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Meditation
Practice and Spiritual Growth
in a Western Society
by Thomas Case
This short essay is
presented as my personal account of how a meditation practice and
spiritual study has led me to realize that it is possible to achieve inner
peace while living the current physical life that we have.
The discussion in this essay is strictly my own opinions and
personal views based on my own study and experiences in my personal
practice. As I do not intend
on using this as a forum to discuss my personal life in intricate detail,
I will need to discuss basics so as to demonstrate the path that led me to
the current place I am now.
Living in a western society can be a rather challenging task when
it comes to seeking a spiritual way of life.
I am not knocking our society or our way of life, I would not
choose to live anywhere else in the world.
The freedoms we enjoy in this society are many and sometimes taken
for granted. However, as in all things there is good and not so good.
I have learned and I believe that all preconditioned persons are
good and to varying degrees have Buddha nature. It is when a new life
begins its human journey in this world and its primary and secondary
conditioning takes place that is when the prejudices (likes and dislikes)
begin to form. Cravings begin
to develop and wants can never be satisfied because when one desire is
quenched it is quickly replaced with another.
Left unchecked the human condition can be turned into a condition
of illness, both psychologically and physically.
This is very basic; to further try to expound on my perception of
suffering (Dukkha) would turn this essay into a book and that is not the
purpose. However, this is the
starting point which led me to a meditation practice; the ability to
achieve high and lofty goals and to gain and covet material possession and
still feel unfulfilled and dissatisfied with life.
I have been blessed with a good career, a loving family, physical
health, so, what is missing? Short answer, a spiritual life.
I was raised primarily in the southeastern portion of Michigan.
I grew up in an area that is very conservative in it’s values and
primarily Christian. This is
the “store front” version of the conservative community were I lived.
The reality is there really was not any type of spiritual training,
discussions or practice within the community.
There were Christian churches in the neighborhoods of varying
protestant denominations as well as Catholic and one Jewish Synigog.
I played with children and had friends from all of these different
spiritual persuasions; however, there was usually very little discussion
about anything as it pertains to spirituality.
I do not believe that there is a right view or a wrong view of any
particular religion. I
believe that they have all been developed as a portal to the spiritual
world based on culture and an individuals ability to understand.
From that point of view I believe that all spiritual roads should
be taken seriously.
The public education as
well as the spiritual education I received from the few times I did attend
a church seemed to always focus on satisfying the “self.” How can I achieve more things for me? How can I get ahead?
How can I get more money? How
can I better satisfy my own needs? Now,
here is the great irony in western culture; “if you don’t build
yourself a great deal of wealth, possession and status, you will
suffer.” This is not to be
misconstrued that a comfortable life is not good, it’s just that without
a spiritual code of conduct the desires and craving can go unchecked and
thus again, suffering.
While growing up my mother and father were very good to me.
I feel more fortunate then a lot of the kids I grew up with because
my parents allowed me to think freely and draw my own conclusions.
They never forced their opinions and never made me feel that their
thoughts on a subject had to be my thoughts.
I feel blessed for this even though there were some very down and
depressed times in my younger years trying to figure out who I am.
It was this that brought me to meditation.
Even though my parents never forced me to follow a particular
religious practice, the house I grew up in was not without discipline and
a very strict moral code. As
I began to practice meditation and as I began to explore the teachings of
the Buddha I quickly began to realize the moral code that my mother and
father held in their house very closely resembles the 5 Precepts and the
Noble Eightfold Path. As I
reflect on the attitudes of my both my paternal and maternal grandparents
as well as my mother and father I realize that I grew up in an environment
that was very much filled with Buddha nature.
It was not specifically termed that, but what is, is and as I see
it now, that is the way it was.
At a very young age I chose public service as a career path.
Consistent with the particular moral code I was brought up with, it
seemed like the right choice. The
basic feeling of what I felt and what I was taught to be right is that one
should act in a selfless manner, one should assist those who cannot assist
themselves, one should share material things as well as moral support to
those in dire need, one should protect the weak from oppression and the
list goes on. Feeling this
compulsion to “save the world” it felt as though public service was
the correct path to take. I
quickly came to realize that the world did not want to be saved.
I think I set my goals too high; however, at the time I felt like a
failure. I was not able to
achieve what “I” wanted, thus the production of more suffering.
How was I going to deal with this?
These problems began to lead to a serious question of existence.
Not just mine, but all beings in general. Who am I? What am I? Why
am I here? That kind of
thing. Although at that time
it was placed at the forefront of my thoughts, existentialism was not
something I had time to deal with. Life
seemed to be getting so complicated it was simply spinning out of control.
Stress quickly began to lead to physical tension which began to
lead to a feeling of being exhausted all the time and ultimately to feel
less effective in my work.
Without spiritual training, where does one seek relief?
