Day 049/365: Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm

Welcome again to the meditation session.

Here,

This is the ongoing class,

Those who are coming for the Introduction to Meditation class.

That is being held in the room on my right,

Just between here and the reception area when you first come in.

So I always have to say that because sometimes it's a bit much to meditate for 45 minutes and not being given the basic instructions but more specialized instructions.

And sometimes these people come once and they go away and never to return because they went into the wrong class.

So sometimes it's nice to have a bit of graded lessons so that the lessons,

Instructions,

Which are appropriate to the audience.

And interestingly,

Just beforehand,

Somebody was saying about just when,

How do you know when somebody may be in a coma or close to death,

How do you know just whether it's really worthwhile resuscitating them or just letting them go?

Because that question is right in the front of my mind right now because it was just asked,

It's amazing just how you can use your meditation to become more sensitive to even the people around you and really sort of get to know what is needed at that particular time.

Because a lot of people,

They panic,

And when they panic they think a lot and they try and get advice from others what they should do,

What they shouldn't do.

And the story I mentioned was many years ago when there was a doctor,

Said he had a very great moral dilemma that one of his patients had a cardiac arrest and he just ran to the bedside and resuscitated this gentleman but not before irreversible brain damage had happened.

So this gentleman was stuck and he said it could be for years in that state where he really couldn't communicate and he was just there in the bed,

The quality of life,

No one would actually say the quality of life was very high.

And he felt so guilty,

This doctor,

That he'd put this patient in a prison for so many years when the patient,

He could have just let him go,

So he died.

So he said,

Well,

What would I do the next time that happens?

And that's where you can actually use some of the things which you learn in meditation just to be able to still your mind,

Not to panic but to be still and feel what the answer is,

To use,

For want of a better word,

The emotional intelligence,

The ability to connect with somebody and just know what is needed.

And it's amazing how many of you are able to do that if you can only trust what I call the wisdom born of silence.

Because a lot of times in our meditation that is what we are cultivating.

We are cultivating the silent mind.

So we're not thinking,

We're not working it all out with theories,

We're going deeper than that just so we can just know.

And some of that knowing how it actually works,

Maybe there's many theories on that,

But I do know so many examples when people are not particularly thinking about one problem.

And when amazing solutions come up they seem to just know what to do when they're coming from a place of silence.

And just some of the people which you get to know and see the person who keeps coming up into my mind is this Nobel Prize Laureate in Cambridge,

Brian Josephson.

And he got his Nobel Prize,

His big breakthrough in solid state physics,

In quantum tunneling,

Which was the reason why that they could have supercomputers.

And he got that while he was meditating.

So if your mind begins to wander,

Don't stop it,

You could have a Nobel Prize coming.

No,

That was after meditation,

Just when the meditation was finished,

A nice deep meditation afterwards,

You get these great understandings and insights,

Where these insights come from,

Where this knowledge comes from,

I don't know,

But certainly if it comes to a critical situation,

What you should do,

Sometimes thinking about it drives you crazy.

But just stopping your thoughts and feeling the situation,

Feeling the way forward,

Feeling where to go next,

That is very,

Very possible and very effective too.

So you can only do that if you know how to trust in that silence of the mind.

So here in the meditation we get our body nice and comfortable,

As I say,

Every week,

Make the mind really peaceful,

And then even to go deeper into your meditation,

To really just see what this meditation can do for you,

Trust in that silence,

And for goodness sake,

Don't start thinking,

What did Ajahn Brahm say,

What did his other teachers say,

What did the Buddha say,

Because you may remember what was said,

But that's not the meaning of the words,

We just have to be quiet,

And use what we call that wisdom born of silence,

To feel our way through into the deep meditations,

To feel our way through into truth,

Into silence,

Into peace.

Otherwise we miss the opportunity,

So much of our life,

We just are limited by everything we know,

Which is one of the sayings of all people.

