Surprising meditation experience
Bunks
Australia Veteran
Yesterday was a lovely sunny day here in Melbourne so I decided to wander down to a little quiet park near my work to sit on my meditation cushion for a bit.
I was a little surprised that there was no-one else around as normally there are one or two others eating lunch and enjoying the sun.
Anyways, I was about 3 mins into a peaceful meditation when I hear from about twenty metres away the rant of an obviously mentally disturbed individual. Unfortunately this has become something not so uncommon in the CBD over the last decade or so.
I open one eye and glance around. The ranting continues and I try to ignore it but realise I can't.
Just as I stand up a wild eyed crazy lady bursts out of the bushes behind me and starts shouting profanities at me and threatens to call the police as this was her private property and I wasn't welcome. (She also accused me of being a sex offender (apparently my mum told her this) and that I raped her daughter!)
I started trying to defend myself verbally but realised it was useless. I kept a wary eye on her while I put my shoes on and took my cushion and split! I must admit I was a little shaken!
Not quite the meditation experience I expected when I left the office but it made me realise you need to be prepared for anything when you put your bum on the cushion! 
Comments
'Always expect the unexpected'
Other acceptable cliches from Grasshoppers Master available on request ...
You were wise to just leave and avoid what could have become a trying confrontation. You were seeking peace she was in the hell realms. Sometimes it is as though the harassing Mara's stop by for a visit.
First time? Hahahaha....
The last Temple I attended was across the street from the roughest apartments here. I got used to hearing gunshots...and during walking meditation when you could hear a pin drop...we could have someone walk right in...sit down...walk around...talk...anyway..
Always best to keep it movin' ...
We were expected to keep it movin'. Nothing major ever happened and I gave away dozens of prayer beads after the sit when I would introduce myself.... .glad to hear you avioded a confrontation. It wasn't that serious....so...see?? That few minutes of sitting got you in the right frame of mind..
@Bunks rookie mistake, always meditate with both eyes open.
It's also magpie swooping season
Wow, man! Odd surprises can really knock you off-center.
(Unless you're a kuhl Buddhist like one of us.)
@Bunks if you think about it we interact with crazy people everyday...we talk with them, sit with them, walk with them, eat with them ....Some just a little more crazy than others
You did the right thing by removing yourself from the scene, so as not to create more suffering for the poor woman
@Bunks
Hmmm..just a thought.
The very act of formally meditating in a public space is a statement to those around you.
While we are likely to think that such a statement is as neutral or positive for others as it feels for us, you perhaps have just had a taste of the folly of such a view.
Public formal meditation can be received by others, not sharing our views, as the act of unwelcome evangelism that it actually is for them.
Many homeless understandably consider what ever public space they frequent as their's, and understandably see the public at large as the real transients in the process of coming and going. Combine these two thoughts and you can get a mental shit storm.
Consider what might go through your own head, to find folks you don't know, formally meditating on your front lawn, if you had no connection to such a practice or viewed it as a threat.
We may comes to many obstacles while meditating sometimes laziness,own destracting thoughts and sometimes people.
Let it go. And just think that incident is one of the mara which is prohabiting you to be enlighten.
It might be a lesson to practice meditation where no one comes. Most of the time people not alllow you to practice peacefulness.
Did you actually produce your cushion and sit on it, @Bunks?
Out in the open? In a public park?
Well, you might have struck the lady as much odd as she seemed to you.
I boast of dwelling mindful even in shopping malls, but I do it discreetly.
I just sit down and close my eyes and breathe.
I even breathe mindfully through small talk in gatherings.
No cushion, though...
Parks are made to be enjoyed, its for everyone, it is a place for relaxation, such as sitting or lying down if you wish, or walking around, or jogging, it is a place you can go to just take load off. I'm planing on going to a park next week to sit down cross legged on the grass next to a tree and close my eyes.