MA 38L Five Good Reasons To Meditate (Live)

Meditation from the Thai Theravada tradition following a modernized interpretation of Boran Kammatthana. This live-recorded track elaborates on five of the benefits that can be expected from meditating regularly - to bring the mind back inside the space of the body, to help us overcome the problems in our lives, to gain spiritual refuge, to understand the nature of life, and to attain an end of defilements. No end sound.

Transcript

So if you'd like to start by adopting a comfortable position for yourself in meditation,

Closing your eyes and allow your shoulders to drop.

Make sure your eyes are closed only very gently and invite the inner gaze to soften,

Bringing your awareness back within yourself and allowing your awareness to soften as well.

From there we relax every muscle of our body,

We relax every muscle starting with 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 the same way.

We might close our eyes to go to sleep,

We should be sure that there's no heaviness on our eyelids and if we notice that our eyes are closed too tightly or if there is any heaviness on our eyelids then we may need to open our eyes and close them again more gently,

Closing our eyes in just the same way we would close them to go to sleep.

From there we relax the muscles of our face,

We relax our neck,

Both shoulders,

Both arms,

All the way down to our hands and our fingers.

Continuing on down we relax our chest,

Trunk and abdomen,

Relaxing both legs all the way down to our feet and our toes,

So that all the way right away from the top of our head down to the tips of our toes,

There's no remaining part of our body with any sort of stress or tension anymore,

If we do notice any tension remaining in our body then we do our best to relax it completely,

So our body is completely relaxed,

We'll be left with a feeling as if our body seems to melt away into the atmosphere around us and we'll have no more worries about our body anymore.

From there we can turn to relaxation of our mind or our mental state.

We do this by letting go of any thoughts we may have about the past or the future,

We let go of any thoughts about our responsibilities or perhaps pertaining to any labels we identify within life,

Whether it be our name,

Our age,

Our gender,

Just letting all of that fall away.

We let go of any labels concerning our relationships to others,

Letting go of all these ideas of self and instead we allow ourself to just be,

To just be the awareness,

To just be in the here and now,

It may involve letting go of any narratives we may have of who we are or our past or our future,

Our to-do list or of who we want to be,

We just remain aware in the present moment,

Accepting that there's nothing to do and nowhere to be,

There's just being.

If there are any thoughts then we just allow them to come and go,

Watching them without attachment,

With no need to intervene,

Here in the stillness,

Surrendering into this space of nothing and no one,

Not being anyone but just being,

Conjuring up a sense of happiness and joy in the mind,

Perhaps casting our mind back to a time in our life when we felt truly happy as if that feeling were composed of tiny particles of happiness and joy,

Completely filling our body and mind and allowing that feeling of joy and happiness to leave us feeling refreshed on the inside and cherishing that feeling of happiness and joy for a few moments as if all the happiness were radiating outward from the center of our body,

Allowing us to merge with the totality of our surroundings and just remaining for a few moments in that stillness,

The stillness of this space and inside our body we imagine is just an empty space as if our whole body has been transformed somehow into a sort of bubble with nothing on the inside or equally it might be as if our body has disappeared altogether,

Leaving nothing but a great empty space where we allow our mind to reconnect with that special place inside us which feels like the point of greatest contentment,

Somewhere around the area of our diaphragm while maintaining our attention there as continuously as we can for as long as we can,

Not letting our attention slip away to anything else.

If we already have an inner object of some sort we can adopt that as the focus for our meditation but if we don't seem to have anything obvious to focus upon we can always start by conjuring up one of our own,

A visual object or one that we can feel inside us and if our attention wanders away to other things we simply bring it back again as soon as we realize,

Bringing it back repeatedly until little by little keeping the mind centered becomes like second nature to us,

We remain always at the center of whatever we can perceive inside us not as if we were looking down on that point but as if we were actually down there ourselves so as if we have shifted the whole of our mental office down from the level of our brain to that place at the center of our stomach with all perception,

Memory,

Thought and cognition in the same place at our center,

Actually within the object that we perceive.

If thoughts return we do our best to ignore them,

To let them die down,

To leave a sense of silence in the mind,

Silence in which there's nothing but our inner object as the total focus for our attention and if we rest our mind gently,

Continuously,

There'll be a sense in which it's almost like threading a needle so an extreme lightness of touch that can allow the mind to reach through to the other side,

If we can achieve this level of finesse we'll start to see the center of the body as much more than just being a point in the mind but actually something more like a trailhead or a pathway that leads the mind deeper.

As for the possible problem of there being thoughts in the mind,

If the thoughts are at a low level you can generally get away with just ignoring them by not encouraging the thoughts.

In this way we'll find that a first thought will no longer lead to a second or a third but it will die down into silence but for some people it may be that the thoughts don't just go away quite as easily as that,

In which case we may need to take it to the next level by making use of that mantra,

The thought blocking strategy I taught you earlier,

Which is to hear the sound of the words Samma Araham,

Samma Araham,

Samma Araham or your own equivalent coming up as if you hear those words like a silent music coming from the source of a sound located at the center of your body.

Samma Araham,

Samma Araham,

Samma Araham over and over again lightly,

Gently,

Continuously until at a certain point in your meditation you'll start to find that the thoughts have died down.

You may find yourself forgetting the mantra because it's not necessary for you anymore,

So if the mantra dies down in this way then all we need to do is be content to remain in silence with nothing but that inner object at the center of ourselves.

So we cultivate our attention in this way lightly and gently,

Keeping our mind on track by means of our inner object while discouraging any thoughts from arising in the mind and touching gently with the center of our inner experience,

Allowing the mind to go deeper inside.

