Why We Start

I was thinking about when I started meditation, when I hear about others beginning a practice, and what is happening for so many people when they decide to sit down, be quiet and work towards some end of suffering.

By Anne Heerdt

Why do we start?

I was thinking about when I started meditation, when I hear about others beginning a practice, and what is happening for so many people when they decide to sit down, be quiet and work towards some end of suffering.

I started because I accidentally ended up in a South Asian Humanities class and the teacher taught us some meditation. However something stuck—I liked the break from thinking all the time. I liked that we talked about not suffering so much. I also really liked doing something different than the tradition I grew up in. It felt like a nice new opportunity.

We start meditation with suffering typically.

It can be emotional pain, psychological pain and physical pain. There are ways that meditation helps with all these types of suffering. It is very common to talk about what suffering brings us to meditation practice but I want to balance that with faith.

Yes, faith.

My experience of Buddhist faith is different than what I understood as faith from the rest of my life. It is not a faith in something outside myself and it is not a faith that will rescue me. It is a faith in the teachings—the dharma. It is a faith that the people who have practiced before me have benefited. It is a faith that I can alleviate suffering by following the practices and teachings.

It is also a deep faith in understanding I am not alone, my suffering is not too unique to be helped, that the practices are made for what I am experiencing.

The Four Noble Truths speak of suffering, but also have the great hope of freedom. The First Noble Truth is that there is suffering, dukkha. The Second Noble Truth is that suffering, dukkha, has a cause in craving and clinging. The Third Noble Truth is that there is an end to this! Dukkha can cease with the cessation of clinging and craving.

Then the Fourth Noble Truth gets into the plan of ending this. There is a good reason however to keep using dukkha, instead of suffering. The word dukkha has a much richer meaning than suffering. That will be for another deep breath of dharma however.

Photo: Pixabay

Editor: Dana Gornall

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Anne Heerdt

Columnist at The Tattooed Buddha

Hi, I am Anne. I started meditating in college, in Boulder, Colorado---and with my punk persona. That was 40 years ago. I struggled with feeling like my combat boots didn’t fit with the Birkenstocks at the meditation hall, and I learned that I was welcome. I have had meditation as my anchor in life through so many changes. I am currently studying to be a certified Mindfulness Meditation teacher through the program with Sounds True. My practice has changed, my teachers invaluable, and one size did not fit all in my journey. I get inspired in my practice by nature, music and children’s books ( a real form of poetry). I want to share some bite size nuggets of thoughts, wisdom, and Buddhism to support your practice. Life is way too short to grow up, so let’s have some fun while working with our mind.

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