Notebooks of Paul Brunton > Category 4: Elementary Meditation > Chapter 7: Mindfulness, Mental uiet

Mindfulness, Mental uiet

Mindfulness
!
"lthough e#eryone must begin by making meditation something to be pra$tised at
parti$ular times only, he must end by making it an essential ba$kground to his %hole
life& E#en under the pressure of ines$apable out%ard o$$upation, it ought to be still
$ontinuing as the s$reen upon %hi$h these o$$upational a$ti#ities appear&
'
(eep on remembering to obser#e yourself, to %at$h yourself, to be$ome a%are of %hat
you are thinking, feeling, saying, or doing& )his is one of the most #aluable e*er$ises of
the uest&
+
,hate#er one is doing, to stop suddenly at an unarranged moment and in an unforeseen
position be$omes a useful e*er$ise %hen repeated se#eral times e#ery day& -t is
ne$essary to hold the %hole body rigidly fi*ed in e*a$tly the posture %hi$h had been
rea$hed at the #ery moment of $ommand& E#en the e*pression on the fa$e and the
thought in the mind must be in$luded& )his is one of the ."%areness. e*er$ises/ they are
performed %hen sitting, %alking, %orking, eating, or mo#ing&
4
)his e*er$ise of self0#igilan$e is a daily and hourly one, for the intrusions of negati#e
moods and destru$ti#e thoughts are daily and hourly, too&
1
Walking meditation: )he pra$ti$e of meditation $an be $ontinued e#en %hile %alking&
)his is done in a slo% dignified %ay, starting %ith the right foot and the heel tou$hing
the ground first, on the expiring breath& )hen $ontinue rhythmi$ally, slo%ly, a measured
pa$e00%ithout haste and %ithout turning the head right and left& )he monk - sa% %as
%alking %ith head do%n, and looking at the ground& 2e %as in )hailand&
3
-n the end, he %ill make no separation bet%een e#eryday ordinary routine and the
period of meditation00for the %hole of his life %ill be$ome one $ontinuous meditation&
2is a$tions %ill then take pla$e %ithin its atmosphere& But in the beginning he must
make this separation&
7
"s you go about your daily %ork in your ordinary life and in relations %ith other
people, in hours of toil or pleasure, or indeed at any period of your life, remember the
4#erself&
5
)he ,ay of Mindfulness in Buddhism, of deliberately being $ons$ious of ea$h physi$al
a$tion 6uite apart from the a$tion itself, produ$es a different state from that of the
ordinary person %ho may out%ardly perform the same a$tion& -t de#elops $on$entration
and an a%areness %hi$h ultimately leads to the a%areness of the being himself %ho
pra$tises the e*er$ise& )he ordinary person is lost in the a$tion itself, in the thought
itself, in the spee$h itself, and has no separate a%areness of them& Pra$ti$e of
mindfulness gi#es a $ons$ious responsibility for %hat is being done, %hat is being
thought, and %hat is being said 6uite apart from %hat is obser#ed and heard& -t lights
him up from %ithin %ith intense $on$entration& )his is a mental dis$ipline pra$tised
daily by the Buddhist monks and useful to other seekers&
7
By means of this e*er$ise in mindfulness, %hate#er he is doing and %hate#er he is
%orking at is no longer the mere %ork or a$tion itself& -t is also a part of his spiritual
training, his self0dis$ipline, his $on$entration pra$ti$e, and ultimately his separate
a%areness and responsibility for himself&
!8
" house%ife %rote to me that she found herself too busy %ith her duties to sit do%n and
meditate/ but by thinking about spiritual sub9e$ts as she %ent about her %ork, she found
%ith time that this not only lightened the drudgery but also de#eloped into a kind of
meditation itself&
!!
" #aluable e*er$ise is one %hi$h pra$tises transferring a%areness to the body as and
%hen it is being used& )his is done by mo#ing a$ross a room, a $ourtyard, an open
spa$e, %ith slo%0%alking feet, as slo% as he $an make them& )he physi$al mo#ement
must be a$$ompanied by a deliberate effort to know %hat one is doing, fully mindful
and $on$entrated on ea$h step for%ard&
!'
