In Manila and in the Philippines, meditation is getting popular nowadays. It looks relaxing, a solution to our frantic minds. So, it is becoming in demand. For those who come to a Tibetan Buddhist temple, many wonder why this kind of meditation is not taught as widely as it should be.
Is meditation only to feel good and calm?
The Word ‘Meditation’
The closest Tibetan word for “meditation” is “Gom”. It means to “make a habit”. To meditate means to produce a change in our behavior and our minds within a certain timeframe.
- The change should be something ‘towards virtue’, ‘towards goodness and peace’.
- The timeframe is a little more long-term. It cannot happen within a day, a month or few months.
Ideally, it should aim for the mind ‘that is completely purified of all emotional afflictions and Karma’. That is the Buddha’s mind.
To meditate means to produce a change in our behavior and our mind within a certain time frame.
Motivation
There are so many forms of meditation nowadays. It may be the popular way, but it is not necessarily correct.
A large part that affects our meditation practice is our motivation. In formal Buddhist term, it is called view. Do we meditate just to feel relaxed, calm, good, looking peaceful? Do we meditate to de-stress?
In Tibetan Buddhism, the motivation or view is much deeper.
Samsara, Merit And Karma
To properly meditate, at least we must understand Samsara, Merit and Karma. These are big concepts in Buddhism. Without them, our meditation practice will be shallow.
To explain briefly, Samsara is the never-ending cycle of suffering. It is created by our deep-seated and many negative Karma. Merit is the antidote to negative Karma. By “meditating”, we gradually purify negative Karma and accumulate merit.
In other words, the main source of Samsara is our negative Karma. Karma comes from emotional afflictions, which come from our strong self-grasping or pride. Merit decreases our emotional afflictions and self-grasping. Meditation is to purify our negative Karma and accumulate merit.
This is the unique Buddhist concept taught by the Lord Buddha in the hundreds of Sutras.
A Strong and Unshakable Foundation
Before doing any meditation, we need a strong foundation. We must strive for a strong and virtuous view or motivation before learning “meditation”.
For example, we come to a temple. Then we ask the head monk,
“Can I learn meditation?”
What if he says,
“Please study and restudy Karma, merit, discipline, emotional afflictions and Samsara first. Then, I will teach you meditation.”
We will think that the monk wants to convert us to Buddhism!
It is like a 5-year old asking for teachings on Biochemistry. Before learning that topic, the child must know how to read, write, do algebra, memorize the periodic table and use the calculator. This is also how it is in Buddhism.
He was asked to teach ” meditation”. So, he needs us to set the proper foundation. It is like a 5-year old asking for teachings on Biochemistry. Before learning that topic, the child must know how to read, write, do algebra, memorize the periodic table and use the calculator. Only afterwards can he benefit from Biochemistry.
Similarly, in Buddhism, that strong foundation requires years to take root, develop and become a habit for us. This strong foundation will make meditation truly beneficial for us in the long-term.
Getting Our Speech and Actions Involved
Also, we do not only do meditations which involve our minds. We also involve our speech and actions.
Meditation involves more than just the popular ‘sitting meditation’. Real Meditation is a constant struggle with our pride, wrong views and emotional afflictions.
We also involve our speech and actions throughout the day. For instance, we will sleep a little earlier instead of checking our social media feeds continuously. Also, we may come to the temple on Saturday rather than gossip with our friends over coffee.
Slowly, we are starting to apply discipline to our minds, speech and actions. Together, we are decreasing negative Karma of mind, speech and actions.
Meditation during Prayer Ceremony
Offering as a source of merit
During the prayer ceremonies, some people complain, “Silent meditation is better than these foreign chanting and rituals”
During prayer, we are focusing our minds on the prayer and its activities – such as inviting the Buddhas to take their seats, praising the Buddhas, confessing to the Buddhas, offering to the Buddhas, visualizing the Buddha’s form and so on.
This is a form of meditation. More importantly, our meditation is focused on extreme virtue. The object of our meditation is the Buddha and his teachings.
Merit and Karma as Initial Obstacles
Because of our strong materialistic minds nowadays, we find it difficult to believe in things that we cannot see or count.
Some might think, “Karma? Merit? These are outdated beliefs!” These concepts we always doubt.
However, when our emotions, desires and anger arise and control our minds, we always believe in them! We always fall for them! We want to be affected by our emotional highs and lows. These we never doubt.
Without understanding Samsara, Karma and Merit deeply, we will tend to use meditation for selfish purposes. Deepening our understanding of emotions, pride, Karma, merit and liberation will make our meditation practice truly beneficial for us in the long-term.
Narrow Expectations
There is a saying that goes,
“A Buddhist teaching is ‘good’ if it fits our expectations. If it does not fit our expectation, it is ‘bad'”.
In other words, our expectations of Buddhism (even if they are wrong expectations) will affect how we will benefit from it. If we only hear what we want to hear, we will miss the ‘real meditation’.
Female Buddha: Green Tara
For example, some visitors ask for a Buddha’s mantra that they can chant. So, they are given Green Tara’s mantra. After three months, they request for another mantra. Maybe, Green Tara’s mantra is not for them.
This is a holy mantra. The Buddha and his or her name is one and the same. All Buddhas are equal in their omniscience, compassion and blessing. If we only accept the methods that fit our expectations, then, it will be difficult to benefit from Buddhist practices.
Buddhist practice is not just about “de-stressing” or “relaxing” our minds. As we are liberated more from Samsara, we are slowly attaining permanent relaxation.
Conclusion
Meditation in Tibetan Buddhism is “habit-making”. Hence, it is not just limited to sitting or breathing meditation. The habit should be towards virtue and purification of negative Karma.
As we know, the strongest habits are the ones that take years to develop. When we learn meditation in Buddhism, the phrase that should stick to our head is to develop a solid foundation.
In the meantime, we can try to examine our motivations and expectations when it comes to meditation.
We need to adopt the correct motivation and a long-term view. The motivation is to purify negative Karma, accumulate merit to abandon Samsara.
For the results of our meditation, we should observe not our external appearances or dispositions, but the lasting and improved quality of our minds.