[note from kelly: this is a long post, but craig wrote from the heart, and I think it's worth reading in its entirety.]
"Reflections On A Meditation Retreat in New York"
--by Craig Metcalf
I recently traveled to Kadampa Meditation Center in Glen Spey, New York for a five-day meditation retreat. It was my first time to attend the annual National Kadampa Buddhist Festival. I must say, the retreat had a profound impact on me and opened me up to so many new ideas and possibilities.
Prior to attending the retreat, I'd been practicing meditation on a mostly solitary basis. I would attend courses and workshops offered through the Ganden Center in Columbia but, for the most part, I was practicing alone. Even so, I found great solace in my meditation practice and slowly began to see its benefits in every area of my life. I became less angry; less worried about and preoccupied with the past and future; less critical of my self and others; and less likely to blame others for my problems. With daily practice, my mind became more and more settled and my ability to cherish others increased. My wish to help others and give to others grew exponentially. My heart began to open in such a way that I could see clearly, in very subtle and inexpressible ways, how we are all so intricately connected.
Meditation has the power to heal us in these (and many other) ways. It helps us transform our mind so that we can become of true and lasting benefit to all other living beings. We benefit others with our meditation practice because, as our mind becomes more and more peaceful, we begin to eliminate our mental delusions such as anger, jealousy and greed. Over time, as these negative states of mind begin to decrease, we naturally begin to act in more virtuous ways. So, I was already reaping some of the many benefits of meditation practice prior to the retreat. However, the retreat opened up so many new and wonderful doors.
Upon checking into our rooms, a group of us took a shuttle bus from the hotel to the temple. As we entered the grounds and made our way up the long drive, I saw the temple for the first time. I'd never seen anything like it. While it is a new and modern building, its architectural design is reminiscent of the ancient Buddhist temples of Tibet. From simply looking at the temple, I could tell right away that I was in a very special place. It may sound rather kooky, but I could actually feel the peaceful energy emanating from the entire site.
It stands to reason, though, that one can literally feel the positive vibrations since it is a place where people are constantly engaging in meditation. Every day, people go to this temple for the express purpose of eliminating negative states of mind and increasing the positive. There is no anger, greed, jealousy or hatred generated within the temple. In our society, it is indeed rare to encounter such a pure environment.
teachings from the retreat
The Festival included several Kadampa Buddhist lineage teachings from some of the most well-respected Buddhist monks and nuns of that tradition. These were most helpful and provided powerful insight into the nature of the mind and the profundity of our precious human life. We learned about the importance of utilizing our lives for the betterment of all living beings. This includes the practice of giving generously to our fellow human beings. We can give our time, our kind words, our positive thoughts and our material goods; such as money, food and clothing to those in need of these things.
According to the Buddha's teachings, the main purpose of our human life is to achieve, through practices such as meditation, total enlightenment so that we can, in turn, help lead others out of samara. Practices such as giving material goods; helping the sick and dying; and donating our time to a worthy cause make our present life meaningful and create the cause for us to receive help from others if we fall on difficult times in the future. More importantly, they create the cause for us to take human rebirth in our future lives so we can continue on the path to enlightenment.
We listened to teachings on the fleeting nature of all phenomena. We are not guaranteed any certain amount of time in life and death may come at any time. Keeping this in mind, we should strive to make our life truly meaningful by helping others and eliminating our negative states of mind. We learned about the nature and function of 'karma' and how all our negative states of mind lead to actions (or karma) that cause us to take lower rebirth. It is said that it's easier to attain full enlightenment and become a Buddha than it is to attain human life after taking a lower rebirth, due to negative actions.
purifying the mind
Keeping this in mind, it becomes clear that we should strive to abandon our negative actions now, while we have this rare opportunity, and begin to cultivate virtuous actions that will cause us to take fortunate human rebirths in the future. If we continue to take human rebirth and are able to continue cultivating our positive minds through meditation and engaging in virtuous actions, we will eventually attain full enlightenment and achieve Buddhahood. We will have purified our mind completely and there will be absolutely no trace of any negativity in our mind. We will be free from all suffering and will be able to relieve the suffering of all living beings through the power of our immense compassion and wisdom.
We can and do experience temporary states of pure inner peace through such practices as meditation but these are short lived. This is because we still have seeds of delusions deep within our mind. During meditation, these seeds are not watered. They lie dormant within our mind and so they do not sprout, giving rise to feelings such as anger. But when we are not engaged in the concentration of meditation these seeds are easily watered and give rise to such delusions.
For instance, we can achieve a very peaceful state of mind during meditation and then, shortly thereafter, encounter someone who criticizes us. That person's comments instantly give rise to feelings of anger and irritation. So, at present, our inner peace and happiness is only temporary. Our minds are in constant flux, going from one extreme to the other and anywhere in between. This illustrates clearly that our minds are not yet pure.
