Meditator Gets Hoodwinked by Religion

I recently tried to set up an introduction to meditation during lunch hour at my work. I found myself contemplating how religion and meditation are related because I had to assure people that this was not a religious thing. Of course, there doesn't have to be anything religious about meditation, but people tend to worry that they are about to get hoodwinked. 

At the end of the day, all forms of meditation have origins in the world's wisdom traditions or religions. If you haven't signed up for membership in one of the world's religions, don't worry! You don't have to join a religion to get something out of meditation, but allow me to expound on the relationship I see between meditation and religion.

Buddhism does not have a monopoly on meditation. Lots of wisdom traditions practice meditation, including Hinduism (where Buddhism came from) and Taoism, as well as Islam, Judaism and Christianity. In the American world view, Eastern religions are more associated with meditation than Western religions, but when we talk about meditation, we could be talking about a lot of things.

I recently listened to a podcast with meditator and brain researcher Richard Davidson in which he said that talking about "meditation" is  like talking about "sports," because there are so many different kinds of meditations, and they all serve different purposes. For example, Christians often talk about contemplative practice, which I think means prayer. Muslims pray 5 times a day, which is a kind of meditation. Then there is the Sufi tradition in Islam, which has all kinds of meditation practices, including the zikr, practiced from Central Asia to the Middle East, but made famous by the whirling dervishes (see video to the right). 

In Buddhism, there are meditations that focus on appreciation and gratitude,  meditations that calm the mind, meditations that develop sensitivity in the body, meditations that cultivate compassion, and meditations that build courage. There is also prayer, such as the dedication of merit in which you offer your practice for the benefit of all beings. 

The term yoga covers a wide range of Hindu-based spiritual practices. The kind of yoga we associate with stretching, asana yoga, is a type of meditation in which you work to synchronize the mind and body. 

You could do any of these types of meditation without calling yourself a Buddhist, a Hindu or a Muslim. Therefore, when people get squeemish about meditation I'm always a little confused and curious about what the fear is. 

In his book, Turning the Mind into an Ally, Sakyong Mipham says that we are meditating all of the time. We might simply be meditating on how to get a promotion, or how to get revenge, or how much we want ice cream but don't have it. 

If we completely divorce religion from the discussion on meditation, we would still find lots of value in the practice of meditation. Brain imaging has shown us that there the mind can be rewired. In other words, people can change. Contrary to popular belief, people can reduce neurosis, build courage, develop compassion and reduce their attention deficit though meditation. In fact, research suggests that people can learn to be happy and that happiness is a practice, which we develop by learning to work with our minds. Most of society is running around looking for happiness in other people or in material things, even when they know this is ridiculous. 

Pleasure is nice, but happiness is something you develop from within. Meditation, according to lots of smart people, can help us develop from within. When you learn how your mind works, it is kind of like getting the user's manual for your life, after many years without one. 

So here is how you might get hoodwinked by meditation; here is how you might end up turning to a "religion" in order to find happiness... You might meditate for several years. You might reduce all of your neurosis, sleep better, laugh more, make decisions with a clear mind, etc. Meditation could make you feel super-human if you go far enough. You could even use it to become the calmest, most clear-headed bank robber in the world. But at some point, you may realize that you are never going to be happy as long as you put your self or your ego first. At that point you might realize that submission to a teacher and to one of the ancient traditions of wisdom, which have been studied and refined by countless individuals, may actually be useful in the pursuit of happiness. 

Or maybe not, and that's fine too!