Whatever Arises in Your Mind, Be Present

BY PHAKCHOK RINPOCHE AND ERRIC SOLOMON

How does meditation work? Phakchok Rinpoche and Erric Solomon say it gives your distracted mind a job. With practice, you can learn to be present with whatever arises.

Photo by Nick Chen.

There is a famous story about a monk named Shrona, who asked the Buddha about the best way to meditate. The Buddha asked Shrona, who had been a musician before he was a monk, what was the best method to get sound out of his instrument: “Was it when the strings were very tight or when they were very loose?” Shrona answered, “Neither, the best sound came when the strings were neither too loose nor too tight.” Buddha rejoined, “It’s the same for your mind in meditation; it should neither be too concentrated nor too relaxed.”

Meditation is a process of getting to know how our mind works and training our attention to rest where we place it. In Tibetan, the word for meditation is gom. Gom literally means “getting familiar with” or “getting used to.” By practicing meditation, you can get used to remaining present, undisturbed by whatever thoughts or emotions arise in your mind.

However, our mind normally behaves like an excited monkey, jumping from place to place. Our mind thinks about this and then it thinks about that. We sit down to meditate and at first we are present, watching our breath, but after a few moments we are lost in a daydream. We may have started out by watching the breath, but soon we are on an island enjoying a piña colada at the beach and next we are thinking about all the money we have to save to get there. Before long, several minutes have passed and we realize we forgot all about the breath. The monkey mind jumps here and there almost without stopping.

Our monkey mind is constantly talking to us and telling us what to do. We don’t know how to guide it. Our mind is under our control to some degree, but a few minutes on the meditation cushion should convince us of how little control we actually have over it. When the monkey mind tells us something, we react in one of two ways: we follow it, or we fight with it. If our mind tells us something is good, we follow it. If our mind is telling us how funny our partner looks in that outfit, we struggle with ourselves not to mention it and try push the thought away.

Meditation is neither about cultivating nor rejecting, but rather about learning how to be present in the face of whatever arises in our mind.

Some people think meditation is about siting there, clearing the mind by blocking thoughts and emotions. They struggle with their mind, thinking “I must meditate, I must keep a quiet mind, no emotions, and CONCENTRATE!” Other people try to meditate by blissing out, thinking meditation is all about peace, openness, and reaching a special level of consciousness.

Meditation is neither about cultivating nor rejecting, but rather about learning how to be present in the face of whatever arises in our mind. In the beginning, we may need to calm our mind in order to not become overwhelmed and distracted by our thoughts. Eventually, as we gain experience, we will actually be able to use turbulent thoughts as a support for our meditation. Until then, we need to be able to settle our mind. Once our mind settles, we don’t have to remain in a tightly focused state of concentration, nor do we have to create a blissful experience.