I remember just giving,

The first time I gave this little aphorism,

This little nice word of advice,

Was through a bunch of British soldiers who came to a temple,

They were Buddhist,

And I thought maybe they were just,

Just support parts of the British,

Either like dental technicians or accountants,

But no,

These were actually front line soldiers at the time fighting in Iraq.

So what are they doing in a Buddhist temple?

Okay,

Welcome.

And then I told them,

Said,

Never allow,

Never allow the theory,

Or actually no,

Never allow your learning to stand in a way of truth.

Just a little saying like that,

Remember,

Wow,

And that really hit them.

All the things which you've learned and been taught,

All the things you've thought you've understood,

Sometimes that blocks the truth.

This is what the books say,

This is what the document says,

This is what our training tell us to do,

This is what,

But stop,

And feel your way through some of the really complicated moral dilemmas of life.

Feel your way through into the deeper meditations,

Into the deeper truths of your own life,

Not your learning,

But something which is inherently there for you,

Your own truth,

Feel it.

So this is one of the things we can do to try to calm our very,

Very noisy mind.

The reason is,

I say this,

Is to try and take away some of the trust we have in finding solutions through thinking.

Because often we just,

A problem comes up in our life,

A solution has to be found,

We go thinking,

Thinking,

Thinking,

And honestly,

In your own experience,

How many times has that really broken through the difficulties and find a really good solution?

And how many times is it that when you just learn to be quiet,

To be silent,

Don't think your way to the answer,

But the answer is seen in the silence.

We have a simile which I always thought was a simile which I made up,

Like a lot of these things,

You don't make these similes up,

It's almost like they're out there and people share them.

And this was when I did go,

It's in the newsletter which will be posted out soon,

Some pictures of when I was last October in the DMZ between North and South Korea,

And one of the teachers there was saying the simile of the only real way you can have some wisdom is actually to find a lake which is perfectly still.

And only when the lake is perfectly still,

No waves or ripples or agitation on the surface at all,

Only then does it give a perfect,

Reliable,

Truthful image of the moon and the stars reflected in the stillness of its water.

I love that simile because it just shows that the more we think,

The more we struggle and try to find an answer,

The more that we create waves in our mind which distorts the reflection of the truth.

So how many of you have gone into nature,

Into wilderness,

Into forests,

And sometimes if you're lucky,

It's no wind at all,

And the lakes up in the mountains are perfectly still,

And if you're doubly lucky and it's a clear night with a full moon or close to the full moon,

And to see a reflection of the full moon in the still waters of a mountain lake is very inspiring.

And you see that in our watercolours,

In paintings in Buddhist temples.

There's a reason for that because it's symbolic of how we find deep truth,

Not through thinking our way through it.

All those thinking just makes more arguments and counter thoughts,

It just gets nowhere but to feel your way,

Make the mind still and then see what's reflected in your mind.

Some incredible truths happen that way.

So this is actually,

Sounds really good,

But how do we do that?

It's just learning not to agitate our mind.

Ajahn Chah's famous simile just comes up here,

Many of you have heard this so many times.

He put his hand up and started waving his hand up and down.

This is a leaf on a tree,

It only does this,

It only moves because a wind is blowing it.

If there wasn't any wind,

The leaf would be still,

Because that's its default state.

He said that's just like the human mind.

The human mind is still,

You can only let it be still.

And it's something outside of itself,

The wanting,

The craving,

The wanting to get rid of things,

The controlling.

That is what agitates our mind.

That is what creates the waves of thoughts.

So that's one of the reasons why people say,

Well I've just got so many thoughts in my mind,

I can't stop thinking.

I try,

But it doesn't work.

Of course it doesn't work.

The thoughts are coming because you're disturbing the natural stillness of the mind by doing stuff,

Trying to control something,

Trying to get something,

Trying to want something,

You're trying to get rid of things.

That is the cause for the mind,

Creating thoughts.

Thoughts are just ripples or waves on the surface of your serenity.

And if we keep trying to get rid of those,

We just make more waves.

So we learn how to let things be.

Let things be means whatever is happening now,

Don't disturb it.

Emotionally be at peace with it.

