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Guided Meditation: Breathing Room

So, good morning everyone, and welcome. Good day. I trust that you can hear me. Here I am, the last day here at IRC [Insight Retreat Center]. I haven't seen much of it except for the altar and me sitting here, but I do feel very content and happy to introduce you to IRC. For those who've never been here, it's kind of like having you here in a sense.

One of the wonderful expressions that I like is the two words together: "breathing room." Since I spend a lot of my time connected to my breathing meditation throughout the day as I go about things, it's second nature for me to stay connected to breathing. The idea of "breathing room"—having room to breathe—is such a sense of relief that people can have, a space to have a lot more personal space when we feel claustrophobic. It feels really nice to be in a large, vast natural setting where it seems that the vastness of the setting can hold all the way we are without any judgment.

I've been in some vast natural settings where I felt simultaneously very small—like a small little piece of this universe—and at the same time acutely aware of being alive, and the sensations, the body being conscious, being aware. There was lots of space to be as I am.

Meditation is a place to create space, create room, and create time—lots of time. Maybe one definition of meditation is to give ourselves infinite time, as if we have all the time in the world, as if there is no time. We give ourselves all the space in the world, as if there's no limitation to the vast space in which we belong, which holds us, or allows all of us to be.

One of the ways that Buddhism has used these ideas is to liken awareness to space or to the sky. When birds fly through the sky, they don't leave any traces. They don't disturb the sky. The sky has infinite room for the birds to fly through. If a rock gets thrown through the air, the air doesn't mind; there's lots of space for it. Awareness is that way. Awareness is like space. There's something about knowing, sensing, feeling, and being aware that can be vast and open, with lots of breathing room.

So perhaps for this morning's sitting, as we connect here and now to our present moment experience, there can also be a sense of vast space. Lots of breathing room for whatever is here, in a sense, not disturbed by anything, not bothered by anything, not needing anything, not wanting anything to be different, except to hold whatever is—including desires and wants—in vast space.

To begin, assume a posture that maybe takes up more space than usual. Another way of saying it is being a little more erect and open in the chest, with a head and neck that are a little bit alert and upright. Gently close the eyes.

Slowly, gently expand the torso as you breathe in deep inhales, making space, becoming larger as the lungs fill with air, the diaphragm pushes down, and the stomach expands out. Release and relax as you exhale. Let the breathing return to normal.

As you inhale, maybe you can imagine that your awareness also expands. With the inhale, awareness expands out to stretch and to meet wherever in your body there is tension. Expand outward to touch and caress tension and tightness, as if it's no problem, but just being touched with the inhale and with awareness. On the exhale, relax the tension, softening in the body.

Breathing normally, imagine that you have lots of breathing room in which to breathe. Maybe there's a lot of space around your body. Imagine that at a two, three, four, or five feet distance from your body is a broad, soft, welcoming space into which you breathe in and breathe out.

Inhaling and exhaling. Settling in and relaxing deeply into the body.

Inhaling from the depths of your body outwards, with the expansion of the torso and the chest on the inhale—an expansiveness that spreads beyond the body even.

Sometimes the more the thinking mind relaxes and quiets, the more quiet, silent space there can be for the breathing room for all things that are occurring in the present moment. Each thing allowed to be its own thing as it comes and goes.

Wherever you're sitting now, imagine the space around you. Between you and the walls and the ceiling, or if you're outside, the vast space beyond you. However far away you can imagine the space, in a certain kind of way, that's how large the bubble of awareness is.

Some movements of the mind contract awareness, set limits on it, and box it in. Other movements of the mind open it and expand it with no limits. The Buddha said that greed boxes and limits the mind; it creates a boundary to the mind and awareness. Generosity expands it. Animosity boxes the mind in. Love expands it without limit. Delusion narrows the mind. Wisdom makes awareness expansive.

As we come to the end of the sitting, I'd like to mention that the love and compassion that can flow out of Buddhist practice is a love and compassion that has lots of room—lots of breathing room. So much room that at some point it can hold all the suffering of the world without being oppressed by it or troubled by it. It's an amazing phenomenon that the heart has the ability to be present for suffering without being troubled.

