Settling yourself into a comfortable meditation posture.
Whether you want to be sitting on a chair or sitting on the floor like this.
Making sure you feel stable and relaxed.
In whichever way your body is most appropriate for.
Feeling upright,
Aligned.
Balanced.
Allowing your eyes to rest,
To calm.
Look downwards.
Maybe even closing them if you like.
In this practice,
We're going to explore the feeling of loneliness.
Now in Zen,
We study this as a koan.
A koan,
A point of reflection within the practice.
Sometimes it's a question,
Sometimes it's more of a statement.
And this is a statement that actually originates with Confucius.
Back in the very old days in China.
And the statement we study is that Confucius said,
A person of great virtue.
Is never alone.
In this context,
A person of great virtue is a person who has wisdom,
Who understands the nature of reality.
Now let's explore the feeling of loneliness itself.
And one thing that's really important in this is that we never deny or cover up.
Feel shame.
Push away.
These feelings of loneliness.
If we feel lonely,
Then we feel lonely.
And it's our practice to 100%.
Feel lonely.
So right now.
As you take your attention inside your body.
This feeling of loneliness.
Could you find it?
In your body.
In the physicality.
The sensations in your body.
Some people it feels like a kind of opening in their belly.
Some people it feels like.
A gap in their heart.
Or tightness or resistance.
Sure,
There are thoughts.
The memories may be around it,
But what about the physical sensation?
Where would that be in your body?
And is it okay to take your attention?
Right into the middle of this feeling of loneliness.
A feeling of isolation.
Separateness.
Lack of connection.
Where would that be?
Most clearly felt in your body.
And with all feelings of discomfort,
There's this natural tendency to want to skirt around it.
To avoid.
To not fully.
.
.
Go in.
And nuts.
Understandable feelings of discomfort.
Are not easy.
But we're here.
With this intention of.
.
.
Really exploring.
What it is to feel lonely.
So if you're willing.
Just to go right into the middle.
Of these feelings.
To be lonely.
And that's okay.
Know that at any point,
If it gets a bit too much,
If the feelings are too intense or too strong,
We can just back away.
We can hold the feeling of loneliness as it were in the corner of your mind's eye.
So not necessarily looking at it directly,
But just seeing it at the edge.
So it's not gone and we're not denying or missing it.
Is just on the edge,
We're aware it's there.
Or if you feel comfortable,
If it's okay,
Diving right in.
To the feelings of loneliness,
Separation.
Being isolated.
Now this diving right in.
Is the practice of virtue that Confucius is talking about.
When we dive right in.
There is no longer a sense of me and loneliness.
Me being separate from the world.
When we dive in to the feelings,
We dive in to life.
A sense of separateness.
Actually begins to Fade and we become one with feelings of loneliness.
In Zen,
They call it narikiru.
Narikiru means to literally become one,
Or to sort of cut off other things and focus 100%.
So we narukero the feelings of loneliness.
We dive right in.
Into the very epicenter.
So there's no longer a sense of you and the feelings.
You're right in the middle.
It may not be comfortable.
It may not be easy.
Thank you for your courage and your willingness.
Because when we become one with feelings of loneliness,
We actually become one with all things.
The separation dissolves.
And we dive into this experience.
And then.
.
.
Being separate.
Being disconnected.
Being isolated is not something we feel.
We feel just immersed in.
The reality of the situation.
When we immerse ourselves with one thing.
We become one with all things.
So,
Confucian,
Confucius.
Said that a person of great virtue is never alone,
Because a person who can dive right in.
.
.
And become one and not skirt around or.
.
.
Deny or hold at bay or suppress,
But just dive right in.
The person who can do that is a person who can become one with the universe.
And when we become one with the universe,
Then there is no loneliness.
Becoming one with the universe.
Right now.
How does that feel?
How does that change the sensations of loneliness?
On a cosmic level.
Then loneliness can only be a perception.
Because there is no physical,
Isolated,
Separate self anyway.
It's just an illusion,
A perspective.
A way of seeing.
Because.
.
.
On a cosmic level,
We are just energy.
On an atomic level,
On a quantum level.
We're just energy.
The material that our body is made from is just.
Concentrated energy.
Atoms,
Molecules.
Electrons.
Protons.
They're just energy.
And energy doesn't have a fixed identity.
It's a flowing.
Flux.
Change.
You are an energy.
In this form right now.
Existing within a universe of energy.
Our planet.
A form of energy moving around the sun,
The solar system.
A form of energy.
Moving within our galaxy,
Within this entirety of the universe of just flows of energy moving from one form to the next.
So how does that feel?
To be.
A flow of energy,
Of change.
Of evolution.
Energy.
Cannot be isolated.
Energy is in constant relationship.
With the surroundings.
The light comes in,
Bounces off.
The heat is gone.
The food.
The little microorganisms that live inside us,
The microbes,
Bacteria.
Viruses.
Little creatures that live around us.
We can never really be alone.
Within this vibrating body.
Energy reality.
And Confucius knew this.
Person of great virtue,
A person who really practices and understands.
The nature of reality and themselves can never be alone.
Where they're within this one universe altogether.
So perhaps we could spend a little moment.
Allowing that to filter into our body.
And noticing how that feels.
Sitting in oneness with the universe.
And when you're ready to finish this practice,
Swaying your body a little bit from side to side.
Taking a deeper breath.
And letting your eyes lift.
Thank you for practicing with me,
With us,
Together.
We offer the merit of our practice to all beings.
May they be well and content.
May they find liberation.
