Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment

by Robert Wright

Once I was at a meditation retreat, and a new dormitory was being built, so there was the sound of hammers and buzz saws. Now, you might think that construction noise isn’t conducive to quiet contemplation, or for that matter to anything pleasant at all. (I’ve never seen “buzz saw” offered as a downloadable ring tone.) And in fact the meditation teacher who explained early on that we’d be hearing construction noises all week did so with an apologetic tone. But, as the teacher reminded us, a big part of mindfulness meditation is to accept the reality you face. Normally if you heard the abrasive, annoying sounds of construction, you might close your window or do something else to tune them out. But here the idea was to accept the sounds themselves while not buying into the idea that they’re abrasive and annoying. Doing this isn’t easy, but it’s straightforward in principle. The key is to meet the abrasiveness head-on—to, in a sense, examine the abrasions. You pay attention to the discomfort the noises create. Where in your body does annoyance or even revulsion reside? What is the texture of the feeling? The more fine-grained your examination, the more complete your acceptance of the feeling, the more its negative energy drains away.