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Guided Meditation: To Abide Independent, Not Clinging

Greetings friends. Greetings from wherever in the world you're joining. So today we come to the fifth and final day of our exploration of the Satipatthana Sutta's refrain together.

The part of the refrain that we have come to today is really the last part, the last couple of sentences. I'll review the entire refrain at the end in the Dharmette, but maybe what I will read is just the part we're exploring today, which is: "One abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. That is how in regard to the body one contemplates the body." But really the sentence here is: "One abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world."

There are two aspects here: abiding independently, and not clinging to anything in the world. The different aspects that we have practiced and mentioned culminate to this. Contemplating the body internally, externally, both internally and externally, as well as contemplating the nature of arising and passing away, knowing that there is a body. This skillful use of lexical noting—"There is a body, there is a body"—all culminating to abiding independently, not clinging to anything in the world.

So without further ado, let's practice in meditation together. Because life can be practice, or a practice can be practicing right now, listening and sitting with kindness and awareness. So, not to make practice only limited to closing our eyes and meditating, but let's meditate together.

Arriving. Arriving in our seat. Arriving here.

Letting go. Letting go. Not clinging to anything in the world. Letting go in this moment in time.

Not clinging. Not clinging to thoughts. Not clinging to memories of the past, or preoccupations with the future. Not even clinging to the present. As the sutta says, not clinging to anything in the world.

Not clinging as thoughts arise. As entanglements perhaps arise, not clinging. Releasing.

Abiding. Abiding independently. Abiding. Can there be a moment of spaciousness? Not needing. Not needing anything. Not lusting after this or that, or wanting any particular experience.

Abiding. Abiding independently. Not clinging to anything in the entire world.

See if this sentence, this phrase from the refrain of the Satipatthana, as you drop it into your body, not thinking about it, don't try to analyze, but drop it in. Let it resonate. Let it open up. Let it enter your heart. I, for one, have fallen in love with this sentence, with this phrase, as an instruction.

Abiding independently, not clinging to anything in the world. One abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. So much ease, so much freedom is possible. One abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world.

One abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. Drop it into your heart. Let it resonate. Find its way through you.

One abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world.

Abiding independently. Not clinging. Not clinging to greed, wants, or ruminations in the mind. Not clinging. Independent of grudges. Independent of greed, hatred. Abiding independently. Of the usual habit patterns of the mind and heart, can we abide independently? Independent of those.

And as we bring this practice period together, giving thanks. Giving thanks for this opportunity, this privilege to come together, if not in space but in time, to cultivate. To cultivate our hearts, our minds in kindness, in goodwill, in wisdom, in non-reactivity, and letting go. In non-clinging to greed and hatred. To give thanks for this opportunity that we have come together. Even if for a moment there was a sense of independence from the typical patterns, there was a moment of freedom, a moment of letting go, peace, ease. Celebrating that moment. And even if it wasn't that moment, whether there was a lot of delusion or confusion, trusting we have planted seeds that will flower in the future.

If we align our intention with goodness and offering this, this collective cultivation, no matter how shoddy we deem it to be, offering the goodness of ourselves together with the community, offering it to the world, to others as a gift. Here, I've done my best. If I could have done any better or differently, I would have. It's the best offering I have in this limited time on earth, my best offering.

And sharing, giving generously this gift for the benefit of all beings everywhere, especially those in war zones. Holding witness, wishing safety and ease for all beings everywhere. May all beings be happy. May all beings be free.

Thank you all. Thank you for your practice.

Dharmette: Satipatthana Refrain (5/5) Culminating to Freedom

Hello, greetings, welcome dear friends, wherever in the world you are. Wonderful to be with you in this moment in time, whatever the weather inside or outside.

Today is day five of exploring the refrain of the Satipatthana Sutta^[1]. The Satipatthana Sutta itself is the four foundations of mindfulness, of awareness. How beautiful the teachings are in the Satipatthana Sutta, and especially the refrain. The refrain itself is so significant, and we've been building up this entire week with the different parts of the refrain, one by one. This last sentence really is a culmination of the practices of the previous days, and I'd like to put it all together.

This statement, this last sentence that I was offering just to drop it in—not try to think about it, not try to analyze it, but as a koan^[2] to sit with it and let it flower. It's as Rilke^[3] says, to live the questions themselves. Not trying so hard to answer or open locked rooms when sometimes answers are not available to you yet. So instead of leaning into frustration of, "Oh, it just doesn't make sense," just dropping the question in, living the question with patience, trusting that the practice builds up and it will make sense.

In the way of review of where we are, let me first outline the structure of the Satipatthana Sutta, especially if you have just joined today and you're not quite sure where we are. The Satipatthana Sutta has sections: the four sections on body, feelings, mind, and dhammas^[4]. And after every teaching, the refrain shows up. The refrain is so important that it repeats 13 times in the Satipatthana Sutta.

Let's see if it will allow me to share the entire text here in chat. Oh, it's too long. Not possible to share it in chat. The limitations of YouTube, only 200 characters, and this is almost 700 characters. Maybe what I'll do is read the entire refrain and really try to relate what this teaching is, to decode it for you a little bit. I have to say I have fallen in love with the entire refrain.

