Awakening Feels Good

I always thought of awaakening as a profound psychological and perceptual transformation. And it is.

But, as I awaken, I find that it feels good physically as well. The Buddha talked about how the ordinary physical pleasures humans typically enjoy, like sex, good food, intoxicants, held no allure for him because, after his awakening, he consistently felt much greater pleasure simply from being.

Before awakening, it is still necessary to avoid the distractions of ordinary physical pleasure. Those are what the Buddha abandoned and what can take us away from our consistent meditation practice, especially if meditation causes physical discomfort, which you should avoid. If you need to sit in a chair to meditate comfortably, do so. Sitting on a cushion on the floor is common, but by no means necessary, for meditation.

Tranquility is one of the seven factors of awakening. Tranquility is next to concentration on the list. It is the physical analog to the psychological and emotional relaxation that is awakening. Alan Watts makes the point that we typically hold ourselves in a very subtle state of physical tension, which we let go of with our meditation practice. Ajahn Sumedho often repeats what Buddhist teachers often say, that awakening is actually our default state, but we forget it because of the education and training that we get from birth.

A core Buddhist paradox is that we travel the Noble Eightfold Path only to find that we were always right where we were supposed to be. Again, the key move in Buddhistm is realization, not adding new knowledge, but having a new perspective on what we already knew. The realization that is awkening has physical as well as psychological and emotional effects.

So, keep up your consistent meditation practice and enjoy the results.

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