04/09/2024
Traditionally, the Buddhist path of meditation was divided into two sections. One was the section of calm abiding, of tranquillity and peacefulness. After that, once the mind had become quietened down and more one-pointed, then one went into insight meditation, into looking into the mind itself. So, if the mind is very quiet, peaceful and centred, we can then give the space for things to begin to come up. That’s one of the reasons why it’s always suggested that if one is doing prolonged meditation, one has a teacher around. This is because it can happen that very powerful and painful emotions come up and people are unable to deal with them successfully or, at least, they have a very hard time. As one progresses, one begins to see that one is not the thought, one is not the emotion, one is not one’s memories. More and more, what is sometimes called the witness or the observer or in Buddhist parlance, the knower, begins to arise. There is this quality of consciousness, an awareness which lies behind the coming and going of the thoughts. It observes this movement of the thoughts but it is not the thought, it is not the emotion. Actually, we all have this naked awareness. It is not anything transcendental, it’s a quality of the mind we all can learn how to activate. And once we are in contact with that inner centre, when painful memories or emotions come up, we then have the ability to see that they are just memories and emotions, they are just mental states. They are not ‘me,’ and they are not ‘mine.’
- Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Photo: Jetsunma meditating at Borobudur Temple, Indonesia, 2016.
