In a previous post I mentioned the difference in the properties and characteristics of a more profound mental state in meditation and contrasted those characteristics against the properties of the "normal" meditative state I had become used to. The difference was of a silky smoothness to the mind versus a rough kind of texture. This morning I delved a little deeper into the nature of this normal meditative mind of mine and found some interesting and significant features.
Firstly some background, because it is always important to understand the conditions and causes that contribute to something like this, as insights like these are not usually achieved without some build up or preparation of the right conditions to provide the scaffold, as it were, to reach for higher truths beyond the mundane, work-a-day experience.
It is the end of 2012, in fact it is the last day of 2012 today and I have been enjoying a few days break from pressures of work while I celebrate Christmas with my family. So I have had some time to dedicate to my meditation practice, or cultivation of Samadhi. In that regard, in addition to private meditations I was fortunate enough to participate in a full day retreat at the Chan monastery 3 days ago which was successive meditation sessions (sitting and walking) throughout the day. I had determined to mix both Samatha (calming) and Vipassana (contemplation, insight) mediation techniques by alternating between the two for each of the sitting meditation sessions. At any rate, I found that while I could focus on an object of contemplation in Vipassana, my mind was extraordinarily distracted in Samatha and I could not abide in emptiness (or no thought) for any length of time at all. I found thoughts arising continually and my mind would readily follow those thoughts before I could intervene to subdue them. However, over the following days I persisted in private practice and this morning I took a bike ride and after a short exercise period, was able to sit on the ground, under a tree and practice some more.
After initially calming my mind through the breathing and chakra focusing techniques I have outlined before, I applied myself to the Samatha practice and after some time was able to abide in no thought. As I did so, I was able to observe the characteristics of my mental state, similarly I suppose to a sailor observing the nature of the water upon which he is sailing. And what I could discern was rather than just a roughness, there was a bubbling kind of nature to what I now think of as the mental substrate. Almost like a foam, similar to the water on the ocean shore where the waves churn the water, mixing air that continually rise to the surface in bubbles of different sizes and pop. That is the nature of the roughness I had previously observed and which I observed again this morning, a bubbling froth of energy that is continuously rising and popping in your mind. Not a static kind of uneven surface, but a dynamic foam that comprises the mental substrate upon which our uninvited thoughts continually rise in our "normal" world of consciousness.
As I sat in this observational state, it occurred to me that smoothing out that mental substrate may provide a deeper experience and that thought seemed to transform things immediately, as the seething mass of mind seemed to reduce to a placid flow, very similar to the silky kind of sensation I had previously experienced. This kind of direct calming of the mind was a new experience, however, and I enjoyed this state for just a short period. As I was coming back to my normal awareness I realised that one's degree of agitation was directly related to how rough or foamy this mental substrate was and that the continually rising thoughts that plagued my meditation retreat a few days ago was precisely due to the state of agitation of this mental substrate.
Similarly to the walking meditations practiced at the monastery, I have turned my bike riding into a meditation where I ride with my hands behind my back, clearing my mind and focusing on the balance and flow of riding upright without grasping the handlebars. This was the manner in which I rode home, to the extent that traffic and conditions allowed. While in this state, it further occurred to me that I had taken to drinking 3 or more cups of coffee each day over the past few weeks and that this artificial stimulation would have had a direct effect on the amount to which the mental substrate was perturbed, and that other stimulants also would perturb the mental substrate in which our mind resides. Writing this now, it also occurs to me that as this mental substrate is observable, it is an artefact of our body and not of our Bodhi mind and so should naturally be expected to be affected by what we do to our body, the foods we feed it, the stimulants we subject it to and the drugs to which we expose it. For the first time in my many years of meditative practice this is the first time I have had a direct sense that diet is an important factor to manifesting our Buddha nature and that it can limit the degree to which we can manifest a higher consciousness.
The degree to which it is important is still unclear, perhaps a vegetarian diet may have some significant benefits to a cultivator of Prajñāpāramitā, but it is clear that stimulants such as coffee perturb the mental substrate and in so doing negatively affect one's ability to develop Samādhi. So whether one has understood the 4 noble truths, the eight fold path or the concept of Śūnyatā, the question of "Samatha or another cup of coffee?" is literally true. It is either one or the other, at least for me.
Best wishes to all for 2013 and I dedicate any merits accrued from writing this article to you who are reading it now.
Namaste.
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