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Guided Meditation: Inviting Receptivity

It's a treat for me to be here with you all in this role, and many of you know how much I love this Sangha^[1]. So I have this nice feeling of being surrounded by friends, and I'm very grateful to you for that. I'd like to let you know that I'm speaking to you from a very remote part of the south of France where the internet is iffy at best. I think the sound is going to be okay. Is it okay so far? But the video might be a bit choppy.

Let's begin this meditation by formulating our intention. What is it that motivates you to practice meditation? Take a moment now to articulate your heartfelt wish for this meditation.

And now assuming a meditation posture. Whether you're sitting or lying down, find a position that allows you to have some stability and also ease.

And as we get settled, feeling the support of the earth, which is holding all of us. Aligning the spine, relaxing, softening the face, the shoulders, arms, the belly, the legs.

This week we'll be beginning with a little bit of metta^[2] meditation as a preparation for insight. So the invitation is to bring to mind a benefactor. Somebody who's always been a positive force for you. It could be a little child, a dear friend, maybe a pet or a teacher, maybe even a teacher you've never met. And when you see this being you feel nourished and glad. A smile may come to the corners of your mouth or to the corners of your eyes.

Now invite this being to come and sit in front of you. And you look into each other's eyes. And a little flame begins to warm your heart as you enjoy being together. It's a warm two-way connection. And you open your heart and you wish them well: May you be safe and protected. May you be happy, peaceful, and free.

And naturally they are simultaneously wishing you the same thing. And so together you can take that warmth that exists in your relationship and experiment with radiating out that kindness that you have for each other in all directions. May we and all beings be safe and protected, happy, peaceful, and free.

And you've created this warm, safe space with this benefactor. And if you like now you can invite them to come and sit beside you for the rest of the meditation.

And now keeping this little flame of kindness alive, we bring in some wisdom. Namely consciously putting all our worries, grievances, fears, wanting, outside our meditation space. No need for them here.

Perhaps closing the eyes if that's comfortable. And connecting with this body breathing. And the connection itself may have a flavor of warmth and friendliness. Breathing in silently, welcoming the present moment. Breathing out, trusting the present moment.

Resting the mind to take refuge in just being here. Breathing.

Being here. Breathing in and breathing out with a little flame of friendliness in our hearts.

We receive the sensations of the breath and trusting that for this short time it's wholesome to let the thinking mind take a rest. That it's enough just to be here in the protective presence of this beautiful, far-flung Sangha.

Knowing the whole in-breath. Knowing the pause after the in-breath. Knowing the whole out-breath and then the pause after the out-breath.

And this tender knowing of the cycle of the breath takes place in the context of a warm heart where a little candle of benevolence keeps radiating.

Breathing in silently, welcoming the present moment. Breathing out, trusting what arises in the present moment.

As we breathe in, welcoming. As we breathe out, trusting.

And if the mind should wander, all right, here we go again. And with a smile, and a smile is very important, we come back. Back to this body breathing. And back to the warmth of breathing while radiating kindness as far as it wants to go.

Breathing in, welcoming. Breathing out, radiating kindness.

And if the corners of the mouth want to turn up in a smile, you can welcome that on the in-breath. Radiating kindness from the heart on the exhale.

And breathing out, dwelling in the ecosystem of benevolence and inviting receptivity. It's a joint project that we're doing together here, creating this ecosystem of benevolence which may help us to become more receptive and at ease.

And as we come to the end of the sitting, through the goodness of our practice, may we from our center of kindness and receptivity now radiate our heartfelt wish that all beings everywhere be safe. Obviously this world is not safe for everyone, but it can still be our sincere wish that we can pour energy into. May all beings be happy. May all beings be peaceful. And may all beings everywhere be free.

Dharmette: Opening the Dharma Heart (1 of 5): Ready to be Receptive

Am I unmuted? Can you hear me? Looks good. Okay, wait. Sorry for the technical glitch. I'm being hosted at IMC and I couldn't unmute myself to begin right on time, so apologies for that. But we'll be prepared for that tomorrow. So greetings everyone. I'm really delighted to be here with you all.

The theme for this week will be on opening what I'm calling the Dharma heart. As many of you know, I'm a big fan of Gil Fronsdal's teachings. And so in the last series that he gave last year at the end of December, which was called "Ready to Change", he introduced us to five qualities from the Brahmāyu Sutta^[3], which is Majjhima Nikaya 91.

