Original Love summary

How is awakening made possible? 

Most of all, it is through the practice of meditation. Through patient cultivation we can catch glimpses of the selfless dimension of consciousness and learn to rest in the unconditional love native to it. For the author, this isn’t a rarefied pursuit. It’s the birthright of every human being, accessible to anyone willing to devote some time each day to turning inward.

You’ve probably already heard quite a bit about mindfulness, and how it’s a potent tool for anchoring yourself in the present moment. You’ve likely heard about how often we navigate life on autopilot, our attention dominated by a ceaseless stream of thoughts. And that this mental chatter forms an invisible filter that dilutes our experience of the here and now. But by cultivating mindfulness, we reveal the vibrant detail and texture of reality as it unfolds. 

When it comes to the countless self-help books and contemporary experts pushing mindfulness and meditation, what’s often missing is a recognition of just how difficult it can be. But in fact, the difficulties associated with meditation have been known to Buddhists for thousands of years – along with recommended practices for overcoming them. These challenges are known in Buddhism as the five hindrances: desire, aversion, dullness, restlessness, and doubt. Think of them like a checklist to consult when you’re struggling with mindfulness. 

Let’s look at how to work with the five hindrances, skilfully and powerfully.

First and foremost, our response to the hindrances is to simply observe them. We look for how they appear as sensations in the body. Desire and aversion can often manifest as contractions or knots of tension in the belly or chest. Dullness can be felt as a heavy, sinking feeling, while restlessness may arise as a fluttery agitation or nervous energy. Doubt may show up as a hollowness or a sense of disconnection. Tune into the sensation and then see if you can soften around it; simply be with it and allow it to be present. 

We've explored mindfulness and how to work with hindrances in meditation. Let’s turn now to awakening; something so profound and elusive that words fail to capture it. While mindfulness is something that can be practiced, awakening is something that happens to us. As a Zen teacher once said, “Enlightenment is an accident, and practice makes us accident-prone.”

We can think of awakening in two different ways: first, as an exotic psychological state which creates exceptionally high levels of well-being; or, second: as a direct insight into the fundamental nature of reality itself. But regardless of how we frame it, awakening involves a dramatic change in how the mind perceives.