Not Escaping from Life

"Many people misunderstand meditation as an escape from life or as mysticism. In reality, however, meditation is mental development and not an escape from life at all. In fact, one cannot escape from one's own life even if one tried to do so."- Chao Khun Sobhana Dhammasudi., from Secrets of the Lotus (Swearer, 1971)


As I am reading the quote from the above text, I am reflecting on how most of the time, many people are looking for some truth that will unlock the mysteries of their life, and this 'truth' often takes the form of a sense of relief or release. Maybe it's not necessarily an escape into the mountains, but it could be the longing for a sense of home or 'security'-- a place where people can truly relax and be themselves, rather than trying to please other people or play a certain part in an uncertain drama. While I resonate with what Chao Khun is remarking, I also respect that people come to meditation to know their deepest wishes and heart. Is it an escape to do so? I think that depends on where a person goes with the longing for home.
   It also reminds me of what Master Sheng Yen has said, namely, that wherever he happens to be is his home-- and this is the way monastics view the world. There isn't any place to escape in the busy hustle of life, but the letting go of attachments can lead to a sense that everywhere is the mind's abode. To finally turn toward life wholeheartedly and not try to escape from it is, as Chao Khun suggests, the kind of direction of meditation. When I am finally able to give up escaping, my home widens and expands to include a variety of different situations, rather than trying to fasten onto a distant hope and then make my mind conform to that hope.
   This passage also alludes to the way past karma cannot be reversed: it has already come to pass. Trying to make myself into a better 'something' is also delusory, because the past has already slipped away: it's like trying to build a tower out of smoke. If I spend time trying to envy or admire others, none of that will change the way things are now, and all that can be done is to create favorable conditions for the future time, as well as adjust one's attitudes in the present.
   It's wonderful to realize, however, that the present conditions are already ripe for meditation. No matter how deep one's dilemmas are, that too is something that can be a practice--in other words, meditation never waits for things to be a certain way, since everything that is, is the material for practice. Perhaps it reminds me of the alchemists of the distant past, who could change any material into gold. The gold is the mind-nature of all things, and is the true nature of mind.


 Swearer, Donald K, ed.. (1971). Secrets of the Lotus. New York: Macmillan