So we'd like to start by closing your eyes very gently,
Adjusting your posture so that your back is very straight,
So that you're breathing easily and your circulation is unimpeded.
Place your hands gently in your lap,
With the right hand over the left hand,
And the index finger of your right hand touching against the thumb of your left hand.
If you're sitting on a meditation mat,
Then you'd be sitting in a half lotus position.
If you're sitting on a chair,
Then it's best to be on a straight-backed chair.
So if you're not going to fall asleep halfway through,
Then the meditation should go successfully for you.
And we follow our breath deep down inside the body,
While scanning down through the whole of ourselves,
Relaxing each and every muscle as we go.
So starting with the muscles of our forehead,
We relax any tension there.
We make sure our eyes are only very gently closed,
Rather than closing our eyes tightly.
We let the muscles of our face become soft.
We relax our jaw,
Being particularly careful not to clench our teeth together.
From there,
We relax our neck and shoulders,
Letting our shoulders drop to their natural height.
Relaxing our arms,
Forearms,
Our hands and fingers,
So that the way our hands rest in our lap is as light and gentle as possible.
And continuing on down,
We relax the whole of our torso,
Whether it be our chest,
Trunk or our abdomen.
And then relaxing both legs,
All the way down to our feet and our toes,
Until we feel satisfied that no part of our body remains with any sort of stress or tension anymore.
If there are places where tension still seems to linger on,
Then we do our best to relax that tension as far as possible,
Allowing ourselves to turn our attention inward,
To relax our state of mind in just the same way.
But the way we relax our mind is to put aside temporarily any worries or concerns pertaining to our life,
Almost as if we were sitting alone in the world,
Like a person with no past and no future.
But entirely focused in the present moment and on the task in hand.
We conjure up a sense of well-being within ourselves,
As if well-being were made up of tiny particles,
Particles of happiness and joy,
That seem to grow and spread inside us,
To fill the whole of our body and mind,
Leaving no space inside ourselves for any other sort of thought.
And when we feel relaxed and refreshed,
Both in body and in mind,
Very gently and using no effort at all,
We can imagine the whole of our body to be nothing but a hollow cavity or an empty shell.
Alternately,
You might prefer to think of your body as being like a transparent bubble with nothing on the inside.
And within this empty space of our body,
Somewhere around the level of our diaphragm,
Somewhere around the level of our diaphragm,
Is a place where the in-breath will go to the deepest point inside,
Before turning around to come back out as the out-breath.
It's exactly the same point that we are particularly interested in,
As a focus for the mind.
This turning point for the breath,
Where the breath pauses just for a moment between the in-breath and the out-breath.
You can also think of this place as being like a source of peace from within.
And the more we allow our awareness to familiarize itself with this point,
The more the mind will start to pick up on that sense of peace and tranquility from within.
All we need to do to build up that familiarity with the sense of the body is to gently maintain an inner image or an inner feeling that we have conjured up at that point.
Maybe a picture such as that of the shining sun I mentioned earlier,
Or anything bright and clear,
A diamond,
A star,
A full moon,
Whatever comes easiest to us.
And maintaining this inner object in this way,
The mind will gradually find its equilibrium,
As it rests gently at the center of the body.
The point inside ourselves has some special qualities.
It seems to be the source of peace from within ourselves.
Sometimes it even feels like the source of all that is alive inside us.
And certainly it has the quality of always being bright.
And our subjective feeling,
Our sense of interception,
Can pick up on that brightness as we train the mind.
But the way we can approach that ability to pick up on the inner brightness is by concentrating more on the inner feeling,
On what we feel rather than asking questions why.
And allowing that brightness to grow and spread within us.
With the mind centered softly in the process of our meditation.
Every time the mind is at the center of the body,
It's like reconnecting with that inner spark of life.
The task of our meditation is to maintain our attention gently inside the body,
Allowing the mind to return to where it needs to be,
To re-engage with its natural and pure state.
If we get the balance just right,
If we hit upon the sweet spot in our meditation,
Then we'll have a sense of expansion outwards from that central point.
And we allow the volume of brightness to expand and enlarge.
And we allow the volume of brightness to expand and enlarge outwards towards an endless horizon in all directions all around.
Enlarging without limits,
Radiating forever outwards.
Amid the feeling of contentment.
And although the point at the center of ourselves may remain always the brightest place,
But the brightness radiates outwards without limits.
It's almost like a diamond-like point of brightness at the center of a general illumination within us.
Diamond-like sparkling in the center,
Full moon brightness on the periphery.
Full moon brightness on the periphery.
