This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Guided Meditation: Continuity; Samadhi (20) Continuous Awareness. It likely contains inaccuracies.
The following talk was given by Gil Fronsdal at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our meditation time together.
For this meditation today, I’d like to say that Samadhi1 involves a unification, a gathering, a coming together of everything, of all of who we are, engaged in a single activity. All parts are supporting and engaging in the activity of being present here and now, without being distracted. Most commonly, it is a gathering and unification in the present moment around a center point, a settling place. This doesn’t exclude things but allows all things to have supporting roles, coming together and collected here for the same purpose, the same direction.
One of the things that gets unified and collected is the continuity of attention. It’s not just about place, but also the idea of the continuous movement of time. Of course, time doesn’t really move; perhaps there is no time in some philosophical or experiential way. But we also live in time. So, what I’m mostly focusing on now is that unification also involves a continuity of staying present here and now, without losing it, without wandering off. We stay in time. I love this expression, “staying in time,” because it has a musical association.
To be continuous with the way the present moment flows through time. Sometimes I think of mindfulness and concentration as riding the wave of the present as it moves through the river of time. We’re riding the current, and we have to stay in the current, riding on it continuously. If we fall off the wave or get spun out of the current of the river into an eddy, then we’ve lost the present moment. For me, this idea of catching the wave and staying on it, catching the current and flowing along, and then falling off, getting back on, and riding it again is key. Sometimes I connect that to the exhale as the place where I get on again and ride as much as I can.
This continuity of attention is done without strain, without force, without apologies, and without disappointment when we fall off. Just get back on. See if you can not so much work at being present, but ride the present moment. Ride continuously. Stay on.
Some of you know my scooter analogy: we can ride the scooter as long as the momentum of the kick is there. As the momentum goes down, we do a gentle kick again to keep it going. So, rather than a wave or a current, it’s the idea of this gentle, casual pushing, moving the scooter in the present moment.
I’ll guide you with this.
Assuming a meditation posture, a posture that you think will allow you to be alert in your body in such a way that you can allow the body to relax deeply. It’s almost like you assume a posture that supports the way the muscles of the body want to relax. Any extra muscles, apart from the simple ones used to hold us in the posture we’re in, can let go.
Gently close your eyes. Then, gently and calmly, as if you have all the time in the world, not forcing it or being in a hurry, take some comfortably deeper in-breaths. Feel the expansion of the torso as you breathe in. See if you can breathe in a way that’s not too deep, but just a deeper, fuller in-breath that stays enjoyable and feels nice. Maybe it’s because of how you do it calmly and slowly, or how there’s a gentle stretch opening, or maybe it feels very nice to feel bigger with the inhale.
Then, allow the exhale to be longer than it normally would, not by forcefully exhaling more, but by relaxing at the end of the exhale, relaxing the body, maybe relaxing into a settling place deep inside.
With these calm, slow, deeper inhales, ride the inhale like a wave all the way from the beginning to the end—a continuity through time. Feel what that’s like to ride the inhale continuously, for the awareness to ride for the duration of the inhale. And with the exhale, relaxing the body, settling.
Then, let your breathing return to normal. For this ability to ride the present moment with continuous awareness through time, it helps a lot if you can be relaxed. Continuous present-moment awareness is what our system does if we don’t interfere with it, if we don’t override it with thoughts, ideas, intentions, wants, and aversions. It doesn’t have to be a forced phenomenon; maybe it’s more of an allowed phenomenon, allowing it to operate as we don’t interfere with it.
So, relax deeply. As you exhale, relax the muscles of the face. As you exhale, relax the shoulders. Relaxing the belly. Maybe you can release and relax the whole torso, so the weight of the body helps you to settle more.
On the exhale, soften the thinking mind. Relax the mind. If there’s a lot of thinking, can you dial it down a little bit, so the thinking is calmer, a little slower, quieter? Can you switch your thinking from thinking about other things to having thoughts about meditation? Thoughts that a naturalist would have, simply recording and knowing what’s happening here and now.
