MA 27L Pathway To The Utmost Purity Of Mind

Meditation from the Thai Theravada tradition following a modernized interpretation of Boran Kammaṭṭhāna. Recorded live on 3 March 2022 at DISUK, Woking, this is a dhamma-lite track describing the inward path through the center of the body as a way toward the utmost purity within – with or without imagery.

No end sound.

Transcript

So I'd like to invite everyone to close their eyes very gently.

Relax all the muscles of your body and make sure your breathing and your circulation are relaxed and unimpeded.

If any part of your body is not completely relaxed,

Then adjust your body to minimize any possible aches or pains.

Try to find a position for yourself by which you feel alert and yet relaxed.

And although our meditation is mostly about relaxing the mind,

We need to spend a few moments to relax our body first of all.

Because if our body is not completely relaxed,

Then it's going to be difficult for our mind to relax afterwards.

So we start by relaxing the muscles of our forehead,

Our eyebrows and our eyelids,

Making sure our eyes are only very gently closed.

We never squeeze our eyes closed,

But close our eyes gently,

In much the same way we would go to sleep.

From there,

We relax the muscles of our face,

Our neck.

We can relax both shoulders,

Both arms,

Down to the tips of our fingers.

Continuing on down,

We relax the muscles of our chest,

Trunk and our abdomen,

Both of our legs,

Right the way down to the tips of our toes,

So that all the way from the top of our head,

Right the way down to the tips of our toes,

Is completely free of any stress or tension.

But if we notice any tension still remaining in our body,

Then we do our best to relax it as far as possible.

Until we're left with the feeling as if our body seems to have melted away into the atmosphere around us,

Almost as if we had forgotten completely about our body.

So that we can turn our attention inwards instead,

Taking a few moments to make sure our state of mind is relaxed.

The easiest way to relax the mind is just to forget for a few moments about all the worries,

All the things lingering on our mind from our everyday life.

Whether it be thoughts of work,

Friends,

Family,

School,

Thoughts of the future or of the past.

We put all of these thoughts on one side just for a moment,

Rather like clearing up all the documents on our office desk,

Putting them away in a drawer before locking it with a key.

In the same way we empty our mind completely of any thoughts,

And instead we make our mind light,

Radiant,

Spacious and refreshed.

We fill our mind instead with a sense of happiness and joy,

As if tiny particles of happiness and joy completely filled the mind.

Leaving no space in the mind for any other sort of thought.

When we feel relaxed and refreshed,

Both in body and in mind,

Very gently using no effort at all,

We imagine that inside our body is just an empty space.

With no organs or tissues,

No muscles or bones.

Just a hollow space inside ourselves.

Or if you like,

You can imagine that your whole body has been transformed to be like a bubble,

With the thinnest of transparent skin and hollow on the inside.

Again with no organs or tissues,

No muscles or bones.

Now very gently and very slowly,

At a point in the middle of our body,

We remember back to that picture of the bright shining sun,

Which we saw a few moments ago.

Maybe yellow or white in color,

Red or gold,

Doesn't really matter.

And if you can't think of the sun,

Then think of any other round,

Bright object which you find easiest to imagine.

The important thing is to imagine that object as continuously as you can,

For as long as you can,

With a very gentle attention.

Sometimes we overlook the importance of the word gentle,

But often there's a temptation to use too much force when we come to meditate.

So we need to be constantly reminded of how gentle we need to be.

Some people do the mental equivalent of staring within themselves,

Which requires using force in their meditation.

Thinking is going to help them get better results,

But in fact it only prevents the meditation from progressing.

Instead we need to be as gentle as possible,

Very light in the way we place our attention at the center of the body.

If we find our mind wanders anywhere else,

As soon as we realize,

We just bring our mind back again to the center of the body as before.

If your bright object disappears,

You can always think of a new one.

But if the object changes in size,

Shape,

Color or form,

We simply continue to observe at its center,

Always observing at the brightest spot in the center of the object.

And before long we'll start to find that the object will evolve and transform of its own accord,

Changing to become an object which is more perfect inside us.

Such as a bright crystal sphere,

Like a crystal ball inside ourselves.

In the beginning,

For those who are not used to meditation,

The mind will be of a nature to wander rather a lot.

The sounds around us,

The sensations in our body or thoughts in our head may distract us.

But our job as a meditator,

If our mind should wander,

Is simply to bring our mind back again to the center each and every time,

However many times it takes for our mind to settle at the center.

In the beginning,

The object which we can observe in our center will not be very distinct.

It may seem rather lifeless and maybe as if it's flat and dull.

For others it may be as if we can see only a part of the object.

But later as the mind becomes more settled in the center,

The object will become more lifelike.

We'll be able to see the whole of the object.

As if we were seeing it in three dimensions.

And the feeling that accompanies observing that object will be different from before.

Maybe a sense of joy that arises whenever we're able to see the object.

A feeling of joy that will help us to keep the mind on the object the whole of the time.

Because if our mind wanders away,

Then the sense of joy will disappear.

We keep our mind always at the center of whatever we see.

And what we find is that the object will become gradually clearer,

Softer.

And it may become an object that's not the same as the one which we started out with.

Because it'll be an object which arises spontaneously.

Whatever form it takes we continue to observe at its center.

And the object will continue in its journey of transformation to an object which is of a form that we can expand or contract at will.

