The Transformative Power of Meditation : หน้า 17/91

The key difference between a mind under the sway of thoughts and the mind that has come to standstill is that the latter consumes virtually no metabolic energy. When your mind starts to come to rest it used less energy; when it uses less energy, the metabolism is less; when the metabolism is less, the oxygen consumption is less; with less oxygen consumption, the breath is less. With less breath, like the ocean unruffled in the absence of any breeze, the mind will come to a firmer standstill; when the mind comes to a firmer standstill, the number of thoughts are reduced. This cycle will continue until no thoughts remain. When no thoughts arise any more and the breath is subtle -- at that stage Inner Light will arise. At that time the breath seems to have stopped -- because your bodily metabolism is so subtle that it is barely noticeable. At this point brightness inside will start to occur. It is this inner brightness by which you can gain insight into the affairs of the world because in the same way that the camera held still can get a clearly focused picture of the world, the mind that is still and radiant will be able to consider the world objectively instead of being caught up in the blur of shifting events in the world. Thus, clarity of understanding and the wisdom to deal with social problems are the transforming factors by which meditation can make a positive contribution to world peace. V IRTRUE, MEDITATION AND THE QUALITY OF MIND F or a healthy, living human being, body and mind must be in harmony. To maintain harmony the mind must stay inside the body; but even so, most people in the modern world are so concerned about the external affairs of the world that they let their attention and therefore their mind drift, out of control, outside their bodies for most of the time. Their minds and bodies go out of harmony and the quality of the mind suffers as a result. The function of virtue, fueled by meditation, is the inroad into the uplifting of the quality of mind and is the key to setting in progress a natural process of mind that will allow the mind to reach towards greater quality. The function of meditation is to give the practitioner sufficient inspiration to work on himself, performing sufficient virtue as part of his everyday life until he reaches the point where the quality of his mind really improves for the better.