MA 61 The Momentum Of The Giving Mind

So we can start by bringing to mind how precious this time is for us,

To cultivate the presence,

To go inside into our own lives.

So let's take a few moments just to notice how we're feeling in body and mind.

So check in,

Feeling any sensations,

Any holding,

Any tightness in the body,

As well as feeling into our mood,

Feeling into our emotions,

And just acknowledging whatever is being felt and letting it be.

Now very gently withdrawing the awareness from the mindful check-in,

And we'll shift our focus to a body scan,

Feeling our way into this body,

Into the world of sensations,

Thoughts and emotions,

And acknowledging whatever is being experienced,

Just like a meteorologist might objectively report on the weather outside.

We as mindfulness practitioners are like internal meteorologists,

Reporting the weather objectively on the inside.

So whatever it is that we're feeling in the body,

In the mind,

We can just acknowledge whatever is being felt and let it be.

As we breathe in,

Feeling the body rising ever so gently on the inhalation,

And falling gently on the exhalation.

From there we start to relax all parts of our body,

Starting with the forehead and face,

With awareness right through to the inside of the head and down through our ears,

Feeling sensations and letting them be.

The eyes and the muscles around the eyes,

Feeling into the facial structure,

Feeling down through the back of the head,

The temples and the sinus passages,

Relaxing the cheeks,

The mouth,

Teeth and tongue,

Relaxing the jaw,

Which is one of the most over-exercised joints of our body,

Relaxing the neck and throat,

Now letting the awareness move from the neck and throat down into the shoulders and the shoulder blades,

And then gently bringing the awareness down each of the upper arms,

Into the elbows,

Into the forearms,

The wrists and the hands,

Being mindful of whatever comes up in the body,

Letting any waves of thought,

Emotions or sensations ripple and resonate through your lungs,

Letting the awareness rise up into the chest,

Sternum and ribcage,

Relaxing our digestive system and whatever sensations may be felt,

Tightness,

Nervousness,

Just rightness,

Whatever is there,

Acknowledging and letting it be,

Eventually relaxing ourselves down from the upper back,

Through the spine,

Into the middle and lower back,

Then the hips and the core,

Acknowledging and letting them be,

Moving on down to the thighs,

Quads and hamstrings,

Then our knees and lower legs,

Into the ankles,

Heels,

The tops and soles of the feet,

Down to our toes,

With awareness and just acknowledging whatever is felt in the body.

We may notice tensions from time to time,

Tightness or achiness,

And if we can allow any of these areas to soften,

By all means we let that happen,

It's also important to know,

That if we are unable to soften,

Our practice informs us just to let it be,

Whatever sensations ripple and resonate,

Wherever they need to go,

The same applies even to our thoughts and emotions,

Letting them disappear,

Into the background of our awareness.

There we can start by settling ourselves deeper,

Taking advantage of the refreshing air around us,

To reconnect with our sense of relaxation and peace on the inside,

Almost as if our mind has gradually been slowing down,

Almost as if our mind has gradually been slowing down,

Becoming more familiar with being inside,

In the absence of all the normal distractions that we have in our life.

With meditation we are learning a new pace of living,

Governed by the elements,

The sunrise and sunset,

And by our proximity to nature,

And our whole body relaxes in a way that our mind becomes more relaxed as well,

As if our mind prefers to be still and serene.

How we normally treat our mind in our everyday lives,

Is just something we become so used to,

That we start to think it is natural to be constantly off balance,

And have our mind dissipated on a thousand different things in our lives.

Only when we close our eyes to meditate,

Can we truly allow our mind to heal and rebalance itself,

And only then do we start to wonder how we can ever have tolerated letting our mind become so estranged from the center of our body.

So we take full advantage of this opportunity to reunite body and mind,

To restore that fine balance in a way that can take us deeper,

Just as if we were tapping into the energy that is already there,

Which we have overlooked for so long.

We do our best to relax our awareness,

Turning our attention inward,

As if we have nothing to hold our attention in the outside world anymore.

Drawing our senses back within ourself,

Almost like a tortoise,

Withdrawing its head and feet back inside its shell,

Totally engaged with the inner world rather than the world outside.

We do the same thing with all the external perceptions,

Coming to us through our eyes,

Ears,

Nose,

Taste buds,

And sense of touch,

Engaging only with that inner sense of the mind to explore our inner world.

So we continue to maintain our meditation in this way,

Lightly and gently,

Engaging with the flow at the center of ourselves,

As we allow our meditation to go deeper into the inner experience.

We keep our attention on track at the center of ourselves,

At the center of whatever inner experience we perceive at the center of ourselves,

And we continue to reach with our awareness touching at the center of that inner experience,

With the same lightness as a feather floating down to touch on the surface of some water,

Continuing in this way just for a few more moments in silence,

Until we come to the appropriate time.

