So if you'd like to settle yourself now for some meditation And make sure you're comfortable enough To sit for a long time without having to move around too much Close your eyes very gently as softly as you can And as usual we slowly take a few good deep breaths to ourselves And we follow the in-breath deeper into the body Down through the lungs to the center of the body Letting the in-breath refresh ourselves on the inside We take note of the point where the in-breath turns inside the body Because it's a point we will return to as a focus for our awareness And on the out-breath we release all the tensions or the discomfort from the inside out And we relax the whole of our body all the way from the top of our head Right the way down to the tips of our toes We slowly relax every part of the body until there's no single part of ourselves With any remaining stress or tension anymore We release the tension and let it go As if we are surrendering every last muscle into a soothing tide of relaxation And we turn our attention to relax the mind as well It's equally important for both body and mind to be relaxed It may take a few moments but it's not that hard for us to achieve We just need to be patient enough to allow both body and mind to relax thoroughly And we allow the mind to wind down by resting the consciousness or the awareness within the space of the body,
Softly and continuously So we learn to rest our mind within this space softly for a few moments We always maintain relaxation throughout our time of meditation We check in with the center of the body by taking a deep breath again To remind ourselves of the location of this point All we need to do is to return the mind to its natural place of balance at the center of the body We treat ourselves to a few moments of quiet touching gently with our awareness at the center of the body Slowly,
Without any hurry at all Remaining tranquil and still the whole of the time The nature of existence is an endless journey through unknowing It is a journey through obscurity that is the lot of all living beings Our Earth is illuminated by the bright light of the Sun and the Moon Yet such light reveals only the outside world beyond our skin But what about on the inside of our skin,
So important for our self-understanding and a sense of meaning in life?
Normally the inner world should be illuminated by the light of the mind But if we lack inner illumination,
We will be unable to engage safely with the inner aspects of our existence Inner light has been dismissed as a mere hallucination by some modern-day neurophysicists,
But is not easily revealed It lies beyond ordinary space-time and beyond the grasp of the natural mind It is an inner experience that transcends the brain or the nervous system,
Entangled in worldly ideas and philosophical speculations The part of the mind we are talking about shines out with its own clear light When meditation is practiced successfully,
It has the power to recover that inner light So one good reason that we are gathering today to meditate together is in order to immerse ourselves in that inner light,
So essential to meaning-making in our lives Emotional struggles in our life can be unsettling without such inner light to help us see how we fit into the bigger picture Although the nature of existence can be a mystery to us,
But if we know how to initiate bright inner light,
We can avail ourselves of a feeling of security and confidence as we make our way through life The wisdom traditions of the East have always involved cultivating inner light as a strategy to make the best of our existence in this world,
To pull our lives out of the emotional shadows And to this end many of the wisdom traditions of the East teach us how to cultivate inner light,
And in this connection the centre of the body can be the source This inner point is the source of the light where,
By reaching inward with our awareness,
We can generate light inside So we allow the mind to reach inward toward the light source inside for a few moments while always maintaining a sense of relaxation the whole of the time It is a kind of inner awakening fueled by the inner light in the mind At this level of description,
The shape of the mind is spherical,
A sphere that shines with an inner light,
A round sphere that's self-illuminating By resting the mind at this point,
The source is illuminated by the bright inner light in the mind Immerse yourself in the bright,
Silvery inner light as it shines forth its radiance Allow the light or the inner feeling that you have brightness inside to continue on and on,
With the mind shining forth its radiance And now we have learned to initiate bright light by ourselves,
We reach inwardly with the mind Reaching gently with our awareness toward the inner light shining in the mind at the centre of the body The inner light foretells the arising of peace in the mind,
Like the light before the dawn The inner light replicates the real,
Spherical nature of the mind So we continue to connect with the source of the inner light for a few moments more For many people,
The stream of thoughts in the mind is almost continuous,
And it's hard to find a single break in the thoughts to give ourselves that sense of peace and quiet In such a case,
To open up a space between the thoughts in the mind,
We make use of something called a mantra,
Which is basically a word that we repeat to ourselves silently,
As if we hear the sound of it coming up from the centre of our bright object The traditional mantra for this meditation method is the words,
