Guided Meditation: Seven Limbs of Awakening; Dharmette: Dhammas (4 of 5) Seven Factors of Awakening

This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Guided Meditation: Seven Limbs of Awakening; Dhammas (4 of 5) Seven Factors of Awakening. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers.

The following talk was given by Gil Fronsdal at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on September 30, 2021. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Guided Meditation: Seven Limbs of Awakening

So, good day everyone. Hello, and I'm happy to be here. I might be a little bit not quite myself today; I had the COVID booster shot yesterday and have been going through chills and feeling very tired. At the moment I feel great, and so maybe it'll stay that way, but if I begin to sag, then that is probably why.

The topic for today is what some people have called the crown jewels of Buddhism. It is a list usually called the Seven Factors of Awakening. The word for "factors" can also mean "limb," and occasionally you see "Seven Limbs of Awakening." I like the expression "limbs." "Factor" just seems like a list, but a "limb" seems like a part of a whole; it's like a body. It a little bit more associates it, to me, to our own body and our lived experience. The Seven Factors of Awakening are not abstractions, but they are lived experiences.

Maybe you can understand them to be what happens when you get in the groove of meditation, the groove of mindfulness, of the practice. Maybe you're just learning to ride a bike, and it's awkward and difficult. But at some point, you can jump on your bike, and maybe you're going for a long distance, and you get in the groove. It just feels like you're moving along in a really wonderful way. Or many other things we do—once we master them, we get in the groove. It's just a delight to be absorbed in doing the activity.

So, these Seven Limbs of Awakening are things that begin to arise when the hindrances abate, the distractions abate, the attachments abate, and we get into the groove of mindfulness. What I'd like to do for this sitting is a little bit of a guided tour, or guided meditation, on the Seven Factors of Awakening. Perhaps that's a nice way of being introduced to them, or to be connected to them—if I'm able to point to them, or evoke them, or give you a sense in your own experience of how they work.

First, I'll tell you what the seven are. They are mindfulness, investigation, energy (I'd like to today call it strength), joy, tranquility, concentration (samadhi^[1]), and equanimity. We'll go through these again, so we don't have to memorize them right now.

Assuming a meditation posture, gently close your eyes. This is a way of establishing yourself here, kind of definitively here.

Take a few long, slow, deep breaths, three-quarters full. Take a big enough breath so that it becomes the predominant thing you're focusing on. It takes some intentionality. Have a long exhale, so that it takes some attention to do it. This begins the turning from the distracted mind to being present. Take deep breaths, and as you exhale, also relax the body. Sometimes the deep in-breath allows for a deeper, even internal relaxation on the exhale.

Then, letting your breathing return to normal. With the orientation to gather yourself here in this present moment, put aside your distracted thoughts.

As you exhale, relax the muscles of your face, as if you're settling in with your face to be here. The face doesn't have to work, or figure things out, or reach forward, or be outward-directed. The face can settle back on itself and be at ease.

On the exhale, soften the shoulders. Let go, relax. Release the holding contraction of the shoulders from busyness and fear.

On the exhale, softening the belly. With the softening of the belly, there is also a kind of settling of your weight into your lower torso. Then to settle in now on the experience of the body breathing. Accompanying the body as it breathes with your attention.

The first factor of awakening is mindfulness, awareness. You might use the word "here" (H-E-R-E). Awareness is here, nowhere else. Here, with awareness. Here, with a little bit of clarity. Present, attentive to your experience. Here and now, breathing. Letting your awareness be here with breathing. Awareness accompanies breath; it is a companion for the body breathing. Perhaps as you exhale, let go of your thoughts, so that the quieting absence of thinking makes more room for awareness to be here, to be open, to be clear.

The second factor of awakening is investigation. It's not analysis or probing, but rather a very simple attunement to your experience that can be expressed through the word "what." Whatever you're aware of, just ask, "What is this?" Not answering it with words, but rather letting it register more fully, as if you get closer to it or feel it more fully. Maybe it is even a sensory awareness that you receive, so there's more clarity and distinction of what's here with the question "what." It's as if you get closer to the experience. Like putting a hand on a piece of wood, and then you can feel it more carefully. The hand of awareness goes on the breathing, and there's more richness and variety of sensations that you experience in breathing.

The next factor of awakening is strength. Can you call upon a gentle strength so you inhabit, in a strong way, the simplicity of being here and present? Maybe a kind of inner strength in your body. It is not the same as muscular strength, but maybe a kind of strength of gentle determination: "Yes, here." Engaged strength that supports awareness.

