Way back when I first started meditating when I was 17, it was candle gazing (trataka) that I was drawn to. For a long time, that was how I practiced, eyes wide open, focusing on the flickering flame, bringing deliberate attention back to what was in front of me whenever thoughts or distractions drew me away.
At some point, I learned to meditate with eyes closed. Of course, mindfulness meditation is something you can do anyway, anytime, anywhere, in terms of fine tuning your awareness to the present moment and experiencing the fullness of whatever you're doing. I'm talking here though about the practice of taming the mind in conscious stillness.
One of my favourite Vajrayana Buddhist teachers, Tim Olsted, says that keeping our eyes open is how we stay open, aware and curious. Whereas if we close your eyes to the world, turning away from what confronts us, what does that mean at the level of being agents in the world?
There is a powerful case for meditating with eyes closed, in the interests of pratyahara (sensory withdrawal), temporarily leaving distractions on the periphery so as to tame the mind within the relatively controlled sphere of the inner landscape. It can also make it easier to work with the other senses as tools for anchoring to the present. Is focus easier though and where does it lead?
The 19th century Post Impressionist artist Paul Gaugin famously said: "I shut my eyes in order to see", implying that the real sense of things was to be discerned from a deeper perspective than the one offered by the superficial layer of perspective.
When I facilitate meditation, as much as when I practice it, I invite us to choose, eyes open or eyes shut. I don't think there's an absolute right or a wrong way. As the Dharma and Yoga tells us, there are many paths that lead us on our individual quest towards the same truth.
Whichever way we choose to go about things, it is always wise to exercise some practical discernment and ask ourselves, why, what's the intention of my practice, how will it serve the way in which I engage with the world?
As ever, the lines of inquiry serve to open our minds and engage our conscious exploration, rather than our judgements.