So we continue to keep our attention gently in contact with that sense of peace energy,

Gradually accumulating at the center of ourselves.

It's almost as if,

Even without doing anything,

The energy constantly increases,

For as long as we're able to keep our mind on track at the center of ourselves,

Becoming stronger,

More resilient,

And less affected by the things around us,

With the power almost to captivate the mind,

So that our mind would like to stay at the center,

Almost by second nature.

With a sort of inertia that keeps our mind in place no matter what,

Really our inner image or inner feeling is just a way of connecting ourself with that energy which is already there,

But also the energy that comes from all the good things that we've done in our lives,

And the things we're proud of.

The residue of all this goodness helps to reinforce that flow inside,

To make it all the more stronger,

And even reminiscing over memories of good things we've done in the past,

Elevates the quality of the mind,

Because the mind is a peculiar thing.

It's so subjective that even by wishful thinking,

We can bootstrap ourselves onto a more positive footing,

Because positive thinking brings benefits that are more than merely subjective,

Not to speak of those who are actually generous with their time,

Or with their gifts to others.

They tend to find that instead of their meditation being dry or impeded inside themselves,

Somehow there's a sense of being constantly in the flow,

In the nature of their dealings with the world in general,

Through their generosity,

Through their capacity to sacrifice their own time and effort,

For the benefit of others.

The Dalai Lama once said,

The problem with greed in the world is that most people want for too little.

All they want is things for themselves,

The little luxuries,

Indulgences,

Status symbols,

In order to win acceptance in the eyes of others.

But what he said about greed is that if we were to extend it to something really worthwhile,

Something really ambitious,

Like the peace in the world,

Or the harmony of society at large,

To overcome all the forms of suffering experienced in society,

That would be something really worth being greedy about.

The devotion we invest to help to make society a more peaceful place,

By facilitating others to know about meditation,

Or to extend the know-how associated with meditation,

That really can help to solve the problems in life,

Not just on the surface,

But really at its roots.

By doing so,

We make a huge change for the better in the world.

And the power of the emotion of being able to give without end,

Giving without weariness or despair,

When we struggle to bring things to a better place,

This power flows back into our lives,

Back through our center,

Adding momentum to our meditation.

Because it's as if we have overcome the resistance to goodness in the world,

Not just for ourselves,

But also for all the other people we help as well.

So from the shiny example which we set for others in the world,

May this come back within ourselves too,

Each time we meditate,

Empowering us with that special ability to push on through to the other side,

In every good project and intention that we extend toward the world.

We cultivate our mind lightly and gently in this way for a few moments more in silence until we come to time for some loving kindness meditation.

And as we come toward the end of our practice,

It's a good opportunity to magnify and multiply the sense of inner peace,

The energy we've built up inside ourselves for the benefit not only of ourselves and those dear to us,

But also to give something back to the world.

So touching our awareness lightly at the center with the same lightness as a feather floating down so that it doesn't even break the surface of the water.

In the same way,

We touch our attention in the center of the inner experience within ourselves.

And we'll find that that inner sphere of experience,

Whether it be something we can see or something we can feel,

Is something we can expand outwards,

Allowing it to become gradually larger in size,

The same size as the whole of our own body.

Almost as if we were sitting within a sphere of our own well-being or a sphere of our own light.

As we make a wish to ourselves that may we be well and happy.

So we start by extending loving-kindness outwards from our center to every cell,

Every molecule of our being,

Extending a wish to ourselves for strong health and long life,

In which to cultivate many good things in our future.

But also with a sense of self-compassion,

Occasionally going easy on ourselves,

Not holding ourselves to too high a standard,

Because sometimes we tend to hold ourselves to impossibly high standards that we never use on anyone else.

And from there we extend that loving-kindness beyond ourselves,

Outward into the world around us.

You might imagine yourself at the top of a mountain with a view to all the areas below.

We can extend our loving-kindness in the same way,

Outward as far as the eye can see and beyond,

In all directions all around,

To all the living beings who are not so lucky as ourselves,

Without the time and space in their lives to intentionally cultivate good states of mind and inner peace.

And we extend loving-kindness to the many who don't even realize the possibility of doing this.

We extend our loving-kindness in ever-widening circles to the whole world,

Until our loving-kindness becomes boundless,

Limitless,

A universal loving-kindness,

Giving back something to society,

Before going wider still to the whole of the universe,

As if we cradle the heart of the universe within us,

Not forsaking even the smallest of beings in the cosmos.

With the intention,

May all beings,

Wherever they are,

Be at peace for the last few moments of our meditation together in silence.