Search within
 Quite a number of books have been written on the subject of
meditation and concentration. The two terms cannot be separated from the
religious studies. But attempts have been made to delve at length on
Buddhist attitudes to meditation. The area that covers is vast.
These occidental scholars who were interested in the subject of
meditation with special reference to Buddhist teachings wrote the areas
the cover in the form of manuals and guides. The book written by the
well known English scholar Christmas Humphreys (1901 – 1983) titled as
‘The Search Within’, first published in England in 1977 and later
published several times up to 1991, is an attempt to present a course in
meditation, classifying 12 themes interlinked as a search into one’s own
inner self. This book, which covers a vast area that goes to practical
forms of meditation, is nevertheless packed with illustrative examples
given in poems, stories, parables and dialogues.
The compiler author Humphreys takes a synoptic view of the workings
of a human mind, and tries to exemplify how it could be either tamed for
his own welfare and for the welfare of his actions with others. As such
he says that the material that he presents via course of self studies is
designed for the use of anyone who is not wedded to any particular
school or method in the search for the self, or the light within.
 The intention as he says in his own words is a treatment for the
whole unhappy man, as distinct from an ointment applied to the skin.
As far as we know the noblest activity of one human to another is
both teaching of a spiritual course intended for one’s well being. This
teaching as accepted in the orient is a way (magga0. Humphrey as an
author adheres to this norm in the advocacy of a way with 12 themes. The
very first explanation comes via the concepts of concentration and
meditation.
He tries to differentiate his attempt from the hundreds of books
available in the book market, coming from India, Japan, Tibet and other
countries. His is believed as a longstanding research conducted as far
back as 1935 when quite a number of experimentations have been done in
the field. This experimentation he denotes as a self applied genuine
course for spiritual development.
This as a reader I felt had been a long journey in search of one’s
own self not merely through outer teachings, but via self search. For me
as a general reader each theme helped gauge all what I do as social
interaction and the need to gauge them to be freer as possible.
He goes to the extent of explaining the meditative posture
demarcating the need to know what the truth means.
It is denoted as meditation on the breath, seemingly simple but the
very application is practical lesson. He says: One is consciously
breathing in the prana or life force of the universe and giving it back
to the universe, mindful of suffusion with all forms of it. But he says
that there comes a point where concentration enters the field of true
meditation. Regular concentration on the breath, which can be carried
out anywhere and at any time, begins to reduce the whirlpool of
thoughts, in which we habitually revolve.
The title ‘beyond’ comes as the very first theme. The writer
Humphreys tries to visualize the theme from several points of view. He
selects poems, sayings and comments from various sources. This also
includes such aspects as Zen and Taoism enabling the reader to research
more material. At the end of each theme, which looks like a series of
episodes, there is a series of questions. The response to the question
it is anticipated to bring a sense of understanding oneself. Special
interest for the reader comes in theme three which goes as ‘the mind and
its living concepts’. Here a series of ancient and modern concepts are
laid down for comparison.
In order to creatively help the reader one interesting Zen story is
laid down as follows.
Nan-in, a Japanese Zen master, received a university professor who
came to inquire about Zen. The Zen master served tea. He poured his
visitor’s cup full and then kept on pouring. Professor watched the
overflow until he could no longer contain himself.
“It is overfull. No more will go in,” Said the professor.
“Like this cup,” the Zen master said, “You are full of your own
opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty
your cup?”
I recall reading the Zen story on one of my visits to Amaravathi, a
forest abode in the UK. A collection of Zen stories was lying in the
Christmas Humphreys library. I was so delighted that I went on reading
all the 101 Zen stories in one sitting.
Having laid down that Zen story, what the author compiler Humphreys
tries to underline is of importance. He states that the actual mental
happiness or the bliss could be obtained only through the process of not
‘filling the mind’ with extraneous material, but by ‘emptying the mind’.
The real happiness in one’s life depends on the action and the non
action of the mind. With all the examples laid down the entire work is a
treatise on the understanding of the mind, and how to use it for a
better living.
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