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Guided Meditation: With Assurance

Warm greetings, and I hope this finds you well, comfortable, safe, and somewhat contented to be here now for meditation time together. It is considered to be one of the really great things in life to meditate, and to meditate in community, knowing that there are people throughout the world with YouTube, but also in other ways, who are involved in meditation and the dharma. People have been involved in it for centuries, and we continue in a lineage of practitioners. In a sense, we are the recipients standing on the shoulders of all the people who have practiced before us. And hopefully, our shoulders are broad enough and stable enough so that the meditators who follow us will feel inspired and feel like they are part of a wonderful lineage that traveled through us.

There is an ancient teaching that faith, confidence, or refuge is like a magic stone that, if dropped into muddy waters, immediately clears the muddy water; the mud just settles out. In the same way, faith in the dharma, faith in the practice, and faith in oneself in the practice—and the confidence that comes along with that—when we evoke it or touch it or let it drop really deep inside, settles the places of doubt, worry, and distress. It settles the places where we feel like we are lost, or that the world doesn't make any sense, or there is no way forward. In all these ways in which we kind of have this centrifugal force away from ourselves, when we drop faith into our hearts, faith or confidence in the dharma, then something that is extra within us, extra agitation, gets settled and reassured.

One of the functions of refuge is a deep inner reassurance—to have a sense of assurance. Wonderfully, the word for assurance in Pali can also mean breathing, or breathing easily. To really connect the sense of assurance, of faith, of a real sense of being settled in our confidence, with our breathing is kind of to the point. It is to be able to come not to some abstract idea of confidence or faith, but to a way of being that allows us to breathe easily and at ease.

So, begin this process of meditation by assuming a posture that gives you both a sense of ease but also expresses confidence. Let the body express a sense of assurance, even if the rest of you doesn't feel that. Then gently close your eyes in a way that is perhaps friendly, caring, and loving for you.

Take some deeper breaths than usual. The life-giving air, oxygen, comes in, filling your lungs, and then as you exhale, relax your whole body. Take a deep breath in, maybe three-quarters full, and as you exhale, release the whole body in some way. Perhaps feel as if all the edges of your body are released outwards into space. Where you touch your chair, your cushion, or the floor, release yourself into the support.

Then, let your breathing return to normal. Again, lovingly and with goodwill for yourself—even if you have doubts—continue to relax your body on your exhale.

Soften the muscles of your face, releasing your face from all the work it has to do throughout the day in expressing itself and responding to the world. Let the muscles of the face fall away from the bone.

On the exhale, soften around the shoulders. For some of us, those shoulders work a lot, being tense and held up.

And soften the belly, perhaps. One of the ways of being deeply at ease in this world is to have the belly be soft. In these few minutes of meditation, there is nothing we need to do to defend ourselves, protect ourselves, push ourselves, or prove ourselves in ways that tighten up the muscles of the belly. We can allow ourselves the opportunity to be at ease.

If you have some degree of confidence, faith, or assurance in this practice of meditation, even if it is quite difficult for you—sometimes when it is difficult for people, they are actually getting the most benefit from it—see if you can drop that faith, whatever your faith is, into the waters of your heart. As that stone of faith drops, see if there can be one more big feeling of release and relaxation here, now.

As waves on the surface of that body of water is your breathing. Gentle waves that move across the water. In a sense, your body, your mind, your awareness, floating on the waves of breathing up and down, expanding and contracting.

Trust the simplicity of floating on your breathing. Entrust yourself to breathing as if it is the only thing to do for now. As if resting in the rhythm of breathing in and breathing out is the most valuable, protective, and deepening way of being.

Maybe for the next three breaths, you can relax your body further. Release the grip of your thinking, and soften in the mind.

Then, as we come to the end of the sitting, recall to the best of your ability the state of being deeply reassured, perhaps deeply trusting, with the feeling of being at ease, safe, and contented. Remembering those feelings of a time of such deep reassurance, breathe with that. Breathe through it for two or three breaths.

Perhaps imagine that the people around you have the ability to also feel deeply reassured in this life, with a deep, trusting sense of peace and contentment—to be able to breathe with ease, to have breathing room, space, and ease. Imagine how good it would be for others all around you, throughout the world, to breathe this way, to feel this way.

From the depth of your heart, you can wish it were so. An open-handed, open-minded wish, without questioning it or doubting it—just a simple wish:

May all beings be at ease. May all beings breathe easily. May all beings have breathing room. May all beings feel safe and reassured. May all beings be peaceful and contented. May all beings be free, without oppression or hostility. May all beings be deeply reassured of their place here on this planet—harmonious, peaceful, and contented, so they too may live for the benefit and welfare of all beings. May all beings be free. And may all beings live in mutual respect and care.

[Music]

Announcements

Allow me to make an announcement at the beginning of this talk. As we continue these 7:00 a.m. sittings on weekdays, there will be a change for the next three weeks starting on Monday. I will be here next week, and then the following two weeks we have two wonderful Zen teachers, friends of mine, who are going to teach. First, Paul Haller will teach on the following week, the week of the 26th, and then the following week, the abbess of the Green Gulch Zen Center, Fu Schroeder, will do five talks in the morning.

The reason for this is that I was invited to teach, as a support for the Zen Center, what is called a Zen Intensive for three weeks. The three of us, who are wonderful friends and have wonderful dharma discussions among ourselves, wanted to share some of these dharma discussions with other people. So, we are doing the Zen Intensive, with a schedule of sittings and teachings at the San Francisco Zen Center. Since I am doing these 7:00 a.m. teachings anyway, I thought I would fold it in as part of the intensive.

