Meditation = Being Friendly

August 5, 2018 Meditation No Comments

Ever wondered why Buddha has a Buddha smile?

‘Friendly’ as in ‘very, very gentle’. [see: ‘Weak, Hard, Strong, Gentle’].

Not straightforward

Being friendly = letting yourself be open to change from inside out. This is not always straightforward. In fact, a great deal of courage may be needed, presupposing an openness within yourself to be touched by what you didn’t expect.

For instance, by the beauty of some little thing, thought, feeling, memory…

This may then suddenly become Beauty.

And there you are, standing, sitting, being before Beauty.

Being friendly to small things.

Then, through these small things, to what lies behind them and what may be most meaningful to you. Generally, you pass by as if they are not relevant. Generally, you may see coarse pictures but not the subtle pictures that are part of the coarse ones.

In meditation, you look straight at the subtle ones. Then you may see that they are most relevant, to you, to others. ‘Relevant’ is an appeal, an invitation. You may not get richer, neither with outside riches nor with inside riches. It’s up to you.

Taking your time to look at small things.

Letting go. Time and time and time again.

Meditation = taking time. Not going from A -> B -> C in quick pace, as if otherwise you would lose something, such as your life. In meditation, you act as if you’re not going to lose your life when staying at A.

You may slow down.

Paradoxically, this can engender another movement of your mind. Another mind-game. One may compare it with a ‘vertical’ movement instead of the usual ‘horizontal’ movement. If you like, it’s a movement from A -> A’ -> A’’… at its own pace, which may be very slow or lighteningly quick. It is a different time. It is ‘meditation time’. This way, one hour of meditation may feel like a few seconds.

This is ‘your’ time. Not the time of mere ego.