Is Meditation A Tool For Improving Our Life?

[With English interpretation] Ven. Pomnyun Sunim's (법륜스님) Answer to “Is meditation a tool for improving our life?”
A question chosen from the weekly Sunday meditation with Ven. Pomnyun Sunim (법륜스님).

Peace of mind is only one step away.

Transcript

Is meditation a tool to improve our life, Or is it an end in itself? If meditation is a tool to improve our life, How can I put it to best use? Is meditation a tool to improve our life, Or is it an end in itself? If meditation is a tool to improve our life, How can I put it to best use? Meditation is one of the methods that I can use to become more free and happier. Meditation is one of the methods that I can use to become more free and happier. Then how can we make our lives happier and freer? Then we have to first look at how we are living our lives. Then we have to first look at how we are living our lives. When there is a desire arising, Then we would like to do what the desire tells us to do. When we have our temper or characteristic, Then we tend to follow those characteristics or temper. Also, When we have a judgment or thoughts, Then we tend to think that the other person is wrong and I am right. Then we tend to think that the other person is wrong and I am right. Meaning the cause of our suffering, Our stress, And our anxieties. So in order to get rid of those causes of our suffering, Stress, And anxieties, Then we have to pause them. We usually tend to live as our habits tell us to do. We may think that we live out of our own intention and decisions, But we are actually carried away by our habits. So we would like to pause sometimes. While meditating, We try to pause our thoughts and we try to pause our emotions. And we try to pause our desires, We pause our temper working, And we also pause our judgments. So we pause to become as if we become a rock standing or a tree standing. We don't have any intent while doing meditation in our actions or thoughts and we pause our judgment whatsoever. Then what happens? Why can't we pause? So we pause everything but the only thing we do is breathing. So when we breathe, We relax our bodies and minds and we only focus on our nostrils, Around the nostrils, And we just be aware of the breathing coming in and out of our nostrils. Like this, When we pause everything, There is no problem. No problem at all. And we can live with pausing everything like this. We can pause everything but when we need, We can move around and we can have thoughts. Then thinking and moving around doesn't exhaust us. Because we don't go overboard. We don't exert too much effort. While in the state of relaxation and idleness, And as if a rabbit or a squirrel plays around, We can just move around and have thoughts in our daily lives as needed. Many of us try to do well in meditation and how can we change our lives by meditating? And all of this, It means that you take it too seriously. You take it as a work. Then meditation becomes exhausting again. So in meditating, Try to pause everything and just be yourself in a very free state. You have to rest your body but also you have to rest your thoughts and brain as well. But it is not easy. Then you just be aware of yourself that, Oh, I'm not relaxing my thoughts and I'm not pausing my thoughts just as you are. You not pausing your thoughts or emotions doesn't come from the outside but it's just your habits because you're so used to moving around and having thoughts. So meditation is about recognizing yourself not being able to pause easily, Not being able to stop easily and try to pause and stop as much as possible without exerting too much effort.