A Buddha, on the other hand, has mastered his or her mind in such a way that the seeds, themselves, have been eradicated from the mind. There is no basis for any type of delusional state of mind to arise. His or her mind is completely purified and, therefore, a Buddha's mind of inner peace and happiness is constant and never-ending. A strong meditation practice will, over time, begin to transform our mind so that we gravitate more and more towards the mind of a Buddha.
what if everyone wished to take away others' suffering?
The actual meditation practice during the retreat was absolutely incredible. As mentioned before, the temple, itself, is an emanation of peace. While engaged in meditation with the other hundreds of people there I was overcome with a deep and profound feeling of lightness; 'lightness' is the only way I can describe it and the word really doesn't do justice to the actual feeling that came over me. All those people gathered in one place, holding their collective mind purely and single-pointedly on one object of meditation, such as bodhicitta (the mind that seeks to liberate all living beings from suffering), was a powerful experience to say the least. The human mind is a very powerful force. I could feel the collective state of mind we were all generating through our meditation practice and the positive energy flowed freely through the entire temple.
This led to thoughts of "What if?” What if everyone on the planet simultaneously took ten minutes each day to meditate on peace? What kind of collective effect would that have on the planet and all the living beings in this world? If several hundred people gathered together can generate the amount of positive energy I felt, what could several million or even billions do?
Prior to the retreat, I had an inkling of the benefits of practicing meditation with others but, having attended the New York Festival, I understand much more clearly how practicing with a sangha (a community of practitioners) benefits one's own practice and the practice of all those in the sangha. I remember thinking at one point, "Every single person in this temple is meditating on my behalf, in an effort to help reduce my suffering. And I, my self, am meditating on behalf of everyone in this temple, in an effort to reduce their suffering.”
Many of us had ever met each other before (in this life) and didn’t know the first thing about one another on a superficial level. Yet we were all there; people gathered from all over the U.S. recognizing one another as fellow human beings and valuing each other as we would a rare and precious jewel. We were also recognizing that we all have within us the power to bestow upon one another the gift of lasting inner peace; we all have within us the Buddha nature and we can and should encourage one another to develop that pure mind.
Since the retreat, my meditation practice has grown in so many ways. My concentration (the ability to hold the object of meditation single-pointedly for longer periods of time) has increased. My delusions have decreased. My relationships with friends and family have improved. My willingness and ability to let go of things and situations that hold no real meaning or benefit has increased. My desire to help others has increased. And it all just keeps getting better as times passes.
you don't have to be a buddhist to meditate
As a Buddhist, I cannot say that the Buddhist path is the only way or that it is right for everyone. Choosing a tradition to follow is a highly personal affair. I can, however, say that meditation can be of immense benefit to every single human being on this planet. One need not be Buddhist to develop a meditation practice. There are other traditions, including Christianity, that encourage meditation.
When we first begin to meditate, our minds are, of course, undisciplined. We find that we can’t concentrate for very long and our mind wanders from here to there and back again. This is completely normal because we usually live life in a very 'un-present' manner. Our thoughts are often stuck in the past or in the future. Without even noticing our state of mind, we worry about what happened yesterday or last week or what's going to happen tomorrow or next week. So, when we make an attempt to bring our self into the present moment, our mind tends to rebel and quickly goes back to its ‘normal’ un-present state. This 'monkey-mind', as it's sometimes called, will decrease with time.
The more we meditate, the more our mind will become settled and focused on the present moment. (Incidentally, yoga asana practice is an excellent way to calm the 'monkey mind' and prepare the body for meditation. Try meditating directly after an asana practice. Asana calms the central nervous system, reduces the body's tendency to fidget during meditation and focuses the mind by bringing it into the present moment.)
how to start a meditation practice
If you decide to take up a meditation practice, my suggestion is to begin slowly. Try meditating for 3 minutes and slowly increase to 5, then 10, and 15, and so on. Moving slowly in this manner will teach you that you can, indeed, meditate and you'll notice that even a 3 minute meditation session can have a positive influence on your entire day. Eventually, you will be able to sit for an hour without loosing concentration on the object of your meditation. (The object of your meditation session can be any object which, when focused on single-pointedly, gives rise to a peaceful state of mind. This could be love, peace, happiness for all living beings, the downfalls of negative actions, or even one’s own breath.)
If you'd like a more detailed explanation of meditation practice, including what it is, how to do it, the meditation posture, etc., you can visit the following webpage: http://www.aboutmeditation.org/ This is a Buddhist site. But even if you're not Buddhist, it will give you many helpful tips on developing a strong meditation practice.