The intensive is about the harmony of Zen and Vipassana^[1]; that is the theme. Once I thought of folding it in, I decided I should also ask my colleagues to participate in this as well. I am not sure what I will be teaching next week, but it will probably be something basic about Vipassana practice, perhaps presented in a way that is in harmony with Zen. Then, the following two weeks, you will certainly get a Zen approach to meditation and Zen wisdom from my two friends.

So you can expect that change. Some of you might want to participate in the Zen Intensive on the harmony of Zen and Vipassana that the San Francisco Zen Center is offering. I think today is the last day to sign up if you want to be part of that. You can see there is a schedule of what is being offered. It is all on Zoom. So, thank you.

Refuge

This week's topic is refuge, and yesterday I talked about refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, which is called the triple refuge. One of the peculiar things, if you study the ancient teachings of the Buddha, is that he never actually actively suggests that people should go for refuge. A few times he speaks favorably about people doing so and talks about the value of doing so, but there are never direct instructions to go for the triple refuge. He does, however, give instructions for a different kind of refuge.

As background, the idea of a triple refuge is a term that predated the Buddha. It was a custom in ancient India to take triple refuge in three of the gods of the Indian pantheon. Ancient texts talk about this practice of people going for refuge in the ancient gods. So, when the Buddha came along, that language, that ritual, or that way of expressing faith was then directed towards the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, becoming the new triple refuge. Most literally, it is an external refuge: the literal Buddha, his literal teachings perhaps, and then the community. And as I said yesterday, it can also be an internal refuge; we can find what corresponds to that within ourselves.

When the Buddha gave instructions for refuge, he gave them in one very significant place, right near the end of his life. He knew he was dying, so his teachings became particularly significant. He instructed: "Make yourself an island, make yourself a refuge, with no other refuge. Make the Dharma an island, make the Dharma a refuge, with no other refuge."

The metaphor for an island is that of a place that is safe from the floods and swirls of the world—the strong currents, waves, and tides. Like here on the coast, you can't really go swimming in very many places in the ocean because of the strong rip currents that exist. So, an island is a place of safety. Make yourself a place of safety, make a refuge of yourself. Then he goes on to say to do the same thing with the Dharma, with no other refuge. The only way to harmonize these two statements is that the self and the Dharma somehow become the same. The Dharma isn't out there; the Dharma is found somehow in oneself, with oneself.

It is a very strong affirmation of one's own personhood as a place of practice and a place of religious value. To call this person that you are the place of the Dharma—the Dharma itself—is an affirmation. That is often not captured so well if we overemphasize that the Buddha's teachings are not-self teachings. Teachings on not-self and emptiness, as profound as they can be, can sometimes dismiss the ordinary phenomenological world that we live in, the ordinary experiences of how we are and how we live. I have seen plenty of people dismiss the value of their emotions, their intentions, their own safety, their well-being, and their health by over-emphasizing some idea that there is no self or everything is empty.

But here we have the Buddha at the end of his life saying, "Make yourself a refuge. Make yourself an island, a place of safety." Then he asks a rhetorical question: "Well, how do you do this?" He explains that you do it by practicing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness^[2]. That one dwells observing the body in the body, ardent, aware, and clearly comprehending, having put aside greed and distress for the world. One abides observing feelings in feelings, ardent, aware, and clearly comprehending, having put aside greed and distress for the world. One abides observing mind in the mind, ardent, aware, and clearly comprehending, having put aside greed and distress for the world. One abides observing dharmas in dharmas, ardent, aware, and clearly comprehending, having put aside greed and distress for the world.

So, the way to make oneself a refuge, the way to make the Dharma the refuge, is the practice of mindfulness. There is something about mindfulness that is the real refuge. Mindfulness is the place where we really find our safety. Part of the task of mindfulness is to do it long enough, dedicated enough, and sincerely enough to discover how it provides a tremendous place of safety, of assurance, of value, of wisdom, and of freedom.

Even though the Buddha is pointing to "self," it isn't the conventional idea of self, what we identify as self-identity or conceit. Rather, it is what opens up when we have this powerful form of awareness. It isn't that awareness is the self, but it is almost as if awareness is the closest thing. Take refuge in self, take refuge in the Dharma, take refuge in your awareness. But not awareness in the abstract—awareness that arises out of or is established in the body, in our feelings, in our mind and mind states, and in the dharmas (which in this context means the mental processes of our inner life).

There is a clear grounding, a clear connection to the specificity of our life, the details of what is actually going on within us and around us. Be really aware of that, be established in it, so we are not distracted, reactive, or caught up in things, but clearly aware to the point that we dwell independent, not clinging to anything in the world. The ability to be mindful is not caught or dependent on anything at all, but is clearly established in this world of ours, this experience of ours here, and this personhood that we are, while not clinging to anything in the world.

This is how we make ourselves a refuge: by being aware. The word for refuge, saraṇa^[3], is one of the most powerful expressions of faith, assurance, trust, and confidence. It represents a religious confidence, a religious inspiration, a sense of religious enthusiasm that I think Buddhism really honors and has a place for. It brings that kind of religious feeling—faith—into association with awareness. It is not directed to gods outside of us, which was the custom before the Buddha. There is not a savior out there who is going to save us or protect us. There is something here within ourselves that is the protection, that is the savior, that is the place of safety.

We cultivate that through practice. It is not wishful thinking, but by practicing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness—the practice of mindfulness—which includes ānāpānasati^[4], the breathing practice we just finished going through.

This is another way in which the Buddha talked about refuge. This wonderful quality supports our practice. We will continue with other ideas of refuge tomorrow. So, thank you.