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How we know meditation is working..
Jeffrey
Veteran
From Rigdzin Shikpo's Never Turn Away:
"People sometimes ask how they can tell if their meditation practice is working. There are three answers to that, and they all have some truth to them. The first answer is that we'll never know if our meditation is successful except in the very long term. So why bother asking?
The second, more common answer tells us that with confidence, all meditation is successful. Whether we feel good or bad about it, we are training in Dharma, and that is good in itself. The most important thing in meditation, generally speaking, is an attitude of openness. With taht attitude, there is no need to worry about whether meditation is good or bad.
The third and more subtle answer is to say that we have a natural faculty that will eventually lead us to the truth. Sometimes we can feel an inherent rightness or wrongness about our meditation. How accurate is this feeling? While it could be mistaken, it's a basic Buddhist principle that a faculty of genuineness, a feeling for truth, exists with us. We can't prove it, but all evidence over the centuries of Buddhist practice suggests this is the case. As time goes by our practice deepens and we get more of a feel for what is right and wrong."
"People sometimes ask how they can tell if their meditation practice is working. There are three answers to that, and they all have some truth to them. The first answer is that we'll never know if our meditation is successful except in the very long term. So why bother asking?
The second, more common answer tells us that with confidence, all meditation is successful. Whether we feel good or bad about it, we are training in Dharma, and that is good in itself. The most important thing in meditation, generally speaking, is an attitude of openness. With taht attitude, there is no need to worry about whether meditation is good or bad.
The third and more subtle answer is to say that we have a natural faculty that will eventually lead us to the truth. Sometimes we can feel an inherent rightness or wrongness about our meditation. How accurate is this feeling? While it could be mistaken, it's a basic Buddhist principle that a faculty of genuineness, a feeling for truth, exists with us. We can't prove it, but all evidence over the centuries of Buddhist practice suggests this is the case. As time goes by our practice deepens and we get more of a feel for what is right and wrong."
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Comments
And thanks @Jeffrey
Expecting meditation to work for something will probably interfere negatively with the practice.