This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Samadhi Review Day 3 Guided Meditation & Dharmette. It likely contains inaccuracies.
The following talk was given by Unknown at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.
Hello everyone and welcome to this broadcast on YouTube from IMC. This week, I’m away teaching an eco-chaplaincy retreat and so could not be here. The other teachers that substitute for me are also not available, so we’re doing a replay, a rerun of the third week in the Samadhi1 series that is a precursor for the series we’re doing now on insight. It might be nice to go back to near the beginning of Samadhi, at the basics of practicing with breathing, as a reminder that we always want to come back to the beginning and get established and not be in a hurry to have insight.
So I hope you enjoy a repeat of this week. For those of you who have heard it before, and those of you who are new to this section on insight, it might be nice also to come back to a more foundational beginning to create a better context for these teachings on insight. I’ll be back on July 28th, so next week. I hope you enjoy these days returning to the beginning of Samadhi. Thank you.
On Monday I said Samadhi is simplicity. Yesterday I said Samadhi is settledness, settling. And today I’d like to say that Samadhi is steadiness. Being steady with awareness, with the attention. Being steady not only in the present moment, but being steady in resting attention at a center point. This settling point, maybe the gathering point, the point within where the awareness can feel committed. It can feel welcomed, a place within where it’s possible for the awareness to become absorbed or be steady in the simplicity of the experience we’re having.
There are a variety of these centering points where we gather ourselves. I think of the center as like the center of a trampoline. If we sit at the middle of the trampoline, it bows and settles down to hold our weight. When I had a trampoline in the backyard for my little kids, all the little balls they had on it would roll towards that center. We didn’t have to gather the balls; if we stood in the middle, they would just roll down there. So if we can find that place, and have the steadiness of staying on that place, the attention becomes that kind of centering place where all the different, disparate parts of who we are can begin to gather there together.
One of the things that’s helpful for developing Samadhi through being steady is if we’re steady, for example, with breathing—the rhythm of breathing in and breathing out as it’s experienced in the body, in particular in the torso, and even more so in the area around the belly. The movements of the belly as we breathe, or it could be the whole torso, the expansive movements of the whole torso as we breathe in and the gathering together, the collecting, coming back, settling back on the exhale.
As we’re there, steady, don’t set up a war or a conflict with the thinking mind. Certainly, the art of meditation is to learn how not to be caught in the world of thought, taking you away from the present. But you also don’t have to think that you’re supposed to push thoughts away either. There is an art to holding steady on what you’re being mindful of, what you’re focusing on, and then letting your thoughts recede to the background. If they can be in the background, they can be there. You can kind of know you’re thinking, but you don’t have to be involved in it. It’s like having a nice conversation with a friend in a restaurant. There are other people talking around you, and you know they’re talking, but you’re not listening to them. You’re staying focused on your friend. In this way, you know that you’re thinking, but you’re not focused on it. You’re focused on your friend: the breathing. To feel it, listen, sense, be there, be a steady friend, to be really present for the breathing.
So, assume a meditation posture. I sometimes think of the posture of meditation as one that frees up or opens up the front of the torso so it’s easier to breathe. The chest is not collapsed. We’re not collapsed in such a way that the belly is crunched up, but rather there’s a feeling of being open, with an open chest. Maybe the belly is open and expansive, so that as you relax the belly, soften the belly, it hangs forward. It’s not pulled in.
Maybe feeling the soft belly. As you breathe in deeply, feel the gentle expansion, pressure, pushing outwards or downwards that happens in your belly as you breathe in. And how after a while with the in-breath, maybe that expansion and pressure in the belly helps lift up the rib cage and helps expand the torso around the ribs.
And then discovering how you exhale, how the body exhales, a long exhale. Is it first from the chest that contracts, or the belly, or both together? On the exhale, relaxing and softening the whole body.
And letting the breathing return to normal. And with a normal exhale, soften the body.
And then to settle in, in a simple way, to the experience of breathing. Maybe to a place within which is the centering place, the gathering place. Maybe at the end of the exhale where something shifts and the inhale begins.
If you’re with a friend who is challenged by something and needs support, but the only support they need is just to know you’re there, you might put your hand on the top of their back. Just keep your hand there so they know they’re being accompanied. Your hand stays there, steady. In the same way, the hand of awareness is placed gently against the back of the breathing. So it’s not a frontal, piercing of attention to the breath, a strain, but coming from behind and being there to feel and sense in a gentle way, to let the breathing know you’re there for it.
