Guided Meditation

0:00 Okay everyone, so welcome to our meditation session together and as usual I'm going to talk just a few minutes about meditation and then we'll do some meditation together just afterwards. So the kind of the critical thing, one of the critical things about meditation is to have the right attitude. During this process, when the attitude is right, when your relationship with the meditation object is suitable, mindfulness is present, these kind of things, then the meditation is actually very simple. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:41 There's nothing really to it. It just happens by itself. But if your attitude is wrong, if you're coming from... too much holding on, kind of a deluded state of mind, your mindfulness is not really clear, then it can be really difficult and it can be very frustrating, the whole exercise. So what do we mean by attitude? Many of these things you will probably know about already, but one of the ideas that I like to use is instead of... Report an error in the passage at 0:41 Highlight the passage at 0:41

1:14 Talking about focusing on an object of meditation, I think it's better to say being with the meditation object. It's like you are kind of hanging out with something, not so much that you are grasping it by focusing it, which implies a degree of force in the mind, but more like you're just enjoying hanging out with somebody. Report an error in the passage at 1:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14

1:37 Like you are in the company of a good friend or something like that, you're hanging out with somebody. One of the ways of thinking about this is, you know, this is one of the kind of, all my life I've kind of liked nature, going for walks in nature, and I do that now as well down in a monastery in Serpentine. Report an error in the passage at 1:37 Highlight the passage at 1:37

1:56 I often go for little bush walks because I have a kuti on the very edge of the bush. Right after my kuti, the bush just begins and I can walk as far as I want. It's very useful for bush walks. And when you are in nature, you don't really focus on anything. You're just with nature. You're enjoying being surrounded by nature. You feel maybe the aliveness of nature, maybe the freshness after a rainy day. Report an error in the passage at 1:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56

2:25 You feel the sense of peace in nature, the sense of kind of ease. There's no one around, you're just by yourself. It has all these kind of beautiful qualities. And when you are with that, you kind of feel it automatically. But you don't focus on it. Put your mind on it and say, yes, nature, now I've got you. Anything like that. You're just enjoying the presence of nature. Meditation is a bit like that. Report an error in the passage at 2:25 Highlight the passage at 2:25

2:52 You're just enjoying the presence of the breath if you're doing breath meditation. Don't really focus on it because focus usually means too much force. You just enjoy you are there, the breath is there. Then you enjoy being with like you're being with nature. This leads to a very easy kind of Meditation, yeah, it's very easeful, it's very peaceful, there's no force, there's nothing really going on in your mind, you're just enjoying the situation. Now what that means very often is that you will lose contact, connection with your breath, because only if you're really forcing your mind will the connection be there all the time. Report an error in the passage at 2:52 Highlight the passage at 2:52

3:32 It's that kind of focus which makes the mind stay with the breath. And so if you don't, if you're being with rather than focusing on, Report an error in the passage at 3:32 Highlight the passage at 3:32

3:42 It will mean that the breath suddenly disappears, is no longer there. And that's kind of the price you pay for not focusing harder, is that it comes and goes a little bit. But it's not really a price. It's more like allowing things to happen in a natural way. And so then when it disappears, this moment you notice that you're gone, After breath, at that moment, kind of the breath returns again. You are with the breath again. The breath is there in the environment. Why? Because awareness has returned. Report an error in the passage at 3:42 Highlight the passage at 3:42

4:15 And you hang out with the breath again. Don't make yourself come back to the breath. It's a bit like, I like to say, you wait for the breath to come back. What you're waiting for is really your mindfulness to sharpen up and coming back to the breath. And if you're able to do this, If you have developed sufficient mindfulness through the other factors of the path, then gradually you become more and more aware of that breath. Report an error in the passage at 4:15 Highlight the passage at 4:15

4:42 It becomes more and more present. And as it becomes more present, it's almost as if you feel the focus kind of happens by itself. But it's an unforced focus. It's a focus that just is a consequence of you being with. And the other factor which is very important for the right attitude, enjoying the breath. So it's just like when you are with nature, you enjoy the presence of nature, the peace, the calm, whatever it might be. Report an error in the passage at 4:42 Highlight the passage at 4:42

