Words From The Master - 07 March 2008

Towards Meditative Living

Q. Isn’t meditation also a doing?

A. In the beginning, yes. Even to sit silently is to do something. Even to watch your breath is to do something. In fact, in the beginning, meditation may seem more like a
doing than anything else – because you are doing something that is not natural to you.

Even when you are doing something perfectly natural – like just sitting, it can seem like an effort when it is formally imposed upon you.

Do you know, there is a Zen meditation technique called just sitting? But even there, participants struggle to achieve!

Yes, at the start, it is definitely going to be an effort. But in a deeper sense, meditation is not a doing – because when you do it the right way, when you really succeed in meditating, all effort disappears.

When you become totally relaxed, when you stop trying to achieve results, when you simply enjoy the meditation, you will gradually stop even being aware that you are meditating.

Then it will no longer be a doing!

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: "Meditation is for You" -- an introduction to the science and art of meditation