GONG In the metaphor of mindfulness as the gatekeeper,
Begin by thinking of the body or more broadly our being as the fortress.
We don't have to think of it as a forbidding,
Cold,
Gray thing.
Make it as lovely as you like.
While getting ready to meditate,
Think of the body as that fortress,
Knowing you've picked a reasonably good spot for a foundation to place this body.
Aware of the contact with the floor or seat cushioned with the earth and with our awareness,
Our careful attention,
We can build this idea,
Moving up the body,
Seeing the body as balanced in space as a fortress might be built up and balanced.
Slowly scanning upward with our awareness,
All the way up the spine,
Letting the spine be nice and upright so the rest of the body can relax around it,
Just as stones don't work hard to rest on each other,
Imagine the spine stacked nicely,
The head resting easily,
Eyes gently closed.
Let's turn our attention to the rising and falling of the breath,
Just staying with each moment of the rising breath and each moment of the falling breath.
If the mind happens to wander,
We remember to return.
You Recall that this kind of steady attention is good for the mind,
The ability to stay where we wish.
So the gatekeeper,
Mindfulness,
Allows this thought of returning to the breath.
Let yourself notice the refreshing aspects of the breath,
Anything that feels good and refreshing,
Pleasant,
No matter how small or large,
Just noticing that.
This is a harmless and actually helpful kind of pleasure,
A pleasure from within,
And letting our awareness of the breath grow with that pleasure,
We encounter this pleasant feeling with the sensations of breath and let that spread and grow in the body.
This is the beginning of the idea of concentration as food for the fortress.
We are able to stay here with this body because we're nourished.
We build a comfortable abiding through steady attention on the breath and awareness of the body,
Sensations of breath in the body at first,
And gradually growing our awareness,
And ultimately we have a broad general awareness of the body from within,
A pleasant abiding.
Everyone in the fortress is well fed through our steady returning to the breath,
And the gatekeeper is happy to keep doing the job.
And we stay with the breath,
Stay with the body,
Not holding too tight,
More of a steadiness than a grasping type of staying.
The mind slips off,
The gentle reminder,
Stay.
And if thoughts intrude,
We can assess them.
Is this a thought of goodwill,
A thought for well-being,
Or about the pleasant breath or body?
Is there elated to this meditation right now?
If it's a distressing thought,
Has something to do with greed or distress with reference to the world,
It doesn't come in.
The gatekeeper says,
Sorry,
You can't enter.
Maintaining the breath,
Maintaining the abiding in the body with goodwill for ourselves,
Goodwill for the world.
As we prepare to end the sitting,
Take a moment to reflect how you can take this metaphor with you.
Imagine your being as a dynamic fortress,
A friendly and strong fortress,
The coming and going of goodness under the kind and watchful eye of the gatekeeper.
You you
