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Introduction

To begin by greeting you all here for this morning's meditation and the talk that will follow. The theme this week has been letting go. One of the things to be mindful of in letting go is the absence that results. If we let go of something we're holding in our hand—and maybe have held it for a long time—it's burdensome to hold. When we finally let go of it, one of the consequences is that there you can^[1] experience the absence of that thing. If it was particularly burdensome to carry, that absence feels really good.

We can also notice that when we let go, we're also letting go of the clinging. After we let go, there can be the absence of that grasping, that holding. That is especially and most usefully true in the mind or in the heart. If the mind is caught up in something, preoccupied, and we're able to put it down, relax, or let go of the preoccupation rather than moving on immediately to the next preoccupation, we want to notice the absence of the clinging.

It turns out in Buddhism, as Buddhist practice becomes more and more mature, the sense of absence becomes more and more valuable and precious. The absence of clinging, the absence of greed, hatred, and delusion^[2], the absence of conceit, the absence of attachment. Maybe it's not possible to really appreciate how wonderful that absence feels until we understand how thoroughgoing attachments can be.

Guided Meditation: Mindful of Absence

So, as we go through this sitting^[3], I'm taking a posture that's alert and upright. Will you let go of lethargy or inertia? Let go of resistance or hesitation, and really sit up and take a posture that expresses some engagement, some non-hesitation to be here and be present.

What you might also do is let your hands turn upward if they're not already, so the palms of the hands are open and facing the ceiling. It might even be nicer, if it's easy enough, to put your hands in your lap on top of your ankles if you're sitting cross-legged, or with one hand resting in the other, half covering each other, with the palms to the ceiling. With the idea that the hands are empty. The hands are empty, resting somewhere. Maybe allow the hands to rest more fully, the hands to be at peace, softening any tension in the fingers and hands.

Be aware that the sensitive part of the hand is more exposed to the air, to the temperature. If there's any breeze, feel how the hands are—that part of the hands that are empty. How nice that is.

Staying with that, using that as a reference, relax your body. Relax the shoulders, feeling the absence of holding, even if it's just a small amount, as you relax. Relaxing the chest and softening the belly, feeling the absence of holding or tightening in the belly. Softening the muscles of the face, and perhaps also relaxing the thinking muscle—the tensions or pressure that's in the mind, in the brain. Allowing and letting go of tightness, constriction, and letting the mind be open. Let the mind rest like the hands are resting in the lap. Feel whatever ways in which the mind can feel open, empty of concerns and preoccupations, even if it's brief.

Perhaps softening in the heart, relaxing the heart area. Allowing that whole heart area to rest in the chest, with the heart open. Openhearted, open to the world. A heart that is not closed or filled.

Then, to become aware of the body breathing. Perhaps the breathing can also rest in a certain kind of openness in the breathing. Maybe a receptivity, an open awareness that receives the body breathing.

When you exhale, there's the absence of the inhale, and that absence allows the exhale to be known more fully. When there's an inhale, there's the absence of the exhale, which allows the inhale to be known more fully.

If you let go of expectations about the breathing, the absence of expectations means the receptivity is more open and empty, available to feel the breathing. If you let go of trying to attain something in focusing on the breathing, the absence of trying to attain allows something to be more open, relaxed, and receptive to the simplicity of breathing.

If you let go of being the doer of meditation, in that letting go, the awareness can be more open, relaxed, even more receptive to just breathing. The breathing breathing itself.

If you let go of your thoughts of the past, the absence of thinking about the past lets awareness be more receptive and open to breathing. If you let go of planning for the future, the absence of planning heightens the sensitivity, the space of awareness that can receive the breathing.

Let go of your thoughts and appreciate the absence that ensues. The space that ensues allows for more openness to be aware of what is.

Chances are that there are many attachments you've had over your lifetime that are not present right now. Many preoccupations that are gone for now. Can you appreciate the absence of those, and in that feeling of absence, have a more open awareness for breathing? Whatever degree of openness, relaxation, letting go, or absence of clinging there might be for you, that might also highlight where there is attachment, tightness, pressure, or holding on. Be aware of that attachment, that pressure. Perhaps as you exhale, begin to let go. Every exhale, let go. Let go into absence, that absence of clinging and attachment. Every exhale, let go, and let go into absence and openness.

Reflections and Dedication

And then, as we come to the end of the sitting, there is the absence that makes room for compassion. The absence that makes room for receptivity to the joys and sorrows of the world. Our absence of reactivity and being closed down or being non-receptive—that absence, that openness, is a kind of freedom. Freedom to feel, to experience the world. To experience it fully, but lightly. Fully, but transparently. Fully, without resistance or assertion.

It's an absence that allows our love, our care, our kindness, our compassion to flow outwards to meet the world. May we stay open. May we be absent of what inhibits compassion and care. And may that also be the conduit, the way in which we act in the world to end suffering, and to encourage and allow a sense of happiness and peace for others.

May it be that this meditation that we do today allows us to be gloriously empty of all that interferes with freedom and ease in caring for the world, for those we meet and see and communicate with today. May our freedom be a wellspring of love. May all beings be happy. May all beings be free. May all beings be safe and peaceful. May all beings, including ourselves, know that we are cared for. May all beings be happy.