Summary

The text discusses the author's experience with meditation, describing it as a source of quiet bliss and relief rather than an exuberant happiness, and touches on the Buddhist meditation practices of Samatha and Vipassana.

Abstract

The author reflects on the nature of joy and happiness experienced during meditation, characterizing it as a subtle and tranquil form of bliss akin to relief. This relief comes from shedding spiritual burdens and gaining insight into personal truths, which in turn fosters trust in one's path. The author draws a parallel between the serene joy of meditation and the tactile satisfaction of sailing, noting that both activities provide a sense of alignment and progress. The narrative also delves into the author's past encounter with a powerful, almost overwhelming meditative bliss in 1968, contrasting it with the more subdued yet profound sense of relief found in their current practice. The text further explains the Buddhist concepts of Samatha, which focuses on tranquility and concentration, and Vipassana, which emphasizes insight and clear seeing, suggesting that these practices work in tandem to facilitate spiritual discernment and release.

Opinions

The author perceives the happiness derived from meditation as a quiet bliss, more akin to relief than to loud joy.
Meditation brings a diaphanous joy that arises from glimpsing personal truths and shedding spiritual burdens.
The author equates the trust and certainty felt in meditation to the sensation of a sailboat finding its course, indicating a deep connection with both meditation and sailing.
The author has experienced a profound, orgasmic-like bliss during a meditative episode in 1968 but values the more sustainable relief found in current practice.
The Buddhist meditation practices of Samatha and Vipassana are seen as complementary, with Samatha creating a peaceful state that allows for the insights of Vipassana.
The author believes that through Vipassana, one can confront, discern, and let go of internal obscurations, leading to wisdom and relief.
The author invites readers to contribute to their creative endeavors, suggesting a community-supported approach to their work.

Relief

Stiller than Happiness

The joy I find in still sitting feels more like relief than happiness

In my still sitting (aka meditation), the happiness I sense, taste, and softly sample now and then is not particularly boisterous. It is a quiet bliss tasting more of relief than of anything else.

It is a diaphanous joy that slowly rises and kisses you when you relieve yourself of spiritual burdens, when you glimpse a truth you recognize as truth even if at a far-off distance.

It is the welling up of trust, a warm certainty that the path you are on is in fact the right one for you, and you can take a deep breath and trim your sails and feel the boat ease over slightly to starboard as the wind finds new purchase and the boat surges forward.

There’s nothing like it. I should know. I lived on and sailed a Catalina 36 for a while and still hold sailing second only to meditation.

Meditation manuals often describe the joy of concentration as bliss, as happiness, joy, pleasure, delight — pick your own synonym — sometimes so strong that you’ll hum or shiver with delight. I have found that, for me, the feeling (though it is a happy one, of course) is not quite so drastic. It is sweet relief.

The bliss I experienced during my fortuitous 1968 stumble toward what I thought of as Nirvana then, was like an orgasmic rush of light, surging from feet through legs and body and invading my head like a welcome conqueror. I have not experienced anything like it since, but I have read many accounts of those who have and they all ascribe it to meditation and concentration.

Yes, I have in many ways strived to re-experience that almost (by comparison) violent bliss of 1968, but I am equally pleased to have found a shade of relief that brings as much certainty — possibly more — as that youthful eruption.

The Buddhists talk of two strands of meditation — though the jury is still out on whether the Buddha himself talked about two strands or not:

Samatha and Vipassana.

Samatha is about tranquility and concentration. Vipassana is about insight; the word itself literally means “see in”.

Samatha, with its spacious, peaceful, focused stillness paves the way for Vipassana to illuminate all that needs to be seen, discerned, and let go.

Samatha removes all distractions to let the spirit look, really look, at what now percolates into view from who knows precisely where. And shining the light of clear seeing, the spirit can now see, confront, discern, and once fully discerned, let go, and to now replace the seen with wisdom.

When this, on delightful occasions, happens, is there any wonder that the feeling is glorious relief?

Relief from darkness.

Relief from ignorance.

Relief from, yes, prison.

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