Six Element Meditation (Interconnectedness)

The Six Element Practice is an insight practice for penetrating the delusion of a fixed and separate self and experiencing interconnectedness. This practice is ideal for those with prior meditation experience.

Transcript

So we're going to do a meditation this morning called the Six Element Practice.

It's a practice of letting go of fixed identifications of who we are,

Let go of definitions of who we are.

Practice of just opening up to perhaps a sense of mystery and wonder.

And we'll just let the practice explain itself as we're going through.

So as you're sitting here in your meditation posture,

Your eyes closed,

Just beginning to notice the solid matter in your body.

Well,

In your body is solid,

Relatively solid.

This is the earth element,

The first of the six elements.

So what do you notice first?

Maybe it's your knees pressing into the mat,

Or your buttocks against your seat,

Or your hands.

So there's a lot we can notice.

Most of our body is solid matter.

It's the bones,

The joints,

The muscles.

So just being aware of those as best you can.

There's the teeth,

The tongue,

The fingernails and toenails,

The hair.

This is a practice where we actually employ our imagination.

It's a bit like in loving kindness meditation.

We're not just dealing with what we can feel or sense in this moment with our five senses.

So if you want to use your imagination to help you connect with the earth element that makes up your body,

That's fine.

You can imagine,

For example,

Just reaching down and pressing a hand into your thigh muscle,

Or reaching up and touching your shoulders and feeling the bones under the skin.

Just getting a sense of the solid matter making you up.

Traditionally,

We're asked to be aware of the internal organs as well because they're also solid.

So you might directly be aware of your heart beating,

Of your lungs moving.

But you'll probably have to use your imagination to see the liver,

Kidneys,

Intestines.

So a sense that they're there and that they're solid.

Now being aware that the solid matter in your body is in contact with solid matter around you.

You're sitting on some kind of seat or cushion,

You're kneeling on the floor,

You're surrounded by a building.

The building is sitting on the earth,

Which stretches away in every direction,

Which goes down for thousands of miles.

And then we begin to connect the two,

The external earth element and the internal earth element.

Where did all the solid matter in your body come from?

It didn't just appear from nowhere.

Just remembering that last night we ate a meal together.

There was solid matter on plates in front of us.

We lifted it fork full by fork full,

Placed it in our mouths,

Digested it.

And that solid matter,

Some of it,

Is now sitting here today being aware of itself.

And that process has been going on through your entire life.

Let's just very briefly go back to the beginning,

The beginning of your life.

Two cells meeting,

One from your mother,

One from your father.

Neither of those was you.

And then that cell absorbs nutrition from your mother,

That nutrition wasn't you.

Grew,

It was born,

Consumed more nutrition,

Which again was not you.

It all came from the outside world.

So far we're imagining ourselves as a baby,

Which is made of stuff that is entirely not you.

And that continues right up to the present day.

Here we are.

So just looking again at this solid matter that you've been connecting with in the body.

Being aware of it again,

Just recognizing that there is no you earth element and other earth element.

There's just the earth element.

Being aware that what you're aware of right now,

This earth element that constitutes the body is on its way somewhere.

As you're sitting here,

You're combusting your own body.

You're breathing out warm air laden with carbon dioxide.

That carbon dioxide was solid matter in your body just moments before.

That's the earth element in the body returning to the world.

Even as you're sitting here,

You're shedding skin cells,

Probably a few hairs.

That too will return to the earth.

You may have already been to the bathroom today.

If you've urinated or defecated,

Then a lot of that is matter that was part of the solidity of your body.

Just being aware now of the dynamic,

Transitory nature of this solid matter.

When you first become aware of the body,

It's like this static thing.

When you bear in mind that it's all coming from somewhere and going somewhere,

It's more like a slow moving river.

Like a cloud that's forming at one end and dissolving at the other end.

So,

Everything in this solid body is borrowed.

It's in the process of returning right now to the external earth element.

As you're sitting here,

Aware of the solidity of your body,

You can say to yourself the words,

This is not me.

This is not mine.

I am not this.

Just dropping those words in over and over again.

This is not me.

This is not mine.

I am not this.

Perhaps experiencing a sense of wonder as we do this.

That's something that we take for granted.

That we think of as separate and ours is in fact not ours.

Not separate.

That's something quite amazing.

The body is a creative act.

The next element that we call to mind is the water element.

That involves becoming first of all aware of liquid in the body.

So you might have immediately become aware of the saliva in your mouth.