It can be the opposite. If we practice and are mindful and aware, it's almost as if we're making more room—all the room that's needed. By not being troubled, there's more opportunity and more space in our hearts to care. To aspire, to move into action, to care for others, and to care for oneself. To wish others well, to love others.

May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings everywhere be free. May those who can use companionship know that we accompany them with our care, our good wishes, and our love.

May all beings be happy. Thank you.

Dharmette: Seven Factors of Compassion (5 of 5) Equanimity

Welcome to this final talk about the Seven Factors of Compassion^[1]. We were talking about compassion two weeks ago, and now this week, one of the things I want to convey is that there are many characteristics of compassion, or many supportive conditions that come together in order to have a healthy form of compassion. Many people might not realize that if they have a capacity to feel compassion, they might just assume that whatever way they happen to feel compassion is the way to experience it.

It might be that having just one way might be good sometimes, but it might not be universally useful. For example, if the suffering of the world touches on wounds or insecurities we have, or if being present for the suffering of the world frightens us, distresses us, or depresses us—all those things can happen. If that is mixed up or entangled with the compassion, then the compassion is being influenced by it, and it might not be the most healthy way to be in the world.

Learning to bring these other qualities to bear on compassion, to have them included, protects us from the suffering of the world harming us and causing us to be exhausted, fatigued, troubled, and depressed. It keeps us fluid, keeps us open, and keeps us transparent, in a certain way, to the suffering of the world. The suffering of the world doesn't land on the places where we're holding onto a sense of self, protecting a sense of self, asserting a sense of self, or the ways that we want to see or know ourselves. It doesn't get interfered with by our desires and our animosities.

So we begin appreciating these different characteristics and qualities that can come along with compassion. For example, awareness can come along. Mindfulness can come along. There is a sense of investigation, of really seeing the distinction between being present for suffering in ways that limit ourselves and cause us suffering, and ways of being present where there's more opening and freeing. We can really feel that and see what's happening inside as we meet suffering, to be able to make an effort to choose the fork in the path of less suffering, less strain, and less tension—the path of creating more space, more peace, and more openness around the capacity to meet suffering.

We can appreciate that compassion can come with a sweetness. In fact, if there isn't something that feels sweet or feels a rightness in it, then probably the compassion is mixed up with things which are unnecessary. Then we go back to the awareness practice to really see what's going on here, making a distinction, seeing clearly the two paths—what leads us to feel stressed and what leads us away from that—and then choosing and acting on the one that's more beneficial.

Compassion can also have a tranquility to it. If we're compassionate and we feel agitated or restless, it's very easy for that to happen, but knowing that, then the compassion is not going to be so clean or so spacious. We are more vulnerable to some of the undermining ways that we can be impacted by suffering if we're agitated.

Then there is the samadhi^[2] factor, a sense of being really at home, stable, unified, and centered in this bubble of compassion, care, and love. It's like our home; we feel like we're at home with it, as opposed to something that we "should" do, or feel we have to gear up or tense up to try to have, or are constantly being distracted from.

And finally, today, the equanimity factor of compassion. Sometimes it's hard for people to appreciate that compassion and equanimity can come together. There can be a very strong feeling or idea that we're supposed to be distressed, we're supposed to be upset, and we're supposed to feel the suffering of the world in a way that we suffer as well. If we don't feel it that way and suffer, then we're not really connected to it. But in fact, we don't have to feel the same suffering of the world. Sensing the suffering of others is a loving recognition. It's sensing without suffering. If we suffer with them, I don't know if there's any hope then. It is feeling them and knowing them fully. There's a kind of accompanying, a recognition, a capacity for caring, accompanying, and respecting others, but without us suffering as well.

Equanimity is part of that heart of compassion: the capacity to be untroubled, unagitated, or non-reactive in the encounter with suffering. For some people hearing that, it can seem like the compassion is aloof or indifferent. But in fact, it's the opposite. The capacity and ability to have compassion—having lots of breathing room for suffering, lots of space for it, without clamping down, without creating limits, contractions, and tightness in awareness—actually allows us to be more fully present, to be more sensitive, to be more sensing, intuitive, and attuned to other people.

