MA 21L Meditative Reflection On Impermanence (Live)

Meditation from the Thai Theravada tradition following a modernized interpretation of Boran Kammatthana. This live-recorded track gives a dharma-lite elaboration of how, if our mind can let go of attachments to the things outside ourselves, it will return more easily to the center of the body.

Transcript

So to start off with,

We allow our eyes to close very gently for meditation.

Be careful that you have closed your eyes as lightly as possible,

With your upper and lower eyelashes touching only very gently together.

If you can get closing your eyes right,

Then the rest of the meditation will be easy.

If you close your eyes gently,

The muscles of your face will become soft,

And all the rest of the muscles in your body will become relaxed in the same way.

All the way down through your shoulders,

Arms,

Hands and fingers.

You can continue by relaxing all the muscles in your trunk,

Both legs,

Down to your feet and your toes.

This follows from closing your eyes in the correct way.

So don't overlook the importance of this,

Even though you hear the same advice every time there's a guided meditation.

So there's nothing holding you back from the attainment of inner peace within yourself.

And we might reflect that our time in this world is fairly limited.

Our life can come to an end without any warning at any moment.

And if we hope to achieve success in our meditation within our own lifespan,

It's better to make sure we've understood the technique as well as possible,

To be able to make some sort of breakthrough in our meditation in our remaining time.

So that our meditation can be a refuge and leave us reassured,

Confident and relaxed.

We make sure that our state of mind is light and relaxed,

Putting aside any worries or concerns,

Anything superfluous to our practice,

Any thoughts from the past or any plans for the future.

Remaining as far as possible in the present moment,

With our mind on the task in hand.

At the same time,

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

As if tiny particles of happiness completely fill our body and mind.

And if a sense of happiness and joy doesn't come naturally to mind,

We might cast our mind back to a time in our lives when we felt truly happy.

Reconnecting with that feeling rather than the particular circumstances and allowing that sensation to grow and spread within ourselves until we feel fully relaxed both in body and in mind.

From there,

We bring our attention gently to the center of our body.

We give ourselves a feeling at the center of our body that there is a bright,

Clear sphere of light shining.

As bright and clear as a diamond or a mirror or like a drop of water,

Like a crystal ball inside us.

And we keep our attention on this bright inner object as continuously as we can for as long as we can,

Lightly and gently.

If you need to,

You can make use of the sound of the mantra to keep your mind free of thought,

Hearing the sound of the words Samma Araham,

Samma Araham,

Samma Araham,

For as long as it's useful to keep your attention on track continuously at the center of the body.

So you have two things in your mind in effect,

The inner object and the sound of the mantra.

And two things hand in hand will keep your mind free from distraction.

Because any distractions will only hinder our access to inner experience.

Any obstacles will weigh us down in body and mind,

Causing our mind to feel blocked or unwieldy,

Narrow,

Claustrophobic or unable to enlarge.

So the only way to gain levity of both body and mind is to relocate our attention within the space of the body.

And if you notice the teachings of the Buddha,

Where he advocated letting go of our attachments,

Attachments to everything,

Whether it be animate or inanimate objects,

To let go of any grasping,

Because these factors are of no benefit to us.

They cause us to feel weighed down in body and in mind.

They blot out the inner source of brightness.

They may cause us to lead our lives unskillfully.

So we might remind ourselves of this teaching on non-attachment,

Whether we start with ourselves and work our way gradually outwards,

Or we start on the outside and make our way gradually inwards.

We can look at our own bodies,

Our hair,

Skin,

Teeth,

Fingernails,

Toenails,

And the way they deteriorate in spite of our best efforts with cosmetics.

It means that they are of a nature to disintegrate.

It applies to our bodies,

Our clothes,

Even the jewelry we wear is of the same nature,

Because they all have a limited lifespan.

As we reflect from the inside out,

To our furniture,

Our homes,

All have limited lifespan.

The cars we drive,

Our investments,

Land and assets are all temporary.

Even our neighborhood,

The roads that connect them,

Municipality,

County,

Country,

And even the globe and universe itself are eventually going to deteriorate.

So we must let go of our attachment to any of these things.

Pinning our happiness on any of these things is of no use to us.

