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: Effortless Effort

Good morning, or for some of you it might be afternoon or evening, but wherever you are and whatever time it is, even if it's sometime in the future you're listening to this recorded, I'm sending warm wishes your way. It's such a wonderful thing to be able to practice together, to practice with others. For me, it is very meaningful, so a really warm welcome, a warm welcome wherever you are.

So before we formally settle in, or maybe it's part of the settling in process for our meditation, it can be really helpful to set our intention. Why are we practicing? Not in a heavy-handed way, not in a way that feels oppressive, but in a manner that feels supportive, just to do a brief reflection: why are we doing this meditation thing anyway?

It might be something like, "I'm engaging in this practice so that I might discover more freedom, so that I might discover more ease. So that I might understand myself better. So that I might feel better. So that I might develop or cultivate a refuge, a respite, get re-energized in some way." Whatever the reason might be, it can be helpful to periodically just reflect on that, to put it into context of why we do this practice.

And to be sure, sometimes it feels too clunky and awkward to do this reflection, and what feels most natural and useful is just to sit. There might be times in which doing this reflection can be a real support, can help bring us to the cushion and, when we're on the cushion, to help us stay there, so to speak. "I am engaging in this practice because I wish to have access to more and more freedom."

And then, as we begin to get settled, just taking a moment to see how the body feels, having a general sense of how you are right now. Tuning in to the experiences of this moment. Having the intention to bring awareness to this moment.

I'm sure, as many of you know, the body can be a tremendous support for feeling settled, tuning in to this moment rather than the memories of the past or fantasies of the future. So, as you settle in, you might notice any sensations that are present in the body.

Maybe feeling the pressure of the chair, the cushion, the bench, the bed, the couch. Feeling the pressure of whatever it is that you're sitting on against the body. Or if you're lying down, whatever you're laying on, lying on. And getting a sense of how the body feels in general, maybe a little bit in particular with the pressure against the body, and more in general.

Sometimes we bring a lot of effort and expectation to what we're doing, whether it's in our daily life or in our meditation practice. And this kind of effort is often motivated by wanting and striving. Can we soften any of those kinds of movements, wanting, striving, and practice in a way that feels relaxed? A certain amount of ease that feels sustainable. And of course, this doesn't mean cavalier or half-hearted, but with ease and purpose.

You might notice the relative ease of simply feeling the pressure points in the body, feeling the chair or cushion against the body. Simply inclining the mind actually takes very little effort. Feeling whatever the hands are touching, inclining the mind in that direction.

We might think of awareness as having a receptive quality; it's more about receiving the experiences rather than going out and getting them. Receiving the experiences of breathing, feeling the sensations associated with the movement of the chest or the belly, or the sensations coming in through the nose.

In this way, we might notice what we sometimes call effortless effort. There's a certain effortlessness in receiving sensations. But maybe there's a little bit of effort in setting the intention, setting that direction. The intention to be aware of the sensations of breathing or perhaps the sensations in the body more generally, without grabbing onto them, without clinging or pushing away or pulling in.

And it's natural that our minds will wander. We just very simply, gently begin again. No need to make it a problem, wish it were different, chastise ourselves. We just begin again.

This is part of the art of practice. It's just having enough intention, a little bit of effort but not too much, to be going a particular direction without a strong sense that "I should be there by now." To find the middle way between aimlessness and drivenness. Between being disconnected and being tightly bound. The middle way between no effort whatsoever and extreme effort.

And to recognize and appreciate that the middle way can be different every moment. Letting go of the idea that there's one perfect middle way that we just have to find and then we can relax. We're always finding the middle way. Allowing the experiences to show themselves rather than pouncing on them.

And part of our reflection of why we practice can be not only to support our own lives, finding more freedom, finding more ease, but the lives of others. So that we can be a factor, an element of good in this world. That we can help others find more ease, more freedom. So that we practice for the benefit of all beings everywhere.

The Power of Reflection

So again, a really warm welcome to everybody, wherever you might be, whomever you might be.

Today I'd like to talk a little bit about a brief sutta, maybe not talk so much about the sutta itself, but something in there that the Buddha says. He says there are two powers. Two powers—in some ways it even feels powerful to even talk about two powers. Some of you might know that there's this list of the Five Powers^[1] that is pretty much exactly the same as the Five Faculties, and that's not what I'm talking about.

