Monday, August 6, 2018

Protection on the Path

     Practicing morality & generosity is traditionally required in preparation, before learning meditation.
     We used to refer to such personal reserves of non-material wealth as "character." If we had earned a lot of it, we knew that we were "rock solid" ie stable & dependable, no matter how rough & chaotic things got.
     Today, morality & generosity are rarely even mentioned before or during secular meditation courses such as MBSR, even though they facilitate meditation practice and serve important protective functions. 
 
"The perfume of sandalwood,
the scent of rosebay and jasmine,
travel only as far as the wind.
But the fragrance of goodness
travels with us
through all the worlds.
Like garlands woven from a heap
of flowers,
fashion your life
as a garland of beautiful deeds."          Buddha 

     In addition to morality & generosity, years of dedicated meditation practice provide even more stability that further protects us from becoming lost within some of the challenging realms that we may encounter in meditation. We thus have a much better chance (*** see Treleaven's book below ***) of remaining absolutely clear about what’s happening, so that the ultimate dimension of our consciousness is never pulled into & gets lost in a chaotic realm, even when we may be right in the middle of it. 
     One of the most important things about our practice is that we start to discover inside ourselves a resource of stability - and that’s really important. That’s part of what meditation is about.         Adyashanti

     If you're a meditator, whether or not you're aware of ever having had significant trauma, whether or not you teach meditation, I highly recommend this new, well-written, important book:
David A. Treleaven. “Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness. Practices for Safe and Transformative Healing.” W.W. Norton & Company, 2018.





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