Ground of being

MANILA, Philippines – The quiet circle took on an energy all its own in the silence. I would hear sounds arising from around — dogs barking, the phone ringing, conversations muted. I could also hear my mind, with thoughts arising, issues of the day taking marked spaces in my quietness. And as I sat there, one of many in this circle, I joined a spiritual practice called meditation. I was invited by Virgil Antonio, a Tibetan monk with the name Lama Yeseh who has been practicing Rigpa for a number of decades in the Himalayas, Tibet, around Asia and the USA. Virgil shares that he was happily in his own comfort zone meditating many years when he felt a compelling need to “get out there” to teach meditation and start sitting groups.

Rigpa is a Tibetan word, which in general means “intelligence” or “awareness.” Virgil told me that in Dzogchen, however, the highest teachings in the Buddhist tradition of Tibet, Rigpa has a deeper connotation. It means: “the innermost nature of the mind.” He said, “The whole of the teaching of the awakened Ones are directed towards realizing this, man’s ultimate nature, the state of enlightenment — a truth so universal, so primordial that it goes beyond all limits, and beyond even religion itself.”

All traditions and religions have some form of meditation practice. It is the practice of moving within, into the silence, to go beyond — first, the noise of the world, then the noise of the mind. While I continue to sit in meditation alone almost on a daily basis, it is a “group sit” that I am experiencing now. Energies of each one around that circle helps to give the meditation session its unique quality for the night. Breathing in and breathing out, we continue to sit in silence, purifying our minds.

There are many kinds of meditation groups. There are the Zen meditates who focus on a koan (a saying or a riddle that has no answer) where the mind is taken out of its obsessive cycle of thinking of whatever issue it has latched on to for the moment. A more expanded consciousness is achieved; the Christian centering prayer groups who come from the Biblical command that says, “Be still and know that I am God, focus on prayers or Christian symbology such as visualizing the Christ Jesus. Having sat with Centering prayer groups, I use to love breathing the mantra “Maranatha” which means “come Lord Jesus.”

There is also the yogic post-asana practices that focus on breathe quality and pratyahara or sense withdrawal from the outside world to go into deeper concentration. And there is mindfulness meditation called Vipassana that I hear has been attracting a growing number of participants to their 10-day retreats (last one had close to 50 people, with the youngest age being 17 years old).

There is no such thing that one meditation style is more superior than the next, or that one may be more effective. What they all do is give a framework for the practice, a style.

Meditation is finding its way into mainstream thought and life. Why so? Well, obviously because the world is so noisy. And the fast and furious changes happening in our world today is getting us off-balanced. Meditation brings us back to balance. When seen from the physical health perspective, meditation brings down high blood pressure and stress as the breath is focused on and relaxed. On an emotional level, it is a real cure for depression, anxiety attacks and even raising self esteem due to the awareness it develops. On the spiritual level, we are reminded of the idea of impermanence, to non-clinging and to the idea that when we cling to something, there will be suffering. Through the many years of my meditation practices, I have understood that pain does not go away. But it is the recognition of impermanence that supports the meditation practices that makes me know that the pain will pass. Once the fluctuations of the mind have become still, we experience or see a glimpse of something more... the innermost nature of our souls, the ground of our being, the essence of our spirits. 

Sometimes people ask me — can you teach me how to meditate? I believe we can only guide people towards meditation and give some techniques. The real state of meditation just happens and cannot be willed. It is that moment when the mind is suspended, and thoughts disappear, that moment when we can catch a glimpse of a timeless, spaceless, eternal state that we know we have touched the ground of our being. You just have to sit, practice, sit, try it, breathe-in, breathe-out, watch the mind, watch what arises from emotions to body sensations, step away from the mind, back to the breath, breathe-in, breathe-out.....

 Meditation is a tool, a potent and powerful one. As the shifts of consciousness happens in our world today... as more and more people begin to try to live awakened lives, synchronicities begin to happen. We need to meditate and be still and silent to become fully awake. Synchronicities are people, places or events that our soul attracts into our life that pushes us to evolve to higher consciousness. Things simply take place perfectly as they should. As Virgil states, “The more ‘consciously aware’ we are of how our soul journey manifests, the higher our frequency becomes, and the faster we manifest the Creative, the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.”

(Sync and Swim is an event organized by various groups under the leadership of the Rigpa Group. Lama Yeseh will share tools for navigating the winds of change and to find deeper meaning in life. The general public is invited to attend talks, meditation practice both sitting and movement meditation, and enjoy vegetarian cuisine on June 7, 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Bonifacio Ridge Social Hall, 1st Avenue Bonifacio Global City. For ticker inquiries, call 0918-9190491 or 0917-6222468.)