Question

Before starting meditation practice I used to watch movies and enjoy getting lost in the story. Empathizing with the characters, etc. Now I see how easy it was to "sit still" for one and a half hours.. Is it right to say, doing reflection meditation, visualizing situations could be like movies in the mind?

Answer

Yes it could be, it could well be. But our whole intention, our whole purpose is different. When we use Yonisomanasikara, Wise Reflection, we're trying to develop understanding, understanding, understanding. The person goes to see the movie to disappear from life for two hours. They don't really want any understanding, or in a sense they don't care. Some people who care about a movie, say like Schindler's List, may actually go to learn something deeper about this man, Oscar Schindler. That's something very rare though, most people go to a movie just to escape the world. Reflection, sitting there and driving your mind through a particular type of story in order to get Wisdom is very different.

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.