Day 096/365: Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm

This track includes several tools to help strengthen your meditation practice. About 15 minutes; Dharma talk/meditation advice and inspiration; about 15 minutes of guided meditation; about 30 minutes of silent meditation practice; and a Q&A session/closing thoughts after the meditation practice.

Transcript

For this class today,

We have Santa Claus sitting next to me very peacefully.

Many of you may wonder what that's doing here.

But actually the word Santa,

It's not a Latin word,

It actually comes from the Indo-Aryan roots meaning peaceful.

This is actually what Santa means,

It means something which is peace.

So you may know the Sanskrit form shanti.

So this is shanti clause,

In other words peaceful clause.

And it's very peaceful just sitting there doing hardly anything.

And that's actually how we meditate as well,

To learn how to just be still and learn how to be peaceful.

And once you understand that this meditation is about being still,

It's very clear that all the effort,

All the doing,

All the controlling,

All the working,

All the aiming,

All of the goals you set in meditation will actually be counterproductive and will make you work even more.

Even the biggest problem when people start thinking,

Thinking,

Thinking and they try and stop their thinking,

How on earth can you stop your thinking as an act of will?

It's actually the act of will which starts the thinking in the first place and keeps it going.

So really if you are bothered with thinking,

Just let it be.

Letting it be is another word for actually just observing and doing nothing,

Not controlling,

Not being a policeman of your meditation but just being a casual observer.

In fact being something more than a casual observer,

Someone who's celebrating just being in this moment.

So it's not just observing with equanimity,

It's putting a bit more joy and value into just what you are doing.

By putting that joy and value in what you are doing,

Just the same way you celebrate Christmas,

You enjoy it whether you are Buddhist or Muslim or whatever,

It's a nice time for people to take a day off work and just,

Actually many days off work and just to have a bit of a rest and enjoy oneself in the same way that meditation is a way of taking 40 minutes off the business of our lives and just enjoying ourselves,

Enjoying ourselves in the moment and celebrating peace.

We celebrate peace,

You will find that peace stays.

If you take it for granted,

Even though you know it's worthwhile,

But you take it for granted,

It will disappear.

One of the reasons why the monks disappear for three months at the monastery every year.

If we came and taught every afternoon and every Friday,

I don't think we'd be valued.

But when we disappear for a while,

Yeah,

That's a great way of being valued.

So sometimes we take these things for granted,

Even peace for granted.

The ability to be able to sit in a quiet place with nowhere to go and nothing to do for 40 minutes is a wonderful achievement.

So value this moment.

Don't just observe peacefully.

Observe valuing.

And that's all we really need to do.

We don't go around trying to chase away our thoughts.

If we try and chase them away and say stop,

Stop thinking,

We just actually add to the momentum of thinking.

Here we observe,

We let things be.

Sometimes people want to have a little bit more instructions on how to stop thinking.

So I developed a little simile which is,

Every one of you will be able to understand.

This is a simile of,

Actually I'm not quite sure,

Well,

Looking around many of you are old,

So you maybe understand.

It's the old cinemas you used to go to.

Of course people just get movies on the internet now so they don't need to go to cinemas,

They watch it on the computer or TV.

But in the days you would go to the cinema to watch a movie,

You'd be sitting in your nice upholstered chair and you'd be watching this movie play on the screen.

And after a couple of minutes you'd really get involved in that movie,

Sucked in as if you were acting on that screen.

I used to remember people doing this when I was young and watching movies.

I'm sure they do this these days.

Somebody creeps up behind the hero and somebody in the audience in the movie theatre shouts out,

Look out,

Behind you!

Remember that happening?

I do.

Well I can't hear you,

It's a movie.

That's been shot many months or years ago.

But nevertheless you can see what that signifies is somebody really gets sucked into the movie and as if they are right there.

And when the lovers meet,

Oh they start crying.

Have you ever gone there with the girls?

I remember going with the girlfriends when I was young and just they would cry,

Cry,

Cry.

What are you crying for?

It's only a movie.

Oh shut up,

You're not romantic enough.

Or they get scared when it's a very frightening movie.

If you always remember you're just sitting in the chair and you're just watching this on a screen.

You find you don't get attached.

You don't get caught up.

You don't get sucked in.

You have some degree of detachment.

And that is a wonderful way of dealing with thinking in the mind.

Just put it out there as if it was on a screen,

On a movie which you are watching or hearing.

And you are sitting in another place deep inside of yourself just like sitting in the upholstered chair of the movie theatre.

And as soon as you get that distance between you and what you're thinking about or what you're feeling,

You get that distance,

That separation,

That detachment,

You'll find that you don't get caught up in the thoughts.

Somebody may bang the door in the middle of the meditation.

If you can have that little separation you find it's just a noise,

That's all it is.

It's not anything which disturbs you.

If there's somebody who,

Well,

Maybe you,

Coughs or something.

If you get sucked into it like you get sucked into movies,

You really get upset.

But if you can get that little separation,

That distance between you,

The observer and the observed,

You'll find that the thoughts are just that,

They're just thoughts.

