Meditation

Why should we meditate?

The human mind is by nature pure.  Great extensive spiritual power is  complete within the mind.  You may ask yourself what you desire to attain in your life.  The answer would likely be peace and real happiness..

How can we reach that stage where we will have  peace of mind and happiness?  The answer is through the practice of meditation.  This is the tool that helps to make our minds  peaceful and pure.  With a peaceful and pure mind we will be able to experience real happiness and attain the highest wisdom in life.

Meditation is  a spiritual training in all  the world’s religions.  Many people talk about peace and happiness in their daily gatherings and meetings.  In other words, an individual with a deluded mind cannot find the right way to experience real happiness and peace for himself (herself) and others..  To reach  that stage, each person must train his/her own mind to develop in the proper way.  Meditation plays a key role in this matter.

Meditation helps to  train and refine the mind; it helps the person who engages in meditation to concentrate and to be mindful of one’s daily activities.  Everyone benefits from this training.  For example, the student needs concentration while doing homework assignments.  Administrators need concentration and a clear mind while running their offices.  Parents need  a  clear mind while doing their work at home, conducting family life in a calm and peaceful manner.

Meditation helps everyone at all times to live and work effectively and successfully.  Everyone wants to be happy in life.  The ways  to lead one’s self to real happiness and  to have a peaceful life may be different, but without a peaceful, calm and clear mind, real happiness cannot be realized.  Meditation can help in this regard.  The Enlightened One, the Buddha said “The peaceful mind excels all other happiness.”  (Pali: natthi santi param sukkham)

What would happen if one worked without the right mindfulness and right concentration? The answer is simple.The  work would be ineffective.  For example, if one studies without mindfulness and full attention, one cannot remember the subject being studied.  Consequently, a poor performance would result.  As you can see, there is a role to be played by concentration and attention during study. In the same way, right understanding and insight, as worldly tools, need to be applied before starting any work.  Working without mindfulness and concentration results in more harm than good.  The way to apply these tools is to learn how to be aware, moment by moment in our daily activities,  to know what we are doing, what we are saying and what we are thinking.  Without mindfulness and concentration there is no life.  We are merely “automatic pilots.”