Relaxation

Adam Mizner's Dhamma Talk on Relaxation. Adam Mizner has dedicated many years to the in-depth study of Daoism, western Hermetics and the Buddha Dhamma, is initiated into and teaches methods from these traditions. He is a senior lay disciple of Ajahn Jumnien in the Thai Forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. This deep spiritual background has a large influence on his approach to internal development teaching.

Please note: This track was recorded live and may contain background noise.

Transcript

Meditation proper is the union of relaxation and non-distraction.

The deeper the level of relaxation,

The deeper the level of letting go,

The deeper your meditation.

Relaxation and letting go in this way is the shamatha aspect,

The calm abiding,

The peace.

Non-distraction must balance the relaxation and letting go.

The non-distraction is the clear seeing aspect,

The vipassana quality.

The union of shamatha and vipassana is the samadhi that is pleasing to the Blessed One.

It is true Buddhist meditation.

All practice can be taken down to these two qualities,

Non-distraction and relaxation.

Dukkha,

The first noble truth of stress,

Of suffering,

Can be looked at as tension.

All forms of dukkha come as tension.

Dukkha is known both in body and in mind.

The simple skill of relaxing,

Truly relaxing,

Not sloth but actual letting go,

The release of tension,

The release of stress and dukkha in the here and now allows one to become relatively free of dukkha of body and dukkha of mind.

The non-distraction means that we are seeing clearly without deviation.

To remain mindful,

When you have sati you are not distracted.

When you become distracted you lose sati.

Mindfulness,

Sati must be cultivated until it is natural.

We begin with deliberate mindfulness,

The act of bringing our attention to something.

We do this over and over and strengthen the mindfulness muscle.

Then we fall into distraction again.

Then we become mindful again.

Then we are distracted again.

Mindfulness means an object.

Often people talk about mindfulness in a broad way.

As long as you are mindful,

But what is it that you need to be mindful of?

The Buddha taught the Satipatthana,

Four foundations of mindfulness.

These four objects of mindfulness are the correct subject,

That which we should not be distracted from,

That which we should keep the mind full of,

We keep the awareness on.

The first foundation of mindfulness is body,

Or more accurately form.

We experience the form of our body here and now.

We feel stress in our body here and now,

Dukkha in our body here and now.

Now when we are distracted from our body,

We are caught up in the sense-gates,

Visual,

Audio,

Tactile,

Constantly looking for distraction in a way to escape the dukkha of the body.

This is the wrong path.

Instead we need to see clearly the body the way it is and relax deeply.

Relax the body deeply.

Just learning how to relax the body deeply will already immediately negate most dukkha of the body.

Most pain and sickness of the body is caused by tension.

When the body does not change it becomes ill,

Becomes stagnant.

This happens from holding on,

Clinging.

Holding on cannot happen at the same time as releasing or relaxing.

So we see the body and we relax the body deeply,

Not being distracted from relaxing the body.

Seeing that the body is simply rupa,

The body is nothing but form,

Matter,

The four elements and space.

Simply phenomena existing.

Vedana or sensation,

Feelings and sensation also arise dependent on the body.

We have the sensation of sitting,

Sensation of pain in the hips and knees,

Sensation of tension in the back,

Sensation when the body becomes restless and wants to move.

Heat,

Cold,

Itching,

All these sensations which arise,

Exist and fall away.

How deeply can you relax the body and release sensation?

Relaxing your reaction to sensation.

Simply relax deeply.

Don't go into the kind of relaxation that is distraction like when we watch a movie.

People think that distraction is relaxation.

They come home at night,

Switch the TV on and have a beer because this is a way to relax.

Yes it is relaxing but it is not meditation because it's distracted.

The state we seek is relaxation free from distraction.

Body and sensation are easily perceived,

The first two foundations of mindfulness.

The fourth dhamma is that which arises in the mind.

It could be any of the mental qualities,

For example irritation.

When irritation arises in the mind we can either see it,

We can get distracted by it or we can run away from it.

When you see it very clearly this is non-distraction,

We see irritation arising,

The dhamma of irritation.

And at that moment we can relax the body and mind completely.

The very process of relaxing is a letting go.

If you can look very clearly without distraction and see the irritation and simultaneously relax,

The irritation will fall away all on its own.

This is correct meditation.

Same goes for any other mental quality that arises,

Any other dhamma that arises.

But the third foundation of mindfulness,

Mind,

Mindfulness of mind is a little more subtle.

What is mind?

Mind is the coming together of the consciousness with mental formations and perceptions.

When the knowing quality comes together with thought forms or mental formations we call it mind.

When the knowing quality comes together with perceptions and memories we call it mind.

We call it jitta.

So how do we practice in regards to the jitta?

First relax deeply.

Relax completely.

The mind has a quality like space.

What does it mean that the mind is similar to space?

Well you cannot find the mind,

The mind has no form.

