“The true nature of the mind is contemplation,
natural meditation, silence.”
– Mooji
As a contemplative and meditation mentor, I encourage students to spend time daily in formal meditation, from the outset.
My own practice, over the past couple of years, my whole waking and sleeping life has become a meditation. These days, there is no meditator, only meditation happening. Wherever you are in the spectrum of meditation, this can happen for you to, it is the ultimate goal of meditating, the dissolution of the meditator.
Yet still I enjoy to meditate. So I sit. I sit in contemplation, and most of all, I love silent sitting.
The simple practice of silent sitting, no different than shikantaza, just sitting. In shikantaza, we drop all goals, all sense of attainment, whether it be improved skill as a meditator, or enlightenment. These goals, all goals, must be dropped for shikantaza to happen. It’s enough to just sit.
Lately, living at the edge of the forest, I love nothing more than to take a mindful walk into the trees, and to find a spot to sit and be, in total silence. Not counting the breath, not following the breath, not focused on anything.
Just sitting, in silence.