'taking care' of the practice . . .
prendersi cura della pratica . . .
Let's be honest, meditation practice is simple and difficult at the same time. Whether a beginner or a devoted practitioner, this is something that ebbs and flows as our practice evolves.
How hard is it to sit down and do nothing? What does it take to sit cross-legged on a cushion or upright on a chair? Nothing more, just this.
One can be surprised by the difficulties that arise. First, there can be physical restlessness, tension, and agitation. Then the mind begins to feel threatened by no longer feeling in control, and begins to create a mountain of drama and suffering.
One of the most difficult things that arises over and over again is how the mind constantly wants to 'understand' this practice. It thinks that through cognitive comprehension, awakening can be 'achieved'.
What did the Buddha exclaim under the Bodhi tree after the experience of enlightenment, "Ah, I have understood, there is nothing to understand
serving the function of skillful means for liberating our minds
It is 5.59 am. In the dark, on this cold January morning, the alarm is about to sound on the cell phone sitting on the desk next to the bed. The hand reaches out to find the phone, eyes still closed. A race with time to turn it off before that loud, raspy sound of the alarm cuts through the silence of the peaceful dawn about to break.
The mind begins, “Oh, it is so warm and comfortable under these soft blankets.” The cat at the bottom of the bed stretches and yawns as she turns over and curls up, again slipping into that luxurious state of sleep.
The mind continues, “It’s too early to get up.”
“I don’t want to. Noooo, not yet. I am so happy to just lay here in the warmth and quiet. Why did I ever propose to host 30 consecutive days of mediation? Every morning. Not one morning off.”
The arm reaches out to find the light switch on the lamp close by. Click. There is it. The bright light cutting into the natural darkness and loudly announcing. “It’s morning! Up and at 'em!”
At that precise moment, something shifted. Mindfulness brought attention to the mental process in action.
The lamenting mind is thick with resistance and aversion. Mental and bodily tension and contraction are evident. The ‘I’ has taken its royal seat in a central position, intending to control all decisions and responses, based solely on its wants and desires. No room for anything else.
Awareness . . . “Mara, I see you.”
With this declaration, awareness shakes the royal chair until it begins to fall into pieces and the ego is unseated. Confused by its unmasking, ‘I’ stumbles and falls, leaving space for surrender and sacrifice which arise spontaneously and naturally.
The word ‘yes’ replaces the ‘no’ that was uttered from the lamenting mind, just a moment earlier. There is a sense of surrender in this, a letting go of a view that embraces and cuddles the ego with its obsessive striving for pleasure as well as it's constant demanding to be at the center of all things.
The step beyond surrender comes when the beauty of sacrifice manifests in ‘making sacred’ the present. Abandoning the realm of enchantment where the self governs and then moving out of ignorance and illusion. Clarity . . .
The heart-mind opens and a sense of true joy arrives in recognizing the opportunity given to me to offer, every morning, a space to meet and meditate together. A space where the practice is a priority. Where everyone is welcome, and it is beneficial for the practice, the practitioners and all the world.
Gratitude vibrates as the meditation bell rings.
Presence