BUDDHA
and the art of meditation
For 20 years I practiced as a Buddhist. I meditated regularly at home, took part in weekend retreats and attended meditation groups in a Buddhist retreat centre. Here, I led meditation, going through the process of relaxation and emptying the mind; getting rid of 'the chattering monkeys' or at least learning not to concentrate on them. I wouldn't say I became an experienced meditator but the practice and ethos of Buddhism remains with me.
In my second DI Sonny Russell crime novel much of the action takes place at a Buddhist retreat he is attending. In this extract from BLOOD ON THE SHRINE, a very experienced meditator is found dead.
If you would like to know more, paperback copies of this book as well as kindle are available on Amazon. (All three books in the series are readily available).
‘Do you think he died of natural causes?’
Russell was in the monks’ compact office in their private quarters. He was
speaking to John Crooks, the pathologist back in Collinghurst.
‘Difficult
to say, without being there. Tell me again how you found the poor unfortunate.’
‘He
was sitting very still, and had been for some hours apparently. He was
cross-legged, in the Lotus position, with his hand folded together in his lap.
One of the other monks, seeing that the temperature had dropped, had wrapped a
blanket round his shoulders. I think there was a sliver of glass caught in the
material and when Karunavadra put the blanket round it went into his jugular.
What I don’t understand is why he didn’t feel it and react. Instead he just
seems to have bled to death.’
‘Did you say he
is, or was, a very experienced meditator?’
‘Yes, as far as
I can make out he’d been meditating for many years and had perfected the
ability to go into a deep, trance-like state.’
Crooks was quiet
for a moment and there was just the sound of crackling on the line. Russell was
about to speak again when the pathologist answered. ‘Ah … that could be the
reason. It is my understanding that through meditation, some yogis are able to
reduce heartrate and pulse to such a low level that the body goes into a sort
of hibernation. I would imagine that when they are in this state, they can remain
unaffected by external conditions or stimuli.’
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