Then, not directing your attention anywhere, but allowing attention and awareness to be available to whatever is occurring in the present moment, at any sense door. The emphasis is on appreciating or feeling what it’s like to not be directed, but instead to be available, open, and receptive.
With that kind of open, receptive awareness, without moving or directing the mind, open the mind to welcome or feel the gentle breeze, the gentle sensations of breathing in and breathing out. Begin now by being aware of the experience of breathing, by noticing whatever is easy to feel and experience regarding breathing. Not thinking about it, but sensing what comes into awareness around breathing in the easiest, most obvious way.
Relax any sense of directing your attention. It’s more like opening a window so the wind, the breeze, comes in. It’s not so much that you’re doing awareness like swimming, but that you’re allowing the current of the river to come up from behind and carry you along. Let the current of the breeze, the wave of the inhale, carry you, carry your attention continuously for the length of the inhale. Monitor yourself enough to stay there with the full length of the inhale.
Then, do that with the exhale. The inhale is the wave that rises you up, and the exhale is surfing on it. The inhale is the gentle push of the scooter, and the exhale is being carried along, moving along on the scooter. Following the exhale to the settling point, the grounding point, the centering point. Letting the inhale begin there.
And then bringing all this together, allowing yourself to be aware continuously of breathing in and breathing out. If you wander off, simply begin again, maintaining a continuity of attention through time without force, but with a kind of intentionality, a sense of purpose that’s soft and relaxed, while being committed to keeping you in the current of time, of now.
As we come to the end of the sitting, take a few moments to feel into your body. Whatever is there that feels calmer, more settled. Whatever in your body feels comfortable or pleasant, having spent these minutes meditating. Even if parts of your body are uncomfortable, feel the places where it’s comfortable or pleasant, where the body feels more subtle or peaceful, even if it’s just a very small place.
Allow your mind to relax and appreciate the presence of some good feelings in your body. To that degree, your mind can settle more, relax, and be here now. Whatever way you feel emotionally in a better place than you were before, and in whatever way your mind is more at ease.
Maybe take a time to remember a time in your life where you were quite settled, peaceful, and at ease, and what that was like for you, for your body. Knowing this for yourself, wish this for others.
May others be comfortable in their bodies. May others be at ease in their hearts and their minds. May others be peaceful and quiet, at home with themselves, with their hearts. And may it be that the degree to which you know these things can be a source, an inspiration, to somehow have it spread from you out into the world. If you can stay in touch with it, maybe it can spread, maybe it can support others to feel that way too.
May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free. And may we somehow or other contribute to that. Certainly, may we avoid making the situation worse.
Good morning, and welcome to this 20th talk on Samadhi. The topic for the last four days has been related to the unification and inclusivity of Samadhi. We want to bring our body and everything to settle together, to be here supportive for the center of attention in the present moment, centering it on something like the breathing.
Part of this unification, this bringing together and being whole, involves time. We are living in time, and the only way to live in time, in the way I’m talking about it, is to live in the present moment. To be continuous through time with awareness, in a way where awareness is not hijacked by preoccupations and concerns, where awareness is not pulled away this way and that by desires, aversions, and fears. We are settled.
One way to think about this that works for me is like riding a slide or being carried in a fast-moving river that’s quite safe. You have to be really present to be in the current and flowing down in a canoe or a raft. Or surfing—body surfing, board surfing—on a wave. There are a variety of things we do where we get carried and flow. Skiing, for some people, or other active sports. As we’re doing the sport, part of what can be so enjoyable about it is that we’re no longer caught up in our preoccupations. Something about what we’re doing brings us into the present moment, into the present-moment activity in a continuous way.
If thoughts are operating, they have either receded into the background, not really relevant, or they are supporting characters in the event. So rather than thinking being the main actor, it’s a supporting actor for being engaged and involved in the activity.
For example, on a slide. Most people, when they go sliding down a long slide that’s not too fast, their preoccupations with other things go away. We’re just in the slide. And it can be very nice. I think there’s something about our whole system that likes being fully present and engaged in certain activities. It could be a craft, it could be reading a book, partly because we’re not being pulled out of the present moment by fear, aversion, desires, or preoccupations.
