5 Reflections For Everyone - Ksantikara

Ksantikara guides us through a reflective meditation originally taught by the Buddha 2500 years ago in ancient India. The 5 Reflections for Everyone cover aspects of life that all humans may experience and be subject to. These include old age, sickness and death as well as being the heir to our own actions in the world (Karma). By reflecting on these, we can develop clarity about the preciousness of our lives as well as gather inspiration that can motivate us towards the ideal of Enlightenment.

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Kshanti Kara and I'm once again talking to you from the London Buddha Centre Shrine Room.

I hope you've had a chance to try a few of our guided meditations before you try this one.

Suffering is an inescapable part of life.

Legend has it that when Gotama,

Who later became the Buddha,

Left his palace as a young man,

He saw for the first time an old man,

A sick man and a corpse.

He realised that our lives include impermanence,

Struggle and pain.

Later,

The Buddha saw that suffering stems from the greed,

Hatred and ignorance in our minds,

Our constant craving for that which we think will make us happier or more complete,

The pushing away,

The being adverse to that which is unpleasant or painful or uncomfortable,

And underneath all of that,

The ignorance we have to the situation we are in,

The reality of life and of death and of the laws of karma.

Karma simply means action and the law of karma tells us that our actions of body,

Speech and mind create our future or create the sort of future that we'll experience.

Our actions have consequences.

When we act from these poisons of greed,

Hatred and ignorance,

Of craving,

Aversion and confusion,

We set up a life for ourselves that will have pain and suffering and dissatisfaction.

But by reflecting on suffering,

On old age,

On sickness,

On death,

And by reflecting of the law of karma that actions have consequences,

We turn our attention to reality,

Reality with a capital R.

And it is in this way that the Buddha saw at his enlightenment that we can all end our suffering if we are aware of our situation and start to respond differently.

So today we'll be meditating on the Buddha's five reflections for everyone.

These reflections are the facts of life.

They're anti-ignorance,

Turn our minds to reality.

And if we're patient and attentive,

They can set us free.

So let's give it a go.

Let's see how it what happens with us today.

So you can just settle yourself into your meditation posture,

Either sitting on a chair,

Maybe a cushion or a stool.

And I'll guide us through these reflections.

Before we try and reflect,

It's really important that we cultivate some integration and some positive emotion.

So we'll start there with this guided meditation today.

So as I said before,

Setting yourself up in your meditation posture,

Making yourself as comfortable as you can.

In our meditation postures,

We're trying to achieve an uprightness,

But also a relaxedness.

Relaxed and yet alert.

Sinking heavy into the ground,

While rising into the sky.

Let's take a few moments to soften our bodies,

Integrating our energy.

So we can particularly notice our face,

The muscles of our face.

There's no need to hold any particular facial expression right now.

But notice if there's any tightness or holding on around your eyes or your mouth.

Are you clenching your jaw?

Let's stop doing all of that right now.

Let's soften the muscles of our face,

Smoothing out any tension.

Doing what we can to let go of any clenching or holding on.

Notice too if you're holding on in your shoulders.

Allow your shoulder blades to fall down your back.

With your hands supported on your lap,

On a blanket or a cushion,

You can really let go of the weight of your arms,

Widening the gap between your ear and your shoulder,

Increasing the air around your neck.

Are you holding on in your belly?

Most of us have a tendency to hold our bellies in,

Maybe even upwards slightly.

Can you feel any holding on or tightness around your belly?

Just rest your attention on that tightness.

Perhaps take a slightly deeper breath.

Not forcing it too much.

Once again doing what you can to just let that tension go.

Give yourself up to the meditation.

Sinking down into the ground,

Rising up into the sky,

Softening the experience of our body.

Let's start to notice our breath with our softened bodies,

Having let go of some of our tension.

We can place our awareness on our breath.

We don't need to change the pace of our breath.

Just notice as the breath comes in and out of your body.

Where in the body can you feel the sensations of the breath?

Perhaps noting particularly where it's pleasant.

Perhaps there's a whisper and breath on your lips,

A sort of tingle.

Maybe there's expanding in your throat.

Maybe just the simple act of the chest moving up and down against your clothing.

Notice the sensations of the breath as it comes in and out of your body.

And with our soft bodies,

Our subtle awareness of the sensations of our breath,

Let's turn our attention now to our heart center,

The center point of our chest.

In the background we can still be aware of our body.

In the background we can be aware of our breath.

Pressing our attention in our chest,

In our heart center.

And gently saying to ourselves,

Silently and sporadically,

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be free from suffering.

Just like everyone in the world,

We want to be well.

We want to be happy.

And we want to be free from suffering.

Allow yourself to wish that for you and your own life.

Dropping in the phrases into your experience.

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be free from suffering.

In order to reflect on our lives,

In order to become aware of reality,

In order for us to reflect on the Dharma,

The teaching of the Buddha,

It's important for us to have this awareness of our body,

This subtle sense of our breath.

And through wishing ourselves well,

To be in touch with our emotional feeling sense,

Our imagination even.

So having cultivated integration,

Having cultivated positive emotion,

We're ready for the five reflections for everyone.

And as I guide you through these reflections,

Stay in contact with your body.

If at any point you need to,

You can once again comb through the experience of your body,

Softening your face,

Shoulders,

Belly,

Sinking into the ground,

Rising into the sky.

If you were to get distracted,

Just be aware of your breath for a while.

Or if you become despondent,

Bored,

Frightened,

Stop and wish yourself well.

Wish yourself happy,

And wish yourself free from suffering.

