Three Meditation Exercises

Three Meditation Exercises. On What It Is Possible to Be, Do, and Have

Reflect on the single greatest obstacle in your life right now; the one that prevents you from becoming the person you might be, the one that prevents you from attaining what it is you most want. It’s best if you write it down. Go ahead. Imagine who you could be, and what you could do, if that obstacle was completely removed from your life.

Now reflect on what you would do if you only had six months left to live. Write it down. What would your priorities be if you knew that your time was limited?

Now reflect on what you would do if you were given ten million dollars, a hundred million dollars. Write it down. Write it down in as much detail as you like.

Now. Know that whatever you can imagine, you can experience.
You can, you really can BE, DO, and HAVE whatever you want. That is the nature of things. . . . If you want it . . . . The choice IS yours.

The idea that wanting is a bad thing is a punishing, life-denying notion. It is an idea with more affinity to Puritan repression than to any authentic spiritual instinct. Craving and clinging may lead to frustration and unhappiness. But Wanting, the setting of clear intention, planning towards the fulfillment of that intention, can bring freedom, joy, and effective ongoing habits towards action.

The thought leads to the word, the word leads to the action, the action repeated leads to the habit, anchored in a new mindset. The world itself is transformed by your desire. And all the living beings there . . . if you want it . . .

Jizo by Michele Benzamin-Miki

Whatever it Takes

I have heard Asian teachers, over the years say, that western science is only now learning things that have been know in India (or China) for millennia—a mirroring of western cultural chauvinism perhaps.

Now neuroscience is the current buzz, and it becomes the latest way to validate old ways of being. Relaxing is good for you. Meditation is healthy. Mindfulness, focus, awareness—all good. Who knew?

Whatever it takes . . . . !

Skillful praxis, skillful means

As a meditation teacher I must believe that the practice of being still is inherently valuable; that ‘being’ informs ‘doing’, that action comes from mind, from our thoughts, intentions, dreams, and desires.

There is more. Coming to stillness is not just an absence of movement. It is a journey into another realm; it is committing to relating to experience itself in a new way. It is also seeing that what we call our self is an invention, a concoction, and ruse. . . .

As a coach, a facilitator of change, I must also believe that there is no single way, no single view of things, no construct, no metaphysical representation, no psychological lens with which to view the world, that is automatically sufficient, nor even that is inherently true.

Any ‘true’ system dissolves its own tenets, sees through itself, and would claim for itself only that it is a skillful praxis —a movement towards freedom. Freedom being something you can define only by saying what it is not. Because it is not conditional on anything. It has no intrinsic qualities.

Why is this so hard to get?

Buddhist teaching in one sentence, “Everything is interconnected, therefore everything matters.”

The first and most important thing to know for living, working, surviving the twenty-first century, developing amazing relationships, running a successful business, practicing Permaculture, Medicine, History, Architecture, Farming, or any other deep Art:
“Everything is interconnected, therefore everything matters.”

The first and most important thing to know and practice for doing anything whatsoever—in one word (two, actually):
“Kindness, love.”

Buddhist teaching in two words: “Kindness, love.”

Ideas and Expereince

Ideas arrive fresh as an ocean breeze. If the mind is the cause of what we experience in our life, then all the circumstances we experience are the effects. Of course, the two are intertwined and together co-create the fierce power of life, which is love, which is presence, and energy, and creativity. How you name it is not important. I do not want to oversimplify or make a platitude. This is a model, a metaphor; and hopefully, it is also a tool.

It is something you can feel behind your own eyes, this freedom, or see it in the eyes of others. You can feel it inside your own heart, and in the words and presence of others. . . . . If you want.

When you stop imagining that anything can oppress you—and you CAN choose to do that—you understand that your only choice is freedom! Freedom is unconditional, not because it has no flavor or particularity (it is as rich and varied as life itself), but because there is nothing that can ever pollute its many flavors. Anything, any situation, can open the door to this freedom if you let it, and where it leads you is as particular as who you are. Unique!

Understand that it is not freedom ‘from’ something. Nor is it freedom ‘toward’ something. It is not permission nor is it the lifting of restrains. It is something altogether beyond those singular functions.

A hawk lifts off the telephone line, and hovers; or a swan flies up from the water, soaring and soaring, until almost out of sight. And a distant galaxy, barely visible with the naked eye on a dark night, does cartwheels across the sky.


--"Mysticism, poor mysticism! When it is underestimated and oversimplified, it comes down from its original sphere and stands beside religion. But even here if a person is sincere, he will realize that his highest religious experience is nothing more than an uncertain, obscure and faint perception of Truth; whereas, no matter what kind of mystical experience he has, he will feel the intensity, immensity and certainty of Truth." Chinmoy