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Guided Meditation: Awareness Established in the Body

Hello and welcome to this morning's meditation, in the hope that it's helpful for some of you. It is useful in doing mindfulness meditation to shift the language from mind to body. So rather than mindfulness, think of it as bodyfulness. We limit ourselves in meditation if we think it's all about the mind, and that it's just the mind that knows and navigates what's there, as if it's in a control tower somewhat removed from the body.

There's a lot of benefit to being rooted in the body, established in the body in the sense of being stable in a body awareness. The way the body is aware, the field of sensations in the body creates a kind of field of awareness, rather than awareness arising out of the mind as a mental phenomenon of the brain. Awareness is centered in the body, flows out of the body, and is a field of attention.

The advantage of being rooted in the body's experience of itself is that it's possible to find a way to be in the body that creates a feeling of stability and rootedness, where there's a clear presence that may even have some strength to it. An intentionality of presence that may be expressed through the intentionality of the posture. Maybe you adjust your posture, maybe you don't. But somehow, the posture is clearly a place within which we establish our awareness of the body. Not just awareness of the body, but the body's awareness—the way we can know and feel.

So, assuming a meditation posture, gently closing the eyes. Maybe swaying back and forth a little bit. Feeling the contact of your body against whatever surface it's touching, that's holding your weight. And come to stillness, feeling the contact against that surface. Feeling the meeting of your weight and the surface.

Taking a few deeper, fuller breaths. As you do so, let the expanding body of the inhale include a kind of pressure downward into the surface that's holding you. Making contact with it, almost like you're putting down roots there. And as you exhale, settle in, settle around that rootedness, that groundedness.

Letting your breathing return to normal. From some feeling of being grounded or rooted in the place you're meditating, let that feeling of being stable and grounded expand out through your torso. Maybe feeling the weight of your torso, and the way it appears throughout the torso. Feeling the shifting and changing sensations of the torso that highlight or provide a feeling of stability and steadiness. Maybe somewhere in the spine, maybe somewhere in the belly, or maybe around the diaphragm. Feeling in the torso where there is stability or a feeling of being established here and now. Even a little bit of solidity or stillness that holds up or is the center of all things that are shifting and changing.

As you breathe in and breathe out, as the torso expands and contracts, maybe the companion to the shifting, changing sensations of breathing is some feeling of stability, rootedness in the body. Awareness established in the body. This highlights the shifting, changing breathing, and the shifting, changing sensations of breathing highlight the stability.

As we approach the end of the sitting, feel now whatever stability you have in your body and in your posture. Notice if there might be some strength of presence, where your attention is rooted in the body. From there, you can know what's happening without being what's happening. You might notice thoughts, but you're not living in the thoughts, being the thinker. You might know your feelings, but you're not the feeler. Rather, you're the one who has stable awareness that can know everything else, as if it's around you, but it is not you.

This stable presence and awareness needs no definition. It need not be associated with any of your identities. It is a stable awareness, rooted in the body, that gives you a glimpse of what it's like to be free. Free in relationship to everything that's going on around, beyond the edges of that stability. This stable presence and awareness established in your body is not a retreating from the world, and it is not a leaning into the world. It is the middle way^[1] in which we are present for this world. Present in such a way that our kindness, our care has a feeling of freedom in it.

With stable awareness and freedom, we can wish well for the whole world. May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free. And may our ability to have stable presence, rooted attention in our body, be the ground from which we offer friendship, safety, peace, and freedom to the people we meet.

Dharmette: Nuns' Poems (4 of 5) Punna

Hello and welcome to this fourth talk where I'm reading poems from the ancient Buddhist nuns from the Therigatha^[2].

Today's poem is by Punna^[3]. The name Punna also means "full." There is an earlier one-verse poem in the Therigatha—perhaps it's the same Punna, perhaps a different one—where there is wordplay with her name. She is given the instructions, "Be full of wholesome states. Be full of good qualities."

In this poem, Punna is a servant, perhaps almost a slave, who works for a mistress. She is sent to fetch water from the river. There was no running water back then, so going to the river to get water and bringing it back was a regular daily event. To do this, she would have to go deep enough into the river where the water was clear, fill up her water jugs, and then carry them back.

In this poem, she encounters a Brahmin^[4] who is going down to the river to bathe in a ritual purification. In ancient India—and still to this day—there was this idea that by bathing in sacred rivers, you can purify yourself of all your evil karma^[5], all the bad you have done. This is likely one of the reasons [Laughter] that even today in the Ganges River, people will immerse the bodies of loved ones who have died. If you go outside Varanasi in a boat, sometimes you see these bodies floating by. It is a last purification, I suppose.

Punna comes down to the river to get water, sees this Brahmin, and engages him in conversation. It is a quite engaging conversation because of the hierarchical status distinction between the two of them. He is a high-class Brahmin, part of the religious elite of the times, and she is a lowly servant. She questions what he is doing there, and she is very direct with him.

She begins, "I am a water carrier. When it is cold, I always have to go down to the water. I am terrified of punishment from my mistress; I am frightened of angry words. But, Brahmin, what do you fear that you always go down to the water, too? With limbs trembling, experiencing piercing cold?"

