MINDFULNESS PRACTISE

BY DHAMACARO

It is not a requisite to be a monk or for that matter even to be a Buddhist to practise meditation. Anyone can practise and get the same result. To say that someone must take the monastic vows or convert to Buddhism before they can meditate is simply making a condition or even an excuse. The fruits of practice depend on how mindfully a practitioner lives their life. It does not depend on name and form. There is a Zen story that illustrates this well.

There was a Zen temple that was very popular and always full of people who came to learn and practice meditation. Also at the temple were two workers, one was a cook and the other was an adopted man. Neither of them practiced meditation but they lived mindfully at all times and whatever they were doing, be it working or living their normal everyday lives.

Every day when the meditators came to practise they ignored the two men sometimes they even insulted them by saying that they both wasted their lives because they both worked and lived in the temple and yet they didn’t outwardly meditate. This state of affairs went on frequently, however, on one day when they were yet again insulted they answered back. They said to the people “You come here everyday and meditate, so what do you get?”  The people got very angry and retaliated by shouting at them for saying that. The two men said, “ We heard that meditators should not fall into anger easily and also that they should have the ability to control feelings.” They added, “That peace is the fruit of meditation practice and that the human mind looks the same in everyone even if they don’t call themselves  meditators.” The people reflected on what the two men had said and then realised that they should not have insulted them so. They began to put what they had learned into practice.

As it states in the story that all human minds are the same so it is best not to fool or confuse it with conditions, or name and form. Because this will plant ego in it and this in turn will obstruct knowledge and wisdom coming forth. Mindfulness is needed as the foundation of the mind so it knows its state as it really is. It is also true that meditation can help form mindfulness in the mind but it must be pure practice which does not involve itself with condition, opinion and judgment.

How can a practitioner know if it is pure practice? The answer is just practise and practice makes perfect.