5:12 In the same way you try to enjoy the presence of the breath. Seeing the... Calm of the breath, the beautiful soothing feeling of just feeling the breath going in and out. It's a very soothing kind of experience. The breath is there. When you look at the mind, the turmoil in the mind, it's far more agitating than the breath. The breath is something that grounds you, that calms you down, brings you to a certain... Report an error in the passage at 5:12 Highlight the passage at 5:12

5:39 Nice sense of ease compared to all the thinking mind. And so you see these beautiful qualities in the breath and you see... And then you have to add that little bit of enjoyment of being in a good place, of doing something good and all these kind of things to give that sort of positive feel that makes the whole experience worthwhile. Report an error in the passage at 5:39 Highlight the passage at 5:39

6:00 Otherwise you will fall asleep very often. Very easy to have sloth and torpor in your meditation. And I'm sure everyone here knows exactly what that feels like. Report an error in the passage at 6:00 Highlight the passage at 6:00

6:12 Try this gentle approach to meditation. See if you can allow the focus on the breath to kind of arise naturally over time by itself without you really doing the meditation. The more involved we are, the more painful it is, the more at ease and standing back you are, just being with, the more easeful is the whole process and the more beautiful it becomes as a consequence. Report an error in the passage at 6:12 Highlight the passage at 6:12

6:37 Okay, let's try it out. Report an error in the passage at 6:37 Highlight the passage at 6:37

· · · silence, 3 minutes

9:20 Okay, so... As I just mentioned, the importance of enjoying the meditation means that how we start out, even just the posture, all of these things matter. Get the posture wrong and you're not going to enjoy the meditation. Too much pain, too much discomfort, too much tension is going to destroy your ability to enjoy. Report an error in the passage at 9:20 Highlight the passage at 9:20

9:46 So please make sure that the body is really at ease. It is so important and so often neglected in meditation. Being at ease means first of all having no pains, especially when we start out, and then finding that ease where you let go of any stress, whether physical or mental, and you just feel this beautiful sense of sitting down in good company, in a good place, just feeling really good. Report an error in the passage at 9:46 Highlight the passage at 9:46

10:17 No sense of... These negative discomforts of the mind or the body. So give yourself plenty of time as you start out just to come to that sense of ease when just sitting there becomes in itself a very nice thing. Report an error in the passage at 10:17 Highlight the passage at 10:17

· · · silence, 3 minutes

13:13 And then try this idea of just being with. Initially when you start out you be with whatever is happening. And often to start with, it's a bit chaotic. There will be thoughts, there will be sounds, there will be all kinds of things going on. The breath will also be there a little bit. But that's okay. Just be with it. And as you are with it and you stay with it, gradually you observe this calming down effect of being with. Report an error in the passage at 13:13 Highlight the passage at 13:13

13:48 It is as if mindfulness has a certain power over everything. Mindfulness just gradually allows everything or almost forces things to calm down by themselves. This is the power of mindfulness. So by staying with, gently, without focusing on anything really, allow things to calm down. And Report an error in the passage at 13:48 Highlight the passage at 13:48

· · · silence, 9 minutes

23:13 gradually, as you hang out with the breath, just enjoying its presence. And hopefully, slowly, stage by stage, it becomes more clearly into view. You see more clearly what is going on. And it's as if you are focusing more on the breath. This is the ideal method if your meditation and your mindfulness is sharp enough. Report an error in the passage at 23:13 Highlight the passage at 23:13

23:41 If this does not happen, then sometimes you need to again understand the delight of the breath. Focus on the good qualities so there's a natural drawing of your attention towards that which is delightful. So try to see the beautiful qualities, the soothing qualities, the qualities of peace, of ease, of coolness and as you see these qualities then the mindfulness will be drawn towards the breath in a more powerful way. Report an error in the passage at 23:41 Highlight the passage at 23:41

· · · silence, 27 minutes

51:14 Now if you Wish, spend just a few moments reviewing your meditation. And the idea here is to understand the process. What does it mean to let go? What does it mean to use the perceptions in the right way? How does this lead to peace, calm, joy, all these positive qualities? Report an error in the passage at 51:14 Highlight the passage at 51:14