Well in most cases in this society one usually turns to a social
setting. Under the pretext of
fellowship one might travel to a local bar and with a few friends indulge
in their favorite alcoholic beverage of choice and talk about the day’s
problems and let the tensions melt away.
What could be so bad about that?
Is it so bad? The
alcohol makes you feel better. The
problem is that it does nothing to eliminate the issues that caused your
stress in the first place, you are only temporarily medicating them.
This then becomes a cause for more craving and more suffering.
Alcohol and recreational drugs are not the only sources of
medicating our feelings, there is also a wide variety of compulsive
disorders that we can somehow justify using to medicate those feeling.
Compulsive eating, compulsive sex and yes, even compulsive
religion. There are more, but
you have the idea so I’ll stop there.
Again I would like to reiterate that I am not speaking as a
professional here nor do I claim to be an expert in the human condition, I
am only expressing my experiences.
Although I have been acquainted with meditation and have known
about it for years, I never really understood how it worked.
I am a type of individual that had developed an attitude that if I
cannot feel it, touch it, smell it, taste it, or see it, it does
not exist. Hmm, kind
of sounds like the five senses. (What I seemed to be missing at this point
in my life is the sixth sense, the mind.) This does not fit well in the
typical God based type religion as faith seems to be missing.
So for a long time I felt as though maybe I was an atheist, or at
best maybe an agnostic, but it didn’t matter, because I was still
struggling with life’s problems in my own way.
Basically wanting and craving solutions to problem that had no
solutions.
Sometimes the more fortunate beings just wake up and the light goes
on! You wake up and you say, “something is missing.”
What could it be? I have everything I need, but I feel I need more.
This was the very realization that led me to investigate meditation
and Buddhist teachings (Dhamma) as way of life.
Even though I cannot say exactly what day this was, it was a few
years ago and I knew it was something that had to be investigated.
I began a study of meditation hoping to achieve that magical
mystical sense of tranquility that had been promised by all of the
promoters of this type of lifestyle.
Guess what? It
didn’t happen. For some
reason, though this did not discourage me.
I found countless sources on the subject both on the internet and
in books. I read and I
practiced and I read some more until I came to what seemed to be a
universal thought among the authors of this type of life style.
“One should seek the assistance of a qualified teacher.”
Boy did that turn out to be the missing part of the equation.
Guess what else? As my
practice evolved it became a very important part of what I latter came to
know as a component of the Triple Gem, the Sangha.
It provides for a house to gather in, an abode to share similar
ideas with (Dhamma) people who are seeking the same relief as me.
Further, providing a spiritual leader to conduct guided meditation.
The instruction to seek a qualified teacher, led me to the Sangha.
You know, this qualified teacher thing was the missing component in
really understanding the purpose of meditation.
How do I find a qualified teacher?
Well, check the area you live in, I did.
I didn’t have a lot of luck.
Fortunately, I live fairly close to the Detroit Metro area and with
the assistance of the internet I located the Vihara that is associated
with where this essay is printed. I
met the monks, I talked philosophy. I
began to feel that there is something to be learned.
I found my qualified teacher.
Not only did I find my qualified teacher, but I have met a very
kind and loving group of people from Sri Lanka that have selflessly shared
their loving environment with a western American.
Not just me, but others in the community as well.
Anyway, on to my personal revelation in the practice of meditation.
As I continue to look for that magical mystical effect of
meditation I quickly came to understand that this was going to be work.
However, armed with a little guidance from my teachers and assigned
reading material I began to understand how to begin.
There is a simple concept with regard to how many thoughts the mind
can process at one time. The
answer is one. Although, it
may seem as though the mind is processing many thoughts at the same time
the reality is it is just one. It’s
the bombardment of stimuli that comes in through the five senses that
causes the traffic jam of thought. The
beginning if my meditation practice began with refocusing my thoughts on a
single point, my breath. When
I force myself to concentrate on this single point it allows my thoughts
to become more distant. When
my mind is having a very busy day and it is difficult to concentrate on
that single point I do not resist my thoughts, I allow them.
By allowing them without paying them attention they more rapidly
disappear. Looking at those
thoughts with equanimity, not judging them as good or bad will allow them
to melt away. If I give these
thoughts attention or wrestle with the idea of trying to push them out of
my head, they only last longer. It
is with these techniques and the realization that nothing in this life
time has any permanent status, that I have been able to develop a
meaningful practice.
Although, I have a long way to go and many things yet to realize, I
have achieved a degree of that inner peace that I have been looking for in
my life. Achieving Nibbana is possible for the very disciplined mind.
Nibbana is now my spiritual goal, whether I can achieve it in this
lifetime or the next or the next; it is the direction I will always steer
toward.
For this I give many thanks to my spiritual teachers and all my
friends that share with me the Dhamm
Respectfully submitted:
Thomas Case
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