Meditation Cultivates the Mind

Meditation Cultivates the Mind

 

Whatever religion or teaching people may practice, meditation is a means of cultivating their minds.

 

During His work of renewal, Sangjenim once spoke of a spinster who wanted to attain enlightenment. She visited a neighborhood couple who were meditators, but the couple were quarreling, so when she asked for a mantra, the annoyed husband only replied, “I don’t like anything.” Mistaking this for a mantra, the spinster from that day onward kept chanting with one mind, “I don’t like anything, I don’t like anything….” Imagine how annoyed her family must have been! Eventually, one day as the spinster carried a large jar of water on her head, chanting, “I don’t like anything, I don’t like anything,” her father grew exasperated and struck the jar from her head with a flail. The falling jar struck a rock, yet it did not break and no water was lost.

 

Sangjenim told this story to stress the importance of having one mind. The divine inspiration that so many people speak of (and all things related to it) does not stem solely from truth, for before truth there is one mind. Zen, meditation, contemplation—all practices, whatever their name, emphasize one mind. Only through one mind can one enter the realm of truth.

 

Those who meditate should have a right mind. You would be better not to start at all if you will pursue meditation with bad motives. If meditators do not practice meditation correctly, they can easily become seduced by spirits. Is this not worse than not meditating at all?