· · · silence, 1 minute

52:20 Okay everyone, that's the meditation for today. Have any questions from the audience or from outside? Now is the time. Report an error in the passage at 52:20 Highlight the passage at 52:20

· · · silence, 1 minute

53:11 Ajahn, thank you. I'm just wondering about the amount of concentration, the amount of openness in the meditation practice when it comes to allowing an awareness of passing experience. Report an error in the passage at 53:11 Highlight the passage at 53:11

53:33 Can you please hold the microphone a bit closer? It's a bit hard to hear. Report an error in the passage at 53:33 Highlight the passage at 53:33

53:49 Okay. Okay. Let's see if we have another one so that the people online can also hear it. So here we go, I think. This is better. Report an error in the passage at 53:49 Highlight the passage at 53:49

54:01 All right. Thanks, Ajahn. I'm just wondering about the balance or the focus between having that more, I suppose, expansive, allowing everything to come and go and keep dropping into just letting it be and noticing. And that focusing in on respiration or the more subtle feelings of being in the body versus just that sort of respiration knowing breathing. Report an error in the passage at 54:01 Highlight the passage at 54:01

54:35 It will vary a little bit because it depends on where your mind is at and what kind of mindfulness you have and how developed your other spiritual qualities are. But normally it's best not to... If you try to focus too hard and to stay with something, usually you have to use a degree of willpower to be able to do that. Otherwise the mind will just drift. Report an error in the passage at 54:35 Highlight the passage at 54:35

54:58 In fact, one of the reasons why people use willpower is because they get frustrated. They see the mind is drifting all the time. So often the only way out is then to use willpower to draw. Push the mind onto the breath or whatever. But in the long run it backfires. In the long run it's much better to be patient and then to allow that expansive awareness to kind of almost as if it kind of comes around the breath by itself. Report an error in the passage at 54:58 Highlight the passage at 54:58

55:25 Because after a while the breath is the aspect of your awareness that is most interesting. After a while there's the breath that calms you down, that has the Report an error in the passage at 55:25 Highlight the passage at 55:25

55:49 which is quite subtle and it may be that you know your other spiritual qualities are not ...developed yet to allow you to do that, do instead some mettā meditation. And when you use mettā meditation because you're using some words like a mantra like may all beings be happy, may all beings be well, it's a bit easier to stay with that because it's a more active kind of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 55:49 Highlight the passage at 55:49

56:13 And it has the big advantage of then purifying your mind and building up good qualities that down the track you will be able to do the breath meditation because you are kind of... establishing the qualities that will make it work down the track. So try to test out a little bit. I mean sometimes it's easy to think as a teacher that you know everything but actually you don't. Report an error in the passage at 56:13 Highlight the passage at 56:13

56:34 And so test it out and see what works for you at the end of the day. If it works for you it's good for you that's kind of the ultimate test or whatever you're doing yeah so yeah great Great. Report an error in the passage at 56:34 Highlight the passage at 56:34

56:57 Anything else? Yeah, please, over here. Are you okay speaking in the microphone? Is that all right? The question is over here. Thank Report an error in the passage at 56:57 Highlight the passage at 56:57

57:18 you, Ajahn. My question is around... I have read and understood that when we're still enough, and I've experienced this, we have this sensation of everything resting into the heart, so then it... It becomes a feeling of the mind resting in the heart. But recently I've been... So that was my perception or my, I suppose, a concept. Report an error in the passage at 57:18 Highlight the passage at 57:18

57:49 But recently I've been doing a lot of meditation and I've had this experience that's quite opposite where it feels like my heart has come into my head and I've got this wind. And I believe it's mettā, this wind uprising. Yeah. So I'm just wondering if you could explain what I'm feeling or what's the difference. Report an error in the passage at 57:49 Highlight the passage at 57:49

58:12 Yeah, I don't know if there is that much difference. These are just different perceptions of where you kind of, you know, where you feel kind of your mind is resting and it can rest kind of in more of an emotional centre, which is like the heart in a sense, or it can rest more in an awareness which is more... Report an error in the passage at 58:12 Highlight the passage at 58:12

