What is meditation and is it useful to everyone?

Meditation turns learned information into experience. At the first level, its goal is to calm the mind and keep it in the same place. It creates a space between the perceiver and the perceived, allowing you to choose roles in the comedies of life and avoid its tragedies.
This defensive distance is most often achieved through awareness of one’s own breathing or concentration on the Buddha’s form — a meditation called “Shamatha” in Sanskrit and “Shine” in Tibetan. Continue reading →