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Introduction

Greetings, and welcome to our meditation and short talk that I'll give as an introduction to meditation and the topic for today.

I think it's well known that people often have selective attention. We pay attention mostly to the things that either we're very interested in, or the things we're very worried about or aversive to. When there are a lot of afflictive or difficult states of mind present, they can really affect how we see the world. If there is a lot of fear, we can be picking up what is threatening, or imagine what is threatening. If there's a lot of hostility, hatred, or aversion, it's easy to pick up the things that are wrong and tune into that. And if there's a lot of greed, lust, passion, or desire, we can orient ourselves very much to the objects of what we want, and so that attention becomes selective.

If we become inwardly calm, then we gaze upon the world in a calm way, and we are more likely to notice that the world is calmer than if we see it through other feelings. If we're inwardly peaceful, we perceive the world through peaceful eyes. It isn't so much that we selectively pick up peace, but remarkably, we discover there's much more peace in the world than we realized. This is not to deny the conflicts and challenges that exist, but it gives them a very different context.

If you gaze upon the world with inner freedom, we see there's actually much more freedom in the world. If we look at the world and feel an inner peace or inner beauty, then we look with a gaze that's beautiful. We see the world in more beautiful ways. How we experience the world is influenced by how we experience things internally.

For the theme of this week, refuge, if we find our refuge within, then we'll look at the world through the eyes of refuge. We'll see there's much more refuge in the world than we realized, much more goodness.

To sit in a meditation posture regularly so that it becomes familiar allows this posture of meditation to become a refuge. It becomes a place of support, a kind of homecoming, because it is so familiar and associated with intimacy, closeness, connectedness, and a calm peacefulness itself^[1] that is appreciated and helpful.

Guided Meditation: With A Peaceful Gaze

So, taking the meditation posture and perhaps adjusting the posture so that it is more of a refuge—a refuge for attention and for awareness.

Bring a little attention to the spine. From the base of your spine to the bottom of your skull, slowly follow your vertebrae up. Make small adjustments so that you can feel the vertebrae are a little bit more balanced on each other. Ensure the weight of the body is not forward or behind the spine, but somehow balanced.

As you come up between the shoulder blades, ever so gently pull the spine in a little bit there so the chest opens up a little bit. Maybe the shoulders come back a little bit. Perhaps there is a little feeling of alertness between the shoulder blades.

Move up all the way through the neck, and then perhaps free up some space between the last vertebra and the skull by tipping the head—not forward, but so the crown of the head goes up towards the ceiling a little bit, and the chin comes down. Maybe even look back slightly.

Then, as you exhale, yield to gravity. Notice the ways in which we hold ourselves tense, and if you can, relax as you exhale. I think of this upright spine kind of like a pole that stands strong and straight so that everything else can hang from it. Shoulders can hang. The belly can hang. Even the chest can release and be held up, hanging, relaxing, letting go as you exhale.

With some degree of kindness and kind regard, turn your attention to your mind. Notice what's happening in your mind without being alarmed or concerned, without needing to justify anything. Just notice the mind: what you're thinking, how you're thinking. Maybe you notice tension or agitation.

Sometimes people who don't notice their mind much will discover that it's weary. There's a weariness, sometimes, of incessant thinking and concern. Perhaps you can relax the tension of the mind, the pressures in the head, or any tightness that might be in the forehead, eyes, jaws, or in the brain area itself.

If you think in words, see if you can think quieter, with a quieter voice. If you think in images, perhaps you can slow the images down. One of the advantages of slowing the thinking down and making it quieter is that we might notice there is an awareness—a mindfulness of thinking—that's larger or more prominent than the thinking itself. A kind of silent awareness that knows and perceives.

Then, let go into your breathing. Wherever it is in your body you feel most comfortable experiencing breathing, see if you can let go into that part of your body. Allow that silent perception and mindfulness to receive, to hold, and to be with the experience of breathing.

In whatever way you might feel calm, gaze upon your breathing and your experiences of the moment in a calm way. Notice where there is calm in your body and your mind. Even if there is agitation, see if you can gaze upon it all calmly.

You might see if there's some degree, somewhere within, of some hint of peacefulness in the body or the mind. Something that feels like a peaceful place within. Is it possible to then gaze upon all things with an awareness, a mindfulness, which has some quality of peacefulness in it? Feeling peaceful in being aware.

With whatever degree of peaceful gazing you have, as you gaze peacefully, might there be more peace within than you had noticed? Perhaps there are parts of your body that are relatively peaceful in a way that feels good. Gazing upon breathing peacefully, is there anything about the breathing that is a little bit more peaceful than you realized? A little bit more useful?

Is there anything within that feels as if it's free? Free of clinging or resistance, free of needing or pushing away. Some place of freedom, even if it's a small corner somewhere in your body or your mind—calm, peaceful, free. If so, guided by that feeling of freedom, can you gaze upon all things so that the gazing, the seeing, and the perceiving also have some quality of freedom?

Then, is there any place in your personal experience—anything at all in your body and mind—that might seem beautiful, that might have a goodness and even seem precious or valuable^[2]? Sit with and breathe with what's beautiful within, even if it's just a hint or intuition.

With that sense of beauty, can you gaze upon all things in a beautiful way? Also, with some feeling of goodness, or as a way of gazing that seems valuable. A beautiful gaze upon all things.

As we come to the end of this sitting, to whatever degree you can have your perception—especially your eyes as they gaze—see if you can keep the gaze calm and peaceful. Maybe a sense of freedom in the looking. Perhaps looking in a way that has some quality of inner beauty or goodness.

When I ring the bell to end this sitting, when you're ready, open your eyes and look around the place where you are meditating. With those eyes, with that gaze, look upon your environment with a calm gaze, a peaceful gaze, or a free gaze. Just in a relaxed way^[3], look around. Gaze around, and see what it's like to gaze with a peaceful gaze.