This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Guided Meditation: Settledness; Supporting Samadhi (3 of 5): Patience. It likely contains inaccuracies.
The following talk was given by Liz Powell at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.
Welcome everyone. I’m definitely getting my tech lessons this week, and I’m delighted to have your input that you can see and hear me. So welcome back to our practice this week of supporting the growth of samadhi1 for ourselves. We’re taking a little extra time to practice the steps that Gil has already taught us, and we’re giving ourselves a little longer sitting in these mornings to allow more time in silence for independent discovery.
One of the ways Gil offered to settle the mind was by attending to inhalation and exhalation. With that process of being with the sensations of breathing, following them very thoroughly in the foreground, and then counting with each breath or each half breath in the periphery, in the background, just as a way to keep the mind present and free of distraction. A simple, settled mind, a still mind, inclines towards samadhi.
The settled quality is encouraged by a couple of wholesome qualities of mind that are considered virtues. In the Pali language, they’re called parami2. Some of you have worked on these. One is patience, which I’ve come to think of as infinite patience because that was something that really stuck with me that the teacher Annie Nugent said on a long retreat that I took at IMS years ago: “infinite patience.” I still feel that phrase echoing inside me because the way I am living, I’m happy to continue to cultivate samadhi for as long as I have. It’s a beautiful practice, it’s an interesting practice watching it unfold, and it really does help to be patient.
I once inherited a healthy Ficus benjamina plant from a colleague, and it continued to thrive so well in my waiting room that it was growing along the ceiling. So I read about taking a cutting from a plant and starting a new plant. I took a quarter-inch little branch about four inches long and planted it in soil, and then I watered it as directed. Week by week, I watered and watered, and by about the sixth week, I suddenly stopped and thought, “Wait, is this crazy? I’m watering this stick and nothing is happening. Should I keep watering?” I didn’t really know, but for whatever reason, I continued to water the stick, and within a week, a tiny, beautiful little green leaf appeared, and then another, and another. And it grew into a very healthy plant.
What was really interesting about that process was I didn’t have to know why it was that I continued to water, seemingly nonsensically, or I didn’t need to solve it as a problem. I just kept watering. The kind of patience we sometimes need to bring—well, I certainly need to bring to cultivating samadhi—is a frame of mind that is not only patient but it’s also willing to not know. It’s okay not to know what will happen with samadhi or when it will happen. In fact, it’s better not to know because if you know, you’re being driven by concepts and ideas, and that will not result in samadhi.
It’s also a state of mind that cultivates another of the virtues called parami, and that is resolve or persistence. But this is a very gentle, quiet kind of resolve. It’s not a demand, it’s not a “should,” it’s not striving and pushing. It’s just a willingness to keep coming back again and again without a lot of flap.
I’ll share something that might sound a little strange, but the way that these virtues have worked for me is not by doing a lot. Actually, all I’ve done is whispered those phrases or a phrase when I’ve needed it. So when I’ve needed it: “infinite patience,” or “not knowing,” just at a challenging moment or a moment I’m perplexed, or “gentle resolve.” And just by saying those things, just by whispering that phrase in the mind, the mind seems to settle itself. I find it’s more settled in general at the start and then continues to settle by returning to that stillness and allowing whatever wants to unfold to unfold. So being okay with unpleasant things coming up or other things than what we’re practicing coming up. Patience, infinite patience, not knowing, and just continuing to be with the practice.
So with that, we’ll turn to the lightly guided meditation.
Giving yourself time, maybe for those settling breaths, and certainly for noticing how you are as you begin this meditation.
Are there any qualities of mind, any little phrases that are allies that you think would be helpful to your practice? Feeling free in this practice to very quietly coach yourself with a tiny whisper in the mind of any of these things or things that are useful to you.
Infinite patience.
Quiet persistence.
And if words are too much at any time, simply radiating the intention, feeling it almost physically in the heart, in the mind, in the body.
And also offering yourself encouragement with some goodwill to begin the practice, either with silent words in the mind or again, just radiating some of these intentions.
May I be well.
May I be free of all harm.
May I receive experience with patience.
May I allow myself not to have to know what is going to happen or when it’s going to happen.
May I practice with gentle resolve.
Settled, resting in stillness.
May I be free of dissatisfaction, of stress, of suffering.
Taking whatever time you need to relax the body and mind, settle it, or bring ease to any area that cannot be relaxed or is preoccupying you.
Coming gradually into awareness of that quiet, quiet, deeper place within. And gradually allowing yourself to turn to following, present with all of the movements of breathing. As the inhalation arises, travels through the body, as breathing pauses whenever it does that, and with the exhalation, following the sensations of breathing out. The rise and fall, the expansion and contraction.
Returning again and again to stillness, quietness. Resting in the stillness, in the quiet of following the breathing.
In-breath.
Out-breath.
Using counting of the breath as a support for your ability to keep the breathing, the sensations of breathing, in the foreground, fully aware of the movement.
If other experience arises in the mind, meeting it as you would kindly meet a friend. Coming alongside of it with awareness for a few moments, and then gradually turning the attention, turning awareness back to being with the breathing. And perhaps bringing in counting the half-breath, whatever keeps you present in the foreground with breathing, the sensations of breathing. It doesn’t matter how many times you have to come back, just keep bringing awareness very gently back.
