The mistakes the novice meditator is most likely to make are devising a method to be used and setting himself goals to attain in meditation. The Great Masters have affirmed many times that there is no method and there is no goal. The obvious objection to those assertions is that myriad pages have been filled with methods and goals, including these. If the opening statement of this article is true, what has been written about? Like all those other writings, this theory explains why method and goal do not exist during meditation. The understanding motivates correct action while we are relinquishing conscious mental activity. Or, in the best Zen tradition, understanding motivates correct inaction. By reading these pages you will have learnt why there really is nothing to do in the pursuit of Nirvana - in the quest for perfecthappiness. It's like smoking; once you understand what the chemicals in cigarette smoke can do to your body, you give up the habit; once you understand how habitual, random thought dilutes happiness, you practise relinquishing it. Giving up smoking implies not have anything further to do with cigarettes; giving up conscious mental activity implies not have anything further to do with conscious mental activity - during meditation.
When we meditate, our normal, every-day level of awareness is habitually maintained and conscious mental activity is allowed to abate - it is passively relinquished. We give our brains a rest while staying awake. We adopt the subterfuge of pretending that all our problems have been solved - all our appetites satisfied - even though they are not. We cheat a little! In time, if we are successful in our deception, the mood of happiness will strengthen. Our success in relinquishing conscious mental activity will amplify the mood of happiness. After a further passage of time our brain learns the trick and it's all plain sailing from then on. An undercurrent of happiness will permeate our every waking moment. But in all probability we will still have had no experience of Nirvana.
Retreating back through the gate of B O S is by definition not something we can control, it will occur in its own sweet time. It does not matter if we fail to make progress during every meditation session, the undercurrent of happiness we feel during every waking moment is is very stable once a certain stage in our development is attained. Primary happiness reaches a maximum well before Nirvana is readily accessible. As a matter of fact, attaining the perfect state becomes of academic interest only. Don't be snared into desperately seeking the ultimate experience; it can only manifest itself once we stop looking for it - as it must by definition! "Seeking" is conscious mental activity. During the final stages of the quest, the best word to describe what we must at all costs avoid is "desire" - particularly desire for any improvement in our mental state. Just sit and enjoy. Aldous Huxley correctly emphasised the state of mind we must encourage: alert but passive awareness.
The human predicament is that we have many over-lapping appetites. This fact makes it essential that we understand the mechanisms of happiness and learn methods of gaining access to it, otherwise we may never feel truly happy. There is also the problem of the long-term appetites. Suppose I wish to learn Spanish. It will take me a lot of effort over many months to gain a rudimentary familiarity with the language, during which time I will suffer many setbacks and disappointments. In order to persist with the task, even though I feel no immediate benefit, I must be convinced that succeeding will make me feel more at ease while I am on holiday or in my new home. Some people work all their lives for a pension and a prosperous retirement. People adopt long-term goals towards which they are quite content to work over long periods of time. (Our occupation or vocation fall into that category.) We tend to say things like, "I'll be happy once the house is decorated." If this theory explains anything it explains that you need not wait. You can be happy now. Recognise that seven hours work each day is enough and take your leisure holding firmly to the conviction that finishing work entails finishing (no matter how temporarily) with conscious mental activity - so far as you are able.
A subtler problem is indicated in the fourth line of the great Master Seccho's instructive poem:. "How ludicrous! How disheartening!", he exclaims. Here we have the intellectual's lament on realising that the pinnacle of humanity's intellectual achievements will not lie in honing conscious mental activity to some quintessential peak, but in relinquishing it altogether.The full implications of the fact finally strikes home that no matter how valuable and indispensable a tool conscious mental activity is, its role is limited to the satisfaction of appetite and it has no part to play in our being happy. However he does relent in the very next line where he joyously exclaims, "Yet, what other life can compare with mine!" He lived out the perfect life just sitting at his window "watching the flowers bloom and the leaves fall as the seasons come and go" because he had direct access to and control of perfect happiness. All his misgivings were dispelled by the experience of enhanced happiness -as yours will be.
Many experts mention the secondary phenomenon of light appearing inside our heads when the experience of Nirvana accurs. Expecting this can become a major obstacle to progress. Our goal is not to see a light but to feel happier. Light is a distraction; it heightens conscious mental activity because it is very difficult not to" look" at it. If you are one of those people who are afflicted in this manner, then you will have to learn to ignore the light in addition to all the other distractions! An added chore!
A further problem occurs when we approach the final phase of our quest. The onset of Buddhahood will be contemplated with some trepidation and this can seriously obstruct progress. Don't worry. Experiencing Nirvana will not transform us ordinary mortals into Buddhas of the stature of Gautama the Sakyamuni Buddha. He demonstrated such elevated levels of compassion and understanding as to raise him to the level of a God in the popular view. Christmas Humphries mentioned in his book on Buddhism that the original spelling of an enlightened one's name was "budha" and meant merely "one who knows". People like us become budhas: we merely acquire the knack of retreating through the first gate - relinquishing B O S. We know directly and im-mediately what perfect happiness feels like. Our number will be legion.