Categories: Eradicate the Fear of Meditation
May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with you all!
Welcome. This article is for those of you who are on a spiritual journey, seeking to practically apply these teachings and grow day by day. We have previously explored the topic of being mindful and sustaining awareness a concept known in the Buddhist tradition as Sati Sampajañña, or mindfulness with clear comprehension. We have spoken about how to observe the mind, especially in our teaching on watching the mind in silence.
I mention this because if you are new to these teachings, it is incredibly helpful to start from the beginning. By exploring our earlier articles in order, you will build a solid foundation that allows you to truly understand your own mind. This sequential journey provides the right guidance to walk the spiritual path practically, from its very first steps. As you proceed, you will find that the teachings themselves offer answers to the spiritual questions and challenges that arise, allowing you to move forward with confidence and without fear or doubt.
Mindfulness in Every Moment: Your 24/7 Practice
Today, I want to refresh and deepen your motivation for this practice. We use various words for it being mindful, sustaining awareness, or simply watching the mind. Though the words differ, the underlying process is one and the same. You who are engaged in this practice already understand what needs to be done.
To train this skill further, consider this simple exercise. As you read these words, notice your mind. This teaching is reaching you through a device, creating sound or displaying text. As this happens, look at your mind. What is its activity? How are your thoughts unfolding? Does your mind stay with the words, or does it wander? Are you listening intently, trying to understand? Does your mind cling to the message, or does it resist? Is there a sense of peace and concentration? You can apply this same technique to anything watching a program, listening to the radio, or engaging in any activity. This is a meditation the Buddha taught us that can be done effortlessly, 24 hours a day, in any situation.
Overcoming Spiritual Doubt and Limiting Beliefs
As you continue practicing mindfulness, you will begin to notice the troublesome nature of the mind, especially when it gets trapped by a particular view or belief. In Buddhism, these are called diṭṭhi, or ‘views’. Imagine a friend tells you, “It is impossible to attain Nibbāna (liberation) in this lifetime, within this Buddha’s dispensation.” You might intellectually disagree, believing that it is possible. However, because that opposing view has been planted in your mind, a seed of doubt begins to grow.
During meditation, this doubt, or vicikicchā, can surface: “What if my friend was right? Will I really be able to achieve liberation in this life?” Even if it’s just a fleeting thought, you will catch it if you are watching your mind. This doubt creates a mental agitation, a vibration that makes you feel disheartened and unenthusiastic about your practice. It feels like something is holding you back.
Getting to Know Your Mind: The Cunning Escape Artist
This happens because the mind, by its very nature, doesn’t actually want to be watched. The untrained mind is incredibly fickle (capala) and cunning (kapaṭi). It has no interest in you examining it. Instead, its favorite pastime is to look outward through the five senses the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body. It loves to get lost in analyzing, judging, and dealing with the external world. The last thing it wants is for you to turn your attention inward to examine its own flaws and shortcomings.
This is the state of mind for every person in this world who has not yet realized liberation, who is not yet an Arahant (a fully awakened one). Until one reaches even the high spiritual attainment of an Anāgāmī (a ‘Non-returner’), the mind retains this tendency. These views and doubts are obstacles that interfere with your meditation. We have a previous teaching on identifying these mental frames and limits, which you may find helpful. By investigating, you can see for yourself how much these views obstruct your path.
Finding Freedom in Life’s Greatest Challenges
Now, let’s bring this practice to the very real challenges of your life. Perhaps you are facing a difficult problem right now. In your family life, your spouse might be having an affair, or perhaps they show no love to you or your children and fail to fulfill their duties. Your partner could be this way. Even in the face of such profound pain, look at your mind.
Why? Because problems never truly end in life. They will continue to flow toward you until the day you die. And if we look at it from the perspective of Saṃsāra the beginningless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth the problems are endless. The only day our problems will truly be over is the day we end this journey ofbu
As you look at your mind in these situations, you can see its limits. How attached am I to this? How much do I resist? How much hatred do I feel is it 100%? Or less? You can begin to measure your own defilements, your kilesas. Is my greed stronger, or my anger? Maybe both are at 70%. Or perhaps my greed is at 100%, but my anger is only at 20%. How much jealousy is there? You, and only you, can identify all of this within yourself. It is a simple process, but it requires practicing mindfulness, little by little, in every moment.
