The Vajra Parrot Squawks!

"For many people the attitude towards meditation is one of always trying to change something, always trying to attain a particular state or recreate some kind of blissful experience remembered from the past, or of hoping to reach a certain state by practising.

When we practise meditation with the idea of having to do something, however, then even the idea of practice - even the word "meditation" - will bring up this idea that "if I'm in a bad mood, I should get rid of it", or "if the mind is scattered and I'm all over the place, I should make it one-pointed."

In other words, we make meditation into hard work. So then there is a great deal of failure in it because we try to control everything through these ideas, but that is an impossibility...

The word "meditation" covers many mental experiences, but the goal of Buddhist meditation is to see things as they are; it is a state of awakened attention. And this is a very simple thing It isn't complicated or difficult or something that takes years to achieve.

It is so easy, in fact, that you don't even notice it"

- Ajahn Sumedho.