Day 041/365: Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm

Ice cold,

Then that's a problem.

But anyway,

That shouldn't really go that far,

As you talk about during meditation retreats.

So anyway,

You're perfectly safe here.

I've never had any,

Actually not during meditation,

Any casualties in any meditation here.

So now we can actually do some meditation so I can be peaceful and rest my mouth.

So if you'd like to get yourselves comfortable,

Or you think it's comfortable,

And it will take the comfort to another level shortly.

So sitting on a chair,

On a cushion,

If you want two cushions,

Three cushions,

Four cushions,

However many cushions you want.

I only usually use one cushion,

Actually I've got two cushions.

I've got the saffron,

I've got the flesh on my butt,

That's my second cushion.

Okie dokie.

So here we go.

So close your eyes.

Your eyes close,

Bring your attention to your body,

Sitting here.

And you may feel that your body is comfortable,

But now we're going to just take parts of the body,

Focus on one part,

And really see if we can take it to a deeper level of relaxation.

So starting with your legs.

They can be dangling over the end of a chair,

Or cross-legged,

However their positioned.

Can you make them more comfortable?

So we ask our legs a question.

How are you?

Do you need adjusting?

This is not crazy speak,

Just asking your body a question.

Sometimes it's what doctors do,

They ask you,

How do you feel in your arms,

Or whatever.

It directs your attention,

And generates mindfulness,

Awareness of one part of your body.

Now I ask you just to focus on your legs.

Once you develop awareness of them,

You can actually feel them,

Just not with your hand,

But with your mind.

You know how they are positioned.

Now just check,

Do they need to be adjusted?

You do it now,

And they're comfortable afterwards.

And I don't rush this,

I just linger on the awareness of the body,

Starting with the legs,

Until I'm really satisfied that those legs are comfy.

And then I move up to my buttocks.

I always spend a little while on those,

Because you know sometimes that they can get so much pressure,

Sitting for long periods of time,

And if you don't get it right,

You have to fidget,

Or sometimes your legs might go numb,

Pins and needles,

All because you weren't careful about your posture on that one part of your body.

So I fidget first,

So I can rest afterwards.

And then I go up to my back.

I ask my back,

Back,

Do you want to be adjusted?

Do you want to be stretched or relaxed?

Move left,

Right,

Forward or back.

Which one feels the most comfortable for you?

And once I find the most comfortable position for my back,

I leave it.

Payed attention,

Move left,

Right,

And found out the best.

And I move to my hands.

People do fidget their hands,

Because they don't get the hands in a good position to begin with.

They can be in your lap,

Or in your knees,

Wherever they can feel comfortable.

Then move out to my shoulders,

Asking are you relaxed?

Shoulders.

Learning how to loosen both ends.

Loosening both ends comes from the simile of a piece of string which is stretched,

Pulled apart.

Loosening both ends means the string becomes loose.

Something can hit it,

It doesn't break.

If it's a guitar string or a violin string,

If it's very taut,

You get a high-pitched sound when something hits it.

If it's very loose,

Nothing bothers it.

So I learn how to relax the muscles in my shoulders.

And I can feel them relax.

Mindfulness is like looking at a temperature gauge.

You can see the temperature go up,

The temperature go down.

Or the speedometer,

You see the needle change,

Go faster,

Go slower.

It gives you feedback.

And soon you learn how to relax your own shoulders.

Through mindfulness,

Watching the feedback,

And you know what you discover is what relaxes the shoulders.

Every other part of your body is called letting it be.

Stop pulling it,

Stop squashing it,

Stop forcing it,

And just let it be.

Opening the door of your heart to this reality as it is now.

Not forcing and not expecting it.

Being kind to your own body.

And move up to my neck.

Usually I have some hay fever,

Allergies,

But now it's been raining so hard.

I've cleaned up all of the air.

So my nose,

Or my throat,

Feels really nice.

You can understand,

Be sensitive,

Be aware of any sensations there.

And know how to relax them,

How to ease them.

Much irritation or inflammation is an overreaction of the body.

Bit of fear and protective strategies.

So with a bit of awareness and mindfulness we can relax.

Let it be.

And lastly I go to my face,

My head on the top of the neck,

Make sure it's well balanced.

And because emotions are expressed in the muscles around the eyes and the mouth,

You learn just how to feel those muscles,

How to get to know them.

So you can know through the mindfulness whether they are tight or whether they are loose.

And what makes them tight,

What makes them relaxed?

Mindfulness,

Feedback.

And you can soon just relax the muscles of your own eyes and mouth and your forehead.

So you feel the whole face relaxing.

And now you're sitting here,

Your whole body,

Part by part,

Has been attended to.

Part by part you become aware of your body,

Relaxed it through kindness,

Through letting be.

