MA 15 Consciousness Beyond Thoughts In The Mind (One Hour)

Meditation from the Thai Theravada tradition following a modernized interpretation of Boran Kammatthana. This track explains how meditation helps access the wisdom, insight and 'gut feelings' of the subconscious mind that lies beyond superficial thoughts. This track has been extended to give a full hour of meditation with a loving-kindness practice towards the end. End signalled by a traditional Pali blessing.

Transcript

So if you'd like to start by finding 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,

Find a position for yourself by which you feel alert and yet relaxed.

Not leaning too far forward,

Nor too far back.

Not leaning to the right,

Nor to the left.

Find a position of poise for yourself.

Make sure your breathing and your circulation are natural and unimpeded.

And adjust the position of your body to minimize any possible aches or pains.

Make sure you're sitting as comfortably as possible.

And relax every muscle of your body.

Relax every muscle starting with the muscles of your forehead,

Your eyebrows and eyelids.

Making sure your eyes are only very gently closed.

Never squeeze your eyes closed but close your eyes gently,

In just the same way you close your eyes to go to sleep.

Make sure there's no heaviness on your eyelids.

And if you notice that your eyes are closed too tightly,

Or if there's heaviness on your eyelids,

You may need to open your eyes and close them again more gently.

So close your eyes in the same way you would close them to go to sleep.

And relax the muscles of your face.

Relax your neck,

Your shoulders,

Both arms,

Down to the tips of your fingers.

Relax 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 sort of stress or tension anymore.

If you notice any tension remaining in your body,

Then do your best to relax it completely.

Because if your body is completely relaxed,

You'll have the feeling as if your body seems to melt away into the atmosphere around you,

And you'll have no further worries about your body anymore.

Once your body is completely relaxed,

You can turn your attention to relaxing the mind.

The easiest and most efficient way to relax the mind is to forget temporarily about all possible worries and concerns in your everyday life.

No matter whether it be thoughts of work,

Friends,

Family,

Studies,

Finances or any other thing.

Don't think about your future and don't think about your past.

But keep your mind entirely in the present moment,

Making your mind light,

Radiant,

Spacious and refreshed.

Light like a feather,

Radiant like the morning sun,

Spacious like the ocean and refreshed like a flower bud in the early morning dew.

And conjure up a sense of happiness and joy in the mind,

Perhaps casting your mind back to a time in your life when you felt truly happy.

As if that feeling were composed of tiny particles of happiness and joy,

Completely filling your mind.

And allow that feeling of joy and happiness to leave you feeling refreshed inside,

And cherish that feeling of happiness and joy for a few moments.

As if all the happiness radiates outwards from the centre of your body.

And when we feel relaxed both in body and in mind,

Very gently using no effort at all,

We allow our attention to settle and centre to a point in the middle of our stomach.

As if in the centre of our stomach was just an empty space,

A hollow cavity,

Without any muscles or tissues,

Without any organs or bones.

And now very gently,

Again with no effort at all,

We picture the image of a bright,

Shining sun.

As if that picture of the sun is shining from the centre of our stomach.

A sphere of light shining from inside us.

We imagine the object with a light and a gentle attention as continuously as we can,

For as long as we can,

Without letting the mind wander anywhere else.

If the mind wanders to the sounds around us,

To the sensations in our body,

Or to the thoughts in our head,

As soon as we realise we bring our mind back again to the centre of the body and continue as before.

Our mind may wander a hundred times,

Or a thousand times,

But we should pay no attention to how frequently our mind tends to wander.

It's our job merely to bring our mind back again to the centre of the body and continue as before.

If our inner object disappears,

Then we can conjure up a new one.

We don't need to worry whether we see the object clearly or not,

We just make do with the object even if we cannot perceive it clearly.

Even if it's only partly visible,

Even if it's in shadow,

Even if it's not so clearly seen as with the naked eye,

We take it as it comes.

