Meditation On The Eight Worldly Winds

This meditation is about not letting your thoughts control you. In Buddhism there are 8 Worldly winds. Pleasure/Pain... Gain/Loss... Praise/Blame... Fame/ Disgrace... This meditation shows us that all of our thoughts fit into these categories. It also shows that these thoughts are passing constantly like clouds. By knowing the repetative and impermannet nature of our thoughts. We can then begin to control our thoughts instead of letting them control us.

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Alonzo,

Also known as the Life Lama.

I want to thank you in advance for meditating with me.

You know from my previous meditations that I believe strongly that there's much gold to be found in our repetitive thoughts.

The reason I believe this is that you will find that your thoughts are repetitive,

And you'll also find that they're constantly passing like clouds.

Once you understand this,

You will be better able to control your thoughts instead of them controlling you,

Which is the purpose of this and all future meditations we'll do together.

Today,

We're going to go head-on into our thoughts.

In Buddhism,

It is said that our thoughts and actions are all controlled by the eight worldly winds.

Those winds are pleasure in pain,

Gain in loss,

Praise in blame,

And fame in disgrace.

For this meditation,

You will hear the sound of a deep bell.

Allow that sound to finish vibrating,

And then spend a minute thinking about something that brings you pleasure.

After the minute has ended,

You will hear a smaller bell.

Let it vibrate.

That means it's time for you to think about things that bring you pain.

And finally,

You will hear an even smaller bell.

Let it vibrate,

And then just concentrate on your breath,

Being aware of how your thoughts are coming and going like passing clouds.

We will keep doing this process until we've thought about each of the worldly winds.

You will hear the large bell struck three times to end this meditation.

I will guide you in each section by reminding you which of the worldly winds we're concentrating on.

So please get in a comfortable position,

Back straight,

But not too rigid.

Make your head feel as if it's being pulled upward by a small string.

Again,

Everything is relaxed.

Everything is relaxed.

Now gently close your eyes,

And let's begin.

So please take one minute to think about something that brings you pleasure.

And now take a moment to think about something that causes you pain.

Now take two minutes to simply focus on the breath,

Noticing how thoughts of pleasure and pain come and go like passing clouds.

So please take a moment to think about things you wish to gain.

And now spend a moment thinking about things that you fear you may lose.

Please take several moments only concentrating on your breath,

And letting all thoughts of gain and loss pass like clouds.

So please allow a moment to allow thoughts on how it feels when you're being praised.

So please spend a moment thinking about how it feels when you're blamed.

Please spend several moments allowing thoughts of praise and blame to pass like passing clouds.

So spend a moment thinking about when you do something that brings you fame.

So take a moment to think about things that have caused you disgrace.

Please take several moments to just concentrate on your breath,

Letting all thoughts of fame and disgrace pass like passing clouds.

Please note when doing future meditations that all your thoughts fall somewhere within the eight worldly winds of pleasure,

Pain,

Gain,

Loss,

Praise,

Blame,

Fame,

And disgrace.

Thank you so much for taking the time to meditate with me today.

Please have a blessed day,

And may you all be well,

Happy,

And peaceful.

Reviews

Thank you for the skillful guidance in working with my thoughts around the 8 worldly winds. Beneficial while on the cushion as I move into the day watching my thoughts and letting them pass like clouds in the sky.