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Guided Meditation: Here

Good day. Hello. Perhaps this morning we are all both welcomed by each other, and we are the welcomers. And what a wonderful thing to be the welcomer and the welcomee together. Thank you for all being here and sharing this time with the Dharma, with the meditation.

One of the words that I will use for myself sometimes meditating, especially when my mind is busy—it's a little bit hard to get centered in the present moment—I'll tell myself in a gentle, open, undemanding way, I'll tell myself, "here," h-e-r-e.

I see it as a reminder that I'm here, and not where my thoughts are going, and not somewhere else. When I say "here," then in the wake of that simple word, that simple reminder, I open all my senses up to experience what it's like for this moment to be here. Sometimes it's hearing, sometimes it's sensing in my body, sometimes it's just knowing how active my thinking mind is.

Here in the present is a mind that's filled with thoughts, but I'm not involved in those thoughts. It's kind of like I step back and I recognize, "Oh, this is what's happening here and now." In the wake of that, that lasts for a second or two before the thoughts take over, and then I'll gently say it again: "Here. Here." It's not a command like you give to a dog. It's more like an invitation or a welcoming into here.

It's quite special, quite wonderful to be here. But we want to be careful not to evaluate "here" by the circumstances we're in. Maybe you're in a wonderful circumstance, maybe you're in a not-so-interesting place where you're meditating, but the wonderfulness of "here" is not the externals, not just the internal, but rather the way that awareness begins to grow and flower in the middle of here. The interaction, the mutuality of the place we're in, the experiences we're having here in our body and mind, and the awareness that meets it—that's the fully embodied "here."

That is what can grow and develop. It's like we're developing a capacity to be aware here. This capacity is what starts becoming very special and rich and wonderful and a marvel.

There are many capacities we're developing in Buddhism, but one of them is to feel safe here. Maybe where you're sitting and meditating is a safe place just for these moments that you're here, and maybe there's a lot of danger in your life, but here, maybe for these minutes, it's safe. As the capacity for awareness grows, we're also developing that capacity to feel the present moment safety. But it isn't just a safety that's around us, but also the safety that we bring with us. As awareness grows, the awareness itself develops a capacity for non-fear. The capacity for awareness grows and develops here.

It's this interaction between our inner capacity for feeling safe or having no fear that meets the environment, that makes it rich and valuable. At some point, we realize that we have the ability to bring that non-fear, to bring that safety that's always here with us, as we go into the world and go into the places where it's even dangerous. There's a different chemistry between the dangers in the world and ourselves because we develop this capacity, this ability to hold, to have space for this inner strength to meet what's going on.

So that's all to say that to say the word "here," simple, relaxed, as an invitation for you to open to what is here, is a wonderful little practice. It's so rich, even though it's so simple. The simpler you do it, the better.

As we sit today, we'll get started and do some of this basic, usual getting settled. Then at some point you might want to, on your own, just in a nice, rhythmic, relaxed way, tell yourself the word "here," a soft little whisper in the mind. In the wake of saying that, be present for what's here. Take it in more fully. Take in the breathing, the body, the feelings, the emotions—whatever it is that shows itself, that appears in the wake of "here."

Assuming a comfortable meditation posture, making sure that it's not only comfortable, but also that the posture will express alertness in some way, a certain physical vitality that supports being here, present. If it's comfortable, you can close your eyes and gently take some deeper breaths—maybe three-quarters full, but deep enough so you have to do it consciously. That consciously deeper breathing is a way of being more fully here, so that your mind is not so much drifting off in thought.

And then a longer exhale than usual. Not so you get winded or to strain, but maybe a little bit at the end of the exhale, exhale more. At the end of the exhale, pause ever so slightly, maybe saying the word "here," and feel your experience in that fraction of a moment of pausing.

Then take a deep breath in. Pause ever so slightly on the top of the inhale. "Here," in that pause.

Then let your breathing return to normal. Take just a few moments to scan through your body to relax any holding tension in your body: the face, the shoulders, the belly. Then again, attune yourself to the experience of the body breathing. At the end of the exhale, maybe have an ever so slight pause in which you say, gently, softly, the word "here."

