Vipashyana – Tenderness And No-Self

This vipashyana (insight) practice combines training in tenderness (Tibetan: tsewa) and loving kindness with a process of inquiry into the mental activity's quality of no-self, or selflessness. As we move between the two wings of wisdom and love, we both undo the knots of our reification and establish a foundation of restful warm-hearted ease.

Transcript

To begin the practice,

We find a comfortable stationary position and then take some time with our body,

Organizing all of its parts nicely,

So that the position of the body feels perfect for the practice that we're about to do.

Also allowing our breath to flow naturally and for a little while observing the movements of the breath and,

In particular,

The sensations associated with those movements throughout the entire body.

And then,

With each natural exhalation,

Releasing more and more of the tension from the entire body and more and more of the deliberate types of movement.

And doing all of that without losing the clarity with which we began this practice.

And then,

On the basis of this relaxed and settled state,

Generating a positive motivation or revisiting our highest aspirations for our contemplative practice in general and for this meditation in particular.

Ideally,

Orienting this practice towards the greatest possible awakening and the greatest possible happiness and freedom for all who live.

And then,

For a little while,

Strengthening that wish,

That motivation with each exhalation,

As if breathing passion into it.

With that as the foundation,

We bring our attention to ourselves as a person,

With our body and mind currently present here practicing,

Staying still,

Being present and aware.

And,

In attending to ourselves as this person,

With this body,

With this mind,

Generating or uncovering an attitude of tenderness or affectionate care or heartfelt warmth that we then project towards every aspect of our body and every aspect of our mind.

As if,

With our attention,

We were holding ourselves in a giant warm embrace.

Maintaining this flow of affectionate,

Moment-by-moment awareness.

As if our body and mind,

And we as a person,

Were resting in a pool of tender,

Affectionate attention.

And then,

Allowing that tenderness to also crystallize into the state of loving-kindness in which we are offering wishes of happiness and well-being to ourselves and,

Potentially,

Also to others.

And so,

Allowing the foundational attitude of tenderness to be extended to us and,

Potentially,

To the beings around us.

And also allowing this foundational state of tenderness to crystallize into the specific wishes for happiness and well-being that we feel would be most appropriate right now.

Allowing this fusion,

This union of tenderness and loving-kindness to be equally extended to ourselves,

To others.

Washing over ourselves and others like gentle waves,

A beautiful expression of our ability to be aware,

Of our ability to attend to something or to someone.

And then,

Introducing an element of insight,

Discernment,

And the ability to be aware of the world around us.

In this case,

Discernment with regards to the foundational quality of selflessness,

Or no-self.

Allowing the flow of tenderness and loving-kindness to continue in the background,

But with a corner of the mind,

A corner of the heart,

Allowing the flow of tenderness and loving-kindness to continue in the background,

But with a corner of our mind looking into the nature of these beautiful expressions of our awareness.

Is there anything within them that makes them truly me or mine?

Or are they simply an expression of our ability to be aware,

Without anything that would make them inherently mine?

Gently discerning that,

Exploring that,

Investigating that,

Moment by moment,

On the basis of the currently present flow of tenderness and loving-kindness.

In other words,

Are these tenderness and loving-kindness mine?

Mine,

With all capital letters.

And as we continue breathing naturally,

Resting,

Enjoying this undercurrent of these beautiful mental states,

With a corner of our mind looking into this question.

In other words,

Is mental activity just mental activity?

Or is it always inherently,

Deeply,

And truly someone's?

When one person allows their tenderness to flow,

And another person allows their tenderness to flow,

When all the more surface-level thoughts melt away,

Is there still a profound difference between these two streams of tenderness?

Is the tender love of one mother inherently different from the tender love of another mother?

Looking into that,

But on the basis of our own flow of tenderness and loving-kindness right now.

Exploring that,

Moment by moment,

With curiosity and gentleness.

And then for a little while,

Letting go of the investigation,

And just resting in tenderness and loving-kindness,

The wishes of loving-kindness,

Once again.

Enjoying the warmth.

Sharing the warmth.

Sharing the beautiful wishes equally offered to ourselves and to others.

And then,

For a little while,

Switching back into the investigation mode.

Once again,

Checking to see whether this flow of mental activity,

This beautiful play of tenderness and loving-kindness,

Once again,

Checking to see whether this flow of mental activity,

This beautiful play of tenderness and kindness,

Plus all the distracting thoughts that arise,

Checking whether any of it is inherently and truly mine,

As opposed to simply being a flow of mental activity.

Is there anything that makes it truly me or mine?

Is there anything that makes it truly me or mine?

And then,

Once again,

Letting go of the investigation,

To simply rest in the boundless flow of tender awareness,

Combined with the more crystallized wishes of loving-kindness,

Offered to everyone equally.

And then,

Letting go of the conscious effort to generate those states,

And resting in the spaciousness of awareness itself,

Without any particular reference point,

But maybe with the afterglow of tenderness and loving-kindness.

And then,

Out of that spaciousness,

Allowing the thoughts of dedication to arise,

Dedicating the energy of the practice,

The power of this practice,

To all the beautiful aspirations with which we began.

Then,

Coming back to our body,

Registering its presence here,

Its sensations in the current moment.

And then,

Gently reintroducing some movement to the body,

And slowly concluding this meditation.

Reviews

Love this oscillation between love and insight.

Thanks !

Gentle flow loving kindness meditation for self and others with inquiry.

Thank you very much for this interesting combination of different aspects of practice. 🙏🏽

Wonderful, feeling lighter and full of loving kindness yet empty from self. Thank you 🙏🏽 🌾

Quite liberating to experience/be tender awareness and love without grasping to it. Thank you so much for this meditation!