Lunchtime Meditation

Today's class and meditation was based on selfishness. 

In the buddhist tradition, it is called self-cherishing, it is this notion of being more important than any other living being. It is as if our suffering is more important than any others. Our teacher today mentioned our "disrespect" to animals and insects too. Why are we more important? She mentioned how we have treated the Earth and one another, because of this self-cherishing and how its been destructive. Who would we be if we weren't so self-cherishing? How might our world be different?

It is so true. 

I liked the clarification of the meditation posture. Three things to remember.

The hands - The left hand representing wisdom, the right representing love and compassion. With thumbs touching, they all work together. A triune form of existing. Always a balance, never too much of one without the temperament of the other. 

The spine - straight but not tense. A buoyancy between the chakras (like "wheels" in sanskrit) to help the energy and inspiration flow throughout the body. Helps with the concentration. 

The eyes - slightly closed, looking down the bridge of the nose. Also helping with concentration. Avoiding the distracted mind, and basically falling asleep. 

The first meditation..

Was focused on breathing out a thick dark smoke resembling of all our worries, stresses, etc being released and never to be seen again. 

When we would breath in, we would imagine a radiate white light spilling over us from the crown of our heads full of inspiration. 

The second meditation.. 

We brought to our attention someone we have a difficult time with and focus on a virtuous thought. 

I really enjoy the idea of meditation and how our teacher explained it. 

It is us controlling our minds by focusing on a virtuous object/person/place/or thing. 

Anything else is a delusion, and a mind of some type of negativity. 

We talked about karma today too, made me think of karma differently too. 

Karma, is in my opinion a lot like the "second arrow."

When we experience an event, and depending on what lens we have on... we then create suffering. When something happens, if we quickly move toward having a mind of "jealous" or "anger" we then suffer. Without pausing, and or the practice of meditation, we suffer again and again. Learning to control the mind is the only way for inner peace and happiness. 

Reminds me of the time, that same teacher said that there is no problem, despite what happens, until we create a problem. A problem is created when we decide it is a problem. Otherwise.. it wouldn't be there. It wouldn't exist. There would be no suffering. What lens do we have on? What "mind" are we prisoner to?

In essence, our poisoned unvirtuous mind causes our own suffering. We do this to ourselves. 

When we can train it to think virtuously, whatever things happen to us, we can have inner peace and be ok no matter what comes.

My goal, among many others, is to respond spontaneously in a virtuous way rather than in a form that will make us suffer. 

Who would we be, and how would we feel if we didn't feel threatened, afraid, angry when something happens and rubs us the wrong way? Who would we be if we responded in a way that comes from a virtuous place?

Happiness is an inside job. 

Train your mind. I'm learning about training mine through meditation. Worth it.

Training your mind is the only way.