This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Guided Meditation: Embodied Happiness; Samadhi (54) Happiness as Medicine. 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.
Hello and welcome back to IMC. To those of you who are with me, especially to Spirit Rock, I think it would be nice if I could broadcast every day from a place like Spirit Rock outdoors. It’s not so convenient to find a place that’s quiet for that purpose, but this works to be here.
So we’re continuing in this practice of samadhi1, and there is a variety of happinesses and joys that are elicited in the practice of samadhi. Beginning to appreciate the different kinds of well-being that come along helps the process. Clinging to it, striving for happiness, is not so useful, but recognizing it or allowing it and valuing it when it happens is helpful.
In the beginning of the practice of going into the jhāna2, there is the happiness of, for the time being at least, during the time you’re meditating, the kind of happiness of being ethical here and now. In this state, in this body, we’re not going to cause any harm. So that’s there. There’s a happiness that’s a contentment that just for now we have enough. We have enough to be sitting quietly and closing our eyes to meditate. We have enough shelter, enough clothes, we have enough food, maybe just enough. And to have a contentment rather than a feeling of lack.
Then there’s the happiness of no longer being caught up in preoccupations, no longer being caught up in the concerns for our challenges in the world. Not to put those challenges away or deny them or repress them, but for now, they are left outside the meditation hall. So the happiness of not being preoccupied.
And then there’s the happiness of seclusion. Of having left things outside the metaphorical meditation hall, now we’re in this kind of different zone, sacred zone, contemplative zone. Now we can really and legally put aside our concerns for the world, our responsibilities. We’ve checked them at the door. Now we’re here and we can focus internally to this body and mind, to this time here. There’s a happiness of seclusion, happiness of no longer being preoccupied with the world, no longer living in the world rattled by or pushed this way and that way by what happens. That can be for later, but for now, the happiness of being in this space of meditation.
There’s the happiness of then being able to give one’s selves over wholeheartedly, sincerely, to the process of meditation. Through just giving ourselves over in a unified way, gathering ourselves together, being complete, feeling whole, feeling here, grounded, feeling somehow solid, feeling settled. This is good. This is a kind of happiness.
And then there comes the happiness of the mind being equanimous and non-reactive. The happiness that’s a happiness of the body, and I like to think of it as the happy body. The body is a field of well-being. Maybe very difficult to imagine for some people, but now we get to dip into the lake of well-being, the lake of happiness. Some people call it the lake of bliss.
So assuming a meditation posture and giving some loving care to your posture, caring for how the posture for meditation can help you feel solid, alert, here, rooted, perhaps to whatever surface is holding you from falling by the pull of gravity. Here on this spot.
And gently, softly closing your eyes. And with the assumption that one way or the other, even in the smallest corners of your body, there is well-being. There is some form of well-being, happiness. Perhaps it’s simply pleasure that is not because of anything, but it just because it arises out of being settled, being alive. The sensations of being alive that appear here and now, maybe some of them are pleasant, enjoyable, maybe qualifies as being symptoms of happiness to be here.
And then as you breathe, maybe breathing more deeply, fully, breathe into and with whatever that sense of pleasure or happiness is, giving it permission to be there and giving yourself permission to feel it as you breathe, as if you breathe through it and with it. And as you exhale, to relax, let go. And if it’s possible to have a momentary pause at the end of the exhale, so you can feel the goodness or sweetness of simply being here, here and now.
Letting your breathing return to normal, but continuing for a little while to have that little pause at the end of the exhale as a way of feeling whatever is good or comfortable, settled, enjoyable in just being here and now, independent of the world, independent of obligations, preoccupations.
Sometimes it can be nice to make a small half smile, especially if that triggers a little bit feelings of joy or delight. And whatever good feelings that come from the small half smile, orient your meditation, your efforts, how you see things through the lens of that well-being, that joy.
Breathing in joy, breathing out relaxing.
And as you relax, below the joy, can you find the happy body? The happiness of the body, a contentment, a sweetness, a vitality that feels pleasant. And this should not be feared. Breathing with the happy body. And all other things can be known within the field of happiness, the lotuses in the lake.
Gently breathing in the vast space of happiness, contentment, allowing the thinking mind to get quieter, letting go of thoughts as you exhale, so there’s more space to feel the happy body.
As you meditate, trust the well-being of meditation, of being present. Present with every breath. The body breathing in joy, the body breathing in happiness. Trusting the physical, embodied well-being more than you trust whatever you’re thinking about. Relax the thinking mind so you can feel the well-being of your body.
And as we come to the end of this sitting, to feel into your body to see if there’s any greater feeling of calm, physical calm, settledness. Any greater sense of contented aliveness in the present moment, just here, just in the nowness, the hearness. Is there any greater sense of well-being, sense of happiness, however small it might be?
Take in whatever is good in your body as we come to the end of the meditation. Breathe it in, maybe drink it in, let it fill you, spread in you. As if the world asks you, “Please be in touch with your happiness, your well-being.” As if the world says, “We need more people who know this, who trust this.” As if the whole world asks, “Please don’t add to distress, to fear, to anger in this world. There is more than enough of it. Not enough people know how to be at peace with themselves. Please feel that peace.”
And come into the world carrying that with you as medicine for the world.
May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free.
And may you stay close to your own well-being. Stay close to a peaceful, happy body, as if you’re medicine walking through the world.
Thank you.
