There are many people who are afraid to practice meditation because they afraid to lose their minds. How can we explain to them to understand about meditation more clearly?
Answer
by Venerable Dhattajeevo Bhikku
The rule of thumb is that people who practice meditation will have good sharp minds. That is because mind and meditation go together and you are unable to separate them.
It is the same as when we light up a candle. When the fire is lit up, we will see the light from the candle and at the same time we will receive the heat. They occur at the same time because the heat and light that we get from the candle goes together and we are unable to separate them.
So for whoever is practicing meditation, the more s/he progresses the more his/her mind will clearly develop. At the same time, if anyone practices with his/her mind completely into the meditation, his or her mind will progress more and more.
In the case of misunderstanding if the practice of meditation will make one lose his/her mind, it means that one does not know the truth that there are 2 kinds of meditation:
#1 - SAMMA SAMADHI is a meditation in Buddhism where the more you practice it; the more your mind will become fulfilled.
#2 - MIJJA SAMADHI. For mijja samadhi people it is akin to people who are used to playing cards. They will know how you are a aiming for a card, and you are waiting for that card. At that particular time, the person’s meditation concentration might be good but it is based on greed.
It is similar to a contract killer who wants to kill someone. At that time s/he will have the best meditation, but it is based on greed and anger.
This type of meditation is the wrong meditation. The more you concentrate on it the more you will lose your mind.
It is also similar to the sorcerer’s ritual dance used to exorcise evil spirits, or remove a demon spirit who possesses someone. When this occurs the sorcerer will lose his/her mind all of the time. This is because if you don’t lose your mind the evil spirits cannot enter. In each instance when the evil spirits enter, the ritual will take about an hour, so the sorcerers are training themselves to lose their minds for hours upon hours.
When most people don’t know or are unable to separate the truth about meditation, and that it is divided into two distinct kinds, then they must realize that mijja samadhi is the practice that will cause them to lose their minds because with this type the mind focuses on greed, anger, and hostility. The people who don’t realize this will stray, because they will assume that meditation in Buddhism will also make you lose your mind if you train yourself to practice it.
If you meditate and it makes you lose your mind, then this whole world would not have the Lord Buddha for us to pray to or bow to. This is because since our Lord Buddha ordained, He has focused on meditation continuously. This is because samma samadhi meditation makes our mind calm, bright and light.
When our mind is calm, bright and light it will make us see the truth, so when we sit and close our eyes people who have good strong meditation will be able to see more widely, and much further than people who meditate with their eyes open. People who open their eyes only see the front view.
Persons who practice good strong meditation until they see bright light in their vision not only see the front but they are able to see things all around themselves. They can see from the left side, from the right side, the front side, the backside, the upper side and the lower side. Sometimes they can see all of the sides together at the same time.
When one is able to see all of the views at the same time, it is the same as the Lord Buddha’s ability to see the kilesa (derangements, defilements, and heavy karmic suffering) that is hidden in the human mind, and hence is able to correct it. This is the way of the Enlightenment of the Lord Buddha.
So, hurry up and come and practice meditation, now while Luang Phaw, Luang Puu and Phra Ajahn have the knowledge of meditation while it is truly still available, but remember that all of these people are very old. Don’t be afraid that meditation will make you lose your mind or that you are wasting your time.
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