This idea of two powers, we might think, "Well, what is meant by this word power?" We could consider it's the ability to do something or to act in a particular way, to have a certain amount of power. You might also think that the word "strength" is there. And this word in Pali, bala^[2], that's getting translated as power, some translators use this word strength. Two strengths, two powers. We might also think that power or strength is the ability to influence. Influence ourselves, make ourselves do things, or influence others.

We might also think of powers, like you know something is powerful when it really touches us, when it moves us. We often talk about powerful movies, books, Dharma talks, when it affects some change or some experience in somebody. So power is also to maybe touch somebody, whether it's ourselves or others. And to be sure, power can also have negative uses and connotations: the oppression of people, injustice, these terrible things. And that's not what I'm talking about. The Buddha here is talking about power—maybe strength is a better word.

I was reflecting, "What about this word power, why would the Buddha talk about power?" And I thought, well maybe it's because it's to counteract this idea of powerlessness. Sometimes we begin a meditation practice, we begin any spiritual practice because we have this feeling of powerlessness in a way that takes the wind out of our sails, so to speak. Or maybe we feel stuck and like we can't find our way. We can't make ourselves, quote unquote, do what we know should be done. So maybe it's an antidote or counteracts something about this feeling of powerlessness. Maybe also this word power is kind of associated with the idea, the experience of being empowered, to feel, to have the capacity to affect change, to do something, to have some agency.

So the Buddha talked about these two powers, and what are they? One is the power of reflection, and the second is the power of cultivation. Sometimes we might think like, "Oh really? I was hoping it'd be something a little bit more inspiring than reflection and cultivation." But we might use these two powers, these two strengths. The power of reflection, we might consider it something like choosing a trail on a map, a hiking trail that we want to go on, and that's the reflection: where do I want to go? And then while we're on that trail, like while we're hiking, to reflect: "Am I on the trail? Am I on the right trail?" For some reason, my map reading skills are not the best, so I'm often wondering, "Am I on the right trail?" So just this reflection. And then cultivation might be the actual going on the trail, the actual walking it, a little bit of effort required there. So the strengths of reflection and cultivation: "Where do I want to go and am I going there?" That's the reflection. And the cultivation is just going.

The Power of Cultivation

I'll just say a few words about the second one, cultivation, first, because I think that this is something that we're familiar with, and there's probably been countless Dharma talks about cultivation. Especially in this tradition, there's a real emphasis on this sense of development. And to be sure, the suttas are filled with the Buddha talking about developing and cultivating our ethical actions, our integrity, how we show up in the world. We can never be too ethical, like that doesn't even exist. So to reflect on "Is this the right thing to do? What is the right thing to do?" and to do the right thing. So to cultivate our sensitivity to ethics, and then to do the ethical thing. The Buddha also talked about cultivating a steady mind. That's why we have a meditation practice, to help the mind be steady or settled so that we might see things more clearly, so that we might understand things more clearly.

And also, there's to cultivate a warm heart. The Brahmavihāra^[3] practice, so that we can increase our capacity with difficulties. If we have some Brahmavihāras, some love, some compassion, joy, happiness when others are happy, it's an equanimity. Some steadiness when things aren't going the way that we expected, or even though we might love somebody dearly, we of course can't force them to do what we think is the most helpful, so to have some equanimity. And more specifically, the Buddha also talked about cultivating the Seven Factors of Awakening^[4]. I'm not going to talk about these this morning, but many of you know: mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration, and wisdom.

So in some ways, the power of cultivation for our practice is not that different than an agricultural simile or agricultural metaphor. We don't make plants grow, they grow themselves, but we create the conditions, helping them with water, with sun, fertilizer, or a good quality soil. So in the same way, cultivation is about creating the conditions and recognizing that we don't make these things happen; we just put the conditions in place as best we can.

The Power of Reflection

So that's one of the powers: cultivation. Just to remind you of probably what you've heard in many different Dharma talks. Now I'd like to talk a little bit more about this idea of the power of reflection, because sometimes it's easy to be dismissive of this capacity that humans have to reflect.

So what does it mean to reflect? Maybe one way to think about it is to put our experience, whatever it is that we're having, into a larger context. And importantly, to do it in a warm-hearted way. So not only are we putting our experience in a larger context, seeing the bigger picture, but we're not doing that in such a way that it creates the conditions for us to beat ourselves up. We don't want to activate this inner critic or to have this oppressive feeling like, "I should be this way, that should be that way," or whatever it might be, because this reflection loses its power if it's coupled with this heavy oppressive sense of how things should be.