You can search now for your mind,

It's not in the brain,

It's not in the belly,

It has no color,

It has no shape.

So we say the mind is formless,

Much like space is formless.

However,

Unlike space the mind has a knowing quality.

This is the difference.

Although the mind is formless and space-like it has the ability to know.

This ability to know cannot be denied.

It's experienced directly.

We know,

We feel and we experience.

This is because of the knowing quality.

Simply relax the mind completely.

Relax the body completely.

Then we turn the light around.

This turning of the light around is when we use the knowing quality to look back at mind,

Mindfulness of mind.

Looking at mind,

Not being distracted,

Relaxing completely yet not being distracted from mind.

Mindfulness of mind is the most direct path.

When a thought arises we can look directly at it,

Just look back where does it come from.

Relax completely and look directly at the thought,

Look at the mental formation.

Where is it coming from?

We see it comes from space,

It comes from emptiness,

It simply arises.

Where does the thought exist?

And where does it fall away at it?

If you can relax completely and look without distraction at the arising and existing and falling away of thoughts and perceptions.

You will see that these thoughts and perceptions have no ground.

That they are empty.

That they are like space.

Seeing this way they lose value.

This allows us to relax deeper.

When we think our thoughts are important we become stressed based on our thoughts.

Our thoughts cause us great suffering.

In fact,

Thought itself is the cause of samsara.

Thought is the cause of all of our problems.

There is no problem that is really a problem separate from the thought from it,

About it.

That's why two people can be in exactly the same situation and one person totally happy and one person totally stressed.

People that are totally stressed and suffering,

Usually their life is no different from the other people around them.

What's different is their thought.

But we cannot stop thought.

You can't simply cease thought.

Thoughts will arise all on their own.

So the skill is to remain completely relaxed and undistracted from that which is happening in body and mind.

Seeing thoughts arise as emptiness,

Exist as emptiness and fall away as emptiness.

Seeing that these thoughts are empty,

That they are shunyata.

Because they are empty how can they be of a self?

There is nothing for them to belong to.

They are actually empty.

They are anatta,

They are not self.

Seeing clearly in this way,

They lose value and they no longer stress us out.

It is not the case that thoughts cease to appear.

It's simply the case that thoughts cease to cause us trouble.

So when a thought arises we just relax.

Just relax and let go.

But don't relax and fall into destruction.

If you always relax,

Yes I am very chilled out,

My body is relaxed but I am always distracted.

The mind is caught up in the sense gates.

The awareness is always outside of the body,

Outside of the mind.

We could be called relaxed but it is not the correct meditation state.

If you fixate,

You are not distracted but you are fixated.

Yes,

You are not distracted but you are tense so you are stressed.

There is dukkha,

This is not the correct meditation state.

We can fabricate our meditation by concentrating deeply,

By calming the mind,

By making the mind very stable like we do in shamatha practice.

Although this state is very peaceful,

It is fabricated,

It is built by the cetana,

It is built by our will.

It is a product of the door.

It can lead to very peaceful and blissful stance.

The goal that we seek,

Nirvana,

Is by definition the unfabricated.

How can fabricating lead to the unfabricated?

Only non-fabricating can lead to the unfabricated.

But the path and the fruits are something that are experienced now.

Fabricating now so that we can achieve the unfabricated in the future,

It doesn't work.

Instead we simply let go,

Stop fabricating and see clearly the way it is.

Not fabricating anything special around the way it is.

Simply not being distracted from the way it is and relaxing deeply.

Using deliberate mindfulness to develop natural mindfulness.

So we look at the mind as an act of sati,

An act of mindfulness.

Using the mind as a foundation,

Your objective awareness.

When we look at it,

That is a deliberate act.

Bringing the mind,

Recollecting the mind,

Being mindful of mind.

Then we relax and let go.

And the awareness remains,

That is natural mindfulness.

It's likened to when you hit a bell.

Hitting the bell is deliberate mindfulness.

The ring lasts for however long the ring lasts,

That is natural mindfulness.

When the ring ends,

That is the ending of natural mindfulness and then we fall back to distraction.

So we need to call upon deliberate mindfulness again.

And we look once again.

Looking and relaxing,

Letting go,

Remaining undistracted naturally.

Looking many times.

Keeping in mind the practice of being mindful of mind.

Keeping in mind the practice of turning the light around to look within,

To see the mind.

Doing this many times,

We become very skilled at.

Like any other skill,

In the beginning it must be very deliberate.

But as you become skilled at it,

It becomes natural.

It becomes second nature.

Not something you have to do deliberately anymore.

This is no different to developing any other skill.

You simply keep doing it,

Do it many times,

Do it many times.

Until the act of recollecting,

The act of seeing,

The act of not being distracted becomes natural.

And it becomes lasting.

This is what we call Mahasati,

Great mindfulness.