We allow the brightness to envelop us,
While touching our attention gently at the most precious diamond-like brightness at the center of ourselves.
Sometimes in the context of Tibetan tradition we may have heard the chanting,
OM MANI PADME HUM.
The diamond brightness at the center of the lotus.
And with our meditation also,
It's as if the very center of ourselves is a diamond-like point.
From which the lotus can gradually blossom outwards.
We allow our mind to rest gently at the center of the body,
While remaining connected with the brightness all around.
Immersing ourselves in this inner feeling,
Sense of serenity,
Youthfulness.
And although in the back of our mind we may be aware that our physical body has to deteriorate over time,
There's a sense of the mind always being forever young,
For as long as it's in touch with this inner sparkling brightness.
So we engage with that brightness more and more,
Magnifying,
Multiplying the inner light of serenity.
While reminding ourselves that our time of meditation on each session should be the best time of our day.
So we continue to maintain our mind at the center,
Gently observing the inner bright diamond sparkle at the center of ourselves.
For a few more moments now in silence until we come to the appropriate time.
We find our mind wandering off onto other things.
Each time we realize,
We simply bring our awareness back again to the center of the body as before.
To the center of the body as before.
Bringing it back for as many times as it takes,
To build up that sense of connectedness between our mind and that special place at the center of ourselves.
If we're new to meditation,
We need to be quite persistent in bringing the mind back.
Not being put off if it's a hundred times or a thousand times,
But we need to bring the mind back into place.
But each time we bring the mind back,
It'll become a little bit easier to keep it at the center the next time around.
Until having the mind in place becomes almost second nature to us.
In practice,
The key to keeping the mind in place is to strike the right balance,
Using neither too little nor too much force to keep the mind in place.
Sometimes we think we need to hold on firmly to the mind to get it to do what we want.
But actually we need a slightly more open-handed approach.
Something similar to holding a small bird inside our hands.
Hold it too tightly and it will smother the bird,
Too loosely and it will slip between your fingers.
Somewhere in between is a sort of happy medium by which the bird can remain safe within our cradled fingers.
And it's finding this sweet spot in our meditation that is really the key to the mind being able to go deeper at the central point.
If thoughts return,
We do our best to ignore them.
If there are too many to ignore,
Then we can make use of that traditional mantra,
Hearing the sound of the words samma arahan,
Samma arahan,
Samma arahan,
Coming up as if from that central point,
With a silent but resonant quality to the sound.
Samma arahan,
Coming up as if from that central point,
With a silent but resonant quality to the sound.
We continue in this way,
Lightly and gently,
For a few more moments in silence,
Until we come to time for our loving-kindness meditation.
So we continue to maintain our awareness at the centre of the body,
The whole of the time,
Lightly,
Gently,
Continuously,
Picking up on that sense of diamond-like brightness,
And the enveloping moonlight around the periphery.
And by placing our mind very gently at the centre of that diamond-like brightness,
We can share the brightness further outward still,
For the benefit of all around us.
The way we can share that inner brightness as a loving-kindness is initially to allow the brightness to fill the whole of ourselves,
With the wish that we be well and happy,
Free from all suffering,
With the full force of forgiveness for ourselves.
From there we can allow the brightness to spread wider still to those around us,
Outwards into the environment around us,
Almost as if we were a sentinel of all that is bright and wholesome on this earth.
Because if a single meditator can bring brightness and wholesomeness to our planet,
You can imagine how bright and beautiful the world could become if everyone in the world reconnected with that inner light.
So we expand our brightness outwards,
Initially to the whole room in which we are sitting for meditation,
And wider to the whole building,
To the whole neighbourhood,
Almost like an aura or a halo that we are extending in all directions all around,
Outwards to the whole town or city,
Wider on the level of the borough,
County,
Country,
Eventually to the whole continent and all the continents of the world,
Until our brightness extends across the entire universe,
To the whole continents of the world,
Until our brightness extends across the entire face of this planet,
With a sense of compassion and forgiveness for all,
No matter who or what they may be,
Until the brightness feels infinite,
Growing and expanding wider,
Together with its brightness throughout the world,
With the wish that everyone on earth can one day reconnect with their inner light,
While remaining mindful of the precious nature of this opportunity all of us have taken,
Giving ourselves to reconnect,
Giving ourselves the chance to reconnect with that inner brightness for ourselves,
We continue to gently maintain the mind at the centre,
Harnessing that inner diamond brightness,
And spreading it outwards as the full moon brightness,
As far as we can for the last few moments of our meditation practice in silence.
