Biggest Obstacle to Meditation and Spiritual Growth

The Biggest Challenge to Meditation and Enlightenment

Introduction:

In order to overcome the biggest obstacle to meditation you must understand the real meaning of laziness.  It is perhaps not what you might think?  It is not the will to be active and the ability to do a lot of things, it is something more important and yes also more arduous.  It is the passion to watch each and every thought and feeling which is taking place, and at the highest level to comprehend these thoughts and emotions as they occur.

In the video below is a wonderful Zen story to illustrate this point and help you deeply understand this important concept so you will be able to avoid this obstacle and be able to make progress in your spiritual journey.

Biggest Challenge to Meditation

DIRECT YOUTUBE LINK–> BIGGEST OBSTACLE TO MEDITATION

Namaste my friends. Today we’re going to discuss a very interesting question. What is the true meaning of laziness? This is a very, very important question and after our discussion I think you will have some tremendous insight into it and I would also impress upon you that laziness is perhaps your biggest obstacle in your spiritual growth and your journey towards enlightenment. So let’s find out why.

I want to begin by telling you a Zen story. This story is about no wind monastery and the chief Abbot of no wind monastery, Master Blumise  Master Blumise had to one day appoint a very senior monk to an important position in that monastery. And so he said that this Head Monk position is now available and there’s going to be a competition held to see who fills this particular position.

This competition will be between the following two monks, who in my view is the most qualified, monk Chin and monk Tara. So they will compete for a week and which ever of those two months is least lazy, will be appointed head monk.  So the competition was underway and Chin felt that this was a competition that he would be able to win quite easily.  There was a lot of hard physical work to be done in the monastery and he planned out for the week to come all the great work that he was going to do.

This included fixing the roof of the meditation hall and while he was up there and fixing the roof roof, he made sure he was very visible to everybody and it was a hot week ahead so in the hot sun he was toiling away, banging away, fixing the roof while he was fixing the roof he noticed that Tara was walking along the river. He said, ah, I am doing very well here.

After Chin fixed the roof, the next day he was inside the meditation hall where the tables needed to be repaired and he was off working on those tables and he noticed Tara sitting in a corner drinking tea with her friends laughing away. He says, two more points for me.

Next morning, he got up at the crack of dawn and was off to work, he went about painting the meditation hall. He noticed that Tara was still sleeping in her bed. He said, this competition, this is a walk over.

So the week went by in this fashion, chin hammering, painting, fixing away with Tara, watching the clouds, strolling by the river, lying in bed and drinking tea. And then the week came to an end and master Blumise called all the monks together to announce the winner of who was least lazy during that week.

And he said, the head monk position goes to monk Tara. And that was that as master Blumise had spoken.  Chin was dismayed. So when he got the opportunity later that day, he approached master Blumise and he said, master, what gives? I fixed the roof. I fixed the hall. I did the tables, I painted everything and thought Tara did nothing.

Master Blumise replied kindly, yes, we’re going to name the meditation hall after you. You did great work there. It’s going to be called Chin Meditation Hall, but monk Tara for the entire week did not miss one single thought.  She paid attention to every single feeling and emotion that arose in her and was aware and mindful of all her movements.

Master Blumise said she was equal to the great Buddha in her level of awareness and in her level of mindfulness of all the moments throughout the week, I bow to her greatness.

So there you have the true definition of laziness. Can you remain mindful of every thought, every feeling, every movement that is taking place throughout your waking days?  That is the true challenge that is presented to you with regard to living a meditative life. If you can be mindful in this way, you will undoubtedly realize the false nature of dualistic thinking and you will penetrate this veil of dualistic reality and experience and realize the oneness of true reality that lies beyond.

I do hope you will attempt this and I do hope I would have the opportunity to bow to your greatness as well. Thank you everybody. God bless you all.

Conclusion:

This is not easy to do, I know.  But it is what must be done if you wish to not simply waste your life and not be true to the highest calling of man, which is meditation.  For meditation and Enlightenment, mindfulness is a must and the scrooge of laziness must be defeated.