Gotama Buddha said, “meditate or lest you regret it later”. We have this extremely rare human existence and we should not let it go to waste through laziness, complacency or excessive delays. We should utilize our time in this human form to develop and cultivate a pure mind so that we can experience a peaceful and content life while escaping The Cycle of Rebirth.

Gotama Buddha explained that “a pot without a stand is easy to tip over”. The mind is the “pot” and your meditation practice is the “stand”. Without a stable "stand" (i.e. meditation practice) the pot (i.e. the mind) is going to constantly be "tipped over".

The reason why the mind keeps experiencing discontent feelings such as sadness, anger, frustration, irritation, annoyance, guilt, shame, fears, boredom, loneliness, shyness, jealousy, resentment, stress, anxiety, etc. is because there is not a well established meditation practice along with learning and practicing the entire Path to Enlightenment. The mind keeps getting "tipped over" experiencing discontent feelings.

The mind needs a steady and consistent “stand” that you establish through the continual development of your meditation practice to train the mind. With a stable meditation practice, a Practitioner can develop mental discipline and the mind won't keep getting tipped over to experience discontent feelings.

Developing a solid and consistent meditation practice that provides the mind training and development is an essential part of learning and practicing these Teachings. The mind needs a steady and consistent “stand” that you establish through the continual development of your meditation practice to train the mind.

Meditation is a technique to actively train the mind during dedicated, independent, purposeful training sessions to eliminate unwholesome qualities of the mind and/or cultivate wholesome qualities of the mind in the positions of seated, lying, standing, or walking.

Just as important as it is to understand what meditation is, it is just as important to understand what meditation is not. Meditation is not exercising, walking the dog, gardening, driving, watching a sunset, dancing, listening to music, martial arts, nature watching, etc. These are activities that are beneficial to one’s life through experiencing various aspects of life but these are not active, dedicated, independent, purposeful training sessions to eliminate and/or cultivate various qualities of the mind.

Meditation is the foundation of our “life practice” that trains the mind. Over time and with a well developed life practice that includes meditation, you will discover the same truths as Gotama Buddha and acquire wisdom. It is the wisdom you develop within a life practice and meditation that liberates the mind. Meditation is the core method of training the mind and establishes a foundation in which to build all the other Teachings and practices taught by Gotama Buddha that lead to Enlightenment.

To attain Enlightenment, an individual needs to focus on developing a practice of Breathing Mindfulness Meditation and Loving-kindness Meditation. These two meditations are required to attain Enlightenment. The other meditations discussed in this Chapter are optional, specialized meditations to be utilized when appropriate and with guidance from a Teacher. All these Teachings and the meditation techniques shared in this book should be learned with guidance of Teachers as one will need assistance on The Path.

Meditation Teacher