why is meditation so difficult

8/3/2019 Why is Meditation So Difficult

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Taoshobuddha Live Meditation Jan 14,2012

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Why is Meditation so difficult?

Taoshobuddha Meditations Page 2

Meditation is just to be!Not doing anything!

No action! No thought! No emotions!Just you are!

And it is sheer delight!

Neither the ancient techniques of

meditation nor the Modern scientificbiofeedback techniques can ever lead to

Meditativeness. Meditation is anunderstanding, an experience of oneness

both inner and outer. It springs forth fromthe deepest core of your being. An

evolution! Just as no doctor can give youhealth, so too no master can give you

meditation. Both meditation and healthbelong to the fourth dimension. A

dimension beyond the known!

A master can only help you in removing theobstacles so that meditation happens!

When you are one, suddenly you see this

oneness outside. All barriers vanish. Thereis no I, no thou. There is only god or

truth or Samadhi or whatever you may callthis. You may even call this nirvana. Zen

calls this Sonoma or Konomama. This ispure ishness. Also this is suchness or what

Buddha calls Thathata.


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One simply is. One is not doing anything.No thinking. No one is feeling anything.

This ishness is the ultimate experience ofbliss! Beyond this there is nothing! This is

eternal search. You have arrived home.This is meditation!

Though meditation begins in the mind, it isnot real meditation. Begin with the mind.

One day you will attain meditation.When the mind ceases, you are beyond it;

Only then real meditation begins.Even to go beyond the mind you have to

use the mind itself.However, use the mind negatively.

You will certainly attain meditation.

editation appears to be difficult inthe beginning. Your body and themind are not separate entities.

Instead these are in deep unison and

harmony. Whatever happens to the bodyaffects the mind and whatever goes on in

the mind eventually affects your body.Therefore it is better to use the term body-

mind.

M


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Your bodymind realm is conditioned by

certain habits. And meditation requiresdemolishing the old existing pattern, and

then creating a new structure, a newpattern for the body and the mind. Both

body and the mind are two doors to enterthe inner sanctum of bliss.

Whenever you want to destroy the existingpattern both body and mind resist. You can

remain waking whole night dancing andpartying. You do not wink and as long as

music continues to blare and there is nosign of tiredness. The frequency and the

pitch of the music resonate with your mindpattern. And body remains slave the mind.

And when you have to attend themeditation session you begin to feel sleepy

and bored very quickly. The wavelength of

music is very soothing. It puts your body atrest and mind too. It relaxes you and yourefficiency too increases. But this cannot

transform you. Transformation is conscious

effort.

Before I take you into the realm of themeditation it is important to understand

the nature of the brain and its patternsbecause brain and its wave pattern is the

inner mechanism of the mind. It is the


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brainwave patterns that affect the state of

the mind and its behavioral patterns. Brainis an organ that has its biological existence

while mind is the term used to explain theaggregate of the brain-wave patterns, its

activities and subsequent effect on yourconsciousness and inner state of bliss and

harmony.

It is well known that the brain is an

electrochemical organ. Your brain is madeup of billions of brain cells called Neurons,

which use electrical energy tocommunicate with each other. The

combination of millions of neurons sendingsignals at once produces an enormous

amount of electrical activity in the brain,which can be detected using sensitive

medical equipment (such as an EEG),

measuring electricity levels over areas ofthe scalp.

The combination of electrical activity of the

brain is commonly called a Brainwavepattern, because of its cyclic, wave-like

nature.

Our mind regulates its activities by meansof electric waves which are registered in

the brain, emitting tiny electrochemical


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impulses of varied frequencies, which can

be registered by an Electro-Encephalogram.

Researchers have speculated that a fully

functioning brain can generate as much as10 watts of electrical power. Other more

conservative investigators calculate that if

all 10 billion interconnected nerve cellsdischarged at one time that a single

electrode placed on the human scalp wouldrecord something like five millionths to 50

millionths of a volt. If you had enoughscalps hooked up you might be able to light

a flashlight bulb.

