Guided Meditation

0:01 Okay everyone, so welcome to the meditation class and as usual we'll talk a little bit about the idea of meditation first of all and we'll get into the practical aspect in a few minutes. So last night I was talking about the idea of letting go and how that happens and how the entire path of meditation can be considered a The path of letting go, not just the meditation but actually all of the Buddhist path, the entire Noble Eightfold Path is really in the end just a process of letting go, allowing things to, no longer attaching to things essentially. Report an error in the passage at 0:01 Highlight the passage at 0:01

0:45 So how do we do this in meditation? How does the letting go actually happen? And what you find is very often people kind of try to let go in the meditation. And the way they try is very often not very productive. It's like saying to themselves, let go, let go. You can feel that you're holding on to the breath. The breath is not comfortable. You can feel that you're thinking too much. Report an error in the passage at 0:45 Highlight the passage at 0:45

1:10 You can feel that you're not really peaceful. And so you try to let go. It's like you're trying to use your willpower to let go of things. And that is not really the way to do it. That's not how letting go happens. It's not up to you. The conditions have to be right. And when the conditions come together, letting go happens by itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:10 Highlight the passage at 1:10

1:30 It's an automatic process. You understand that this is not worth holding on to. And when you understand that, then it happens. So there's a few things you can do to kind of set yourself up. For letting go, it's not about saying, I let go, let go, that's the wrong way. It's more like setting up the mind at the beginning of the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:30 Highlight the passage at 1:30

1:52 Starting out by reminding yourself what is really worthwhile. What are we here for? What is worth holding on to? What am I trying to do with this life of mine, this spiritual practice? What is it about? And then reminding yourself what is really valuable. Almost all of those things that we hold on to in the world are not really valuable because they are uncertain, unreliable. The spiritual path is valuable because here is where we're doing something which develops yourself towards something positive, towards more happiness, away from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:52 Highlight the passage at 1:52

2:27 That is where we can do something. And so you remind yourself of what is really valuable. And that, at the beginning of meditation, is enough to kind of guide your mind towards letting go of the things that are not useful, like the world, like all the stuff happening everywhere, towards something more powerful and interesting. Report an error in the passage at 2:27 Highlight the passage at 2:27

2:47 Another important way for letting go to happen is the kind of insights that you have during your meditation practice. Sometimes if you have enough mindfulness and you have enough awareness, you will see when you're holding on, you will see, oh, I'm holding on to this. Report an error in the passage at 2:47 Highlight the passage at 2:47

3:08 It's kind of very obvious. You can see that your mind revolves around something or you can feel the breath is not right. Why am I holding on to the breath? Sometimes it's very obvious. And the moment you see it, if your mind, again, has to be ready, then you will let go automatically. Report an error in the passage at 3:08 Highlight the passage at 3:08

3:25 I was telling people the story yesterday, for those of you who are not here. This is a story Ajahn Brahm often tells of this, I don't know, it seems to be a story that was making the rounds in Thailand or something. This was a story of this little novice monk who was listening to a talk by Ajahn Chah, Ajahn Chah being Ajahn Brahm's teacher. Ajahn Chah was just talking and talking and talking, one hour, two hours, three hours. Report an error in the passage at 3:25 Highlight the passage at 3:25

3:50 And after a while this novice monk was just really fed up with Ajahn Chah. When is he going to stop? When is he going to stop? And then because he had enough mindfulness, he realized at a certain point, actually it's not about Ajahn Chah, it's about when am I going to stop? I'm the one who's complaining here. I'm making a problem out of this. And the moment he saw that, he kind of went into a deep state of samādhi. This is kind of the power of seeing. Report an error in the passage at 3:50 Highlight the passage at 3:50

4:17 But to be able to see, Don't try to let go, you just have to be aware and then that awareness is what allows the letting go to happen because you understand what the problem is through observing. And anyone who has some experience with meditation will know a little bit about what that means, seeing the problem. Report an error in the passage at 4:17 Highlight the passage at 4:17