One of the meanings of equanimity is a very satisfying, peaceful non-reactivity of the mind. I say satisfying and peaceful because non-reactivity by itself can be a kind of indifference, dissociation, or something like not caring, closing down, or neutrality. But this is not a neutral state. It's very satisfying, it's peaceful, it's available to be present for things, and it's not reactive. It's a delightful medicine, a relief, and a joy for the mind to feel like it is not being hijacked by reactivity.

It's a bit like when we're no longer having a reactive mind, we can finally say, "Oh, now I'm home. Now I can be more fully myself." This is a healthy state. With a very reactive, agitated mind, if you don't know anything else, it might feel like that's who we are. But with deep equanimity, we go, "Oh, now I am who I am." It's that satisfying.^[3]

These Seven Factors of Compassion are reference points for understanding the full potential, the full beauty, and the full strength of compassion. To have these as a list to refer back to when you're encountering suffering and feeling compassion and care for it is helpful. Bring along mindfulness in the middle of it. Don't forget to be mindful, or recognize that mindfulness is coming along with it. Recognize how being careful about where the suffering is and where the freedom from suffering is, is the movement of compassion. Effort, joy, tranquility, samadhi, and equanimity are part of the reason why it's such a beautiful reference point.

Maybe sometimes practice is to bring this along with compassion. When compassion is strongest, most healthy, and clean in itself, these Seven Factors of Compassion come along with it effortlessly. We don't have to practice them; they're just there. If they're not there, then we know where to work. We know what to explore and practice with, so we can evoke or release this natural capacity of compassion to have these seven beautiful qualities.

It's a life's work to explore this. It's not something that we can expect to do overnight or do well all the time. Rather, compassion is a wonderful mirror for ourselves to see ourselves better, to see where we get hung up, and to see where we limit the mind or limit awareness to a more contracted state. It's a lifetime exploration. The idea of spending a lifetime on the journey of discovering, practicing, enacting, and living by compassion is a great journey. It's a great adventure. It's a valuable treasure. It's a gift we give to ourselves and a gift we give to others.

May these talks this week give you a heightened appreciation, maybe even love, for compassion. And may that give a heightened appreciation and love for the people, maybe all people, that you meet. Thank you very, very much.

Announcements

I have three announcements about the upcoming 7:00 A.M. YouTube program here, a program at IMC tomorrow, and a community meeting we have online at IMC on Sunday.

First, I'll be away for the next couple of weeks, and then I'll be away for a couple of weeks in May. Then, I'm going on a self-retreat in June; I'm going to do a month-long retreat in a cabin somewhere. So through a good part of the next ten weeks or so, I'll be away. We have wonderful guest teachers coming. I think they're all people who have taught here before on YouTube. It'd be nice if you would remember to support them a little bit as they teach; that enriches our whole community in many ways.

The second thing is that tomorrow, for those who live close enough to IMC, the Earth Care Committee is having an event. Redwood City has a creek running through it that goes down to the bay, and there's going to be a creek cleaning morning from 8:30 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. The city is organizing it, but the Earth Care Committee is going as a group to participate. If you're close enough and would like to do that, you can look at the IMC website under "What's New," where there's a description and a sign-up link. The IMC members who are organizing it are Ram Apalaraju and Hilary Borison. They're wonderful people, and it should be a nice time.

Then, Sunday at 11:00 A.M. here in California, we have an online community meeting for anybody who is part of the IMC community, feels part of it, would like to be a part of it, or simply wants to learn a little bit about what's happening at IMC. It's a kind of "State of the Union" for IMC, covering what's happening as we come out of the pandemic, how the issues around COVID are shifting, and some ideas for as we go forward from here. I'll be hosting it. The Zoom link is available on the "What's New" section on the home page of IMC's website, and also on the IMC calendar for Sunday at 11:00 A.M. California time. I hope you come; I'd love to see you there or have you participate so we can share what's happening.

With that, thank you all very much.