And eventually it'll become an object which is so clear and so bright,

We know it's something different to what we have experienced before.

Often bright,

Sparkling like a diamond,

Brighter even than the midday sun.

Giving a sense of expansion in the mind whereby we can see that this point at the center is no longer merely just a point anymore,

But it's the beginning of a pathway.

Pathway like a bright tunnel which seems to lead ever downwards inside us.

And this may or may not have a stream of crystal spheres inside it.

But whatever our inner experience,

Our job is merely to rest our mind in stillness at the center.

As soon as our mind is sufficiently subtle,

The mind will go deeper inside.

Deeper to draw upon all the knowledge,

All the intuition that is hidden beneath the surface of the mind.

Along an axis which will eventually lead us all the way to the utmost purity and clarity of the mind as we go.

So now for a few more moments in silence,

We cultivate the mind in stillness at the center.

With or without a bright object,

Or simply observing what is already there to be seen.

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

Until we come to the appropriate time.

Don't forget if your mind wanders off onto other things,

No matter whether it be the sounds around you,

Sensations in your body or thoughts in your head.

As soon as you realize,

Simply bring your attention back again to the center of your body as before.

Always keep your mind at the center of whatever the inner experience is inside.

If it wanders away,

We can bring it back.

If that inner experience disappears,

We can conjure up a new one.

If it changes,

We just follow it in its new form.

And our practice becomes one of observation of the gradual changes in our inner experience.

We continue to remain at the center of that,

Lightly,

Gently,

Continuously.

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

Before we come to time for our loving kindness meditation for today.

We continue to keep our mind on track at the center of the body.

The whole of the time,

Always at a standstill,

At the center of whatever inner experience we have built up for ourselves in our meditation so far.

For some people,

The inner experience arising from the meditation will be rather like a sense of inner brightness,

Or perhaps like a pinpoint of light at the center of the body.

For others,

It may be more like a feeling of warmth or well-being at the center of the body,

Or perhaps inner images,

Large or small,

Centered around the middle of ourselves.

Whatever sort of inner experience we've built up for ourselves,

We touch very gently with our attention at the center of that experience,

The 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.

Touching so lightly that the feather doesn't even break the surface of the water.

The same way we touch with our attention at the center of the inner experience within ourselves.

We touch that inner experience with just the right amount of effort.

What we'll find is that the inner experience of the mind will gradually expand outwards from the point of contact.

Expanding outwards until it's the same size as the whole of our own body,

As if we are sitting inside a sphere of our own well-being,

Or a sphere of our own light.

And at this point,

We can make the affirmation to ourselves that maybe ourselves be well and happy,

Maybe 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 will spread gradually outwards,

Beyond the boundaries of our own body.

Spreading outward in all directions,

Just as the moonlight shines forth 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.

In the same way,

We spread our loving-kindness outwards in all directions.

Spreading that 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,

Free from all suffering.

We spread our loving-kindness further outwards still,

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 the building be well and happy,

Be free from suffering,

Live together in peace and harmony.

We spread our loving-kindness further outwards still,

Beyond the building,

Outwards in all directions around us into the neighborhood.

The neighborhood around us,

Again with the wish that may all living beings here in the neighborhood be well and happy,

Free from suffering,

Live together in peace and harmony.

Spreading loving-kindness further outwards still to the whole of this city.

If we find it easier to imagine the city as a map across which we spread our loving-kindness,

Then we can imagine the city in that way,

Spreading our loving-kindness across the whole of the map of the city,

In all directions all around,

So there's no part of this city not touched by the coolness,

The radiance of our loving-kindness.

Again making the wish that may every living being here in the city be well and happy,

Free from all suffering,

Live together in peace and harmony.

We spread loving-kindness further outwards still beyond the city limits to the whole of the county,

All the country,

Spreading loving-kindness outwards to the very borders of the country in all directions.

Again with the wish that may all living beings here in this country be well and happy,

Free from suffering,

Live together in peace and harmony.

We can spread loving-kindness to the neighboring countries,

The whole continent,

With the wish that may every living being here on this continent be well and happy,

Free from suffering,

Live together in peace and harmony.

Spreading our loving-kindness further still to every continent of the world,

With that same coolness and radiance,

The wish that may all living beings on every continent be well and happy,

Free from suffering,

Live together in peace and harmony.

Until our loving-kindness spreads across the entire face of this planet,

With the wish that every being,

Whether on the land,

In the air,

Or in the sea,

Touched by our loving-kindness,

Live together in peace and harmony,

That true peace might prevail in our world.

We can spread loving-kindness outwards in all directions,

Into the universe,

To the front and 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,

That they too be touched by this coolness and radiance of our loving-kindness,

In such a way that we can spread our loving-kindness without limits,

Without exceptions.

Having spread loving-kindness in this way,

We condense our awareness back down to the center of our body again,

Taking careful note of the brightness,

The clarity,

The feeling of peace and joy at the center of our body.

In particular,

Taking note of the sense of well-being at our center,

Remembering this feeling as well as we can,

Because this feeling of well-being is very important for us.

It represents a 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 sit down to meditate again,

We can pick up from where we left off with this feeling and continue to make uninterrupted progress in our next session.

But for now,

We continue to meditate for the last few moments of this practice,

Taking a few moments just to note the state of progress in our meditation,

Remembering the feeling as well as we can,

For a few more moments in silence.

Reviews

Delightful and centering as always. Many thanks!