In my sangha here in Bergen, my sangha friends were recently traveling to Hyen, another center within our sangha. I have met some of the people from there before, and one of them said that he thinks I may have meditated in a previous life.
When my sangha friend in Bergen told me this, it really made me think. There is something about meditation that makes the idea feel strangely familiar to me. When I meditate, I can become completely still, and I genuinely enjoy that stillness. It is not because I am craving an escape from ordinary life. Rather, meditation gives me the opportunity to go deeply inward, to think clearly, and sometimes to remember things that I had completely forgotten.
Because of that, I have started to wonder whether there might be some truth in what he said. I cannot prove that I meditated in a previous life, I'm no tibetan yogi master like Milarepa, but within my understanding of Buddhism, the possibility makes sense to me. It has become something I personally believe could be connected to the familiarity I experience when I meditate.
You may or may not agree with the Buddhist understanding of samsara, rebirth, and the path toward enlightenment and nirvana. You may be Buddhist, atheist, agnostic, anarchist or something else entirely. That is your choice, and I am not writing this to tell anyone what they have to believe.
For me, however, I have chosen to follow the Buddhist path. I believe in samsara, rebirth, and the possibility of enlightenment. Meditation has consequently become much more important to me than it used to be.
One thing a friend from my sangha here in Bergen has said, which has stayed with me, is that meditation is indispensable on the path to enlightenment. That thought has encouraged me to meditate more and to take my practice increasingly seriously.
For my local friends in Bergen and anyone else who has wondered why meditation has become such an important part of my life, this is a little explanation of where I am coming from.
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