It's Vesak Day, Just Sit
Why Meditation is a Practice
Of the photos I took atop Wudang Mountain last November, this is my favorite. I approached the steps of the Purple Clouds Temple and smiled at seeing her. There it was, on a remote mountain and with no social media ambition — unpretentious practice. A practitioner.
I meandered the temple grounds for 45 minutes and upon my exit, she was still there. Hesitantly, I captured this photo and she has been on my phone’s home screen since, as a friend and a reminder. But a reminder of what? That’s our question.
Today is Vesak Day. Around the world, Buddhists observe this as the day that Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) attained his enlightenment. As many have pointed out, even after becoming enlightened, Buddha continued to meditate until he died.
But why? And what for?
This morning, I sat and in sitting, a simple truth dawned: when 6 of us sit together in community, (as we did on Zoom this Tuesday), that’s 6 people sitting still, and not causing harm in the world for 20 minutes. Furthermore, as one’s meditation practice matures and we become better at sitting, we get better at not weaving endless narratives in our minds as we sit — that is, we get better at actually meditating; observing our minds and resting (rather than just sitting in captive cogitation for 20 minutes).
To meditate, as only experience can prove, isn’t the same as merely assuming a position, like a prisoner on a cushion. Although they do look alike, and the latter may be how we feel as beginners (or on bad days), sustained practice reveals deeper insight. And in time, while meditating, we may begin to foster less delusion in our own minds, and thus project less of it into the world around us. Since delusion and actions animated by delusion cause suffering, the simple act of sitting, then, minimizes suffering.
But the work is never finished.
This is why it is never called a “meditation accomplishment,” but a meditation practice. This is also why the act of meditating is both the pursuit of an enlightenment experience but also, as the Zen Master D.T. Suzuki puts it, an expression of that very enlightenment, which may be why Buddha, even after his enlightenment, continued daily practice. It begins to feel right.
What is enlightenment, anyway? And what will happen to us after it strikes? As one Zen quip reminds us, “the dishes! After enlightenment, you do the dishes!” Perhaps that’s the point: enlightenment helps us become more attuned to reality, more responsible and kind; more attentive and less alienating; more loving and less harmful — to ourselves, others, and the dishes! But it’s not an all or nothing proposition, and we’re never done.
Some days, meditation feels blissful. Other days, it’s unnerving and difficult. But we can’t know which until we sit, and if we don’t sit today, we’ll not know what insight may have been ready to bloom.
In so many words, on this special day, I make an offering to the questions I began with, and a tribute to the sitter in this photo. It deserves mention that she is likely a Taoist meditator, and that I’m not formally Buddhist but together, we can all sit; Buddhist, Taoist, Jew, Sufi, Christian and atheist alike, we can all cause less harm and foster less delusion.
And so, let us sit.
