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Introduction

Good morning, everyone. Good day. Greetings. I'm very happy to be here with you. I think today is the beginning of this third month of doing these early morning sittings here in Redwood City. It's become a great source of delight and appreciation that we can have this time together.

A few months ago, I never would have imagined that sitting alone this way at IMC^[1] with a computer and technology, talking in a sense to an empty room but talking to a community of practitioners from around the world this way—I never would have guessed that this would have been meaningful and inspiring to me. It is something I appreciate very much. I appreciate both the chance to sit, to share the Dharma^[2], and to have this reflection at the beginning of the day on Dharma topics. So, my appreciation for our time together.

I want to start before the meditation with a little teaching using an analogy. We have this bell striker here at IMC. Let's see before I go any further, I wanted to see what you see while I'm holding this up.

So, this bell striker, I could be very attached to it. I can hold it on tight like this. At some point, I could feel the limitations of clinging to it, grasping at it, craving it. This is like one of the best things going at IMC, and this is something I really want. I could feel the limitations, the way maybe my hand starts going numb from the tight way I'm holding it.

And then I hear some Buddhist teachings that say, "You should really let go. Really let go." And so, I do let go, and I let go like that. I apologize if that was very loud coming through the mic here. But just let go of it, and it falls, and maybe it causes damage in the world that way. Damage to ears, damage to all kinds of things to have this loud cracking thing happen.

But letting go doesn't have to be dropping something. Letting go can be letting go of the clinging, the grasping, the pain that comes from holding on tight or resisting. Here's a different way to let go: you're grasping, and then you simply open your hand. There is a letting go of the grip, but we're still holding what's there in a kind, respectful, and careful way.

The limitations of grasping are no longer there. Now the thing is not covered over, so it can be seen better. In this way also, I'm not entangled or caught in the striker, and I could do the respectful thing with it. I can care for it properly. Or if it's something that's no longer needed, or maybe not even helpful at all, instead of dropping it and making a mess in the world, I could put it down respectfully. Put it down someplace where it doesn't cause any damage, where it's not needed, or where no one else picks it up to cause problems for themselves.

As we sit this morning, you might want to keep this in mind—this image of the difference between dropping versus just holding. Letting things be rather than letting go, and just holding them in your awareness. What is it like? That's the question to explore in your meditation today. What's it like to hold whatever goes on that's troubling you, bothering you, anything that's challenging, and anything that's really good also—to hold it in an open hand, an open mind, an open heart? Allow it to be, but your contribution is that openness, letting it rest in the softness of your awareness, the soft palm of your awareness.

Guided Meditation: Letting Things Be

If you would like to now take your meditation posture. And close your eyes.

If you started right away with allowing yourself to be the way you are, whatever way you are, before you relax any further or settle in. But to hold yourself in this wide embrace, this wide palm of awareness, where you allow yourself for these few minutes to be just the way you are. That for these minutes you have permission to be how you are, even if it's uncomfortable or unpleasant or undesirable to be whatever way you are.

Begin by assuming that for these moments it's okay for it to be present and held in the field of awareness. Maybe with a sense of a broad field, a broad palm, a large heart that can hold it all, allowing it to be.

And then within this large palm, without any sense that things are a problem, you might lovingly, caringly take some little bit deeper breaths, not too deep. And as you exhale, soften and relax places of holding in the body. Not ambitiously, not greedily, not with aversion. Just almost as if as you exhale, you're so closely attentive, allowing something to be, that whatever it is that's there almost wants to relax itself. Of course, it doesn't want to do the work of holding on, holding tight.

The muscles of the face. The muscles of your shoulders. The muscles of your belly. And any broad way that you brace yourself against life. As you exhale, let it be. And let it soften and relax as if that's what it wants.

And then letting your breathing return to normal.

And once again, allow yourself to be how you are. No matter what that might be. Experiment with holding it, holding how you are, in the palm of awareness. As if how you are has permission to be there. At the same time it's being held or cared for, with the simplest form of awareness that just allows it and lets it be.

Perhaps resting in the palm of awareness, whatever is allowed to be can begin to relax and rest on its own. And for you, just let it be.

If your mind is active and busy, let it be. But be aware of it. An awareness which is not participating in the activity, but holds it kindly, gently, recognizes it's happening.

If there are emotions that are strong, a broad, open recognition of those emotions, letting them be. We're letting be. The act of letting it be comes from a place where awareness is not caught or reactive.

And then within your body, as part of your bodily experience, become aware of your body breathing. And allow whatever way your body is breathing, let it be as it is. Let that be held in the palm of awareness, in the field of recognition. In an atmosphere of allowance, allowing it to be. Nothing is a problem for the awareness itself. Just something else to let be. Nothing to let go of. Just something to know, be aware of, as you let it be.

There's something about letting things be that allows those things to unfold, to evolve. So, sitting quietly now with your breathing. And whatever arises that makes it difficult to be with your breathing, let that be. But hold it in awareness. The soft palm of awareness in which all things can rest.

Reflections

As we come to the end of this sitting, perhaps you can remember or recognize that there are times where the most generous thing that someone can do for you is to allow you to be as you are. Where there is space for you to be, where you don't have to prove yourself or apologize for yourself or change yourself, or accommodate yourself to someone else. That there's room and allowance to be how you are. And that someone else is with you allowing that to happen. It can be a profound gift.

The gift of being present for someone or for oneself, and allowing ourselves to be as we are. That is so full and thorough, that letting be. That we're not participating or actively picking anything up. We're just letting it be. Letting it be so it can unfold the way it should.

So as we come to the end of the sitting, perhaps this can be the generosity that we bring, the care we bring into the world today. Maybe there are some opportunities you have to be with someone and make room for them to be as they are. Allow them to be as they are. And that could be in the actions you do, in the words you speak. It could also be in the thoughts you have, the ways that you consider people today.

May it be that our ability to be attentive, to be mindful, makes room for all beings to be themselves. Makes room for all beings to discover who they are, and to let whatever goodness that's in them to on its own emerge. Let all beings feel cared for in being allowed to be how they are, who they are. As we might also care for them in different ways. We might also feed them, protect them, care for their health.

May the day be a day of generosity.