The Buddha mentioned standing meditation
in both his middling and extensive meditation manuals
the Satipatthana Sutta and
the Mahasatipatthana Sutta respectively.
Once one has memorized either
the sixteen whispered or silent contemplations
blending the wisdom of letting-go, love,
and mindfulness’ four bases
of: circumstance, body,
communication, and consciousness
that combine rather well with the relaxation
that could come from standing meditation;
one could practice this
as easily in the dog park
as in the supermarket check-out line.
This contemplation and compassion training
could be likened to the onramp
which allows one safe access
to the highway of meditation.
In the tradition of both
Mahamudra and Dzogchen
the essence of meditation
is to passively watch the play of mind
as one inhales
and to actively relax into mind’s
non-graspable nature
as one exhales.
Remember NOT to fall into the trap
of chasing relaxation.
It is enough to allow it to happen
as it is already wired into our bodies’
factory-installed instructions
and all we have to do
is get out of our own way.
After you’ve meditated thus,
counting one, or two, or three,
or four, or even five sets sixty-four breaths
upon the creases of your hands
I recommend CLOSING your practice
with the sixteen silent contemplations
blending love and letting-go with
the fours bases of mind, and communication,
and body, and circumstance.
If you wish to re-familiarize your self
with crease counting, you are welcome to
watch the class video for last Saturday’s 1st class
available at https://www.MeditateLikeAJedi.org/downloads
Although ego-shattering
could be a lovely side-effect of standing meditation
it could become folly
if chased after as one’s primary goal.
Why then do we train in meditation?
The Buddha taught stress is all-pervasive
and its causes largely out of our hands
although we do have the unfortunate ability
to make any stress all the more worse
by simply being in resistance.
We resist the absence of pleasure,
and the departure of pleasure,
as well as the arrival of pain.
We resist by succumbing to the tyranny
of our physical cravings such as hate and greed
and our mental clingings like intention, and reason,
and recollection, and imagination.
We train in contemplation, and compassion,
and meditation to get better at letting-go,
and at cultivating centered spontaneity
so much so that we eventually practice them:
spontaneously, and habitually,
and easily, and effectively.
Arguably, the noticing and letting-go of meditation
are the natural functions of our body and mind,
all we are doing is getting out of own way
and blossoming into the people
that our dogs already think we are.
Let us conclude
with a simple
call to action
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These spiritual poems are also available on
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