Distortion Mantra: Sitting Fast, Sitting Slow

 

By Rob Argent

Sometimes we sit because we want to sit, and sometimes we sit because we want to get the sitting out of the way.

While the importance of meditation and returning to our breath cannot be over emphasised, this can sometimes create in us a near enemy: a feeling we should be practising as opposed to wanting to practise. We’ve all had experiences of rushing our meditation, feeling as if the cushion is somehow getting in the way of the rest of our day—there’s always something else, something more pressing to attend to.

And because of this, any passive activity (wait, is that an oxymoron?) is deemed to be trivial; a lesser matter that can wait until all the really urgent, important stuff is done. So this is where we fall into the trap of our own making isn’t it? When we live in a time where our attention is always being beset by work, family, online demands and the polycrisis of climate change, social injustice and global pandemics, when are we going to get around to sitting in stillness? Many past Buddhist practitioners will have felt the same dilemma, as there has rarely been a time of true peace long enough for all of us to slow down.

If that’s the case then we need to learn to sit—to truly sit—while all of the above is going on.

No matter what is happening around, or even to, us we can still honour our practise with the attention that it deserves; as the old Zen proverb goes “before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water; after enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”

Waiting for a better time is robbing the present moment for the promise of an unlikely future, so why not embrace the now?

Being calm enough to push back and set aside time to do nothing is truly subversive in these times, when even hobbies can be turned into consumable content or gamified. And once the practise develops into a regular, beneficial experience then that moment of calm in the storm can be extended from the cushion and into the rest of the day.

Gradually, the storm recedes and the calm grows, even if events outside of your control are still demanding.

This quiet revolution will challenge people, who will perhaps struggle to understand how or why someone wouldn’t jump in with knee jerk reactions, but maybe in time they will also find their own way to inner calm. Sitting can be hard at times, and sitting truly still even harder, but with stillness comes the possibility for cultivating mindfulness and insight.

As someone who actively chose to fill their days with work, hobbies and social commitments before embracing the middle path, I can relate to this far too well why is it still when there’s a whole world out there to experience?

It was only over time that I realised that there was a whole world in here (taps head) as well, and that actually the two are not separate from each other. When this came to me, the sitting went from fast to slow.

If you’re not going anywhere, why not enjoy it?

 

Rob Argent is an outreach practitioner, helping others recover from addiction, as well as being a qualified therapist. A lifelong interest in martial arts led him from Karate to Kung Fu, Tai Chi and meditation, and from there to Zen Buddhism in the Plum Village tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. Bringing spirituality into daily working life is his interest, and in his spare time he enjoys rock music—the heavier the better.

 

 

Photo: Pixabay

Editor: Dana Gornall

 

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