In this cycle of breathing in, breathing out, perhaps an infinitesimal pause being here for your breathing. Is there any point in the cycle where you feel safe? Feel an assurance, or a lack of anxiety or fear, or the place in the cycle where there's the least fear, or the most sense of safety?

If there is such a place in the cycle, or if there is such a feeling in your body anywhere, gently, softly say "here" with it. "Here," and then feel it more fully. Increasing your capacity to be here, without fear.

[Silence]

Remembering "here." "Here" being like a drop of water landing in the middle of the pond. The ripple of awareness spreads through the pond of our life, silently, openly.

[Silence]

As we come to the end of the sitting, perhaps appreciate that as we develop our capacity to be here, we recognize that this is an inner capacity of awareness, of our whole psychophysical system being able to be present for present moment experience. That capacity is closely related to our capacity to be without fear, to feel safe. Safe enough to feel our fear, where that which is without fear knows if we are afraid. The capacity to be fearless, to be without fear, to feel safe, is a profound form of trust. Trusting that can be a gift that we provide others.

The more we know how to feel safe—a safety we carry with us everywhere—the more we can offer that safety to others. We can be reassuring to others, that they have nothing to fear from us. But more than that, maybe they'll recognize that they are able to relax their fear. They can be more at ease.

May it be that this practice of mindfulness that we do develops our capacity to share our absence of fear with others. That it shares our ability to be present in a way where no one needs to be afraid of us.

May this practice spread out into the world a greater reassurance for others that they too can begin to relax and be at ease. May the extension or the influence of our practice spread out into the world in known and unknown ways to bring greater happiness and well-being, greater safety and peace, and greater freedom of heart to all beings everywhere.

May all beings feel safe. May all beings be happy.

Dharmette: Faith (2 of 5) Trust and Safety

Good morning, and good day. I'll continue today with a second talk on faith in Buddhism, in Buddhist practice. Often that's the common translation of saddhā^[1].

One translation I like for that Pali word is "trust." The concept of trust is one that feels very deep inside of me, very rich and valuable. In some ways, I feel more connected to trust than I do through the word "faith." I love both words, but I feel like trust speaks a little bit more to me, to a capacity, an inner quality of heart that we're evoking in practice. The word "faith" still has a residual association for me in English that it has a little to do with a belief system that we have, and maybe is a little bit more intellectual than something that's more embodied and more connected to our emotional life.

To be able to live in trust—if we trust someone else or trust something, I associate that with living without fear. This thing that I trust, I don't have to be afraid of. A faith, a trust that is felt as a deep sense of safety, or an absence of fear at least, and a kind of assurance, a deep assurance.

Some of this is a capacity we can develop—the capacity to be without fear, the capacity to feel safe. That's an important thing to appreciate, because if we only know how to be safe by rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, it's not going to make us so safe. Some people feel like they have to just arrange everyone else, and arrange everything and every system, so everything's lined up so then they can feel safe. But the problem with that is it might work for a moment, but things are always shifting and changing, and then we have to do it more again.

The other thing that sometimes happens is the very effort to control other people, or get other people to behave a certain way so I can feel safe, creates a kind of alienation, a separation. That actually doesn't really work. We can't really become safe when we're forcing or requiring other people to be a certain way for our sake. Maybe that's not the best way to find safety in relationship.

One of the things we human beings are capable of is developing and growing the inner feeling of trust, the inner capacity for being without anxiety and fear. The inner capacity to be free in a way that we're not as affected by the things of the world. Maybe we're more porous, and things don't hit our identity, or what we're holding on to as my ego, "me, myself, and mine." Or maybe there's not the contraction of fear that world events hit inside of us, and so we're not impacted as much by those in some heart way. We develop a capacity of trust, a capacity of safety inside.

Some of that has to do with the Buddhist idea of cultivation. A very important part of Buddhism is to develop and cultivate all kinds of inner strengths. One of those strengths is faith. Another is a strength of engagement, of practice, of effort—being able to do and engage. Mindfulness itself can become a strength. Our ability for concentration, for stability, for steadiness can become stronger and stronger. Our capacity for wisdom, for discernment, for seeing clearly what's going on, can be developed. As these inner strengths grow, that reinforces faith. It reinforces trust. It reinforces our capacity to feel like we're capable of holding and being with what's there.

