every week or so i guide an online meditation,
sometimes in dutch, or,
like this time,
when non dutch folk arrive,
in english.
you can find the recordings right here.
after the meditation, it’s story time.
usually people stay and listen, which is nice.
sometimes a conversation slowly awakens,
other times,
not.
This time, Henry Shukman’s newsletter brought some meditative inspiration. I read out a part of this newsletter before actually starting the recording, so for those interested in the meditation, maybe read the text first:
An old Zen master, Yaoshan, who lived in ninth century China, used to advise students to 'take the backward step that shines the lamp inward.' That phrase apparently helped a lot of his students, and has come down in the annals of Zen as a sound piece of meditative advice.
Yaoshan seems to be saying something like: 'relax, don't strive, release back into a light of awareness that is already present.'
Sometimes practice can feel a little like drawing backward into a certain kind of presence that's already here. Many people have reported to me that it always feels sweet when that happens, as if this presence doesn't ask anything of us.
Be open to that happening, but don't try to bring it on. It may switch on when we least expect it. The advice of taking a 'backward step' seems to suggest that it won't help to be 'striving forward', thinking we know where to go in meditation. But that gentle release backwards is always there, ready to be recognised.
And then, after the meditation, I decided to quote some more Henry Shukman:
How amazing is it that we are aware? What extraordinary set of evolutionary chances have led to our species having the mental capacity to be aware? And not only that, but to be aware of our own ability to be aware.
All of us will have times when we feel discouraged in a meditation journey. It's just inevitable. Sometimes we seem to 'get it' and have a lovely or exciting sit. Other times, we don't feel we're getting anything. I think the same is true with any long-term practice we take on.
But actually, who cares whether we are 'getting it' or not? Can we just sit back and enjoy this simple fact – we are aware. We experience life. And whatever we are feeling, we are aware of it! Awareness is always here. What a precious gift.
And that was that!
PS: Shukman’s book ‘one blade of grass’ is great for some meditative inspiration. The subtitle ‘a Zen memoir’, says it all.
Comments