Our ability for present-moment attention has not been compromised by the preoccupations of our mind. It turns out that without the mind’s ruminations, the stories that we live in (some of them almost subconscious), and the beliefs we’re operating under—without those in place, then our natural capacity just to be aware in the present, our natural capacity for attention as it moves through our body, is more complete, more inclusive of all the different attentional faculties we have. The happier we can be, the more pleasant it is, the more goodness and rightness it feels to be really here.
So, part of what we’re learning in the process of Samadhi is the art of staying with our experience continuously through time. In the beginning, it means we’re continuous for a short time, and then we do it again. Slowly, as we relax and settle, as the preoccupations of the mind lessen, that ability to stay present is able to be more extended. Not by force, not by holding ourselves there with great force. There has to be some intention, some oomph, some commitment to being present, open, and relaxed. But with time, we’re not feeding the thinking, not feeding the preoccupations, and it’s able to stay in that flow of the present longer and longer.
In the beginning, maybe if you’re lucky, you can do the whole inhale and then the whole exhale. But over time, it becomes multiple inhales and exhales. This is where counting the exhales is useful. Some people count the exhale and the inhale. The counting is an encouragement to stay present, to stay in the experience of breathing. The count is just a small piece of what we’re doing; it’s almost like using the count you’re imagining to point yourself to “stay there.” The value of counting to 10 is that the mind has to be a little more alert to the process of counting in the present moment.
As we get into it—as long as it’s not forceful, tight, or contracted, but has a sense of settling, opening, and inclusivity with the center point on the breathing—there’s a natural process of goodness, brightness, pleasure, or comfort that can happen. Some of it is because the tensions we carry inside of us have a lot to do with how we think about things. If we’re not thinking so much, then a natural comfort, well-being, or sense of relief can be quite nice. As we get deeper and deeper into it, there’s more and more pleasure that can arise with Samadhi.
This process this week of being inclusive, oriented, settled, and more and more fully here with all of who we are, and today, being continuous through time, is a prelude to beginning to feel the pleasure, the joy, the delight of Samadhi. We’re making room for that in the body, making space for it through time, and making room in the mind for some deeper process to begin unfolding.
Continuity of attention is very important. That’s what I’d encourage you to practice. Maybe even look for ways in daily life where you can relax the scattered, preoccupied mind enough to simply enjoy your everyday attention and awareness of what’s happening. Going for a walk in a park and just enjoying the present moment of being with the trees, the landscape, the people. Cultivate this ability to be more continuous in the present moment. Maybe spend less time on your device. While you are certainly in the present moment with the device, generally the kind of attention we have when looking at a screen does something very different to the brain. It actually encourages a brain which is distractible, a brain which is caught up in its thoughts, not one where the whole system, the whole body, comes alive with awareness.
I’ll end with a delightful image, at least for me it’s delightful. I hope you enjoy it. It’s this idea of staying continuous, being carried in the current, on the slide of the present moment, maybe the slide of the exhale.
A good number of years ago, I came out to my car on the street while it was raining. It wasn’t raining super hard, but it was definitely raining, and the windshield of my car was all wet. There was a little bird, it wasn’t very big, that would stand at the top of the windshield and slide to the bottom, hop off, fly up, and slide down again. It did this over and over again. It was just sliding. There wasn’t any food involved, there wasn’t any searching for safety or a partner. As far as I could tell, it was just enjoying sliding.
If a bird can do that, then for me, it represents a very deep way in which we creatures with brains have been shaped to find a certain kind of delight in being fully in the present moment with some experience of being open, relaxed, and carried along.
May it be that until we come back on Monday, you allow the flow of time, of the present moment, to carry along your present-moment awareness. And may it bring you delight and joy. So, in meditation for these next two days, see if you can work on this topic, this capacity we have of having attention be more continuous through time.
Thank you very much.
Samadhi: A Pali word that refers to a state of meditative concentration or absorption. It is a key component of the Buddhist path, leading to tranquility and insight. ↩