Letting go means all the things which disturb the serenity of the present moment.

The wanting,

The ill will,

The controlling,

This shouldn't be this way,

We should do it some other way,

Blah,

Blah,

Blah,

All that stuff which disturbs serenity.

That's what we let go of.

And what's left which is huge,

We let that be.

We don't make it be,

Otherwise that's more control.

We let it be.

We be the silent observer,

Someone who just looks,

Just feels,

Just knows,

Without making any comment or judgement.

Because often when we make a comment or judgement,

That's when all the thoughts and disturbance and the wanting,

I wanted to get rid of start.

Once you're still,

Really peaceful,

You know sometimes you wonder why do we even bother thinking in the first place?

Why do we want to move our mind?

And just know how,

Number one,

How peaceful,

How joyful,

How profound it is to have silence outside and stillness inside.

And also just how alive you feel when you are peaceful.

And also just how much insight happens.

It's one of the reasons why a lot of times when people just get in deep meditation afterwards,

No questions.

The mind needs to think,

Needs to move,

Needs to do stuff,

To be agitated,

To have questions.

It's also why all the questions which are ever asked,

All the answers which people give,

Does it ever answer all the questions?

Or is it just more questions keep coming up?

But when you have some peace,

When the mind stops,

That's where there's no more questions required.

Stillness.

You have it here.

You have it in your hand.

So why do you want to question it?

So that is how we become wise.

We don't search for answers,

We still are mind.

And the answers are there.

Da da da.

Okay,

So anyway,

I hope you enjoyed that little bit in the beginning.

Now we can,

I have to say it again as usual,

Anyone coming for the introduction to meditation class,

That's the room in my right.

This is the advanced,

I know there's people who think they're advanced but probably aren't,

But anyway.

You're good enough.

Very good.

Okay,

So here we go,

For a nice 45 minutes meditation.

You can sit down,

Close your eyes.

And forget about whether it's hot or cold in here.

It can always be hotter,

It can always be cooler.

It's never perfect.

I often thought that you look at the world weather,

Some places are really hot,

Some places are really cold,

Surely there must be a place in the middle somewhere that's just right.

And of course you can't find such a place,

It keeps on changing.

So this is good enough.

So to start taking importance away from thoughts and concepts,

I start to go to physical feelings,

Sensations in my body,

Especially on the surface of my body,

Starting with my feet.

How are my feet?

As I was saying last night,

I can never forget Ajahn Chah telling me and the other Western monks that our feet were stupid.

We had dumb feet.

And I couldn't understand what he was saying.

Was it just a joke?

It wasn't a joke.

He was saying most of our attention and what we invested so much energy in,

Finding solutions was in our head.

We never actually went to feel what the feet were doing.

So what are your feet doing now?

How do they feel?

You make this connection between your mind and your feet.

You feel them.

You know how they feel,

The sensations.

Once you have that mindfulness,

Then the kindness kicks in.

Can I make you more comfortable feet?

Even just asking,

Just like when somebody is sick or you meet an old friend,

Say,

How are you,

She's showing some concern.

That by itself improves the relaxation and peace and health and happiness.

That would be strange,

But knowing that somebody really cares relaxes you.

So even your feet,

Knowing that you are caring for them,

That relaxes them.

And you go to your lower legs.

I just don't tell you to do these things.

I'm doing it myself,

Just going to my lower legs,

Feeling how they are.

I'm not giving things names,

Because half of the purpose of this is trusting in that non-verbal,

Emotional feeling,

Whatever you wish to call it,

Part of the mind,

Doesn't have names,

But just knows.

I get to my knees.

I seem to be okay.

Sighs.

Being slow,

Because this is not wasting time,

This is building up the strength of my awareness.

Building up its ability to feel and just intuitively know when things need to be relaxed or when things need to be tightened up.

You wish it if you like,

Insight if you like,

Kindness.

And then to my back,

Feel the pressure on the chair or the cushion or the,

Whatever you're sitting on,

Feel that.

