MB 32 The Full Moon Day Of May

Meditation from the Thai Theravada tradition following a modernized interpretation of Boran Kammatthana. This guided meditation given on Wesak Day 2021 includes the United Nations message to Buddhists and explains the meaning of the single and beautiful path (ekalyanamagga) of practice allowing Buddhists to fulfill the wish to attain the supreme sight of the Buddha inside (dassanuttariya).

Transcript

So if you'd like to settle yourself in a comfortable position for your meditation practice today.

Close your eyes very gently.

Breathing deeply to yourself.

Letting go of any tensions in your body.

All the way from the top of your head.

Right the way down to the tips of your toes.

Allow the muscles of your face to become soft.

Taking care that even the way you close your eyes is as gentle as possible.

Bear in mind that the muscles in your eyes are the most sensitive in your body.

And if you can close your eyes gently,

Then the whole of your body will relax in the same way.

So allow that wave of relaxation to pass down from your face through your neck and shoulders,

Both arms to the tips of your fingers.

And through the whole of your torso,

Chest,

Trunk and abdomen,

Both legs.

All the way down to your feet and your toes.

So that you feel awake,

Alert,

But also relaxed.

Energized by this participation in the special virtual full moon meditation,

Which we have come together to share today.

Especially the joy and happiness of seeing old friends from previous full moon meditations,

Even if we are seeing them online today,

But just to see one another after a whole month or two months.

With the gladness to see our friends still alive,

Safe and inspired to practice.

And it brings us a sense of gladness,

Familiarity,

And a sense of belonging on the inside.

And at this point we withdraw our awareness within the space of our body to a place inside ourselves that feels free of any worries and concerns.

Although there may be so much going on around us,

But today we set aside a special day for ourselves,

A full moon day which in Buddhist tradition is special because it doubles up as the day of enlightenment of the Buddha.

And in the Theravada tradition it is also considered to be the Buddha's birthday and the day of his final passing away into Parinirvana.

It's a full moon day this month marked exceptionally as a super flower blood moon which has been photographed all around the world for its reddish orange tinge owing to a lunar eclipse and the reflection of the sunrises and sunsets in the earth's atmosphere projected onto the surface of the eclipsed moon.

And spectacularly visible all across the Pacific it is called a flower moon in reference to all the flowers of spring blooming at this time.

And because it's the full moon of May,

Although historically speaking it was 2,

519 years ago,

Today is also the anniversary of the Buddha achieving enlightenment.

So the feeling around us is particularly energized today with that sense of possibility of enlightenment for each one of us.

And especially with a positive state of mind all participating today even though we might be separated by distance but we are virtually together because we have not let social distancing or the pandemic get in the way of joining together to cultivate good deeds or continuing to give support to our local temples and meditation centers.

In fact our time of joining the meditation virtually has only widened our community to extend across borders from the local to the global and allow our meditation centers to cooperate and cross pollinate to share the best each center has to offer.

So we conjure up a sense of happiness,

Joy,

And freedom in our mind while putting aside any unwanted thoughts.

We nurture the sense of happiness and joy within ourselves which we can grow and expand within ourselves until there's no space left in our mind for any other sort of thought.

And at this point for those of you who already have your favorite method of meditation you can practice that meditation now.

For those of you who are new to meditation or those who favor the dhammakaya approach I would invite you to imagine that inside your body is just an empty space or a hollow cavity without any organs or tissues,

Muscles or bones.

Within the space of your body as an anchor for the mind you might like to picture a bright object such as the full moon shining,

The sun shining,

Or maybe a bright shining star.

Especially on this day of the Buddha's enlightenment you might like to think of a picture of the Buddha in meditation.

You can't see that object,

Even the feeling will work just as well.

You may feel as if you have one of those objects floating within the space of your body.

And you allow the object to float gently down within the space of your body,

Following the breath down to the deepest point of the breath at the diaphragm,

The seventh base of the mind as we know it in our dhammakaya tradition.

But anywhere in that general area which feels comfortable for you will work well.

We maintain our mind gently with that inner object as continuously as we can for as long as we can,

Not letting our mind wander off anywhere else if we can help it.

If the mind should wander as inevitably happens,

We just bring it back again to the center each and every time.

If the inner object disappears we can think of a new one.

If thoughts interrupt our meditation we do our best to ignore them rather than elaborate on them.

If we find the mind is plagued by thoughts,

We find our brain is like the proverbial hamster wheel,

Then we might find it useful to make use of a traditional mantra such as hearing the words,

Samā'araham,

Samā'araham,

Samā'araham coming up from the center of our body over and over again,

Until the mind starts to gain independence from those thoughts,

Until the spaces between the thoughts start to last longer than the thoughts themselves.

The full moon of May is known in Buddhism as Vesakde or Visakha Puja Day.

It is a festival of world significance and just a few hours ago Antonio Gutierrez,

Secretary General of the United Nations,

Issued a message to mark the occasion praising Buddhism for its contributions it's made to human spirituality and culture for more than two and a half millennia.

