Motivation Before Meditation

Before we start to meditate, we first need to look at our motivation, or the way we are thinking. We shouldn’t be looking to feel good, peaceful and happy; we shouldn't be thinking about these at all. If we are, then right from the start, our very first thoughts regarding what we are about to do will be going the wrong direction.

Such a motivation is poisonous. Why? Because it is based in craving and attachment. If through our practice we do experience a little bit of peace or pleasant sensations, these will only increase our motivation to gain these things. And if we don't find what we are looking for, don't feel at peace, relaxed or happy, we will become unhappy about that, and give rise to aversion. This motivation is the source of all of our problems.

If we are thinking, ‘This will make me feel good,’ then our mind has fallen to an extreme, the extreme of attachment to pleasure, and we will experience problems. Attachment and aversion amount to trying to grasp at, or take up happiness, and reject pain or discomfort; and these cause the mind to lose its balance, and become stirred up by adopting and rejecting. So this is why, right at the outset, we need to take care of our motivation.

15 October 2016, Teaching in Calm Abiding Retreat, Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery, UK.