Putri
Fitria recently visited a Buddhist temple on Bali, where she discovered the
benefits of this ancient practice
In facing
the hectic and busy world today, there are many ways to maintain and ensure the
safety of our sanity; plan a regular vacation, hang out with friends at a cafe
or bar every weekend, go to the gym, spend the weekend under a comfortable
blanket, or doing this modest activity: meditation.
When I
traveled to Bali a couple of weeks ago, I went to a Buddhist temple, Vihara
Buddha Sakyamuni in Denpasar. There, I met Andi Candra, 55, a pandita, or
scholar, who has mastered the five sciences: language, logic, medicine, arts
and spirituality, and explained to me the benefits of meditation.
“Through
meditation, one will be able to reach serenity and the body will be healthy. It
also trains our mind to concentrate.
Meditation is not a form of medication, but it can help the medication process
from the inside and cultivate our mind,” he explained.
Most people
who come to this vihara are Buddhist. However, one does not need to be a
practicing Buddhist to understand and practice meditation. Anyone from any
religious background is allowed to meditate. When meditating in a vihara,
though, we will need to follow Buddhist etiquette by minding our behavior and
the way we dress.
Vihara
Buddha Sakyamuni practices three techniques of meditating: metta, samatha and
vippasana. Metta meditation focuses on compassion and can be practiced
anywhere, at anytime — even while we’re busy with something — by repeating the
chant “sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta” or “may all beings be happy.”
The samatha
meditation trains our mind to focus on one object, which may be anything. When
we close our eyes and enter the depth of meditation, our minds must stay with
that object and nothing else.
The
vippasana method of meditating is the opposite of samatha. With this method we
train our mind to heighten awareness of our environment by recognizing every
object that appears, moves and disappears. In vippasana, we are allowed to move
our body and stand, walk slowly (cangkama), lie down and observe our movement
and surrounding.
I was
introduced to the vihara by my friend Tria Nin, 29, who shared a story about
her meditation.
“I meditate
every day, at home and at the vihara. When I meditate, I am aware of things
that pass my mind. I am not looking for calmness, but I am aware of the
vociferation inside of me and I do not reject it. I accept it as the way it
is.”
Other
benefits of meditation is the burst of creativity. Abmi Handayani,27, a fiction
writer, shared her experience and thoughts.
“After I
learned and practiced meditation, I felt it became easier to come up with new
ideas. It calmed me down by lessening my anxiety, it helped me cultivate my
imagination and structure my writing.”
Although we
instantly and unwittingly relate the word “meditation” to Buddhism, it is in
fact a universal practice that has been developed for centuries by various
prophets and spiritual figures.
The word
derives from the Latin, meditatio, or from the verb, meditari, which means to
think, contemplate, devise and ponder.
In the Sufi
tradition, meditation or muraqaba was developed in the 12th century, and
allowed followers to practice their breath control through the repetition of
holy words or verses. This form of meditation may lead to the experience of
receiving divine inspiration and lead to both emotional and intellectual
awakening and liberation.
In
Christianity, meditation is a process of deliberately focusing on specific
thoughts and reflecting on their meaning in the context of the love of God. In
the Baha’i faith, meditation along with prayer, is one of the primary tools for
spiritual development, while in Hinduism, meditation is practiced to realize
the union of one’s self or one’s atman, with the omnipresent and non-dual
Brahman.
With the
technology we have today, we are provided with an abundance of information on
meditation while scientific research has given us a more thorough and logical
understanding. By using machines such as MRI scans, scientists are able to see
the physical transformation our brains go through when we meditate.
During
meditation, our brains stop processing information as actively as they normally
would; we start to show a decrease in beta waves, which indicates that our
brains are processing information.
For all of
its benefits and modesty, also in the context of preserving tradition and
respecting history, I believe meditation is worth including in our daily
“to-do-list,” even for a few minutes.
Besides
maintaining a healthy body and mind, it can bring us back to the core of our
humanity: compassion and wisdom, in this complicated, modern world.
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