My Experience of Buddhist Mindful Meditation - Essay Example

Buddhist Mindful Meditation: My Experience In order to understand my experience one has to understand my belief of meditation. My understanding or belief of meditation has always been to think deeply about a matter. Usually this thinking deeply, this meditation should help me either be at ease about a situation or solve the situation. The funny thing is my thoughts start out on the issue but soon are distracted by words used to describe the issue. One word can trigger a thought away from the original intent.

This well-meaning meditation has turned into a world-wind of problems leaving me more frustrated sometimes than before. The frustration doesn’t always happen sometimes falling asleep will occur through the exhaustion of thinking about the issue. Meditation is not an art to me it is a task. Meditation is not a way of life for me it’s an emergency. Meditation is a cry for help. Meditation is a deep stare into a blissful world of take me away. Meditation is so many things that take up a lot of time but accomplish nothing.

Meditation is a way of making me feel as though I’m still trying in a lost cause. Meditation is recommended by so many using the words ‘just take some time to think on it’. Meditation has been around for years yet only a few groups use it as a way of life. ‘A way of life’ is a strong statement. To speak of one’s way of life is to speak of the rules or guidelines one has set to live by. In the instance of the Buddhist, meditation is a strong guide in life. Buddhist meditation is a way of directing one’s thoughts to be at peace with oneself and others.

Buddhist meditation can be described as the art, the very essence of a Buddhist’s life. Thinking as a Buddhist, adopting their concept of life, using meditation put me in a totally different frame of mind. I had to change my view of meditation from last resort to first resort. Meditation changed for this exercise from an insignificant part of life to life’s guiding light. In order for something to guide my life and for me to follow there must be consistency, reliability and a proven success rate.

Engaging into the materials provided to me as well as extra research, Buddhist mindful meditation has been consistent, reliable and successful in the life of a devout Buddhist. My approach to this exercise then became more of an interest than a task.Preparation for this exercise following the advice of Ting Chen in The Fundamentals of Meditation Practice “Find an uncluttered, well ventilated (non-drafty), quiet place where you can sit undisturbed on a regular schedule” (19) is where I began.

Next I had to examine the clothing I was wearing. Nothing that would make me uncomfortable in any way should accompany me on my experience. Next was the proper posture. According to Buddhist Scholar Cheng Wei-an in Taming the Monkey Mind A Guide to Pure Land Practice “The body has a strong influence on the mind” (17) Next breathing, counting my breaths wasn’t as difficult as I imagined although I began to become a little restless or I should say anxious to begin the next step. Next regulating my mind to focus on one point, dismissing all other distractions immediately was the most difficult.

I found myself concentrating on trying to stay focused instead of focusing on the one issue I chose to focus on. I began to realize I was my number one distraction. I allowed anxiety and frustration into a haven of supposed focus. I had to close the door to distraction and open it to a new experience. Five minutes of mindful meditation equaled a total of about a minute if even that of the actual exercise. Although mindful meditation will not be adopted into my life on a regular basis I believe after this experience the process may be helpful in controlling and focusing my thoughts.

Works CitedWei-an, Cheng. “Regulating the body during Buddha Recitation.” Taming the Monkey Mind A Guide to Pure Land Practice. English ed. Ed. Dharma Master Suddhisukha. Sutra Translation Committee of the U.S. and Canada: New York, 2000. 1-146. Print.Chen, Ting. “Preparing for Meditation.” The Fundamentals of Meditation Practice. English ed. Ed. Sam Landberg & Dr. Frank G. French. Sutra Translation Committee of the U.S. and Canada: New York, 1999. 1-182. Print.