And then keeping the hand of awareness with the exhale. So you’re accompanying the exhale through the whole length of the exhale, however short or long it might be, from the beginning to the end. You don’t lose contact.
Experimenting with a steadiness through the whole length of the inhale. And then accompanying the exhale, not pushing it or demanding anything from it, but keeping the hand of attention there, in touch with the whole exhale from beginning to end.
And then both the inhale and the exhale. A steady attention to the whole inhale, followed by a steadiness with the whole exhale.
Staying close to the simplicity of awareness of breathing. Not making it a big deal or a project. A simplicity of attention that stays steady, intimate with the full experience of breathing in, breathing out.
From time to time, letting there be a settling of the whole body into the breathing.
And see if you can not be interested in your thinking. You don’t have to listen to it or attend to it. Let it recede to the background. It’s not important for these moments of meditation. And instead, to trust being with breathing, trusting a steady attention that stays with the whole length of the inhale and the whole length of the exhale, over and over again. And if it’s helpful, you might be counting the breath to keep you there.
The more fully you can fill awareness with breathing, the less room there is for thinking.
And if there’s any way it feels as if you’re holding yourself back from the breathing, relax that holding. So it might feel more like you’re entering into the experience of the body breathing.
And then as we come to the end of the sitting, to whatever degree you can, appreciate a steadiness of attention. Here with the breathing, with yourself, with the body, with being aware itself. Even if it’s a challenge, is there some way that you can appreciate that continuity of awareness? The kind of continuity of awareness you would offer to a friend if you’re listening to them, to their challenge that they’re describing and need to talk about. A continuity of being present so they know that you care through how you listen.
May it be that the way that we learn to attend and be present for ourselves in meditation supports us in our ability to listen well to others. To attend to others so we can understand them better, know them better. May it be that this practice that we do supports us in our ability to be attuned, be considerate, be respectful of other people, so they feel our respect through how we are aware of them, how we listen.
And may it be that how we listen to the suffering world is medicine to any feeling that people have that they’re alone, unattended, uncared for. May we live in such a way that we contribute to all beings being cared for, being respected and listened to.
May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free.
And may our ability to be present for others contribute to their well-being and freedom.
Thank you.
So hello and welcome to this series on Samadhi. On Monday I talked about Samadhi as simplicity. Yesterday, as Samadhi as settling, settledness. And today, as steadiness—a steady attention to the present moment, a steady attention to the experience we’re having that we’re really settling on. This idea of steady attention is closely connected to the idea of a continuity of attention, continuity in the present moment. The idea is to hang out with the breath so we get absorbed, so we get more engaged in it.
Some people find this hard to do because they expect that somehow they’ll find something wonderful in the breathing, like there’s a key there or some pleasure or something profound to be found if they keep looking at the breathing. The breathing is a solution. But the real warmth and beauty and delight of Samadhi is not found in the object that we pay attention to, but in the subjective experience of being intimate or connected or steadied, absorbed in the experience we’re having. So we don’t want to look for the solution in the experience of breathing. But something happens in the interaction between us and the breathing, us and the object of concentration. In the way in which we attend to it—the steadiness, the settledness, the simplicity, and the continuity of attention—that is more continuous than the continuity of being lost in thought.
So, to kind of stay and rest there. One of the things that can support this steadiness and continuity of attention is the wise use of our imagination. Sometimes if we have the ability to imagine in a nice way, in our own way, some form of imagination that brings us connected and inspired and kind of riding along with the breathing, it can be easier to have that continuity. I’ll offer you some examples, and the idea is that you find an example that works for you.
Something I did in my early years of practice was imagining that my in-breaths and out-breaths were like the slow, gentle movements of the wings of a large bird. Breathing in and out was the way the wings were going up and down. And sometimes with the exhale, if it was extended, it was like I was gliding along in the wind, and then I would lift them up again and let them go down. There was something about this imagery for me, of being in the high sky and the breathing being intimately connected with the wings flapping, that got me really engaged in the continuity, staying right there with it.
