When asked, "When should you meditate?" the Buddha said:
I've heard this interpreted this as meaning meditation can be divided into three forms:Furthermore, when walking, the monk discerns, 'I am walking.' When standing, he discerns, 'I am standing.' When sitting, he discerns, 'I am sitting.' When lying down, he discerns, 'I am lying down.' Or however his body is disposed, that is how he discerns it.
- Sitting meditation
- Standing meditation (walking meditation, or meditation in standing postures)
- Meditation while laying down
Meditation is about discernment ALL THE TIME. Meditation is something you do ALL THE TIME, something you carry with you. Maybe that's not right. Maybe I should say instead, "It is something that carries you". Because it is not burdensome; instead it is like angels carrying you, like a cloud beneath your feet that makes things easy.
Because what is meditation? It is deep concentration which is properly focused towards enlightenment. In this sense, mindfulness is meditation, too. The concentration which acts as support for all good new kamma and avoiding new bad kamma is also meditation.
Some people misunderstand this, thinking only sitting and conscious reflection is meditation. The result is this: They sit down. If they are only beginners, they won't even be able to get calm or see anatta & anicca. If they are somewhat experienced beginners, they will sit down, developing a calm mind, seeing anatta & anicca (such as the arising and falling of the breath devoid of self). Then, when they get up, they leave their meditation on the cushion and simply go back to being the same neurotic, stupid people in suffering that they were before. So, some of these people think, "Maybe I simply need more meditation," so they meditate for longer or go on retreats or think they need a certain method or a certain teacher, but the real problem lies with the fact that they are treating meditation as something they do when they sit, and then drop the activity when the sitting is over.
A truly good meditation should have what I would call an "after-glow", a period after the meditation (it may only last a few hours or minutes, at first) in which the mind remains tranquil, focused on anatta & anicca, despite the fact that the body is no longer engaged in sitting and the mind is no longer engaged in meditation by means of volitional consciousness. In other words, good meditation is something you carry and when you keep up the practice, it carries you. This is the kind of meditation which is beneficial not just in this life, but even in future births. As insight grows, these "after-glows" become longer and longer, until you reach a point where you are always meditating. You can't NOT meditate, because it's how your mind has been trained. Your mind is always shining with the light of wisdom, and sitting meditation is only something that helps brighten it and focus it, but the light of wisdom is always there. Actually, this isn't entirely true; even in beginners the light of wisdom is there, but the light is merely so dim they can't see it.
So, I suppose, you could say: When you sit down to meditate, you should already be meditating before you even sit down. And when you stand up, don't stop meditating. Never stop meditating! By this, I don't mean "consciously keep the practice of meditation going." That's stupid and unrealistic. What I mean is something deeper than that, something which comes from the heart rather than the brain. When you finish meditating, simply never forget what exactly what your sitting meditation is focused towards: the realization of anicca & anatta, and the end of suffering, right here and now in this very life, not just when you sit down in the right environment with the right method from the right teacher, and not just in some far off imaginary future.
Meditation shouldn't just be a hobby; it should be your daily life. Every day, you are burdened with fetters and hindrances, but instead of seeing these as fetters and hindrances, you can turn them into a powerful fuel, a powerful vehicle for realization. You can see that, until now, your existence has been many lifetimes of a losing battle against Mara, but today, right now, you can make a stand and win. Like General George Washington of the early American revolutionaries, you can be on the brink of defeat, but with wisdom you can turn things around and win the war.
Don't get me wrong. Sitting meditation is very useful. Sitting meditation is like a boxer or soldier in training. By isolating yourself from everything else, creating a separate space for the purpose of perfecting one activity, it is a good way to practice, a good foundation for correct dharma. But if a boxer trains well, then performs poorly in a fight or refuses to fight, does he win? If a soldier trains well, but then performs poorly in battle or runs away at the sight of danger, can the soldier help win the war? No. In the same manner, every day, your mind has to fight fetters, it is at war with the hindrances. Sitting meditation is a good practice, but if you don't stand up and use that concentration when the sitting period is over, you achieve nothing. Your real meditation is when you use the concentration you've built up from sitting in order to overcome the hindrances. This is the true meaning of vipassana (insight meditation).