But instead, can we just have this gentle inquiry, this reflection: "Does what I'm doing right now support my life? Does it support my practice? Is it going in the direction that I want my life and my practice to go?" Not in a heavy-handed and not in a clunky, awkward way, but just to periodically check in. Some practices have this idea of "check the attitude," so maybe in the same way we can check in. Our attitude often has an effect that we don't see if we don't notice it.

Of course, if we want to eat better, more vegetables, whatever it might be, we could just periodically reflect while we're eating, opening up that bag of cookies, "Does this support my life, this direction I want to go?" In the same way with our practice with ethics, our practice with steadying the mind or cultivation of some warm-heartedness. "Just the way that I'm speaking with others, does the way that I'm approaching my meditation practice, does this support my life, does it support my practice?"

And so one way we can do this is to reflect on our reason for practicing. Why do we have a meditation practice? Why do we work on our ethical practice, the way we show up in the world, interact with others? When we know why we're doing something, it can be a tremendous support. It helps us put it in that bigger context and helps us to know which direction we're going. What is the purpose? What do you want to experience, what do you want to have more of in your life, or what would you like to understand better, or what would you like to penetrate more deeply, or what would you like to open yourself up to, or maybe what would you like to touch more intimately in your experiences?

Again, to have this reflection in a way that is in a relaxed, easy manner, and not in a way that is a disguised inner critic. But just to have some clarity of the direction we're going.

And this idea of periodically reflecting on the purpose of why we're doing this, there's a story that's told by John C. Maxwell about a person who sees some bricklayers who are working, perhaps you've heard this story. This person goes up to the first bricklayer and says, "What are you doing?" And the person responds, "I'm laying bricks." Okay, simple enough. And then the person goes up to the second bricklayer and asks, "What are you doing?" And the second bricklayer says, "I'm putting up a wall." Okay, so a little bit bigger context. There's a purpose for what the bricklayer is doing. But then the person goes up to the third bricklayer and asks, "What are you doing?" And the third bricklayer says, "I'm building a cathedral."

Even a bigger context, in a way that feels inspiring. So we can say that maybe the first bricklayer, and it might be completely appropriate at times to just notice "I'm just putting one brick here" and not have to go to the bigger context, but just to have this here. But there also could be a way in which that feels, it could be a little bit half-hearted: "I'm just laying bricks," you know, without a sense of purpose or a sense of direction in which they're going. It could feel like it's never-ending and it doesn't matter the quality or how I do it.

To the second bricklayer that's talking about building a wall, maybe they want to have a sense of completion. If there's a succinct or defined objective that they have, they can say, "Okay, well I'm going to stay with laying bricks until this wall is built."

But then the third bricklayer, this idea of building a cathedral, there's a way in which the bricklayer might put their whole heart into the practice. They feel inspired that they're part of this big beautiful thing that will be of service to others, service to themselves, can help others connect to the divine perhaps.

So to reflect on occasion, what is the purpose of what we're doing? And to recognize that how we answer it might affect the attitude in which we're approaching what we're doing. So not only setting the direction in terms of where we're going, but also influencing the attitude, whether we're doing it wholeheartedly or maybe we could say cavalierly or casually, or whether we're just bringing ourselves to it and feeling inspired and open to the possibilities, like this third bricklayer.

So maybe I'll just say that there's a story of somebody who wanted to lose weight, a significant amount of weight, a lot of weight. And this person did, and then was sharing with others how he had done it and some of his secrets. And when he was asked why he had done it in the first place, he tells the story that he wanted to fit into a Star Wars costume, like a really serious Star Wars costume, you know, one that might have actually been used on the Star Wars set. He wanted to be thin enough so that he could fit into one of those costumes of a character. I don't remember the character's name. And the reason why he wanted to fit into one of those character costumes is because his nephew, a young child, had cancer and was being treated for cancer. He wanted to show up in this Star Wars uniform for the birthday party that was coming up for this little boy that had cancer.

Somehow that feels inspiring, and we can imagine that it's so much easier to do something that is difficult if we have a purpose and if we're imagining that it could really benefit somebody. So this is something that we might use as a support for our own meditation practice, because let's be honest, sometimes it's not easy to get to the cushion. Or if we do get to the cushion, the mind and the body are feeling restless and it's not so easy to stay on the cushion. But having a reflection of why we're doing this, and to have the "why" be something that allows us to have an attitude of open-heartedness, wholeheartedness, can be really powerful. It can be a power to support us in our practice.

