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Guided Meditation: Relax and Receive

Greetings, Sangha. Greetings. Lovely to be with you in this moment in time and to practice together.

So, we will continue our explorations of tools that are supportive and helpful in developing samadhi^[1], concentration. It is often translated as settling, unifying, or collecting the mind. "Calm abiding" is another translation that I favor over concentration.

One supportive tool, one supportive consideration for collecting and settling the mind, is collecting, settling, and relaxing the body. Often, one invitation that I like people to drop in if they're practicing, if they're trying to cultivate the settling mind, is: relax and receive. Relax and receive.

In terms of wise engagement—which we'll talk about today and also partially tomorrow with respect to samadhi... And I don't like to use the word "effort"—"wise effort" I like to translate as, and use, "engagement," another E-word. Because effort naturally brings up the sense of effort, tightening, tightening of the brow: "I'm trying to get concentrated!" That's not really the idea. That's not how it works. It's more: I relax the body to be relaxed, and to receive—to receive the breath, to be with the breath.

Yesterday, we talked about the joy of the present moment, tuning into the simplicity of the joy of the present moment while relinquishing what is not helpful. We talked about that the first day on Monday. Relinquishing and tuning into the joy, especially of the present moment, becomes possible when the body is relaxed, when the body is in a receptive mode. Hence, the mind becomes more relaxed; the mind is in a more receptive mode.

So let's begin. Let's practice together.

Let us arrive. Let us arrive in this moment, in this posture, whether sitting, lying down, or standing. And inviting the body to let go, to soften, to relax. Our body is not separate from the mind; the embodied mind.

Inviting our hands, bringing awareness to the hands, inviting them to relax and give their weight to the earth. As we caress our hands with our attention, our awareness—internally sensing, feeling the sensations, and putting down the weight.

Moving up to the arms, to the shoulders. Softening. Relaxing.

As if the hands, the arms, the shoulders, and the neck are being breathed. They're receiving the breath. They're being breathed, and with each out-breath, these areas of the body settle on their own. Relax on their own. They know how to do this. Effort is not needed.

With each exhale, softening, letting go.

Feeling, sensing the face. The forehead, muscles of the forehead. The jaw, the eyes, muscles behind the eyes, all the muscles in the face. As if they too are receiving the in-breath, exhaling with the out-breath, relaxing on their own. Muscles of the face know how to do this. Trust. Trust.

Moving down from the neck to the chest. The chest receives the breath. This body receives the breath, and with the exhale, it knows how to relax, to let go. To relinquish what is not helpful.

The heart, the heart center. Softening, relaxing emotions and feelings. Exhaling.

Moving down to the abdomen. Enlivened, receiving the breath. The abdomen, the lower abdomen. It knows how to receive the in-breath and how to exhale—letting go, relaxing. Offering its weight to the earth with each exhale.

And so to the sit bones, making contact with the cushion, with the chair, with the earth. Receiving the breath, releasing their weight at the out-breath.

And the upper legs, lower legs, and feet. Feeling the contact points with the earth. Enlivened with the in-breath, and exhaling with the out-breath. This body, exhaling with the out-breath.

Every cell, every nook and cranny of this body, the entire body receiving the in-breath on its own. Relaxedly receiving the soft, natural in-breath, not forced. And relaxing, softening, exhaling. The body receiving the exhale.

Relax and receive. Relaxed and receiving.

If you notice tightness or contraction has arisen anywhere in the body, it's often a sign—it often corresponds to contraction in the mind. Relinquishing what's not helpful in the mind, and in the body, relaxing. Letting go of the contraction in the body, the tightness.

Being aware of the joy. Simplicity. Joy in the simplicity of this moment. The gift of just sitting and being breathed. Amazing. Amazing.

Relaxing and receiving. The breath, the sensations of the breath.

Relax and receive. Relaxing the mind, the heart, the body. Receiving the breath.

And for the last moment of this practice period... whatever arose or did not arise during this sit—whether the mind was unsettled, sleepy, etc.—relaxing, releasing any thoughts, any judgments, self-criticism. Letting go, not needed.

Relaxing, letting go of what's not helpful. And receiving. Receiving your own goodness. Your own goodness that you showed up, as best as you possibly could given all the causes and conditions, and gave yourself as best as you could as an offering. Made an offering to cultivation. As if you put yourself, your heart, on the altar of humanity: "Here I am, cultivating peace, settledness, goodness for my own benefit, the benefit of others, and the whole world."

Receiving the goodness of that. Trusting there is goodness generated, and putting it on the altar, sharing it with all beings everywhere with generosity. Sharing our goodness, may it be a cause and condition for peace, for ease, for the freedom of all beings everywhere.

Thank you for your practice.

Samadhi (3/5) Relaxed Body, Receptive Awareness

So, continuing with the theme of samadhi.

And just to say that the themes we are exploring this week, they are not so much from a list. As you know, there are so many lists in Buddhism; the Buddha loved lists. My mind thinks in lists, it creates lists. But what we're exploring—these different supporting conditions, what I like to call supporting conditions—aren't necessarily from one set list of seven of these or five of that. These are more collected tools from the different lists and from my own practice over the years.