I was always amazed when I first was playing around,

Realised I could relax that feeling.

It's not all physical pressure,

It's sometimes mental reaction.

And I just mess around with the way I look at things.

It's not the pressure disturbs you,

It's you who disturbed the pressure.

In other words,

That I can do something,

I can relieve the tightness.

And so I start going up my body.

And these parts of your body and your torso,

They can cause you so much pain and sickness and even cause you death.

Just feel as you scan up your body.

Just like you ask your feet if they're okay,

I ask my bowels if they're okay.

And feel them,

Get to know them,

Learn how to heal them,

Relax them.

Sometimes it's simple,

Sometimes you've got a belt which is too tight,

Clothes which is too squashing,

Posture which is causing some pain.

It's amazing just how simple solutions can often create great feelings from pain and sickness,

Even just drinking more water,

Feeling dehydrated.

My body will tell you if you care to listen.

Go up my body.

Like one of those CT scans,

Just scanning up,

Up,

Up,

Up.

And I'm scanning with my own mindfulness,

Awareness,

Feeling,

Knowing.

Anything is a bit strange,

Tight,

Painful,

Aching.

Just linger,

Linger,

Focus in,

And experiment.

And try to find what is necessary for you to relax.

Don't think about it,

Again feel it.

Develop that emotional intelligence,

Even that intuition which knows how to heal.

Learning your own body.

And of course you know you're in the right direction.

When you feel like a tightness,

A tension in the body,

Relax and ease on.

Feels good.

Move upwards,

Out to your chest,

Your heart,

Your lungs,

All these organs and muscles.

Feel if there's anything needed.

Sometimes people say,

Not supposed to be able to do these things.

It's not confirmed by medical science.

But again I never allow my learning,

The theories,

The dogma to stand in the way of Truth.

The Truth is this silent feeling of well-being.

The ease,

Where you know this is the right path.

You're going up to your shoulders.

Good.

Now personally I realize I've got a problem there.

My lobe is just too tight.

So out of kindness I adjust.

Adjusting during the middle of the meditation takes some 20 seconds at most.

Disturbs my tranquility but then I soon get back to where I was before I moved.

This time without any pain.

So I'm free now to go deeper.

It's worth it.

A little calm wise move is not disturbing this investment.

And I feel my arms,

Elbows and hands.

Everything nice and peaceful.

I've been connecting with my body.

Not with the theory,

But with the immediate experience.

And knowing what to do.

Go up to my throat.

A little bit of irritation left from some sort of allergies.

But not much.

Not being afraid to focus in,

Having the courage that this works.

Going up to my face.

Feeling the muscles of my face,

The tingling.

My face,

A little bit warm.

Sweat glands I can feel just tingling.

The eyes relax and loose.

And the nose and the mouth.

No tension.

Not trying to prove anything,

But just letting it be.

And after a while I feel my way into this place of bodily relaxation.

Or you have been recently doing,

Relaxing my brain.

And people could challenge and say,

Well there's not such a thing as sensations where you can know what's happening in the brain.

Never let truth be overcome by theory.

Your experience,

Your own feeling,

You can imagine your brain.

You can visualize it,

Imagine it.

Being tired,

Worn out,

Low energy.

Imagine just feeling the energy.

Relaxing it.

Not asking anything from it at all.

But giving it a break.

Your brain is a servant,

A slave,

Who works for you so hard.

Now you give it time off.

This is where I feel my whole body,

Just meditating.

And the meditation is going in the correct direction,

It's not just peace in terms of numbness or dullness,

You feel delight.

Energy but in a very calm,

Peaceful,

Pleasant state.

One of the signs of peace is delight and happiness.

Peace gives you the freedom to have joy.

And to build on that joy.

And I indulge there,

The joy of a relaxed body.

When it's ready,

I just go to my mind,

The peace on the table.

It's just part of the mind,

An important,

Vital part of my emotional world.

How peaceful am I?

And how,

What do I need?

What is the cause of this needle of the peace on the table to move closer and closer to peace?

