Meditation - Part 2 Six Conditions of the Surrounding Environment

When we set out to meditate it’s important that we have a peaceful and quiet environment that isn’t full of distractions. As we train our mind to remain fixed single-pointedly, any movement of mind – even to shifting our attention to the most innocuous of disturbances to our sense faculties – is an interruption to our focus. Therefore, we need to have certain conditions met for our meditation space.

The list presented here is directed mostly toward a meditation retreat. As we begin our meditative discipline at home, many of these conditions will still hold true but won’t have to be as strictly observed. The six conditions are:

1.       A conducive location

2.       Have few needs/desires

3.       Be satisfied with what you have

4.       Give up busy activities

5.       Maintain ethics

6.       Get rid of sense desires

What constitutes a conducive location? Well, here’s another list for you!

1.       Physical needs

2.       Safety

3.       Health

4.       Assistance

5.       Solitude

When you begin your meditation session, especially in a retreat, you want to be sure that all your physical needs are met. There should be good food, clothing, comfortable climate, and access to maintain good hygiene. As I said before, for those of us practicing at home and not on retreat, these concerns are most likely covered in our everyday space. The retreat location should also be a safe location, free of wild animals and people that can harm us. It should also be a healthy location, so we don’t become sick while in our retreat.

During a lengthy retreat, it will be necessary to have an assistant who can attend to your nutritional needs as breaking from single-pointed training to make meals can be to long of a break. There are many locations around the country that facilitate such needs. If you are going to do a retreat on your own, you might want to consider having a friend participate to a lesser degree in order to prepare healthy meals. However, they should not be the chatty friend that wants to talk on an on. It is best if they can maintain a commitment to silence throughout the retreat as the post-meditation sessions should remain peaceful and quiet.

Finally, it is best to go into your meditation alone. In meditation, we want to get into our minds and do the work we’re setting out to do. Anything – anyone – who creates even the slightest distractions need to be removed for the serious practitioner.

The second condition is to have few needs or desires. While we’re away on a retreat, we want to make sure that we have secured the time away from business and pressing matters. While were at home, we need to find a time in which we won’t be distracted by things like wanting to go shopping, do some recreation, and so on. Therefore, many people find the silence of morning practice to be best. Before the stores have opened or others are awake to pull us away to other activities, some find the predawn hours to be the most beneficial for meditation.

The third condition is to be satisfied with what you have. This point is very much intended for retreatants to remain in their chosen location without a need to leave the premises. For us at home, it just means that we need to make sure our schedules are cleared. Again, meditating in the predawn hours may be the most suitable time. As a daily practice, you’ll be amazed how much clearer your mind is throughout the day after you’ve made this a habit.

Giving up busy activities is somewhat self-explanatory by now. Our focus should be on our meditation session and not on other distractions.

The fifth condition is to maintain our morality. This is the most important point of the six regarding our daily practice at home. We need to maintain an ethical way of life. For those of us who have taken the refuge vows, it is the best protection from a mind burdened with guilt, shame, and regret. Many of the emotional afflictions from which we are seeking to heal ourselves diminish more and more over time if we maintain our vows to not kill or harm, to not lie, to not steal, to not commit sexual misconduct, and to not take intoxicants to the point that we lose control of our mind. Since our mind habituates toward thought patterns, maintaining our morality is the best way to retrain our minds to more constructive mental states.

And finally, the sixth condition is to get rid of sense desires. If you are spending most of your time bringing your mind back to focus after trailing off thinking about a slice of cheesecake, you’re not going to make any progress. It’s best to get into a rhythm where you meditate at the same time, on the same cushion, and prepare in advance for it. Make it a sacred commitment to yourself that you won’t break.

If you are dealing with emotional problems that need your attention, you’re probably not going to be able to hold your focus for very long. Perhaps a long walk or a talk with a loved one would be beneficial to clear your mind for your meditation. Mantra recitation or prostrations can be good antidotes to clearing the mind, as well.

While most of these criteria are established for retreatants who are away from home, we can modify them for our own daily practice. Turn off the television, silence your ring tone, be sure that you have eaten just enough as to not make your stomach growl or sway your attention with hunger, be sure that you have bathed and brushed your teeth, sit in the proper posture or the one that is most comfortable for your body without the risk of falling asleep or injuring your knees, and be sure no one will enter your space and interrupt you. Most importantly, enjoy the journey of meditation. I promise you that once you come to love every step of this inner discovery of the workings of your mind you will grow in ways you can’t yet imagine. If my younger self could hear from me today that I haven’t had a nightmare since 2006, he’d be far more eager to get started than the foot-dragging he did far too often.

Love eternal,

Marc