Lama Yeshe: The Purpose of Meditation

[LiberalElite]

http://www.lamayeshe.com/article/purpose-meditation

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I would like to say a few words in introduction about the practice of meditation. Many people throughout the world, in the West as well as the East, are very interested in meditating. They are attracted to this practice and express great interest in it. Yet, of all the many people who engage in meditation, only a few really understand its purpose.

Each of us here possesses a physical body made up of bones, flesh, blood and such things. At present we are not able to exert complete control over this body and as a result we always experience problems. There might be a rich man whose wealth is equal to that of the entire world yet despite his enormous fortune, if his mind is tied up in an uncontrolled body, he will live in continual suffering. Rich or poor, none of us escape this problem. Try as we may, we never seem to find an end to our difficulties. If we solve one, another immediately takes its place. The conflicts and suffering involved in maintaining our physical body are the same no matter where we may be. If we have the wisdom to penetrate deeply into the heart of this matter and check the actual way things are, we quickly perceive the universality of this unsatisfactory situation. It also becomes clear that if we did not have such an uncontrolled body, there would be no way for us to experience the sufferings related to it.
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[Tobin S.]

2. The entire article is a nice introduction to the intellectual basis of meditation.

I find myself in the position now of having to accept where I currently am in terms of my inner world.

I do not have a great desire for material wealth. I'd like to have enough money so I wouldn't have to work so hard, but I don't want a lot possessions. So I don't have a lot of suffering associated with material wealth. I generally have what I need and that is enough.

About 23 years ago when I was 20 years old, I found myself studying Eastern philosophy. I was also reading about counterculture gurus and the use of psychedelic drugs. I came to think of the use of psychedelics as a short-cut to enlightenment and started experimenting with them. That turned out to be a big mistake on my part. I know psychedelics help a lot of people, but they can also uncover latent mental illnesses. I may have become sick sooner or later without the use of drugs, but after one of night of a very strong acid trip, I became extremely mentally ill. We're talking a dramatic change for the worse in the space of eight hours. It was not short-lived, either. I suffered from the symptoms of the illness for ten years before I finally got the proper treatment.

I've been well for almost 13 years now. My psychiatric medication has been a much greater tool of enlightenment than LSD. I'm finding myself back now to where I was when I was twenty. I am much wiser now about the ways of the world, but in terms of spiritual development, I have a long way to go.