I love the word "capacity," developing our capacity, because it has two meanings in English for me. One is the ability to do something; when some people say they have great capacity, it means they have a great ability to do certain things. But another meaning of capacity is like the capacity of a container to hold water. A little teaspoon can hold a little bit of water. A cup can contain more water, a gallon jug contains more, a lake will contain much more water, and an ocean contains even more. So the capacity to hold something can grow and develop. Our capacity for our awareness, our mind, our heart to be aware of things without contracting, without reacting, without getting afraid, but to be able to hold it with some freedom or some equanimity—that can grow as these inner qualities develop and get stronger.

The advantage of that is that we bring our safety with us. Certainly, there are dangers in the world, but we've developed something powerful inside. We're less affected by it. We're less fragile to what goes on around us.

Some of that is faith developing. Faith has a power; that trust is a power. We have this deep reassurance that our life is supported in a way that is significant, helpful, valuable. That reassurance, that trust, means that we're not so caught up and concerned with the details of what happens.

Recently, I lost something that was kind of important: my hearing aids. I thought I lost my hearing aids, and I think years ago, when I would have lost something like this, I would have gotten quite anxious and afraid. But now, I lost them, I looked for them, and I had this simple reassurance and trust that I can figure out what to do from there. I can find my way. I thought, "You know, if I have to, I'll get new ones." I did find them eventually, but it's a simple, maybe silly example of developing a capacity to be able to deal with some difficulty that in the past wouldn't have been so easy. Now I have this equanimity and peace around it.

This faith, the quality of this trust, is one of the really valuable things in Buddhism—to trust the practice. The practice of mindfulness, the practice of meditation, the practice of kindness and compassion—these practices are powerful and valuable. To have enough experience of practicing with them to feel confident that they work. They support us in many ways, but one of the ways is that we know we've had enough experiences with them that we're confident: even if I don't know what needs to happen here, even if I don't know how to find my way, I have these practices that can keep me safe, keep me without fear, keep me at ease. They can support the situation to unfold in a healthy and good way, so that somehow the situation will find its way forward and out of the challenge that exists. So we have this deep trust in the practice.

Maybe eventually the trust in the practice is greater than a trust in anything else. Certainly greater than the trust that it says on the US dollar bills, "In God We Trust." You know, how many of you trust money more than anything else? But to trust yourself more than anything, to trust the practice—I mean, not yourself so much, but the practice. In fact, at some point there's a shift where the practice helps us not to be so caught in "me, myself, and mine." We're no longer at the center of the play of our life, the drama of our life, because now the practice is at the center. That's such a liberating thing to have happen.

Related to the practice is trusting the Dharma. Not the Dharma as teaching so much, but that there's something transpersonal operating here. Something that's not about "me, myself, and mine." Maybe it's within us, but there's an inner wisdom, an inner process, an unfolding, a movement towards freedom that operates naturally. It operates independently of the ego, independently of my self-preoccupation and self-concern in a certain way. Some people might call it transpersonal, even though it's maybe within this psychophysical body. To begin having faith or trust in something which is within us, but is not what we identify with as ourselves—this is a great freedom. To know that and develop it gives a lot of assurance. So, faith as trust.

Trust is a power that we carry with us, and it's the power of being without fear. Certainly, we want it to be together with wisdom, the power of wisdom, so we don't do foolish things in the absence of fear. But to feel safe, to have this deep, abiding feeling of safety that we carry with us that's not easily threatened by what happens around us, allows us to then offer the gift of safety, the gift of fearlessness to others. That they have nothing to fear from us. Perhaps we can be a reassuring presence in this world.

Finally, I'll say that the word for assurance, for reassurance in the ancient Pali language, the literal meaning of it is to breathe easily^[2]. So may we all find the ability to trust in such a way, to have faith in such a way, that we can breathe easily going through our lives. Thank you.