They don't suck you in.

They lose the source of their energy and they just fade away.

There's nothing of interest to keep them going.

So just that little metaphor,

That just way of looking at what you're experiencing,

Putting a space between you and the thoughts and the emotions,

Whatever it is,

You'll find that's called detachment and you'll find all those things will just fade away.

It's also the same as I keep telling every Saturday afternoon when I'm here,

Let go of the past and the future.

Why is it so hard to let go of this past?

Why is it so hard not to worry about the future?

Again,

Just like the movie,

We get sucked into it and our future becomes more real than our present moment.

All our plans and dreams and stuff,

That becomes our reality.

Just like getting sucked into the movie or in the TV production.

I remember some years ago,

It's amazing what people do.

It's lovely being a mum because you're outside of this,

You don't watch TV or movies.

I remember reading,

There was some film,

I think it was one of those soap operas in England or something,

Coronation Street or something.

There was some very,

Very bad thing happened in that series.

Somebody got put in jail for something they didn't do and people actually wrote to their parliamentarians and complained.

They could not tell the difference between a soap opera and reality.

Their minds have got so sucked into this and it's the same with your thoughts,

All those emotions,

You get sucked in and take that to be real.

Stand back and keep silence as reality.

The present moment,

Now,

That's real.

All this other stuff,

The thoughts,

The ideas,

The perceptions and projections which you put onto reality,

That's not real.

That's just your interpretation.

All the words.

I often just do as an example,

Picking up something.

I pick up this today.

What is this?

I'm holding up.

I know it's very hard on a Saturday afternoon to get you to say anything,

So I'm going to say it for you.

Some people say it's a glass,

It's got water in,

It's about six inches high,

It's no wider the top than the bottom,

It's transparent,

It's got reflections from the lights.

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah.

That's just names.

And a lot of times that's the world we live in,

Names and descriptions.

Sometimes you say,

What is this,

A glass?

You think you know it.

It's a glass.

I've captured it.

And you don't look any further.

So this is not a glass.

It's much more than that,

Which is why you keep looking at it,

Looking at it,

Looking at it.

The more you look,

The more you see,

That shows you just how in this world of thoughts and perceptions,

We think it's real,

The reality is much deeper,

Much wider,

Much more beautiful than just these words of names.

So what we're doing,

When we separate ourselves from the screen of the movie theatre,

This is not just a glass,

It's not just got water in it,

It's much more than that.

It's my meditation,

Visual aid.

More than that.

But when we do that,

We find we don't get caught up in our thoughts.

We separate ourselves.

Not the past,

Not the future,

That's just more words and thoughts.

We separate ourselves and here we're sitting in this moment,

In a reality space and all this other stuff,

Because we see it for what it is,

Loses its importance and fades away.

Any psychologist knows,

Whatever you remember about the past probably didn't happen.

It's just an imagination of perception.

You argue about who did what yesterday and you're both absolutely certain you're correct.

Every psychologist knows that we create the past.

There's a kernel of truth in it,

But we add so much that our memories cannot be trusted.

And as for the future,

What do you think is going to happen?

Never does happen.

It's always something else.

Usually something worse.

No,

Actually sometimes something better.

But it's never what I expect.

So I know that all of that is just projection,

It's fantasies.

And it's also,

It just gives you such a burden to worry about.

So when you sit in your seat and all this past and the future is just so much stuff on the screen of the movie theatre,

All these thoughts is just so much commentary coming out of the speakers.

When you separate yourself,

No longer do you give it any energy.

And it starts to go quieter and quieter as you come back to what's really valuable.

Just this present moment.

Silently,

Just being.

Letting it be.

It's a great word to let it be.

You're not letting being happen.

You're always going somewhere.

You're letting the future,

Letting the thoughts,

Letting the past be.

But what really is important is being right here,

Right now.

Where there can be some peace,

Some freedom,

Some wisdom,

Some truth.

That we always reject.

So please be here.

When I first meditate I usually come,

You know,

To the most powerful feelings in my mind which when I close my eyes is my body.

That if it's the same with you,

Maybe I'm getting old,

There's always some ache,

Some heat,

Some cold,

Some pressure somewhere.

As soon as I use that feeling to actually focus myself in the present moment.

Because you know,

Feelings of the body always happen now.

Feelings in the body,

They don't leave much residue.

Feeling comes and then afterwards it's just gone.

It's a new feeling.

A painful feeling,

They may continue but this feeling right now is always new,

It's always in the moment.

It's one of the reasons I ask people if they have a lot of trouble stopping thinking,

Going out into nature,

Letting the rain fall on their face,

Getting soaking wet,

Feeling what it's like to be wet,

Taking your shoes and socks off and just walking on the grass or on the pavement,

Feeling what it's like.

Because when you get into physical sensations,

You actually feel alive.

Listen to the sound of the birds,

Feel the wind on your face.

All of these things bring you into this moment,

These physical sensations.

And if you can do that,

You can stop thinking.

So I do that when I start meditating,

I feel the body.

Sometimes it's not that pleasant but it's not that unpleasant,

It's just bodily feeling and it focuses me in this moment.