4:38 So these are the two things. And the beautiful thing about meditating in this way, instead of always trying to let go, trying to move forward, trying to get rid of your thoughts, trying to let go of the future and the past, all of this trying, is that you can just relax. You can sit back. You allow things to be. You don't do anything. You enjoy the ride. You're the passenger on the train. And then you observe. Report an error in the passage at 4:38 Highlight the passage at 4:38

5:04 And then, when the cause and conditions are right, letting go happens by itself. It takes a lot of patience. It takes the ability not to always be involved with everything. We always involve ourselves with everything in the world. Now we have to do the opposite. No more involvement. Just allowing things to unfold. It's a different attitude to life than what we normally have. And that is why it is hard, in quotations, Mike. Report an error in the passage at 5:04 Highlight the passage at 5:04

5:32 It's not really hard at all. It's the opposite of hard. It's the easiest thing that you've ever done. But it's unusual. It's not your usual habit. And see how to learn that. Report an error in the passage at 5:32 Highlight the passage at 5:32

5:42 So, let's try. Let's see what happens. Let's do some meditation together and see where it gets us. Report an error in the passage at 5:42 Highlight the passage at 5:42

· · · silence, 1 minute

7:17 Okay, so... Here we go and start off by just reminding yourself that meditation is supposed to be a pleasant experience, something that adds value to your life and this is always a very good starting point because it means that you begin by being comfortable, by being at ease, by relaxing and just by kind of enjoying the very idea of sitting with a good group of people. Report an error in the passage at 7:17 Highlight the passage at 7:17

7:48 Peacefully developing positive qualities of mind. So just get into this habit of reminding yourself this is not a chore, this is not some self-discipline that we are doing. This is about enjoying peace, enjoying calm, enjoying the deepening stages of stillness. Report an error in the passage at 7:48 Highlight the passage at 7:48

· · · silence, 2 minutes

9:43 And as always at the beginning of meditation there's often a Report an error in the passage at 9:43 Highlight the passage at 9:43

9:56 mind and kind of preoccupying you. I think this happens for pretty much everybody. So always start off by allowing that momentum of the past from gradually petering out until it's very weak. And with that weakness there also arises more mindfulness. So the way to do this is simply just to be aware and to be patient, waiting for things to calm down. And this is always the starting point because a degree of mindfulness is required for any kind of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 9:56 Highlight the passage at 9:56

· · · silence, 2 minutes

12:46 And then as the coarser aspects kind of fade away then be clear about yourself, why you are here. Be clear of what the purpose of this really is. Be clear about what is worthwhile. Be clear about your values. And as you have that clarity, your mind will incline more readily towards peace, towards calm, towards insight, and towards all these positive qualities that come with meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 12:46 Highlight the passage at 12:46

13:19 It's that clarity in the beginning, setting up your mind if you like. It can be quite useful to start out with. Report an error in the passage at 13:19 Highlight the passage at 13:19

· · · silence, 5 minutes

18:06 And when you... See unhelpful ideas, thoughts arise in your mind. Don't push them away. Don't try to control the content of your mind. Don't do the letting go. Instead observe. Understand that it is unhelpful. Understand that it has nothing to do with the spiritual practice. And it will fade away by itself. Report an error in the passage at 18:06 Highlight the passage at 18:06

18:36 Your job is just to observe, to see these things and the mind will know what to do. And then the letting go happens gradually, gently, in the right way. The most important thing for this process is just awareness. Awareness in that initial programming of the mind at the start of the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 18:36 Highlight the passage at 18:36

· · · silence, 4 minutes

22:54 As you allow yourself just to be with things in this way, without controlling. Without forcing the letting go or the meditation or anything, hopefully you have a nice relationship to your breath. The breath is not something unpleasant, but rather something which is delightful to observe. When you see the delight in the breath, the calming aspect, the beautiful rhythm, the soft and gentle feeling, that is where the meditation starts to work. Report an error in the passage at 22:54 Highlight the passage at 22:54

