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Part 1:The Happiness of Meditation
The lotus in this simile stands for the mind; the sun’s warmth stands for still attention; and the cloud stands for a thought or mental agitation that destroys the stillness. I shall develop this simile later. For now, let me say that these inner secrets are beyond your imagining. Some meditators stop at an inner row of petals and mistakenly think,“This is it.” Then the stillness breaks and the lotus closes in a twinkling. This is false enlightenment. When your meditation is so profound that you can remain in stillness for several hours, observing the mind freed from the hindrances, and watching the innermost row of petals open fully to reveal the jewel in the heart of the lotus, then you will realize the ultimate insight, the truth of who you are. Find out for yourself! In the previous chapter, I counseled that patience is the fastest way to proceed. This also holds true for the three stages of meditation discussed in this chapter.These are all stages of letting go, each dependent upon the ones preceding. In the end, to enter into jh›na one has to really let go.This is a profound letting go made possible by careful and diligent practice. There is much more to meditation than I have covered so far. In these two chapters only the basic method has been described: seven stages that culminate in the first jh›na. Much more needs to be said about the hindrances, qualities of mindfulness, other meditation objects, and more. Let us begin our detailed study by turning our attention to the five hindrances and how they are overcome.