Samma Arahang Samma Arahang Samma Arahang And we hear the sound of those words coming up as if like a silent music from the centre of ourselves From the centre of the bright object over and over again,
Gently encouraging the mind to become free of thought,
While at the same time linking our awareness more closely with this point in the centre of the body By meditation,
We can ensure that brightness is always the colour of our lives By gaining an increasingly brilliant inner light in which to immerse ourselves Life may be too short to procure all the pleasures we crave,
Because each instance of pleasure never lasts long enough for us This is why people are constantly obsessed with seeking out happiness from the things around them A much better place to seek enduring happiness and peace would be from the inside,
And meditation is key to unlocking the happiness that has been so elusive in the outside world Meditation can help us harvest the happiness from the inside But we need to meditate for the right reasons An effective motivation for meditation is not to think that we are developing the mind as an escape,
To gain super powers,
Clairvoyance or divination Because all these motivations are incompatible with the purity of healthy progress in meditation Our goal of this meditation is,
In general terms,
To provide us with the opportunity to see life as it really is,
To see beyond suffering and impermanence,
While not becoming attached to an illusory ego If you can come to know these truths,
Then,
Because of this understanding of these truths,
We will be able to conduct ourselves in such a manner that the shadows of suffering in life will be minimized Life cannot be truly bright unless meditation brings us to the centre of the body and to the inner light Especially when in the outside world each source of pleasure is so fleeting But when inner light can be never-ending,
The rule of transient pleasure in the outside world no longer applies Since in this inner kingdom,
Light is as endless as it is unbounded So the more you bring your awareness to abide in the kingdom of light in the centre of the body,
The more bright light inside will permeate through,
Even to your complexion and the aura of your personal appearance That s why if you meditate often,
If your interior is ever bright,
Such brightness will shine through into external aspects of your life until your life starts to mirror the light within You ll become unified with the body of bright light within yourself So now that we ve discovered inner light,
We let the brightness from inside dispel the shadows of the outside world,
Drawing upon inner light to brighten the outside Meditation will extend the light of compassion to connect the internal and the external spheres of our life So we allow the mind to remain immersed in the soft inner brightness as continuously as we can,
For as long as we can Immerse yourself in soft light Immerse yourself in bright light of such a shining inner light at the centre of the body We continue to make sure the physical body and the mind are truly relaxed We immerse ourselves in the brightening glow of the inner light within the mind Since after all your good efforts in meditation,
You deserve to be first in line when it comes to attaining inner peace The experience of inner light is an ecumenical experience shared by mystics and meditators alike from across different faith traditions Light has been used as a privileged metaphor in the language of mysticism and experiential religions going back to the ancient Greeks and the western traditions of the East St.
Augustine in his Confessions spoke of the light unchangeable Whoever knows truth knows that light And whoever knows that light knows eternity Similarly,
St.
Teresa of Avila described her inner light saying Even if I were to spend years and years imagining how to invent anything so beautiful,
I could not do it,
And I do not know even how I could try For even in its whiteness and radiance alone,
It exceeds anything you could imagine It is not a radiance that dazzles,
But a soft whiteness and an infused radiance Even in experience at the end of life,
Many patients have witnessed a light without shadow,
And also fusing light,
Which comes up as a central metaphor in near-death experiences Light which enfolds the whole universe So bright,
But yet without hurting the eyes Brighter than anything you've encountered in your whole life An enormously bright light that seems to cradle you,
Glorious and perfect,
Nurturing you An extremely bright light,
Pure white or blue white light A living light that seems to communicate and acknowledge us And with this light comes a feeling of absolute pure love The warmest possible feeling,
Absolutely vivid and clear Like a crystallized light beaming with a brightness in every direction,
Totally absorbing your consciousness Radiating from the very center of your consciousness out to the infinite expanses of the universe And it's time now to share bright light to all the other beings with whom or with which we share our world and our existence We allow bright light to expand as a sphere to become bigger and wider Like the volume of light is expanding from a small sphere inside us to become a bigger,
A wider sphere,
Expanding endlessly We let our inner light shine for all other beings In our world,
We share our existence And since the color of our lives has now become the color of light,
We immerse ourselves in the journey,
In the nature of the existence together with the brightness that we have created for ourselves From here on in,
We will allow bright light to continue to emanate bigger and brighter always to share our happiness of the journey to others without exception for a few more moments in silence.
