Journey of Awakening

First and foremost, let me acknowledge with deep gratitude the Godwin Home Page, which is the source of all the writings, photos, teachings of Godwin that are gathered here on this blog. I humbly thank all who have and are contributing to this amazing website and to keeping Godwin's legacy alive, especially Bhante Anandajoti and Jeanne Mynett.

Let us now hear from Godwin himself on beginning this journey of awakening through the gentle way of Buddhist meditation:

"So the question is why should we meditate? What is the importance of meditation? Why is it emphasised so much in the Buddha's teaching? So these are some of the questions that I'm going to explore in my talk.

The word meditation translates the Pali word bhavana which means cultivating the mind, developing the mind, mental culture. So the whole emphasis is on the mind. When you read the Buddhist texts you are so amazed at the Buddha's profound and deep statements about the human mind. It is amazing that he should have made these statements 2,600 years ago. In fact, modern psychologists and psychotherapists are also deeply inspired by the Buddha's statements on the human mind.

Knowing, Shaping and Freeing the Mind
The idea of meditation has been expressed by a writer in these terms: knowing the mind, shaping the mind, and freeing the mind. I would like to repeat the words: Meditation is knowing the mind, shaping the mind, and freeing the mind. So knowing the mind is understanding how the mind is working. If we do not know our mind we are really just like machines. Therefore it is extremely important to know and to understand how our minds work.

And when we know the mind, then we can shape the mind. Shaping the mind is developing mastery over the mind. If we do not develop mastery over the mind what happens is that we become a slave to our own mind. So when we become slaves to our mind then thoughts and emotions control us and that results in more and more suffering. Therefore it is very important to learn to shape the mind, and when you learn to shape the mind then you can achieve a mind that is free. So the importance of meditation is learning to achieve a mind that is free, a mind that is happy, a mind that is peaceful, a mind that has loving-kindness."

(Source: http://www.godwin-home-page.net/Gentle-Way-HK-97/Talk-Day-1.htm)