Meditation has become a practice that people all over the world benefit from. This book "Silent Meditation" gives an intelligent insight into the significance of such a practice. There are books that tell you "how-to", while this one explains the psychological process involved. Written from a Buddhist perspective, it is nevertheless comprehensible to anyone, for meditation is not something that lends itself to sectarianism and other divisions.

The editor of the book is in fact a sannyasin of Osho, the contemporary mystic, whose many books touch on the Buddha and often explain meditation to those who may not be scholarly but still have an interest. Swami Amano Samarpan has also included some of his black and white photographs in the book which help to give another dimension to the subject.

The first step in meditation is to become focussed not on a particular point or place but to progress with a view that includes the whole. Once one is able to experience quiescence, the meditator can start to look deeper into what is all around him, noting and observing the play of existence. These two stages of meditation are generally referred to as Samatha and Vipassana.

The book is written in a poetic form that allows one to read slowly and savour the words. It is also written in sections such as one called "Projection" which starts....

As we have seen

the arising of an authentic sense of well-being,

characterised by emptiness and clarity

is an indication of having

uccessfully accomplished

calm abiding meditation.

This, in turn, will naturally give rise

to an increasing ability to abide one pointedly.

This is a pocket sized book that can be read at any time to help remind oneself of the Buddha nature within us all that meditation helps reveal.

Calm Abiding
As stated earlier, the most profound meditation begins with simple meditation. A very effective technique is Calm Abiding meditation (in Tibetan Shinnay and in Sanskrit-Shamata) being refreshing and uncomplicated to practice.

Many different methods exist, all with the same underlying purpose; simply, to enable the mind to remain peacefully and uninterruptedly in a stable state of one-pointed attentiveness over an extended period of time.

One begins by learning to sit still for periods of ten, twenty or thirty minutes, gradually extending the duration of one's meditative sessions.

The ability to remain in a state of complete absorption is considered to be extremely advanced although even in the early stages of meditation one can learn to sit quietly and be aware of mind, observing the flow of arising and passing thoughts, likened to the movement of fleeting clouds in a clear sky!

Stages of Progress
At first the meditator's mind is like a wild horse, yet by engaging in the consistent practice of calm abiding meditation, it can gradually be tamed as eventually the mind will become clear and completely free of agitation.
This activity of mind at first is like a cascading waterfall, later becoming like the gently flowing currents of a broad river, finally like the still water of a clear mountain lake.


SILENT MEDITATION
H.E. Sharmar Rinpoche
Book Faith India
ISBN 81-7303-122-3
Price: US$ 2.30
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