MB 27 Entering Upon The Inner Axis To Nirvana

So I'd like to invite everyone to close their eyes very gently.

Relax all the muscles of your body and make sure that your breathing and your circulation are relaxed and unimpeded.

The part of your body is not completely relaxed,

Then adjust your body to minimize any possible aches or pains.

Try to find a position for yourself by which you feel alert and get relaxed.

Although a meditation is mostly about relaxing our mind,

We must spend a few moments to relax our body first because if our body is not relaxed it's going to be difficult for our mind to relax.

So we start by relaxing the muscles of our forehead,

Our eyebrows and eyelids,

Making sure our eyes are only very gently closed.

We never squeeze our eyes closed,

But close our eyes gently in the same way we close our eyes to go to sleep.

We relax the muscles of our face,

Our neck.

We relax both shoulders,

Both arms,

Down to the tips of our fingers.

Relax our chest,

Trunk and abdomen,

Both of our legs and to the tips of our toes.

So that all the way from the top of our head to the tips of our toes.

There's no part of our body with any stress or tension anymore.

If you notice any tension remaining in our body,

We do our best to relax it completely.

As if our body melted away into the atmosphere around us.

As if we had forgotten about our body completely.

Now with our body relaxed,

We also take a few moments to relax our mind.

The easiest way to relax the mind is just to forget for a few moments about all the worries,

All the things on our mind in our everyday life.

Thoughts of work,

Friends,

Family,

School,

Thoughts of the future and the past.

We put all of these thoughts on one side for the moment.

Just like we cleared up all the documents on our office desk,

Put them away in the drawer,

Locked it with a key.

In the same way we empty our mind completely of any thoughts.

Yet we make our mind light,

Radiant,

Spacious and refreshed.

We fill our mind instead with happiness and joy.

As if tiny particles of happiness and joy completely filled the mind.

Maybe no space in the mind for any other sort of thought.

If you are relaxed both in body and in mind,

Very gently using no effort at all.

We imagine that inside our body is just an empty space with no organs or tissues,

No muscles or bones,

Just a hollow space inside ourselves.

If you like you can imagine that your body is like a bubble,

Thin transparent skin and hollow inside with no organs or tissues,

No muscles or bones.

Now very slowly and gently at a point in the middle of our body,

We remember the image of the bright shining sun which we saw a few moments ago.

Maybe yellow or white in color,

Red or gold,

It doesn't matter.

You can't think of the sun and think of any other round bright object which you find easiest to imagine.

Imagine that object as continuously as you can,

For as long as you can with a very gentle attention.

And I would emphasize how important the word gentle is because many people use too much force when they come to meditate.

They think that if they stare or if they use force on their meditation it's going to help them to get results.

In fact it only stops the meditation from progressing,

Therefore be very gentle,

Be very light in the way you place your mind in the center.

If you find your mind wanders anywhere else,

As soon as you realize always bring your mind back again to the center of the body as before.

If your bright object disappears you can always think of a new one.

If the object changes in size,

Shape,

Color or form simply observe at its center,

Observe always at the brightest spot in the center of the object.

For long you start to find that the object will evolve and transform of its own accord,

Changing to become an object which is more perfect inside us,

Such as a bright clear sphere like a crystal ball or maybe a bright clear Buddha image inside ourselves.

In the beginning for those who are not used to meditation the mind will wander a lot.

The sounds around us sensations in our body or thoughts in our head.

Our job is a meditator if our mind should wander,

So as to bring our mind back again to the center each and every time.

However many times it takes for our mind to settle in the center.

Understanding the object which we can observe in our center will not be very distinct.

May seem lifeless or maybe as if it is flat and dull,

Maybe as if we can see only part of the object.

Later as our mind becomes more settled in the center,

The object will become more life like.

We will be able to see the whole of the object,

As if we were seeing it in three dimensions.

And the feeling we get from looking at the object will be different from before.

Now the object will give us a feeling of joy when we observe it.

Feeling of joy which helps us to keep our mind on the object the whole of the time.

Because if our mind wonders away that sense of joy will disappear.

Our mind always at the center whatever we see.

What we find is that the object will become gradually clearer,

Softer.

Now it will be an object not the same as the one we imagined.

An object which occurs by itself spontaneously arising object.

We keep on observing at its center.

Object will transform further to an object which is of the form we can expand or contract at will.

Until eventually it will become an object which is so clear and bright.

That we know it is something different to what we have experienced before.

Even bright,

Sparkling like a diamond,

Brighter than the midday sun.

A sense of expansion in the mind.

Whereby we see that this point in the center is no longer a point,

But it is the beginning of a pathway.

Away like a bright tunnel which seems to lead ever downwards inside us.

With or without good images inside.

So our job simply to rest our mind in stillness at the center.

As soon as our mind is sufficiently subtle the mind will go deeper inside.

Remember to draw upon the knowledge of all the Buddhists inside us.

Along an axis which eventually will lead us all the way to Nirvana itself.

Purifying and clarifying the mind as we go.

For a few more moments inside as we cultivate the mind.

Stillness at the center.

With or without a bright object.

Simply observing what is already there to be seen.

Each theorem practiced now in silence until we come to the appropriate time.

Don't forget if your mind wanders anywhere else.

No matter whether it be to the sounds around you,

Sensations in your body or thoughts in your head.

As soon as you realize always bring your mind back again to the center of the body as before.

Now let's go back to the beginning of the video.

We have the mind.

The mind.

The mind.

The mind.

The mind.

The mind.

The mind.

The mind.

The mind.

The mind.

The mind.

Keep our mind always at the center of the body all the time.

Center of whatever inner experience we have attained for ourself.

Whether it be a feeling of stillness inside,

Brightness inside,

Sphere inside,

Inner body's inside or with image inside ourself.

Place our mind gently at the center of whatever inner experience we have achieved.

And allowing our mind to come to a standstill at that point.

Gradually make a wish at our center.

At all the merit coming to us from our taking the five precepts,

From performing Buddha Pooja.

And from our meditation to straighten out our views,

Calm our mind.

All this merit come together as a clear sphere of merit in our center.

Helping to attract into our lives all the very best of things,

Opportunities and people.

While helping to protect us from all dangers.

Leading us to success in our lives whether it be family or business.

Giving us the encouragement we need to do goodness throughout our lives.

Whether it be studying hard as a child,

Working hard as an adult.

Educating our family to know the difference between good and evil.

Make a wish on the basis of this merit for the last few moments of our meditation.