Just to give you a little background, the Buddha, as you may know, was born into a culture that was dominated by Brahmanic religion, rules, caste distinctions. And in teaching something different, the Buddha was proposing something quite revolutionary. So often when you see discourses where there's a conversation with a Brahmin, it's often a contest of who's the better debater and who's got the angle on the truth. But in this one, the Brahmin Brahmāyu, who was 120 years old and at the end of his life... he was the oldest, the wealthiest, and the most respected Brahmin in the land. And he became convinced that the Buddha was fully enlightened and was, as he said, the incomparable teacher of gods and humans.

So when the Buddha came to his part of the land, the Brahmin Brahmāyu came with his great retinue of disciples and bowed down to the Buddha and kissed his feet. And he asked the Buddha, "How does one become an arahant^[4]? How does one attain completeness? How is one a silent sage? And how is one called a Buddha?"

So the Buddha gave Brahmāyu what we call progressive instruction, starting with the importance of virtue and renunciation. And then when the Buddha saw that Brahmāyu's mind had the five qualities that ensured that he was ready for enlightenment, the Buddha transmitted his deepest teachings. And Brahmāyu became enlightened on the spot. And he exclaimed at the end, "Magnificent Master Gotama! You have made the Dhamma clear, setting upright what had been overthrown, revealing what was hidden, showing the way to one who was lost, holding up a lamp in the dark." And then everybody was amazed at this. The famous Brahmin went forth then as a lay disciple of the Buddha.

So this week I'd like to further explore these five wholesome qualities that prepare the mind for insight, for awakening, so that we can cultivate them. And the root of these qualities is in Pali called kalla^[5], and it has many different nuances in Pali. Gil translated it as being ready, receptive, and available. But the root of the word actually means "accomplished," and the commentary on this discourse speaks of kalla referring to someone with a sound mind.

So it looks like having this quality of a mind that is kalla means that one has done a sort of mental fitness training and is prepared to wake up. So earlier we began our meditation by articulating our deepest intention for what brings us to the meditation. And if we want to cultivate mental fitness, then intention is very important because knowing what we're aiming for helps us keep our focus as we walk the path.

So if you permit, I'll share with you my own intention, which I come back to when I meditate. And sometimes when challenges come up during the day, I say to myself, "May I be a safe haven of kindness and emptiness for all beings." That's my aspiration.

So setting an intention will be different for each of us, depending on how we got to where we're at today. In my case, having lived through an abusive childhood marked by violence from my father and a mother who did not protect me, it's been a long path, including being incarcerated in a mental hospital for almost two years when I was a teenager. So for me, this sense of safety is paramount if I'm going to relax and let go in meditation instead of dwelling in the past or going off into the future. So I aspire to be a safe haven for everyone I come into contact with.

And then the kindness and emptiness play the most important roles for me in becoming this safe haven. Kindness because there's no situation where kindness towards others or towards oneself is not beneficial. And I guess it's maybe kind of hard to imagine emptiness as a foundation, but I do believe that it's emptiness, and perhaps this is ironic, that provides me the foundation that allows for being benevolent with others and with myself. Empty of "me, myself, and mine". Empty of fixed ideas and wanting to be right or to be seen as accomplished. Because when the mind wanders away from the pristine simplicity of the present moment and spins off in thinking, who's at the center of all that? Well, it's the little me. The little girl who wants to be liked, who wants to be protected, maybe even loved.

And there were people who hated the Buddha, but that didn't bother him in the slightest. The jealousy, the hatred, that was their problem. So how about if we had a mind that was empty of needing approval? Sound like a good deal? It would be a good deal for me. Because if the mind is not full of all this self-referencing and fixed ideas, wonderful. A mind that, like the Buddha, can dwell in emptiness allows us to greet everyone as a friend, including ourselves. To greet each moment as a friend.

So I think mental fitness is being ready to receive. And if we're already full with lots of ideas, opinions, and a needy ego, there's not a lot of space to receive. So walking this path can be seen as a process of emptying little by little. Emptying the mind of everything that's unwholesome. The early texts talk about opening the Dharma eye, and this is what happened to Brahmāyu.

So what I'd like to suggest to you for this week is that we can prepare for the insight that is opening the Dharma eye by beginning to progressively open the Dharma heart. Daring to open our hearts and to let the Dharma take us where it will.

Thank you so much for being here today, and I look forward to being with you again tomorrow. Thank you.