Milarepa Journal |
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The
way to accomplish a great endeavor
An Interview with Kiran Bedi • Voices from the Inside • Dear Abhi • News
_________________________________________________ Dear AbhiDear Abhi, Can you please advise me on my meditation? I have been working very hard at trying to attain peacefulness. I try to empty my mind of all thoughts and focus very one-pointedly on my breath. Then I see strange colors, and the floor in front of me shifts – sometimes I feel like I'm in a tunnel. What do you think about this? Abhi: I'm glad you shared your meditation experience with me. It’s not particularly a problem, and not particularly special either. The shamatha practice in which we train is called "resting the mind." That is what we should do – rest the mind. If we concentrate or focus too hard, all kinds of things could start popping up in our minds. That doesn't necessarily mean our experiences are profound, or some expression of ultimate truth, but it could be that we've just been working our mind too hard and not allowing it to rest in its natural state. The natural state of our mind is not all the discursive thought and emotional upheavals that we experience constantly, but rather a state of simplicity, wisdom, and warmth. By training in the meditation technique given to us by the Buddha, which is simply to come back over and over again to the breathing, we may be able to glimpse natural mind. If we have some kind of fascinating experience, so what? It's just experience. If we have some kind of painful or bad experience, so what? It's just experience. It all passes. It is not fundamentally our original state, although our original state is found within the ups and downs of daily life. We have different experiences in our practice, but it's very important that we not try to create or manufacture them. To do so would simply be just another thought and merely give vehicle to our preconceptions and/or expectations. We should let these experiences go and settle the mind by returning again and again to the breathing.
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