Parvati Magazine December 2014/January 2015: Consequence/Beginnings | Page 17

MEDITATION
sana Insight, however, the
focus was on cultivating
wisdom instead of cultivating concentration by
being mindful of our mental states (the third foundation of mindfulness).
To do this, Sayadaw U Tejaniya encouraged us to
ask ourselves constantly
“What is the attitude of
the mind right now?”
and to observe, without
judgement, what is there.
If you do this, you might
not notice much at first,
but if you are persistent
enough you will begin to
notice that mind states
such as aversion, greed,
and delusion motivate almost all of our actions and
reactions. When practicing in this way, the fourth
foundation of mindfulness (mindfulness of the
Dhamma) naturally arises,
and understanding of the
Dhamma and the nature
of phenomena also arises,
thus cultivating wisdom.
One of the valuable
tools Sayadaw U Tejaniya
shared deals with cultivating wisdom in the face of
difficult emotions. It’s as
simple as asking yourself

four questions – and answering honestly – to get
to the root of things.
The four questions are:
1. Is the difficult emotion
pleasant or unpleasant?
2. What/who is making
you feel this way?
3. What is really making
you feel this way?
4. Is this emotion necessary?
To paint a clearer picture,
I’ll use the four questions
in the same way I did during my trip to Burma. I’m
a little bit of a worrier, and
my partner and I often
travel separately, usually
meeting up at a pre-determined (usually exotic
and unfamiliar) location.
The whole time he is traveling to meet me, I worry
that he’ll get hurt somehow, or worse yet, that
his plane will crash. Telling
myself things like flying is
the safest way to travel
doesn’t ease my anxiety,
so this time around, I tried
the four questions.
1. Is it (the difficult emotion) pleasant or unpleasant? Unpleasant.

2. What/who is making
you feel this way? The
possibility that something
harmful may happen to
him.
3. What is really making
you feel this way? The
thought that something
harmful may happen to
him. The THOUGHT!
4. Is this emotion necessary? No, especially since
it just makes me anxious.
This process was a felt revelation for me. My fear in
this case (and most likely
all other cases) was the
result of a thought. A fleeting, intangible, impermanent bubble of a thought!
Seeing how much power
and energy I gave to a
thought, and choosing
not to continue, was really freeing.
I often say, “Practice
makes permanent.” Given that our actions are a
result of our intentions and
mental states, what kinds
of heart/mind states do
you want to make permanent?

Dawn Rathbun received her meditation teacher with a Lama Jetsun
CatherineMauricio is a yoga andtraditional teaching name, playful, dynamic,
and centred Karma Thinley is known for lineage master of the and smilYeshe, from Ven. approach. SheRinpoche, a her boundless energy Sakya
ing personality that Tibetan contagious 2002. She taught meditation
and Kagyu traditions ofare both Buddhism, inand motivating. Drawing fromat
her deep experience in yoga is the founding teacher at Friends of the
York University (1989 to 1997) and and meditation, she delivers an effective
balance of clear, precise Toronto. With a background in dance — she
Heart, a meditation centre ininstruction and mental reflection. Dawn firmly
believes that how National Ballet Company of Canada from 1962 to
was a member of the we offer ourselves in practice reflects how we offer ourselves in a modern dance find new ways to (1967-69). practice beyond
1963 — and life, inspiring her tocareer in England extend herShe is the author
the yoga mat and meditation cushion – and encouraging her students to
of Developing the World Mind and Clear Heart, Open Mind, and is currently
do the same.
working on a new book called Waiting for Truffles: Meditations for Daily
Living. For more on Catherine, please visit www.friendsoftheheart.com.
For more information about Dawn, please visit dawnmauricio.com.