If you practice meditation, you may believe that the objective of meditation is to achieve a state of “no thought”. You may have wrestled a lot with achieving that state during your practice and found that it is anything but easy. But why is it so difficult to get to a state of no thought? Is there any way in which it could be easier?
Getting to a state of no thought is difficult for multiple reasons:
– Chasing the state of no thought is counterproductive, because every time you become aware of the fact that you’re not there yet, it creates frustration. Chasing a goal means that we are not here, now. Projecting into the future or going back into the past is the opposite of meditation. The more desperately one tries to accomplish the state of no thought, the harder it seems to become, because desperation is itself fuel for more thoughts!
– Having “no thought” as the goal means that it becomes difficult to accept any intermediate state, because that is still in the realm of thought. The truth is that our tendency to get hooked by thoughts is the problem. Thoughts on their own are not the problem. How can you recognise that you’re obsessed with the goal? When upset, anger, frustration or despair arise at not reaching the goal.
– Attempting to get to the state of no thought, is like trying to avoid thinking of mangoes. It cannot be done. The moment you try to avoid thinking of mangoes, you’re thinking of them! It is a form of negative attachment.
– A short while after sitting to accomplish the state of no thought, a variety of challenges arrive. Thoughts of boredom may arise. You may wonder why you’re wasting your time with all of this. You could be relaxing instead of wrestling with your mind. Your mind is a tricky customer and will pull out at all stops to get you off your practice.
Does that mean that there is no way to achieve a state of no thought or no mind or clear mind? Yes, of course there is. But the easier and quicker way to get there is to remember that the state of no mind, or no thought is a by-product, a side-effect.
A side-effect of what? Of the process of being calmly and totally engaged in the current activity, or task. Being totally aware and present, being with whatever is being done by you, at this moment.
And how can you become totally, consciously engaged with the current task? By giving the task your complete attention and using all your relevant senses to engage in it completely.
Which brings us to the practice of meditation in action: Sitting meditation is only one aspect of meditation. Ultimately, it is meant to seep into our daily lives and become a continuous process, happening all the time, from the time we wake up to the time we get to bed.
But that is the subject of another article ?
