MA 01 Meditation On The Seven Bases Of The Mind

Meditation from the Thai Theravada tradition following a modernized interpretation of Boran Kammatthana. This track consists of moving the mind through seven bases to the centre. Track was originally part of the book 'Start Meditation Today', also by the author.

Transcript

I'd like to invite you all to find a comfortable position for yourself in meditation. With your right leg on your left leg, Your right hand on your left hand, With the index finger of your right hand touching against the thumb of your left hand, With your hands palm upwards on your lap, Where you can adopt any other looser variation of this position, Which helps you to feel more comfortable for your meditation. The important thing is that you feel alert, But yet relaxed. You should adjust your body so that your breathing and your circulation are completely natural. Adjust your position to minimize any possible aches or pains. Anything that might disturb the continuity of your attention. And relax every muscle of your body. Relax every muscle starting with the muscles of your forehead, Your eyebrows, Your eyelids. And take special care to make sure that your eyes are only very gently closed. Make sure there's no pressure around your eyes. Never squeeze your eyes closed. But close your eyes only very gently, In much the same way you would close your eyes to go to sleep. And relax the muscles of your face, Your neck, Both shoulders, Both arms down to the tips of your fingers. Relax them all completely. Relax the muscles of your chest, Trunk and abdomen, Both of your legs down to the tips of your toes. So that all the way from the top of your head to the tips of your toes, There's no remaining part of your body with any stress or tension anymore. If you notice any stress or tension still remaining in your body, Then try to relax it completely. Because the body that is completely relaxed, I have the feeling as if it seems to melt away into the atmosphere around you. You have no further worries about your body anymore. So that you can turn your attention to relaxing the mind. Relax the mind by letting go of all thoughts about the things of the world. For a few moments put aside all worries and concerns about your everyday life. Don't allow your mind to wander to thoughts of work, Friends, Family, Study or any other thing. But keep your mind on the task in hand, The task of straining the mind. Or filling your mind with thoughts of happiness and joy. Fill your thoughts with happiness and joy, As if your mind was completely filled with tiny particles of happiness and joy. Filling your mind so full that there's no room left in your mind for anything else. Make your mind spacious, Light, Radiant and refreshed. And such a mind is one which is ready and waiting for the harmony and unity which you'll embark upon in the meditation to follow. So once you are relaxed both in body and in mind, Very gently using no effort at all, Imagine for yourself a picture of a bright object. A picture of a bright object such as a shining sun, A shining full moon or a star or a crystal ball, Any one of the four which you find easiest to imagine. Imagine a picture of that bright object as if that object is floating in front of your face. A shining sun, A full moon, A star or a shining crystal ball, As if it is floating in front of your face. Imagine it effortlessly. And reduce the object of your choice in size until it is only one centimeter in diameter, Until it is the size of the tip of your little finger and floating in front of your nose, In front of the left nostril for women and in front of the right nostril for gentlemen, Floating in front of your nose at a point we call the first base of the mind. Make the bright object as bright as you can and as clear as you can, While in your mind repeating to yourself the sound of the mantra, Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Three times. And then move the shining bright object slowly but smoothly inside your nostril, Inside the left nostril for women and inside the right nostril for men. Moving slowly inside your nostril until it reaches a point inside your nose, Just next to the corner of the eye. And here it stops at a point we call the second base of the mind. Here the object stops still. And we make the object as bright as we can and as clear as we can, While hearing the sound of the mantra, Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Three times. And then the bright object moves slowly backwards inside our head, Backwards on a horizontal plane until it comes to a point in the precise centre of our skull, In the very centre of our head, A point we call the third base of the mind. Here again the bright object comes to a standstill. Here we make the object as bright as we can and as clear as we can, While repeating to ourselves, Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Three times. And now the bright object is moving gently downwards, Downwards from the centre of your head, Directly downwards until it comes to a point at the roof of your mouth, A point we call the fourth base of the mind. Here the bright object comes to a standstill. We make the object as bright as we can and as clear as we can, While at the same time repeating the mantra to ourselves, Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Three times. And again the bright object moves directly downwards, Downwards inside our throat, Downwards until it reaches a point just above the Adam's apple, A point we call the fifth base of the mind. Here the bright object comes to a standstill. We make the object as bright as we can and as clear as we can, While at the same time repeating the mantra to ourselves, Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Three times. And now the bright object moves downwards again, Deeper inside our chest, Deeper inside our trunk, Deeper inside our abdomen, Moving directly downwards. If you imagine the central part of your body, Then imagine two thin threads, One thread running from your navel on a horizontal plane directly through your back, A second thread on the same plane from the left side to the right side. Those two threads come to an intersection at a point in the center of the body, A point we call the sixth base of the mind. Now we move our bright object downwards until it comes to this intersection of the two threads, At a point in the center of our stomach. The bright object comes to a standstill at this point. We make the object as bright as we can and as clear as we can, While at the same time repeating the mantra to ourselves, Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Three times. Now we move the bright object slowly upwards, Upwards the distance of two fingerbreadths above the intersection of the two threads, Two fingerbreadths above the intersection of the two threads, To a point we call the seventh base of the mind. The bright object reaches the seventh base of the mind and comes to a standstill. In fact we will not move the bright object anywhere else, Because here is the true center of the body. This is the point where we will cultivate our bright object for our meditation. So here the bright object will stay, While we repeat the mantra to ourselves, The sound of the mantra always coming from the center of the bright object. Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Samma arahan, Over and over again the sound of the mantra always coming from the center of the bright object. At the same time we always make the bright object as bright as we can and as clear as we can. And as we observe the bright object what we will find is that the images in the mind become gradually clearer. Also the feelings in the mind will become gradually clearer to us. But the strange thing is that the number of thoughts in the mind will become gradually less. As we concentrate on the bright object and our mantra, The number of thoughts will become gradually less, Less and less until the mind can come to a standstill at the center of the body. So cultivate the mind in this way with your bright object and with the mantra. In the beginning you may find that the mind has a tendency to wander, Sometimes wandering to the sounds around you, To the thoughts in your head or the sensations in your body. But don't feel disappointed if the mind should wander at this stage. In the beginning as soon as the mind wanders and you realize, Always bring the mind back again to the bright object at the center of your body and to the sound of the mantra. If it wanders then bring it back. And keep bringing the mind back until eventually the mind builds up a familiarity with the center of the body and the sound of the mantra. Until eventually the mind will start to stay at the center of the body of its own accord. Samma arahm, Samma arahm, Samma arahm. Cultivating the sound of the mantra and the bright object until eventually the mind will feel at home at the center of the body. Eventually you may find that the sound of the mantra will die away of its own accord, Leaving only a pure, Clear, Shining mind at the center of the body. If you find at this point that there are no thoughts to irritate the mind anymore, Then there's no need to restart with the mantra anymore. Simply cultivate the mind in stillness at the center of the body. And when the mind reaches the real point of stillness, Then you find that happiness, Purity and brightness will arise in the mind of their own accord. So cultivate your mind in silence for a few moments just with the bright, Shining object and the sound of the mantra until your mind comes to a standstill at the center of the body. Reach to their own meditation for a few moments in silence and overcome to the appropriate time.

Reviews

So very gentle and centering. I have very little wandering mind when practicing to your meditations. Mind calm. Thank you. ☮️💖🙏🖖

Calming assuring teaching radiating confidence in practicing meditation