From the World of Unawareness to the Light of Truth
For so long, what we have considered to be ‘the world’ has actually been a world of unmindfulness (asihimat lokayak). To enter the real world, to know its true nature, we must slowly step from this darkness into the light of awareness. If we are in a dark place, we must gradually dispel the darkness. As you continue this investigation, little by little, your mind will become incredibly clear to you.
Watching the Watcher: Mindfulness of Your Spiritual Journey
Now, turn this lens of awareness onto your spiritual path itself. When you are not progressing in your meditation, watch how your mind operates. When the concentration techniques we teach don’t bring immediate results, how disappointed do you get? Do you feel the urge to blame the teacher, thinking, ‘The things this monk teaches are useless, they bring no results’? Watch your mind. If the monk doesn’t answer the phone or reply to a message, do you feel irritation? Do you think, ‘Why provide a number if you won’t respond?’ Even in that moment, watch your mind.
Look at this in every aspect of your spiritual life. If you feel sad that your meditation isn’t producing results, watch that sadness. Over time, you will start to see that the fault doesn’t lie with anyone else.
The Ultimate Realization: It All Begins in Your Mind
Eventually, as you keep watching and watching and watching your mind, a profound realization dawns: ‘There is no fault in society. The mistake is in my own mind. It is my mind that is wrong.‘ You begin to understand this for yourself. Yes, society, the country, and politics may have countless flaws and shortcomings. That is their nature. But if I don’t use those external conditions to correct myself, if I don’t become a righteous person, then it is no surprise that others are not changing. When you investigate your own mind, you see that it all begins with you.
Your Invitation to Practice: It’s Never Too Late to Start
Reflect on your life up to this point through your school years, university, your career, and all the courses you’ve taken as you’ve become an adult. In all that time, how often did you truly look at your own mind? How long have you known about this practice of mindfulness, whether through our teachings, another teacher, or on your own? How long have you been actively investigating it?
This practice is the one place where you can truly get to know yourself. Remember that. This is a task that transcends all external labels nationality, religion, caste, color. It is an internal practice, invisible to others. You can do it while riding the bus or in a car. You can even do it while talking to someone else.
You will begin to notice when your mind becomes unmindful and you start speaking heedlessly. Awareness will come and go, and you will see it happening. By continuously practicing mindfulness, you will understand how awareness helps you and what happens when it is absent.
Your Path Forward: Deepening Your Practice
As you continue this practice, you will understand so much about your mind and what you have been doing all this time. The nature of mindfulness itself will become clearer and deeper. So please, apply these things practically. I have given you these small points to observe as a reminder of the core instruction: just watch the mind.
If you do this, you will be able to understand so much about life. Please share your experiences, as they can be a great help to others on this spiritual path, encouraging them to develop the practice of mindfulness taught by the Buddha. While I may not go deeper into this topic in this particular article, I will in future teachings. For now, what has been shared is more than enough to work with.
From the very moment you finish reading this, continue to develop your mindfulness. Finish this article while watching your own mind. Then, continue to practice, little by little. I remind you again, you cannot achieve this all at once. Practice gradually and see what happens. Try to understand your own mind. You can definitely do this.
May the powerful blessings of the Triple Gem the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha give you the strength and ability to understand your own mind with clarity and continuous mindfulness.
We invite you to walk this path with us. Read our teachings, and most importantly, apply them practically in your own life. as you practice, questions will naturally arise. Please feel free to share your experiences and questions in the comments below, via email or contact form. I will do my best to offer guidance in future talks based on your progress. For now, begin this practice with an open heart and a mind free from expectation. Cultivate it correctly, and may you find the clarity and peace you seek.
Thank you for joining us. We hope this blog will be of great benefit to your spiritual journey.
May you all be well and happy.
May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with you all!