)his pra$ti$e of persistent re$all does more good to help a man not only in an in%ard
uplifting sense but also in a pra$ti$al manner by its pre#ention of falling into bad
$ourses&
!+
:esponsibility, a$$ording to its measure, $annot be shrugged off& .4ur thoughts are
ours,. as ;hakespeare says&
!4
2e %ill gi#e, and he ought in$reasingly to gi#e, more attention to s$rutiny of the kind of
thoughts %hi$h o$$upy his mind& "nd he %ill take the opportunity follo%ing e#ery su$h
s$rutiny to $leanse, $orre$t, impro#e, or uplift these thoughts and thus bring them under
some $ontrol&
!1
2e $an use books as a preliminary guide to %orking on himself& )he study and
obser#ation of his $ondu$t, the analysis of his past and present e*perien$es in the light
of his highest aspirations, the attempt to be impartially a%are of himself in #arious
situations, %ill open the %ay to more dire$t guidan$e through intuitions from his higher
self&
!3
-t is true that the spa$e of time during %hi$h he tries to gain $ontrol of his thoughts
e#ery day is a short one, %hereas his habitual $arelessness in the matter $ontinues for
the rest of the day& ;ome $riti$s ha#e asked %hat is the use of this $ontrol if it ends %ith
the meditation period<
!7
E#en %hile he is a$ting in a situation, he trains himself to obser#e it&
!5
)he pra$ti$e should also be $ontinued at mealtimes& ,hen eating anything, keep in
mind the idea, .)he body =not my body> is eating this food&. ,hen taking parti$ularly
appeti?ing food, hold the thought, .)he body is en9oying this food&. "ll the time, %at$h
the bodily rea$tions as an impersonal but interested spe$tator&
!7
Bangkok monastery meditation exercise: )he monks pa$ed around #ery, #ery slo%ly,
slo%ly lifting a foot and $ons$iously deliberately putting it do%n again for the ne*t step&
"ll the %hile they tried to keep the mind empty& )he eyes %ere $ast do%n%ard&
'8
)he intenser the longing for enlightenment, the easier it is to pra$tise re$olle$tion&
Mental quiet
'!
Emotional e$stasies are not or should not be the final goal of meditation pra$ti$e& )hey
may be %el$omed, but the 6uest ought not be pursued so far and allo%ed to end %ith
them& Better the @reat Pea$e, the ;elf melted in Ai#ine Being, the mind enlightened by
Ai#ine )ruth, the result a return to the %orld %ith the heart suffused by a @reat
@ood%ill& ;u$h is the philosopherBs goal& -t does not depend on meditation alone& )o
those struggling in and %ith the %orld as it is today, it may seem ina$$essible, utterly
beyond oneBs ambitions&
''
)he higher purpose of meditation is missed if it does not end in the pea$e, the stillness,
that emanates from the real self& 2o%e#er slightly it may be felt, this is the essential
%ork %hi$h meditation must do for us&
'+
)he $ulti#ation of a tran6uil temperament promotes the pra$ti$e of mental 6uiet& )he
$ulti#ation of mental 6uiet promotes the attainment of the 4#erselfBs pea$e&
'4
)he bored or gloomy silen$e of some old persons is not at all to be mistaken for the
sa$red silen$e of a true mysti$&
'1
-f he pra$tises mental stillness until he masters it, he %ill benefit proportionately& Cor in
its deepest 6uietude he $an find the highest inspiration&
'3
-t is partly be$ause the 4#erself %aits for us in silen$e that %e ha#e to approa$h it in
silen$e too&
'7
)he belief that meditation is only an e*er$ise in 6uiet refle$tion is a half0true, half0false
one& -t may begin like that, but it must not end like that& Cor %hen it is suffi$iently
ad#an$ed, thoughts should be dropped and the mind emptied& )his %ill not be possible
in a fe% days or months, but if one sits for it daily, regularly, this utterly rela*ed state
%ill suddenly be reali?ed&
'5
-t is also an affair of %aiting, %aiting for the repose to settle on his being& )he doing is
simply to brush off intruding thoughts, to hold attention in a $on$entrated manner&
'7
-n those moments %hen a mysterious stillness holds the heart of man, he has the $han$e
to kno% that he is not limited to his little egoisti$ self&
+8
-f the mind $ould but listen to itself, and not to its thoughts, it might get $loser to truth&
+!