At the same time,

We avoid entertaining any thoughts in our mind.

If thoughts in your mind keep spinning like a hamster wheel,

It may be necessary for you to make use of the sound of a traditional mantra,

Silently repeating to yourself the words,

Samma Arahang,

Samma Arahang,

Samma Arahang,

Over and over again,

As if the sound of the mantra seems to come like a silent music from the centre of your body.

Samma Arahang,

Samma Arahang,

Samma Arahang,

Over and over again.

Make sure your attention is only very light at the centre.

Be certain you don't use too much effort when you're meditating.

If you use too much tension when you're meditating,

Or even too much enthusiasm,

What you'll find is that there's a certain degree of stress on your eyebrows or across your shoulders.

If you find tension creeping up on you,

Then try to loosen up a little bit more.

Try to relax more as you imagine your inner object.

However,

If you find yourself daydreaming,

Or if you feel sleepy in your meditation,

Then perhaps you need to keep your mind a little bit more firmly at the centre of your body.

Always keep your mind with a bright object at your centre,

Observing the bright object as continuously as you can,

For as long as you can without letting your mind wander anywhere else.

Observe the object without entertaining any thoughts in your mind.

Don't let yourself get elated by the pleasing things you see.

Don't let yourself get disappointed by the displeasing things that you see.

Don't try to fight anything that comes up in the mind,

And at the same time don't have any expectations about what you might see in the future.

Simply rest your mind,

Observing at the centre,

As continuously as you can,

For as long as you can.

Keep your mind always at the centre of what you perceive,

At the centre of the bright,

Clear sphere of light,

Or the feeling you have inside yourself,

If that's what you prefer.

Eventually,

As you train the mind,

Always bringing the mind back to the centre,

The things that you see in the mind,

And the things that you feel,

Will become gradually clearer.

Almost like a person who holds a camera with a steady hand,

Will get much clearer pictures.

Much clearer than a person who holds a camera with a hand that shakes.

In the same way as our mind becomes more still,

More firmly established at the centre,

The images and feelings that come to us via the mind,

Will become clearer to us.

However,

The strange thing is that,

The more firmly the mind becomes established at the centre,

The fewer will be the number of thoughts in the mind.

The number of thoughts in the mind will become less and less,

Until eventually there are no remaining thoughts in the mind anymore,

And the mind can come to a standstill at the centre.

A standstill means that the mind rests inside the body,

Without thinking anymore.

Some people think that the mind is nothing without thinking,

But if you reach this point in your meditation,

You'll find out that in fact the mind without thought is much more powerful than the mind caught up in concepts.

The mind that is free of all thoughts,

Can start to draw upon consciousness at a deeper level.

Consciousness which we could equate with a gut feeling,

Or an intuition which we might call the inner wisdom of the mind.

Once we switch on to these things,

Then it will be like illumination within ourselves,

By which we can start to unravel the mysteries of our life and the world around us.

Because wherever there is light,

Then there is also knowledge.

Wherever there is knowledge,

No ignorance can creep in.

All the unwholesome influences in our minds,

Whether it be greed,

Hatred or delusion,

No longer have a place to hide themselves anymore.

Because once we have understood the reality of the world through inner experience,

There is no going back to being our former deluded self,

Because we have already had first-hand experience of the true nature of the world.

So each to their own meditation now,

For a few more moments in silence,

Cultivating the mind at the centre,

With your bright object,

Or the inner feeling and the sound of the mantra,

Until we come to the appropriate time.

Thank you.

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Else,

With or without the mantra as you prefer.

If you find your mind is attracted away by the sounds around you,

Sensations in your body,

Or thoughts in your head,

As soon as you realise,

Always bring your mind back again,

To the centre,

And continue as before.

Continue to cultivate your mind in this way now in silence,

For the last few moments of our meditation together.

