This 10-minute talk is part two of a two-part series on do-nothing meditation.
This talk is titled,
Doing Nothing Meditation is Not About Doing Nothing.
Often a student shares with me that they are confused about whether they are doing something or nothing while meditating.
It is usually because they are concerned about doing the meditation right.
If the practice is about doing nothing,
The student worries that they may be doing it wrong when they perceive that they are doing something instead of nothing.
Now of course this drive to meditate quote-unquote correctly is understandable.
For contemporary society is obsessed with doing things efficiently,
Effectively and correctly.
The problem however is that this impulse to do things right is one of the things that we are actually trying to overcome through meditative and spiritual practice.
This impulse originates in what meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein likes to call and I quote,
In order to mind.
This is the part of our mind that wants to do something in order to get something else.
It is the corner of our mind that meditates in order to achieve something good for ourselves such as more ease,
Peace,
Calm or compassion.
This is the part of us that urges us that we get do nothing meditation right,
For if we don't do it right,
We won't get the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
We won't get the gold star or the lapel pin that certifies us as peaceful people and good meditators.
The problem with this way of thinking is that do nothing practice is not about doing it right.
Because what this meditation is pointing to is the fact that there is no right or wrong way of being in the world.
There is nothing to cure because there was no ailment to treat in the first place.
Paradoxically then,
The point of this meditation is not to do nothing in spite of its name.
It is also not to do it right.
Rather,
The point of do nothing practice is simply to be with whatever arises in whatever way we can.
More specifically,
The goal of do nothing is to get us to overcome the tired dualities of right and wrong,
Correct and incorrect.
To get us to see that this splitting up of the world and our lives into good and bad serves only to further reinforce our false sense that we are lacking something.
By allowing us to be with experience without needing to get something out of it,
Do nothing practice presents us with an alternative way of being in the world where we are freed from the burden of having to improve our lives.
So,
If there were a goal to this practice,
I suppose it would be to see that we do not need a goal in order to live fulfilling lives.
If we only allow life to unfold before us,
We may find that we can be content even when,
As is usually the case,
We are not in control of things.
So,
As you play with do nothing meditation,
Don't worry about doing it right or about whether you're doing something or nothing.
You just sit until the timer rings.
That is all that this practice requires of us.
Now,
A related question that students often ask me is,
Is do nothing meditation really meditation?
In mid January of 2021,
I taught a week and long silent meditation retreat.
The COVID-19 pandemic was raging at the time,
So I offered the retreat online.
This allowed me to teach the retreat from home,
Which ended up being both blessing and curse.
On the one hand,
I was surrounded by many comforts.
Being around familiar things,
Food,
Scents,
Sights,
And smells can be quite nourishing.
On the other hand,
Innumerable potential distractions abounding our homes.
Television,
Smart speakers,
Tablets,
Books,
All beckoning me to come out of the simplicity of retreat and dive back into the sensuality of daily life.
As I was navigating the sea of distractions,
I found myself taking a long bath that I sandwiched between my earlier guided meditation and that evening's Dharma talk.
I thought it a good idea to take a relaxing bath as I allowed the mind to process what had come up for me during the retreat.
But as it turned out,
The warm bathwater and the low light were enough to send me into a state of deep relaxation.
After a few moments of this,
I inadvertently dozed off.
Sometime later,
I awoke quite flustered,
Not knowing exactly how long I had slept or how much time I had to get ready for that evening's talk.
As I collected myself,
I had this nagging thought that I should not have allowed myself to doze off.
This is a meditation retreat,
Not a napping retreat,
I thought,
As I flagellated myself for failing to live up to my lofty meditation standards.
As I was pondering the error of my sleepy ways,
A wonderful and liberating insight dawned on me.
If the meditation that I practice is do-nothing meditation,
And if the only instruction to be followed is,
Whatever happens happens,
Then why do I believe that taking a relaxing bath and unintentionally dozing off does not count as meditation?
After all,
Isn't falling asleep when one is deeply relaxed,
Perfectly compatible,
With the instruction that whatever happens happens?
Indeed it is.
So much so that I often tell my students that it is okay to allow drowsing as to be here when doing nothing.
For dozing off is as much a part of life as being awake.
If what this practice is about is helping us to be with what is,
Then learning to be with sleepiness is as much a part of the work as learning to be with alertness.
It was then that I realized that I was engaging in a subtle act of self-violence when I split up my spiritual life into meditative and non-meditative moments.
From the more cosmic perspective that I am offering here,
There is no distinction between meditative and non-meditative ways of being,
In much the same way that there is no distinction between right and wrong ways of being in the world.
The view from this more wholesome and universal perspective is one in which there is just the single and unitary unfolding of the cosmos.
As we delve deeper and deeper into this way of looking,
We find that the distinction that we draw between meditative and non-meditative states is malleable and ultimately arbitrary.
Expressed in Buddhist terms,
This insight can be described as coming to see the emptiness of the distinction between meditation and non-meditation.
From the perspective of emptiness,
The universe and everything that is going on within it isn't meditating or not meditating.
The universe is simply unfolding,
And of course,
The same is true about our own lives.
From this cosmic perspective,
Humans aren't really split into meditators and non-meditators,
And our lives aren't divided into meditative and non-meditative time periods or spiritual and non-spiritual moments.
Rather,
From the perspective of the little corner of the universe that is you,
There is just simple,
Unified,
Unvarnished life.
Piercing the distinction between meditation and non-meditation liberates us to go about our contemplative life without worrying about whether we are doing the right kind of meditation.
It becomes irrelevant whether one practices transcendental or vipassana meditation or any other kind of practice,
Because all meditation can finally be seen as empty.
We come to see that no special recipes or instructions are needed to be with what is,
For the simple reason that this that is here now is always with us whether we want it or not.
The present moment is not a rarified state,
But the axiomatic truth of every single and wholly indivisible moment of aliveness.
To live is to be here.
Think about it.
It is true that we are here when we are concentrated and when we are mindful,
But,
And this is the key,
It is also true that we are here when we are distracted and mindless.
The more places we look,
And the more moments we are with,
The more we confirm the simple truth that we are always here.
Where else could we be?
