This morning,
I would like to build off of the teachings that we experienced in the last several weeks,
The teachings of the five hindrances that we've been exploring for the month of January.
These hindrances are habits in the mind that are obstacles to freedom in our meditation practice and in our life.
How I intend to build off of these teachings of the five obstacles,
Which are desire,
Aversion,
Sloth and torpor,
Restlessness,
And doubt.
So these are the five strategies that we unconsciously respond to life from.
And they can be made conscious.
And once they're conscious,
We can practice shifting away from that which hinders us and makes us tight and relax and open.
So we can move to a relaxed,
Open awareness.
This is what's possible when we bring light and seeing to these hindrances.
The approach that I'll offer for this time ahead will be the approach from the Burmese monk and Vipassana teacher,
Sayadaw Uteshania.
He emphasizes practicing in a relaxed but continuous way.
So rather than focusing our efforts in formal practice,
We begin to open the field of awareness to all of our experiences.
So after we get off the cushion or chair of our practice spot and go into our life,
His approach is about our relationship to everything.
He says natural awareness is recognizing everything that's happening without using a lot of effort.
You need to watch all day long,
But you can't be concentrated all day long.
Meditation is for all the time,
Now,
Always,
Everywhere.
Not just to be enjoyed during a stay in the forest on retreat.
So Uteshania compares Vipassana practice to running a marathon.
If anyone's ever run a marathon here,
You know it's kind of like you have to be steady.
There's a steady,
Continuous effort,
But you need to be relaxed,
Otherwise it won't work out.
It's not like relentless mental and physical energy.
That's not what we're talking about.
But kind of a steady patience.
Cultivating awareness is a practice of patience.
And then we kind of build up a natural momentum.
And what starts to occur is that we're integrating continuous practice in all of our activities.
And what this does is it strengthens what are known as the five spiritual faculties.
Not the hindrances,
Okay?
So the five spiritual faculties are faith,
Energy,
Which we'll talk a little bit about,
Mindfulness,
Concentration,
And wisdom.
So instead of feeding the hindrances,
We're feeding the five spiritual faculties with our awareness,
As we deepen awareness in everyday life.
One of his senior students,
A Dharma teacher named Alexis Santos,
Talks about Uteshania's establishment of this continuous awareness using the image of a sunflower.
And he says,
You know,
The sunflower,
It just rests there,
And it faces the sun,
And in this very open way,
Receives everything it needs to grow and flourish as a flower.
It doesn't require straining to get to the life,
To get to the light,
You know.
It's just open and receiving,
And then it grows.
So this is the way that we,
Too,
Practice.
And in this particular teaching,
The emphasis is on establishing wisdom.
Because wisdom dissolves suffering.
So the more that we can be aware,
The more we can nourish wisdom.
So tying this back to the hindrances,
The five hindrances are kind of like weeds in the mind.
And the weeds have roots,
You know.
These roots are described in the suttas as unwholesome roots in the mind.
And if any of you are gardeners,
We can see that,
You know,
In a garden,
Weeds can really take over.
So awareness practice is bringing attention to these weeds,
These unwholesome roots.
And the unwholesome roots in this teaching are known as craving.
So the wanting mind,
Desire,
Right?
Desire,
Aversion is also pushing away.
There's a not wanting,
That's also part of a craving.
So craving is the wanting,
Aversion is the pushing away.
And delusion,
Which doubt and rumination,
Restlessness,
Falling asleep,
Checking out,
That all kind of falls into delusion.
In the Zen tradition,
They say delusions are inexhaustible.
And you can see that,
Right?
Delusions are inexhaustible.
So these hindrances are really teachers,
Because they show us the weeds in the mind to pull.
But to pull them,
We actually have to see them first.
And maybe we're not even,
You know,
Very good gardeners.
We don't know how to deal with these unskillful roots in the mind.
So we practice awareness,
Because awareness grows wisdom.
So the way we're going to start this is we're going to explore effort,
The effort that we use in our practice.
So when you sit down to meditate in your sit spot,
What's the attitude?
Are you trying to get something out of your practice?
Are you labeling it hard?
Is sitting down to practice an escape?
What effort are you putting forward?
And what is your meditation for you?
When I think about this question,
For me,
It's a period of focused awareness.
You know,
In a sense,
I think of it like a camera lens.
And I'm closing the aperture a little bit,
So that when I open it wider in my daily life,
I've set up how I'm going to meet my day.
In the book Relax and Be Aware by Uteshania,
He has this lovely way of expressing wise effort.
He says the way that we wake up every day and open our eyes and seeing begins to happen,
To be aware in that way.
This morning,
I woke up and opened my eyes and I was aware of my visual field.
Now,
It doesn't often consciously happen that I notice this.
But as I'm working towards and cultivating awareness in all of my activities,
It's helpful to start with the very first thing.
When we do this,
Awareness begins to build.
In those moments of just,
I'm opening my eyes and I'm aware of my visual field,
We realize our present moment experience.
We're just realizing it,
That's all.
So it's a gentle turning our attention over to what's happening.
That's it.
Uteshania has this lovely advice,
He says,
Don't see something as a problem,
Just see it as it is.
So what I'd like to offer you until we meet again is really simple,
But not always easy.
Just be aware and know what you're aware of.
