Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #4: Buddhist Meditation

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #4: Buddhist Meditation: "Spend 20 mintues in a silent meditation; a place you won't be disturbed, your own 'fig tree' as was Buddha's inspiration. In those 20 mintue..."

I started my meditation in the early morning on Sunday since I found that it would be the quietest time of the day. The house was quiet since I was the only one awake that time. I opened the window so that I get fresh air and used a blue yoga mat for my meditation; I sat in regular lotus position. Also, I read the reflection instructions on the blog beforehand so that I know what to look for when I am meditating. I set a timer for 20 minutes so that I wouldn’t open my eyes to look at the clock every 5 minutes. After I set all the apparatus, I started meditating: concentrating on my breathing (Imagining myself breathing in white light that will enlighten me and breathing out dark thoughts of desires that will hinder me). As this is my first time ever meditating, I found it very difficult to think of nothingness and attempt to glimpse nirvana. There was one thing that I questioned myself during meditation: How could I seek life’s truths without critical thinking? I knew that I wouldn’t seek life’s truths by meditating only 20 minutes. There were also some problems that arose when I was meditating: I definitely didn’t attain right concentration because I starting thinking about other things that I had to do over the weekend. However, after a while, my mind became blank because I didn’t have anything else to think about. It was after this that I actually starting having right mindfulness and right thoughts. Although I forced myself to, I starting thinking about all the things that I am appreciative about. Being brought up from a family of mostly Buddhists and some Christians, me and my family goes to the temple twice a year. There I must sit and listen to a monk tell prayers for about 2 hours and 30 minutes. I didn’t find 20 minutes of meditation as challenging as that. After meditating, I noticed that: I wasn’t as sleepy as when I woke up, my breathing helped me clear most of my negative thoughts, and I felt that ‘today’ is going to be a great day. It was those feelings after meditating that inspired me to meditate more when I have the time.