A calm and empty mind does not mean the mind is like an empty shell. On the contrary, it is more like a brand-new computer devoid of any program or data loaded into it. An empty mind is a mind that is free from selfish thoughts. It is the primary goal of meditation to attune oneself to the universal mind by freeing the mind from any selfish thoughts. This is a simple process that most people find difficult to achieve. This is because as human beings, we tend to cling to what we have learned, striven for, and have achieved. This is exactly the opposite of letting go of all thoughts. In meditation,we will learn how to let go of these clingy thoughts.
There are numerous procedures or ways to achieve and complete a meditation. Some people commonly use traditional methods; while others may adapt newer meditation techniques. Yet, peoplehave a common goal—that of freeing the mind from selfish thoughts—which hinder them from attuning themselves to the universal mind.
The most experienced meditation practitioner uses the simplest step-by-step procedure which is shown here:
1. Sitting still and comfortable: The first thing that a practitioner should do is to find a suitable place to meditate.
Sitting is basically the most widely used position in meditation. Even Buddha himself, in most figurines and pictures, is commonly depicted seated in a cross-legged manner. You can sit on a chair, at floor, or in your bed. You can sit anywhere but what is important that you are seated comfortably with your back straightened so that your back muscles will not readily strain. Likewise, you can use a pillow for back support and for comfort. There are several traditional sitting positions that are widely used by meditation practitioners such as the Burmese position, the Quarter Lotus, the Half Lotus, and the Full Lotus positions.These positions are popular because they can be used for long-duration meditation. When conducting lengthymeditation, it is extremely important to be in a quiet place to avoid any kind of distraction.
2. Relaxing the body: The next step in the meditation process is the closing of one’s eyes and the relaxing of the body by tensing, stretching, or curling one part of body repeatedly until you feel relaxed.
Stretching and pumping your arms, bringing fists to shoulders a few times and then giving some slack. Tensing the muscles in your feet, calves, knees and thighs to relieve muscular stress. Likewise, curling your fingers and toes up to loosen the joints brings some soothing feelings. Moreover, while you are seated, push your hips forward, and then push your stomach out while tensingup all your stomach muscles for a couple of times and relaxing between to relieve the tension. Tuck your stomach in until the muscles of your lower back and buttocks are tensed enough, and then arch both your shoulders and push your chest in, tensing all your upper back muscles repeatedly. Then, slacken your muscles in between exercises. And then, reversing the exercise by pulling your shoulders back and pushing your chest out, tensing all your muscles and then slackening the tension. This exercise relieves the upper body of stress and tension. Repeat this process until you are feeling relaxed. Then, you can start arching your neck forward and placing your chin on your chest, tensing neck and jaw muscles, then momentarily relaxing to reverse the action by pushing your head all the way back while raising your chin up high, and tensing your throat and jaw muscles. Move your head back while looking up; then, openyour mouth wide and screw your face up face, tensing your facial and other muscles in your head, and tensing and relaxing. Likewise smile widely as possible, while screwing up your face and tensing all facial muscles. Frown deeply while screwing up your face; then tense all your facial muscles. This exercise relieves our muscles and joints of the stress and tensions that accumulate every day.
3. Breathing: The third step in the meditation process is to be aware of your breathing.
Breathe deeply but silently. Use your abdomen while breathing. Feel your abdomen expands and contracts while you inhale and exhale. Inhale through your nostrils and exhale through the mouth. Moderate your breathing and give it a regular pacing until you reach a point of almost non-breathing. This will further relax the body and mind and set your being in a meditative mood.
4. Clearing your mind: As you find yourself with the correct, relaxed breathing, observe the thoughts passing through your mind.
Don’t interfere with these thoughts; just observe them and you will notice some gaps between two thoughts. Gently focus on the gap where there is no thought. Try to expand this thoughtless gap. Let it last longer until there is no thought anymore. This is the traditional method used by Gautama Buddha in achieving enlightenment. Another empty mind meditation procedure is by emptying the mind of any thought by thinking nothing and doing nothing. Normally thoughts suddenly come out of nowhere; just ignore them. Revert back to thinking of nothing. Just close your eyes and observe the blackness or whiteness regardless of any thoughts which may crop.
