..續本文上一頁and modes of daily life. In this way we will have a very broad understanding, and we will come to see that meditation practice is not just sitting with the eyes closed and concentrating on a meditation object. When we leave the meditation session, we continue to have mindfulness while standing, walking, sitting, lying down, eating, drinking, doing, talking or thinking, even though we may not be sitting meditation as it is usually taught. This is because we are developing mindfulness at all times. When we lie down to go to sleep, all people, be they intellectuals or simple workers, have thinking. At this time, as we are. going to sleep, let the mind think, but have mindfulness, follow the thoughts until you drop off to sleep.
If we practise in this manner continually, day in and day out, we can attain a remarkably strong level of samadhi.
If we understand samadhi in this way, samadhi is not an obstacle to everyday life, to work and progress in society. But if we think that samadhi is simply concentrating on a single object and abiding in stillness, everything will seem like an obstacle and everybody we meet will get in the way of our practice. This is the samadhi of hermits.
5 Practising in the right way is not running away from the world of problems
The meditator who is practising correctly will respond properly to the world. For instance, suppose you have a family. As a meditator, you should love your family more and more. As your love increases, it should become transformed from the common kind of love into goodwill and kindness.
We have to brave the confusion of the work place, but whereas before we felt entangled in the confusion, now, through our samadhi practice, we are able to work without any confusion. The mind will change radically, in a way which can automatically rectify any unexpected problems that arise. Whenever a problem arises, it”s as if we have a manual to refer to and the mind instantly accesses the answer. This is the samadhi which is involved with everyday life.
Any kind of samadhi which takes no interest in everyday life and seeks only to escape to somewhere far away from the world causes the world to degenerate further, and is not nutriment for enlightenment; the Path, Fruit and Nibbana itself.
6 Everyone has already practised samadhi
Everything that we do is only accomplished through the power of samadhi.
Without samadhi, how could one complete a degree
Without samadhi, how could one teach students
Without samadhi, how could one complete big work projects
Without samadhi, how could one run a country
(Actually) we have been practising samadhi way back from the time we were nursed and our parents taught us how to eat, to sleep, to read and to recognize people. The beginning of our samadhi practice started way back then.
When we go on to higher education we begin learning to practise samadhi in earnest. However, when we meet highly regarded meditation monks and they ask us, "Have you practised samadhi
" people tend to think that they haven”t yet practised it since we have not yet done so formally. This comes about because we think of samadhi in a limited way that it is only sitting with the eyes closed that meditation can be practised.
7 You don”t have to live in a temple to practise samadhi
Anyone who hasn”t had the opportunity to stay in a Wat (meditation centre) and practise formal meditation, sitting still with the eyes closed as it is usually taught, can practise in this way. Take standing, walking, sitting, lying down, eating, drinking, doing, talking and thinking as your meditation objects and thereby establish mindfulness continuously.
Everyone who has already practised samadhi naturally from since they were toddlers just beginning to know the world. Now we are going to train ane…
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