The fourth factor of awakening is joy. The delight of being engaged fully in the experience. Coursing in mindfulness in the present moment, appreciating the opportunity to be here. I associate joy with the word "yes." Yes to being with this experience. Yes to feeling the breath in the body. And maybe you can even make a small half-smile that makes it easier to enjoy being present here with breathing.

The next factor is tranquility. Perhaps there's a way of continuing to relax and let things be calmer. The calming of your thinking mind. A deeper relaxation of the body. Whatever reference point you have for present moment tranquility, maybe that can be a magnet for awareness in the present moment.

The next factor is samadhi. I associate this with the word "steady." To steady oneself here and now. To steady oneself in the middle of our whole being, so all of us is here supporting present moment awareness. Awareness that flows or radiates from all of our life. Now, here. Steadying oneself on the breathing.

And the last factor of awakening is equanimity. Maybe it can be associated with the word "okay." Not being in conflict with anything or troubled by anything. Just, "It's okay." So the mind is less reactive, more balanced. To be here with the breathing in your body. Strong, centered. Awareness not pushed around or caught up in what is happening, but staying balanced, equanimous, non-reactive. It's okay.

Then I'll name each of the Seven Factors of Awakening. As you listen to them, can you find a reference inside of yourself for each through a memory, or a place in your body, or some feeling of each from within? See them as a kind of strength that supports you to be balanced and attentive, grounded in the middle of all the difficulties of life.

Mindfulness. Investigation. Strength. Joy. Tranquility. Concentration. Equanimity.

And then as we come to the end of this sitting, perhaps consider that each of these Seven Limbs of Awakening are a support for gazing upon the world kindly, compassionately. They're a way of being available in a helpful way for others. Supported by the Seven Limbs of Awakening, you're less likely to get caught up in your reactivity, and more likely to be present and see clearly. To respond to the world with something from a place of wholesomeness, goodness.

May through this practice we strengthen a wholesome, caring way of being with the world. Certainly, this world needs more people who bring kindness, compassion, care, and friendliness. It may be that this practice we do does that for us, so that we intentionally, consciously are attentive to making this world a better place for others.

May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. And may all beings everywhere be free.

Dharmette: Dhammas (4 of 5) Seven Factors of Awakening

So, the topic is the Seven Factors of Awakening, the Seven Limbs of Awakening. As I said earlier, I like the expression "Limbs of Awakening" because it connects it to our lived body. It's something that's embodied in these seven factors. The word "factor" seems to just imply a list.

These are seven qualities, or seven states of being, that get activated in a very nice way as we get into the groove, into the flow of meditation practice. It's kind of like the reward of meditation when you're really able to put aside distractions and really get focused on just being here in the present moment, steady, continuous, kind of in the flow of the present.

In the ancient texts, they contrast them, or pair them up, with the five hindrances^[2], as being opposites that have a very opposite effect on us. The task is to put the five hindrances to sleep, or let go of them, and awaken the Seven Factors of Awakening. The five hindrances—which we talked about Monday—are said to be forces that obscure wisdom. They obscure a clear vision of what's happening. They are kind of blinding to our clarity, our wisdom, and our good understanding.

Whereas the Seven Factors of Awakening are the opposite. They bring forth a clarity of vision, a clarity of wisdom, and a kind of aliveness. The hindrances are kind of deadening in a certain way. So practice is going from the world of being caught up in the hindrances to the world of coursing in the Seven Factors of Awakening. As the practice proceeds, at some point they wake up. Then it's good to recognize them. The recognition of them is meant to support them to grow even more. They're a little bit like a cheerleader, cheering you on: "This is really good, you're on track."

The way I presented this fourth foundation of mindfulness^[3], the first three exercises are progressive: coming to terms with, letting go of, settling down, from coarser to more refined or deeper forms of attachment and preoccupation. The practice has a lot to do with seeing the preoccupations, the hindrances, the attachments, the entanglements we have, so we're no longer entangled, no longer caught in them, but we begin waking up and become free of them.

As that freedom begins to unfold, and we're no longer caught in these things, then these Seven Factors of Awakening are what begin to show up. It's a beautiful thing to practice present moment awareness and really get into the groove of it, and then feel the birth, the arising of these very healthy, wholesome, wonderful states that, in some ways, feel impersonal. Attachments, entanglements, identifications, and the hindrances have a kind of very strong stickiness, where we get caught up in our egoistic ideas, our sense of self and agency in a certain way.

But the Seven Factors of Awakening, even though our practice is what brings them about, definitely feel like they're arising from within ourselves, but they have this beautiful quality of having a naturalness to them. It's almost like, "This is what happens when I get out of my way and am not so focused on me, myself, and mine." It is quite encouraging to feel these healthy states bubbling up, coursing through us. It's very encouraging for appreciating a positive disposition towards life and what's possible. It's just a feeling of health.

