Riding a Bike

Part of my ipod lesson this morning was on the function of mediation. In Buddhism, there are 2 types of meditation- Insight (Vipassana) and Tranquility (Samatha). Many early practitioners begin with Samatha and move to Vipassana. When I was meditating somewhat regularly in the Spring, I worked on Tranquility meditation. It really works, and I think it's indicative of a monkey mind, a frazzled mind, that I don't make time for it in the daily habit. The point of this morning's lesson is that there really isn't one without the other. His analogy was as such: In order to ride a bike, you need to know how to both pedal and balance. Pedaling without balance with let you fall over. Balance without pedaling will..let you fall over. So Vipassana and Samatha must be approached in the same capacity- they interrelate to create the complete picture of 3 of the 8 Path factors: Right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. I'm very mentally pure. Actually, I'm pretty impure, but I sure do like this analogy, much less the concept of the dhamma wheel. The wheel keeps turning.

And we all should as well. Peace.