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Guided Meditation: Opening Into the Moment

Good morning. Good morning, IMC Global Sangha^[1]. Nice to see you. I just love looking at all these greetings, these warm greetings in the chat, and seeing the weather report from different parts of the country, different parts of the world. It got really chilly here in the Bay Area last night and yesterday, so I hope wherever you are, you are comfortable, dry, feeling the warmth and the friendliness. It's just inspiring to be with all of you.

So we are at seven o'clock Pacific time, and the invitation is to drink in any of the good feelings from the greetings in the chat, and to start to consciously bring those into your heart, into your mind, and savor them. Savor them. Enjoy the refuge of Sangha.

And then, taking a deep breath or two, allow your gaze to soften, perhaps your eyes to close, really intentionally relaxing, softening your eyes. Allowing the breathing to return to normal, maybe a slight smile to come to the lips that softens and relaxes the muscles around the mouth and the face. Softening the tongue, softening the eyes, the face, and the tongue sends a message to the rest of the body that it's okay to relax the parasympathetic rest system.

Tuning to your surroundings, acknowledging whatever is in the space to occupy in this moment. Perhaps noticing the contact of your feet or your buttocks against a cushion or a chair. Noticing the contact of your skin against clothing or air. Perhaps your hands are touching each other or your lap. Allowing yourself to be here, immersed in this moment.

And really scanning through your body, noticing any sensations, areas of tension, relaxation, cool or warmth, solidity or spaciousness. Tuning into the aliveness in the body, the sensations of your body breathing, or perhaps all the little pulsings and tinglings that let you know you're alive.

Now scanning through the heart and mind, noticing any contraction or openness there, scatteredness or settlement, and inviting kindness, kind awareness of all of it. Opening to being generous with this moment.

Allowing the heart, the mind, the attention to settle on whatever keeps you most easily connected to this moment: breathing, sound, sensation, metta^[2]—whatever it is, settling.

From time to time, relaxing, opening further into the flow, into the flow of the moment. Inviting the experience of now.

Settling the mind and heart^[3], perhaps knowing, noticing the spaces between the rising and the passing, and the space between sound. Between an in-breath and an out-breath. Between thoughts or sensations. Maybe settling, softening into the space at the bottom of the out-breath, allowing the next in-breath to refresh the awareness.

In the final moments of this meditation, the invitation is to soak, gather, find any bits of peace, kindness, patience, mindfulness. To intentionally reflect on what has been cultivated here in these minutes of practice. Really drink them into your heart. Even if it's just a little corner of peace, somewhere quiet, somewhere... notice it, appreciate it. Soak it in. Feel it in the heart.

And then, when you're ready, turning your internal gaze outwards to all of the myriad people and creatures your life touches or is even just tangentially in some way in relationship with. And then all of the lives that they are in relationship with, outward and outward. Gazing upon this vast matrix of humanity and kinship of creatures with kindness, relishing.

Dedicating this practice to the benefit of yourself, others in your life, and all beings.

Dharmette: Sharing and Generosity Benefit Giver and Receiver

So greetings, dear Sangha, good morning. Today we're going to continue on the theme of this week, which is qualities that the Buddha taught that will improve both inner and outer harmony. Over the course of this week, in the last two days, we've talked about mindfulness and wisdom benefiting self and others in the world in our practice, through intention and reflection on how we show up. And yesterday we talked about the individual and relational benefits of kindness, loving-kindness, compassion, and goodwill. Today's topic is sharing, just like back in kindergarten when you used to share lunch or share stickers or treats. It's also known in the translations as non-stinginess or generosity. These are qualities, kind of a suite of related qualities, that naturally emerge from mindfulness, metta, and wisdom.

Bhikkhu Bodhi renders the Pali of this quality in the Sāraṇīya Dhamma^[4], the principles of cordiality, as "to use in common what has been received." And that's perhaps a nice reminder that some of the fundamentals we have in life we've received without asking, without making it happen: life itself. We did not will it. Water, air, sunshine—nature offers all of this freely. It's the basis on which all else is received, right?

To share without reservation is Bhikkhu Sujato's translation. This kind of sharing is a way of building friendship, creating closeness. Just think about it, in all cultures all over the world, breaking bread together or sharing a bowl of rice together is a way of building social connection. And it's often a way of inspiring reciprocity too, right? This kind of generosity and reciprocity was woven into the culture of the Buddha and his followers. It's a tradition that lasts to this day, and it's been around for millennia. You can imagine back in Ancient India, the monastics supported laypeople and citizens with teaching, presence, wisdom, and advice, and the laypeople would support the monastics with food and requisites. That kind of reciprocity and sharing persists now. It's really touching to see it in Asian countries especially, but also here in California, here in the United States, all over the world.

