MA 16 Centering Briefly With Loving Kindness
Meditation from the Thai Theravada tradition following a modernized interpretation of Boran Kammatthana. This track explains observation as an alternative to visualization as a way to rest your attention at the center of the body during meditation.
Transcript
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,
And with your hands palm upwards on your lap.
And adjust the position of your body so that your breathing and your circulation are completely natural.
And start by relaxing every muscle in your body.
Relax every muscle of your body,
Starting with the muscles of your forehead.
Relax your eyebrows and your eyelids.
Close your eyes only very gently,
In much the same way you would close your eyes to go to sleep.
Relax the muscles of your face,
Your neck,
Both of 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,
Down to the tips of your toes,
There's no remaining part of your body with any stress or tension anymore.
If you notice any remaining tension,
Then relax it completely.
You'll find that the body which is properly relaxed will have the feeling as if it seems to melt away into the atmosphere around you,
So that you can turn your attention instead to relaxing the mind.
The most efficient way to relax the mind is to forget about all concerns with your everyday life.
Don't let your mind wander to thoughts of the past or of the future.
But maintain your mind firmly in the present moment.
Keep your mind on the task in hand of relaxing the mind,
Training and cultivating the mind in meditation for which you've set aside this precious space in your life.
And fill your mind with a sense of happiness and joy.
Make your mind spacious,
Radiant,
Light and refreshed.
Refreshed like the ocean,
Radiant like the morning sun,
Light as a feather,
And refreshed like a flower bud in the early morning dew.
Fill your mind with happiness and joy,
As if those tiny particles of happiness and joy completely filled your mind,
Leaving no space within your mind for any other sort of thought.
And when your mind feels completely relaxed,
Harmonized,
Unified,
And your body is completely relaxed too,
Very gently,
Using no effort at all,
Allow your attention to settle and to center itself to a point in the middle of your stomach.
Allow your attention,
Allow your awareness to settle itself to a point in the center of your stomach,
And maintain your attention there at this point in the center of your stomach,
As continuously as you can,
For as long as you can,
Without letting your mind wander anywhere else.
The way we keep the mind at the center of the body depends on our own personal character.
Some people like to keep the mind in the center of the body by visualizing a bright object there.
Other people prefer to keep the mind in the center of the body simply by observing whatever inner experience is there to be seen at the center of the body.
If you find that for you the first method is more appropriate,
Then imagine a bright object such as a shining sun,
A full moon,
A shining star,
Or even a crystal ball,
As if that bright object,
The object of your choice,
Any one of the four,
Is floating in the center of your stomach.
And imagine that object as continuously as you can,
For as long as you can,
Without letting the mind wander anywhere else.
Imagine with a soft and gentle attention.
A second possible way of maintaining the mind at the center of the body is simply by observing without imagining anything.
Observing whatever there is to be seen at the center of the body.
If there's darkness to be observed,
Then observe the darkness.
If there are shadows to be observed,
Then observe the shadows.
If there are images to be observed,
Then observe the images.
If there is brightness to be observed,
Then observe the brightness.
In conclusion,
Observe whatever there is to be seen,
But observe continuously,
With a light and gentle attention,
Without entertaining any thoughts in your mind,
Without judging the things that you see,
Without any expectations,
Without becoming elated by the pleasing things that you see,
Without feeling disappointed by the displeasing things that you see.
Simply observing and nothing more.
So cultivate the refinement of the mind,
Cultivate the subtlety of the mind using your bright object,
Or using your observation skills,
As continuously as you can,
For as long as you can,
Without letting the mind wander anywhere else.
And eventually the mind will come gently to a standstill at the center of the body,
Allowing the mind to go deeper inside,
Deeper into purity,
Deeper into brightness,
And deeper into the hidden wisdom within the mind.
Now each to their own meditation practice in silence,
For a few more moments,
Until we come to the appropriate time.
The mind is always at the center of our body,
Remaining at a standstill at the center of whatever inner experience we have built up for ourselves in our meditation so far.
For some people it will be like a bright,
Clear sphere of crystal at the center of the body.
For others it may be like a pinpoint of light at the center of the body.
For others still it may be like a feeling of warmth or well-being at the center of the body.
Whatever sort of inner experience we have attained for ourselves,
We place our attention very gently at the center of that experience.
