gentleness

photo: jetheriot

A blizzard of thoughts and emotions swirls around each of us, obscuring the true nature of mind. But if we learn to sit tall and let the blizzard happen around us, and if we do this over and over, we come to know the blizzard for the emptiness it is, and we begin to see through the snow clouds in which we've become ensnarled.

Shamatha meditation is a process of undoing bewilderment. It's a Sanskrit word usually translated as "calm abiding" or "peaceful abiding" – there's a gentleness at the heart of it. We practice sitting and just being in the center of the blizzard, settled into a stable posture on a cushion on the floor, sitting still and gently undoing the tangles of ourselves.

When we assume the cross-legged posture of peaceful abiding, we cross the legs loosely but not too loosely, thoughtfully and purposefully, with clear awareness we're taking our seat. We feel grounded. We feel a solid connection to the earth.
  

Swelling, shrinking, swelling, shrinking, we stay with the feeling of the breath as we breathe naturally. Thoughts and emotions swarm, but we find the breath amid the frenzy and it anchors us. When the mind wanders, we return it to the breath. There's no need for harshness, we simply bring the mind back gently to the breath, again and again and again, as many times as it takes.

When the mind gets swept up in the blizzard, we sit there calmly abiding. We gently acknowledge the storm, but we don't let it carry us away. We do this over and over. It's gentleness we're practicing, breath by breath by breath. The untangling cannot be rushed.