A meditator’s job is to remember to be aware.
Whether you are standing, sitting, lying down, or walking, if you remember that you are aware, then you are meditating, and you are cultivating the positive qualities of the mind.
We always start with awareness. It is that quality that grounds us and allows all the wholesome mind-states to arise, especially the quality of wisdom. When awareness and wisdom are working together like this, we gain the confidence and the motivation to keep exploring and moving into the uncharted regions of our minds, where suffering gets started at a subtle level.
Wisdom is what this practice is about. It is the quality of mind that understands the true nature of reality. It becomes the compass that points the way as we try to understand and remove the mind’s three unwholesome roots of craving, aversion, and delusion.
Forget the idea that meditation happens only on a cushion or in the meditation hall. Meditation is so important that we need to do it all the time, whenever we can remember. We should meditate from the moment we wake up until the moment we fall asleep.
ive of the mind’s positive qualities, called the “spiritual faculties,” are especially important to cultivate in meditation. When these five qualities are in balance, they develop wisdom, the fifth quality of mind, considered the foremost because wisdom dissolves suffering.
The five spiritual faculties are:
Confidence (trust in the practice)
Energy (continuous effort)
Mindfulness (remembering to be aware)
Stability of mind (calmness, stillness)
Wisdom (understanding the nature of reality)
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