And I also know what agitates it,

Can feel it.

I'm learning the power of my emotional world of kindness to overcome the world of negativity and fear and control and getting rid of stuff.

Kindness is more powerful.

It heals,

Relaxes,

You can feel that.

And after the peace I'm going to say,

Always happens to me,

The breath just comes to me.

Just feel this gentle rhythm of a breath coming into my body and going out.

It does it by itself.

What I do is just to feel it.

It's an automatic process.

Just like almost everything else.

It's my mind,

Automatic.

The more I let it go,

The more I let it be,

The more peaceful it is,

The healthier,

The more energized and the wiser.

I trust in the wisdom power.

Wisdom I don't mean knowledge power,

But wisdom,

To feel,

To feel the way to the next layer of peace,

The next increase of mindfulness,

To feel the way into the next level of bliss.

You can analyze it afterwards when you come out and give it names then and now,

Leave all those names behind so you're free.

Free to feel,

Be peaceful,

To know.

Be quiet until close to the end of the meditation.

Breathe.

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So,

You get lost in labyrinth of stupid thoughts,

Just be there.

Where are you in that labyrinth?

You're here.

Just be here.

And imagine you don't have to find your way out.

Imagine you don't need to take notes,

You just be.

And then,

You're already out,

You're aware.

You try to find your way out,

You get more and more lost.

I don't know if this is actually true these days,

There's actually an article,

I should have read it,

About quicksand.

I was taught when I was,

I never got to see any quicksand,

But if you ever,

The myth was,

The urban myth,

If you get caught in quicksand,

Don't struggle,

Just relax.

And then it's just like you float.

But the more you trouble,

The more you struggle,

The more you get stuck in there,

And the more you go down,

Down,

Down.

You just relax until somebody comes by,

Then you never die.

So in the labyrinth of stupid thoughts,

Don't try to get out.

And then it's not labyrinth anymore.

Anyway,

From Austria,

I've been meditating for more than two years now,

Most of the time I get caught up with mundane thoughts.

The space between them is really short,

Is this normal?

Yeah,

Everything is normal.

Sometimes people feel,

Oh,

There's something wrong with me.

Maybe my brain was somehow not fully formed when I was young.

Maybe I've been badly influenced.

Maybe I'm not normal.

Actually,

None of you are normal.

Look at me,

Just how many mucks like me are there?

I'm totally abnormal,

And I cherish and I celebrate my abnormality.

Everybody's different.

Do you remember that wonderful religious documentary,

The Life of Brian,

Where they asked Brian to say,

Give some words of wisdom,

He said,

You're all different,

And they all replied,

We are all different.

And then somebody put their hand up and said,

I'm not.

So the need to be normal,

The pressure to be part of everyone else and not to stand out,

Why?

So anyway,

You are normal,

Unfortunately,

But you get caught up with mundane thoughts.

Otherwise,

Use your emotional wisdom power.

What do those mundane thoughts do to you?

They just are.

All the mundane thoughts which you have in this world,

Just where do they ever lead?

Smart thoughts?

No,

Not really.

They just make the mind more complicated.

There's a word for that in Buddhism,

It's called pappanccha.

Pappanccha,

It means just proliferation.

It goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on,

Never coming to an end.

So instead,

Mundane thoughts,

Just leave them alone.

I like the way you said,

I get caught up with mundane thoughts.

So you can have the mundane thoughts and don't get caught in them.

Just separate yourself from the mundane thoughts.

Just mundane thoughts,

Let them just go.

Anyway,

What do you do with mundane thoughts on a Saturday?

Mundane thoughts are on a Monday.

Fuck!

I told you I was a normal bug.

You have Tuesday thoughts,

Wednesday thoughts and Monday thoughts.

Okay,

I think I better stop.

Any questions or complaints from the floor?

Anyone else got anything they want to say,

Ask,

Comment,

Complain?

Okay,

So we can now pay respects to the Buddha,

Dabha,

Sangha and then we can go and do what we need to do,

Whatever that is.

Okay.