You can imagine that in a generosity-dependent group like the ancient Sangha of the Buddha's followers, generosity and sharing were really important. You're very dependent upon others for the meal that ends up in your bowl. And maybe your friend doesn't get enough, so you share with them.

There's a story of one young monastic. I'm just going to call him Pukkusāti^[5], who had really learned this well early on. He had never met the Buddha but was completely inspired by the teachings that he had heard that sort of rippled through India through other followers. He had received teachings from one of these followers and ordained as a monk. He was practicing with a lot of sincerity and was inspired to go up to North India, traveling by foot, to join the crowds to hear the Buddha teaching. The way that worked, and the way it still works if monastics do this kind of wandering practice, is they are asking or being invited to sleep in people's backyards, in a garage, in a shed, or under an overhang as they move around.

And so Pukkusāti had received permission from a friendly merchant in some village somewhere to set up for the night in a woodshed. He and his few belongings were there, and right about the time of sundown, another stranger came to the door and politely asked... said the merchant said that if it's okay with you, I might stay here too. A total stranger. Pukkusāti just bowed, smiled, and said, "Yes, welcome," and shared his space.

The two of them, it turns out, were both in this tradition of the Buddha's early teachings. They set up in opposite corners of the shed, and both of them sat up and practiced most of the night. Pukkusāti's practice was on fire; he was sitting, and this stranger was quite impressed with the strength of his practice and the open-hearted, generous, non-stingy nature of his sharing of the space and what little he had.

Well, the stranger, it turns out, was the Buddha. Come morning when they both woke, he began without introducing himself. He just asked, "Would you like to receive some teachings?" And Pukkusāti said, "Yes, of course." The Buddha began to expound on his teachings, and at some point, not very far in, Pukkusāti realized who was talking to him, and he was just overcome with gratitude and joy. In his travels to go see this famed, esteemed teacher amidst the crowds, his generosity allowed for this beautiful meeting one-on-one, a sharing of the Dharma^[6].

So you just never know what kind of beauty might open up through an invitation, through a generosity.

This kind of sharing can take many forms, right? In the Buddha's case, it was the sharing of physical space, time, and teaching. It can also be an expression of respect to share attention or share credit with another person. It can be the generosity of receiving feedback honestly and adjusting my behavior or my manner. This is a kind of generosity of spirit. Generosity of spirit towards our own experience and towards the experience of others. It's a kind, open way of seeing humanity, the good qualities and the foibles, our own and others, internal and external, personal and relational.

It can even be an act of generosity to be vulnerable enough to share our vulnerability, enough to receive others' generosity. Modern science bears this out. It might seem counter-intuitive, but allowing other people to be generous builds trust. It builds friendship and relationships. That doesn't mean grabbing and asking or demanding, but to be open, be real, be allowing, and be open to the generosity and the beauty of others. It helps build relationships; it helps build trust. And from a Dharma perspective, allowing others to be generous is generous because it allows them to build this very beneficial quality of heart and mind and spirit. Generosity, non-stinginess, isn't just reciprocity, as beautiful as reciprocity is. It's also an open hand, a letting go, and that is a powerful foundation for the deeper forms of letting go into liberation itself.

Perhaps that's why the Buddha said, and this is a quote, "If beings knew, as I know, the results of giving and sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would the stain of miserliness overcome their minds. Even if it were their last bite, their last mouthful, they wouldn't eat without having shared, if there was someone to receive the gift."

So this attitude, this inner posture of sharing and generosity, is so helpful to mindfulness meditation all along the path. It can be helpful to recall our own acts of generosity. That's the basis for a peaceful heart and peaceful mind. Very different than the memory of a bit of stinginess, right? Generosity also lends itself to openness, which as a trait—and it's a learnable trait—is of vital importance in spiritual growth, psychological and emotional resilience, and just general happiness. Greater openness towards whatever arises in the heart and the mind allows what needs to be seen or heard or healed to be metabolized, to transform, and to move through.

So this generous kind of mindfulness, in a sense, is an openness to seeing all of what is in the heart, the mind, the path, and with kindness and with discernment of what's afflictive or beneficial to ourselves, to others, to ourselves and others, and to all. This kind of open, generous attention ultimately frees, leads to freedom.

For the next 24 hours, if you are open to some homework, perhaps just notice how sharing a spirit of generosity benefits you, others, yourself and others, or the wider context in which you find yourself. You can talk about it, write about it, just notice it. And maybe in your own heart and mind, link it to: how does this relate to practicing with wisdom and mindfulness? How does this relate to practicing and showing up with kindness?

So we've reached the end of our time. Thank you. Thank you very much for your practice. Just very quickly, let's dedicate our practice here together, this Global Sangha, to the benefit and welfare of all beings everywhere. May all beings be free.

[Laughter]