As we come towards the end of the sitting, radiating out any benefit, any moments of quiet, any virtues that you’re developing, allowing those to be embodied so that you bring a level of peace and calm to others around you who so need this right now.
May all beings be well and healthy.
May all beings be free from internal and external harm.
May all beings be peaceful.
May all beings be free of suffering.
Allowing time to call different beings to mind, different people, sincerely wishing them health, safety, peace, freedom.
As we continue with learning what supports the cultivation of samadhi, we have this continued opportunity as well today to practice mindfulness during daily life. Every time we remember, we can notice what kinds of mental activity we’re engaged in. At any moment we come back to awareness and see whether it increases impatience or encourages patience. See what disturbs the mind and what settles it, what agitates it, what gets it preoccupied or ruminating.
Thank you, I will try to speak up. Oh, I know what I’ve done. I made the same mistake the other day. I forgot to turn original sound off. So thanks for the reminder about volume.
So as you go through the day practicing mindfulness, sometimes aided by others helping us remember, notice during the day what is bringing about the qualities that are not helpful or the tendencies of mind that are less helpful, and what things are supporting the tendencies of mind that are wholesome and helpful to you.
One form of cultivating samadhi and settling is what I mentioned in these first comments this morning: naming what’s happening, making a mental note. If it’s unwholesome, no problem, just make a mental note. And sometimes that is part of, or sometimes it’s enough of a reminder to help the mind turn back and align with what is more helpful. So if we can say to ourselves, “Ah, wanting is arising. I so want, I so want to strive for samadhi.” Okay, that sort of helps the mind go, “Does striving help?” Maybe not.
So naming what’s happening mentally is very helpful. Impatience or patience. And then maybe using phrases like “patience” that are helpful to you. You’ll find the ones that are helpful to you. Not knowing when or how this is going to evolve, come to fruition. We don’t need to know that. Actually, it won’t help to know it because we’ll try to shape it, and that won’t work.
This practice of naming things has worked amazingly well for me in daily life and in meditation. So sometimes when I’ve been sitting, I’ve noticed when a particular trend of mind comes up, and I can name “doubt” or “comparing mind” or “trying to push something away.” Just by saying that to myself, I can feel, “Oh, I need to turn back,” or I don’t even have to try, it just sometimes starts the mind back towards what’s more helpful. Of course, not every state of mind, not every hindrance is going to respond to that. Sometimes we’re so entangled, we’re so deeply into it already that it’s going to take some strength of mindfulness to come back to the recognition of what we’re thinking and questioning the thinking: “Is this really helping me?” And often to make the shift from the thinking, from the tangle, down into the body, feeling the impact of that, and maybe breathing in and out of the impact, noticing what isn’t working, being patient with that. Even taking the time if you catch yourself after a period of being caught—no problem. You’ve caught it, you’ve noticed it, and over time this will start to unwind and relax these conditioned tendencies of mind.
A clean conscience, a mind that doesn’t have the burden of knowing that it’s done anything harmful to oneself or to others, really is another support for settling in samadhi. The Eightfold Path3 practices that the Buddha offered are really wonderful ways to come to wholesomeness in your life, to resolve conflict, and to become more peaceful. If you haven’t learned those Eightfold Path practices, IMC offers a program every year that’s available on Zoom and in person for those who are living closer to Redwood City that supports it. Usually, you can sign up for it in July or August, and it starts in September and runs through May. So you can support yourself with these practices and learn more wholesome, more ethical ways to live.
As the mind becomes more settled, it’s easier then to detect a ripple of what isn’t helpful earlier on, to catch it. And we are already cultivating many of the qualities I mentioned today simply by what we’re doing: turning the attention to the breathing, to the inhalation and the exhalation, again and again, quietly counting in the background. Those are actually cultivating patience. The more we see, “Oh, it worked a little bit. I am feeling a little more collected than I did at the beginning of the sitting,” or day by day there’s just a tiny bit of shift—noticing that is building resolve, quiet persistence. It’s working. I want to continue with this.
And another thing that helps, which we’ll get into more tomorrow, is noticing. Noticing this benefit, noticing anything wholesome that’s coming from this. So again today, the invitation is to practice stronger mindfulness every time you remember throughout the day. Notice what’s happening with the mind, and also to maybe take a few minutes at a time out of the day when you remember to check in with the breath, check in with any internal quiet that is also there.
And as I’ve been doing all week, at 4 o’clock today, I’ll offer a silent 20-minute sitting that will be on Zoom. You can click on the IMC calendar to find the Zoom link and also the password for that.
So wishing you the benefit of this practice today, and may our practice support everyone around us in coming to greater peace. May all beings be free of suffering. Thank you very much for your practice today.
Samadhi: A Pali word for a state of meditative concentration or absorption, often translated as “concentration,” “unification of mind,” or “stillness.” It is a key component of the Buddhist path. ↩
Parami: A Pali word meaning “perfection” or “completion.” In Buddhism, these are virtues or qualities cultivated on the path to awakening, such as patience, generosity, and wisdom. ↩
The Eightfold Path: The fundamental teaching of the Buddha that describes the way to the cessation of suffering (dukkha). The eight elements are: Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. ↩