I think a lot of people's views of "meditation" is that you should be moving the goal posts from "
oh that's a cool pipe" to "
what is pipe, and how do I relate to it", but I don't believe that's the point from the documentation I've seen - things aren't always relative to you, get over yourself.
It's more of a "
pipe is everything, pipe is nothing". There is nothing right or wrong, interesting or boring within the image, and somehow the absence of the answer gives an emotional response. Or maybe it's just
numberwang? Running off that definition I would be inclined to suggest maybe contrasting beauty (eg. beautiful dead flower) is more along the miksang theme that my silly picture of a pipe.
What I got about meditation, after a few books and a couple of years of practice, is that meditation is about disconnecting the mind and reconnecting with the senses (also called the present moment, intended as the present
millisecond) in the literal sense.
As soon as you start to think
anything you are doing it wrong. It's about feeling sensory events without
any classification, judgment or even acknowledging the sensations (like: "cool, I'm hearing something from the left" or even worse "I'm hearing a waterfall on the left"). It's hard.
"
Pipe is pipe" is already too much, "pipe" is a label: the pipe is a mix shapes, colors, sounds that is what we actually experience.
It's about feeling sensation we normally do not feel, like the five senses but also, the best example, our breath: it is there all the time, it blows under your nose, moves your belly up and down all day long and yet we never normally feel it. This is why the basic exercise is reconnecting with this simple, clear basic sensation (and it's also handy to bring it around anywhere). Or the sensations in our feet while we walk, etc.
You should just "shut up" your internal dialogues/thinking (wrong word, "tune out" is more correct as there should be no struggle, just let if fade in the background of your mind while you passively re-focus on sensations).
Base practice is much more practical and well defined than most think and very little fuzzy/mystical/spiritual. It's all about being here/now as opposed to keep thinking about past/future/fantasizing/etc. like we normally do. Like taking back 10 minutes to "feel" the present moment (it's hard to do even a few seconds actually, mind does it's best to take back the control). You can meditate sitting with your eyes closed, while doing the dishes, waiting in line at the station or while walking (it just gets harder).
A book I liked is
this one, with a western/practical view of the topic. BTW meditation is
not about finding peace or feeling better or even getting relaxed (quite the opposite, it's about being aware of the surroundings and inner sensations/feelings). It's about acknowledging what is happening, now, how you are reacting to that, and if it is bad, well, it just is (we are always talking about the current millisecond, you cannot do anything to change that) but at least now you know better, it's not tucked under the "more important things to do" carpet.
About "acceptance": it's about accepting the present (rather then hide the head in the sand), not about the future, it's not a resigned attitude.
And, with time, it's about "feeling" your own thoughts like you hear "the sound from the left" and feeling which physical sensations accompany these thoughts. This changed the way I think about my thoughts, just by starting to observe them (as they are a separate thing from the observing self).
And there is often a simple unmediated pure joy feeling in reconnecting with your own senses, perceptions and body (maybe after years or just days) that is a reward in itself.
Ok, long enough. This do not want to orient this thread in any way, just to share my experience.
P.S. The first rule of meditation is you do not talk about meditation, you do it
Because it is really hard to properly describe it.