23:31 Relationship we have with the breath is all important. Non-grasping, non-attaching, non-controlling, letting go kind of relationship. So enjoy the breath in the right way. And if it goes wrong, then take a step back and allow things to be. Let go again before you allow the breath to re-arise in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 23:31 Highlight the passage at 23:31

· · · silence, 26 minutes

49:55 Okay, so coming close to the end. As usual, just spend a minute or two reviewing the meditation. Just asking yourself what works, what does not work. If you feel more peaceful, why is that the case? Always good to spend a bit of time to understand the process at the end. Report an error in the passage at 49:55 Highlight the passage at 49:55

· · · silence, 1 minute

51:10 Okay, so that is the meditation for today. And if there are any questions or comments or anything, this is the chance to speak. So please speak if you wish. Report an error in the passage at 51:10 Highlight the passage at 51:10

51:29 Anyone want to say anything? Everyone is either too tired or too happy to speak. That's good. Either one of those will do. So let's see what we have from the outside. Thank you. Okay. Everyone okay? Yeah, just last chance. Okay, good. So we have a look at what other people outside are asking. So we have a question from the UK. How does meditation benefit once the session has finished? Report an error in the passage at 51:29 Highlight the passage at 51:29

52:04 I noticed within minutes the defilements and toxic thoughts creep back in and there is no lasting effect. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 52:04 Highlight the passage at 52:04

52:15 There is a lasting effect. The effect is there. You learn about peace. You learn about how to turn your mind towards peace when you need to. And over time there will be a lingering effect from the meditation. It does not stop straight away. If you have a lot of problem with, as you say, toxic thoughts, then do some mettā meditation. Report an error in the passage at 52:15 Highlight the passage at 52:15

52:39 Because the mettā meditation is one of those ways that purifies the mind, often quite deeply and quite powerfully. And I would really recommend everyone to do that, at least sometimes, because it helps with the virtue, with the morality and all of these kind of things. So I may talk more about mettā meditation maybe next time I come here, but it's a very simple meditation like all the meditations that we do. Report an error in the passage at 52:39 Highlight the passage at 52:39

53:05 And often it's just a matter of repeating a mantra like, may all beings be happy. Do that with an intention, really meaning it, putting your heart into it. And as you do that, after a while, you really wish all people happiness. There's something very powerful and beautiful about that when that works. Or it can be towards yourself. If you feel like you want to be, you need some kind of care and some compassion, you can say that towards yourself as well. Report an error in the passage at 53:05 Highlight the passage at 53:05

53:34 That's also kind of anti-toxicity right there. But if you do meditation gradually over time, it will help. So you just have to kind of keep doing it. Sometimes go on a meditation retreat. You can keep on meditating for a long period of time and so you have that continuity and you don't allow the negativity to creep back in quite so easily. Report an error in the passage at 53:34 Highlight the passage at 53:34

54:00 So you have to be... You have to be persistent. Also what you have to do is you have to practice the entire Noble Eightfold Path. You have to have integrity in your practice. All the aspects of the Noble Eightfold Path. The right action, the right speech, all of these kind of things. And all of these things together also gradually develops the mind. Report an error in the passage at 54:00 Highlight the passage at 54:00

54:23 One of the things the Buddha... Jhāna promises that if you keep on developing the mind, it will work. Sometimes we think it doesn't work, but actually it does work if you keep on doing it. The only thing which doesn't work is giving up. Then guaranteed it won't work. But if you don't give up, you're going to get some kind of result, especially if you keep on investigating where your blockages are. Report an error in the passage at 54:23 Highlight the passage at 54:23

54:47 Question number two. What conditions have to come together for jhāna to happen? So the conditions are a lot of peace and a lot of happiness. And so you can measure your meditation by the degree of peace you have and by the degree of joy and happiness you have. The more peace you have, the more joy and happiness you have, the closer you are to jhāna. So you know, this is kind of how you know these things. Report an error in the passage at 54:47 Highlight the passage at 54:47

