Meditation in action - or not
In the western world we don’t get much exposure to the powers of Yoga or meditation, other than watching, or even participating in, Yoga classes in sports clubs and gyms.
I get the impression, though, that Western Yoga, by and large, only scratches the surface of what actually can be achieved, though as our Yoga article on FurtherHealth points out, attaining high levels of expertise and benefit from Yoga requires it to play a central role in your lifestyle.
I am fortunate to have travelled reasonably extensively throughout Asia and have often seen how religion and everyday living are intertwined in these societies. For example, I vividly recall a group of Buddhist monks walking down one of the main streets in a city, a novice leading the way with a brush, sweeping the path to ensure that no insects were trodden on by the monks.
A particular encounter with the power of meditation stands out in my memory though.
There is an amazing temple in Burma (now called Myanmar) called the Shwedagon Pagoda. Covered in gold this huge pagoda is stunning and hugely interesting. It takes at least three hours of wandering around to come to terms with its majesty and serenity.
When I went through the gate to visit the pagoda I noticed three elderly monks dressed in black, each standing motionless on one leg holding a begging bowl.
I thought nothing of it until more than three hours later when I wandered out through the gate again, to my amazement the three monks were still there in exactly the same spot, in exactly the same one legged pose. They hadn’t moved an inch in three hours.
I went over to look at them and they were like statues. Eyes closed, completely still, physically there, but mentally far away in deep meditation. It was awesome to see and in fact, to me, even overshadowed the splendour of the Shwedagon.
Meditation, when performed to a high level is amazing. I probably haven’t got the patience to scratch the surface of it, which is a real shame.
Add comment July 7th, 2006 Written By: chris