Anapanasati 13: Liberation Of The Mind

This talk and meditation concern the last contemplation of the mind in Anapanasati meditation -- liberation of the mind. This contemplation stems directly from the one before it: concentrating the mind. A concentrated mind is able to see more clearly the effect of the hindrances and the existence of negative mind states. We work with nonattachment and a sense of impermanence to allow these things to pass.
The recording contains extended periods of silence within a guided meditation

Transcript

We have in the last number of weeks been talking about precepts and now we're sort of getting back into talking about the different contemplations of the Anapanasati Sutra.

If you want to read that Sutra,

JD or any of you,

It's on the meeting's website,

PittsburghRecoveryDharma.

Org.

These contemplations,

These set of contemplations,

Body,

Feelings,

Mind,

Objects of mind or dharmas,

As I was preparing my thinking to sort of get back into these considerations because we're in the contemplations of the mind,

I was thinking back through the previous ones and I was looking at the similarities in the first two sets,

The contemplations of body and the feelings and they both begin with simple awareness and experience.

Breathing in,

I know that I'm breathing in.

Breathing out,

I know that I'm breathing out.

Breathing in,

I feel joyful.

Breathing out,

I experience joy.

And as each set of each of these sets of contemplations of body and feelings,

As they each move through their four steps,

Were led through a process of awareness,

Experience and calming.

Calming of the body in that first set of contemplations and of the feelings in the second one.

And as we moved into the third set of compilations,

Those of the mind,

We had successfully begun to calm our feelings and our mental formations.

And when we get into these contemplations of the mind,

We begin to experience the nature of the mind itself.

It's different ways of being.

It almost has a sense of an encounter with the true workings of our mind.

We get into the third set of contemplations,

Breathing in,

I'm aware of my mind.

Breathing out,

I'm aware of my mind.

But what is it that we encounter?

This fellow who,

By merit of reading,

Is my primary teacher in Anapanasati meditation,

Biku Analeo,

He calls it a flow that we encounter,

A process of knowing.

He writes,

Mind or consciousness is seen as a changing process,

Subject to causes and conditions.

Our minds are filled with a variety of things to which we cling,

Toward which we feel aversion.

And in our awareness of these things,

In our awareness of mind,

These things flow one after another.

And in doing so,

They demonstrate clearly their impermanent nature.

And I keep coming back to this idea of impermanence in the contemplations of Anapanasati.

Impermanence itself,

You know,

And again,

I always like to say it's not meaning necessarily that all things come to an end.

It's also just simply that all things are subject to change.

And it's demonstrated for us in the breath itself.

Inhalations do not last.

Our exhalations do not last.

The breath flows from one to the other,

Endlessly rising,

Endlessly falling,

Endlessly changing.

And if we ever want to witness and understand the nature of impermanence,

We don't need to look any further than that.

Through acceptance of their impermanent nature,

We recognize and we allow our feelings to rise and fall.

And as we've moved into the third set of contemplations,

Those of the mind,

We've used meditative calm to recognize our suffering thoughts.

We practice non-attachment with them and we witness their impermanence as these two rise and fall.

So the second contemplation of the mind,

Which we talked about before we did the precepts,

Breathing in and gladdening the mind.

Breathing out,

I gladden the mind.

And I did just want to talk again about a difference between this gladdening of the mind and the joy that we found back in that fifth contemplation as we began to consider the contemplations of the feelings.

In the contemplations of the body,

We find that contentment and moving into joy.

That joy as we contemplate feelings,

It really comes from the calming of the breath and the calming of the body.

The contentment found in dwelling in the moment,

Increasing into joy that springs from that focused calm.

In gladdening the mind,

We're contemplating something deeper than that.

Not so much the result of something,

As was that earlier experience of joy,

But more of a sense of fulfillment.

Gladdening the mind,

The fulfillment of integrating impermanence and non-attachment into our practice to the degree that we're able to approach our suffering without clinging,

Without aversion.

A fulfillment in finding that once these things have arisen in our mind,

These suffering mind states can fall.

We sit with a sense of equanimity amongst the sufferings of our mind.

And in that,

We can find gladness.

So,

As we approach then the third contemplation of the mind,

Breathing in,

I concentrate my mind.

Breathing out,

I concentrate my mind,

Which we talked about a few weeks ago.

The emphasis here is not so much on an object of concentration,

But rather on the degree of our concentration.