55:16 If your meditation is very dry, there's no joy, then you're never going to be able to get into a... The deep meditation state of jhāna or samādhi. Some people feel peace but no joy. That's not going to work. There has to be peace and joy coming together. And then you develop these two qualities deeper and deeper and deeper until you kind of enter a different kind of reality, a different world. Report an error in the passage at 55:16 Highlight the passage at 55:16

55:40 You let go of this world entirely and that is a state of jhāna. So keep on just enjoying the meditation and as you do that these things will gradually happen. Report an error in the passage at 55:40 Highlight the passage at 55:40

55:52 Okay, so then we have question number three. I have a friend who is not interested in meditating as he doesn't see the point, as he doesn't have internal chatter. But whenever he closes his eyes, he sees a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes and other interesting visuals which he finds enjoyable to watch and manipulate. Report an error in the passage at 55:52 Highlight the passage at 55:52

56:14 What is happening here? Any advice if you did want to meditate in the future? Thank you, Ajahn. So, um, uh, So this is good, if you really do have such a peaceful mind, then you already have a good starting point for meditation practice. And someone who sees all of these kinds of colours, it presumably means that they have quite a mind that is really alive. Sometimes if you are very depressed, you also don't think very much. Report an error in the passage at 56:14 Highlight the passage at 56:14

56:45 But this does not seem to be like a person who is depressed. Let him know about the potential of meditation practice, the potential of profound joy, the potential of profound stillness, the potential of mind-altering experiences or life-changing experiences that basically give you access to what is really the meaning of life itself. Report an error in the passage at 56:45 Highlight the passage at 56:45

57:12 This is what meditation promises. Something very powerful and beautiful that this whole path is about. And if he's interested in that, and presumably is, if he has these kind of visions and things already, then he should really try it out. I think someone like this probably has a good potential for meditation. And if it can be life-changing, then surely, even if someone else says it, and the Buddha certainly says it, then that should... Report an error in the passage at 57:12 Highlight the passage at 57:12

57:41 Open the eye to the possibility that it may be true. Why would anyone else lie about it if they had these experiences? So, okay, let's check it out. Try something like that and see what happens. And if he's not interested, okay, you're just going to have to let go. So letting go is part of your practice as well. Report an error in the passage at 57:41 Highlight the passage at 57:41

58:02 So there you are. Okay, question number four. Is the lotus position known to cause Low blood circulation in the legs. I have chronic low blood circulation. I'm wondering if any fellow monks also have this and if lotus position hurts them. Usually very few monks use lotus position. This here is not a lotus position. This is just crossing my legs. Lotus position is when you kind of put one leg up on one foot on this thigh and the other foot on that thigh and it's a kind of very restricted posture. Report an error in the passage at 58:02 Highlight the passage at 58:02

58:39 And there is no real evidence that the Buddha uses lotus position. It seems to be a much later development. And so no need. Posture is not all that important. The importance of posture is that you have something stable where you can sit for a long period of time. You can be relaxed and at ease. That is the most important point with the posture. You can sit on a chair. You can sit like this. You can lean against the wall. Report an error in the passage at 58:39 Highlight the passage at 58:39

59:08 Anything is fine as long as you are stable and at ease and you can enjoy the meditation practice. So don't worry too much about that and that is really quite irrelevant. Do you know any monks who sit lotus posture? Do you have any monks? A couple, you know a couple. I don't know anyone but anyway, good. Report an error in the passage at 59:08 Highlight the passage at 59:08

59:31 So maybe we have a couple then. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 59:31 Highlight the passage at 59:31

59:38 Okay, so then we have the last question. This is from Spain. Good morning from Spain. Thank you for your teachings, Ajahn. They are the best thing in my life. From Maria. Well, that is a very nice question to get. Thank you for that marvelous question to finish off. Really happy to hear that. So, that is it for today, everyone. Report an error in the passage at 59:38 Highlight the passage at 59:38

59:58 So let's just pay respect to the Buddha Dhamma Saṅgha. Report an error in the passage at 59:58 Highlight the passage at 59:58