Yes there are days when we are the most enthusiastic to contemplate Buddha’s teachings. What days are those? The days when are sufferings are the most intense!
In every Zen meditation hall, in every country, on every continent, there are scores of folks wrestling with their brains, trying to force their minds to concentrate.
That’s what we call
"Contrived Concentration."
If that requires effort, then what’s it’s opposite? The spontaneous concentration that is so effortless that it could rightly be called automatic!
When? When have you ever experienced that? When what the last time you could have felt sad, really sad…
sad:
-like you were on the verge of tears, -like an elephant was stepping upon your chest, -like nothing else was real to you but your sorrow? That is a perfect example of…
"Spontaneous Concentration."
What is it that separates the Bodhisattvas from the Boobs?
In a misguided effort to escape the pain of his unpleasant emotion a boob might drown his sorrows in a frappuccino, a beer or a bong,
but a bodhisattva will use both the energetic momentum of his spontaneous concentration and his aversion for the suffering of sadness to relentlessly practice Buddha’s mental yogas of :
#1 COMPASSION - that seeks to take away other’s sadness,
#2 LOVE - that seeks to give everyone sadness’ pleasant opposite {joy},
#3 RENUNCIATION - that explores sadness’ inability to satisfy,
#4 IMPERMANENCE - that considers the temporary nature of sadness and
#5 WISDOM - that chooses to let-go of sadness AND it’s causes.
Yes, there can be days when we lack the enthusiasm to meditate, BUT suffering can BE the contemplative Drill Sergeant that ensures we find both the means and motivation to
sprint along Buddha’s path to full enlightenment in this life.
Who is working with you, one-on-one, every week to gently teach you Buddha’s lost techniques of practically effortless: compassion, love, concentration, renunciation, impermanence & the wisdom of letting-go?
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