I would like to talk about meditation, which is rather presumptuous when meditation is not fundamentally a cerebral activity or something that can be conceptualized with words. It is an experience, a kind of tuning in to reality, whatever that is. But paradoxically it is also a tuning out, especially to all the chatter going on in our heads. As the Zen master Shohaku Okumura said, meditation is “good for nothing”! Anyway, I’m going to give this a go, mindful of my own naivety, and that the more one learns the more one realizes how little one knows.
That is my disclaimer. It is also the reason why I turn to Alan Watts, who was a leading exponent on Eastern religions and philosophies, mainly early Chinese Taoism and Japanese Zen Buddhism. From these ‘traditions’ he made the following observations as fundamental to meditation:
- There is one reality, and everything is connected within the whole, the Tao.
- We are the universe. The notion that we are a separate ego or individual is an illusion.
- Only the present moment exists. “Reality itself is neither mental nor spiritual, nor any other concept that we can have of it; reality is simply the present moment.”[1]
The purpose of meditation is therefore to experience and to live in this present reality, now, and thus connect with the energy and harmony of being who and what we are in the Tao (the source). In other words, being ‘in tune’, and resonating with this. From this perspective we don’t need to change ourselves because we’re already it. If there is change, it is in becoming who we are, and so ‘being in tune’ and ‘playing along with it’.
Alan Watts explains the process of meditation this way:
This is the beginning of meditation. You don’t know what you’re supposed to do, so what can you do? Well, if you don’t know what you’re supposed to do, you watch. You simply watch what is going on. When somebody plays music, you listen. You just follow those sounds, and eventually you understand the music. The point can’t be explained in words because music is not words, but after listening for a while, you understand the point of it, and that point is the music itself. In exactly the same way, you can listen to all experiences, because all experiences of any kind are vibrations coming at you. As a matter of fact, you are these vibrations, and if you really feel what is happening, the awareness you have of you and of everything else is all the same. It’s a sound, a vibration, all kinds of vibrations on different bands of the spectrum. Sight vibrations, emotion vibrations, touch vibrations, sound vibrations – all these things come together and are woven, all the senses are woven, and you are a pattern in the weaving, and that pattern is the picture of what you now feel. This is always going on, whether you pay attention to it or not. Now instead of asking what you should do about it, you experience it, because who knows what to do about it? To know what to do about this you would have to know everything, and if you don’t, then the only way to begin is to watch. Watch what’s going on. Watch not only what’s going on outside, but what’s going on inside. Treat your own thoughts, your own reactions, your own emotions about what’s going on outside as if those inside reactions were also outside things. But you are just watching. Just follow along, and simply observe how they go. [2]
Breathing is another important part of practicing meditation.
In Buddhism, this is called mindfulness of the breath, or watching breath. And watching breath is fundamental in meditation because, like sound, it is easy to see the happening in it, as distinct from what we thought of as the doing of it. Breath happens, but the curious thing is that you can get with the breath, and in getting with it, extraordinary things can happen.
It would be better now for me to ‘shut up’ and for you to listen to Alan Watts in these YouTube videos:
- The Art of Meditation. https://youtu.be/J9mSYMH6SzI
- Just Listen – Alan Watts Guided Meditation https://youtu.be/GPs_6ayG154?t=11
- Inner Voice Lecture. https://youtu.be/j_ECHg1FPwg
While I appreciate this perspective of Alan Watts on meditation, his lectures on the topic predate the scientific discoveries about meditation in recent decades. I refer to the science of Heart Coherence meditation which has benefits, both psychological and physical, that can be measured.[3] It certainly works for me, even though I’m new to it. Even without this recent knowledge and technology, the explanation of meditation as practiced for millennia still stands true. Besides that, the Taoist perspective on reality as described by Alan Watts, in my view, underpins the whole thing.
My next exploration will be learning more about Zen meditation (zazen). I have Shunryu Suzuki’s book, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, and I must pick it up again and continue reading.[4] It rings true, even if a little bound to a particular religious and cultural tradition. More important of course is just doing it, or letting it ‘do’ you. It doesn’t require thinking, which as you can probably see, is hard for me not to do!
I hope this article, and the videos linked above, encourage you to meditate.
[1] “You are in meditation in an eternal present, and you are not expecting any result. You are not doing it to improve yourself, because you found that you can’t. Your ego can’t possibly improve you because it is what’s in need of improvement, and your ego can’t let go of itself because it is a complex of thoughts called “clinging to one’s self.” When it is finally understood that it is unable to achieve a transformation of consciousness, or the vivid sense of union of individual and cosmos, it just evaporates.” Alan Watts, Still the Mind: An Introduction to Meditation (Novato, New World Library, 2000. Edited by Mark Watts and Marc Allen). p.65.
[2] Alan Watts, Still the Mind – “When you are thus absorbed in sound, where are you? You are in a state of consciousness that is, even at first, at least a primitive form of samadhi; that is to say, we are happily absorbed in what we are doing, and we have forgotten about ourselves. You can’t very well do that and still worry or think about anything serious.” p.56.
[3] See the HeartMath Institute, https://www.heartmath.org/
[4] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal talks on Zen Meditation and Practice (Shambhala Publications, 1970. 50th Anniversary Edition published in 2020). Here is a link to a series of sixteen videos about zazen… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4SN_SeVNLw&list=PLahooTbMXXrQ3qJ8mF-27XvCCkGLDquDB
Mark Brimblecombe 