Meditation and Dharma Study

By Satya Kshanti, 2000; Dharma Breeze, Journal of the Desert and Mountain Sangha.

"I couldn't help but see what the cushion was doing for others."

In my sangha we go through stages of growth and face ourselves on different levels constantly, as all sanghas do. Often times people ask what the centering factor for our growth is. After looking at all the different avenues and paths presently at work around me, I realized it is the cushion. Even beyond the Dharma study, as odd as it may seem, that cushion is the common bond to our growth - so much so.

"Often times people ask what the centering factor for our growth is. I realized it is the cushion"

My first real effect from sitting (meditation) was during a 10-day retreat where I spoke little and sat consistently for the first time. While memorizing the Heart Sutra, emptiness started revealing itself to me. Though the prior conversations and studies on the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Paths were compelling, this new revealing would prove far more instrumental to my growth. Paradoxes were revealed and the nature of delusion began to show its true origin: my mind.

As time went on, through the Dharma I applied this new-found direction. I was confronted with severe frustration from a slacker who pretended to be a teacher for the purpose of recognition - only for the cushion to reveal how alike this man and I are; where this decadent seed really comes from. As it turns out, he was a teacher to me - he was my first sincere interaction with compassion.

Lesson after lesson came as I was confronted with my delusion. Each time, the cushion spread understanding that proved the Dharma true. I was the cause of all my suffering. What a grand trick I share with humanity, what we call existence: delusion. Although others share in these age-old boundaries, I am the one who allows it to have effect through my interaction. My mind gives it effect: it would die without me, its creator.

Having so much happening within, I couldn't help but see what the cushion was doing for the others. A man I knew was obnoxiously self-centered and materialistic, knew the buzz words of Buddhism, and liked to be different by using his studies as a tool for attention. One day I saw a change. He was mindful of someone else's needs. He had started sitting regularly. Since then his true being has slowly come forth and is refined by the teachings of Buddha.

Another man came full of frustration and lacking self-control, seeing a dead-end life in fruition with all the hurt loved ones in the wake. As he sat, understanding came piece by piece. Still in the flux of the old and the new, he sees the way and knows its value. The more he sits, the more the courage manifests to shed the delusion he sees as a safety zone.

Even a man full of religious limitations, and ideals based on hope and fear, found his way free through the cushion. Now the Dharma is his guide and a reflection of his path.

The nuances and examples are endless but the empirical result is the same: finding that cushion on a consistent basis brought the Dharma to life. This is the practice. Those who sat progressed and became the Dharma. The others (who didn't sit) played along but shattered in the chance occurrence of application.It was overwhelming what people became in those times of silence. As more started sitting regularly, the sangha came to life - each one unique, and each spurring growth in the other.

How profound is Dharma study without mindfulness? This is revealed as we meditate and relate it in our lives. Gautama found what he taught, as will we, in the same way, become enlightened: on that cushion. It is said that we are all buddhas, we just don't know it yet. The revelation is within. Be still and reveal. Then you won't know the Dharma, you'll be the Dharma.