Anapanasati 15: Receptive Attention

The short talk here discusses the idea of receptive attention, attending to the sensation of our experience in the moment, rather than to our interpretation of that experience. In this way, our engagement with experience becomes an act of reception, where the value is in our presence to the nature of what is revealed, rather than in an effort to understand it.

This is followed by a guided meditation, which includes periods of silence.

Transcript

So last week we talked about two different kinds of attention,

Directed attention and receptive attention,

And I wanted to just touch back on those again for a minute.

The difference between the two at heart is in by directing our attention to the sensation of our experience in the moment rather than our interpretation of that experience.

This is where we direct our attention to the sensation of experience rather than interpretation.

And in this way our engagement with our experience becomes an act of reception where the value is in our presence to the nature of what is revealed rather than our effort to understand it.

We give ourselves fully to the experience.

Paul Haller,

Who I've mentioned before,

He's a priest in the San Francisco Zen Center,

He has an expression I really like which is,

Experiencing the experience that we're experiencing.

And when we engage our inmost reality with just that simplicity we find that there's something there that's being expressed,

Something that we have to bring our receptive attention to,

Allowing each thing the time and attention it needs to communicate its nature in that moment.

And what is that nature?

Well,

Important to Anapanasati meditation we find the impermanence of phenomena.

You know that all things come into being as conditions allow,

That they exist,

And then as conditions change they fall away,

All things subject to the karmic law of change.

Now in a couple of weeks we're going to begin to consider the fourth and final set of Anapanasati contemplations,

Those of contemplations of dharma or objects of mind,

The first of which is impermanence.

So as we move into our guided meditation this evening,

I want to invite you,

As I always do,

To be mindful of the role and the place of impermanence in these contemplations.

But the question is,

Can we do this from a position of experience rather than intellectual consideration?

Can we find understanding of impermanence in our lived experience of the moment rather than through an intellectual pursuit of an idea?

So as we move through our guided meditation I'm going to linger at the very beginning just on the breath and I would ask you as you breathe,

As awareness and mindfulness of the breath deepens and swells,

That you witness the nature of impermanence,

Of the change that each breath manifests.

We breathe in,

We breathe out,

The breath itself is impermanent and I invite you to dwell in that lived experience.

So let's go ahead and find a comfortable posture.

For those of you who are new to the meeting this evening,

We do a guided meditation,

We have a short period of walking meditation,

And then a period of quiet meditation.

Just begin by taking a couple of good deep breaths.

Find a sense of uprightness in your posture,

Eyes open or gently cast down.

Find a sense of uprightness in your posture,

Eyes open or gently cast down.

With an exhalation let the muscles in your face fall and relax.

Consider your jaws,

The root of your tongue.

Feel your weight begin to sink,

Rooting you into your posture.

Feel your weight begin to sink,

Rooting you into your posture.

In the sutra the Buddha speaks of a practitioner going to a quiet place in the forest,

The root of a tree,

Finding a quiet place to practice.

Bring a consideration to where you are right this moment.

The room that you're in,

The shelter it gives you for this opportunity to practice in this moment with this small sangha assembled.

Bring a sense of gratitude to that.

Bring a sense of gratitude to that.

And as you find a sense of physical seclusion consider too a sense of mental seclusion.

We have things we need to think about,

We have things we need to worry about,

But they don't need to be here.

They don't need to be in this moment.

I invite you to set an intention that in this time,

This place,

To practice with your breath among friends.

I heard these words of the Buddha one time when he was staying in Savatthi.

The senior practitioners in the community were instructing those who were new to the practice,

Some instructing 10,

Some 20,

Some 30,

And in this way those new to the practice gradually made great progress.

That night the moon was full,

The Buddha,

The awakened one,

Was sitting in the open air and his disciples were gathered around him.

After looking over the assembly,

He began to speak.

Friends,

Our community is pure and good.

Such a community is rare and any pilgrim who seeks it,

No matter how far she must travel,

Will find it worthy.

Friends,

The full awareness of breathing,

If developed and practiced continuously,

Will be rewarding and bring great advantage.

And what is the way to develop and practice continuously the method of full awareness of breathing?

It is like this.

The practitioner goes into the forest or to the foot of a tree or to any quiet place,

Sits stably holding his body straight and practices like this.

Breathing in,

I know that I'm breathing in.

Breathing out,

I know that I'm breathing out.

Take a moment to reconsider your posture.

Let your breath become free and easy.

Begin to establish a field of awareness,

Mindfulness of the moment.

Bring this mindfulness to your breath.

There are some teachings which ask us to consider the breath at a particular place,

The tip of the nose,

For instance.

I encourage you instead to consider your diaphragm.

Feel the root of your breath as your belly moves out,

Moves back in.

Expanding the diaphragm,

Your breath can be more full.

Bring your awareness to the inhalations,

To the exhalations.

Whole breath.

Direct your attention to the sensation of breathing.

Not the mechanics,

But just that you are breathing.

Be mindful of that experience in the moment.

And as you do,

Allow your mindfulness,

Your attention to transform into one of reception.

Just be with the experience.

And as you do,

Allow your awareness to transform into one of reception.

And as you do,

Allow your awareness to transform into one of reception.

As you inhale,

Be mindful of the changes in your body,

The expansion of your chest,

The expansion of your diaphragm.

And mindful too of these same changes as you exhale.

The very nature of the breath is one of change.

