Thanks for joining me today.
Today I'm at a local arboretum where our sangha sits on Saturdays and I thought I'd come here today and record a short meditation out in the world away from our controlled quiet if we like homes and spaces and into the world that we all live in with the interruptions the beauty the sounds all of it sometimes they call it the 10,
000 things but it's all here and so I'm gonna sit with you and guide this practice and whether you're listening to this at home in your own quiet space or you take this out into the world and sit with your own sounds that are in your neck of the woods it's important to understand that even if we completely try to control the situation we don't get to control everything so we may want it quiet and the phone rings or someone knocks on the door or a car alarm goes off or a murder of crows is really really excited and they're on the roof and they're beating on the gutter in my neighborhood the train passes at all times of the day or night and some of the engineers really like to make it known and lay on the horn and that's just how it is at that moment and so in this time we're gonna spend together I can't tell you what sounds we're going to enjoy together but all of them the so-called man-made noises and the so-called nature made sounds they all come from things on this mother earth they're all connected and we should try not to judge them we should just notice them we can notice how we feel about them but judging isn't helpful noticing what arises is and the other important thing about these sounds and whatever sensations arise and all of it really is that whatever arises well at some point cease to be sound smells tastes days nights all of it so with that take a posture that feels comfortable and upright I'm sitting and half shade half Sun the warmth feels beautiful and take a few slow deep breaths inhaling and holding for a moment exhaling a little bit longer inhaling again holding and releasing more time and release and then just allow the breath to be natural let the hands rest wherever is comfortable I prefer the eyes closed especially the Sun is towards the eyes where I am so it's more pleasant with them closed and then let's just begin by settling with the breath for a few moments and now we can turn our attention from the breath to the ears as I'm sure you can hear there are cars driving by there's people in the distance talking and yelling and laughing there's all kinds of chirps and twitches and beeps from the birds and insects and whatnot in the vicinity but just pay attention to whatever you hear be it from the speakers or in your environment and as we notice these sounds do your best not to judge them do your best not to figure them out but simply hear them and just be mindful of of that moment the arising of laughter the ceasing of laughter when we really pay attention to the sounds that are in our environment you can realize how rich a resource this is for learning to just pay attention to the present moment teeming with life with energy if you noticed a sound and there's a version that's okay no need to judge yourself or the sound but just notice that this sound at the moment causes this to arise in me maybe the laughter brings appreciation mudita joy for others joy for others happiness many of the sounds and the opportunity to sit to sit on this beautiful day the second day of fall in this beautiful space not far from my home just being in this moment brings gratitude that's what arises for me gratitude for the opportunity for the place for my physical body that I can do this I wasn't always able to do this I won't always be able to do this but I can now and so there's thankfulness for that and as I feel often while sitting is a deep love of practice and again gratitude gratitude that practice exists gratitude for each practitioner that came before me and us all the way back to the Buddha and even his teachers and everyone before that made this opportunity today possible and gratitude that when I was introduced to practice that for whatever reason fate karma I don't know allowed me to be curious and stick with it and for that I will be forever grateful as you sit here today being mindful of the sounds and what arises in you on account of them is gratitude one of those sensations that you notice these last few moments you can let go of the mindfulness of the sounds around you let go of contemplating vade into the feeling tones of the experience and just sit just just be thank you for your practice today
