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Guided Meditation: Meditating with Aspiration

So, a warm hello. Welcome to this meditation.

I think it's fairly well known that Buddhism doesn't think very highly of the kind of desires that have to do with craving, or clinging, and grasping. What's less known is that Buddhism has a lot to do with desires that can be characterized as aspiration—inspiration even, but I like the word aspiration.

And the distinction between those is that the ones that Buddhism thinks poorly of—ones that bring suffering—are the ones that, one way or the other, close us down, contract us, tighten us, limit us, or oppress us even. And aspiration are the desires that open us up.

The word aspiration is derived from the word in Latin that's connected to breathing. Just like respiration is to breathe, it's our breathing system. So the idea of aspiration comes from the opening breath, the expanding breath, the breathing that helps us become whole or full. I think of aspiration as a movement towards wholeness.

Aspiration, for me, is very much about... A desire has more to do, I think, with the focus of desire, the object of desire. Aspiration has a lot more to do with the source of inspiration inside: the source of openness, inspiration, creativity, possibility—the something deep inside that wants to emerge and come to fruition.

And so, in Buddhism, we aspire to becoming free; we aspire to becoming whole. The path to that is to be whole, and to allow the aspiration of being present to really help us to fill up into the present moment. Added to that is the aspiration for what is beneficial, what is good, what is happiness and delight.

That comes together—this ability to focus on this wholeness of happiness, wholeness of goodness. If we can connect to the deep inside and let it emerge, maybe with each breath, each breath carries the aspiration to fullness, the aspiration to connect to that which is good in us.

Of course, there are challenges we have. Of course, there are all kinds of other things happening within us. And not to in any kind of way push them away, or somehow dismiss them offhand, but to have this aspiration. There's a growth to presence, to mindfulness that becomes full, where there's lots of space for all of who we are, and we don't get fixated on the parts that are difficult. They are held within this wider whole of what is beneficial and what is good.

So, take a meditation posture. Ideally, you take a posture that has room for becoming whole^[1], where, in a way, all of ourselves is included.

One of the reasons to sit cross-legged, if you can, is that I think it's easier to have a feeling of the whole body coming together than when we're sitting in a chair. Or at least, when I sit in a chair, I often feel like the lower half of my body is not really as connected to the upper part. But cross-legged, it all comes here.

But even if you're lying down, maybe there's some way of laying where the body is symmetrical, or the body is laying on its back so that the chest is a little bit open and exposed^[2].

And then gently close your eyes.

If what I'm about to say makes sense for you, great. If not, don't worry about it. See if you can bring yourself to the source, the beginning of breathing. Where does your breathing begin? Where in your body is the first indication, the first little hint, that the inhale has begun? Is it a little movement in the belly? A little movement in the chest? A little tug or tingling in the nostrils?

And from that beginning point of inhale, the inhale grows. If you're breathing quickly, it might grow very fast. If your breathing slows down, you might have a sense of leisure, space, and time to really feel the growth, the expansion, and the fullness of the inhale.

And after, when you get to the top of the inhale, maybe you can feel the letting go, the releasing, the settling of the chest and the belly as you exhale all the way to the end of the exhale. To the last sensation that represents and expresses the exhale. Maybe it brings you back to that place where the inhale begins—the exhale ends and the inhale begins.

And as you inhale and feel your lungs fill with oxygen, maybe you can feel a little sense of growing fullness of awareness. Maybe a fullness in your whole body, or your torso, your rib cage. And as you exhale, letting go of your thoughts and concerns. In a way, the more you can let go of your thoughts and make space in your mind, that space can receive more fully your fullness of being.

And then as you breathe in, see if you can have an almost silent aspiration for well-being. An aspiration that recognizes your potential for a sense of well-being, maybe because once upon a time you felt that way. And I use the word well-being to encompass many possibilities of happiness and joy and satisfaction, peace—whatever you're inspired by. Have an opening aspiration for your own well-being.

And as you inhale, let the expansion and the fullness of the inhale carry and spread that wish for well-being out into the body, where maybe you can feel in the wholeness of yourself some hints, some traces of well-being. Letting your mind be quiet as you exhale.

Breathing fullness, aspiration for wellness connects you more and more to the present moment. To the here and now of your experience, here in your body. This is the place in the present where your wholeness, your well-being, can arise on the wings of your aspiration, the wings of your breathing.

Breathing in... inhaling in such a way that it opens you up from the inside to the present moment. That it opens you up from the inside to your body's experience of the present moment. Inhaling with an aspiration for well-being as a potential possibility, here, now, in this body. The opening aspiration.

Aspiration is itself a form of well-being. Aspiration has a goodness in it. And so when we breathe in, when we inhale and let the chest expand, the belly open up, becoming whole and full with oxygen, let that also carry the goodness of your aspiration for well-being, for wellness, for happiness. And let that goodness of aspiration be carried by your inhale throughout your body, the body that expands as you breathe in.

And then as we come to the end of this sitting, maybe as you inhale and feel that chest expand, the lungs fill, imagine that your aspiration—an aspiration for the welfare of the world—rises and spreads out from your inhale to cover the whole world. As you breathe in, the expansion of the body spreads your aspiration for goodwill to the whole world. And as you breathe out, you might say, "May it be so."

An aspiration for the welfare of all beings is itself a wholesome, good, and beneficial state to have for oneself. There's goodness in it. And as you breathe and spread your aspiration for the welfare of all beings, maybe you can feel, physically or maybe in the heart, the goodness of that, the wellness of that. The kind of aspiration that's opening, expansive, from a place of inspiration.

And may it be that our collective well-wishing for the world, for others, spreads from our meditation community out into our neighborhoods, our towns, our lands, to the people we somehow or other encounter, or learn about, or communicate with today. May the goodness of our aspiration spread across the lands by how we speak, and how we act, and how we think of others.

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