You Don’t Need To Meditate

This aim of this blog is to be a practical, no-nonsense guide to understanding and applying the fundamentals of Buddhism for greater resilience and inner peace in your life. It also aims to dispel misconceptions about Buddhism and explain the core concepts of it’s principles, which are often missed out or misinterpreted in modern meditation literature.

I’ll explain why so much information on Buddhism and meditation appears contradictory and confusing and hopefully provide more practical answers to questions like “why should I meditate?” - and the answer (in short) is not just to be happier or to be more relaxed, although it certainly can have that effect.

By the end of this blog, you should have the framework for inner peace and freedom that Buddhism originally intended; not vague instructions or repetitive rituals but clear, practical steps and concepts that will have an instant and lasting affect on your daily life without having to schedule time for counting your breaths or trying not to think.

This is a work in progress and will be continually updated.

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These days, the word ‘mindfulness’ has taken on a meaning that is contradictory to the spirit of it’s original conception. We are so overloaded with information about Buddhism and meditation that we tend to get pre-occupied with the practice of Buddhism, rather than it’s core message and promised benefit: basic peace in life.

We’re also more over-stimulated, more worried about the future and more disconnected from our inner-selves than ever. The reason for this is less about the effect of technology on society and more about how we view our experience. We habitually focus on thoughts and feelings that make us unhappy, rather than focusing on the things that really matter in this life.

While we’re absorbed with what to cook next week, the disagreement from the other day or the best way to achieve that new goal, the world is gently flowing on as we pass it by in a completely internal state. We might not even notice the birds singing outside, the perfect stillness of the air or how lucky we are to be fed, sheltered and in good health. What is really more important? And why do we automatically focus on worrying instead of finding peace with the moment? How do we practically navigate life without worrying?

Even when we can get to the state where we’re able to be present and free from worry, the big problem that often seems forgotten is that the worry always comes back. No matter how much you meditate or get into a relaxed state, you’ll always have to re-enter the world where bills need to be paid and plans need to be made; and it’s in this world where we find our greatest challenge to inner peace.

No matter how good you are at meditation, if you don’t find a way to master your inner peace in the business of everyday life, you could spend the majority of your life in a stressed state, only to be calm for 20 minutes a day when you meditate.

While there are resources that talk about bringing “mindfulness” into everyday life, becoming aware of your breathing or other sensations does not seem to be the answer to this puzzle. In fact, people with anxiety will find these “mindfulness” techniques can actually make their symptoms worse. I can personally say I’ve experienced a lot of anxiety in my life and focusing on physical sensations or my breathing can intensify a panic attack and increase the feeling of disassociation.

I thought I understood how to achieve inner peace, but for a long time I felt something big was missing. Meditation was a temporary relief, mindfulness a chore, Buddhism merely a philosophy.

While I understood much of this in depth, I found there was too much information and one part of the puzzle would always contradict another. How can something that should be so simple appear so complicated?

When a master of Zen is enlightened, he stops meditating - he doesn’t need to meditate any more because he’s free of the problems that made him want to meditate in the first place.

Buddhas - who are supposed to have attained everything - are invariably shown in some sort of meditation posture. Why should they meditate anymore? Because that just happens to be the way that a Buddha sits when he sits. When he sits, he sits. When he walks, he walks. He’s not going anywhere. He’s just going for a walk because he digs it.
Alan Watts

While you can definitely reduce stress from practicing relaxation and mind calming techniques every day, if as soon as you’re done you re-enter the storm that is life and start stressing again, you don’t get lasting transformation, just a window of peace - and that’s only if you’re good at meditation and practice regularly.

This is why the original translation of the word “meditation” is “the art of living” - it’s not just what you do during meditation, but how you live the rest of your life that matters; and this is the art we must master.

Our modern society is overwhelmed with information, living through a digital world, and when we get burnt out, we turn to the latest trick for fixing stress which is usually behind a paywall: meditation. As I will explain, this commercial meditation no longer means meditation in it’s original meaning, just in the same way that mindfulness today means “being aware of your surroundings”, when it’s original translation comes from the word “vipassana” - better translated as “insight”.

It’s in this exact way that we’ve become pre-occupied with ideas like “mindfulness meditation” when what we really want is “insight meditation”. In the end, you won’t need any meditation because you’ll find out how to remove the source of the suffering rather than just treating the symptom.

That’s why this blog is dedicated to cutting through the noise and confusion and getting right to the core fundamentals of true meditation, in a sensible way.

You will be able to fully understand the why and how of the art of living, and apply these fundamentals to your life, without being overwhelmed with vague instructions or bored with repetitive tricks that will one day work. This is a practical, down to earth approach to what meditation is supposed to achieve.

This is not neuroscience and it’s not spiritual; this is what Buddhism was always meant to be; an exploration of the true nature of your reality. It’s a unique, personal journey.

This is why it was so important to the Buddha to encourage people to examine and challenge teachings based on their own discernment and understanding rather than accepting them blindly.

And, as Alan Watts explained, this understanding all starts with a conversation.