This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers.

Guided Meditaiton: Supported by Deep Thinking

So, hello everyone and welcome.

One of the themes this week is how do we speak to ourselves? In meditation itself, an idle mind will get in trouble. Some people, when they meditate, think they're not supposed to do much at all—just relax, be, not try to do anything. Maybe it'd be with their breathing. There's sometimes a kind of passivity with which meditators are meditating. Sometimes that passivity is just the right medicine for an overactive life, and things can settle. But at some point, that passivity is maybe counterproductive because then it's very easy to begin slipping into distracted thoughts. There's something about involving your thinking mind in the process of meditation which is allowed, helpful, meaningful, and useful. But we have to know how to do that, how to use thinking, and how to speak to ourselves in a way that supports the meditative process.

There are two things I want to emphasize today. One is that while there is a movement towards becoming calmer, quieter, and less active—moving towards a kind of deep peace—it might be enabled and supported by a certain sense of purpose. To feel like this is important, this is valuable, this is a very auspicious, very important opportunity to have to meditate. We don't want to let it go by being distracted. We don't want to let it go by as a lost opportunity. So, there's a sense of purpose. This is what we're doing. The clarity of purpose. There's a kind of strength, a gathering ourselves together. This is in fact what I'm doing. This is important for me. So that the mind doesn't easily just wander off. Like, yes. Here I am.

The other is that it's possible to include thinking as part of meditation, but to do so from the deep mind. To do so from this place that's not where discursive thinking goes on. Conversational thinking, storytelling thinking, and judging thinking happens more on the surface mind. I think of it happening up more in the head. The deep mind, the quiet mind, has an intimacy to it. It feels like it's coming from deep within. It can sometimes feel like a silent knowing rather than an active thinking. But there's a silent knowing operating that can be exploratory, questioning, and guiding us: stay here. What is this like? How do I meet this?

That deeper mind engaged in the process of meditation is a mind which is not activated or reactive. It's a mind that's peaceful and quiet. But it is purposeful. It's being focused here. And we have to listen carefully. We have to be very close to this place that's on the borderline between speaking to ourselves gently and a silent knowing about the present moment, about what's going on—a silent questioning or exploration.

So, those two things: the sense of purpose and the thinking from the deep mind. It's only about this practice itself, about this present moment that is there to explore and guide you in all the ways you are. How can that all be channeled, organized, and harmonized to help us be present, calm, and clear?

So, assume a meditation posture and gently close the eyes.

Taking some larger breaths, a comfortably long inhale and a comfortably long exhale.

And as you exhale, relax your body. Release the shoulders.

Letting your breathing return to normal. On the inhale, scanning through your body to see where you want to relax the body next. And on the exhale, soften the body.

Chances are that searching for some place in your body to relax, searching for where there's tension and holding, does involve some kind of deeper reflection, exploration, or consideration from that deep mind. Maybe it's nonverbal. It involves a sense of purpose to look and see. And to relax.

Then let go of that effort to relax and settle in with your breathing. First by getting to know your breathing better. How is your breathing now? Simply look for the answer to how you are breathing now. Maybe that uses the deep mind. The quiet mind that carries no stress. The mind that's underneath and deeper than your normal conversational thinking mind.

Then settling in to your breathing with the support of this deep way of knowing. The deep mind. The nonverbal mind. Or the verbal way of talking to yourself that comes from a deeper, quieter place. Use that now to be your own guide to meditating, being present, calming, and becoming clearer with the mind's eye.

A thinking mind that supports meditation and gives purpose to our efforts can be as simple as saying the word here. To increase a sense of purpose or dedication to being here, and to call on some deep place inside that's quiet and peaceful—the peaceful mind—to say the word here, inviting you to really be here with your attention.

With very simple thoughts, check in with your posture. You may be adjusted. Or maybe see how you can rest in it. Is there anything in your body that you can relax? It helps you to settle in to here.

And for a couple of minutes near the end, see it from your deep mind, from the quiet, peaceful way of thinking that has no pressure, no tension—maybe a non-verbal knowing. Have goodwill. Well-wishing for yourself. A simple, friendly attitude to this human being that's you. With the openness and the generosity of well-wishing. Maybe with simple thoughts of appreciation, wishing well. That's maybe specific to particular parts of your body, your heart and mind, as you sit here.

Then coming to the end of the meditation. Bringing up in that deep mind, that quiet place deep inside, the people you're likely to encounter today, or encounter the next time you leave your home. And see if you have goodwill for them. Wishing them well. Where would that well-wishing come from in yourself? What's the source in your heart, your deep mind? Maybe the place of non-verbal knowing.

Extend that goodwill towards those people. Maybe with a silent intention, opening. Maybe with a simple word. Like metta^[1]. Friend. Love. Extending your goodwill to the people you'll be encountering today. Known and unknown. Intending to meet them from the source inside that's capable of being friendly and kind.

May it be that this practice we do in this large community, may each of us in our own way contribute to the welfare and happiness of the people we encounter, spreading the goodwill and goodness.

May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free.

Thank you.

Dharmette: Right Speech (3 of 5) Disposed to Goodwill.

So, continuing with the five things to consider before you speak. To know how to speak or if you should speak. Is it true? Is it useful or beneficial what you're going to say? Today, it's: Is there goodwill in what you're going to say? Well-wishing. Tomorrow, it has to do with the impact of the words. What kind of impact will this have? And the last will be: Is it timely? Is it the right time to say it?

So, this audit: accurate, useful, disposition we have, impact, and timeliness. Today, it's goodwill. Is there a disposition of kindness? What's the disposition we have when we're speaking? Just checking in that way, what's the attitude we have? It can be revealing. It can support us to be careful in what we say.