He recognized that Buddhists and non-Buddhist alike continue to find inspiration and the Buddha's message of honesty,

Compassion and respect for all living beings as we face the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is clear in the never that humility and deep empathy are essential for all of our well-being and that of our planet.

So as we meditate today we make the resolve to ourselves to continue the work together to build lives of peace and dignity for all on a healthy planet and on the full moon day of May we think a lot about the unity of the meditation community as we gather together from our temples and meditation centers from various different traditions of necessity is separated by social distancing but today unified in our intent to join together for full moon meditation there are many practices for our well-being we can do together even without being physically in the same location there are many benefits that arise from coming together for full moon days such as this it encourages the unity because there are elements to the practice that all meditation share in common in a traditional Buddhist scripture called the Mahasatipatthana Sutta the shared part of the practice is known as the Ekaliyanamaka which means the single and the beautiful path that can lead all practitioners to the end of mental impurities following this path to completion is what the Buddha already did as a trailblazer 2519 years ago and today is a day when we think of the possibility for us to be able to do the same and to be close to the Buddha which is shorthand for saying the inner Buddha or the Buddha's body of enlightenment on this day especially through our practice we want to be close to the inner Buddha if we want to see the inner Buddha for ourselves or to gain the vision known as the supreme site of the inner Buddha or dasa notaraya it will give all of us an important first-hand part in keeping alive the enlightenment experience through this full moon meditation we should keep in mind the words of the Buddha recorded for us in the Sankhati Sutta where he said that even if a practitioner were to cling onto the hem of my robe and follow close behind me step by step if that practitioner still remains covetous filled with passions malevolent minded corrupt in thought unmindful uncomprehending and unconcentrated with a wandering mind and uncontrolled faculties that practitioner would still be far from me that is to say that anyone not working to train their mind cannot really be close to the inner Buddha even though they might be sitting right next to the Buddha because someone with an uncontrolled mind will not manage to see the Dharma which is shorthand for saying that they will be unable to see the inner sphere of purity if they do not see the inner sphere of purity and they will never see the inner Buddha but for any practitioner even if they live a thousand miles away even if they've only got a virtual connection to the full moon meditation ceremony even if they are in another country far away from where the Buddha is living but they are not covetous not full of passion not malevolent minded uncorrupt in thoughts if they have mindfulness established clearly comprehending concentrated and of unified mind then that person will be close to the inner Buddha that practitioner will be able to see the inner Buddha because first of all they will manage to see the inner sphere of purity enabling them to see the inner Buddha according to the proper sequence and in this respect I would like to say that any form of meditation is something which you can do at home even if you are unable to go to the temple in person even if they don't let you out of your house because you're on lockdown but if you practice meditation you are close to the inner Buddha in my own tradition we understand the word Ekalya namaka to mean the seventh base of mind a point in the body which leads deeper towards nirvana but any sort of meditation that internalizes the mind within the body can be considered proper meditation that will converge with the Ekalya namaka and will ultimately lead to the inner eye of wisdom as many of you are familiar with the chanting of the Dhamma jagga bhavatanasuta you will recall that when we develop vision or taku it will come together with a special form of knowledge or jnana it also comes together with a special wisdom or panya and leads to special insight or vicha a process which the Buddha exemplified for us 2519 years ago on the occasion of the fumui meditation in order to share in the unity of practice known as Ekalya namaka and to have the best chance to gain the supreme sight of the inner Buddha I would like to encourage everyone to practice the Dharma without end continue to be inspired to follow in the footsteps of the enlightened ones whatever challenges life and health concerns may throw at you so now for a few moments we continue to focus the mind gently at the center of the body until we come to the time for the candle lighting ceremony.

So now that we have lit our candles let us return our focus to the center once again let us gently close our eyes bringing the candle light inside feeling the way the candle illuminates our center its light its warmth now radiating outwards from within just like our peace energy arising from the standstill of the mind and we draw into the light even though we may be physically separate here inside our center we connect with ourselves and the collective consciousness may all sentient beings be as one so from there let us illuminate our inner candle light shining so bright let it radiate all around let it grow expand covering ourselves our entire home and neighborhood that light is attached with our positive intention our loving kindness our wish to see everyone sharing that state of peace and happiness we let it grow further expanding until it covers the whole city reaching out to all sentient beings all people no matter where they are may all beings be touched by inner peace love and compassion let our inner peace wipe away all the negativity all negative elements that affect the world when our mind touches the center of the light it grows further across our space throughout the world above and beyond borders and boundaries let us be like a full moon selflessly sharing its light its warmth its compassion to everyone every being every creature sharing this planet with us the tide of peace energy and our inner light change the world toward a state of happiness may all sadness sorrow and violence be swept away while allowing the beauty of compassion to blossom in every person's mind let us shine our inner light all around throughout the universe here where there is only a little candle light even though it is tiny but collectively the power is unfathomable it is more than enough to share to reach out to everybody everyone everywhere so we let it expand further to wherever there is darkness because light can always overpower and transform that darkness into a state of happiness once again so let us shine forth this brightness from the center inside to the outside world for a few more moments in silence.