Expert: Justin Choo - 11/2/2004

Question
Hello, I would like to know, how often do you meditate each day? and Do you ultimately feels the presence of Siddartha Guatama? Thank you.

Answer
Hi Kari,
Thank you for asking me.

Buddhist meditation is "mental cultivation".

The initial exercise is to train to calm this mind which is in the habit of wondering everywhere. It cannot stay still. A wondering mind is an untrained mind, and is therefore untamed or wild. It is like a monkey, jumping here and there, and up and down. It is also like a fish out of water, fluttering and flapping feverishly.

Once we can calm our mind, it will begin to come to know itself, and will be ready to be trained and developed. The ultimate purpose is to develop the mind to become very stable and pure. Purity means the absence (or at least, reduction) of negative mental activities such as thoughts of greed, hatred and anger. Through constant practice, we can develop our mind to be in this stable and pure state for a longer period of time. When this is achieved, the mind is able to develop certain ability (or power) to experience supramundane insight into the "unknown" both of the past and the future. Of course very few people (if any) have this ability. However, Buddhist meditation is not for developing this type of ability. The ultimate mission of a Buddhist meditator is to achieve release from this unsatisfactory existence, and to attain perfect peace.

For a lay Buddhist, meditation is more of a "training session" to tame and calm the mind, so that when we get out of the training session, we are still able to maintain the calmness and alertness during our daily activities.

For a "serious meditator", he has a higher and loftier mission to attain. His meditation can stretch throughout the day and night, only interrupted by meals and calls of nature.

For a lay Buddhist, he can meditate at anytime he likes and as long (or short) as he likes; an hour will be an ideal achievement. Usually, we meditate either in the morning or night, or both. Sometimes, lay Buddhists can go for retreat for a longer meditation session, in the temple or any conducive place. During this retreat, they will spend most of their time meditating.

We follow and practise the teachings of Gotama, the Buddha.  He had reminded us that the most important effort we had to do was to put into practice, his teachings.  When we practise the Buddha's teachings, we "see" the Buddha.  When we understand the purpose of Buddhist meditation, we put in effort to calm and stabilize our mind so that we can reduce our negative, selfish, and aggressive behaviour.  The more we reduce our defilements, the more peaceful we will become.  This is the purpose of Buddhist meditation.

Hope I have answered your question.  Please come back if you need further clarification.

Smile from justinchoo :-)