The Art of Practice

But this idea of a reflection not only can help support why we're doing something, but it also can help us discover if the way that we're practicing is going to help us go the direction we wish to go. Recognizing that the goal and the means are so interrelated.

Do we have the goal to have more freedom? Then is the way that we're practicing a way that brings freedom into our practice, a certain amount of ease? Or is there a constricted sense of "I have to do this, I should do this"? If the goal, the direction we're heading, the purpose is to understand things more clearly, understand ourselves, then are we meeting each moment with a sense of curiosity and openness? "Oh, what's this?" Or do we have a sense of just noting and going off to the next thing because we have to get to understanding and "I'm not going to bother with the sensations in my body, with the cushion, or the sound, or whatever it is"?

So to reflect on the way in which we are practicing and to recognize that the means and the goal are intimately tied together, and so is the manner in which we're practicing supportive? This brings this idea of the art of practice, coupling these two notions, that is maybe discovering the middle way between having some clarity about why we are practicing, the direction we're going, and allowing the practice to unfold. Finding the middle way between having this idea, "We wanted it to go here," but not forcing it to go there. Not making it, not white-knuckling our way through, not using a sledgehammer with our practice, but instead creating the conditions in which the practice can unfold. So this is really the art of practice.

Maybe it's not going the direction that we think we would like it to go, that we have set as our purpose, but at the same time we could see, "Oh, there's some understanding here, there's some freedom here, there's some ease here." And the way it's unfolding, I didn't think it was going to unfold this way, it wasn't my preference for it to unfold this way, but I can bring the direction I want to go into this moment. This really is the art of practice, having an intention, having a direction, and allowing it to unfold. And finding this middle way is something that we do over and over again in practice.

So we can even reflect on our relationship between this idea of doing, "I have to make things go a particular way," and being, just allowing things to be. You could just do a general reflection: which do we feel more comfortable with? Doing, making things happen, or being, just allowing things? And to recognize that practice requires both, a certain amount of doing, a certain amount of being. And are we privileging one over the other, or are we not even recognizing that there are times for both?

So part of our reflection can be on this balance between doing and being. I'm using "doing" and "being" as generic words about the amount of effort that's being applied, or maybe even the amount of self that's having a sense of agency of one who is making things happen. So that could be another reflection, this balance. What are our ideas of how practice works, like what propels or moves practice forward towards greater and greater ease, greater freedom and understanding? To reflect on our conceptions, our assumptions about the amount of effort that might be needed.

And then of course, to reflect on the potential and the actual consequences of our actions, all of our actions. Reflection can be enormously powerful if we are reflecting, "Is this going to cause harm? For myself, for others, for both? Might this be harmful?" Of course, we don't know everything, but we can just do a quick reflection, "Is there a way in which this might unfold and that it's harmful?"

I think many of us have heard this story where the Buddha is teaching his son Rāhula^[5] to reflect before, during, and after every action of body, speech, and mind. "Is this for harm? Will it harm myself? Will it harm others? Or will it harm both myself and others?" And of course, if it's going to cause harm, we don't do it. And of course, there will be times in which we are mistaken; we didn't think it was going to cause harm and then it ends up causing harm, and then we make amends as best we can and move forward.

So this power of reflection, of where we're going, this attitude that we have towards going there, including our relationship between being and doing, this can be such a fruitful place to reflect. To recognize whether we have a preference for one or the other, but rather than having to choose like, "Oh I should always make things happen," or "No it's just about allowing," can we recognize that part of navigating, part of balancing, part of finding the middle way is to have a little bit of being, a little bit of doing at the right time in the right dose? And then, of course, to reflect on the consequences of any action we might have.

So when we think about it this way, you could see why the Buddha talked about the power of reflection. Can you imagine if there was no reflection? None of those considerations. It was just mindlessly, so to speak, doing anything and everything willy-nilly. Allowing ourselves to be pushed around by our preferences or pushed around by what others are saying or what we're experiencing at that moment.

So instead, the power of reflection and the power of cultivation, these two powers allow our lives and our practice to unfold in a way that not only don't harm ourselves or harm others, but might benefit ourselves and benefit others. So that we might be a force of good in this life and in this world that needs it. We need all the good.

Thank you very much.