When a storm is approaching, cattle turn and run while buffalo charge into it. How do you respond to the storms in your life? Do you follow the path of the cow, running away, or the path of the buffalo, running toward.
There is wisdom in courage. Consumed by fear, cows try to outrun the storm. Their efforts are futile. Eventually, the storm catches up to them and they end up running alongside it, prolonging their suffering. Buffalo, on the other hand, wisely charge into the storm. By running directly into it, they know it will pass more quickly, minimizing the struggle.
Meditation is a training ground for the buffalo mind. When you sit, pain, intrusive thoughts, a desire to do something else, and other challenges in your body and mind arise. These are the moments where you choose who you are – cow or buffalo.
Meditation is a process of training in the middle way. The middle way is the hero’s path. Heroes have the buffalo mindset. They choose courage and resilience over avoidance. When a problem arises, a hero doesn’t delay. They take action. They go into the storm.
Cookie Monster shares a much more popular strategy. “Today me will live in the moment unless it’s unpleasant in which case me will eat a cookie.” Our default program, like Cookie Monster, is to seek pleasure and avoid discomfort. When we lose our job, crash our car, get divorced, or lose our internet connection, we want to veer to the right or the left. We want to avoid the unpleasantness. Yet, running from emotions doesn’t make them disappear; it prolongs their grip on us, just as the cow prolongs its time in the storm by fleeing.
“Today me will live in the moment unless it’s unpleasant in which case me will eat a cookie.”
~ C. Monster
When you meditate, you create a space where you willingly face your inner storms rather than running from them. This practice of sitting still, despite discomfort, frustration, or restlessness, mirrors the buffalo's decision to charge into the storm, and it builds the mental fortitude necessary to confront life's challenges head-on. In sitting with the discomfort, you begin to realize that these moments, while challenging, are temporary and that facing them directly allows you to move through them faster and with greater ease. Your fears dissolve when courageously confronted. By observing them without judgment, you allow them to pass through, diminishing their power. This repeated practice builds emotional resilience, making you better equipped to handle life's inevitable ups and downs.
Storms are not just challenges; they are opportunities for growth. The buffalo emerges stronger, more experienced, and more prepared for future storms. Similarly, meditation transforms your struggles into stepping stones. The storms of intrusive thoughts or discomfort during meditation become training for greater self-awareness, patience, and clarity in your daily life. Over time, you become less reactive, more adaptable, and more willing to embrace life’s uncertainties.
This is the science of self-transformation. The same way you can go to the gym to get stronger, leaner, and more powerful, you can sit in stillness to become more heroic, living life with greater clarity, purpose and self-control.
The caduceus (pictured left) depicts the COWardice path versus that of the heroic buffalo. The two snakes are the paths of aversion. They represent what is called the “autonomic” nervous system that controls relaxation and stress reactions. The autonomic nervous system is an unconscious, automatic default system designed to avoid pain and seek pleasure as a means of protection and survival. The central staff represents the central nervous system made up of the brain and spinal cord. This is the middle way and the path of the buffalo.
A top-down control system ruled by a structure in the brain called the prefrontal cortex, the central nervous system allows you to consciously choose your response to the circumstances of the moment. The same as training a muscle, meditation practice increases the blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, causing it to grow and perform faster. Your meditation seat is your brain gym.
Meditation presents a daily choice: to run from discomfort or to face it with courage. By choosing to sit with whatever arises, you embody the buffalo mindset. Like the muscles you develop in the gym don’t only serve you doing your workout, the strength and wisdom you cultivate in meditation extend into your life, empowering you to confront challenges directly and with grace. In doing so, you minimize unnecessary suffering and emerge stronger, calmer, and more grounded. This is the wisdom of the buffalo.
Practical Meditation Exercise for Facing Life’s Storms
- Sit upright not uptight.
- Observe your rising thoughts and emotions like clouds passing in a storm.
- Remain non-judgmental, allowing the storm to unfold without resistance.
- Like watching from a safe shelter, observe how the momentary storms naturally pass by and dissolve into nothing.
Storms are inevitable, but how we respond defines their impact. Meditation, like the heroic path of the buffalo, teaches us that facing life’s challenges head-on is not only brave but also the quickest and most profound way to move through them, transforming us into stronger, wiser individuals.