Siddhartha Gautama and the origins of Buddhism

¶ … Divinity:

"Please tell me the philosophy behind meditation."

Learning to be with yourself is the purpose of meditation.

There is an experience in my life that illustrates this purpose. I was once asked by a monarch to demonstrate that the Buddha's life is more content than that of a king. The king questioned how this could be. After all, said the king, "I live the life that every man desires. A king has wealth, power, and beautiful wives at his feet -- but you beg for food and own nothing but the clothes on your back." then asked the king if he could sit quietly, peacefully, and motionless for one hour. The king replied, "Yes." Then I inquired if the king thought he could sit happily for a whole day. The king answered honestly, "No. I could not sit for an entire day without feeling restless and discontented." I then kindly and compassionately told the king that if I so chose to, I could sit for seven days and seven nights perfectly calm and blissful, satisfied to do nothing.

What I was trying to convey was that I do not have to do anything in order to feel fulfilled. I am whole within myself, and when I take action I act out of kindness, not out of a desire to prove, assert, or alleviate some feeling of incompleteness from within.

Our actions can never be separated from the state of mind from which they are born. This is the whole philosophy of Buddhism. If our actions spring from a discontented inner life these actions will only strengthen the negative emotions that we are trying to eschew.

Through meditation, we can become increasingly self-aware, and attain a strong sense of emotional well-being. From this basis we can then interact in the world creatively in ways that will benefit both ourselves and others. Meditation allows us to be aware of our mental states and encourage the emotions in positive directions. But first we must understand that we are often unaware of what we are thinking and feeling. So meditation is a tool that allows us to get to know ourselves more deeply.

From this self-awareness or self-knowledge we can start to persuade the awareness towards kindness. This will give a sense of meaning to our lives -- spiritual wealth and fulfillment from which compassionate action can springs forth. Gradually we encourage a positive cycle, where psychological states of clarity and compassion lead to positive actions in the world, which comes back around to kindle more positive mental states. The term "vicious circle" is all too familiar to many of us. Here is the same principle in its polar form -- a compassionate circle.