Another thing that I’ve done is sometimes I’ve imagined—and I’ve told this story many times before—that it’s a little bit like when I was a little kid, I loved going on a push scooter. The way a push scooter would work is that I would, with one foot, kick the ground to push the scooter forward, and then I would ride the momentum until it started to slow, and then I would gently push again, ride, push. So for the meditation on breathing, the inhale was like the push, and the exhale was riding the momentum. It just felt so good to ride that momentum to the end of the exhale, and then I would gently push with the inhale. That imagery kind of harnessed my imagination to help me be present, rather than the imagination taking me off to some other lands and times. Just like counting is taking thinking and using it for the purpose of being present, there can be a wise use of imagination that brings you into the present more rather than taking you away.
The example I used in this last meditation of putting your gentle, safe hand on someone’s back, or feeling someone there for you holding you, might be nice. Maybe you’re walking in an unsteady way in a place that’s a little dangerous, and someone’s just there letting you know they’re there to catch you if you fall.
It’s related to an imagination I used many years ago when I was in college. I took a massage class, and the teacher taught us to always have one hand connected to the person you’re massaging. So there’s no interruption, and no surprise of being touched again if you get some massage oil. I found that a nice imagery sometimes for being with the breath in meditation: never lose contact, stay there. But for some people, that’s not the right image.
Another image I’ve used, because I’ve been doing this for 50 years, is thinking of the exhale as riding a slide. I’m just kind of going down like a little kid on a slide. “Woo!” You know, just riding the slide. That kind of kept me right there and made it kind of fun.
So you might have your own imagery that might work for you. I know some people have the image of breathing as being a big wheel, and the sense of the wheel turning helps them stay with it, almost like the inhale and exhale are the turning of the wheel.
For some people, imagination is not what’s going to help them stay steady and continuous with the breathing. It might be something interesting or, more usefully, something pleasant about the sensations of breathing. I find that I generally find the exhale to be more pleasant than the inhale. Sometimes it’s been the opposite. But be sure to be there for whatever pleasantness or satisfactory sensations are there in the cycle of breath, and then ride it, feel it, sense it. Some people find that they can get absorbed in breathing because they begin really tuning into wherever there’s some sense of pleasantness or pleasure in breathing. I’ve known some people who’ve adjusted their breathing just a little bit so it can be a little bit more pleasant, more enjoyable. Sometimes breathing slightly bigger breaths, sometimes relaxing and softening the belly.
All along, this idea of steadiness and continuity of attention with breathing should be done without any strain, without any expectation, without measuring how well we’re doing. Of course, we’re going to wander off. Of course, the continuity is not going to be continuous. So find a way to meditate so that the loss of touch with the breathing, the loss of staying connected and steady, is folded in as part of a healthy meditation. It’s not a problem. It’s just, of course your mind’s going to do that. And then find a relaxed way to begin again, to come back again.
Here also I used the imagination. An image that arose as I was doing the practice was that I learned to have a friendly attitude towards my thinking. I didn’t set it up as a tension or a problem. If I found myself wandering off in thought, I wouldn’t tense up. I wouldn’t be critical. I wouldn’t see it as a problem. The image I had was that there was a horse that had escaped the corral. The way to bring it back was to ride another horse right up next to it, being companions riding together. Go along with the horse that escaped for a little while, and then take a big 180-degree arc around to come back to the corral.
That imagery came up as I would notice I was thinking. I would kind of go along with it a little bit. I wasn’t going to immediately tense up. Just know I was thinking, accompany the thinking a little bit, and then gently have this idea of, “Okay, come back. Let’s go back.” Let’s make a big circle, not a jerk back, but just a gentle, long curve. Maybe it took two or three seconds to do that process. And then when I came back to breathing that way, I was much more settled than I was before wandering off in thought. It was okay, here I am. Let’s have continuity. Let’s be steady here. Let’s be committed in a loving way, absorbed in the simplicity of this simple, settled, and steady state.
So I hope these ideas give you something to find for yourself that supports you with this steadiness and continuity of attention.
An announcement to make is that this Friday, we will have a community meeting for the 7 a.m. group, for those of you who can. I’ll post a Zoom link on IMC’s “What’s New” page, in the IMC calendar, and also on Friday, I’ll post it here on the YouTube chat. Then at 7:45, we’ll switch over to Zoom and we can have some period of questions.
Samadhi: A Pali word that refers to a state of meditative concentration or absorption. ↩