For a few more moments now in silence until we come to the appropriate time and we continue to keep our mind on track at the center of the body the whole of the time.

Lightly,

Gently and continuously if our attention wanders off on to other things,

Each time we realize we simply bring our attention gently back again to the center of our body as before.

If the inner object disappears we can conjure up a new one,

But if it changes we just follow it in its new form.

If thoughts arise in the mind we do our best to ignore them.

We make use of the mantra if the thoughts in the mind are too many simply to be ignored.

At the same time we take special care to get the balance right in our meditation,

Applying the mind at the center of the body neither with too much force nor too little.

Be our mind in place at the center with nothing more than a feather-like touch until we can start to build up a sense of lightness and expansion in our meditation.

It is the sign that we have reached the sweet spot in our meditation practice.

There are many potential benefits that can come of our meditation,

But at the same time reading about meditation in the mass media can often lead us to a rather an underwhelming perspective on what meditation can do for us.

Even the word visualization is often misunderstood to be some sort of manifesting or about getting the things that you want in life.

But in fact meditation has benefits that are much deeper than that and more authentic goals of meditation should at the very least include things like bringing the mind back inside the space of the body and helping to overcome problems in our lives,

Helping us to gain a spiritual refuge while understanding the nature of life and overcoming the impurities in our mind.

In order to bring the mind back the space of the body we need to internalize the mind while shaking ourselves free of the influences in the outside world,

All the things that come to us via our five external senses.

For overcoming problems in our life meditation has a special characteristic and it allows us to gain a sort of headspace,

Taking off the pressure in our lives,

Giving us a feeling of lightness and happiness or solace in our lives,

A space in which we can start to get perspective on the true roots of any problems occurring in our lives while giving us the motivation to overcome those difficulties in our lives.

From the point of view of being a refuge in our lives,

When meditation draws the mind inwards towards something known as inner peace we start to gain a feeling of safety and confidence in our lives.

It's an important reason to build up a regular meditation habit in our lives to give us a sense of confidence from the inside.

As for the benefit of understanding life more deeply and learning about who we really are,

Meditation gives us a perspective by which we can start to see how life really is,

To be able to look beyond the suffering and the impermanence and to prevent us from becoming attached to an illusory ego.

The sort of perspective change that we can gain in this way allows us to have more realistic expectations about life in a way that minimizes the shadows of suffering.

The last important benefit of meditation,

Which is to overcome any of those mental impurities in the mind,

Whether it be greed or hatred or delusion,

Then we have to be able to actually identify these things in our mind first of all before we can overcome them.

It's not a work that someone else can do for us,

It's not something that we can do if we don't understand the nature of our own minds first of all.

But being able to stand back from those impurities to see the nature of the pure mind,

To give us that contrast,

This is something that meditation enables for us.

So these are five important reasons why meditation is something we ought to practice regularly in our lives in order that day by day we can gradually work towards that clarity and wisdom,

Purity within ourselves.

We continue to meditate in this way now for a few more moments in silence,

Lightly and gently on track at the center of our body before we come to time for practicing some loving-kindness meditation together.

We continue to keep our mind on track at the center of the body the whole of the time,

Lightly,

Gently and continuously,

Always at the center of whatever inner experience we have built up for ourselves.

As a result of the meditation so far this evening,

For some of us the inner experience may consist of a sense of brightness on the inside,

Inner illumination,

In which case we place our mind very gently at the center of that illumination in a way that it can spread gradually outwards from the place of contact at the center of ourselves,

In rather the same way that newly fallen snow might melt away when touched with a warm fingertip,

With solid becoming liquid,

Liquid becoming vapor,

Expanding outwards from the point of contact.

For some people the inner experience may be more of a feeling,

A sense of well-being located around the center of ourselves.

In the same way we would touch gently at the center of that feeling,

Allowing the feeling to spread outwards from that central point.

Rather still the inner experience may consist in some sort of inner imagery,

Objects in the mind,

Large or small,

May spread loving-kindness to ourselves first of all,

Because if we have no compassion for ourselves then it's going to be hard for us to have compassion for anyone else.

Initially we extend the loving-kindness,

Expanding it to fill the whole of our own body,

While making the gentle affirmation at the center of ourselves that may we be well and happy,

May we be free from suffering,

And then allowing the loving-kindness to extend outwards beyond the boundaries of our own body,

Outwards into the room around us,

Almost like a halo or an aura,

Extending outwards in all directions,

Taking in all the living beings around us,

Whether they be people or sentient beings,

Extending loving-kindness to all of them too,

Without exception,

While making the gentle affirmation at the center of ourselves that may all these living beings in the room be well and happy,

Free from suffering,

Live together in peace and harmony,

And again from our center we extend the radius of our loving-kindness ever outwards,

Wider and wider,

Outwards into the neighborhood,

Whole town and borough,

County,

Country,

Beyond the borders of this country,

The whole continent,

Wider still to all the continents of the world.

We extend our loving-kindness as far as we can,

Without feeling that we are forcing it at all,

And wherever we can extend our loving-kindness,

We extend our compassion to all those living beings with the wish that they be well and happy,

Free from suffering,

Live together in peace and harmony,

So that peace might become a reality on our planet within our own lifetimes.

For the last few moments of our loving-kindness meditation,

We can also extend loving-kindness to particular loved ones,

Towards those for whom we feel a sense of gratitude,

Towards those still living or to those who have already passed,

With the trust that our pure intention can reach across the 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 meditation practice together,

Until we come to the appropriate time.

Reviews

Another very kind and gentle practice. Some space to sink in, great mellow instruction. Focusing on our center. Many thanks and Metta. ☮️💖🙏🖖