Don’t ‘practice’ for 50 years only to be left with slightly lower cortisol levels.

Meditation is about training your nervous system. Not so it generates less stress, but so it can house a consciousness so strong it can perceive ultimate truth.

That’s what they really mean when they say your body is a temple.

If you want to perceive that which no book could ever fully contain, your awareness must be so fine it can never be fully described.

There are many ways to train yourself to reach this state; it’s your job to find which works best for you.

But one thing is certain. To a large extent you’re going to have to learn directly from others’ experience. That doesn’t necessarily mean having to find a teacher (many of us aren’t really ready for that) but rather:

• Knowing what to practice, and why (ie, internalizing the right view).
• Knowing how to do it (ie, studying the life stories of past masters).

I hope the following nudges you in this direction.

“Meditation” isn’t actually a word in Asia.

The word “meditation” itself comes from the Latin meditari, which means “to think or reflect upon, consider, design, purpose, or intend.”

And this is all about the surface of the human mind. Might that explain why America isn’t producing any living Buddhas?

The correct view starts with correct terminology.

Sadhana is the Sanskrit word used for millennia in India, and later Tibet/Mongolia, to denote specific practices one does on a regular basis to evolve one’s mindstream towards enlightenment.

This removes mental afflictions (laxity, over-excitation, grasping or aversion) and reveals our true identity, below all the layers of its impermanent ego-elements.

Abhyasa is the Sanskrit word which means “practice” in a yogic context. Its roots mean “near” (abhi) and “persevere” (yasa).

This literally means to place something specific near one’s mindstream or lifestyle, and continuously keep it there. In other words, perfect practice makes perfect.

Vipassana is the Pali word most famously used by the Buddha to denote “seeing reality clearly.” It’s etymology means “special” or “distinct” (vi), and “seeing” (pasyanti).

To practice this kind of mediation is to see things as they occur, not as we project them to be based on past experience.

Bhavana is the Sanskrit word for cultivating or developing. The root bha means to shine or emanate, and bhava often refers to experience.

This is all about producing a certain mode of being within us, such as that of unconditional love.

Gom is the Tibetan word for “familiarization.”

It’s about learning something, retaining it in the mind, reflecting on it though testing and application, and finally, mastering it through familiarly experiencing it.

The false security of meditation: a story from history

In the 900s, King Yeshe-Ö of Tibet saw how 2 centuries of importing Buddhist ideas resulted in an utter mess.

Monks were getting married, unauthorized “teachers” springing up everywhere, and Indian texts were being misunderstood & misapplied.

The King offered his weight in gold, despite having been imprisoned by a rival king, to invite one scholar to his country instead of freeing himself.

Upon hearing this, Atisha, the most renowned scholar-saint in India’s monastic universities, agreed to take the arduous journey to Tibet.

When he got there, his teaching focused heavily on the importance of ethical vows as the basis of the path.

The King already had “meditation” being practiced in his country. He already had access to all the fancy exotic “techniques.” Yet Tibet was still plagued by war, infighting, dishonesty, inequality, and misfortune. The spiritual revolution that was supposed to take place wasn’t happening.

Meditation wasn’t enough.

This may seem analogous to the modern West.

But upon looking deeper, there’s actually no comparison.

There is no formal or informal “transmission” going on from East to West, just a sophisticated system of cherry-picking & appropriation of Dharma.

Robert Thurman, a highly qualified and knowledgeable scholar of Buddhism in the West, says the true Dharma hasn’t even arrived here yet. A telltale sign of this is how we go “yuck! be more productive!” at the mere thought of building a monastery or nunnery for full-time meditators.

This isn’t to say that what’s going on is immoral or evil. It’s simply misguided.

The guidance isn’t coming through either though, because Tibet is under Chinese communist occupation, India has yet to rebuild its lost spiritual infrastructure, and Japan is undergoing an identity crisis of postmodernity.

Without formal role models, we must ourselves strive to generate the authenticity and seriousness that teachers would normally drill into us.

So toss the marketable gimmicks.

Go for the irreversible transformation into bliss and clarity that every human mind is capable of.

Your life is short; the distractions are great. And modernity will have you convinced that nothing is sacred, that everything is secular.

But the ancients, who saw no conflict between science and spirituality, would be screaming at the top of their lungs to wake America up if they could.

Because from their vision, the entire universe is sacred. Simply because of its potential for beauty, love, and wisdom, as embodied by awakening.

Your awareness is sacred and needs to be honored. On the other hand, your job, your “purpose,” your ego — all the things modernity teaches us to worship — are banally secular.

Realize what matters most, or risk losing yourself in the waves of impermanence, over and over again!