Awakening the Buddha Within _ Eight Steps to Enlightenment - Lama Surya Das [145]
Through meditation, we come to know that we are not our thoughts. As we develop what is often referred to as “a steady mind,” our thoughts lose the power to upset us or throw us topsy-turvy. We learn that we have a life apart from our thoughts. We are not what we think. We create our thoughts and we are responsible for our thoughts, but we are not limited by them or enslaved by the thinking process.
In meditation, we simply watch and become aware of our thoughts as they arise. We label them as “thinking.” But we are not controlled by them. And we don’t judge them. If, for example, you have an angry, mean thought about another person, you don’t have to tell yourself, “I’m an angry, mean person.” We all have all kinds of wild thoughts, but that doesn’t mean we must be defined by them.
In meditation, we also make a point of not building upon our thoughts or feelings. Let’s say your mean thought was, “I wish so-and-so would get fired.” There is no need to follow up the thought with scenarios on how this firing might take place. If you think, “Gee, I was a nice person for giving Dolores a ride,” why follow that up with further back-pats? Just be aware of the thought, and then let it go. In meditation we mind our mind, so we can better know ourselves, so we can be true to ourselves. We don’t hang on to our thoughts, or use our thoughts to manipulate what is taking place.
Think of each of your thoughts as a wave on the ocean of awareness. No matter how large or outlandish your waves, the boundless ocean retains its essential quality. The ocean of awareness never leaves its bed, no matter what kind of waves are moving along the surface. That’s why in Dzogchen we say thoughts are the mind’s adornments, or creative displays. In meditation, as thought waves ripple on the surface, we keep returning to the deeper ocean, which some people would call God or inner light. Meditation is a soulful exercise that helps bring us home to that light that we call Buddha-nature, the natural mind, or the Buddha within.
Sometimes when we first start meditation practice, we seem to be swamped with even more thoughts and feelings than usual. The fact is that they are always there. Meditation helps us be more aware of what is always there. Daniel Goleman writes, “Self-awareness—recognizing a feeling as it happens—is the keystone of emotional intelligence.” In Buddhist psychology, thoughts are considered one of the six sensory fields. Thoughts are objects of the mind, just as sights are objects of the eyes, and sounds are objects of the ear or auditory system. In meditation, we observe all these phenomena in the same way. We notice, we label, we let them go, as we keep going back to our deeper nature, the natural mind. We let everything slide without sticking, off of our Teflon brain pan.
Let’s take the following simple example.
MEDITATION WITH MOSQUITO
You are meditating. Breathing in. Breathing out. Minding your own business. Suddenly there is a buzzing near your right ear. You think, “Oh no, mosquito on right ear.”
Meditation is being aware of whatever is. So at that moment, your meditation could simply become awareness of buzzing. The buzzing is not an interruption, unless you allow it to become one by becoming overly involved in it. Distraction would be carrying you away if you turned to see what the buzzing is all about. But if you are meditating, you know that it’s just buzzing. It’s simply a vibration in your eardrum. Buzzzz …
Should you do anything about the buzzing? What can you do about the buzzing? Mindful awareness provides you with more space to choose your response or lack of response. In that moment, in that space where you are simply aware of nothing but pure and simple buzzing, you find pristine