Even though this electrical energy is verylimited, it does occur in very specific ways

that are characteristic of the human brain.

Electrical activity emanating from the brainis displayed in the form of brainwaves.

There are four categories of thesebrainwaves, ranging from the most activity

to the least activity.

When the brain is aroused and activelyengaged in mental activities, it generates

beta waves. These Beta Waves are of


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relatively low amplitude, and are the

fastest of the four different brainwaves.The frequency of beta waves ranges from

15 to 40 cycles a second.

Beta waves are characteristics of astrongly engaged mind. A person in active

conversation would be in beta.

A debater would be in high beta. A person

making a speech, or a teacher, or a talkshow host would all be in beta when they

are engaged in their work. When youengage in your socalled party-ing your

brain wave pattern is Beta.

The next brainwave category in order offrequency is Alpha Brainwave. Where beta

represented arousal, alpha represents non-

arousal. Alpha brainwaves are slower andhigher in amplitude. Their frequencyranges from 9 to 14 cycles per second. A

person who has completed a task and sits

down to rest is often in an alpha state. A person who takes time out to reflect or

meditate is usually in an alpha state. A person who takes a break from a

conference and walks in the garden isoften in an alpha state.


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The next state Theta Brainwaves, are

typically of even greater amplitude and slower frequency. This frequency range is

normally between 5 and 8 cycles a second. A person who has taken time off from a

task and begins to daydream is often in atheta brainwave state. A person who is

driving on a freeway, and discovers that

they cannot recall the last five miles, isoften in a theta state-induced by the

process of freeway driving. The repetitiousnature of that form of driving compared to

a country road would differentiate a thetastate and a beta state in order to perform

the driving task safely.

Individuals who do a lot of freeway drivingoften get good ideas during those periods

when they are in theta. Individuals who

run outdoors often are in the state ofmental relaxation that is slower than alphaand when in theta, they are prone to a flow

of ideas. This can also occur in the shower

or tub or even while shaving or brushingyour hair. It is a state where tasks become

so automatic that you can mentallydisengage from them. The ideation that can

take place during the theta state is oftenfree flow and occurs without censorship or


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guilt. It is typically a very positive mental

state.

The final brainwave state is DeltaBrainwave. Here the brainwaves are of the

greatest amplitude and slowest frequency.They typically center on a range of1.5 to 4

cycles per second. They never go down to

zero because that would mean that youwere brain dead. But, deep dreamless

sleep would take you down to the lowestfrequency. Typically, 2 to 3 cycles a

second.

When we go to bed and read for a fewminutes before attempting sleep, we are

likely to be in low beta. When we put thebook down, turn off the lights and close

your eyes, your brainwaves will descend

from beta, to alpha, to theta and finally,when we fall asleep, to delta.

It is a well-known fact that humans dream

in 90 minute cycles. When the deltabrainwave frequencies increase into the

frequency of theta brainwaves, activedreaming takes place and often becomes

more experiential to the person. Typically,when this occurs there is rapid eye

movement, which is characteristic of active


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dreaming. This is called REM, and is a well-

known phenomenon.

When an individual awakes from a deepsleep in preparation for getting up, their

brainwave frequencies will increasethrough the different specific stages of

brainwave activity. That is, they will

increase from delta to theta and then toalpha and finally, when the alarm goes off,

into beta. If that individual hits the snoozealarm button they will drop in frequency to

a non-aroused state, or even into theta, orsometimes fall back to sleep in delta.

During this awakening cycle it is possiblefor individuals to stay in the theta state for

an extended period of say, five to 15minutes-which would allow them to have a

free flow of ideas about yesterday's events

or to contemplate the activities of theforthcoming day. This time can be anextremely productive and can be a period

of very meaningful and creative mental

activity.

In summary, there are four brainwavestates that range from the high amplitude,

low frequency delta to the low amplitude,high frequency beta. These brainwave

states range from deep dreamless sleep to


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high arousal. The same four brainwave

states are common to the human species.Men, women and children of all ages

experience the same characteristicbrainwaves. They are consistent across

cultures and country boundaries.