58:31 kind of in the kind of brainy kind of area so it really it isn't really anything any one place that is better than the other what matters is whether those qualities you are developing are coming together and sometimes it can be kind of grounding to have more of a less of a head being in your head because the head is often associated with concepts and thinking and these kind of things and we're trying to go beyond that so sometimes kind of having more like a heart thing you say can be can often be can often be Report an error in the passage at 58:31 Highlight the passage at 58:31

59:15 mettā, then great, wonderful. Report an error in the passage at 59:15 Highlight the passage at 59:15

59:21 Okay, so... A couple of questions from outside. So one from Germany. Dear Ajahn, when I meditate I find peace and relax but when I stop meditation I get deep sadness and pain because I'm severely ill. How can I transfer the peace into daily life? I think the sadness is probably caused by some sort of Report an error in the passage at 59:21 Highlight the passage at 59:21

59:51 Misunderstanding somewhere, some kind of delusion about how the world works. Maybe the sadness comes because you feel that you have no future or something like that. If you have a lot of pain maybe you can't see any way out. It's like when you are depressed, one of the dangers of depression is that you don't see the way out. Report an error in the passage at 59:51 Highlight the passage at 59:51

1:00:11 And when you don't see the way out, that's when people do really silly things like committing suicide or whatever. But remember that if you are living a good life, if you are becoming peaceful and relaxed in meditation, you are developing the qualities that are the way out. There is a way out if you do that. And even if in this life there isn't any way out, there will be a way out in your next life. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:11 Highlight the passage at 1:00:11

1:00:36 Because now you are developing those things that will lead to good consequences in a future life. So regardless, you are now doing something which... gives rise to a bright and beautiful future. So try to understand the causes of that sadness. If the causes are this feeling that there is no way out, then actually there is a way out. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:36 Highlight the passage at 1:00:36

1:00:58 This is one of those remarkable things about the Dhamma, the Buddhism. There's always a way out. There's always a way forward. There's always a way to a positive future. Even if the whole world is collapsing around you, your individual future may still be a good one. Why? Because you're developing good qualities. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:58 Highlight the passage at 1:00:58

1:01:18 That's what... Determines your future as an individual, not so much what happens in the world outside. So try to change your perspective a little bit. Question number two is from the UK. Ajahn Brahmali, sometimes when I meditate the mind is very agitated and the session is unproductive. Focus on the breath feels a bit like suppressing any suggestions. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:18 Highlight the passage at 1:01:18

1:01:43 Don't sit down if you feel very agitated. I wouldn't recommend even trying because have a modicum of peace before you even sit down. Try to establish what is the source of your agitation. The source can be, I don't know, if you read too much news, it can be a source of agitation. If you have some very powerful desires that can be a source of agitation. If you feel ill will or whatever that can be a source of agitation. Something is unsettled inside of you. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:43 Highlight the passage at 1:01:43

1:02:16 So find some more contentment first of all. Do something else. You are writing from the UK so maybe have a cup of tea before your meditation. Something which is nice and soothing. Read something beautiful like a verse of the Dhammapada or something like that. Listen to a bit of Dhamma. Or a walk in nature. Do some walking meditation rather than doing the breath meditation. Do some mettā as I mentioned before. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:16 Highlight the passage at 1:02:16

1:02:44 If you're too agitated even mettā actually would be difficult. So try to soothe that first of all. In fact I usually recommend people to... Don't even sit down to meditate until you feel a reasonable degree of calm in the mind. Then sit down. Before that, try to establish that calm in your mind through some of these processes that I've been suggesting now. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:44 Highlight the passage at 1:02:44

1:03:09 So, most importantly, try to find the source of the agitation, try to find out why it is going on. Sometimes you may not be able to do that, so then you just do any kind of counter, but if the source becomes more clear, it also becomes more clear what you have to do to overcome the problem. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:09 Highlight the passage at 1:03:09

1:03:29 Okay, any comments, further comments from anyone? Anyone want to add anything or subtract anything or say anything at all? Anyone is okay? Yeah? Good, let's just pay respect to the Buddha Lama Saṅgha together. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:29 Highlight the passage at 1:03:29