And hopefully you feel as I feel now,

My body feels very very rested.

It feels strong,

Peaceful.

It feels delightful.

We're attended to the stuff and your body responds with this wonderful sense of a delightful,

Relaxed,

Comfortable body.

And I indulge in that delight.

Allow it to be because when I feel the delights of relaxation,

The delight of mindfulness and letting go,

It's an important part of meditation practice.

Noticing and not being afraid of the happiness of relaxation and peace.

It feels good.

And once my body has tasted some of that delight of a relaxed body,

Then I go to my inner world of the mind,

The emotions,

The thoughts,

All those fears and desires and hopes and frustrations,

Shattered dreams,

All of that which causes so much business for us.

Now I look at that and the first of all I ask myself,

How peaceful am I?

Or how agitated?

I call this being aware of the peace-o-meter,

Being mindful of how peaceful or how disturbed,

Agitated.

You're not ashamed or proud.

It's nothing to do with ego.

No one else is going to be able to know that.

It's private.

Your job is just to be honest,

Be mindful,

Being truthful to how peaceful or how agitated you are inside.

And once you are mindful of the peace-o-meter,

What makes you more peaceful?

What reaction of your mind makes you more agitated?

You are investigating,

Exploring the relationship between how you respond to things and how peaceful or how agitated your mind becomes.

And don't be afraid to use trial and error,

To explore,

To experiment.

Usually find that what relax the body,

Just letting things be,

Not pulling the mind to some goal you want to reach,

And not being pulled back by some experience or thought or unfinished business.

Don't stretch the mind.

The mind,

Just like any other thing,

Can get pulled and pushed and squashed because of your demands or unrealistic hopes or pain from the past.

All of that can stop the mind being free.

Let it be.

Open the door of your heart to this moment,

Unrepeatable,

Just being,

Just now.

And see if you can notice the peace-o-meter get more and more calm,

More and more still.

You're learning what is peace,

What causes peace.

Different people spend different amounts of time with their peace-o-meter.

Sometimes you realize that now is the time.

Just very gently,

It happens naturally mostly,

Just become aware of your breath.

You're breathing.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Naturally,

Don't worry where you notice that feeling.

Just as long as you know it's coming in,

It's going out.

If you want to make it interesting,

You can use the method of breathing in peace.

Whatever you imagine,

Whatever you feel,

Whatever you picture peace as,

You breathe it in with every in-breath.

And if you need some,

If you have some disturbance,

Some illness,

Some problem,

Breathe that out with every out-breath.

Breathing in peace,

Breathing out,

Let go.

Breathing in peace,

Let go.

Let go.

Hopefully you'll be able to delight just in this breath going in and going out.

Just like spending a holiday,

Just sitting by the beach,

Watching the waves come in,

The waves go out.

Flares come in,

Flares go out.

Safe,

Nothing to do,

Nothing to achieve.

Being nowhere,

Now and here.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

I'm going to be quiet now until the end of the meditation.

It's getting very close to the end of the meditation now.

How rested is your body?

How peaceful is your mind?

See how the two go together.

Rest,

Physical comfort and peace of mind.

Freedom,

Ease.

There's being nowhere now and here.

I'm going to ring the gong three times.

When the last ringing of the gong fades,

That's the signal to come out from your meditation.

Very good.

Okay,

So usually we have some questions now.

And after meditation I usually take the questions on the tablet first of all.

Give everybody a time just to get their brain working again.

So,

You got the tablet,

The questions?

Very good.

Very good.

From Poland,

Adelaide and Germany.

First of all,

Is it true the word anapana has been translated literally instead of metaphysically?

And it didn't mean air and lungs but spirit which flows through the body in the breath of life.

Anapana,

It just means along with the breath of pana.

Pana we usually have also in the five precepts,

Pana,

Atipata,

We're many,

Which is the not destroying any breathing beings.

And the association of breath and life is even,

This is a Pali Sanskrit,

This is also the same in Latin.

Where the word animal comes from the Latin word animalis,

Having breath.

So even in Latin,

Breath and life have always been associated together.

But when it comes to anapanasati,

The mindfulness of breathing,

It's not a translation,

It's a rendering where we don't just translate word by word but its meaning has always been the breathing.

In other words,

The air which comes into your body and which leaves afterwards.

So,

And that obviously has been associated with life.

And so the anapana does actually,

It's not metaphysically,

The Buddha actually meant just the air coming in and the air going out.

So it's not spirit which flows through the body in the breath of life,

It is just air.

One of the wonderful things about that Buddhism that we also have a group of texts called the Vinaya.

Vinaya is like the rules for monks and nuns.

But it's not just a list of rules because when we have those rules we also have the stories behind those rules.

