A short series of short pieces (with questions)
Psychiatric Bulletin May 1, 1991 DOI: 10.1192/pb.15.5.295 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Peer reviewed |
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| Key points | The text presents meditation as simple in essence yet difficult in practice: beginners' minds wander and many quit, while those who practice daily for five or ten minutes can develop concentration. It describes insight, loving-kindness, mantra, and walking meditation, and closes with an anecdote of a Tibetan monk who remained silent before an expectant audience. |
Abstract
A short series of short pieces (with questions) Meditation"One should sit, keeping the body erect and mindfulness alert", the meditation master may say."You breathe in and out all day and all night but you never concentrate your mind on it.Now you are going to do just this.Breathe in and out as usual without any strain.Now, focus your mind on your breathing in and breathing out.Let your mind watch and observe.When you breathe, you sometimes take deep breaths and sometimes not.This does not matter at all.Breathe normally and naturally.The only thing is that when you take deep breaths you should be aware that they are deep breaths and so on.Forget all other things, your surroundings, your environment; do not raise your eyes and look at anything.Try and do this for five or ten minutes".Many find this surprisingly difficult at the begin ning.Their minds run away.They begin to think of various things.They hear sounds outside the room, for example.Their minds are disturbed and dis tracted.Many are dismayed and disappointed by this and cease practising.Those who persevere and carry out this activity daily, even for five or ten minutes, are able in time to develop right concentration.This alone is not medi tation, but it is a necessary component.So-called "insight meditation" is described; an analytical method based on mindfulness, awareness, vigilance.This may lead to understanding, to wisdom.There is "loving-kindness meditation", in which the prac titioner is concerned with the well-being of others.This may lead to the development of compassion.There is "mantra meditation".There is "walking meditation".There are many kinds.Meditation is a mystery useful in divining mystery.But in essence it is very simple.I once attended a discourse on meditation.The teacher was a Buddhist monk; a Tibetan in exile from his invaded homeland.He spoke excellent English and was knowledgeable concerning the ways of the Western world.About 40 people were sitting on chairs or cushions in the meditation hall.All rose and bowed when the lama entered.We settled ourselves again expectantly for him to speak.The teacher sat, smiled, looked around the room, gave a little cough, seemed about to begin; and said nothing.We moved around in our