So,

We continue to keep our mind on track at the centre of the body,

The whole of the time,

Lightly,

Gently and continuously,

Always at the centre of whatever inner experience we've built up for ourselves,

As a result of our meditation so far this session.

For some people the inner experience will amount to a sense of brightness at the centre of oneself.

For others it may be more of a feeling,

Something like a sense of wellbeing,

Again,

Centred at the seventh base.

For others still it may be images,

Large or small,

Centred around the middle of our body,

Sometimes small like objects,

Sometimes much larger like whole vistas or panoramas,

Where we are actually smaller than the images we see.

But whatever inner experience we have,

We touch our mind gently at our centre,

So gently that it's almost as if we are hardly touching at all.

Touching with the lightness of a warm fingertip,

Touching the surface of some new fallen snow,

Touching the snow so gently that there'll be a melting away at the point of contact,

Where solid becomes liquid and liquid becomes paper,

Spreading outwards,

Rarifying outwards and spreading like the ripples on the surface of a pond,

Ever wider from the point of contact.

In this way we extend our inner experience initially to the whole of ourselves,

Filling ourselves with the light or that sense of wellbeing,

Or expanding the inner picture to fill the whole of our body by a process known as the spreading of loving-kindness.

And we make the affirmation at the centre of ourselves,

That may I be well and happy,

Free from all suffering.

And then we extend the same loving-kindness beyond the boundaries of our own being,

Outwards into the room around us,

Extending outwards in all directions around us,

Like a halo or an aura,

To encapsulate all the sentient beings around us in the room where we're sitting for meditation.

And we start to return some of the benefits of meditation to the world around us,

By making the affirmation at the centre of ourselves that all the living beings here in this room be well and happy,

Free from suffering,

And live together in peace and harmony.

Further outwards to the whole building,

Wider to the whole neighbourhood,

Outwards to the whole municipality and the city limits.

Almost as if we are extending our loving-kindness across a map,

Seen in bird's eye view,

In ever widening circles around us,

Taking in all the sentient beings therein,

With the wish that,

May all these beings be well and happy,

Live in peace and harmony.

Especially at this time when so many people feel isolated or pinned down by negativity,

We extend our loving-kindness as a torrent of peace,

A cold hide,

A silence extending outwards to bring happiness where there is suffering,

And increasing the happiness where happiness is scarce.

Even wider to the whole state of California,

Two neighbouring states,

To all the lower 48 states,

Wider still to the whole of North America,

With the wish that all living beings here on this continent be well and happy,

Free from suffering,

Live together in peace and harmony.

And wider still to all the continents of the world,

As if we were extending loving-kindness across the entire face of this planet,

With the affirmation at the centre of ourselves,

That may all living beings,

Whether on the land,

In the air,

Or in the sea,

Be touched by our loving-kindness,

That these living beings be well and happy,

Free from suffering,

Live together in peace and harmony,

That world peace become a reality within our own lifetimes.

And we can spread loving-kindness in all the six great directions,

Almost as if we were extending a beam of loving-kindness outwards into the universe around us.

To the front and to the back,

Without limits.

To the right and to the left,

Without boundaries.

Off and below,

Without end.

Extending loving-kindness to all living beings here in the universe,

So that no living being,

Without exception,

Is left untouched by our loving-kindness.

Even with the same wish for all living beings to be well and happy,

Free from suffering,

Live together in peace and harmony.

And for the last few moments of our practice,

We can extend the loving-kindness toward particular loved ones we may be thinking about,

By holding them close within the brightness or our sense of well-being at the centre of ourselves.

Thinking of their name or their face,

Sending loving-kindness to them in particular,

Especially if we are separated by huge distances.

Extending loving-kindness to those for whom we feel a particular debt of gratitude,

Toward those still living,

Or even those who have already passed,

Trusting that the purity of our loving-kindness can extend across the huge gulfs of space and time,

To reach those loved ones wherever they are to be found.

We extend our loving-kindness in this way for the last few moments of our practice together.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.