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Guided Meditation: Freedom Now

So good morning, good day, hello everyone. We come to the end of this series on the six qualities of the dharma^[1]—five qualities of the dharma, and one of them is that it doesn't belong to time.

There was, I mentioned yesterday, a story of a celestial being that challenged a young monk and said, "You're young, you should enjoy sensual pleasures, and you're pursuing things that are taking time. Pursue something that's immediate, sensual desires." And the monk says, "No, it takes time to pursue sensual desires. I don't know about time. I'm not living in time. I'm just being here present for what takes no time."

And so this idea that this dharma is something that's immediate, that's right here, implies that it is here in some way. And I think it's probably fair to say that we're often too preoccupied with our concerns to see the dharma operating right here. And how do we see it? One of the most common ways in which these ancient teachings of the Buddha emphasize is we see it by first seeing that there is attachment, greed, aversion, delusion, that there is conceit. There's concern with self, self-preoccupation. Often our preoccupations are centered, and the main character is me, myself, and I.

And we see that clearly. So there's an honesty, like, "This is what's happening. I see what's happening," as opposed to being pushed around by it and being carried by it and kind of involved, participating in this stream of thoughts and preoccupations. Just really see it all. This is what's happening. And at the same time as seeing this is what's happening, seeing there's something that's here now which is not caught in it. Something which is not right now, which is not involved in greed and hatred and delusion and conceit right here. Where our preoccupations are not the whole picture, there is available right here something which is not preoccupied, something that's not involved in conceit.

And one of the clues, one of the aspects of this, is the simplicity of awareness itself. The more simply we can be aware of what's actually happening, we sense that in what's happening, in that awareness, there's no preoccupation. That's where the timeless, immediate dhamma is found. In seeing that contrast: "Oh yes, I am caught up, and yes, there's part of me that knows that that's not caught up." To see what is not caught up. And sometimes our caught-upness goes away, and we just see and clearly know that we're just not caught.

And I liken it to if we're holding something in our hand. We might be so concerned with the object that we don't notice that we're grasping it. Noticing we're grasping it, we might notice, "I don't have to grasp it. I can hold it with an open hand in a relaxed way, just hold the hand upright and hold it there." And then I'm so aware of the relaxed hand. I'm holding it, and there's a relaxed hand at the same time. So to see those two things, we see it. And to experience this for ourselves, to know this for ourselves, the dhamma that's immediate, that's here to be known by the wise.

So take heart in your meditation that if you should get caught up in preoccupations, those preoccupations are the stepping stone to freedom by seeing clearly, "Oh, I'm preoccupied," and then appreciating that, "Oh, maybe here, in addition to being preoccupied, there is a place of not being preoccupied in the knowing, in the peace that's there."

So I hope that makes sense, and with that, we'll begin. And again, for this day, I will just sit quietly and you're left to yourself.

(Meditation)

And then as we come to the end of the sitting... we come to the beginning as we come to the end of the sitting. When there is no time for the dharma because the dharma is always here, always with us. Always onward leading, in that it shows us where attention needs to be so that we can be free.

If attention is caught and involved in our thoughts, we're not free. If we're thinking but also know we're thinking, we can also know the timeless freedom of now. And in a sense, you need to give time to experience the freedom of here and now. You have to give time to experience the timeless freedom of here.

That means there has to be some stopping of the incessant leaning forward, preoccupation, rumination. Just enough so you can see clearly what's happening, and in that clearing, see the way forward to be free. And may it be, from what we're learning through this practice, that we create a clearing for others. That we create the time, the presence, the sacred pause, the sacred openness to the moment in which we can receive others, know others, that they can have the experience of being known in freedom. Maybe they won't recognize exactly what's happening, but something in their hearts will know that they're being received and known by a person who has space, openness, awareness of them, without our neediness and greed and aversion and judgments, resentments, without our fantasies and imaginations and delusions.

What a great gift to give others. May it be that through this practice we give people the gift of freedom and attention and respect.

May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free. And may our practice contribute to that.

So, thank you.

Dharmette: The Dharma, Pt 2 (5 of 5) Being Available

The last of the characteristics of the dhamma is that it's to be personally known by the wise, or personally experienced by the wise, depending on how the word is understood. But "personally" means directly, immediately, here.

And I think it's very hopefully encouraging and inspiring that this dharma that we're doing is pointing to something very deeply personal, that the answer is found in us. The book to read is in our own hearts, is here. That the teachings that are to be really followed are the ones that you find here personally, not necessarily by someone like me talking about it.

