Why Meditate?

Here is an excerpt from a marvelous piece of writing I have found.

"There is a story regarding the Buddha which recounts how he once gave teaching to a famous sitar player who wanted to study meditation. The musician asked, "Should I control my mind or should I completely let go?" The Buddha answered, "Since you are a great musician, tell me how you would tune the strings of your instrument." The musician said, "I would make them not too tight and not too loose." "Likewise," said the Buddha, "in you meditation practice you should not impose anything too forcefully on your mind, nor should you let it wander." That is the teaching of letting the mind be in a very open way, of feeling the flow of energy without trying
to subdue it and without letting it get out of control, of going with the energy pattern of the mind. This is meditation practice." ( It was written by Chogyam Trungpa and you can find it here )

Meditation is a way of finding the minds quiet place. I used to think that it was a magical way of getting rid of unwanted thoughts and emotions that used to plague me. You know, those ones that take over. You watch, seemingly from the sidelines as you take steps and make actions that later leave you thinking: 'What have i done?!' In fact, it is not a way of stopping the mind. Nor is it a way of stopping the emotions. It is simply letting it be.

I have found the most amazing thing through my daily meditations. I have this ability to stand back from myself and watch. Buddhism teaches that the first three steps of the eightfold path involve actions: Right Thought, Right Action and Right Speech. Through meditation I have been able to remove a part of myself from the active process and stand to the side as a form of observer for my actions, talks and thoughts.

If your anything like me, you'll find meditation to be tiring sometimes. I guess the reason I am so tired is I let myself stand back and watch my mind as it runs through a billion scenarios and my emotions as I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders and this is what I used to feel everyday.

Meditation is not about letting go and it is not about controlling it. It is about observing the minds movements. Seeing the thoughts come up on the screen of your mind, seeing it and letting it just be. By letting it be often I can see it leave. I don't hold on to it; that serves me no purpose. But i do, in my mind comment on it before it goes. I do the same with emotions.

My process for meditation is:
*Sit on my cushions. Align my posture correctly.
*Light Two candles.
*Rest my hands gently on my thighs.
*Allow my gaze to lose focus and just sit.
*focus my attention on my breathing.

Some meditation types call for closing eyes. To be honest? There is really no right or wrong way there is simply the way that works for you. The only thing that is stressed is posture. By having a straight back with softly curved lumbar, you allow the mind to uphold the same sense of strength. It takes effort and discipline to meditate and what better place to start then with your posture!

As I focus on my breathing I start to see the reel that all my thoughts show up on that I watch on a day to day basis. And i slowly let it fall away. When my emotions begin to play havoc I feel them rising from the pit of my stomach and I often ask myself: "What is this? Where did this come from? What are you about?" and often the emotion will reveal itself to me. I will look at it sit with it. As one of my problems in day to day life is feeling emotions correctly I will always just sit with it and FEEL whatever it is I am feeling. Sometimes its sadness and on a number of occasions as I am sitting there tears will begin to fall. I don't stop them, I don't stop meditation to wipe the tears away. I simple let them fall for as long as the emotion is there but usually the emotion leaves, as everything does, and the tears stop falling.

I guess what I'm trying to say meditation is one of the key points in Buddhism. It allows for the ego to begin to fall away so that we may see the emptiness of ourselves. This emptiness? I will go over at a later date.