33. Por que o Budismo enfatiza a Meditação?
18/09/2010 11:09
33. Why does Buddhism emphasize Meditation?
Buddhism is a teaching to lead you to spiritual awakening. There are many methods to reach this goal. The key is to know your own mind as it truly is. Do you know everything about yourself? If you know well your physical body and its function, you can control your life more easily, can't you? Meditation is considered one of the best disciplines to come to know your own mind as it truly is. Shakyamuni awakened to the truth through the practice of deep meditation. Buddhism offers many types of meditation forms.
Practitioners should acquire the basic technique of breathing. We breathe to survive; therefore, we think that we know how to breathe. However, each person's rhythm, tempo and pitch are different, just as the rhythm of our individual hearts is different. It is better to first find one's comfortable breathing rhythm before practicing any meditation forms. A major recognized method of breathing is to inhale through your nose, hold your breath in the navel area, and then breathe out slowly from your mouth.
Meditation is not only a spiritual discipline. One should know the proper posture to lead one's mind into the sacred world. When you take an uncomfortable posture, after awhile, your body starts aching, which causes your physical condition to change. When your body is not comfortable, it is hard for you to enjoy meditation. For those who cannot sit down due to physical difficulties, they can practice meditation as they are lying on the bed with a proper lying posture. We have a tendency to sleep when we lie down. One should guard against this when practicing lying meditation. Actually, I sometimes see people who are sleeping while they are practicing sitting meditation.
The most critical element is how to set our mind in calmness and purity. Since the day we were born, our mind is always conditioned by our own false ego. By believing this false ego, which gives us an entirely different viewpoint from reality, we experience a sense of anger, sorrow, hate, prejudice, etc. in our daily lives as a result. Therefore, each school teaches many techniques to change or purify our false ego. Through meditations, we are able to find our Buddhanature within, which in turn enables us to live our lives creatively day by day. The present moment never returns. You are the only one who can change your life toward an ideal life.