--- ai_generation_date: '2026-08-14' ai_model: gemini-3-pro-preview audiodharma: talks: - date: '2020-12-14' mp3_url: https://audiodharma.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/talks/12574/20201214-Gil_Fronsdal-IMC-guided_meditation_the_doorway_of_the_present.mp3 speakers: - speaker_name: Gil Fronsdal speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/1 talk_start_time_seconds: 0 title: 'Guided Meditation: The Doorway of the Present' url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12574 video_unavailable: false location_city: Redwood City, CA video_unavailable: false youtube: id: uqirAvCGtLk imprecise_upload_date: '2021-05-04' title: 'Guided Meditation: The Doorway of the Present' upload_date: null uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqirAvCGtLk --- # Guided Meditation: The Doorway of the Present - [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: The Doorway of the Present](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12574) So a warm hello from Redwood City. I'm happy to begin the week with you this way. As many of you know—all of you know—that the medium for this path, practice of mindfulness, concentration, of compassion, love, that Buddhism emphasizes is the present moment. It isn't that the present moment is the be-all and end-all of practice, but it's the entry point for something quite significant. Some of the greatest experiences or possibilities for peace, for happiness, for love, for joy, for relatedness to others, for compassionate and loving connections to the world is the present moment. There's something special about the present moment, that we can enter into it, or sit in the middle of it, that it allows us to touch into something that's very, very important. That is not possible if we spend a lot of time in rumination, a lot of time thinking about things, even if what we think about seems important—and probably is important sometimes—or whether it's fantasy. Maybe fantasies do provide a certain degree of pleasure, but they are incomparable to the pleasure, happiness, and well-being that can be accessed through really being here in the present moment. To not be ahead of oneself, not be caught in desires of wanting things to be different than the way they are, but to really settle and be here. And so what is it about the present moment that operates as such an important medium, such an important door for the depth of our experience? What is it that we can find here? What is it we can be supported by, and be cared by, and care for? That's the question for this meditation. What is this present moment? What are we connecting to, and why is it so valuable? Are you willing to explore that question? To really be curious and interested in the gift of attention that goes into the present moment, arises out of the present moment. So take a meditation posture and gently close your eyes. This closing of the eyes, for people for whom this works, is the beginning of this process of tuning in to the present moment experience, no matter how mundane it might be. It's the way that we turn our attention to the present moment that is a big part of what makes the present moment special, that opens it to something deep. So turning the attention more fully here, taking a few long, slow, deep breaths. Breathing in, attentive to your present moment experience. Breathing out, aware of your present moment experience. Breathing in deeply in the sensations of the body can ground you in the present moment. Breathing out fully can connect us more fully to the present moment experience of the body. And letting the breathing return to normal. As a support for coming here in the present moment, take a few moments to relax what you can in your body, where the relaxing is a further connecting to what's here and now. Especially what's here and now in the body. Relaxing the face, relaxing the shoulders, perhaps relaxing the arms and the elbows, adjusting your arms a little bit if that helps them be more relaxed. Softening in the area of your heart. And relaxing in the belly. Soft belly. Maybe a belly that relaxes downward and outward. Suddenly, something inside your whole area of your belly settles down into the pelvic cavity—a weight of support and ballast. And perhaps as you exhale, relax the thinking mind. Relax the anxiety to think, the pressure to think. And breathing normally. It isn't the abstract present moment we want to be aware of, it's the direct experience of what we can directly experience, often through the medium of the body. The body is always in the present, and that way the body is a support for you, an anchor here in the present. Becoming aware of how the body experiences breathing. Being aware of breathing while turning on the light of awareness that is shining on the present moment. The awareness is not pulled into the world of thinking, rumination, or fantasy, but is attuned to the direct experience of the present breathing. Giving yourself over to the simplicity of breathing. It doesn't have to be complicated, but staying aware of the rhythm of breathing, right from the beginning of the in-breath to the end of the out-breath. Just breathing here and now. Whatever might be happening for you, be aware of it as present moment experience. Really just what's happening now, here and now. In these minutes that you're meditating, in a sense, you're forgiven of all the things you've done in the past, and you're freed from all the things you have to do in the future. You're allowed for these few minutes to just be alive, breathing here in the present moment. You're allowed to put aside your concerns, your fantasies, to let that active part of the mind relax and settle. To just be here in the simplicity of direct experience, not needing to figure anything out. Maybe just being attuned to the body breathing. The present moment is a radical time out. Time out from the past, the future. Time out from concerns which are not here and now. A time out so that you can really enter the time now. Time out so you can be _time in_, here and now. And one of the opportunities of the present moment is to feel the kind of inner movements of tenderness of the heart, of care, that is known as compassion. A warm, forgiving, caring[^1] tenderness that can be for oneself, or can radiate through this being of ours. The present moment is a doorway for developing compassion, one of the great treasures of the human heart. And how is it that you experience compassion? What is your way? What is it like to experience compassion when the mind is quiet, the heart is quiet? When there's a stillness of the body, so there aren't so many thoughts and feelings and body movements that distract from an inner quality of care, compassion, loving sympathy. And sometimes it's the compassion we have that enables a deeper connection to the present moment, a present moment which is paradoxically not troubled by anything, at ease in the sweetness of holding ourselves, holding all things in tender compassion. And as we come to the end of the sitting, to have the present moment be an opening of the heart, of the mind, to reflect on all the beings of this world, and all the suffering of this world, and to have your compassion open outwards as a force that extends itself, that spreads itself, that reaches out to touch all beings. Rather than the suffering of all beings coming to touch us and trouble us, we extend ourselves towards all suffering as a loving force to quiet the flames of suffering, the fever of suffering. May the extension of our compassion and love help cool the fevers of the world, the fevers of greed and hatred and delusion[^2], the fevers of suffering. May all beings be free of suffering. May all beings be free of the agitation, any agitation from their difficulties. May all beings experience the absence of hostility directed to them, the absence of our hostility. May all beings experience full peace. May all beings be happy. May all beings know that they are cared for by others, that people do care. May all beings everywhere be happy. --- [^1]: Original transcript said "carrying," corrected to "caring" based on context. [^2]: **Greed, Hatred, and Delusion:** Often referred to in Buddhism as the "Three Poisons" or "Three Unwholesome Roots," these are considered the primary causes of suffering and the obstacles to awakening.