Healing the brokenhearted and binding up their wounds

Exploring the how and why of Zen meditation

One of the harder parts of pursuing a meditation practice is sorting out just what you’re hoping to do. It turns out meditation is another of those words that has so many meanings that in the last it can be hard to say it means anything.

Well, we know it has something to do with the mind.

After that it’s anyone’s game. Some people, maybe most people think of meditation as a way to calm down. A way to get a grip. Maybe even to feel a sense of peace in the midst of the storm. I can’t argue with that as a goal.

Other’s take it as a trip. And for me, well, I watch television. So, obviously I can’t argue with that.

But there are other approaches to meditation, more concerned with what is offered within ancient spiritual traditions. They are about facing into the real. They are rarely fun. But they can take you on a trip that goes beyond entertainment, quiet, or peace. These practices take several forms based on the assumptions of the intimate found in the specific tradition. Even among the nondual family, broadly speaking, there are considerable differences. So, here we find several kinds of Hindu meditation, Taoist meditation, Jewish or Christian or Muslim meditation.

We might as well collapse the word prayer in here, as well. Any conscious turning of the mind toward the intimate belongs to this kind, or rather these kinds of meditation.