Larry Rosenberg,

Who I also read in relation to Anupanisati,

He said,

The whole sutra represents a process of taming the mind,

Not by breaking it,

But by being gentle with it.

Coming to understand and accept it,

Seeing how it works,

How feelings become mind states,

And how mind states proliferate.

And coming back to Anuleo,

He says,

Concentration is the result of non-interference.

Giving up the sense of being in control,

Allowing the mind to effortlessly become composed and unified,

Settled within and at ease.

He goes on to say,

And I love this,

He says,

It is as if the whole of subjective experience is held in a loving and caring embrace,

Such that it becomes unified with no trace of its usual fragmentation left.

At this juncture then,

The whole body awareness practiced throughout the contemplations becomes a whole body and whole mind awareness.

And,

You know,

As we've been talking about these last few weeks in terms of precepts,

Precepts are important in this process of concentrating the mind because they warn us and make us aware of areas where we often create problems for ourselves.

So then that brings us to the last contemplation in the contemplations of the mind,

Pretty much where we left off a month ago or so.

Liberating the mind.

So aware of the mind,

Gladdening the mind,

Concentrating the mind,

Liberating the mind.

And here for the first time in this meditative system,

The Buddha asks us to consider this idea of liberation,

Which is obviously at the heart of Buddhist practice,

The third of the Four Noble Truths,

Which,

You know,

The Buddha,

When he first awoke,

The Four Noble Truths were his first teaching,

The third of those truths,

That there can be an end to the suffering that we experience.

In the scheme of Anapanasati contemplation,

We can consider liberation directly from the mind's concentration.

These steps always tend to lead one right into the other.

For when the mind is concentrated,

Certain tendencies of the mind decrease the power of the five hindrances,

Especially craving,

Anger,

Restlessness,

Dullness,

Doubt.

All of these things begin to diminish.

And as they fade,

That contentment and joy of simply breathing,

Of simple presence and breath and body,

It becomes more clear,

As does the choice between the two.

I mean,

To which do we want to give our energy?

These hindrances or a place of better clarity?

Where do we want to spend our lives?

Because that's really what we're talking about.

There is liberation in simply learning to stay with a breath,

To dwell in a concentrated mind state.

I mean,

Hindrances still arise.

I know they do for me.

And we may never really escape their reach,

But we learn to be able to see them more easily,

To catch them more quickly than in the past.

There's an analogy that I like of getting out of the way of a speeding train,

That all you really have to do to get out of the way of a speeding train is simply step aside.

But you have to take that step.

You have to process through and live into an ability to not allow your mind just to be swept away by these things that take us into negative mind states.

And this ability doesn't happen overnight.

But as we become more aware of the hindrances,

We no longer give them so much mental and spiritual energy.

Larry Rosenberg says we no longer practice being greedy or angry or doubtful.

And when we let the hindrances rule us,

You know,

Somebody says,

Well,

What is your practice?

Is that your practice?

Living with these hindrances,

You know,

At the front of your existence?

When we stop practicing such as these,

Their power,

It fades.

And Analayo,

Last thing I want to say there,

He said,

He wrote,

There is a liberation that is born of tranquility,

Liberating the mind from defilements and fetters.

So I said last week that I would like to accelerate the guided meditation somewhat by not dwelling so long in contemplations of the body and contemplations of the feelings.

So I'm just going to pare my language down some so that as we get into the feelings and especially the mind,

We have more time for quietude and being able to really get into that work of inquiry that's involved there.

If you're new to the group JD,

A lot of these meetings have been recorded.

And,

You know,

You can hear talks like these and other meditations that are focused just primarily on awareness,

Contemplations of the body or of the feelings.

And the whole thing builds over a long period of time.

So you're welcome to do that.

Recoverydharma.

Pittsburghrecoverydharma.

Org.

Take a few good breaths.

Find your meditation posture.

Take a moment to let the weight of your body fall.

Relaxing the shoulders,

The jaws,

Facial muscles.

Take just a moment to consider a sense of gratitude for your surroundings.

The sense of quiet and the sense of protection that they offer you.

Gratitude for this small Sangha assembled here this evening,

The opportunity to practice together.

Take a few moments to establish a field of awareness.

Simple mindfulness.

Feel it well up around you,

Greet it like an old friend.

Then gently direct your mindfulness toward your breath.

Breathing in,

I'm aware that I'm breathing in.

Breathing out,

I'm aware that I'm breathing out.

Just that simple.

Breathing in,

I'm aware that I'm breathing out.

Just that simple.