And those stories which led to those rules being laid down give a little insight,

A wonderful historic record into what life was like 2,

500 years ago in the Ganges Valley.

For example,

There was,

There was when you have a huge number of monks,

You have good monks,

You have naughty monks.

Monks for all sorts of different reasons,

You know,

Join up.

And there were these group of very naughty monks called the group of six monks.

They were always up to some sort of mischief.

And they also had a group of seventeen monks who were friends,

They all ordained together.

They were very young.

And now they really were ordained a bit too young,

Not really experienced.

And so the group of six monks and the group of seventeen monks were always interacting together in a very naughty way.

One day the group of six monks managed to capture one of the group of seventeen monks and started tickling him.

And it was actually tickled him so much that he couldn't get his breath,

His partner,

And died.

Literally tickled to death.

You know,

That was 2,

500 years ago.

And because of that they never meant to kill him.

And this is one of the rules in the Pājitya section for monks,

That a monk should not tickle another monk.

But I said that because there was a case that now you understand what pāṇa means.

You know,

It was actually breath as the breath.

So the Buddha used the terms as ordinary people would use those terms.

So it does mean the breath.

But it certainly doesn't mean,

As I often say in retreats,

Anapāna sati,

Sati is mindfulness along with,

Ana means along with,

Along with the breath.

It never means anapena sati.

And you know what that means.

Ana means along with mindfulness,

Along with pain.

So we don't do pain in meditation.

If you're hurting just move.

If it's a pain actually you can do something about it.

Sometimes those pains are just irritations,

They're not really pains.

But you know sometimes you can just look at a pain and just relax it and it disappears.

But you don't endure it.

Because sometimes some people say,

Oh just sit with pain,

Sit with it,

Sit with it,

Sit with it,

Sit with it.

Unfortunately it doesn't work.

There was one monk,

Oh this was such a long time ago,

45,

50 years ago.

And he was one of the first monks who went to England.

And he read in the books that you know in the Buddha he would sit outside just three robes,

Even though it was really cold.

He could do it and this monk said,

Oh I can do it as well.

So in the middle of the winter time in London he went out to Hampstead Heath,

Even though it was snowing and he just sat with his three robes,

No jackets on,

Just three robes,

Sat in there all night.

You know what happened?

He had to go to hospital with pneumonia in the morning.

That's true.

That's some of the stuff.

You know,

We feel we're tough but we're not really understanding what we really should be doing.

Okay,

So panna means the breath.

Now from Adelaide,

Can you explain the difference between sati and yoni-so?

Okay,

I think what they mean here sati is the mindfulness and awareness.

Yoni-so,

It's usually yoni-so mano saikara,

It's attention which is really yoni-so,

It means going to the source of things.

It again comes from the word yoni,

It means like the womb,

The origin of stuff.

So sometimes when we have that term yoni-so,

It means that the mindfulness goes and looks in,

Into the source of things,

Where things come from.

You know,

Where does peace come from,

Where do thoughts come from,

Why is it you're sleepy,

You know,

Why is it you're energized,

Find out the causes of things.

So that's the mindfulness which understands the causes of things.

And I'll ask you from Germany,

Is there any method how you can bring space between,

How you can bring space between negative emotion?

Okay,

With the negative emotion,

Yeah,

Just to be able to stand back,

Even just imagining one of those similes,

Which often use a simile of watching a football match.

So you're watching a football match on the TV and you know you get really sucked into it because I saw this over in Singapore,

I remember this,

People were watching this football match and they were going crazy,

It was actually just in one of these areas,

The sports lounge,

I was walking past it,

Get to the gate and people were up there shouting,

Punching the air,

Swearing at the referee,

That was not a goal,

That's not the way to do it,

That was offside,

Whatever it was,

They were really getting up,

You know,

Really into it.

And you know what,

That match was being played in England,

A long way away,

It doesn't matter how much they shouted,

Doesn't matter how much they screamed,

They can't hear it in England from Singapore and also it was a replay,

The match had finished a couple of days ago.

So you can see just how we get pulled into the action,

We really feel that we can influence the outcome,

That's called entanglement.

And negative emotions,

We really feel that we can sort these things out,

We get entangled in life and no,

It doesn't matter how much negative emotions,

You know,

You don't change things,

You just screw your own happiness up,

You just mess up your own health and well-being.

So instead of having the negative emotions,

We can just imagine a TV screen and we just stand back because when you're actually watching a movie or a football match or anything,

You actually,

You get sucked into the screen psychologically,

You're right in there and as if you're in that movie,

As if you're in the White House,

As if you're in stupid ways to do this,

It's actually you really think you're in the action,

Which is why you get emotionally entangled,

Which is why you do have,

Oh,

Isn't it sweet,

Oh,

That's terrible.

People get so emotionally entangled in the movies or in the dramas,

So be able to sort of take yourself out of that means that you are disentangling.