And if it is a little bit unpleasant,

It's very easy to deal with,

As I keep saying again every Saturday afternoon,

I give it kindness.

You know what it's like when you give kindness to things?

They change.

I call it the prince kissing the frog.

Once upon a time,

There was a handsome prince who was very wealthy.

It's Christmas,

Okay.

So it's time for a fairy story.

There was a handsome prince who was walking down the road somewhere and he saw this very ugly frog with warts on her and the little frog called out,

Hey,

I'm not really a frog,

I'm this drop dead gorgeous hot princess who's had a spell put on her by some wicked witch,

Just give me a kiss and I'll do whatever you want.

And the prince kisses the ugly frog and of course the ugly frog turns into this beautiful wonderful princess and they all live happily ever after.

Now what is the meaning of that story?

What ugly frog of a body with warts on it and everything else,

Yuck.

Who would want to kiss that?

Right,

You kiss it.

In other words,

You embrace it with love and kindness,

With compassion.

This is actually where that story comes from,

I reckon,

Because if you give compassion to a painful,

Hot,

Tired,

Aching,

Old,

Ugly,

Warty body,

Give it love and kindness,

It turns into a beautiful prince or princess.

It's not what my body does.

You're aching the knee,

Mindfulness and compassion,

It's all right.

Then the pain disappears,

Everything starts to relax,

It becomes free,

It becomes this beautiful body able to do whatever I want.

That's what happens with compassion.

So I start with the body just to focus myself in the present moment and to stop any thoughts I have of seeing the builder afterwards or whatever,

Stop all of that,

Feel the body,

Come into the present moment,

Give it compassion and everything starts to relax.

You're in the present moment,

You're in a comfortable body and you've also started the mindfulness and compassion which is so important.

Your body is relaxed when you do the same thing to your mind.

All the pain of the mind which is worries about the past,

Anxiety is about the future,

All that stuff which has happened to you,

All that tightness and heaviness inside your mind,

Give it a kiss.

You're all right,

Mind,

It's okay.

Then it turns into this beautiful holy mind,

A mind of peace,

Of kindness.

That's actually how you stop the thinking and that is how you develop deep meditation.

So whatever problem you have in your meditation today,

Regard that as the ugly prince,

The ugly frog,

Sorry,

Embrace it with kindness and see if you can take away the spell and to turn the ugly,

The angry,

The guilt-ridden,

The anxious,

The rotten old mind into the most beautiful mind you would ever imagine.

Agra kadabra,

Pizzazz,

Whatever it is.

So there we go.

I don't know any spells these days.

I should watch more Harry Potter movies and I'll be able to find out what the spell is.

So there we are,

That's the meditation instructions today.

So if you'd like to get yourselves nice and comfortable,

If you're not already.

You stand to close nodding,

This posture is not that good.

Come on,

Straighten your back.

That's much better.

Very good.

Okay,

Close your eyes.

And as I said,

With your eyes closed,

See if you can become aware of your body.

What is the most prominent feeling right now in your body?

It's something which you can ameliorate by moving something,

Then move,

Adjust the legs,

Adjust the bottoms,

Scratch yourself.

Sometimes I make this joke,

I repeat it every three months because sometimes people have got bad memories.

That because in this type of meditation,

We close our eyes when we do this meditation.

So anyone who wants to pick their nose or put their finger in their ear,

Please feel free to do so.

No one is watching you.

Don't open your eyes.

Be kind to yourself.

As you're aware of your body,

When we're unfeeling,

Everything starts to fade away.

As you relax,

Other feelings will come up.

See if you can relax those too.

If you got your chronic aches and pains,

Head aches,

Gut aches,

Knee aches,

Whatever those aches are,

Regard them as an ugly frog.

See if you can really embrace it with kindness,

Kissing the warty frog.

In the very least,

Imagine you're sitting in a movie theater or at home on your sofa watching a movie on TV and all these feelings in the body,

The aches,

The pains,

The tiredness,

Whatever it is.

Locate yourself from them.

As if you,

The observer,

Are sitting in a chair and all these feelings,

Sensations,

Are being played out on a screen a few feet in front of you.

These feelings aren't you.

They're just pain,

They're heats,

They're aches,

But they're not you.

You are separate,

They're on the screen,

Like you watching a movie.

The reality is where you're sitting.

You get sucked in to the play of the movie.

It's all over with.

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When the body is nice and relaxed.

Then you relax the mental well.

Same process.

Any thoughts,

Memories of the past.

Memories of the past.

Bands anxieties for the future.

Put space between you,

The observer.

And those things.

Don't make them real.

Don't get sucked into them.

You get sucked into the past.

Sucked into fantasies.

Sucked into the future.

You'll never find peace.

You're this observer.

Sitting peacefully.

Separated from all of that.

Seated in the present.

Let all the past and future go.

Let this moment be.

Let value be.

Let value be rather than controlling it.

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Reviews

Many blessing to Ajahn Brahm for all his wisdom and knowledge. Wonderful talks and meditations. ☮️💖🙏🕉️