Non-Doing Meditation

Meditation is Non-Doing

Zen Master Rama, Dr. Frederick Lenz says,  “Meditation is timeless awareness. You don’t have to do anything to make it happen. You don’t have to rub two sticks together vigorously to create fire. The fire is already burning inside. To become aware of that which is, you simply have to stop. Stop all the doings that you do, all the actions you perform, all the rituals, the nine to five rituals. Living in front of the make-up mirror—applying a little rouge to one cheek, a little lipstick, working on our eyebrows, combing out our hair, all the doings, the creations. Preparing ourselves to go on stage, to act, to perform.

“There is a place for action and there is a place for inaction and there is a place for timelessness—which is everyplace and no place. It’s not necessary to become anything to become enlightened. You don’t have to build up to some marvelous pinnacle. You don’t have to fulfill someone’s expectations of what you should do or be. It really doesn’t matter what type of work you do. It doesn’t really matter where you live or even why—to meditate that is—because everything is meditation.

“Meditation is the cessation of thought. No thought, no mind. No mind, no body. No body, no time. No time, no life or death. It’s simply letting go. For people who try to hold on to life, who try and push away from death, it’s very difficult.

“The formula approach was quite popular for a while, fostered by certain groups. They decided that the way to introduce meditation to people in the West was to tell them what to do, to give them a schematic drawing. If you do this and this and this, you’ll be meditating. Chant the mantra, say the right words, sit for a specific period of time—this doesn’t have anything to do with meditation. It’s a doing. It may get you used to sitting down; it may focus your attention in a new way. It may prepare you for meditation, but it’s certainly not meditation.

“Meditation just is. You don’t have to do anything. You don’t even have to undo anything. Meditation exists with you constantly. The universe is meditation. That awareness is everywhere, just as the air is everywhere.”