Research has shown that although one

brainwave state may predominate at anygiven time, depending on the activity level

of the individual, the remaining three brainstates are present in the mix of brainwaves

at all times. In other words, whilesomebody is an aroused state and

exhibiting a beta brainwave pattern, therealso exists in that persons brain a

component of alpha, theta and delta, eventhough these may be present only at the

trace level.

It has been my personal experience thatknowledge of brainwave states enhances a

persons ability to make use of the

specialized characteristics of those states:these include being mentally productive

across a wide range of activities, such asbeing intensely focused, relaxed, creative

and in restful sleep.


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These brainwaves are known as:

1.Beta emitted when we areconsciously alert or we feel agitated,tense, afraid, with frequencies

ranging from 13 to 60 pulses or cyclesper second in the Hertz scale.

2.Alpha when we are in a state ofphysical and mental relaxation,

although aware of what is happening


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habit of body-mind. Meditation is not the

habit of body-mind realm.

Meditation is something new for us. Bodymind has set pattern and its associations.

When you succeed in breaking this patternof habits then it becomes easy to change

the habits and capture something of the

beyond.

You may be surprised when you areworried you engage in certain activity like

scratching head or somewhere else. If yourhand is tied then you cannot scratch then

worry automatically disappears. Youcannot find any association between worry

and your scratching. Such is association.Body-mind has definite and set habits and

somehow it maintains the pattern.

The deepest habit of the mind is food.Without food there can be no life and

continuity. Food is the deepest habit

pattern. All that is the deepest in life is thehabit of food. It begins with birth and

continues lifelong until the last death.The life exists on this.

Therefore if you need to change the

habitual pattern of bodymind then you


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have to begin with this deepest habit. And

once that losses control over you it will beeasy to enter the new direction the

direction of the beyond the realm beyondmind the realm of meditation.

The word food is very comprehensive. It

includes the food of various sense organs.

How can one do this?

There is something that you do throughoutthe life. This is your breathing. Breath is

life. It begins with birth and continues untilthe end in death. In twenty-four hours you

will take deep breath. And if you slowlyand slowly become aware of your

breathing then a miracle happens. Withthis your brain wave pattern changes. For

this you have to be more and more

attentive of your breath.

Breathing has three aspects incoming,

outgoing breath. And in between these two

extremes is the state when the breath hasgone out but it has not yet begun the

inward movement. And then when theinward movement begins and breath has

come inside once again there comes amomentary cessation. The breath is inside

but its outward movement has not yet


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begun. When you become aware of such

breath movements and patterns yourexisting patterns and habits of bodymind

realm change. With such change theprocess of transformation begins.

Be aware of breath movement and then

your breath becomes deep and long.

However in the moment of innerdisturbance breathing will become erratic.

For deep breathing you have to beattentive and mindful. Meditation is

therefore associated with breathingpatterns.

It does not matter what you are doing.

However whatever you are doing continueto be aware of breathing process. There

will be certain things and works during

which you cannot remain mindful. It istherefore important to remain mindful ofthose works.

When you are eating food let there be totalawareness. Be aware as each morsel goes

in the mouth. Be aware as the water fallson your body drop by drop while taking the

bath. Walking on the street again be awareof each step.


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Whatever you do be mindful. Your

breathing is twenty-four affairs. Youcannot eat twenty-four; you cannot bathe

twenty-four hours. However amidst allthese things it is your breathing that

continues twenty-four hours. Slowly andslowly you will learn to be aware of your

breathing. Forget all that is happening in

the world, and in and around you.

It is this breath awareness that forms theessential core of meditation techniques.

Shiva gave 112 techniques of Meditationbased on breath awareness in VIGYAN

BHAIRAV TANTRA a 5000 year oldcomprehensive treatise. Buddha gave the

meditation to create the inner sun ofawareness as Vipashyana Meditation.


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There is only one thing that you are tobe aware of and this is your breathing.And the moment you become aware of

breath movement the process becomeslike rosary. The process of meditationbegins.


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Meditation the inner flowering

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