I Came into the Unknown

Just as a writer learns the spontaneous freedom of expression only after years of often grueling study, and just as the simple grace of a dancer is achieved only with enormous, patient effort, so when you begin to understand where meditation will lead you, you will approach it as the greatest endeavor of your life, one that demands of you the deepest perseverance, enthusiasm, intelligence, and discipline.

Glimpse After Glimpse

Sogyal Rinpoche

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No matter how enthusiastic I might have been before starting, I felt as though I was wasting my time after sitting for only a few minutes on my first attempts at meditation. After all, I had things to do that were far more important than sitting on a cushion or kneeling at bedside. No sooner had I assumed the posture; I became anxious to be done with it. But, because I had committed myself to it, I stuck with it. I stuck with it even when I ran out of reasons for doing it. The prayers that preceded meditation had the affect of focusing my mind on the purpose. The simple sound of them brought a sense of peace and by the time I had recited a few of them, I was ready to just sit and breathe. Sitting and breathing seemed an easy enough a thing to do, so I sat: inhaling and exhaling… accomplishing nothing it seemed. Here I am today, fourteen years later… I sit and breathe… there it is… the whole of it:

Entréme donde no supe
y quedéme no sabiendo,
toda ciencia trascendiendo.

I came into the unknown
and stayed there unknowing,
rising above all science.

San Juan De la Cruz

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