This meditation is mind like the sky meditation.
In this meditation we allow the mind to be large enough to include everything that arises in our experience,
Like the sky that contains everything that comes into it and passes through it.
The Buddha said,
Develop a mind that is vast like space,
Where experiences both pleasant and unpleasant can appear and disappear without conflict,
Struggle or harm.
Rest in a mind like vast sky.
So for this meditation sit comfortably and at ease.
Let your body be at ease,
The breath natural.
Allow your eyes to close.
Let your attention come inward.
You can take several full breaths and just release and let go of any tension,
Anything you might be holding on the out-breath.
Allow yourself to be still and at ease.
And now let your awareness move from the breath and open to the sounds around you.
Notice the quieter sounds,
The louder sounds,
The nearer sounds,
Those that are more distant.
With the sounds inside your own body,
If you can hear them,
The sounds of the inner ear.
And just listen.
Notice how all sounds arise and pass without leaving a trace.
And listen for a time in a relaxed and easy way.
As you listen,
Let yourself feel or imagine that your mind is not limited to your head.
Notice your mind expanding to be like the wide open sky,
Clear and fast.
No inside,
No outside.
Let this awareness of your mind extend in every direction like the sky.
Let the sounds you hear arise and pass away in the open space of your mind.
Relax in this openness and just listen.
Listen to the sound of the bell.
Let the sounds that come and go.
The sounds near and distant.
Be like clouds passing through the wide open sky of your awareness.
The sounds move through the sky,
Appearing and disappearing without resistance.
The sounds of the bell.
As you rest in this open awareness,
Notice how thoughts and images also arise and pass like sounds.
Let the thoughts and the images come and go without resistance,
Without struggle.
Words,
Images,
Feelings,
Thoughts move,
They come and go in this wide open space of the mind.
Let the mind be like the vast open sky that contains all that passes through it.
The thoughts,
The words,
The images,
The sounds,
The sensations coming and going and being known in this vast open sky of awareness.
And now let this awareness open to the body.
Become aware of how the sensations of breath and body come and go.
Arise for a time.
Stay and then pass away in the same open sky of awareness.
Sense the body not as a solid object but as sensation,
As hardness,
Softness,
Tingling,
Warmth,
Spaciousness,
Dryness.
All of these sensations floating in the space of the mind's awareness.
Let all these changing sensations come and go,
Float in and out of this open sky of awareness.
Let the thoughts and the images,
The sensations and the sounds come and go like clouds passing through the sky in this open space of awareness.
And pay attention to the awareness itself.
Notice how this awareness is naturally clear,
Transparent,
Allowing all things to come and go but not being limited by them.
Develop a mind that is vast like space,
Where experiences both pleasant and unpleasant can appear and disappear without conflict,
Struggle or harm.
Rest in a mind like vast sky.
