Meditation is a tough topic because while I try to practice every day, it is a difficult science. I call meditation a science rather than an art because art is highly subjective. Unlike the faith required by many religions in order to carry out daily observance, the Buddha offers us a practice gleaned via the scientific method. The problem: how to end suffering. Next, he created a hypothesis regarding one’s practice to end suffering (such as extreme asceticism), tested the hypothesis through direct experience, and judged his theory based on the outcome. This adventure of method testing lasted six long, hard years until he reached his Awakening.

The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path are thus his verifiable method (Dhamma) for reaching Enlightenment and thereafter, Nirvana (Nibbana in Pali). How do we go about this process? Meditation.

Remember my lesson from the monks? Meditation is covered in many sutras (discourses by the Buddha), however it really comes down to one thing: mindful awareness. In this way, the Buddha calls us to be clearly aware of the world for what it is. Joe, my parakeet, for example, is a parakeet. But it doesn’t stop there.

The meditation–the path toward Awakening/Enlightenment–is that I reduce Joe to his essence. Joe must become not Joe. First, I must recognize that Joe is not Joe, because I assigned the name Joe to him. A name is a mental fabrication and therefore transient. It will not last. Joe is not Joe. Now, Joe is a bird. Not only is he a bird, he is also blue. But if we relinquish our need to categorize things (which are transient), then we know that blue is simply a perception of certain wavelengths of light. What I see is really clear light. In fact, all we “see” is light. Reality is perception, and perception is what? Transient. This practice carries on until I’ve reduced Joe to nothing other than everything. There is no difference between Joe and myself. We simply are.

Cool. Now that Joe is covered, what’s next? Yeah, my head hurts too, but what this comes down to is releasing our fixation on things. This is where attachment comes in. We are to reduce our thoughts to nonthought, that is, our realities are not conditioned by the automatic compartments our minds associate things with. Because the idea is that we all contain Buddha nature–that quality by which we are Awakened to the real nature of reality.

Now, the real trick is to simply forget what I said and just practice. Why are you staring at me like that? Oh right, because I haven’t shown you how. Easy. The simplest way (and the way the Buddha spoke most about) is focusing on one’s breath. No really, that’s meditation. Okay, okay here’s an example. Yes, it will be harder than it sounds.

1. Inhale, exhale. Focus and repeat 8 times
2. Fill sink to wash dishes (only think about the running water)
3. Get soap
4. Slip dishes into water (focus on how the water feels on your skin.
5. Realize this feeling isn’t real, only a mental projection.
6. Wash said dishes
7. Realize that you are not washing dishes, but washing a dish.
8. Awaken to the idea that nothing else in the world is happening right now except for you washing that dish.
9. Stop thinking about washing that dish.
10. Stop thinking
11. Welcome to Enlightenment.
12. Now sweep the floor.
13. Rinse, lather, repeat.

When your entire existence proceeds this way, you are an Awakened being, because you experience reality exactly as it is and your interactions/emotions/responses with said reality are detached from them. If your kids are screaming, you are calm, because you have the Right Understanding (one of the rungs on the Eightfold Path) that their fit is both caused by ignorance (which is transient) and that the fit itself is temporary. Why attach to temporary phenomena? Why get wrapped up in their struggle with ignorance?

I’ve bugged my wife since this month began to practice sitting meditation (notice the distinction, because every action is a meditation, sitting is just another form) with me in the evening. She insists that she cannot meditate because her mind races too much. That’s like saying you can’t take cold medicine because you have a runny nose. I tried to explain to her that meditation isn’t the pure elimination of spontaneous, subconscious thought, but detachment from said thought.

Picture rush hour on a busy highway. The long line of cars and noise of car horns represents your thoughts. The Buddha gives us two choices: we can be within the traffic jam of our mind, or we can detach and rise above the mess. Above the traffic jam we become a third-party, free and able to analyze our own mind and see things for what they really are. Our urge to escape is the Problem or our scientific method. Next is our theory of how to escape (the hypothesis proposed by the Buddha). The action of detachment and the analysis of fabricated perception is meditation (the experiment/data gathering of our scientific method). Realization of the world as it really is, in that very moment, is the Awakening (conclusion).

This sounds like a lot, and that’s because it is. Truth is, the first step to Enlightenment is to stop reading about it. Buddha himself experienced his Awakening through direct testing and experimentation. He never took anything for granted. There was too much at stake (suffering). So what does all of this mean for us on a practical level? We can certainly use a degree of detachment from our surroundings and feelings to better function in our lives.

• Imagine not falling prey to peer pressure? How could you if you were detached from the transitory nature of trends in what’s cool/uncool?
• Being aware of the present world means no multi-tasking which means improved productivity which means not getting burned out at work which means no emotional breakdown which means you don’t snap one day and mow down co-workers with an automatic assault rifle.
• Recognizing that mental/emotional ailments such as depression, fear, and anxiety are transitory and, with meditation, slowly melt away. Why? Because these emotions/states are also conditioned by temporary or no longer existent stimuli (no longer existent because they happened in the past. The past is just what we cling to).
• Addictions become a thing of the past. Understand that cravings (and the associated pain) are temporary and will pass. Everything changes. Everything is in flux. Nothing will be here .000000001 seconds in the future. Not even you.

Don’t take this as medical advice, but if you meditate on these concepts by consulting the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path (see this post for what those are), then you are taking the steps to overcome the ghosts of your mind. Like bullies, thoughts, cravings, emotions, and impulses only have sway over you because you allow them room to operate. Trust me I know, I had a bully in grade school. I solved the problem by kicking the dude’s balls. Not a very Buddhist solution, but it conveys the idea of facing the problem head on.

Today’s meditation: “I calm my breath. Through calm breath, I relax my body. As I relax my body, I watch my thoughts/cravings/emotions with detachment.”

Method: Focus on the breath. Only think about the breath. Image the breath entering your nose, lungs, and the oxygen dispersing through your body. With each exhale, feel the stress/anxiety/fear/compulsions/anger/lust/ worry seep out of your body. With these out-of-the-way, your mind is clear and then you can focus on the meditation topic itself mentioned above.

Let me know how it goes! Meanwhile, I’m still working on Joe not being Joe. He gets nervous when I stare at him like this…