Meditation on Sound

The following is part of a letter I sent to a student in prison in Arizona who is finding it difficult to meditate because of the constant disturbing noise of that environment.

All sounds are pure energy and hence a source of massage and purification. It doesn't matter whether the sound is abrupt, continuous, intense or subtle; it's all the same energy. From that perspective the sounds of a jail yard, the sounds of a Baroque symphony, the sounds of undisturbed nature and the sounds of the inner city are absolutely identical and equally soothing.

The first step in working with sound, is to make a clear distinction between your subjective reactions to the sound and the sound itself. Subjective reactions to sounds come through three and only three events in consciousness: mental images of the source of the sound, mental talk about the sound, and body sensations (feeling states) that arise as a result of the sound and which may be pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.

The trick in meditating on the hearing process is to perceive pure sound without the mental images, self-talk or the feeling states. One way to do this is to continuously come back to sound and let go of (or ignore) the mental images, self-talk and the feeling reactions. However, this may be extremely difficult because these reactions are deep and habitual. Therefore, an alternative strategy is to focus continuously just on the subjective reaction itself: the mental images, self-talk and body sensations that moment-by-moment arise in response to the sound. When you have complete mindfulness and equanimity in each moment with regard to these inner reactions, then certainly you are purifying consciousness. At some point these reactions may weaken, in which case it becomes very easy to focus on the purifying energy of pure sound. An alternate strategy is to define your object of meditation to include both external sounds and the internal reactions.

In summary, you have three possible strategies.

Develop an uninterrupted contact with sound on all sides and let it massage you and take you deeper and deeper.
Selectively attend to the thoughts (mental images and self-talk) and body sensations that moment-by-moment arise in reaction to the sound.
Focus on the sounds and the thoughts and body sensations.

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