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Guided Meditation: Mindfulness with Generosity

Introduction

I wanted to just introduce Paṭācārā^[1], who is the Buddhist nun whose statue is behind me. Paṭācārā was one of the more important, maybe the most important, early female teachers in the time of the Buddha or soon thereafter. She's a very important teacher for the early nuns' order. This statue was specifically made and gifted to IMC and IRC. It'll be here for a short while; it's going to be installed at our retreat center, the Insight Retreat Center. Those of you, maybe you could see it well enough, but when I finish here at 7:45 or so, I could try zooming in the camera a little bit more, and maybe you could see it closer.

Mindfulness practice is sometimes presented as being very simple—as simple as being aware of what's happening in the present moment and noting just what's happening now, as it's happening. Nothing more complicated than that. It might not be more complicated what we do, but the impact of that simple, moment-to-moment awareness practice can be multifaceted and profound.

In the Buddhist tradition, it's understood that it puts you on a path of progressive spiritual growth and development, and there are a number of ways in which this development and growth is described. It's a beautiful thing to discover and be surprised by how we change by this simple moment-to-moment awareness. It's also possible to have some understanding of what that change is, and recognize it earlier, or even bring it along intentionally. So that the two—the moment-to-moment mindfulness practice and these other qualities—begin to actually happen faster, fuller, or richer for us in our lives.

Today, I want to mention that one of the important qualities of the path of practice as it opens up for people is the discovery, or the unfolding, the opening of generosity. When we sit mindful of the present moment—I'll talk a little bit about breathing today—it's possible to do so with an attitude of generosity. We say we give our attention, and attention is a beautiful gift to give anyone, including to ourselves. To think of attention as a gift: if we bring our attention to the breathing, we're not just bringing it, we're giving it. The spirit of open-handedness, of generosity, of giving, can be our inner attitude towards being with the breathing.

Giving and receiving go together, and it's also the gift of being receptive, receiving a gift. Breathing in the present moment can also be seen as a gift that we are the recipient of. The idea that there's a kind of circle of being generous and receiving a gift goes along with this practice. We become more generous. As we live with a spirit of generosity, simultaneously, there's an idea that, "Wow, what an amazing gift it is to be alive, to experience, and to feel." So, both to be generous in our attention to the breathing, and to see breathing as a gift itself that we receive. Moment to moment, one gift after another. One moment of generosity after another.

Guided Meditation

So, to begin, sit upright, either literally or metaphorically, and close your eyes. With the eyes closed, perhaps there can be a greater sensitivity to the body, a greater sensitivity to the sensations of the body, to how the body experiences itself.

As an act of generosity towards oneself, it's often good at the beginning of a sitting to make the adjustments it takes with the body to feel a little bit more settled, as if you're caring for your body generously.

Perhaps take a few deeper breaths, receiving the gift of air more fully. As you exhale, the gift of relaxation, softening all over the body. A global relaxation of the face, the shoulders, the chest, the belly. The softening of the arms and hands, legs and feet. Each time you exhale, relaxing, letting go.

And then letting your breathing return to normal.

Ever so slightly, not dramatically, and not with high expectations of what it looks like, can you have an attitude of generosity as you bring attention to your breathing? Generosity that is similar to the generosity of being a good listener to a friend who needs a listener. The generosity of attending at the bedside of someone who's sick, where your job is mostly just to pay attention, to be available. That openness, attentive care, caring attention.

It's more than just coming back to the breathing and attending to the breathing. Perhaps there can be a feeling of generosity towards your body breathing, to yourself. Generosity accentuated, knowing that the simplicity of attention opens the door to greater and greater spiritual growth. You're giving yourself a wonderful gift that allows the inner life to slowly, ever so slowly—maybe not today—mature, grow, and open. In that growth, more and more you'll feel that life is a gift. The gift of the moment breathing, one breath at a time.

When you've noticed you've drifted off in thought, begin again with awareness. Let it be more an opening than a contracting. More an opening of generosity, like opening the hand to give something. With an open hand, and less a contracting or a regret, or idea that something is wrong. There's something right—very right—noticing if you're thinking. And then, with that openness, generously beginning again with attention to breathing.

Reflections

As we come to the end of this sitting, to whatever degree there is generosity in our ability to be mindful, to attend to attention, to be aware of the world around us—may this generosity extend from us out into the people we'll meet today.

May it be that we appreciate that being generous to others is a direct support and connection to our ability to be mindful and aware in the present. There's a generosity of being present for others. To begin with that, to begin with the generosity of giving your time to really listen, see, and attend. To be with anyone you encounter, whether it's through an email, a phone call, or some other means. Or even if it's just in your thoughts, so that you can attend to those you think about with generosity.

May it be that this practice that we do brings greater generosity into this world that we live in. And may that generosity of ours support the welfare and happiness, ease and health, and freedom of all beings everywhere.

May all beings everywhere be liberated.