These five characteristics of the dhamma—that it is visible here, it's now, it's inviting us to see, it's onward leading, and to be known by the wise—this is, in the ancient texts, the exclamation, the inspired utterance of people who have really tasted the full potential of the practice for the first time, or have really experienced the full potential. This sense of how mindfulness, how awareness can lead to a kind of freedom in the midst of our life. We can experience that personal freedom here and now. And there's confidence, there's no more doubt that this is what it is.

So this whole expression, the characteristics of the dhamma, are in fact something to be experienced by the wise, to be known by oneself, to discover for oneself, not to be taken as articles of faith or creed. But they're pointing to an experience, something that's personally known.

But in order to do that, we have to be available for this experience of the present moment. We have to be available to experience, to know something personally. And this ability to be available, to be receptive, to be open, to have the clarity for experiencing what's happening here and now, is not easy to come by. For whatever reason, this mind of ours so easily races ahead, so easily is caught in its cycles of rumination, is somewhat leaning forward into the next moment, into the next moment. As soon as one thing is finished, we're already onto the next thing because of the momentum of that mind. And so the idea is to stop and be present.

Many years ago I had this analogy for myself. When I was young, growing up in Europe, there was much more handshaking than there is now, I think. But I remember that sometimes when there was someone like a politician or someone who was somehow an important person and was going around and shaking everyone's hands, there were a few times I experienced someone who would, as soon as their hand was in my hand to be shook, I already felt the hand immediately go limp. Because you could see their body, their face, everything was already looking for the next person to shake hands with. And it was very unsatisfying because there wasn't this little bit of firmness, a little bit like, "Here I am," connecting and present for you.

And so the mind is like that sometimes, ready for the next thing. The way we grasp at something tightly and we don't grasp... we're grasping but we don't really know. In the Buddha's language, in Buddhist teachings, what we grasp at is the concepts, the ideas, the fantasies, the dreams, the delusions, the imaginations of things. We don't really grab anything solid. And so the very grabbing of things as it is keeps us going, and we're not available, not present, not here for the experience.

So to make oneself a vessel for experiencing something deeply personal, to experience our life, ourselves, in some deeper way that allows us to tap into what is really present here, visible here. Concepts, ideas, and stories are not exactly something worth seeing, or not really seeing reality; really they obscure it. But if you see how we get caught in thoughts, see how we get caught in attachments and clingings and aversions, that's the way we begin seeing the dharma. "Oh, look at that." Then with that seeing, it's possible to see and find the alternative.

But if we're so involved in greed, hate, and delusion that we can't even see it, then there's no way but to stop and be available to even see that which is not flattering in ourselves. "Oh, look at that." And rather than being discouraged by what is not flattering about ourselves, in our minds and our hearts and our dispositions, in the dharma that's a source of encouragement, of inspiration. Not being inspired by what's not flattering, but being inspired: "Oh, now that I know it, this is a stepping stone to freedom. I needed to know this. Of course I needed to know this and see this. Now where's the freedom?"

And part of the freedom is found in that seeing, that recognition. Part of that freedom is found in not succumbing or collapsing or being upset by what is not flattering, the faults we have or difficulties we have inside. See it. "Oh, that's what it is." And then we start seeing, getting a taste of the simultaneous freedom, the simultaneous way in which we're looking. Come and look, come and see. We see then a way forward. We're guided into that clarity, guided into that more freedom, that more letting go. And then the more we experience that non-clinging, where we experience that attention that's free and not clinging, not grasping, then the more we can just really be present in a full way for experience. We can have that handshake with reality; we're really there with it, and the mind is not already going off to something else.

And so to be available. And then to find a comment about this. For the Buddha, when he was talking about this—what it means, this "visible, it's here, come and look at it, it's onward leading, and experienced by the wise"—he wanted an explanation of all that. He just slightly changed the subject and he talks about not being involved in the conceits of feeling that you're better than others, worse than others, or equal to others. We're not involved in the game and the ranking and the status of self.

And so this freedom from comparing ourselves to others, that's part of this freedom that he's talking about. It's available here and now. And what a gift to give to others, the gift of not comparing, not making ourselves worse or better than others, or even the complications of making ourselves equal. We don't play that comparison game. And the gift to others is that they're allowed to be who they are, and we can be present for them in a full way. We can shake their hands, or the equivalent, and really be there and present and give them some kind of gift of freedom.

So, "to be personally experienced by the wise." May that be. May you be a wise person. May you be available to experience this life in a deep way, and may that availability translate to a greater respect, reverence, care, love for others as well.

And if you would like to have homework for this time that I'm away, or at least for the weekend: make yourself available for reality. Don't go headlong into it; make yourself available. Kind of let it come to you. Let reality find you, rather than you rushing into it.

So thank you very much. And I look forward to being back, I guess I think it's probably the third of October or so, the first Monday in October. And I hope you enjoy compassion, loving-kindness, and Matthew Brensilver^[2].