Being a witness - some key
guidelines to help your meditation
In some of my earlier articles in this series I have
stressed on the need to be a witness of your thoughts and
feelings. Through this we dis-identify with the mind and obtain
some rest from out fretful, anxious selves.
This act can be done at any moment during the day when we
are with ourselves and not fully occupied in our work and other
activities. During our hours of meditation, of course, we are
necessarily involved in being a witness.
A simple but powerful method is as follows:-
Simply acknowledge your thoughts and feelings as they arise
within you. Anchor yourself in the present moment by
simultaneously being aware of your in breath and out breath.
For example: “I am breathing in and am aware of a pleasant
sensation.” Or “I am breathing out and am aware of a sad
sensation.” Or “I am breathing in and am aware of a neutral
feeling”
It may be noted that in Buddhist Philosophy feelings are
categorized as pleasant, unpleasant and neutral.
I have learned Vipassana meditation and during the course
Mr. Goenka – the main instructor – compared our minds with a
mischievous monkey. Just as a monkey is forever restless,
jumping about from one object to another, so our minds are
constantly flitting from object to object, from one thought to
another. Thich Nhat Hanh describes the method I described in
the preceding paragraph on acknowledging your thoughts and
feelings like a guard observing and acknowledging all the
visitors to the building whose entrance he is guarding.
But the above analogies contain a contradiction. It arises
because we are not separate from the thoughts and feelings,
which annoy and distress us. When we feel anger, sadness or
irritation we should not push these feelings away. We should
not make off ourselves a battlefield, constantly grappling with
ourselves. If we think of a guard observing and acknowledging
the visitors to a building we get the impression that the guard
is separate from the visitors. We think that our witnessing
pressure is separate from the thoughts and feelings
witnessed.
However we are not separate from our monkey minds, our
witnessing presence is not separate from the thoughts and
feelings witnessed. And we need to recognize this fact and be
one with our thoughts and feelings, observing them
compassionately and not creating a battlefield within
ourselves.
This may seem contradictory to you. On one hand I am asking
you to witness your thoughts and feelings and dis-identify with
the mind. On the other hand I am asking you to be one with your
thoughts, not view them as enemies or adversaries, not to
create a battlefield within yourself. It may seem to you that
it is impossible to do both together. Yet it is not only
possible but is also surprisingly easy.
Life is full of contradictions. As Shakespeare said “There
are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamed of in your
philosophy”.
One method of both witnessing your thoughts as well as being
one with them is to observe your thoughts without reacting. If
you react observe the reaction without reacting. This is a 3
step method:
1. Welcome the thought or feelings into your awareness. 2.
Observe the same without reacting. 3. Let go of the thought or
feeling and bring your attention back to the breath, or back to
your meditation practice.
Another way to think of this process is that we are
surrendering to whatsoever thoughts and feelings that are
arising. There is a famous text from the Bible, “Lord, let thy
will and not mine be done”. We need some of this attitude of
surrender as we approach our meditation practice.
If you follow my above instructions you will find it
surprisingly easy to meditate for longer and longer periods of
time. There was a time when meditation for even half an hour
was a huge effort for me. But now within just 4 months I find
that I can meditate for an hour at a stretch and feel happy and
peaceful. I do not need to add that following these methods in
your day-to-day life will also bring immense benefits to
you.
I hope you enjoyed this article and that it will be useful
to you.
If you have any comments or question please visit
The Eastern Philosophy Blog and post them. I promise to
reply as promptly as I can.
Stay tuned for more articles in this continuing series.
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