So hello and welcome to the next talk in this series on samadhi, in the week of the third jhāna. The instructions in meditation that’s given for the third jhāna is very simple. The actual things that we do, it says that one enters and abides and experiences happiness in the body. So one enters and abides in this deep state, and one then experiences the happiness of the body. That’s the instruction, the most active instructions: experience the happiness.
And then it goes on to say, give this instruction, so if you want to do something, if you’re a doer, this is what you actually do in the third jhāna: you would pervade, saturate, and permeate this body with happiness, so no part of the body is not touched. I mean, it’s kind of remarkable instructions to spread happiness around the body so that the whole body feels happy.
Now, whether the word should be translated from Pali3 into English should be “happy” or “happiness” is person-dependent. Each of us will have a different relationship with different words and different inner states. So it’s in the family of happiness states. Maybe it’s contentment, maybe it’s a sweetness, maybe it’s a deep sense of being cozy and comforted. Maybe it’s a kind of warm, glowing sense of aliveness. Maybe it’s a kind of glowing, happy feeling of peace in the body. So the idea here is not to take some impersonal idea of what these words are, but to make the words personal. So the word “happiness,” find a way it can become your word with what you recognize and can feel inside for yourself.
And eventually, we come into what I call the happy body, the happiness body. Many of us walk around with a fear body, and the whole body is tensed in a certain way and hyper-vigilant because it’s just filled, coursing with fear. Some people are in the sadness body, the depressed body, the grief body. Some people might be in the volcanic anger body, rage body. And so the whole experience of the body shifts and changes what’s going on. There’s the ecstatic body of something really fantastic happening. Maybe you think winning the lottery for millions, billions of dollars is a good thing, and your whole body is just kind of firing, all the neurons firing with excitement. And there’s the excitement body. There’s the nurturing, tender, caring body of maybe caring for an injured bird or maybe holding a newborn baby, and the whole body shifts and changes.
So in a sense, we have different bodies, and the happiness body is another one. And that’s part of the movement in meditation, in samadhi practice, is to move into these really healthy and healing bodies. And one of the ways to do that is to have a kind of a good meditation posture. “Good” means maybe dignified, maybe upright, or maybe it’s better to define it by what it’s not. It’s not collapsing, it’s not recoiling, it’s not shutting down, it’s not reaching for and trying to make something happen. We’re not being, the posture itself is not under the sway of what’s happening in the world and what’s happening with our emotional life inside.
So the posture becomes kind of like the monastery, the posture becomes a meditation hall, the posture becomes the source, the container that can hold everything. And we begin to experience and recognize how much we, in fact, are being swayed this way and that way by what’s happening in the world, what’s happening with our relationships, what’s happening with work and family and home. That our moods and emotions are so dependent, so influenced. We’re so influencable by all the things that’s happening around us. We’re constantly reacting this way and this way and that way.
And samadhi is the practice of becoming so fully present and home and stable here in the moment that the posture is no longer being under the influence of emotions, the world, the events of the times. And then slowly, the inner life, the heart, the deep place inside, begins to come alive. The inner life becomes alive independent of what’s happening in the world. And this is a revolution for some people, a revolution for the heart to feel a sense of well-being, to feel a sense of aliveness, contentment, peace, happiness that’s not dependent on what is happening in the world.
And this is not a betrayal of the world, a betrayal of our relationships. It’s actually putting ourselves in a really healthy way that we can go into the world, into our relationships, in an infinitely better way, where we offer it our clarity, offer it our fullness, offer our peace, our respect, our attention that can’t be offered if part of what we are is reacting to the present moment, caught up in our desires, caught up in the feelings, emotions about and desires and aversions that have to do with the present moment and what’s happening. We don’t bring the fullness, the best of us, when we’re being swayed this way and that way.
So the training in samadhi is a fantastic training for daily life. And knowing that might make it easier for your mind, body, heart to be willing to put aside the world, put aside your relationships, put aside your preoccupations, because you’ll be coming back to them after the meditation. And you’re putting it aside long enough to be transformed, be changed into a kind of deeper settledness, deeper fullness of being.
So in the third jhāna, it’s having a sense of a happiness body. And to feel that happiness body, to feel kind of cozy, delighted, contented, that we carry with us into the world. And that’s medicine for the world. If we go into the world angry, that’s not medicine. If we go into the world distressed, that’s not medicine. There’s enough anger, enough distress in the world. Do we really want to add more? Because we’re angry, maybe, and because we’re distressed, because we care. In that caring, make yourself the medicine that the world needs. Make yourself the medicine that you need. That’s the function of deep samadhi. That’s the function of deeply settling and going into this deep, deep place. It’s not an escape from the world. It’s an ability to become whole, complete with the best that we have available as a human being. And with that comes a profound aspiration to live for the welfare and happiness of this world without sacrificing our own well-being. It’s much easier said than done, but that’s the principle of this practice. It is possible to learn that, and it’s a worthwhile skill to learn.
And so I’ll read the description of the third jhāna one more time:
“Furthermore, with the fading of joy, a practitioner abides equanimous, aware, with clear recognition, experiencing happiness with the body. The practitioner enters and abides in the third jhāna, which the noble ones declare, ‘Equanimous and aware, one abides in happiness.’ The practitioner pervades, saturates, and permeates this body with happiness freed of joy, so that no part of the body is not touched.”
I celebrate this description. What a great, phenomenal pointing to a human potential that we have, that you have. It is possible. This is a potential we all carry within us.
So may you be your own medicine. May you be the medicine for the world. Thank you.