Meditation

Meditation

We all think if we could practice dharma. We also have strong intention of doing meditation. But in this busy life, we say we don’t have free time to do meditation and practice dharma. Infact, do we really don’t have the free time to do meditation and practice dharma?

Last week I went to Mysore by a public bus for some work. After someday, again I had to go Mysore by a taxi. In this way, some parts of our lives are spent by travelling here and there. From Namdroling Monastery to Mysore, it takes around two and half hours by bus and it takes almost two hours by taxi.  While travelling in the bus, I didn’t have any specific busyness on my body and speech. That’s why I felt like I got the best time to think relaxedly. Usually, it’s very rare to get this kind of chance to think relaxedly.

During that time, I thought a lot in the essential meaning of Buddhism that I have learned until now. Something that I always consider as the most essential and one of my favourite which I’m capable of doing are the two things: love and compassion. If we summarize in one word and say, it’s called kind heart.

While travelling in the bus, I got a special chance to think precisely about kind heart again and again.  How much have I been kind hearted till now? How much have I experienced the taste of love and kindness? These are some of the biggest questions that I asked myself during that moment.

Until now, for many years I have studied major texts of Buddhist philosophy-sutra and tantra- along with grammar and completed my studies. But in reality, what should we identify love and compassion? And how should we practice it in practical life?

I re-examined again and again on what kind of strength are brought out by kind heart in personal daily life and while practically handling the dharma and monastery.As the four wheels of the bus were rapidly moving continuously, the wheels of my thoughts were also constantly moving at the same time. I entered into that deep and profound essential meaning and reflected. I thought widely from all around and reflected. In brief, I reflected again and again on love, compassion, benevolence, superior intention and so on. Specially, I did accurate calculation on how should I make it possible to experience the complete taste of love, compassion and kind heart in future.

If said in another way, until now my mouth has become a loving and compassionate mouth. But although however I reflected, as my mouth is loving and compassionate, my hands, legs, eyes, ears, stomach, and heart haven’t utterly changed into loving and compassionate hands, loving and compassionate legs, loving and compassionate eyes, loving and compassionate ears, loving and compassionate stomach and loving and compassionate heart. Therefore I wish again and again that may my cold heart devoid of love and compassion becomes an alive heart ripened by love and compassion.

In the essential point, the result of my reflection was that I got this great feeling of only knowing love and compassion but not being the person who has experienced the taste of love and compassion and only knowing Buddhism but not being the Buddhist who has experienced the taste of Buddhism.

In the bus, I leaned my head and back on the seat. While my eyes were looking at outer scenery, my heart was reflecting again and again on love and compassion. We can consider this as a meditation and practice of love and compassion. Not only that, moreover it is also a way of doing meditation with three doors relaxedly. When we say do meditation, there is no compulsory to stay in sevenfold posture of Vairochana. There is no certainty that we should blink and bulge our eyes either. For meditation place, it isn’t compulsory to be only a temple, retreat center, mountain place and so on.

To speak the truth, reflecting profoundly and extensively about the essence of Buddhism again and again is itself the practice of Buddhism. When we say meditate love and compassion, it is reflecting on love and compassion. No one has said the way of meditating love and compassion other than this.

While travelling in a vehicle, we can think relaxedly about love and compassion. Even while walking up and down we can think over love and compassion. Even while sleeping in a bed relaxedly with two legs stretched out, putting two hands at the back of neck, we can do discussion of thoughts on love and compassion. Moreover, even when we are having food, while doing excrement and so on, we have chances to reflect about love and compassion according to our time.

I consider those as the best time to meditate in our busy lives. Other than this, if we had to take out time separately to meditate, meditation with an essential meaning would be very difficult. If we do not stick with the way of meditating Buddhism by closing all sense doors and sitting in a posture persistently like embracing death and corpse, we will be able to find lots of time to meditate on Buddhism. In every single day of our life, we naturally have spare time to practice dharma mentally. If genuine practice of Buddhism occurs by mind, we wouldn’t need to worry about body and speech because they are its followers.

While travelling in a vehicle for more than two hours, even though I couldn’t reflect on love and compassion for the whole two hours, overall I reflected about it for around thirty minutes of that time. Although it may not happen in that way, even for just ten minutes is also good.

At that moment in my feeling, I thought every year we have to go to Bodh Gaya to attend Nyingma Monlam by travelling in an ordinary train for 2 or 3 days and nights, there is no special work and we meet different people as well and I thought that is the best time to practice not just only love and compassion but the whole Buddhism.

Moreover, we can see non small scenery of samsara at all times inside a train of the independent country India. We can see old men and women who can’t get up properly though they depend on a stick, skinny lean patient who are stricken by chronic illness and medical attendant, young men and women whose body of youth are fully grown and are beautifully put up with different kinds of ornaments and attire, male and female scholars who stays without keeping away their two hands and eyes from books, foolish boys and girls who do not even know how to look for their own seat number inside a train, male and female beggars who are legless, armless and uncertain of filling up even their empty stomach daily and neuter gender which is explained in our scriptural texts but are usually rare to see. Even the amazing ways the neuter genders beg by having no shyness and shame become objects of our direct senses. We can see varieties of live movies of samsara like those and so on.  If it is a soldier, it is like reaching a battlefield. If spoken in terms of us, who are studying Buddhism education, we have reached in a small battlefield of Buddha dharma.

If someone says that one is meditating Buddha dharma and practicing it by staying in a monastery and mountain, as well as by sitting in one’s square room, it is merely giving a name of fruition to the cause. Those are indeed just the training and preparation of Buddha dharma practice and meditation. It is like a soldier doing military training in a military camp.

If we thought thoroughly in these ways, we would realize, it isn’t that we don’t have time to meditate and practice. I got a deep feeling that these moments of travelling in a vehicle and train and so on are the best times for doing meditation. Thank you.

I, Drong Ngur Choje wrote this in my room at Ngagyur Nyingma Institute teachers’ quarter on 21^st July 2014.

I have written down a true fact in words, aiming for the base of analysis for all readers. May it be virtuous!

Translated By Thinley Chonzom and Sonam Dolma