what is meditation?

This word is used in two ways: In one sense, meditation is something that we practise, a discipline, with certain instructions as to what we should be doing, and with some goal in mind. The other meaning of the word meditation is a state of mind, a state of consciousness, where we are fully alert, aware, our senses are operating perfectly and yet no thoughts are arising in the mind.

Let me talk a little more about the first of these meanings, meditation as a practice, as something we do. There are many different types of meditation with slightly different instructions as to what to do with the body and what to do with the mind. But all these practices are aiming to develop the mind, the consciousness in some way; it may be to bring an unruly mind under control; it may be to find gaps between thoughts, to find some silence in the thinking mind; it may be to bring the thinking mind into a better state of concentration where it can work more efficiently, more effectively; it may be that we want to detach our self from the thinking mind, not to be identified with it. These are typically some of the goals of meditation as a practice. My aim here is not to give full instructions on these various forms of meditation but just to give a feel.

The second meaning of meditation, as a state of consciousness, is not something that we do, it is not an activity. It is a state of mind that comes to us, a state of mind where we are fully alert in a passive, receptive way, where thoughts are not arising. Or if they are arising they are perceived, felt, in the same way as any of the objects of our sensations, as anything we are seeing or hearing, anything we are smelling or tasting or touching. We can relate to thoughts in the same way. So in this state of consciousness, in this state of meditation, there is a great silence, a stillness. We feel ourself differently. In fact there is no real sense of I at all. This is the deeper meaning of the word meditation, this silent, still, spacious consciousness which can come to us. It can come to us through practising meditation or it can come to us by good fortune.