In the physiological realm, the strength of the body is assured through the practice of good habits of regular exercises. The body becomes strong and virile through constant regular exercises coupled with healthy diets. Likewise, in the spiritual aspect of our life, we could harness and enhance our rootedness to our spiritual foundation through the practice of a good meditation technique which would engender good spiritual habits which, in turn, would readily help us cope with the demands of daily spiritual striving.The right meditation technique can readily facilitate our meditation process enabling us to easily get in touch with our inner spiritual being.
The first step in ruling out a particular bad habit is by being aware of the existence of that habit. Yet, simply being conscious of the existence of the bad habit does not immediately weed out the bad tendency from our daily life. The weeding out of old bad habits is further compounded if the vice has become deeply ingrained in the subconscious mind. It would take extra effort our part to consciously alter the bad habit with the opposite good habit. In the religious parlance, bad habits are called vices while good habits are called virtues. A person is considered good if he has more number of virtues than vices, after all, the great philosopher—Aristotle—once said: “We are what we repeatedly do.” This basically means that our very own personality is the product of all the habits we have imbibed in our lifetime.
One of the common habitual tendencies of common man is the habit of procrastination.
Procrastination is the attitude of habitually and intentionally putting off important tasks which one should focus on in favor of a more pleasant activity. Psychologist Professor Clarry Lay, a well-known writer on the subject of procrastination hinted that procrastination entails a gap between the time period in which a person should do the job and the actual doing of a job. Say for instance, a person has to do a project right now. However, due to other factors or habits such as laziness, the person would put off the work which he must do right now to a later time producing a domino adverse effect on the fulfillment of scheduled jobs. On the other hand, a person who has developed attitudes of promptness and industriousness would feel uneasy until the job at hand has not been fulfilled and completed. Kurt Lewin, a famous Psychologist once said that an open-task tension exists when an important job has not yet been completed. However, most people have learned to ignore this open-task tension and have developed the habit of procrastination. For this reason, learning to curtail the ill effect of procrastination by going down to the root cause of the attitude and replacing it with the opposite positive attitude can help us improve our character and consequently aid us in the succeeding in life.
How do we counteract the lingering effect of procrastination?
A habit, once it has taken its root in our being, will become second nature to us. When I say second nature, I mean it comes out naturally as if it is a part of our nature. For this reason, habits make our life easier; for when we have already acquired thehabits, we would no longer need the initial great amount of effort that we had used when we first tried to fulfill a particular task. Habit facilitates the performance of an act. Therefore, it is necessary that we be wary of the development of any habit. It takes a month to develop a habit and it usually takes a year to solidify a habit as a second nature. The deeper the rootedness of a habit, the more difficult it would be to weed it out. Thus, in the case of procrastination, it would take a lot of effort on our part to alter this bad habit. Awareness and acceptance of the existence of this habit in our life would be the initial step to weed out this persistent tendency. Likewise, developing a keen focus on the job at hand and being aware of the open-task tension while responding to this tension positively can gradually diminish the lingering effect of procrastination.
Empty Mind Meditation process not only enables us to focus our mind intently on a single task, but it allows us also to be aware of the habits and tendencies which are imbedded in our subconscious mind. Procrastination can be rooted in our tendency to avoid pain. In our growing process, we have been gradually programmed to avoid pain and like pleasure. This natural tendency is rooted in our infancy when we feel satisfied when we are given milk after feeling the pangs of hunger. Yet, mature people do not shun away from pain and difficulty. They are able to delay gratification for future satisfaction. In the same way, the practice of Empty Mind Meditation, with its concomitant exercises and disciplines, will stamp down the bad habit of procrastination and develop the opposite habit. Empty Mind Meditation engenders mental discipline and procrastination is averse to discipline.
Thus, internal discipline developed through the constant practice of Empty mind meditation counteracts the bad effect of procrastination and enables a person to internally motivate the body to do the job which would be otherwise delayed.