May Everyone Be Happy--Craig
[have questions for craig? post a comment here]
"Reflections On A Meditation Retreat in New York"
--by Craig Metcalf
I recently traveled to Kadampa Meditation Center in Glen Spey, New York for a five-day meditation retreat. It was my first time to attend the annual National Kadampa Buddhist Festival. I must say, the retreat had a profound impact on me and opened me up to so many new ideas and possibilities.
Prior to attending the retreat, I'd been practicing meditation on a mostly solitary basis. I would attend courses and workshops offered through the Ganden Center in Columbia but, for the most part, I was practicing alone. Even so, I found great solace in my meditation practice and slowly began to see its benefits in every area of my life. I became less angry; less worried about and preoccupied with the past and future; less critical of my self and others; and less likely to blame others for my problems. With daily practice, my mind became more and more settled and my ability to cherish others increased. My wish to help others and give to others grew exponentially. My heart began to open in such a way that I could see clearly, in very subtle and inexpressible ways, how we are all so intricately connected.
Meditation has the power to heal us in these (and many other) ways. It helps us transform our mind so that we can become of true and lasting benefit to all other living beings. We benefit others with our meditation practice because, as our mind becomes more and more peaceful, we begin to eliminate our mental delusions such as anger, jealousy and greed. Over time, as these negative states of mind begin to decrease, we naturally begin to act in more virtuous ways. So, I was already reaping some of the many benefits of meditation practice prior to the retreat. However, the retreat opened up so many new and wonderful doors.
Upon checking into our rooms, a group of us took a shuttle bus from the hotel to the temple. As we entered the grounds and made our way up the long drive, I saw the temple for the first time. I'd never seen anything like it. While it is a new and modern building, its architectural design is reminiscent of the ancient Buddhist temples of Tibet. From simply looking at the temple, I could tell right away that I was in a very special place. It may sound rather kooky, but I could actually feel the peaceful energy emanating from the entire site.
It stands to reason, though, that one can literally feel the positive vibrations since it is a place where people are constantly engaging in meditation. Every day, people go to this temple for the express purpose of eliminating negative states of mind and increasing the positive. There is no anger, greed, jealousy or hatred generated within the temple. In our society, it is indeed rare to encounter such a pure environment.
teachings from the retreat
The Festival included several Kadampa Buddhist lineage teachings from some of the most well-respected Buddhist monks and nuns of that tradition. These were most helpful and provided powerful insight into the nature of the mind and the profundity of our precious human life. We learned about the importance of utilizing our lives for the betterment of all living beings. This includes the practice of giving generously to our fellow human beings. We can give our time, our kind words, our positive thoughts and our material goods; such as money, food and clothing to those in need of these things.
According to the Buddha's teachings, the main purpose of our human life is to achieve, through practices such as meditation, total enlightenment so that we can, in turn, help lead others out of samara. Practices such as giving material goods; helping the sick and dying; and donating our time to a worthy cause make our present life meaningful and create the cause for us to receive help from others if we fall on difficult times in the future. More importantly, they create the cause for us to take human rebirth in our future lives so we can continue on the path to enlightenment.
We listened to teachings on the fleeting nature of all phenomena. We are not guaranteed any certain amount of time in life and death may come at any time. Keeping this in mind, we should strive to make our life truly meaningful by helping others and eliminating our negative states of mind. We learned about the nature and function of 'karma' and how all our negative states of mind lead to actions (or karma) that cause us to take lower rebirth. It is said that it's easier to attain full enlightenment and become a Buddha than it is to attain human life after taking a lower rebirth, due to negative actions.
purifying the mind
Keeping this in mind, it becomes clear that we should strive to abandon our negative actions now, while we have this rare opportunity, and begin to cultivate virtuous actions that will cause us to take fortunate human rebirths in the future. If we continue to take human rebirth and are able to continue cultivating our positive minds through meditation and engaging in virtuous actions, we will eventually attain full enlightenment and achieve Buddhahood. We will have purified our mind completely and there will be absolutely no trace of any negativity in our mind. We will be free from all suffering and will be able to relieve the suffering of all living beings through the power of our immense compassion and wisdom.
We can and do experience temporary states of pure inner peace through such practices as meditation but these are short lived. This is because we still have seeds of delusions deep within our mind. During meditation, these seeds are not watered. They lie dormant within our mind and so they do not sprout, giving rise to feelings such as anger. But when we are not engaged in the concentration of meditation these seeds are easily watered and give rise to such delusions.
For instance, we can achieve a very peaceful state of mind during meditation and then, shortly thereafter, encounter someone who criticizes us. That person's comments instantly give rise to feelings of anger and irritation. So, at present, our inner peace and happiness is only temporary. Our minds are in constant flux, going from one extreme to the other and anywhere in between. This illustrates clearly that our minds are not yet pure.
