So this will be a guided meditation that emphasizes one or two of the verbal reminders that I've been giving in the last couple of days,
And especially the quality of okayness,
Of deep awareness,
Of well-being,
And also hindrances that come up.
They are the clouds that obscure the sun.
Starting very,
Very simply,
With just a sense of refuge,
Of coming home,
We arrive to a place that's important.
We arrive into awareness.
We take refuge in the biggest and most important things that we are born into.
The Buddha mind,
The awareness,
The pure sense of being,
The Dharma,
Our journey,
The world,
And the Sangha.
Us together here,
Right now.
A sense of coming home to the most important aspects of our being,
Of our birth as a human being into this world.
And rest in that place,
Our true home,
Our true refuge.
We can,
In that place,
Renew and refresh the attitudes with which we come to meditation.
An attitude that there's nothing to do.
Meditation is not doing,
It's being.
An attitude that there's nothing in this moment to be gained,
To get,
To achieve.
There's nothing wrong that needs to be fixed.
There's nothing missing that we need to repair or add.
What's happening now is enough,
Is adequate.
We can also remember a sense of softness and kindness.
This is non-formal metta.
Metta,
Or kindness,
Or loving kindness,
Is just being gentle,
Allowing things to be the way they are.
Trusting things to arise as they do.
Trusting the world to be as it is.
Just a sense of softness and allowing things to be the way they are.
Welcoming life as it arises,
Passes,
Changes.
Welcoming.
This is kindness.
And one final attitude that we can remember and renew and refresh is the effortless effort.
Effort that is not based on outcome that we want,
Or pressure,
Or struggle.
But just an effort,
A slight or gentle effort,
Even an intention or determination,
To stay with whatever arises.
To keep on the track.
And if we fall off the track,
Just to come back as soon as we can.
So placing that intention in the unconscious mind or in the subconscious mind as an intention behind the practice to stay with things.
So all the world that we experience right now,
The world of the senses,
Experiencing sound,
The fans,
Whether we're in or outside.
We're experiencing touch,
Pressure,
The body sitting.
We're experiencing seeing,
Even if our eyes are closed,
There'll be colors and shapes.
The senses are knowing.
And in all that world,
We can give importance or priority,
Adi-fut,
To bodily life.
Starting with the breathing.
Gentle,
Natural,
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Breathing in,
Filling the body with life,
With oxygen,
Taking in from the world.
Breathing out,
Giving back to the world.
And as we breathe,
Connecting,
Quietening,
Softening.
Feeling the deep peace and ease of just simply being one breath at a time.
The breath is a vehicle.
We ride on the breath into silence and peace.
The out-breath,
Letting go a bit more.
Letting go.
As we breathe out,
We drop disturbance.
We drop anything we're holding on.
Thoughts may come and go,
But they don't need to disturb us.
Thoughts can be like the birds,
The sound of the birds outside.
We can begin to pay attention to the whole body.
The breath is breathing.
We feel the breath in the body and the body.
The flow of sensations flowing through the body.
Energy.
We can also sense the breath itself as a sensation flowing through the body.
Actually,
One is close to the other.
Sensations and the breath.
The hands and the feet and the legs.
The shoulders and the stomach.
Fully alive,
Dynamic,
Flowing,
Changing energy.
It's like a dance.
A dance of the cells.
Reku choha taim.
And feel the joy in that.
Feel joy in just being.
The body alive.
Nothing missing,
Nothing needed,
Nothing to be fixed.
Just the flow and the joy of life dancing within us.
The ground of being,
The sense of aliveness,
The sense of flow of energy in the body,
The simplicity.
All of this is like the sun shining.
But as we heard,
There may be clouds covering.
And if there are,
We need to know them as well.
So if we feel a cloud covering the sun,
It can be restlessness,
It can be tiredness,
It can be a feeling,
An emotion,
It can be a strong thought,
It can be something missing,
It can be concepts going round,
Whatever.
Just knowing this cloud covering the sun.
What's it made of?
What is it?
Give it a name.
And begin to explore in a very simple way if there is a cloud.
Don't invent a cloud.
But if there is,
One of the hindrances arising,
Even subtle.
Just begin to explore.
Where is it in the body?
Interrupting,
Stopping something,
Interrupting the flow,
Contracting the breathing,
Anything.
For example,
A contraction,
Hit kap tsut,
In the body.
Just see how it's also changing,
Moving.
Where is it?
And what we do.
Are we doing anything?
If there is a cloud,
Are we building anything out of it?
Are we making stories?
Just knowing that.
With sympathy and awareness,
Clarity.
Are we building stories around any issues?
Just knowing.
And as it moves and changes,
Be very aware.
And maybe it goes,
It's gone,
And be very aware of the sun shining out again,
Of simplicity and awareness.
When the issue has come and gone,
What is opened?
What is the space that is revealed when the cloud has passed by?
And allowing insights.
It's not looking for insights,
It's allowing insights.
Anatha,
Things just happen.
They don't need me.
I'm not in charge.
Anicca,
Flow,
Change,
Nothing fixed.
Dukkha,
The clouds are unpleasant.
Just allowing those insights to arise,
And also they pass away.
And in the last couple of minutes of this sitting,
Just dropping everything,
And quietly present,
Relaxed,
At ease.
Letting the ease and the joy and the wonder of the world,
Relaxed,
At ease.
Letting the ease and the joy and the well-being be there.
Connecting,
Present,
Quiet.
