--- ai_generation_date: '2026-11-01' ai_model: gemini-3.1-pro-preview ai_prompt_hash: 2d625dd6 audiodharma: talks: - date: '2021-03-12' is_meditation: true mp3_url: https://audiodharma.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/talks/13123/20210312-Gil_Fronsdal-IMC-guided_meditation_53_assurance.mp3 section_slug: guided-meditation-53-assurance speakers: - speaker_name: Gil Fronsdal speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/1 talk_start_time_seconds: 0 title: Guided Meditation (53) Assurance url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/13123 video_unavailable: false collapsed_sections: [] location_city: Redwood City, CA video_unavailable: false youtube: id: 2s722pYcpt8 imprecise_upload_date: '2021-05-04' title: 'Guided Meditation: Assurance' upload_date: null uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s722pYcpt8 --- # Guided Meditation (53) Assurance - [Gil Fronsdal](https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/1) _This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers._ ## [Guided Meditation (53) Assurance](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/13123) Good day, greetings. Here we are at the beginning of our meditation session. There are two things I want to bring forth at the beginning of this meditation, where the overall context, our focus now on this practice of mindfulness of breathing, is samadhi[^1]—the unification of mind, the serenity of mind, the concentration of mind. A very strong association with the deeper concentration in early Buddhism is the idea of assurance. Some translators translate it as self-assurance or confidence. So we are looking for, evoking, resting on, beginning to prioritize, recognize, and provide in us a deep sense of internal assurance. It is an internal confidence that comes along with samadhi, with this unification, but also supports it. Certainly, for many of us, something deep inside in our hearts probably could use a lot of assurance. The world is in big change and has a lot of challenges. To be able to discover a place of deep assurance so that we can let go of our thoughts, our concerns, and our everyday preoccupations—to really let go and discover the tremendous goodness that resides within us—and have that goodness be a resource for how we live our life. That is one thing: assurance. The other is that one of the great analogies or similes the Buddha uses for a particular state of concentration is that of a mountain lake. It is a lake that is not being fed by any water, any rain, or any rivers feeding into it. The only nourishment and replenishment of the lake is an underwater spring, maybe right smack in the middle of the lake. It is an underwater spring with an underwater fountain of water that gets sprayed up and out, filling the lake with new water, fresh water, clean water. There is this idea of there being a source within us, a spring within us that is peacefully, wonderfully flowing, moving, and dynamic. This sense of flow, a vibration of it, an aliveness, a vitality, a joy, an assurance that we are opening to allow for. These two things—assurance and this inner flow of goodness, warmth, energy, and vitality—require something of us. They require us to create the conditions to allow it to fill us, to allow it to live in us. One of the requirements is not being preoccupied by things, not running off to the races, thinking about things, and worrying about things. Certainly, it is difficult to put down our everyday concerns, emotions, and feelings. I acknowledge that. But it is also possible to begin orienting oneself with a level of receptivity, softness, and inner generosity that makes it possible to invite, sense, feel, or receive a kind of assurance, vitality, and aliveness that samadhi is. Samadhi is not this narrow laser focus where we all get tight and contracted, but rather it is an opening and letting go into the bottom of the bowl. It is really being centered here. In that center, maybe somewhere there, you feel more alive and vital. It is a flow of goodness, maybe very subtle. So, assurance and receptivity: a willingness to receive and be here. A willingness to be here, to invite all things to come in and be unified, gathered, and collected here. Taking a meditation posture that, for you, will in some simple way invite goodness, invite nourishment, and invite what is really good and reassuring in you to be here. A posture of assurance. Gently close your eyes and allow yourself to relax in your body so that, with some assurance, your inhale begins and the exhale is allowed. The inhale has the characteristics of this inner spring, this inner lake[^2]—something that arises, flows, moves, and expands through the body. Allow the beginning of the in-breath. Allow all the sensations of breathing in to be received and felt. And then, as you exhale, allow yourself to relax the body. Relax the face, the shoulders, the belly. A kind of relaxation that becomes an invitation for your body to self-organize, for the body to become whole. As you exhale, allow the thinking mind to relax and soften. Adjusting the mind a little bit so the attitude, the way of thinking, the way you are in the mind is kind enough, pleasant enough, friendly enough, soft enough that the mind gathers together. Everything in the mind is welcomed to come into a whole. As you exhale again, settle in. Let go with the exhale deep inside of you to a place, maybe, where there is some assurance, confidence, some place of peace or tranquility. Allowing the whole body to be receptive to the vitality of itself, the physical vitality of life flowing and moving through you. Relaxing into that opening. And then, at the center of it all, steady yourself on your breathing. Breathing in, breathing out. A gentle steadiness with a mind that is softening, quieting. Breathing with inner assurance. Breathing with whatever inner wholesomeness there is, or maybe in some people's language, whatever inner goodness is here. Not that you are thinking about it, but a felt sense, a vitality, an aliveness of goodness, of which the movements of breathing are a part. Instead of counting the breaths today, maybe at every exhale there is a similar thing you can do: a single word to place you into the experience in a receptive, soft, assured way. And maybe you don't say the word with your inner voice, but you do it so quietly that you imagine you are saying it. Every time you exhale, imagine saying "yes." Just "yes" to your experience, to being here, to breathing. To steadying yourself, quieting yourself on the rhythm of breathing in and breathing out. The breathing that occurs within the vitality, the aliveness of your lake. "Yes," on the exhale. "Yes," and letting go of your thoughts. A "yes" that comes with a small, subtle smile, barely perceptibly turning up the corners of your lips. "Yes," of delight. And as we come to the end of this sitting, to find within you a place of assurance, confidence. Even if it is quite small, find the place where there is located within you an embodied expression of confidence, assurance, and breathe with that. Maybe as you exhale, letting go into that assurance, that confidence. A confidence and assurance which the Buddhist tradition associates with peacefulness. And as you are sitting here meditating, maybe with some assurance, peacefulness, and confidence, and without needing to say or do anything for anyone here in the privacy of your own meditation, open your heart and mind to the people around you in the town you live in, the county, the province you live in. The people you will interact with through technology or people you are likely to think about. Just settle back in your assurance and gaze upon these people kindly. Relax back safely in your place of assurance and gaze out. Imagine gazing upon them with goodwill, maybe even imagining what some of their faces would look like if they were happy—the smiles they would have, maybe a little sparkle in their eyes. Imagine how good it would be if they could be happy this way. Let there be inside of you, if you'd like, an attitude and thoughts of goodwill and well-wishing for these people: May they be happy. May they be safe. May they be peaceful. And may they be free. And may you carry with you through the day this private place within, where you have enough assurance and confidence that privately you can gaze upon others, consider and think about others with goodwill and well-wishing for their happiness. And whether you act on it or not is a secondary thing. Allow your inner life at least to have love or care or goodwill for the people around you. They don't have to know. --- [^1]: **Samadhi:** A Pali word typically translated as concentration, unification of mind, or deep meditative absorption. [^2]: Original transcript said "in her leg", corrected to "inner lake" based on context.