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 -- By Rocco Lo Bosco, Author of Buddha Wept When people come to a yoga center seeking meditation instruction, they are usually looking for a way to reduce stress. Meditation in the West has often been associated with health benefits and mental well being, but in fact such needs do not constitute its origin. In examining the root of meditative activity we must address the problem of being human, a problem eloquently embodied in the Buddha’s first noble truth: all is suffering. A human being bears both the treasure and the burden of being conscious of one’s existence. Self-consciousness is a treasure because it brings with it all the possibilities of human experience: self-expansion through love, work, art, social adventure, philosophy, and various other cultural activities. But it is also a burden because the human being is deeply aware of change, decay and death. One is ever haunted by the knowledge that all things must pass, that any thing or condition can change at any time, that one’s life is in fact permeated by impermanence. However much one may attempt to turn away from this awareness, it remains an ever-present interior dynamism that drives one to live. It is quite natural for us to turn away from death and its symbol, impermanence, and immerse ourselves in the living situation at hand. Yet, wherever we turn we are still facing impermanence. This is the radical condition of our existence, the primary existential structure underlying every situation in our lives. We walk with change, decay, death. We walk with impermanence. Perhaps we would like to forget this; certainly to dwell on it cannot be healthy, but to deny it insures that fear will reside at the core of our life. At first blush, it seems to be a problem without a solution, quite intractable to any interrogation of mind. Death and impermanence stand above and beyond our probes. They cut no deals nor make a single promise. We may answer the problem with any number of beliefs regarding an afterlife, but in fact these are beliefs and beliefs are inherently problematic. We may believe x now, but may not believe x in the future. A belief can change, and so its carries with it neither the guarantee of truth nor the promise of endurance. On the other hand impermanence needs no belief to support it; it is a truth proving itself every moment of every day, and in fact it is all that endures. The profound realization of impermanence delivers a very strong shock to the human being, a shattering truth that resonates in one’s very body: I am a human self carving immortality, and yet I am an animal body, destined to die. Each day I must define myself, save my situation, make my life count, and yet the fate of all things is to pass. Impermanence underlines every moment of my life. This realization—the shock of the first noble truth— is the authentic origin of meditation. When one first sees this clearly and feels its deeply, it as if the ground has slipped beneath one’s feet. One feels lost, alone, as if one has been stranded in a dense wood and has just realized one is moving in circles. Feeling lost, one stops, takes a deep breath, gathers one’s wits and decides what to do. Recognizing one is lost, one first stops ; that is key. |
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 "Self-consciousness is a treasure because it brings with it all the possibilities of human experience: self-expansion through love, work, art, social adventure, philosophy, and various other cultural activities." About the Author Rocco Lo Bosco is a massage therapist, and, along with his wife Regina, the co-director of The Yoga Darshana Center in Babylon, Long Island, NY. The Lo Boscos studied Yoga for over twenty years with the recently deceased Gurani Anjali, a master from Calcutta. Lo Bosco is the author of Buddha Wept, a novel which examines the life of a Cambodian Mystic who with her family endures Pol Pol's holocaust from 1976-1980; the book ultimately celebrates the transcendent power of the human spirit. Bosco is about to release another novel "99" and he is currently collaborating with a fellow philosopher deeply versed in mathematics and physics on a book, tentatively titled "Undecideable World." Rocco Lo Bosco's stories and poems have appeared in numerous literary journals, among them Maelstrom Review, Another Chicago Press, Alaska Quaterly Review, Blue Unicorn and more. ACROSS A DISTANCE OF KNIVES, his book of poetry, was published by Slough Press in 1982. He served as editor for the Moksha Journal from 1987 to 2000. Rocco Lo Bosco may be contacted at yogadarshanacntr@aol.com. 
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Born from the recognition that all is suffering, meditation is this stopping, this passionate inward turn that thirsts for stillness, clarity, space and insight. The ancient angst of being human cannot be solved by thought alone, nor by technology, nor by any kind of cultural amusements. One must stop. One must take stock. One must look within, deeply, passionately, resolutely to see what, if anything, resides in the silence of a mind that has temporarily ceased talking to itself. If something is found, one can then make a gesture of appreciation. One may even discover the miracle of compassion. We cannot merely think our way to enlightenment and peace. If we want peace, we must practice the way of peace. If we want happiness, we must practice the way of happiness. If we want love, we must practice love. If we want freedom in situation, we must act freely in situation. In the silent depths of meditation, realization may dawn. But before we can meditate with the passion required for real penetration, we need to face the impermanence we try so hard to deny and avoid. Happiness can never be attained by perpetuating a lie. First we must face the truth staring us in the face. From that ongoing encounter with impermanence may come an authentic and fruitful quest to resolve the deep and beautiful problem of being human. |
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