It imprisons the mind by hitching it to things that are without ultimate meaning.

We can live out our whole lives without coming to an end of material attachments to worry about.

If we think of those things which are external to ourselves,

They just weigh us down both in body and in mind,

And they blot out the inner source of brightness.

They impede us from attaining inner experience or an inner refuge.

If we reflect on these truths momentarily,

Each time before we meditate,

And it only takes a minute,

Let all conditioned things are impermanent,

Even our own body,

And of a nature to deteriorate,

Then we'll be able to let go more easily.

If our mind lets go of attachment to the things outside ourselves,

No matter whether they come to us via our eyes,

Ears,

Nose,

Taste buds,

Or touch any of the five senses,

Then our mind will return within the space of our body,

And come more easily to a standstill at the center of the body.

If the mind comes to a standstill within,

Then inner illumination will arise.

The opportunity for us to make the inner journey of the mind will dawn for us.

Our mind will feel as if it's broken free of all forms of unwholesomeness and harm previously present in our lives.

The mind will become increasingly subtle and refined.

The deeper the mind reaches,

The purer it will become.

It will become so pure that we can see the purity of our own mind,

As a crystal sphere within us.

And it's a purity that goes beyond a mere subjective feeling,

But it will allow us to access a form of inner vision known as insight.

An inner sphere that is a combination of perception,

Memory,

Thought,

And cognition.

Something that's more than just our imagination,

But a real phenomenon which increases the whole sense of well-being within ourselves.

So we continue to focus our mind gently at the center of our body,

Letting go of anything else that's not relevant to our practice.

Lightly,

Gently,

And continuously maintaining our mind with the inner object,

Whether it be something we see or something we feel at the center of ourselves.

Each to our own practice for a few more moments now in silence,

Until we come to the appropriate time.

So we continue to keep our mind on track at the center of the body the whole of the time.

Lightly,

Gently,

Continuously.

Always at the center of whatever we see or feel within ourselves.

And sometimes we have to be careful,

Not only of attachments to things in the outside world,

Or even the physical aspects of our own body and mind.

We have to be careful even of attachment to progress in the meditation itself.

Sometimes when our mind is becoming very still,

We have nothing new to keep the mind's interest,

There's a temptation to try to see something more.

Often it's because of an attachment to the idea of getting results in our meditation,

Or of getting new experiences.

And we justify our enthusiasm by thinking that it must lead our meditation in the correct direction.

But really this sort of enthusiasm is only really appropriate to get us to sit for meditation in the first place.

While we are actually sitting for meditation,

We really just need to let the mind be.

We need to stop grasping after any possibility of results or progress that we anticipate.

Everyone wants to make a breakthrough in their meditation,

But sometimes we can go about it in the wrong way.

Therefore we have to stop by just letting the mind be.

Even if there's nothing new for us to see,

We must observe without interfering.

It doesn't mean we're getting no benefit from the meditation,

Because every time we meditate we collect up happiness little by little.

And the mind will gradually be purified and clarified.

And our ability to meditate will gradually accumulate,

Just like termites bringing grains of sand until they've built a huge termite mound.

Or like watering a tree at its roots.

The tree grows a little each day.

We're never able to tell just how many inches it's grown in a day.

But after some time it starts to bear fruit.

Meditation is similar.

All we need to do is close our eyes,

Relax our body,

Bring our mind softly to a standstill inside,

Without worrying about the results the meditation will yield.

You shouldn't be discontented with yourself,

Thinking that inside ought to be brighter than it seems to be.

We should just observe without interfering until the mind reaches a point of equilibrium,

Whereby it can be attracted towards enlightenment.

Later,

When we become more adept in recognizing and guiding our states of mind,

We can bring the mind to that equilibrium intentionally.

But at this stage in our meditation we've not yet reached that point.

We need to adjust our approach.

It doesn't mean we're never going to reach the point of mastery,

But for now we need to remain mindful of all the advice we've heard on approaching our meditation.

Otherwise,

When we get to the good bits in our meditation,

All the advice goes out of the window and we can't stop ourselves applying the wrong sort of effort.

If in doubt,

We just reset our efforts,

Make a new start,

Pretend we are new to meditation like a child or using our beginner's mind.