A Buddha, on the other hand, has mastered his or her mind in such a way that the seeds, themselves, have been eradicated from the mind. There is no basis for any type of delusional state of mind to arise. His or her mind is completely purified and, therefore, a Buddha's mind of inner peace and happiness is constant and never-ending. A strong meditation practice will, over time, begin to transform our mind so that we gravitate more and more towards the mind of a Buddha.
what if everyone wished to take away others' suffering?
The actual meditation practice during the retreat was absolutely incredible. As mentioned before, the temple, itself, is an emanation of peace. While engaged in meditation with the other hundreds of people there I was overcome with a deep and profound feeling of lightness; 'lightness' is the only way I can describe it and the word really doesn't do justice to the actual feeling that came over me. All those people gathered in one place, holding their collective mind purely and single-pointedly on one object of meditation, such as bodhicitta (the mind that seeks to liberate all living beings from suffering), was a powerful experience to say the least. The human mind is a very powerful force. I could feel the collective state of mind we were all generating through our meditation practice and the positive energy flowed freely through the entire temple.
This led to thoughts of "What if?” What if everyone on the planet simultaneously took ten minutes each day to meditate on peace? What kind of collective effect would that have on the planet and all the living beings in this world? If several hundred people gathered together can generate the amount of positive energy I felt, what could several million or even billions do?
Prior to the retreat, I had an inkling of the benefits of practicing meditation with others but, having attended the New York Festival, I understand much more clearly how practicing with a sangha (a community of practitioners) benefits one's own practice and the practice of all those in the sangha. I remember thinking at one point, "Every single person in this temple is meditating on my behalf, in an effort to help reduce my suffering. And I, my self, am meditating on behalf of everyone in this temple, in an effort to reduce their suffering.”
Many of us had ever met each other before (in this life) and didn’t know the first thing about one another on a superficial level. Yet we were all there; people gathered from all over the U.S. recognizing one another as fellow human beings and valuing each other as we would a rare and precious jewel. We were also recognizing that we all have within us the power to bestow upon one another the gift of lasting inner peace; we all have within us the Buddha nature and we can and should encourage one another to develop that pure mind.
Since the retreat, my meditation practice has grown in so many ways. My concentration (the ability to hold the object of meditation single-pointedly for longer periods of time) has increased. My delusions have decreased. My relationships with friends and family have improved. My willingness and ability to let go of things and situations that hold no real meaning or benefit has increased. My desire to help others has increased. And it all just keeps getting better as times passes.
you don't have to be a buddhist to meditate
As a Buddhist, I cannot say that the Buddhist path is the only way or that it is right for everyone. Choosing a tradition to follow is a highly personal affair. I can, however, say that meditation can be of immense benefit to every single human being on this planet. One need not be Buddhist to develop a meditation practice. There are other traditions, including Christianity, that encourage meditation.
When we first begin to meditate, our minds are, of course, undisciplined. We find that we can’t concentrate for very long and our mind wanders from here to there and back again. This is completely normal because we usually live life in a very 'un-present' manner. Our thoughts are often stuck in the past or in the future. Without even noticing our state of mind, we worry about what happened yesterday or last week or what's going to happen tomorrow or next week. So, when we make an attempt to bring our self into the present moment, our mind tends to rebel and quickly goes back to its ‘normal’ un-present state. This 'monkey-mind', as it's sometimes called, will decrease with time.
The more we meditate, the more our mind will become settled and focused on the present moment. (Incidentally, yoga asana practice is an excellent way to calm the 'monkey mind' and prepare the body for meditation. Try meditating directly after an asana practice. Asana calms the central nervous system, reduces the body's tendency to fidget during meditation and focuses the mind by bringing it into the present moment.)
how to start a meditation practice
If you decide to take up a meditation practice, my suggestion is to begin slowly. Try meditating for 3 minutes and slowly increase to 5, then 10, and 15, and so on. Moving slowly in this manner will teach you that you can, indeed, meditate and you'll notice that even a 3 minute meditation session can have a positive influence on your entire day. Eventually, you will be able to sit for an hour without loosing concentration on the object of your meditation. (The object of your meditation session can be any object which, when focused on single-pointedly, gives rise to a peaceful state of mind. This could be love, peace, happiness for all living beings, the downfalls of negative actions, or even one’s own breath.)
If you'd like a more detailed explanation of meditation practice, including what it is, how to do it, the meditation posture, etc., you can visit the following webpage: http://www.aboutmeditation.org/ This is a Buddhist site. But even if you're not Buddhist, it will give you many helpful tips on developing a strong meditation practice.
May Everyone Be Happy--Craig
[have questions for craig? post a comment here]
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