)o renoun$e the self in meditation is to sit still and let the ego listen to the Doi$e of the
4#erself&
+'
-t is the $alm %hi$h $omes from profound refle$tion, the repose %hi$h repays ade6uate
$omprehension&
++
-f %e $an train the mind to be still, it %ill $lear itself of muddy thoughts and let the
;oulBs light shine through&
+4
,hat ordinary thought $annot rea$h, pa$ified thought $an& )his happens %hen mental
6uiet is fully and su$$essfully entered, e#en if briefly&
+1
)here is the silen$e of the mentally dull and spiritually ina$ti#e& )here is also the silen$e
of the %ise and illumined&
+3
@od %ill not enter into your heart until it is empty and still&
+7
But %hy must the mind be stilled, it %ill be asked, to kno% @od< Be$ause @od mo#es
in and through the uni#erse itself so silently and in su$h stillness that atheists doubt
%hether this di#ine po%er is really there& -n the state of rapt mental 6uiet, the human
mind approa$hes the di#ine mind and, as the 6uietness deepens, is able to make its first
$ons$ious $onta$t %ith it&
+5
-t is not easy for a man to belie#e that a greater %isdom may be re$ei#ed by his mind if
he keeps it still than if he stirs it into a$ti#ity&
+7
,hat they do not kno%, and ha#e to learn, is that there is a false silen$e %ithin the mind
as %ell as a true one& )he one may resemble the other in $ertain points, and does00but it
is a psy$hi$ state, not a spiritual one& -t $an de$ei#e and lead astray, or refle$t earthly
things $orre$tly, but $annot let them hear the #oi$e of the 4#erself&
48
,hen the brain is too a$ti#e, its energies obstru$t the gentle influ* of intuiti#e feeling&
,hen they are e*tro#erted, they obstru$t that listening attitude %hi$h is needed to hear
the 4#erselfBs gentle #oi$e speak to the inner silen$e& Mental 6uiet must be the goal& ,e
must de#elop a ne% kind of hearing&
4!
-f he is really deep in meditation, not a single mus$le of his body %ill mo#e&
4'
,ith most people a $ompletely thought0free mind may be impossible to attain in their
present situation, but a tran6uilli?ed mind is possible&
4+
Meditation may begin as a dialogue bet%een the meditator and his imagined higher self/
it may pass beyond that into a real dialogue %ith his 4#erself& But if he is to go farther
all dialogue must $ease, all attempt to $ommuni$ate must end in the ;tillness&
44
"s mental agitations and emotional dominations fall a%ay through this patient %aiting,
a hush falls upon the inner being& )his is a deli$ate, gentle, and important state, for it is
approa$hing the threshold %here a ne% and rare kind of e*perien$e may be near&
41
Mental 6uiet, if fully attained, frees the time0bound $ons$iousness, %hi$h then floats all0
too0briefly into )imelessness&
43
2e is to keep absolutely still during this period, letting no mo#ement of the body
distra$t the mind/ be$ause of the intera$tion of these t%o entities, the one influen$ing
the other, the mind %ill be$ome in$reasingly still too&
47
)he layman of the ,est is 9ust beginning to learn the art of mental 6uiet, but he has not
yet penetrated deeply enough/ he has far to go&
45
)he .natural. =returning to oneBs true nature> $ondition of $ons$iousness has not only to
be attained but, by unremitting pra$ti$e, also retained&
47
)he bustle of the %orldBs a$ti#ity and of personal preo$$upations must be in%ardly
silen$ed before the kno%ledge of %hat underlies both the ,orld0-dea and the ego0
thought $an re#eal itself&
18
-t is good pra$ti$e to put oneBs 6uestions or state oneBs problems before beginning a
meditation and then to forget them& Enless the meditation su$$eeds in rea$hing the
stillness, the full response $annot be made&
1!