And as you feel ready,

Bring your awareness to your whole body.

A union of body and breath.

Bringing energy down from your mind where it so often resides in a sort of sometimes very mindless way.

Feeling a sense of presence in your body while remembering to mindfulness of the breath.

Losing the whole body,

Congratulations.

.

Union of body and breath,

Presence in the moment.

It's a very fine thing.

Allow yourself to rest here.

Be content.

Content in your practice.

Content in Sangha.

Content in Sangha.

Content for the gift of this practice coming to us from 2600 years ago.

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You may experience that this contentment begins to increase into happiness,

Even joy.

I always encourage you to keep yourself open to the experience of joy.

No matter how fleeting it may be,

Still a balm for the soul.

.

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And now allow your mindfulness of breath and body to recede just a little bit into a sense of peripheral awareness still there,

Still very real.

The foundation of all that we do.

But bring your attention to the feelings,

Your reactive patterns to the input we receive from our six senses.

The five we normally consider and the sense of the mind which presents us with input just as our skin does,

Our eyes do.

All these things we interpret simply as positive,

Negative or neutral.

We experience them throughout the day,

Day in,

Day out.

.

They're little things but they can cloud the mind.

Remember these are the things we don't need to dwell on,

We don't need to explore.

Just recognize that they are.

They rise up in us.

And if we greet them with non-attachment,

Neither clinging nor pushing them away,

They fall.

One after another,

One by one.

They rise.

They rise.

And without our involvement,

They fall.

.

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It's in calming the feelings that we begin to settle.

Like waves that fall on water when the wind dies.

Our nature settles when our feelings calm.

And as they calm,

Let your awareness of them move to the periphery along with body,

Breath,

Still there.

I encourage you to take a moment and touch your breathing.

With feelings calm,

We can encounter our mind,

Unclouded by the everyday distractions.

.

In the sutra we practice,

Breathing in,

I'm aware of my mind.

Breathing out,

I'm aware of my mind.

.

I encourage you to stay rooted as we move into contemplations of the mind.

Don't let your energy recede up into your head.

As you bring awareness to your mind,

Stay rooted in your body.

And importantly,

In your breath.

.

Whole body-mind awareness.

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And as we become aware of our minds,

We find many things there.

It's here where our true suffering resides.

Some things are truly hurtful,

Truly negative in our lives.

And we spend so much energy trying to push them away.

We spend so much energy clinging for what we wish they were.

And some things are truly beautiful and kind in our lives.

And yet sometimes we torture ourselves by fearing that they'll end.

Clinging to them.

We can cause our own suffering either way.

But we remember that these things,

Like all things,

Are subject to impermanence,

They're subject to change.

And as such,

There's no need to attach to them because we can't hold them.

We don't need to push them away because they will go.

And so we approach these things with a sense of compassion,

Open-handedness,

Neither grasping nor pushing away.

Practice of non-attachment is vital in our lives,

Given the reality of impermanence.

The sufferings in our mind rise.

And if we don't involve ourselves in them,

Spend time unpacking them,

But do that another time.

Here in our meditation,

We just see them for what they are,

We let them come,

And we let them fall.

One by one.

One after another.

See them rise.

And fall.

And fall.

And fall.

There's a clear taste here because as we're aware when these things are present,

As they fall we become aware too of the times when they're not.

When we're not grasping and clinging after the things that make us suffer,

When we're just letting them fall.

And we taste those times in between.

And they feel calm.

They feel good.

And we can be glad in that moment.

We can gladden our mind in those moments.

Because if we believe what the Buddha taught,

That there is suffering in life,

We have to also have faith that suffering can be relieved.

Through our own effort.

Through our own insight.

And practice.

And practice.

And practice.

And practice.

And practice.

As the sutra tells us,

Breathing in,

I concentrate my mind.

Breathing out,

I concentrate my mind.

Time and practice bring us the release we seek,

Feelings and suffering of our mind.

We taste the gladness.

And with a sense of meditative joy,

We naturally become more concentrated.

And as our concentration deepens,

We know where we live.

We know where we practice.

We can see more clearly when doubt,

Fear hinder our lives.

Greed clinging aversion.

Deepened concentration helps us to see these things more clearly in meditation and just in our daily lives.

And over time and with practice,

We begin to liberate ourselves from these things.

To liberate our minds from their tyranny.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Rest easily and gently,

My friends.

Reviews

Thank you for such lovely practices and talks. Really nice. ☮️💖🙏