What is Meditation?
By meditation we mean something very basic and simple that is not tied to any one culture. We are talking about a very basic act: sitting on the ground, assuming a good posture, and developing a sense of our spot, our place on this earth. This is the means of rediscovering ourselves and our basic goodness, the means to tune ourselves in to genuine reality, without any expectations or preconceptions.
The word meditation is sometimes used to mean contemplating particular theme or object: meditating on such and such a thing. By meditating on a question or a problem, we can find the solution to it. Sometimes meditation also is connected with achieving a higher state of mind by entering into a trance or absorption state of some kind. But here we are talking about a completely different concept of meditation: unconditional meditation, without any object or idea in mind. Meditation is simply training our state of being so that our mind and body can be synchronized. Through the practice of meditation, we can learn to be without deception, to be fully genuine and alive.
Our life is an endless journey, it is like a broad highway that extends indefinitely into the distance. The practice of meditation provides a vehicle to travel on that road. Our journey consists of constant ups and down, hope and fear, but it is a good journey. The practice of meditation allows us to experience all the textures of the roadway, which is what the journey is all about. Through the practice of meditation, we begin to find that within ourselves there is no fundamental complaint about anything or anyone at all.
-- Chogyam Trungpa, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, Shambhala Dragon Editions, 1988.