The very nature of the breath is one of change.

And when we reach the bottom of the exhalation,

There is that moment when there is no breath at all.

A gentle poignant pause before moving back into the inhalation.

And as you exhale,

The breath is one of change.

And as you exhale,

The breath is one of change.

And as you exhale,

The breath is one of change.

And as you exhale,

The breath is one of change.

With the breath rooted in the belly,

Rooted in the diaphragm,

Bring your awareness now into the whole body.

A unity of breath and body.

Present now in this moment in place.

If our contemplations went no further than this,

We would still be fortunate to dwell in the mind,

Breath and body with full awareness.

Such a gift.

We can find contentment here.

So simple.

Even joyful.

Hold yourself open to the experience of contentment,

Happiness,

Joy.

In our mindfulness of breath and body,

We clear away the things which sometimes cover that.

And they come up bright and clear.

Now let your mindfulness of breath and body,

The contentment,

Move into the periphery,

Into your peripheral awareness.

Still there,

Still strong,

Breath is the foundation of this practice.

Bring your awareness now to the feelings.

Our simple reactions,

Reactive patterns.

The things that our senses present to us.

Including our mind.

These are the things which cloud us every day.

Things which keep us distracted.

You know what I speak of.

These things rise in response to the environment around us.

And as they do,

Our task is to see them.

Recognize them for what they are.

We don't need to unpack them,

We don't need to necessarily understand them,

They're just small automatic reactions.

And so we neither grasp after them,

Nor push them away.

But with non-attachment and an understanding of their permanent nature,

We see them pass.

One by one.

Over and over again.

They rise.

They pass.

Each time a success.

In the practice of non-attachment.

And over time these feelings begin to calm.

Just as body and breath calmed before it.

And so the benefits of our practice deepen.

The benefits of our practice teach us.

They teach us what's possible here on the cushion and what's possible as we move through our life away from the cushion.

Experiencing feelings in our daily lives,

We see them rise.

We see them fall.

We see them rise.

We see them rise.

I invite you for a moment to rediscover or deepen your presence with your breath.

Breathing in,

I know I'm breathing in.

Just that simple.

You root yourself in body and breath.

Body is calm.

Breath is calm.

Feelings are calm.

And over time with practice.

Our mind begins to open before us.

And shining in the clear light of awareness.

There's so much here.

So much joy,

So much uncertainty,

So much pain.

Our thoughts and suffering emotions swirl and change.

Subject to impermanence.

Moving from one to the other.

Often leaving us buffeted in their wake.

The sutra enjoins us,

Breathing in,

I am aware of my mind.

Breathing out,

I'm aware of my mind.

As with the feelings we see our suffering thoughts rise one by one.

There are times when it's appropriate to explore them,

Examine their contents,

Consider,

Resolve.

And there are times when this process is a burden.

We need to know how to detach from our suffering thoughts.

And so we see them rise.

And with non-attachment and an understanding of their impermanent nature.

We see them for what they are.

And without grasping or pushing away we simply watch them fall.

One by one.

Over and over.

Each time a success in the practice of non-attachment.

And in this we can be glad.

Glad for a practice which helps us to detach from our suffering.

Not to deny it,

Simply not to dwell in it.

We see our thoughts rise,

We see them fall and with time and practice we find moments in between.

Moments of clarity,

Moments of peace.

And we gladden our minds.

We relieve our minds.

And we find that our concentration.

Concentration deepens.

Because our practice is good.

We quell B.

.

When we come to the final contemplation of the mind,

Breathing in,

I liberate the mind.

Breathing out,

I liberate the mind.

The Buddha's teaching is one of liberation.

Liberation from suffering,

Fear,

Doubt,

Anger,

Clinging,

Aversion.

And there's no magic here.

We are liberated by our own practice.

Watching things rise.

Watching things fall.

We are liberated by our own practice.

We are liberated by our own practice.

We are liberated by our own practice.

We are liberated by our own practice.

We are liberated by our own practice.

We are liberated by our own practice.

We are liberated by our own practice.

Sam Smith,

I'm wondering if you would grace us with the words you spoke a couple of weeks ago as a dedication of merit.

Of course.

With the wish to free all beings,

I will always invoke enlightenment to the Buddha,

Dharma,

And Sangha until I reach full enlightenment.

Enthused by compassion and wisdom,

Today in Buddha's presence,

I generate the mind of enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.

For as long as space remains and as long as sentient beings remain,

Until then may I too remain to dispel the misery of the world.

Thank you.

Thank you everybody for being here.

Look forward to seeing you next Sunday.

Thank you Sheldon,

And thank you everyone for creating a Sangha.

Absolutely.

Thank you very much,

Sorry I was late,

It was wonderful.

Thank you so much.

You're very welcome,

It does my heart good to see you all here.

Thank you to all of you.

Take care.

Reviews

Always good.
Anapanasati is currently my teaching of choice and I am struck again and again by its depth and the potential offers to me. Importantly, I feel it is a practice of joy, a constant reminder that if properly guided, the mind has a natural inclination toward awakening. I am very grateful to Sheldon's instruction and support.

Very helpful practice of non-attachment, thank you.

Thank you Sheldon - a fine bringing together of the first three groups of contemplations. I shall return here!

Change can be hard. Also note this should not be marked as a talk. Definitely guided meditation with just a bit of talk at the beginning. Many thanks for these lessons. ☮️💖🙏