Just notice your eyelids gliding onto your fluid.

Just notice parts of your body that are in intimate contact with each other.

Like the backs of your thighs and the backs of your calves.

Perhaps your hands.

Just noticing that there's a sense of warmth and moisture there.

You feel the warmth and softness of the air you're breathing out.

Just laden with moisture.

Perhaps you can feel your pulse or your heartbeat.

You might feel this blood being pumped around your body.

In fact your body is saturated with liquid.

Every cell in your body is full of liquid.

Bathed externally in liquid.

To a large extent a liquid being.

Now becoming aware of liquid in the outside world.

You can't directly sense that right now.

You can recollect something as simple as the fact that a few minutes ago most of you were downstairs drinking tea or coffee or water.

Most of you last night will have the rain on the roof.

You've been outside,

Your feet have been pressed up against the moist earth.

All the plants,

The flowers,

The trees,

The leaves are all full of liquid.

There's a river flowing by.

And just connecting the two once again.

There's all the liquid in your body coming from.

You know what would happen if you stopped drinking?

You have to drink over and over again throughout the day just to replenish the liquid in this body.

You have to go to the bathroom several times a day to allow liquid out of the body.

Anywhere that your body is feeling warm and moist is a place where you're losing water from your skin.

You feel the moistness of the out breath.

So just noticing this liquid in the body.

Once again,

Just being aware of your body from top to bottom knowing that it's full of liquid,

Permeated by liquid,

Made of liquid.

Just realizing that not one molecule of that liquid is yours.

It all comes from the external water element.

It's flowing through you and right now it's returning back to the external water element.

It's an almost literal river that you're observing.

Once again,

As you're observing this process,

This river flowing through this form that you call you.

Just dropping the words into the heart.

This is not me.

This is not mine.

I am not this.

That is not myself.

I am not this.

I am not this.

I am not this.

I am not this.

I am and the third element is the fire and fire is energy its heat warmth movement electricity metabolism just being aware of the aliveness of this form this human form as you're sitting here feeling the warmth of the body noticing the movement of the breathing the beating of the heart perhaps the occasional rumble in the intestinal system the sensation that you're feeling all all the touches sense of your body being alive and tingly all of that's being conveyed by little sparks of electricity flying along nerves that's all the fire element becoming aware of the fire element outside of us you can see light streaming through your eyelids that's the fire element coming from the Sun and recollect once again the food we're going to be eating in a little while energy containing food oatmeal and the nuts and the raisins and milk all of the energy in your body just like all of the solid matter and all of the liquid has come from outside of you flows into the body as we eat it's flowing out of the body right now feel warmth escaping from your body because the air around us feels cool and you go to the bathroom your urine and your feces are hot fire element is continually flowing out of the body so as you're aware sitting here of this alive warm body full of the fire element animated by the fire element just reminding yourself by dropping these words into the heart this is not me this is not mine I am not this and the fourth element is air which is air gases in your body becoming aware of the air in your passageways and your lungs continually coming and going over perhaps that air is also dissolved into the body permeating the entire body for almost as soon as I directed your attention to the air in the body you noticed where it's coming from as you're breathing breathing in you're breathing out can't be aware of how the air is getting into your body without immediately noticing how it's going back so the oxygen in this air has been created by countless billions of living plants some of them long dead many of them on the other side of the world what amazing thing just breathe in oxygen is there for you maybe feel a little sense of gratitude for this of course you're giving back all the carbon dioxide you're breathing out is going to be consumed by more plants so as you're sitting here aware of this breathing body aware of air flowing in flowing out knowing that that air permeates the entire body just dropping in these words this is not me this is not mine I am not this try saying those words on the out breath breathing out this is not me breathing out this is not mine breathing out I am not this and the next element is the space element we've been connecting with the solid matter the liquid the energy the gas that have been flowing through this form this human form so let's become aware of the space that we're occupying right now the volume of your body see if you can get a sense as you're sitting here of what shape your body is shape your body is that might actually be quite difficult the body is probably not going to feel as defined as it does when you're looking at it it's hard to pinpoint where the boundaries of the body are feeling your buttocks pressing against your seat it's hard to separate the seat from you try to be aware of the skin over the whole body it's hard to separate the skin from the clothing from the air but still we tend to go around thinking this is me this is my body this is the space I occupy now probably still sensing that right now yeah this is me in here as you're aware of the space that you're occupying right now be aware of the fact that the earth is rotating on its axis it's not that by the time the thought has formed yeah this is me you're actually claiming a different space because you've moved on now that the earth is revolving around the sun the sun is revolving around the galactic core the galaxy is flying away from other galaxies can you have a sense of space streaming through streaming through you bewilderingly fast so even by the time you formulated the thought this is not me this space is not me this space is not mine I am not this I am not this space by the time those thoughts have been formulated the space you were referring to is hundreds of miles behind you and the final element sixth element is consciousness it's what knows the other elements just being aware of what you're sensing right now notice the light through your closed eyelids really pay attention to that light so you notice how the patterns of light that you're seeing are continually changing being aware of the sounds around you being aware of the sounds around you you sounds of breathing sounds of birds outside the occasional creak of the building distant sounds that might be traffic or something I don't know.

