Mountain Meditation This meditation is normally done in a sitting position,
Either on the floor or a chair,
And begins by sensing into the support you have from the chair or the cushion on the floor.
Paying attention to the actual sensations of contact.
Finding a position of stability and poise.
The upper body balanced over the hips and shoulders,
In a comfortable but alert posture.
The hands on the lap or on the knees,
With the arms hanging by their own weight like heavy curtains,
Stable and relaxed.
Actually sensing into the body.
Feeling the feet,
Legs,
Hips,
Lower and upper body,
Arms,
Shoulders,
Neck and head.
And when you are ready,
Allowing the eyes to close,
Or eyes closed over in a soft gentle gaze.
And bringing awareness to breath.
The actual physical sensations.
Feeling each breath as it comes in and goes out.
Letting the breath be just as it is,
Without trying to change or regulate it in any way.
Allowing the breath to flow easily and naturally,
With its own rhythm and pace.
Knowing you are breathing perfectly well right now,
And nothing for you to do.
Allowing the body to be still,
And sitting with a sense of dignity,
A sense of resolve.
Of being complete and whole in this very moment.
With your posture reflecting a sense of wholeness.
As you sit here,
Letting an image form in your mind's eye of the most magnificent or beautiful mountain you know or have seen or can imagine.
Letting it gradually come into focus.
And even if it doesn't come as a visual image,
Allowing the sense of the mountain.
And the feeling of its overall shape.
Its lofty peaks,
High in the sky.
The large base rooted in the bedrock of the earth's crust.
Its steep or gently sloping sides.
Noticing how massive it is.
How solid.
How unmoving.
How beautiful.
Whether from afar or up close.
Perhaps your mountain has snow blanketed in its top,
And trees reaching down to its base.
Or a rugged granite side.
There may be streams and waterfalls cascading down the slopes.
There may be one peak,
Or a series of peaks,
With meadows and high lakes.
Observing it,
Noticing its qualities.
And when you feel ready,
Seeing if you can bring the mountain into your own body,
Sitting here.
So that your body and the mountain in your mind's eye become one.
So that as you sit here,
You share in the massiveness and the stillness and majesty of the mountain.
You become the mountain.
Grounded in this sitting posture,
Your head becomes the lofty peak.
Supported by the rest of the body.
Affording panoramic views.
Your shoulders and arms the sides of the mountain.
Your buttocks and legs the solid base,
Rooted to the cushion or the chair.
Experiencing in the body a sense of uplift from deep within the pelvis and spine.
With each breath you continue to sit,
Becoming a little more a breathing mountain.
Alive and vital.
Yet unwavering in your inner stillness.
Completely what you are.
Beyond words and thought.
A centered,
Grounded,
Unmoving presence.
Becoming aware of the fact that as the sun travels across the sky,
The light and shadows and colors are changing virtually moment by moment in the mountain's stillness.
And the surface teems with life and activity.
Streams and tinstone,
Waterfalls,
Plants and wildlife.
As the mountain sits,
Seeing and feeling how night follows day and day follows night.
The bright warming sun followed by the cool night sky studded with stars.
And the gradual dawning of a new day.
Through it all the mountain sits,
Experiencing the change in each moment.
Constantly changing,
Yet always just being itself.
It remains still as the seasons flow one into another.
And as the weather changes moment by moment,
Day by day,
Calmness,
Abiding,
All change.
In summer there is no snow on the mountain,
Except perhaps in the very peaks are crags shielded from direct sunlight.
In the autumn the mountain may wear a coat of brilliant fire colors.
In winter a blanket of snow and ice.
In any season it may find itself at times enshrouded by clouds and fog,
Pelted by freezing rain.
People may come to see the mountain and comment on how beautiful it is,
Or how it's not a good day to see the mountain,
That it's too cloudy or rainy,
Foggy or dark.
None of this matters to the mountain,
Which remains at all times its essential self.
Clouds may come and clouds may go.
Tourists may like it or not.
The mountain's magnificence and beauty are not changed one bit by whether people see it or not see it.
Seen or unseen,
In sun or clouds,
Broiling or frigid,
Day or night,
It just sits being itself.
At times visited by violent storms,
Profited by snow and rain and winds of unthinkable magnitude.
Through it the mountain sits.
Spring comes,
Trees leaf out,
Flowers bloom in the high meadows and slopes.
Birds sing in the trees once again.
Streams overflow with waters.
Through it all the mountain continues to sit,
Unmoved by the weather,
By what happens on the surface,
By the world of appearances,
Remaining its essential self through the seasons,
The changing weather,
The activity ebbing and flowing on the surface.
In the same way as we sit in meditation,
We can learn to experience the mountain.
We can embody the same central,
Unwavering stillness and groundedness in the face of everything that changes in our own lives,
Over seconds,
Over hours and over years.
In our lives,
In our meditation practice,
We experience constantly the changing nature of mind and body and the outer world.
We have our own periods of light and darkness,
Of activity and inactivity,
Our moments of colour and our moments of robbness.
It is true that we experience storms of varying intensity and violence in the outer world and in our own minds and bodies,
Buffeted by high winds and by cold rain.
We endure periods of darkness and pain,
As well as the moments of joy and uplift.
Even our appearance changes constantly.
By becoming the mountain in our meditation practice,
We can link up with its strengths and stability and adopt them for our own.
We can use its energies to support our energy and encounter each moment with mindfulness,
Equanimity and clarity.
It may help us to see that our thoughts and feelings,
Our preoccupations,
Our emotional storms and crises,
Even the things that happen to us,
Are very much like the weather on the mountain.
The weather of our own lives is not to be ignored or denied.
It is to be encountered,
Honoured,
Felt,
Known for what it is and held in awareness.
And holding it in this way,
We come to know a deeper silence and stillness and wisdom.
Mountains have this to teach us,
And much more if we can let it in.
So if you find you resonate in some way with the strength and stability of the mountain in your sitting,
It may be helpful to use it from time to time in your meditation practice,
To remind you of what it means to sit mindfully with resolve and with wakefulness in true stillness.
In the time that remains,
Continue to sustain the mountain meditation on your own,
In silence,
From moment to moment,
Until you hear the sound of the bell.