Great mindfulness is when the mindfulness is always there.

But it's not always there because we're fixated in forcing it.

It's always there because the skill has become natural.

The mindfulness has become natural.

And that way we are no longer distracted.

We simply let go and relax,

Not losing awareness,

Not falling into distraction.

This way we can observe the four foundations of mindfulness as they arise in our realm of being.

Body,

Feelings,

Mind and dhammas arise and we see them.

Seeing them as they arise is not being distracted.

Relaxing completely around nature as it happens.

Relaxing within it,

Being open to space,

Allowing the mind to be space-like.

We can practice acceptance.

The enemy of peace is what we like and what we dislike.

Chasing after what we like,

Pushing away what we dislike.

These are very stressful states.

They could not be called relaxation.

It is not accepting.

When we learn simply to accept things,

To accept the way things are,

You can relax with the way things are.

When we try to control the way things are,

It's a form of stress.

It is not relaxation.

So we can think of the practice very simply and just relax.

We can become unhappy about our teachers,

Thinking that our teachers' conduct is not ideal enough.

They are not living up to our fantasies.

We are not accepting the way things are.

And we suffer.

We can become hurt by the conduct of our students,

Thinking that they don't treat you correctly.

We have not enough respect.

And we suffer.

Or we can simply accept the way it is.

Accepting the way it is allows us to relax in the here and now.

When it's time to eat,

We eat.

And relax,

Accept eating.

When it's time to walk,

We walk.

Relax and accept it.

When it's time to sleep,

Simply sleep.

Relax and accept it.

When it's time to eat and we want to walk,

Then we are stressed.

When it's time to sleep and we want to eat,

We lie there thinking about our hunger.

Then we are stressed.

Simply relax.

Accepting phenomenon,

Accepting life the way it arises.

That way the Dharma comes straight to you.

You don't need to go searching for fancy Dharma.

You don't need to go sit in a graveyard.

You don't need to go sit in front of a tiger.

Attraction and aversion come up in our daily life.

One way to practice this is to set yourself a practice routine.

We do this because routine points directly at our likes and dislikes.

So,

It's 7 o'clock.

It's time to sit down and do Samatha meditation.

Today I'm really not in the mood.

I've got a sore back.

I'm hungry,

Whatever.

So this aversion,

Clinging to non-becoming,

Causes stress.

So we need to relax with it.

Simply accept that now is meditation.

Not getting caught up in likes and dislikes.

When the bell goes at 8 o'clock,

It's time for the meditation to end.

We don't need to get caught up in trying to extend the meditation.

Because now we are in peace from the meditation.

Now the meditation is over,

So I go on to the next part of my life,

Which is eating breakfast.

Accepting life the way it is.

Accepting the way things are.

Relaxing with the way things are.

Attraction and aversion are the causes of dukkha.

Relaxing with phenomena.

One of my top students recently said,

Instead of the concept of thinking before you speak or act,

I simply sung before I think or act.

Sung means letting go and relaxing,

Releasing.

This is a very skillful practice of mindfulness.

If you just relax at the moment when things are arising,

Everything slows down,

You let go,

You can see clearly the way it is,

And you can act with greater discernment.

Just by relaxing you buy yourself a moment.

Your stupidity,

Your heated moment,

Where you say the wrong thing,

Where you do the wrong thing will pass.

Because it's impermanent,

It's anicca,

Just like everything else.

It will pass all on its own.

All you need to do is relax.

Relax again and again.

Very simple practice,

No complex metaphysics.

The deeper you relax and the less you are distracted,

The more pure your meditation.

If you reach the pinnacle of relaxation,

You reach the pinnacle of Samatha.

If you reach the pinnacle of non-distraction,

Always seeing clearly,

Always penetrating through to emptiness and not self,

You reach the pinnacle of Vipassana.

The union of Samatha in Vipassana is the path to Nibbana.

Seeing the way things are,

Relaxing with the way things are.

The world will go on and on despite our intentions.

The body will do what it does despite our intentions.

The mind will do as it does despite our intentions.

Happenings and people will do what they do around us.

Loved ones will act how they want despite our intentions.

Just accept.

When we accept and relax there is peace.

Life becomes easy right there.

When we have no money we can accept,

Okay,

We are losing fat,

We can't even eat.

We can just accept that or we can stress out about it.

When there is lots to eat we can just accept that,

Okay,

Well I am building up.

Accepting whatever arises,

Looking at it in a skillful way and release it.

Finding peace now in the present moment,

Not practicing fixation for peace in the future.

Practicing the letting go of fixation for peace in the present.

Letting go of fixation,

Letting go of fabrication.

Not fixating,

No need to fabricate a special meditation technique.

Just relax completely and don't fall into distraction.

This is the path.

Reviews

Thank you

Such amazing and insightful talk, thank you 🙏🏻

very good advices, thank you a lot! 🙏
Namaste