 The word “meditation” has different meaning for different people. In this Internet age ideas spread very fast – correct or incorrect, so it is better to stay with substance and shed the illusions right from the beginning.
Often people make statements about meditation as if they are general laws, while they might be actually propagating certain religious or philosophical beliefs. It is also not uncommon to find people talking about meditation without ever having meditated themselves! The result is a real mess that can easily discourage or confuse a sincere seeker.
There is a popular form of meditation – concentration meditation, where you aim to concentrate the mind on the chosen object of your mind and ignore everything else. The object can be your breathing, gazing at a symbol drawn some distance away, repeating a mantra (a given word or phrase), visualizing some form or figure, etc. You try hard to keep the mind focused on the meditation object. But this article is not concerned with this style of meditation.
Here we are specifically concerned with the “insight” or Vipassana system of meditation. The word Vipassana comes from Pali language – the language spoken by the Buddha 2500 years ago. It means seeing (experiencing) reality in a special way – as it is, in its true nature. The practice develops wisdom or insight, so it is also called insight meditation.
Its basic tool is mindfulness and an attitude of watching (or being) in the present moment. It is an art of passionless nonjudgmental observation, of yourself – it is a training in seeing reality unfolding moment by moment. It is a technique of self-purification through self-observation.
Knowing these 8 common erroneous beliefs will keep your attitude towards meditation healthy and help you progress in the correct manner.
1. Meditation means positive or lofty thinking
Vipassana meditation is a practice in mindfulness. It involves being mindful of the reality, as it exists in the present moment and maintaining this awareness moment after moment. You learn to know thoughts and feelings for what they actually are – without intellectual analysis, prejudice or bias. It is an art and science of “mere observation” and “bare observation”. You don't seek or think any thing but merely observe.
There are certain systems of contemplation where people contemplate or think certain thoughts, but Vipassana meditation is not among them. In fact, it has nothing to do with “thinking” and has everything to do with “being”.
2. You have to be a theist if you want to meditate
Your beliefs and religious philosophies have nothing to do with Vipassana meditation, which is training in the art of observing the reality unfolding in the present moment without prejudice or judgment. It is totally irrelevant whether you believe in god, soul, or some religious scriptures or not. It is a universal skill that any one from any background can learn. Just as laws of physics are universal truths, so are the laws of nature that shape your feelings, emotions and attitudes.
3. Aim of meditation is to get high
It is not the aim of Vipassana meditation to make you feel high or blissful. However, during the course of meditation one does experience blissful feelings sometimes. But they are not the goal, nor do they always occur. Even when there is a blissful feeling, it is also seen as just a feeling (neither good nor bad) without clinging to it or desiring for it to stay forever.
The progress of a Vipassana meditator is judged from his sense of mental equanimity and not from how long the blissful feelings lasts. A good meditator will remain unperturbed in adverse situations and will not get carried away when everything is pleasant or sweet. He will see both as passing phases of life – that they actually are!
The process of Vipassana meditation does release a lot of stress and tension. This often leads to deep relaxation which some people might call bliss (or high). It is merely a positive side effect, not an aim. The process of purification must continue avoiding attachments to such states.
4. Only people with strong concentration can meditate
This is another irrelevant thinking. Concentration is a good virtue but Vipassana meditation rely on mindfulness rather than concentration. If your thoughts are wondering all over the places, you just accept it as a reality of that moment. After few moments if mind becomes rather concentrated, accept that too as a reality of the present moment. No hating or feeding thoughts.
The pleasant truth is that developing mindfulness also helps in concentration. If having strong concentration were the pre-requisite very few people would take to meditation. The moment you become conscious of the present moment the thinking process is discouraged and halted. Thinking activity and awareness are like darkness and light – they can’t coexist. So think of mindfulness as a lighting tool that drives away all your habitual dark acts including thinking. It encourages a sense of mental presence.
5. Meditation means going into trance
Vipassana meditation is not some type of hypnosis, nor does it try to create any type of mental state. It only aims to develop and sustain the mindfulness by observing everything without judgment or bias. You try not to like or dislike anything. You neither desire for any state nor discard any experience. The presence of mindfulness keeps you in control rather than make you helpless or surrender control to some outside agency. If you are losing control, you probably are not practicing Vipassana meditation.
6. Meditation can be dangerous for ordinary people
It is a silly notion. It is an innocent activity that can only make you a peaceful and balanced person. Come to think of it, everything can be dangerous. Walking across the street or driving a car can be dangerous.
What Vipassana meditation does is to cleanse your subconscious mind of the suppressed garbage and reduce your mental load. This cleansing process often brings up unexpected emotions, but that is precisely why people take to Vipassana meditation. Things arise, stay for some time, and then pass away. This applies to everything; nothing is permanent. Staying with this experience of impermanence with equanimity is the practice of Vipassana meditation.
If done properly, Vipassana meditation is a gentle and gradual process. However, trying to learn it without guidance of experienced teacher is not recommended – you may be simply wasting time doing that. One of the safest way to learn Vipassana meditation is by joining a 10 day residential camp organized by Vipassana International Academy. The systematic approach of training by devoted and experienced meditators has made it popular all over the world.
7. Meditation is only for religious or holy people
This belief comes from the fact that traditionally meditation has been a practice confined only to monasteries or religious centers. However, spread of Yoga has also brought meditation into the limelight and people are no longer unfamiliar with the word “meditation” though they may not its precise meaning. Psychiatry has adopted many of the principles from different meditation practice.
Increasing popularity of Vipassana meditation around the world is slowly helping people come out of such erroneous notions. Now there are corporate houses that actively encourage their employees to learn Vipassana meditation and provide facilities for meditation at the workplace. There are schools that have included meditation as part of the curriculum. Even prisons around the world are adopting Vipassana meditation as an effective tool for inner transformation of inmates. There are wonderful documentaries to prove that. So desiring but not learning meditation is keeping a healthy activity away from life.
8. Meditation is just an escape from the reality
Nothing can be far from the truth. In fact, Vipassana meditation puts you face to face with the realties of your life whether you like them or not! The very act of mindfulness connects you with the reality unfolding in the present moment. It aims to have you fully experience life as it actually is keeping aside all illusory thinking and petty lies you keep telling yourself all the time. It expects you to acknowledge and accept yourself as you really are under the mask of an artificial personality. It prepares you to be strong enough to be able to face your weaknesses squarely.
Putting on a deceptive mask of personality, telling subtle lies to create an artificial impression on people, and pretending to be someone other than who you are, are actually running away from the reality. Practice of mindfulness meditation puts a stop to all that.
More Resources
Mindfulness – Described in 12 Ways for Beginners
7 Holistic Benefits of Mindfulness |
