Easy "Balloon Meditation" explained

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

Balloons over Bagan, Burma: How to learn about Buddhism (learnreligions.com)

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Trying to explain "meditation" after a long Buddhist meditation retreat of hundreds of hours of sitting is tough.

But it's about the only time one might be able to explain what happens or what's "supposed" to happen. That's because things are fresh and pre-verbal.

Once the talking (verbalizing) starts up again in the mind, concepts, assumptions, connotations, and confusion come in.

What hasn't been said before and much more cleverly?

Buddha Balloon art (Banksy)

But my mother asked me to, and an example sprang to mind, one never heard before: It could be called "Balloon Meditation."

If one were to get on a balloon laden with the weight of the world and lots of luggage (psychological baggage), one might wonder why the floating, the rapture, the blissful uplift, didn't start right away.

One is ready and gung-ho for a journey, an adventure, a wild ride into the unknown celestial spheres above mundane human experience.

One might think to make more heat, blow more hot air, or jump up and down to shake the basket.

One might well become restless on top of being over-eager (full of craving for the experience), experiencing aversion about not getting off the ground already, confused about what's not happening for all the desire one is generating for something to happen.

How high can a "balloon" go? All the way to the moon because it's really in the atmosphere.

How not to meditate

Sukhothai, Thailand (Alamy)

I sat down, strapped in (braced myself), and wished to go. But nothing happened! A wise meditation instructor might then point out a very simple thing: This isn't a plane, a crane, or other mechanical transport moved by force or combustion power.

Struggling and striving, wanting, craving, needing to go -- and getting angry, reacting, or getting confused -- will keep one on the ground and soon out of the basket. (One can overdo blowing hot air, overheating and burning up the balloon: Just enough heat is enough, let go of everything, and wait without expectations).

How to meditate

The way to go, wherever it is one might go, is very easy: Let go. Not only let go of whatever binds one to the ground. That's easy. Now do the hard part: Throw the luggage (baggage) out. Get rid of all excess weight. And as one does, whaddyaknow, it works.

• Think of "meditation" not as what one does but as what happens to us when we are not doing anything but sitting mindfully and still, dispassionate and content, full of wholesome states of mind. It's natural. It doesn't need "doing."
• It needs allowing, patience/forgiveness (khanti), and contentment (Pali santutthitā, Sanskrit santosha) coupled with the balanced effort to persist without pushing.

I did it, and now I know how others did it.

It can't be faked. One can't "let go" by appearance and hold on in secret. That doesn't work. One actually has to let go.

One can let go with the help of faith (saddha, confidence/conviction) in one's meditation teacher or the historical Buddha or the noble sangha (the invisible community of attained practitioners who followed the Buddha's instructions, most of them while not wearing monastic robes).

It's hard to let go out using reason and logic and certainty; that tends to bind one up in uncertainty, circular questioning, skepticism, and doubt.

Doubt is good inasmuch as it leads to investigation. It does no good now, sitting waiting to go. It's time to go (now), so let go (now). Allow to go. There's no need to push.

Instead, look around the basket. Let go (get rid) of all that dead weight, all that baggage holding the balloon to the ground. The balloon is enough to carry one to lofty heights but not if it's laden with cares, worries, concerns, attachments, fear, or the weight of the world on one's shoulders.

How?

Take a wider view (Buddha Doodles/Facebook)

There's a line of inquiry that might unload some of the weight or make it possible to cast off the weight we were formerly cherishing and holding onto for protection. What? Contemplating how harmful it's been, how it holds us back (in a sad attempt to protect us).

Aversion (dosa, hatred, fear, boredom, hesitation) is fundamentally an attempt to protect ourselves. Now when we don't need it, it's still here doing its job. Let it go.

Look at the harm being done by not letting go, and it may just be possible to wipe the sticky glue from the hand and be free of it. Better things are waiting.

If not rocket force and thrust from below, what will be the "propulsion"? Rapture (piti), effervescence, joy, a floaty sense of weightlessness, taking oneself lightly. It works! But it's closer to play than work. It plays! Play.

Okay, now what? We have the balloon. We have the fire. - Okay, let go. Just let go.