Let's begin,
As always,
By settling the body in its natural state,
Step by step,
Settling the body in a quality of ease,
Comfort,
Relaxation,
Immediately feeling existential tension draining away from the shoulders,
The face.
For the duration of this session,
Let the body,
As it is said traditionally,
Let the body be still like a mountain,
Your awareness still like space,
So a breathing mountain,
But with no unnecessary movement.
In the sitting position,
Let the spine be very straight,
The sternum raised,
The belly soft.
In the supine position,
Adopt a psychological stance of this being a posture for meditation.
The psychological stance of vigilance,
And you may round off this initial settling of the body by taking three slow deep breaths,
If you find this helpful.
And then rise to the challenge of settling the respiration in its natural rhythm,
Egolessly breathing,
Relinquishing all control,
Relinquishing all preference,
All effort.
And take advantage of every out-breath to release residual tension in the body,
Release any involuntary thoughts,
Just let them go with every out-breath,
As you relax,
Let go all the way through the out-breath,
Continue letting go as the next breath flows in.
As we've done before,
Let the awareness permeate the whole field of the body,
Being aware of tactile sensations of firmness and solidity,
For example,
Where your body is in contact with the ground,
With your seat,
Sensations of heat and cold,
Sensations of movement,
Including the movement of the breath,
Of tingling,
Of vibration,
Whatever sensations arise within this field.
Quietly,
Non-reactively,
Observe them,
Be aware of them without distraction,
Without being carried away by thoughts,
Without letting your attention being drawn away to other sense fields such as the visual,
The auditory.
Be aware of whatever arises within the space of the body,
Without distraction,
Without grasping,
To the best of your ability,
Without preference,
I like,
I don't like,
Without superimposing upon these tactile sensations,
Mental images,
Without grasping onto these sensations as being I or mine,
Just let them arise in the space of the body as natural events that are just what they are,
With no ownership.
And now let's redirect the attention away from the field of the body,
This field of tactile sensations,
To the field of the mind,
To the domain of experience where specifically mental events arise,
Those that cannot be detected or directly observed by means of any of the five physical senses,
Or frankly by any means of technology either.
Mental events such as thoughts,
Mental images,
Desires,
Emotions,
Memories,
Fantasies,
At this point let your eyes be at least partially open,
Your gaze resting vacantly in the space in front of you,
Without specifically paying attention to any visual object,
Any shape or color,
As if you were caught up in daydreaming,
Let your eyes be vacant but open,
As you direct the full force of your attention to the domain,
The space,
The field of mental events.
If you've never done this before,
You may wonder where to look,
Is it in front of you,
Above,
Inside your body,
Nowhere located in physical space,
But nevertheless a discrete domain of experience,
To find a target to place your attention in that field,
Deliberately generate a thought,
A discursive thought,
It could be any that you like,
But a very neutral one is simply the thought,
This is the mind.
Generate this thought,
Syllable by syllable,
And as you do so,
Direct the full force of your attention to the thought that is arising moment by moment.
The thought dissolves back into the space of the mind,
Keep your attention right where it was,
You've now placed your attention in the field of the mind,
And now simply quietly observe what's the next event,
What is the next event to arise in this domain,
Another discursive thought,
A mental image?
If you become simply spaced out or immediately get caught up in wandering mind,
Crystallize your attention on another thought,
Or it could be a mental image,
Visualize anything you like,
Focus on it,
Let the image dissolve,
Keep your attention right where it was,
But let your mind,
That is your awareness rather,
Be very much at ease,
Still like space,
Your body relaxed from the core,
So non-reactive,
Quietly observe whatever arises within the space of the mind,
Without judgment,
Without labeling,
Without desire or aversion,
Without any attempt to control,
Just let it be,
Whether there are many thoughts or few,
Whether they are rough or gentle,
Observe whatever arises in the space of the mind without distraction,
Without being carried away by the thought,
To the referent of the thought,
Or what the thought is about,
Keep your attention hovering right in the immediacy of the present moment,
Attending to whatever is arising from moment to moment,
Without distraction,
And then without grasping a very subtle challenge,
To attend to the contents of the mind,
Without aversion or desire,
Without latching on to them as I or mine,
Just being present,
Luminously,
Discerningly,
Quietly,
Mindful of whatever arises within the space of the mind,
Mindful of the space in which these events are arising.
Awareness is directed towards the space of the mind and whatever arises within it,
But we also need to utilize our faculty of introspection,
By which we monitor the meditative process.
With introspection,
As soon as you see that you have been carried away by a thought,
There's no reason to be frustrated or impatient,
It's bound to happen,
But as soon as you see you've been carried away,
Or caught up in excitation,
Let your immediate response be to relax more deeply,
To let go not of the thought,
Not to banish the thought,
But simply to let go of the grasping onto the thought,
To relax deeply and let your awareness return once again to the space of the mind.
If at times you find your mind becoming unclear,
Spaced out,
Falling into laxity,
Freshly arouse your attention,
Take a fresh interest in the practice,
And you may,
If it helps,
Also once again crystallize your attention by giving it a clear focus,
Generate a thought or mental image,
Attend to it,
Let it pass,
And keep your attention right where it was.
Let's continue practicing now in silence.