So space between negative emotions disentangle yourself from the viewer,

From what is disturbing you or even exciting you.

You put the space back,

Here I am just watching from a distance,

Yeah,

It's sad,

It shouldn't be that way,

Oh,

It's so wonderful,

Oh,

That's so inspiring,

But I'm out here and I'm just watching it on a screen.

So that's called putting space,

Disentangling,

Having some perspective,

Detaching the hand,

Pushing it away from your face rather than right in front of it so you can get perspective.

All of those things is how we can just disentangle.

Of course,

You know,

If you want to have some emotional entanglement,

Watching a soccer match or watching a movie or watching like a weeper,

You've seen it so many times,

You know what's going to happen,

You know it's going to be sad but you want to watch it anyway,

Titanic,

You know what's going to happen but oh,

It's so sweet for those of you who like that sort of stuff.

But anyway,

So at least you know what you're doing,

So you can entangle if you want to,

For a little bit of sort of fantasy and escape from this world,

If you really want to,

You can just sit back and just look at it and say,

What are we doing this for?

And then you find the negative emotions,

They can just be seen from a distance.

You don't get negative to negative emotions,

That's more,

I shouldn't be feeling negative,

I'm a man,

I shouldn't get really into this,

No,

I'm not.

That's being negative about negativity.

Just stand back,

Watch it from a distance,

See it sort of from a place where it's way over there and you're over here.

So you're not entangled,

You're safe,

You're objective,

Without being part of it and then you find it's so easy to let it go.

Being there,

Done that,

Big deal,

Now I'm going to be peaceful.

Of course many people don't like being peaceful,

They're more accustomed,

More used to being agitated,

To being emotionally excited,

To being disturbed.

So it takes a bit of courage and getting used to being peaceful.

It's not as boring as people feel,

It's actually wonderful being peaceful.

What are you doing peaceful,

What are you doing tonight?

Are you going to watch the movies?

No,

Just going to watch me breath.

Watch your breath going in and going out,

That's like a rerun of the oldest movie in the world.

Oh yeah,

But it's nice and peaceful.

Anyway,

So there we go with the questions from overseas.

Thank you from Poland,

From Adelaide and Germany.

So anything from Perth?

From Nollamara,

Yes.

Okay,

Here you go,

Come on,

Faster,

Faster,

Faster,

She's in training for the Olympics,

The Commonwealth Games,

Whatever,

Come on.

So it's probably an oldie but a goodie.

Do you have any suggestions on ways to learn to be kinder to yourself?

Kinder to yourself,

Yup.

One way is,

Put out your hands,

Bring them in,

Follow me.

It's really difficult to do that unless you know somebody.

You get accused of all sorts of harassments and all sorts of stuff these days,

But at least you can do it to yourself and you can't sue yourself for sexual harassment,

I think.

Is that right?

So you can give yourself a nice cuddle.

It feels good and it's also,

It is a metaphor that's kindness to yourself.

Just give yourself a hug.

Why not?

Okay.

Ten,

Nine,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Go,

Finished.

Okay,

So thank you for coming.

Those of you who don't know yet,

Tomorrow we have our WESAC celebrations.

So here all day,

Starting about 9.

30 or something,

And just having all the usual sorts of stuff,

The chanting and the blessings,

The offerings and the feast and the soakings with the water,

But that's usually being arranged by the weather bureau today,

Not me.

And in the afternoon we have all sorts of other stuff going on.

Finishing off in the evening,

What is it,

5.

30,

6 o'clock,

We do our circumambulation,

Where depending on the weather,

Sometimes we go outside,

We do wonderful walking around a little shrine with candles,

Incense and flowers,

Which is very,

Very nice.

And so that will be happening in the evening,

Just a way of like paying respect and just remembering the qualities of the Buddha,

Dhamma and Sangha.

And if that is not wonderful enough,

On Tuesday,

Those of you who aren't working or those of you who can actually take a day off,

We're having a meditation day here,

That will be led by one of the senior nuns,

Ayahasapanya,

So like a one day meditation retreat because the Tuesday is a real full moon.

So that's the Tuesday.

What time does it start?

It starts at 9 o'clock is it?

Till about 4 or 5?

4,

9 till 4,

That's 7 hours to get enlightened.

Ah,

That's much better than just doing it 45 minutes here on a Saturday afternoon.

So that will be coming and is food provided or are you fasting or just sandwiches or?

Bring your own food.

Okay.

The Venerahasapanya is very good,

Maybe if no one brings the food,

You can do the old rose and fishes trick because Jesus could do that,

I'm sure that has higher passion.

Anyway,

I better not go there.

Here we go,

So let's now pay respects to the Buddha Dhammasanga.

Thank you.