In the meantime,

We don't deny or resist whatever inner experiences arise in the meditation.

We should just be content with whatever arises,

Being friendly to whatever comes up,

Even if it's darkness or even if it's nothing new.

And for as long as we enjoy our experience of meditation,

Our inner experiences will sort themselves out.

It'll be a majestic transformation inside that no money could buy.

A transformation that is beyond compare.

An experience that comes together with subtle joy and happiness,

Which inspires us to extend compassion towards all living beings without exception.

So we train the mind to rest,

To stand still in brightness and clarity at the center of ourselves,

Whatever there is to observe on the inside,

Be it darkness,

Light,

Images or otherwise.

We observe without interfering,

Continuously,

Without entertaining any thoughts in the mind.

As a meditator,

It's not our job to analyze what we see or to run a mental commentary.

So we train ourselves in this way,

Both when meditating or even as we get up to do other things in our lives,

Whether standing,

Walking,

Sitting or lying down,

Whether eating,

Speaking or exercising,

Until having our mind at the center becomes second nature.

We already have all the knowledge we need to succeed in meditation.

Whoever you are,

Inner experience awaits you within.

So it's not a question of whether the breakthrough will come for us,

It's just a matter of time and consistency in our practice.

We adapt our practice to continue alongside whatever life may throw at us,

Like a point of stillness in the eye of the storm or an oasis in the desert,

Attracting abundance into our lives on all possible levels.

So we continue to train our mind,

Train our attention lightly,

Gently and continuously at the center of ourselves for a few more moments now in silence until we come to the time for our loving-kindness meditation.

We continue to maintain our awareness at the center of the body the whole of the time.

Or is it the center of whatever inner experience we've built up for ourselves?

As a result of the meditation so far,

If there is a sort of a brightness inside,

It may be like diamond brightness sparkling at the center of yourself,

Then allow that brightness to expand outwards.

If it's more of a feeling of well-being and touching your awareness very gently at the center of that feeling,

It will spread slowly outwards.

For others there may be some sort of imagery inside,

If you place your mind gently at the center of the imagery,

It will also become larger in size,

Expanding outwards.

Expanding outwards by a process known as the spreading of loving-kindness.

And at this point we share our loving-kindness with all sentient beings around us.

We share by extending that loving-kindness outwards from the center of ourselves,

Initially to the whole of our own body,

Wishing ourselves to be well and happy,

Free from suffering,

With the full force of forgiveness for ourselves.

We extend the loving-kindness to all those around us,

Extend that loving-kindness outwards beyond the peripheries of our own body,

Into the environment around us,

Taking in all the sentient beings in our midst,

The room in which we are sitting for meditation,

Further outwards to the whole building,

Neighborhood,

As far outwards as we can extend our loving-kindness.

Because as meditators we are like the sentinels of peace for the world.

If we are able to conjure up peace in the form of brightness or well-being within ourselves,

Even a single meditator can bring wholesomeness and peace to the whole of our planet.

With many meditators you can imagine just how much more bright and beautiful our world could become,

If everyone in the world was able to reconnect with that inner light.

And if we are able to connect with that inner light,

If everyone in the world was able to reconnect with that inner light.

So we extend the brightness or the well-being or the inner peace outwards,

The whole building,

The whole neighborhood,

Almost like an aura or a halo,

And we're extending around us,

Taking in all the living beings therein,

Extending that inner peace to all of them,

Outwards to the whole city,

Whole county,

Whole country,

The whole of the continent,

To all the continents of the world,

Until our loving-kindness extends across the whole of the face of this planet,

With a sense of compassion and forgiveness for all,

No matter who or what they may be,

Until the extent of our loving-kindness feels infinite.

It grows and expands wider across the face of our planet,

The wish that everyone on earth could one day reconnect with inner light,

While remaining mindful of the precious nature that all could have to also learn about the inner light of peace for their own benefit.

We continue to maintain the sense of loving-kindness radiating outwards from our center,

And the bright diamond spark led the center of that,

For a few more moments in silence until we come to the appropriate time.

Reviews

Wonderful teachings, wonderfully led. I find peace in my practice when I follow your advice. Lovely. Thank you. ☮️💖🙏🖖🪷🕉