Years ago, when I was sitting a retreat on the Satipatthana Sutta with Bhikkhu Analayo^[5], who did his PhD dissertation on the Satipatthana, I fell in love with this instruction. With this one sentence. It was so opening, it was so freeing: this "abiding independent, not clinging to anything in the world." There's a sense of freedom and ease that can be created in the heart and mind, so there is peace and ease to actually engage in the world, to engage and be of service. This phrase doesn't mean that you're aloof and you just go sit in a cave and don't engage. The word says not clinging. There's not a sense of clinging and wanting.

So, I'm actually doing this a little out of order. Let me read the entire refrain: "In this way, in regard to the body, one abides contemplating the body internally, or one abides contemplating the body externally, or one abides contemplating the body internally and externally." What we explored in this teaching is expanding the dimensions. Not just being internal, not just concerned with this self, but also doing the contemplations externally for other beings. So already this refrain is building up the internal and external. If you just landed in the refrain with the last sentence, maybe you're confused, like what does that mean? But be patient.

Already the refrain is setting the frame of internal and external. Self and others, and the world. This contemplation in the first sentence is opening us up so much. It also helps us bring up a sense of objectivity, because we are so stuck in our narrative. We are often so stuck in the way we see the world: "Me, me, me, my, my, my. The way I see is right, this is good, this is bad." That shift in the frame, the perspective of both internal and external, allows an objectivity of impersonality to pop up. Its suffering, its challenge, its beauty, its goodness—it's not "me." There's a sense of openness of heart and perspective that comes from this first sentence of the refrain.

Now, the second sentence. You see how these build up together. We worked with this a couple of days ago: "Contemplating the nature of arising and passing away." With arising and passing away, impermanence, we really get a deep understanding of all things. All things, whether we want them to be or not, arise and pass away, are impermanent. And there's a sense that the heart doesn't cling. It lets go. Already that observation, that practice is opening us up for this statement that we've been sitting with today. Seeing the arising and passing away of all things, the mind doesn't cling. There's a sense of freedom that arises, that one can actually engage or be in the world in a different way. It frees up both insights into emptiness, into wisdom of openness, and wisdom of compassion. As we talked about a couple of days ago, insight into impermanence leads the way, opens one up for awakening. It's required. One cannot access or enter the stream^[6] without a thorough and pure insight into everything arising and passing away. Not just one thing, not just one moment, not just one insight, but the thorough insight into impermanence.

So that second line of the refrain is already opening up to a sense of, "Ah, it's all passing. It's a passing show." This life, this body, everything is a passing show. And it brings up a sense of, "Okay, how to engage?" The answer that comes up is with wisdom and compassion. It doesn't make sense to cling, it doesn't make sense to be hateful. It just doesn't make sense after you've had these insights.

The next phrase we worked with: "Mindfulness that there is a body is established in one to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and continuous mindfulness." We did this yesterday. The idea that the support of bringing in a lexical note—"There is a body, there is a body"—can be so helpful to support this bare knowledge. But just enough. Just enough to have this lexical reminder, so that there's continuous mindfulness. All of these practices together leading to this last sentence here: "One abides independent."

There's a sense of independence from all the things that we hang onto, all the things that we are preoccupied with in an unhelpful way, and not to cling to anything. Again, it's not that you don't do anything after, of course you can have your breakfast and lunch. Listen carefully, read carefully: it doesn't mean not engaging, it says not clinging. There is a different energy to clinging to things in the world. You can actually feel it in your body when you're clinging to something. There is just this tightness, or greed, hatred, and delusion.

Just a couple more things to say to wrap up. It is said that the abiding independently, according to the suttas and Bhikkhu Analayo's analysis, is really the absence of dependency through craving and speculative views. And the "not clinging to anything in the world" is not identifying with the five aggregates^[7] of existence. The five aggregates will come up in a few weeks. You study them with Gil [Fronsdal]^[8] in the mornings, it's coming up as part of the fourth Satipatthana. I'll leave that as a way for your interest to be piqued, like a preview of what is coming up.

All of these practices, especially the refrain, lead to a sense of equipoise, equanimity, and freedom. Not "I"-making and "my"-making. Freedom can arise from fixed views, and it deepens wisdom and compassion to engage with the world from true compassion and love, not from hatred, not from self-views, not from the ways that actually create war and discontent. These are really deep and beautiful teachings.

It is my hope that these five days that we spent together exploring the beauty of the refrain were fruitful. Every part of the sutta can become my favorite, but I am in love with the refrain. It is so beautiful and so sublime, and I hope that I've managed to share a little bit of its significance and how these practices can be awakening and bringing freedom for you in your life. So that you can serve and relate and be engaged in the world, but not clinging.

It's been a delight to serve you and to practice with you this week. Thank you for your wholeheartedness. Thank you for your kindness in listening and practicing together. May you be well. May all beings everywhere be safe, may we be happy, may we be healthy, and may we all have ease and freedom.

Thank you so much for your kind attention. I wish every single one of us well and goodness. Take good care.