At the very center of the inner experience within ourselves,
Touching gently with the same lightness of a feather floating down to touch upon the surface of some water,
So lightly that the feather doesn't even break the surface of the water.
In the same way we touch our attention at the center of our inner experience within ourselves.
If we touch our mind at the center with just the right amount of attention,
What we will find is that the inner sphere of the mind will gradually expand outwards,
Expanding gradually outwards until it is the same size as the whole of our body,
As if we were sitting inside a sphere of our own well-being,
Or a sphere of our own light.
And we make the wish that,
May we ourselves be well and happy,
May we be free from all suffering.
And touching our mind again at the center of the body,
The sphere of well-being or the sphere of light spreads outwards beyond our own body,
Spreading outward in all directions,
Just like the moonlight shines outwards from the full moon in the night sky,
Or just as a block of ice,
Sends forth the coolness in all directions around itself,
Into the atmosphere around it.
In the same way we spread our loving-kindness outwards in all directions around ourselves,
Spreading the sphere of loving-kindness outwards to encapsulate the whole of the room in which we are sitting for meditation,
While making the wish that,
May all living beings here in this room be well and happy,
Be free from all suffering.
And we spread our loving-kindness further outwards still,
Spreading outwards from the center of our body,
To encapsulate the whole of the building in which we are sitting for meditation,
Again with the wish that,
May all living beings here in this building be well and happy,
Free from all suffering.
And we spread our loving-kindness further outwards beyond the building,
Outwards in all directions around us into the neighborhood,
The neighborhood around us again with the wish that,
May every living being here in the neighborhood be well and happy,
Be free from all suffering.
We spread loving-kindness further outwards,
Outwards to the whole of this city.
If we find it easier to imagine the city as a map which you can see from above,
Then imagine the city in this way,
Spreading loving-kindness across the whole of the map of the city,
In all directions all around,
So that there is no part of the city not touched by the corners and the radiance of your loving-kindness.
Again making the wish that,
May every living being here in this city be well and happy,
Be free from all suffering.
We spread loving-kindness outwards further beyond the city limits,
To the whole of the country,
Spreading loving-kindness outwards to the very borders of the country in all directions all around.
We spread our loving-kindness without exception to the very borders of the country in all directions all around,
Again with the wish that,
May every living being here in this country be well and happy,
Be free from all suffering.
We spread our loving-kindness outwards to all the neighbouring countries too,
All the neighbouring countries all around,
Spreading our loving-kindness in all directions to all living beings without exception,
Again with the wish that,
May every one of these living beings be well and happy,
Be free from all suffering.
We spread loving-kindness outwards again to the whole of the continent,
Spread our loving-kindness outwards to the whole of the continent around us,
To every country of this continent,
So that our loving-kindness spreads its coolness and radiance to every country on this continent,
Again with the wish that,
May every living being on this continent be well and happy,
Be free from all suffering.
We spread our loving-kindness further outwards still to every continent of the world,
So there's no corner of the world not touched by the radiance and coolness of our loving-kindness,
Spreading our loving-kindness to every place on the surface of our planet,
Again with the wish that,
May every living being without exception,
Whether on the land,
In the air or in the sea,
Be well and happy,
Be free from suffering,
Live together in peace and harmony so that true peace may prevail on our world.
And we spread loving-kindness outwards in all directions all around,
Outwards into the universe,
To the front and to the back,
To the right and to the left,
Above and below,
Emanating loving-kindness outwards into the universe around us with the wish that,
Wherever in the universe there may be living beings,
May they too be touched by the coolness and radiance of our loving-kindness.
In such a way we spread our loving-kindness without limits,
Without limits and without exceptions,
Outwards into the universe,
The galaxies and the cosmos around us.
And having spread loving-kindness in this way,
We condense our awareness back down to the centre of our body again,
Taking careful note of the brightness,
The clarity and the feeling of peace and joy at the centre of our body.
In particular taking note of the feeling of well-being at the centre of our body,
Remembering this feeling as well as we can because this feeling of well-being is very important for us.
It represents the state of progress in meditation that we have reached up until now.
If we can remember this feeling as well as we can,
The next time we come to meditate again,
We can pick up from where we left off with this feeling and continue to make uninterrupted progress next session.
But for now we continue to meditate for the last few moments of this meditation,
Taking a few moments to note the state of our progress in meditation and remembering the feeling as well as we can for the last few moments of our practice in silence.
