The Art of Meditation

In the last month or so, as I have resumed my daily meditation practice, I have also been looking for reading about meditation. One of the books my local library had to offer was “The Art of Meditation” by Matthieu Ricard. The author is a Buddhist monk who left a career in cellular genetics in order to practice Buddhism in the Himalayas.

The book is an enjoyable account of Buddhist mediation. The Buddhists distinguish between mediation with an object (Shamatha) and introspective meditation (Vipassana or Vipashyana). The first aims to still the mind, the second to gain insight into its workings. Stilling the mind is a prerequisite of successful introspection. I believe introspective meditation  is what some yogis call “witnessing” - letting ones toughs and emotions come and go, while the mind acknowledges them as an objective judge. It occurs naturally during object-focused meditation and the two are often practised together as one technique.

Although I have no plans to focus on introspective mediation as a separate technique from my mantra-focused routine, I have found the chapter about introspection thoroughly enjoyable. I particularly liked the river metaphor as an analogy for the ego. It goes like this:  What gives a river its identity? Is it the water that flows through it? No, because the water changes with every hour and week that passes. Is it the river bed or the shape of its banks? Take the water away and the river bed becomes a stretch of land. In the same way, our ego has no tangible identity or definition. It feeds on memories of the past and anticipations of the future. It either dwells on past triumphs and failures or sets itself up as a victim.

“We are not this ego [..] Our most fundamental level of experience is pure awareness”. Abandon grasping onto your ego, cease to identify with it, urges Ricard, and you will find complete inner freedom. Then you will be able to relate to everybody you meet with candour, “goodwill, courage and serenity. Having nothing to gain and nothing to lose, we are free to give and receive everything.”

I guess the river analogy resonates so strongly with me because I have just started to be more aware of the workings of my own ego. When I began practising yoga, back in my early twenties, my ego  appropriated the benefits of my practice – bags of energy, self confidence and feeling happy all the time. I could not be more wrong – as my practice dwindled, the benefits slowly faded away.  I am now approaching yoga again in a very different spirit.  I know very well that I am, at best, just an honoured vessel.