Last week we trained our imagination in the Body of Light meditation. Some people feel they have no imagination, others think imagination is only for kids, and most people think that imagination is only a visual thing.
In fact, everybody has imagination.
We all use our imagination all the time and it plays very important role in our life.
Imagination is not only a visual thing, you can smell with your
imagination[try – fried onions…] hear, taste and touch with your
imagination.
Imagination is very important for the processes of learning,
understanding, creating, and it plays crucial part in how we experience
feeling. Even our eventual liberation from suffering – Enlightenemtnet-
is achieved through the power of our imagination.
All the above may not be obvious but if you start examining your mind
you’ll become aware of the role imagination plays in your life.
So training your imagination is important!
Our understanding of what we can do with our imagination can help our
meditation improve greately and through this a whole new world of ideas
and experiences may open to us. With this we can learn to create and
develop good qualities in our own mind. That will make us peaceful and
happy.
We can understand this in few ways:
1. Everybody knows what it’s like to open a letter from the bank,
internal revenue, your GP, and feel your body turn to lead. This feeling
comes from your mind, from your imagination.
2. Think of how our dream experiences [which are really only mental
experiences] affect our physical body. Our imagination can affect our
physical body in the same way.
If your mind [imagination] can do unpleasant things to you, why can’t
it do the opposite? Why not use your imagination to make yourself light
and spacious? Which is what the meditation on the Body of Light is all
about.
This is why we do the Body of Light meditation and why it is so
important. It opens the door for new experiences through the power of
our mind’s ability to imagine.
Therefore, Get the CD from Tharpa Publication, read the instruction
given in the booklet – then practice, practice, practice. You’ll really
feel the benefit.
The Body of Light meditation prepares us to meditate on the
conventional nature of the mind, which is what we are learning in our
classes this coming week. It is a very important meditation but many
ignore it because they feel confused when they hear the pointing out
instructions for this meditation.
This coming week we hear the pointing out instructions on what the mind
is – clarity and cognizing with the power to create and experience.
In the beginning using our imagination we need to create a concept of
what such a thing will be like. Our imagination creates a rough , faint,
generic image or initial understanding. This rough generic image or
undertanding becomes what we learn to concenrate on and in time we will
come to experience our mind beyond our imagination. At which time we
have realized our mind directly.
And as Buddha said – ‘If you realize your own mind you will become a Buddha. You do not need to seek Buddhahood elsewhere’
We’ll talk more about these things next week but for now let’s conclude that:
1. You are going to train your imagination in the Body of Light meditation.
2. You will spend time creating a rough understanding or generic image
of what the mind is: something that has no physical properties but is
able to experience, know, perceive and remember.
Keep it real – imagine it!