Just noticing that every moment is different.

Sounds continually arising and passing away moment by moment by moment.

Your sense of touch,

Even the most solid constant touches,

Your knees on the floor,

Your buttocks on your seat.

Pay attention to those sensations and in this moment and this moment and this moment sensations are never the same.

Notice the contact your body is making with your clothing as you're breathing in and out.

Constant change,

Constant flow of sensation and it's like this for all forms of sensation.

Nothing to hold on to.

A constant flow of ever-changing sensations.

Noticing your awareness itself.

Is it ever the same in any two moments?

Can you find anything in your awareness which is constant and unchanging?

Sometimes your awareness is contracted,

Sometimes it's expansive,

Moves around.

If I suddenly mention your right knee you'll become aware of your right knee.

If I suddenly mention your left shoulder you'll become aware of your left shoulder.

Your awareness is flowing around almost like a liquid.

We can't really control it.

We think we can and you try to pay attention to your breathing for 10 breaths.

You find that your mind is all over the place.

You can't decide that you're going to stop thinking.

You can't just decide,

Hey I'm going to feel happy for the rest of my life.

That's what you call your self,

Your I,

Your sense of I,

It's just a tiny part of a much larger consciousness that's completely outside of your control.

Fundamentally,

Ultimately outside of your control.

Just being aware of this awareness and dropping in the words,

This is not me,

This is not mine.

I am not this.

It may be that there's a part of you which is thinking,

Yeah but.

.

.

Or that's thinking,

Well what am I then?

I'd suggest just seeing if you can relax into the mystery,

Just you are the mystery.

See if you can just relax and enjoy being the mystery,

Being the mystery that you already are.

This fundamentally creative process unfolding in time and space.

The universe become aware of itself,

Become aware of other bits of the universe become aware of themselves.

Just experiencing all of this without grasping.

And then we don't ever bring a meditation practice to a close.

We simply by being with our experience,

By engaging with our experience,

Brought about a certain quality of being,

A certain quality of attention.

And that quality of being begins to manifest in the world more actively.

That quality of attention begins to engage with the world more fully as you begin to move the body.

Gently allowing the eyes to open.

Reviews

Very good explanation and leading of a complicated practice. Excellent! Thank you.

Wonderful reminder of who we truly are! Thank you. Beautiful

Wonderful meditation into the mystery of being.
In-line with your amazing books.

Life affirming. And exactly the medicine I needed today. Thank you.

A profound practice that deepened my sense of internal and external connectedness. It didn't merely do so cognitively, it did so experientially. Deep thanks to Bodhipaksa for the opportunity. 🙏

I really enjoyed this meditation. Very nice. Namaste

This was amazing!!! Thank you, my mind and body are buzzing right now.

This is a consciousness game changer. I never understood the Buddhist concept of no self until the second time I listened to this.

This was so amazing. Usually I don't last longer than 35 mins in a meditation but this one flew by! Love it.

Wonderful. Thank you Bodhipaksha. Really enjoyed that 🙏

Have done this practice for 10 years. Love your approach especially the sperm, egg, nutrition bit.
Also the way you blend the outside / inside aspects.

An absolute stunning voyage from the outside to the inside to the mysteries Thank you!

Bodhipaksa leads this practice very well. Recommend this🙏

A spacious opportunity to experience the profound ways in which we are not as solid and separate as it appears, and that endless change is nothing to fear.

Wonderful meditation

Really loved this. Such a skilled teacher 🤍 I found a smile playing on my lips by the end. Thank you Bodhipaksa!

Very interesting point of view, thanks!

Great gathering and tying up at the end... I stayed after the meditation in open awareness and just enjoyed the moment
Thanks very much. Your session on the Anapanasati was great as well