The Brahmin says, "Indeed, Lady Punna, I know what you ask. I am doing wholesome karma and preventing the consequence of the evil I have done." He is treating her with respect, calling her "Lady Punna." He provides a very clear, succinct reason why he's doing it. He's done evil. He's done bad things, and this is how he cleanses himself. He continues, "Whether young or old, whoever does evil karma is freed of evil karma through purification in water." He replies in a straightforward, simple way to her question.

She answers in a way that would probably be riveting for an ancient audience listening to this poem being recited. "What know-nothing told a know-nothing that one is freed of evil karma through purification in water?" To call a Brahmin—who is educated, highly learned, knows the rituals, knows the ancient texts, and is among the most educated people in the society—a "know-nothing," that's quite a statement.

She goes on to make the point that maybe water doesn't purify. "Frogs and turtles, water snakes, crocodiles, and other water dwellers, will they go to heaven? Because they live in the water, they're constantly being pure, and they're going to get a good rebirth? Those who butcher sheep and pigs, those who fish and hunt, thieves, executioners, and others who do evil, would they also be freed of evil karma through purification in water?" It's a ridiculous idea that water creatures would be purified. But if the water purifies, then it must be the case. And then some of the people that in the ancient world, at least the Buddhist world, are considered the most evil—just going to water is not enough to deal with their bad karma. Would they be purified, too?

She continues, "If the river carries away the evil you have done, then it would also carry away your merit. You would then be out of both." If the river has the power to take away evil karma, then certainly it would take away your merit, too.

"What you do that brings you fear, that brings you down to the water, Brahmin, don't do it. Then cold water won't shock your skin." "Don't do it" is her message. Rather than keep getting purified by the river and continuing with your evil actions, simply don't do it.

I imagine this poem was like a play and that there were two different people speaking the parts. At this point, you'd see him wake up, delighted, like a light bulb went off. He says, "I entered a bad path. You've led me to the noble path. Dear lady, I offer you my purification cloak." It's the robe he wears into the river.

[Laughter] And Punna says, "If you fear suffering, if you dislike suffering, go for refuge to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha^[6], and maintain virtuous conduct. This will be for your benefit." She doesn't accept the cloak. She continues, instructing him on what he should really be doing: "Go for refuge and maintain virtuous conduct. Don't do anything evil."

And in the Brahmin, a second light bulb goes off. He says, "I go for refuge to the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. I will maintain virtuous conduct. This will be for my benefit. Formerly, I was a descendant of Brahma. Today, I become a true Brahmin. I am now a person of wisdom, learning, and the three knowledges^[7]. Now, I have truly bathed."

He is claiming all the things that he was supposed to have acquired through his Brahmanical training—the wisdom, the learning, and the three knowledges. This was the Brahmanical ideal. He has attained it through the simple teaching from Punna that you are purified by your own actions, not by the river. The three knowledges here might refer to knowledge of the Buddha, Dhamma, and the Sangha, because he's not fully enlightened yet.

So, a low-class, maybe outcast woman goes down to the river every day. A Brahmin also goes down to the river every day. They get to know each other or see each other, and she finally asks him this question. Here is the uninterrupted poem:

Punna: "I am a water carrier. When it is cold, I always have to go down to the water. I am terrified of punishment from my masters. I am frightened of angry words. Brahmin, what do you fear that you always go down to the water with limbs trembling, experiencing piercing cold?"

Brahmin: "Indeed, Lady Punna, I know what you ask. I am doing wholesome karma and preventing the consequence of evil I have done. Whether young or old, whoever does evil karma is freed of evil karma through purification in water."

Punna: "What know-nothing told a know-nothing that one is freed of evil karma through purification in water? Frogs and turtles, water snakes and crocodiles, and other water dwellers—will they go to heaven, too? Those who butcher sheep and pigs, those who fish and hunt, thieves, executioners, and others who do evil—would they also be freed from evil karma through purification in water? If this river carries away the evil you have done, then it would also carry away your merit. You would then be out of both. What you do that brings you fear, that brings you down to the water, Brahmin, don't do it. Then cold water won't shock your skin."

Brahmin: "I entered a bad path. You led me to the noble path. Dear lady, I offer you my purification cloak."

Punna: "If you fear suffering, if you dislike suffering, go for refuge to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, and maintain virtuous conduct. Then this will be for your benefit."

Brahmin: "I go for refuge to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. I will maintain virtuous conduct. This will be for my benefit. Formerly, I was a descendant of Brahma. Today, I've become a true Brahmin. I'm now a person of wisdom, learning in the three knowledges. Now, I have truly bathed."

This is one of the specialties of Buddhism. But it isn't just Buddhism; other Indian religions do this, too. They emphasize that what is really important is your conduct, how you live. For the Buddha, he said elsewhere that this is where you bathe. You bathe in your conduct. Do good conduct, and you get good results. Do bad conduct, you get bad results. Bathe in the right river—the river of your conduct.

Closing Remarks

Thank you. I hope you enjoyed these poems from the ancient world for one more day. For those of you who live locally here, close to Redwood City, I'm going to do again what I did last week. At 4:00 today, we're going to have a sitting and then some tea and discussion, sitting around in a circle. That is from 4:00 to 5:15. Thank you all.