What do we generally do when we experience such mental suffering? We begin looking for an answer. Why did this happen to me? Why am I in this whole scheme of things? From where have I come? Who am I?

What is my role? We can both be unskilful and pursue banal pleasures, which seem to bring us happiness, or allow our pain to open up before us a vision of a task that lies before us. If we live in such a way that we let this vision elude us we would have failed in our duty by ourselves and humanity as a whole to evolve into better human beings.

This vision is what is referred to in Buddhism as Samma Ditthi or Samyag Dristi and is something that we should not let go off if we have had the good fortune of having it dawn on us. It is something more than a mere right understanding. Our pain and agony usually stems from separation from the mainstream of life, be it through a bereavement, estrangement, a great loss or whatever, and the happiness that we seek can only come through a will that we should develop, to serve that every mainstream of life from which most of us all the time demand a servitude.

When we meditate, we do so in a human context. We should realise that if we meditate purely for the attainment of something in the hereafter, we put ourselves into negative mental states, which are the very things we should be trying to overcome through meditation. This is what makes people selfish, and does no good for the hereafter either. The context in which we should meditate is purely a selfless one in which we endeavour to develop an all-pervading self-abnegating love for humanity, which alone gives us positive mental states. If we cultivate positive mental states here and now, we do not have to concern ourselves about the hereafter. The hereafter will look after itself.

It is the bounden duty of every human being to develop love towards other human beings. Love is the key word. Where there is love there is wisdom, and where there is wisdom there is love. Because we love our mother, father, son, daughter, wife, husband we do no harm to them. But how is it that some of us do harm to those who do not fall into any of these categories?

A person who is evolving should be the kind of person who has at heart the welfare of all beings, regardless of whether they are one’s own or not. We should feel a oneness with everything that lives. This is specifically why it is important to have as much contact as is possible with others. The absence of another - regarding nature only keeps us in the lowest realm of the kingdom of animals.

We may meditate most of the time by ourselves, but the value of meditating with others whenever possible cannot be underscored, because that is one way in which we take others along with us for the common good. If we have a genuine love for other humans, how can we cheat them, defraud them, cause problems for them, physically or mentally?

In ordinary mundane life we tend to cultivate friendships with people only because we need them for some reason or other, or even merely because we are infatuated by their power, position or wealth. This is not the kind of friendship that the great sages envisaged for us. My exhortation to my countrymen is to try befriending as many people as possible.

Treat every contact with another human being as the basis for a possible friendship. When you start doing this you will be amazed to see how the world begins to change. First of all it is that we begin to change in our interaction with others, and in the same process we help others to change too. If we remain in a shell where we all the time criticise others from our armchairs, neither they nor we will change. We have to take everyone along with us in the best spirit of fellowship.

The path of meditation is a beautiful one and it is one of the best journeys one can embark on, and of all human endeavours one of the best is to take as many fellow beings as is possible, along with us on this journey. Having now realised this vision, we act upon it by setting out on our practice of meditation. The Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path is the path of the great transformation, and as we persevere with our practice and a will to change, we would find ourselves changing for the better, striving towards perfection in all worldly things that have to do with body, speech and mind.

In fulfilment of our vision and the will to change we will discover as we persevere with our practice how the quality of our lives improve as the remaining seven ‘angas’ of the eightfold path unfold like the petals of a flower in the course of our spiritual development.

Nirvana must first of all be seen as a state of mind in which we dwell. We do not have it if we have not developed at least the first stage in the process of meditation, which is concentration. We can prove to ourselves just how distracted most people are most of the time when we try to get their attention during an ordinary conversation. If we lack the ability to pay attention, we wouldn’t be able to pay attention to the needs of others - at the very least to respect the rights and wishes of those around us.

Contrary to popular belief, the process of meditation and self-transformation does not make everyone alike. We do not grow more like one another, we grow more different, - though at the same time communication between one another improves. We become individuals who are capable of taking the reins of our lives into our own hands, which without herd instinct or towing group values have the strength to stand up for what is just and what is right.

This is the bedrock upon which a good society could be founded. The path of meditation is a challenging path, and it is also a path of great joy and delight. Embark on it and experience the great hope and joy in knowing that you have started out on the path of self-transformation, and you would have passed from a religious teaching to a spiritual experience. With mindfulness strive.

Composed by Mervyn Nanayakkara

Tag: The Path of the Great Transformation