferings,” this isn’t meant to scare us away or to seem like a punishment of sorts, it’s intended to be a motivator. Once we agree to take responsibility for our mind, we can begin our journey to experiencing genuine relief.
Deciding to take responsibility for our states of mind is often easier said than done because again, it isn’t a pleasure to sit with these emotions. Since we are beings in the desire realm, we often only seek out pleasurable experiences. However, we must sit with the suffering. We have to make a mental determination to work with unpleasant feelings and then apply effort to practicing cultivating states of inner peace.
Remember we as humans have a unique opportunity to transform problems into a spiritual path. Now is our chance to put it into practice! If not now, when?
You should abandon origins and attain cessations
By making the determination to work with unpleasant feelings and putting effort into practice, we naturally develop patience. The power of patience allows us to give our mind and our heart space to act in various situations as opposed to reacting. This space built upon patience is what leads to relief based on wisdom. If we approach difficult situations by continually pushing them away, we don’t experience relief, and it’s only a matter of time until non-virtuous states of mind are triggered.
So, when Buddha says that we should abandon origins and attain cessations, this means that we use our determination to abandon the origins of our unpleasant feelings – or deluded states of mind. The more we sit with these feelings and develop patience, the easier it is to attain cessations or breaks from non-virtuous states of mind.
To develop patience and find genuine relief, we need to practice consistently.
You should practice the path
Naturally, this brings us to the final truth, “You should practice the path.” What is the pathway, what are some practices that we can do to help us meditate on difficult feelings?
To begin with, we can allow ourselves the space to explore these feelings and to not beat ourselves up when uncomfortable feelings arise. By being compassionate with ourselves, we can bring that love into our daily activities. We can remember in all situations, “Am I identifying with a non-virtuous mind of anger, jealousy, etc., or am I identifying with a virtuous mind of peace and love,” then move forward from there.
There is also a particular Buddhist meditation that we can use called the “Meditation on Actions and their Effects.” Here’s how it works.
Contemplation
We begin by contemplating the effects of our actions of body, speech, and mind and how every action we take has an effect on not only ourselves but on those around us. We continue our contemplation by thinking of the benefits of purifying our actions of body, speech, and mind to cultivate inner peace.
The Object of Meditation
After we have repeated the contemplation, we then make a mental determination: “I must purify my actions of body, speech, and mind by engaging in the practice.” We hold this commitment as the object of our meditation and focus on it single-pointedly for as long as we can. If we lose the object of our meditation, we can just return to the contemplation.
When the meditation concludes, we offer any virtue we gained as an offering for all beings to experience inner peace.
Sitting with difficult feelings is a powerful practice that transforms our world from the inside out, especially if we can incorporate the Four Noble Truths. We can know and understand peace and cultivate a compassionate heart, but we must practice and be committed to such a practice. When we continually practice, we naturally bring patience into our daily activities, others begin to notice, and they feel relief too.
I’d like to leave you with this quote:
“Every action we perform leaves an imprint, or potentiality, on our very subtle mind, and each imprint eventually gives rise to its own effect. Our mind is like a field, and performing actions is like sowing seeds in that field. Virtuous actions sow seeds of future happiness and non-virtuous actions sow seeds of future suffering. These seeds remain dormant in our mind until the conditions for them to ripen occur, and then they produce their effect.” – Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche, How to Transform Your Life
Originally appeared on CharlesMinguez.com
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Image: Pixabay
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