Jack Hatfield:
After some 4 decades of daily meditating, I have felt in the last few days why not skip meditating and just enjoy. Why do we spend so much time and energy in meditating? Why work towards seeing reality clearly? For me there is usually an inherent pleasure in my daily sits. There is that. But, I also get pleasure playing tennis, walking the dog and playing music. I read journals of people striving toward SE.Why? Why break phenomena down to the sensate level?
I asked a dharma friend today why he dedicates so much time to meditating. He responded he wanted to be able to cycle through the jhanas and nanas. I asked him why and he didn't have a good answer.
I know I am going through a stage that is probably temporary. I think this questioning is good for me. But...
Hello Jack,
Why am I meditating and what is my objective?
Great question , I too have asked myself this.
Mental training, for me meditation is a form of mental training, and as that form of training it has to have a purpose and be functional, if not, why do it? Meditation can be used to develop skill sets. One is the ability to "let go", what does this mean? To me to "let go" is a skill that works llike this. To sit down and be still, then be aware of the breath, (abdomen, nose tip, naso-pharynx, whatever) then when a thought of sensation arises into the awareness, gently "let go" immediately of whatever arises and return the awareness to the breath. In this way, and through practice one will develop the skill of "letting go" and/or abandoning, then simultaneously develop the skill of substitution, i.e. ( substituting the random arising sensation, feeling, thought, phenomenon) with the breath.
Later, when skill was developed, the mind eventually quiets down and pleasantness will arise, then the mind, abandons the breath and substitutes with the pleasantness and stillness. I will stop there , as you are probably an advanced meditator, but this is part of explaining whay I meditate.
So anyway, I meditate to practice this skill, and to stay practiced at this skill, for, to me it is important, for before and after formal meditation, my mind is in training to use this skill to abandon unwholesomeness and substitute with wholesomeness. Mostly, the mind just stays in the bare attention or thoughtless awareness mode, due to impersonal processes, the mind will eventually "run" on it's own, and for the most part unwholesome thoughts or moods will be abandoned before they can even start up (pre-craving, for the dependent origination bunch)
So, doing this for several years, I would not know what would happen if I stopped formal meditation, (several times daily, even if I can only get a 10,20, or 30 minutes session at a time), or near constant mindfulness , probably not wholesome outcomes, if I stopped meditating.
This is not to say I do not have work to do or anything, But I have experienced a great lessening of mental turmoil and having had already been through the easily angered (edited definition,more apt) personality phase, the greedy wanting of money phase, the hedonistic pleasures of drugs and alcohol phase, etc. I would say mental contentment is far nicer, and I would also say that after searching many, many paths, that what the Buddha taught is a reality as far as I have experienced, and I am very grateful to have stumbled across the teachings.
So, to sum up, I guess the answer to why do I meditate and what is my objective?
Fear, fear of back-sliding, and my objective is to keep pushing up-current, greed and hatred have led me around long enough in this life, enough is enough... Actually, upon further reflection, there really doesn't seem to be any fear of back-sliding anymore, which is kinda strange, it's like all the previous personality habits is gone now, but wisdom states to keep doing what works.
Besides, there is enough greed and hatred in this world, and I've always rooted for the underdogs...
Psi Phi