How to Meditate, Think on 108

“How do I walk?’   If you can imagine asking this as child then you can imagine asking, “how do I meditate?’ as an adult.   We were practically all greeted with smiles and joy as we learned how to walk and developed our muscles in order to walk.   And one should meet the question, “how do I meditate?’ and taking the first steps to do so with the same joy, as if an infant has taken their first interest in walking.   

    How would you properly explain walking to an infant?   -Ok, remember no hands.   Stay upright.   Lift one foot, set it forward, follow it with the other and follow it and then repeat.   Be careful to watch where you are stepping because you can fall or you can stub your toe.   Keep your toes up too so you don’t trip.   And then what?   The infant must learn from experience.   The infant must step forward on his or her own accord and invariably, there will be some falling.   And even those little falls, as shocking as they may be for one who has never fallen before, should be met with joyful laughter.

    Meditation is invariably the same.   We must learn by taking on a practice.   We must be as infants learning to walk as part of a process in our development.   Meditation is as natural to human beings as is walking upright.   We are consciousness vehicles biologically designed to walk and meditate.

    How would you properly explain meditation to an infant practitioner?   Using the number 108.   The number 108 is metaphysically divine.   There are innumerable auspicious aspects to the number relating to astronomy, astrology, intuition, science and spirituality.   There is plenty of information available variously online or in my ebook, soon to be in print, 108 Steps to Be in the Zone.   Being a divine metaphysical number 108 is relevant to meditation and meditative movement as represented in the 108 movements in the long form of tai chi and the 108 movements in the Five Tibetan Rites.   Yet 108 is more than just intrinsic within meditation, 108 describes how to meditate.

    108, as all esoteric and metaphysical subject matter, has many layers.   In part, one layer of 108 represents the trinity of time, 1 for the present, 0 for the past and 8 for the infinite future.   When you are meditating and in order to perform the highest aspect of meditation, to allow that meditative state into your daily life, think of the number 108.   In order to be in a meditative state you have to be in the oneness of the present.   And the past, no matter if it is good or bad or whatever should be as if nothing, with absolute 0 weight to it.   The future and the subject matter of infinite variety can then be pondered in an open and present state.

    Being present is the first step, through 108.   The following steps to meditation can also be understood through 108.   The first step to meditation is to think on 1 thing.   The primary 1 thing to think about is the breath.   Thinking on 1 thing, just the breath cycle, allows us to take the next step; that is to think on 0 things.   And what a relief this can be, akin to all of a sudden being able to walk and explore on your own.   When you can think about 1 thing and then 0 things, you can then think about and even comprehend components of the infinite, represented by 8.   108 describes how to meditate and the direction meditation can take us.   Be present.   Then think on just one thing; the breath, allowing us to think on nothing, which in turn allows us to ponder the infinite.           

Author, activist and Tai Chi teacher Ethan Indigo Smith was born on a farm in Maine and lived in Manhattan for a number of years before migrating west to Mendocino, California. Guided by a keen sense of integrity and humanity, Ethan’s work is both deeply connected and extremely insightful, blending philosophy, politics, activism, spirituality, meditation and a unique sense of humour.

• Tibetan Fusion a book of simple meditative practices and movements that can help you access and balance your energy
• The Matrix of Four, The Philosophy of the Duality of Polarity on the subject of the development of individual consciousness
• 108 Steps to Be in The Zone a set of 108 meditative practices and steps toward self discovery and individual betterment, including techniques to develop balance, transmute sexual energy and better the self