So just taking another minute to settle into your body.

Have something of an awareness of your breath.

Doing what you can to cultivate an emotional awareness and to wish yourself well.

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be free from suffering.

So as we move now to the reflection part of this meditation,

Staying in touch with all we've cultivated so far,

We'll drop these five phrases into our experience,

Saying each sentence slowly to ourself,

Staying in touch with our body,

And in touch with our heart.

There's no need to think when we reflect.

Reflection in Buddhism isn't an intellectual exercise.

We drop in these phrases and then we look for a felt response,

Sensations in the breath,

A change in the experience of our body,

An effect on our emotion.

Reflection is about being relaxed and attentive and just letting the reflections land in our experience.

Perhaps repeating these phrases a few times to yourself and allowing what arises to arise.

The five reflections for everyone.

I am subject to aging.

I will grow old.

I am subject to sickness.

I will grow sick.

I am subject to death.

I will die.

At some point I must be parted from whatever I love and is dear to me.

I am the owner of my actions,

Heir to my actions.

The karma I create shapes the course of my life.

Whatever I do for good or for evil,

Of that I will be the heir.

Allowing these reflections to land in your experience.

No particular need to think or to do anything.

Just dropping the phrases into your being,

Into your mind and being attentive to what you experience.

I am subject to aging.

I will grow old.

I am subject to sickness.

I will grow sick.

I am subject to death.

I will die.

I must be parted from whatever I love and is dear to me.

I am the owner of my actions,

Heir to my actions.

The karma I create shapes the course of my life.

Whatever I do for good or for evil,

Of that I will be the heir.

Five facts of life that the Buddha encourages us to reflect upon.

Most days can pass like a blur.

Most days may not have much meaning at all.

But all along there's something mysterious to life,

Whether we decide to look at it,

To reflect on it,

Or whether we don't.

But really we all know,

I am subject to aging.

I will grow old.

I am subject to sickness.

I will grow sick.

I am subject to death.

I will die.

I must be parted from whatever I love and is dear to me.

I am the owner of my actions,

Heir to my actions.

The karma I create shapes the course of my life.

Whatever I do for good or for evil,

Of that I will be the heir.

If while reflecting you start to feel low,

Panicky or distressed,

Then you can just take a break.

Go back to these phases of integration and positive emotion,

Combing through the experience of your body,

Letting go of tension where you can,

Anchoring your experience in your breath and taking a while to wish yourself well.

And then we can return to these phrases once again with our softened bodies,

With our subtle sensations of the breath,

With our well-wishing,

And with our complicated,

Mysterious,

Beautiful humanness.

We just drop these reflections into our experience.

No need to think about them,

Unpack them,

Or worry about them.

Just taking this moment,

This meditation,

To become aware of reality,

Aware of some of the truths of life,

And trusting in the advice of the Buddha that these reflections are worth reflecting on,

And in the end,

They may set us free.

I am subject to aging.

I will grow old.

I am subject to sickness.

I will grow sick.

I am subject to death.

I will die.

I must be parted from whatever I love and is dear to me.

I am the owner of my actions,

Heir to my actions.

The karma I create shapes the course of my life.

Whatever I do for good or for evil,

Of that I will be the heir.

And as we reflect,

Don't worry if nothing is happening.

Just keep relaxing,

Once again tuning into your body,

Tuning into your heart,

And wishing yourself well.

Dropping these reflections into your experience.

And in a way,

We're just looking for an intuitive sense,

A sense of a penny dropping,

A sense of yes,

That's true,

That's life.

That's all we're trying to do now.

We're just dropping these phrases into our experience,

Noticing our response.

Maybe that's a response of nothing very much.

Maybe it's a sense of sadness,

A sense of happiness.

They might make us tense or relaxed.

Dropping these reflections into our experience and noticing our response.

I am subject to aging.

I will grow old.

I am subject to sickness.

I will grow sick.

I am subject to death.

I will die.

I must be parted from whatever I love and is dear to me.

I am the owner of my actions,

Heir to my actions.

The calmer I create shapes the course of my life.

Whatever I do for good or for evil,

Of that I will be the heir.

For the last few moments of this meditation,

I'll allow you in your own time to reflect on these reflections,

On old age,

Sickness,

Death,

Being parted from what we love,

And the law of karma.

I am subject to aging.

I will grow old.

I am subject to sickness.

I will grow sick.

I am subject to death.

I will die.

I must be parted from whatever I love and is dear to me.

I am the owner of my actions,

Heir to my actions.

The calmer I create shapes the course of my life.

Whatever I do for good or for evil,

Of that I will be the heir.

I am the owner of my actions,

Heir to my actions.

I am the heir.

I am the heir.

Great.

So taking your time to absorb the practice,

To allow these five reflections to settle,

There's no need to rush to your next activity,

And see if you can keep a sense of these reflections alive as you go through your day,

As you go through your week.

I'll place these five reflections in the description box below.

Have a go at reflecting on them,

Perhaps trying this meditation once again.

But for now,

Until next time,

It's a goodbye from me.

Reviews

Excellent 🙏Thank you so much, will return to this often.

Thank you for sharing 🙏🏽🪷

🙏 Lovely guidance. Thank you 🙏

I found this so grounding and helpful. Thank you so much 🙏🏽

Thank you for these precious teachings🙏

First time I've ever found a meditation on the daily reflections. I loved learning it.

Marvelous! Very nicely guided. Very calming and centering and one I'll come back to. Lovely lesson. Thank you. ☮️💖🙏