Quote from DROPLETS April 23, 2009

Many of us have come to have a clear understanding of the value of shamatha meditation, but we have not been able to integrate practice into our daily life on a regular basis. We might find it somewhat inexplicable that it is so difficult to tame the mind to this simple exercise. Why is it so difficult to actually do it, to sit and simply follow the breath? This is the koan we must address in order to move beyond mental creations of the mind. . . Even a simple practice like sitting for ten minutes twice a day may seem beyond us. We start with good intensions, and may manage a week or two, but then it slips away. Some of us resort to month long retreats, which is an excellent and powerful approach, and by the end of the month we are highly inspired to continue our practice. But again it slips away. The mind is that unruly! When and how can we move beyond this? . . . The Vajrayana practices have many tools to help us beyond this point, but they often seem inaccessible. This is largely due to our conceptual / analytical mind. We are afraid to let go of our analysis, we feel we need it. We feel that if we don't figure things out that we will be helpless and may become trapped. . . . This is like a child standing at the edge of a lake, wanting to go in for a swim. The child knows that the water will be cold, but forgets that once in the water the first cold sensation will pass, and the water will feel much more comfortable and pleasant. Meditation practice is like that. We have to jump in for awhile to discover, from experience, how pleasant it is. We need have the faith to take the plunge without hesitation, and that depends on an experiential understanding, not an intellectual one. First we must have the faith to take the plunge. . . again and again.. Many tashi deleks! . ~y~