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Guided Meditation (65) Continuous Arising and Passing

Good day, and welcome to the arising of this meditation session together. Now that it is in the process of appearing, it will persist for some minutes, and then it will come to an end. This insight, this deep appreciation for the inconstancy^[1] of experience, is one of the specialties of insight meditation^[2]. To really begin to appreciate, value, and be attuned to how things are, we must realize that how we experience things is a transient phenomenon. The particularities of what we are aware of in the moment come, and they go.

Some of the thoughts that you are already having now, listening to what I am saying, did not exist ten minutes ago. A few minutes ago they appeared, and I am sure someday they will disappear as current, active thoughts that you have. There is something about observing or recognizing this transience of experience that supports a movement towards freedom. Freedom from being entangled in transient experiences, freedom from the searching and looking and wanting to hold on to something, and just letting go.

There are many ways to experience inconstancy. You can be aware of how things arise, that something new appears. It was unexpected, unplanned. There is a sound, there is a thought, there is a feeling. We can be aware that things have passed. Things that were there are now gone, and sometimes it can be a surprise—where did it go? I have had physical pain in meditation, and then at some point, I was aware it was no longer there. I didn't see it pass away, but I certainly know now it has passed away. Wow, where did it go?

It is not just the things that we experience that arise and pass, but it is also the way in which we experience them. It is the fickle way in which attention and thoughts focus on things. We might be focused on the breathing and stay there pretty well, but then there is a loud sound, and we say, "What's that?" The sound has just arisen. The thought, "What's that?" has just arisen. The thought, "I better find a quieter place to meditate," has just arisen. Then we are aware that that has passed. For a moment, it is just a thought. Because we don't lean into it and hold on to it, we don't add another thought like, "I should find a better place to meditate; I wonder what's a better place to meditate." We take the time to recognize the first thought. It arose, it was there a little bit, and then it passed.

If you don't understand what I am talking about, you have the thought that doesn't understand. That thought arose, and then maybe it persists, and then it passes. It doesn't mean that all things are supposed to be quickly transient and inconstant. The Buddha talked about how things arise, they persist, and they pass away. But there is something about being attuned to how they arise when they arise, that they arise, and that they pass. This is really the art of it.

Part of what is also interesting is that maybe we are not there to notice when something has arisen, but maybe we notice that our awareness of it has now arisen. We weren't exactly aware of it, but oh, I am aware of it now. That awareness has arisen. Then at some point, it hasn't passed away, it persists, but we have been focusing on something else. We have gotten involved in a fantasy, and then we are aware that the awareness of that has ceased for a while. There are all these ways in which we see. We are not supposed to search for seeing the arising and passing of phenomena as much as settle back and observe it. Appreciate it, be attuned to it in the way that helps us to keep letting go, keep relaxing, keep not getting involved with things, searching, wanting, and making things happen. Just settle back. The arising and passing of phenomena, in all the ways that it can be experienced, happens without our involvement, without our making it so. Settle back and just observe and watch.

Beginning the Meditation

Beginning with a new beginning, bring attention to your posture. Adjust your posture and be aware that as you do so, there is something new that keeps arising. New sensations in the body, new feelings. Then, settle into this body.

If your eyes are still open, there is the occurrence of closing your eyes—a new beginning, or an ending of the eyes being open.

The breathing itself is one of the great teachers for inconstancy. All the sensations that come and go with breathing are coming and going, arising and passing. In some ways, the continuity of the inconstancy of breathing is also a wonderful reference point for seeing the inconstancy of the mind's ability to stay focused and present.

Notice the arising of new thoughts, the persistence of them, the changing nature of thoughts. Thoughts themselves are not one constant hum, but new thoughts, ideas, and images are constantly streaming through. Be attuned to the inconstancy of the details of thinking as a way of not clinging so much, of not holding on.

As you exhale, relax the belly. Soften the belly and be aware of changing sensations that come and go as you do so.

As you exhale, relax the chest.

As you exhale, soften the shoulders. Some things pass if the tension relaxes, and new things arise in the shoulders.

Soften the muscles of the face. Your dear face. Softening, relaxing, giving it a break.

And then gently, maybe lovingly, relax your thinking mind. Maybe on the exhale, soften the brain or the forehead. Soften the holding, the contraction, the searching, the wanting. Exhale and soften. Relax the whole body.

Take that thinking mind of yours and let it rest. Settle back as if it is settling back against a comfortable tree on a comfortable day, ready to observe the river flowing by, the flow of the arising and passing of phenomena.

Sometimes we are aware of sensations coming and going. Sometimes we are aware of our attention coming and going, our thoughts coming and going. One way or the other, something new is always arising. One way or the other, something is always ceasing and passing away.

You can do all of this, see all of this, in the breathing. Settling into your breathing, maybe your breathing is the tree you are leaning against. Resting in the breathing. Floating on this river of change in the body as you experience breathing, the changing sensations of breathing.

There is a way that the arising and appearing of something new in awareness supports not clinging to anything. There is a way in which the ceasing of things, the passing of things, supports not clinging, not holding on. If you stay close to how things are appearing and disappearing moment by moment, it can be a little bit like a massage for the mind—the mind's tendency to want and search for and create and think. Just let go, let go, let go with the inconstant, the flow of inconstancy.

Concluding Reflections

As we come to the end of the sitting, one of the descriptions of mindfulness practice could be that it is being available for the way in which life is ever-renewing, ever-changing. To be available for what arises that is new by not lingering and holding on and living with what has passed.

It is a wonderful gift to give to others, to be available for them as if they are new, as if they are renewed. As if you don't know them, but they are appearing fresh, without your old news, your old ideas about who they are and what they have done, and your expectations of how they should be. To be available to see how people are ever new and freed of their past.

To be available for the ever-renewing aspects of this life so that we can love and care and be tenderized by what is happening moment by moment. So we can be sensitive to the depth of the present moment, sensitive to the depth of our contact with others, how they live in our lives.

This ability not to linger in the past or hold on to things, to be fresh, is a wonderful basis upon which to care for others. May it be that this practice of ours helps us to care deeply because we feel deeply into the newness of each moment.

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