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MEDITATION
Why Meditate?
Compassion and the other qualities of warriorship naturally arise, because when we appreciate ourselves, we appreciate others too, because now we know what it is to be a human being, and we know what to do. We know what to appreciate, we know what to look for, and we begin to understand what is needed in the situations we have.
This form of meditation is not particular to Shambhala alone. It is common to other cultures and traditions. Shambhala borrows its meditation doctrine from the Buddhist tradition. The foundation is mindfulness, which is acceptance, peace.
First of all we are trying to understand our body, and understand how our mind works. The view is that mindfulness is intrinsic —it is natural to be fully and straightforwardly present. So the practice is to bring our mind fully here, 100%, pressed against the world as we lift a cup, brush our hair, form sounds with our throat, speak —anything, any activity or perception. The practice is to be fully mindful of the details of everything we do, to be present immediately as much as we can, so that mind is synchronized with the body. We are mindful of thinking, mindful of our gestures, mindful when we're angry, mindful when we're restless or happy. There is no picking and choosing, but simply we are being with ourselves 24 hours a day in an unbiased way, without judgment, as much as we can.
This is a practice of settling down, becoming at peace, letting things come up and evolve naturally without very much concept. The present situation is what is important. Mindfulness cultivates our inner strength by being able to slow down and be with what's happening.
Mindfulness is the development of peace, because we are simply mindful of our tendencies, and then we relax with that. So peace means settling down, calming down, not making distinctions. Just beginning to appreciate, feel, see and experience very clearly and very tactually, everything that happens to us. Just simply be. We pay attention to all the intricacies of how we move, what we feel, what we say, how we behave, all the details of our life. We slow down and see things very clearly as they are.
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