shy's journal

Meditation

Outline

Meditation

As mentioned in Part 2.1a, meditation is habituating the mind to positive states of being.

Meditation can be classified into two types: stabilizing (samatha), or analytical (vipassanā).1 I think of samatha as "calming the mind" and preparing the mind, for vipassanā to "see things clearly" and develop insight.2 Both are practiced in tandem.

Meditating helps me rest the mind.

When does the mind rest? When we're asleep? We know that's not true. When I sleep, my mind is still running round and round, and then I wake up tired. But when I meditate–clearing my mind by focusing on my breath, holding that space for a long time–my mind feels calm and much more at ease. Then, I open my eyes feeling well-rested3. I meditate to rest my mind. To me, this is samatha.

Meditating helps me inhabit more positive states of mind, which then positively changes my life.

People often ask me how I meditate. Besides focusing on my breath, I like meditating on the four immeasurables, which cultivates these mental states:

I think of them as:

The practice of the four immeasurables is to think these thoughts:

  1. first to yourself (e.g. "I wish for my own happiness and well-being"),
  2. then to loved ones,
  3. to people you feel neutral about,
  4. to people you don't like so much,
  5. and finally to all beings.

You embody those thoughts and pause before moving to your next audience. It was quite trippy when I started wishing goodwill and such to coworkers who'd been frustrating me. And my inter-personal relationships with them improved! Because I felt much more positive about them afterwards 🥰.

Meditation develops insight

If there's something I've learnt about Buddhist monastics after living with them for a week, it's that they really care about seeing into the reality of things. Meditating on things with a clear and calm mind helps reveal things as they are.

This insight is important as a cause of suffering is not seeing things clearly. For instance, we develop attachments to impermanent things and feel anguish when they fade. Meditating on impermanence or dependent origination is also something I do frequently. I will dive more into this as I talk about Buddhist worldviews in Part 2.2.

Closing thoughts

I meditate daily, and have been going strong for about six months now. Meditation has definitely been a big pillar of my mental health. If you think about it, you're dedicating time each day to habituate to positive states of mind! I started out using Headspace, before outgrowing it and then doing meditations on my own.

Where to start

If you're starting out, I recommend guided meditations. I like these guided meditations by Thānissaro Bhikkhu, particularly Metta (one of the four immeasurables) and Breath (with steps for leaving meditation). Alternatively, search on YouTube! I love this meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh.

How to keep going

I really love meditation as a practice, so I'd love for you to see the joys of this practice too. On days I felt unmotivated, one way I kept going was listening to some short (morning) Dhamma talks by Thānissaro Bhikkhu as I woke up. They were about 2-3 minutes each, so I chose one randomly. By the time I finished a short talk, I would feel pretty inspired to get out of bed and start meditating.

I hope you'd give it a try! If we're friends, you know I'd always be open to doing a meditation session together with you :) ❤️


(See Part 2.1d - bonus!)

  1. See samatha-vipassanā.↩

  2. Analytical meditation is also sometimes called insight meditation.↩

  3. I often meditate right when I wake up in the morning so that I feel well-rested before I start the day.↩