If we're annoyed, grumpy, or feeling somehow imbalanced or out of shape, to know that and then be careful that we don't say the first things that come to our mind. Maybe hold back from speaking until we're really sure it's the right thing to say. We don't want to spread our annoyance, complaining, or ill will. We don't want to spread our conceit or arrogance into the world. So, you want to be able to check in with yourself: What's my disposition?

In the Buddhist teachings of this audit we're doing, the question is, Will I speak from goodwill? Is there goodwill? Is there metta^[1:1]? I like to use the word goodwill rather than loving-kindness because having love in the word loving-kindness maybe sets the bar pretty high. You can have goodwill for anybody and everyone, but many of them you won't love. Maybe you're not ready to love certain people. But if you have the occasion to meet them at a time when they're challenged—say they've just fallen and gotten injured—maybe you would step down to help and support them. You have goodwill for them to bring them some water or call a doctor.

To have goodwill for everyone that you encounter, knowing that you don't have to love everyone, is a basic friendliness, a willingness to see them with kind, supportive eyes. One of the motivations for this goodwill is to understand that it is also good for you. It's good for ourselves to have goodwill. Not to have goodwill is to close something down, to be stressing the heart and the mind. Ill will is stressful. Ill will is not good for us. It's a little bit of bad medicine that we take.

So be careful what we do for our own sake. Goodwill is kind of the standard. If there's no basic friendliness in what we're going to do, probably we're harming ourselves. And if we're comfortable with ourselves, we know how to touch into that deeper place inside—the deep mind, the deep heart—underneath the surface reactive mind that's caught up in the stories, desires, and confusions of life. That's what the meditation is to do: to get us in touch with this deeper place inside. And to know it, so that we can reflect, Am I speaking with goodwill? And if not, maybe consider not saying what you have to say.

I can't tell you whether you should or shouldn't in every circumstance, as there are all kinds of contexts for speech. But maybe be very careful. Consider not speaking if you don't have some basic goodwill. Maybe wait. Maybe it's a matter of waiting ten seconds, maybe a minute. One of the things I found is that sometimes there's a compulsion to speak. It feels like this has to be said, and the idea of not saying it violates some kind of strong energy of purpose or need. I find that it's usually not very helpful to speak from that place. So wait, pause, and see if something else comes up. Eventually you might have to say this thing that has to be said, but maybe it doesn't have to be said under the pressure of an inner compulsion. Check in: What's going on here?

And then to speak words which are gifts. Can your words be a gift for people? Can your words be good medicine for people? Can your words be expressions of kindness? Expressions of appreciating the person? Can your words be words that take the other person's situation into account, and not make their day more difficult? Maybe give them a better day. Be words that are supportive. These are all attitudes of basic goodwill.

Can you speak with goodwill? Goodwill is one of the most important social attitudes the Buddha taught. I think because it sits as a disposition at that interface between something deep within ourselves and our connection to others. We're meeting people from some fullness, some depth, something that's really intimate and important for us personally. Not from the reactive mind, the story-making mind that's judging and evaluating. Not the anxious mind, the conceited mind, the hateful mind, or the annoyed mind. But what is best for ourselves? What is most deep down underneath the reactive mind?

What is best for us to come from? What do we want to grow? What do we want to emphasize in ourselves for our own well-being, our own health, for walking the Dharma^[2] path? It turns out that meeting place has something to do with goodwill. Goodwill sits at a very significant interface of self and others: the deep mind, the deep heart, and what's really best for others.

Goodwill for others is also kind of a big circle because if you have genuine goodwill for others, you really have a sense of what's good for them. Not just giving them a third donut because you feel you want to be friendly—that might not be good for them. If you have the best wishes in mind for the person, not only is it good for you, but it's good for them. If your words then become a gift—a gift for yourself, a gift for others, a gift for this world—ask yourself, Am I speaking from some basic, simple form of goodwill?

Or some kind of being attuned to where it's healthiest for me to come from, what feels like the place of integrity, the place where I most want to be at home in myself. The place I would be if I was caring for a young baby or holding a relative's hand on their deathbed. What is the place you have that is the place of love, kindness, and goodwill? And can you imagine that in the other person? Can you imagine that they have a depth, that they're not only what they're presenting or the words they're saying? They too have a deep place inside that they would call upon at these crucial times in their life when they're going to care for someone else: a baby, a dying relative, a child that's gotten injured, or a neighbor that's quite sick. So, to speak words of goodwill.

To have this as a reference point: Am I speaking with goodwill? What's my disposition? See what comes back. See what you learn about yourself in that process, and that might change how you speak and what you say.

You might also turn that around and say to yourself, Are my thoughts and thinking thoughts of goodwill for myself? Or is the way I think about myself ill will in some way? Are they unhealthy, these thoughts that I'm having? If they are, question them. Question whether it's really necessary. Each person, including you, is invaluable and worthy of care, of love, of attention, to support the best in you to come out.

What I'm teaching in meditation this week—really learning how to use your thinking mind to help bring out the best of you in meditation—is something that you can do using your regular life as well. With that question, Am I thinking with goodwill? Am I speaking with goodwill? And if not, be careful, be considerate, and give a second thought to what you're about to say.

You might today make this a central theme quietly—no one has to know—exploring this notion of goodwill. Are you speaking from goodwill? Maybe it's too high a bar to try to then speak words of goodwill, but at least ask yourself that question and see what happens. May each of you touch into what's nourishing in you through this question about goodwill.

Thank you.