In fact, in the ancient world, it was really clear that the Seven Factors of Awakening were considered a kind of medicine. When the Buddha was sick, he asked, for example, a monk to recite these Seven Factors of Awakening—maybe like a guided meditation—in order to help arouse him or help heal him from his sickness. And sometimes the Buddha went to see a sick monastic and he would recite the Seven Factors of Awakening. This is for people who are familiar with them, who are coursing in them as a regular part of their lives, so that when they're named, they come alive and a good energy comes up. It's considered a healing energy. I've had them coursing through me, and the best language I had was that I felt like there was a healing fluid coursing through all my veins and throughout my nerves. Just the sense of healingness that comes with the Seven Factors of Awakening is remarkable.

So these are mindfulness, investigation, energy (or strength), joy, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity.

Sometimes they are presented as a progression. As mindfulness gets stronger, then at some point we get the clarity that is investigation—we see more clearly what's here. As we see more clearly, it's just easier to evoke a good sense of strength, energy, and enthusiasm for the practice, so we engage more fully. It's like second nature to say, "Oh yes, let's do this." And then as we do that, joy arises at some point. Joy feels great. But just when we're settled in the joy, sometimes something can settle and relax, and tranquility sets in, and the joy becomes more of a happiness than joy. With that kind of well-being and tranquility, those are the ideal conditions for concentration to arise.

It's hard to get concentrated if you do it from just the ordinary street state, where you're walking around preoccupied and have the idea that you're supposed to have a laser focus and really work hard at getting concentrated. It's a lot easier if one prepares the ground for concentration. The first five factors of awakening are part of this preparation that allows us to get unified and stable and rooted here.

And then there's equanimity. Equanimity can seem kind of boring or just uninteresting, but it's a really pristine emotional state. It feels so clean and good and peaceful. It's like one of the pinnacle, fantastic emotional states that you can feel, that's equanimity. Here the mind is so balanced, so non-reactive, but with this beautiful sense of cleanliness and clarity and openness. The mind is not going to react to anything anymore; it's just there, and a feeling of strength.

These Seven Factors of Awakening can appear in little hints at first, and it's helpful to recognize it: "Alright, this is it, this is it." Probably some of you have them arising in everyday life as well. In some of the ordinary activities of life that you really get focused on and enjoy doing, you can recognize that, in fact, some of the seven factors are present. Like even cooking. To really get into cooking and let the world drop away, and really have this sense of presence and this attentiveness of investigation, where you are really attending to the food, tracking it carefully, and knowing how much more seasoning to put in, or how long it needs to cook, or turning down the flames, or all kinds of things. And there can be a delight, and there can be a sense of joy. Everything gets kind of tranquil, our cares of the world fall away, and it can be peaceful to just kind of go around cooking. Maybe some equanimity, maybe the sense of well-being is good enough that if you suddenly get a phone call that's a little bit difficult, you're in a state of mind where it's easier to take that in calmly because there's a calm, equanimous state.

So begin recognizing these seven factors in ordinary life as they come up, appreciating them, making room for them, and not overlooking them or dismissing them or thinking they're unimportant. They're very important for this practice. Avail yourself of them more often, get familiar with them. When there are times when they're there, appreciate them. Riding a bicycle if you're a bicycle rider, or going for a hike, or sometimes reading a great novel can bring up some of these feelings. Whatever it might be.

The wonderful alchemy of this meditation practice, or mindfulness practice, is that mindfulness of the hindrances—mindfulness of attachment—decreases the attachments. Mindfulness of what's wholesome increases what's wholesome. So it's a wonderful balance. Mindfulness of what's unwholesome and unhelpful in our psychological states gives us a little freedom and distance from it, and that freedom and distance takes some of the juice and investment we put into it. As we bring this kind of open awareness and clarity to really see the Seven Factors of Awakening, they thrive in receptivity, openness, relaxation, and non-entanglement. And so they grow. It's a wonderful thing that works this way.

May you become familiar with the Seven Factors of Awakening. May they be part of your life. May you enjoy them. I think in this pandemic, at some point maybe last year, I did a whole series on the Seven Factors of Awakening on this early morning sitting, so you could listen to those talks. It's a good thing to learn about. In terms of the path to liberation, the Seven Factors of Awakening set the stage for liberation itself. That's why they're Limbs of Awakening.

And that's a little bit the topic for tomorrow, the last exercise in the fourth foundation of mindfulness, which has the Seven Factors of Awakening as the platform in which to realize it. So thank you very much, and I look forward to tomorrow.