Some of you may know that the practice of samadhi, samatha^[2], and the jhānas^[3] have been a primary part of my practice over the years, having practiced with Pa-Auk Sayadaw^[4], who is a Burmese master of concentration, my primary teacher. So these are many supporting conditions that I have figured out in my own practice, and also supporting many others in their practice of developing samadhi—concentration, calm, settling the mind. And I've collected them into a list for myself. So there may not be a canonical list where you'll find all of these numbered together, just as a footnote to bring that in.

Exploring today, as a continuation of what we explored the last couple of days: the first day, relinquishment, renunciation of what is not helpful, what's not necessary—one side of the coin. The other one being turning to, tuning to the joy of the present moment, the simplicity. That it's lovely here, no need to go out and think and be distracted. We can be so softly cocooned in the delicious simplicity of the present moment, the joy of the present moment. This other supportive condition today that supports them all—and they all interact with one another, actually—is relaxing and receiving. This relaxed awareness.

And I've found that to be very, very important compared to an awareness that is like a fork trying to stab a piece of broccoli. "Okay, where's the broccoli? Okay, where's the breath? Where is... okay, where's the thought? Okay, okay, okay." Instead of that kind of awareness, which can tighten the body and tighten the mind, and the body cannot be in a receptive way to relax and actually experience the peace, the settling of calm, of unification. Instead, to imagine awareness—I guess continuing with that simile—as a spoon that is gathering, collecting soup. Oh, it's receiving the soup. It's kind of concave, yes. It's not going out to stab: "Okay, breath, this... oh, okay got it." It's receiving. Receiving, receiving. So this receptive quality.

The Buddha talks about this receptive quality of mindfulness, of awareness, of sati^[5]. There are different modes to awareness. In Majjhima Nikaya 19^[6], the Buddha talks about the cowherd. When the cowherd is sitting on the top of the hill before the harvest, and the cows are in the field, the cowherd needs to be really, really vigilant and make sure the cows do not go and trample what hasn't been harvested yet. That's one mode.

And then there's another mode, where the harvest has happened, and the cowherd on the top of the hill is aware of the cows. "Yeah, they're there. Yep, yep." And yet, that same sense of vigilance is not needed. There is a different mode of sati, of mindfulness, when the fields have already been plowed. So the cows can go into the fields, it's okay, as long as they don't go too far afield. But there's a sense of relaxing under the tree watching the cows.

There's a relaxed, relaxing, and receiving mode to sati, to awareness in this way, which can be very helpful for developing concentration, developing samadhi. And I'll talk tomorrow more about ātāpī^[7], about coming back, about persistence, which together with this relaxed awareness can support the cultivation of samadhi. Because if we're just relaxed and there is no persistence, then, you know, the cows can go and trample anywhere, and maybe the fields haven't been plowed. So there needs to be a level of persistence that we talk about tomorrow. So these are kind of connected discourses.

Two other points I wanted to bring in for your consideration. Another one, actually, is from Majjhima Nikaya 36^[8], where the Buddha is sitting under the Bodhi tree, and there is this wanting to become free, this desire to be free. And he remembers—he has a memory of when he was a child under a rose apple tree. It's a beautiful memory. I'll read you the passage because it's so beautiful, this paragraph.

He says: "I thought: 'I recall once, when my father the Sakyan was working, and I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose apple tree, then—quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful mental qualities—I entered and remained in the first jhāna: rapture and pleasure born from seclusion, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation. Could that be the path to awakening?'"

And then yes, he realizes this is the path to awakening. This delight, this pleasure born from seclusion. Not the hard-charging... well, I mean there's a lot of intentionality too, but not the tightness. There's a lot of relaxation of the body that can support here. And I want to bring your attention to sitting in the cool shade of a rose apple tree. That's such a beautiful image. When we sit on a hot day, sitting under the cool shade of a rose apple tree, ah, the body relaxes. There is a sense of ease, peace, of enjoyment. And that's when the Buddha had fallen into the first jhāna, and with the seclusion of the mind from unwholesome qualities, that's when the mind had settled, was abiding in the first jhāna. And he wonders, "Is this the path to awakening?" And yes, and that's how it opened up.

So I offer that for your consideration, of noticing: Is the body relaxed? Is the body in a receptive mode, or is it tight?

One last thing to mention for you to notice, is there is a strong connection: when the mind is tight or when thoughts and entanglements come up, it always shows up in the body. And in meditation, we can see that. Especially when the mind is very, very settled and quiet. Each and every thought, even if it's not an entangled thought—any thought—we can see the reverberation in the body. It's quite amazing to see that.

Therefore, it is skillful, as we cultivate, especially at the beginning as the settling of the mind might be choppy, to check in with the body: "Oh, is there any tightness in the body? Is my forehead tight? Is my neck or shoulder getting tired? Ah." If so, relaxing. Relaxing, softening, letting go. Allowing a relaxed body to support a relaxed mind. If the body is tight, the mind will be tight. If the body is relaxed, the mind can relax also.

So experiment, explore for yourself. You don't have to take my word for it, or the Buddha's. Explore for yourself. Be a scientist of your own mind, of your own heart, of your own body. So thank you for the gift of your practice in this Sangha, and I look forward to practicing together tomorrow. Be well.