Mental silen$e is %hat is ordinarily $alled yoga in -ndia& Crom the philosophi$al
standpoint, it is #aluable, but still not enough %here it is mere mental ina$ti#ity& )he
ego, or the thought of the ego, has also to be o#er$ome so as to allo% the higher po%er,
the higher self, to take possession of the mind thereafter&
1'
Be$ause thinking is an a$ti#ity %ithin time, it $annot lead to the )imeless& Cor this
attainment, mental 6uiet is ne$essary&
1+
)he $learness of mind %hi$h per#ades this state is e*traordinarily intense& -t lights up
e#ery person and e#ery in$ident $oming into the area of thought, but e#en more00
himself&
14
)o sit %ith another person for se#eral minutes in $omplete silen$e yet in $omplete ease
is beyond the $apa$ity of most 4$$idental $ity people& )he 4rientals still ha#e it but, as
the ,estBs %ay of life makes its inroads, are beginning to lose it&
11
-t is only %hen this emotional $alm has been attained that $orre$t thinking $an e#er
begin&
13
Chou )un0Fi =ele#enth0$entury Chinese philosopher>: .)he ;age makes stillness the
ruling $onsideration&.
17
)here is an air of #enerable dignity about a figure sunk in meditati#e 6uiet and
%ithdra%n from earthly $on$erns&
15
"s the mindBs mo#ement ebbs a%ay and its turnings slo% do%n, the egoBs desires for,
and attempt to hold on to, its %orld drop a%ay& ,hat ensues is a real mental 6uiet& )he
man dis$o#ers himself, his 4#erself&
17
2e sees into himself as he has ne#er kno%n himself before&
38
2o% far is all this utter emotional stillness and gra#e mental silen$e from all the noise
of religious disputations, from all the tension of se$tarian $riti$ism, from all the
puerilities of te*tual hair0splittingG
3!
-t is %hen the mind is still that high spiritual for$es, be they from @od or guru, $an
rea$h a man&
3'
)he body be$omes strangely still, the sine%s 6uite rela*ed, the breathing greatly
subdued/ sometimes e#en the head droops&
3+
4nly the regular deep breathing sho%s that the spirit has not %ithdra%n from the body&
34
" mind filled %ith thoughts about things, persons, and e#ents, %ith desires, passions,
and moods, %ith %orries, fears, and disturban$es, is in no fit $ondition to make $onta$t
%ith that %hi$h trans$ends them all& -t must first be 6uietened and emptied&
31
)he 6uietness un$o#ers the essential being&
33
)houghts fli$ker a$ross the s$reen of $ons$iousness like a $inema pi$ture& ,ho pauses
to see %hat this $ons$iousness itself is like and %hat it has to say for itself< 2as not the
time $ome for ,estern man to learn the art of mental 6uiet<
37
)he effort to hold thoughts ba$k, to tou$h their $alm sour$e deep deep belo% them,
must be made&
35
)he %ay his body mo#es, %orks, %alks, beha#es, re#eals something of the inner man,
the ego& But non0mo#ement, sitting 6uite still, $an re#eal e#en more00the being behind
the ego& 2o%e#er this remains a mere unreali?ed possibility if the man is %ithout
kno%ledge or instru$tion&
37
.)o be in Mental uiet is to obser#e the mindBs o%n nature,. %rote Hao )?u&
The Notebooks are $opyright I !7540!757, )he Paul Brunton Philosophi$ Coundation&