This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Guided Meditation: Don’t Make it Worse; New Vision (3) A Vision of Not Making it Worse. 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. I used to say “good morning” much more, but “hello” is now meant for this wide global community that comes together to sit here at IMC this way on YouTube. And I appreciate you all being here.
One of the ways of understanding Buddhist practice, mindfulness practice, meditation, is very simple and at the same time very profound. But it can be said in a way that’s not going to enter into the great philosophy books of the world, books of religious philosophy, or great religious teachings. It’s easy to overlook it and look for something that sounds much more inspiring. But it’s quite meaningful.
As mindfulness becomes stronger, this particular teaching becomes more and more highlighted. Maybe it becomes kind of instinctual, more than even intentional or even thought about. And maybe the whole Buddhist practice can unfold through this very simple statement. As we get quieter, as we get calmer, as we get more settled, more stable, more unified, more here, all along the way, there’s a teaching of “don’t make it worse.”
Simply know yourself well enough in the moment that you can see how you’ll make the situation worse. In meditation, the situation is sitting here, being here. And we become more and more sensitive to this. It highlights the subtlety, the depth, or the core ways in which we react, pick up beliefs, pick up attitudes. The core ways in which we cling or resist or expect or demand, or the core ways in which we get anxious deep down, even when things are all safe around us in the moment. There could be at the center a core fear that we pick up, that we get involved in.
And all along the way, we can carry with us a simple teaching: Don’t make it worse. You don’t have to make it better. But as you just keep to not making it worse, you will make it better. You will settle more. You’ll become calmer. You’ll open more. And then as that develops more and more, you have a new reference point, ever more deeper, fuller, more complete reference point for “don’t make it worse.” A reference point of seeing what you give up. How there’s an ouch, how there’s an ache, a suffering, a stress, a tension that represents feeling worse, limiting ourselves more.
So, assuming a meditation posture, a posture that maybe some of you have cultivated for some time now, so that in assuming the posture, you’re coming home to familiar sensations in the body.
Lowering your gaze, closing your eyes, and taking a few moments to check in. How are you right now?
In whatever way you are, can you not make it worse? Can you do so by simply allowing it to be the way it is and just know it? Be aware of how you are physically, mentally, emotionally.
And then, with the premise that at the center of it all is your breathing, the breathing body. And how’s your breathing? What does it feel like for your body that the body is breathing?
And regardless of how it is, comfortable or uncomfortable, don’t make it worse. Don’t make it worse for yourself by judging, criticizing, reacting, wanting more. Simply notice, be present for your body breathing.
And if there is any tension or pressure, tightness, pain, discomfort, breathe with it. Breathe through it as a way of accompanying it, knowing it without making it worse, without needing to do anything about it. Just for the moments, breathing with it as a way of being aware of it gently, kindly, without reacting, without making it worse.
And if there’s any tension or pressure in the thinking mind, to know that and breathe with it. Accompany it with your breathing. Stay connected to the rhythm of breathing as a way of gently stroking the tension or stress in the thinking mind. Stroking it with awareness, stroking it with the breath. Not making it worse, but having it be known.
And is there any way that as you sit here that you can find some place within that feels calm? That feels somewhat settled? Or maybe something that feels pleasant and enjoyable. The sensation, the feeling that you associate with meditation.
And allow your breathing to accompany these pleasant sensations, this calm, breathing through it, with it. So your ability to be aware rides along with your breathing.
And as we go along now meditating, being mindful, keep close by the notion: Don’t make it worse. Don’t pick anything up. Don’t react. Or if you do react, don’t get involved with it. Leave it alone. See if you can stay close to the idea of not making things worse.
If you find yourself enjoying your thoughts, just maybe you’re making things worse in the sense of losing a deeper, fuller connection to your embodied experience, your whole being, by being involved in the future, the past, fantasy. It’s a kind of surface pleasure that can easily be disconnecting.
After having sat now for these minutes, check in with yourself again. How are you now? Are you more settled and calmer? Are you more agitated? Do you feel more connected to yourself or less connected?
In whatever way you are, do you now have a different appreciation, sense, reference point for not making things worse?
And then as we come to the end of the sitting, is there some reference point now of sitting here, how you are, that can support you, help you understand how not to make things worse interpersonally? Might you appreciate the value of being calm or centered, or the value of a heightened capacity for present moment awareness? Staying close to that might protect you from not making things worse.
And may it be that as we gaze upon the world, as we learn about what’s happening in the world, as we encounter the joys and sufferings of the world, as we encounter the challenges and successes that occur as we walk through this life, may we support others by not making whatever is happening worse. Don’t make other people’s lives worse for this day. Don’t give other people occasion to feel worse, to be afraid, to be criticized, attacked in any way, ignored, dismissed.
May it be that we learn how not to make situations worse, and in doing so, give room and possibility that there’s a natural way that they can become better. May our good hearts support the welfare and happiness of this world.
May all beings be happy. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be safe. May all beings be free.
And by not making things worse, we make this more possible.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to this series on having a new vision. As dharma1 practice continues and matures and develops, it provides us with a new vision of what’s possible. A new vision of not only what’s possible, but a new vision for a freedom that’s in a certain way ever-present. An absence of clinging that’s always present in some domain of our experience. There’s an ever-present feeling of availability of deep awareness, deep wakefulness in this moment.
And it’s not just simply a vision of the future and what we have to work for, but in some ways, it’s right here. Some people might experience it as a radical experience of non-clinging or an absence of clinging to anything. And it’s a sense of absence, of emptiness, that stands out as being really here. For some people, it’s the ending, the cessation, the stopping of what has been maybe perpetual, ongoing, stressful thinking and reactivity and fearing and wanting. Somehow we have this full experience that something has really stopped. A deep, full stopping.
That’s also a vision. Oh, right here there is a sense of feeling or intuition that there is a way that these things can stop. They’ve already stopped in a certain dimension of our life, a certain room in our minds. It’s like having a big house that has been a huge mess, but then one room is cleaned. And then you know, theoretically, it’s possible to clean the rest of the rooms. And there’s always the possibility of seeing that clean room as long as you keep it clean. But it’s always there as a reference point. It’s always there as this place to go that’s inspiring, even though the rest of the house might be messed up.
And with this vision of possibility, using the metaphor of the house, we can begin kind of slowly expanding the cleaning of the rooms until the whole house is clean and taken care of. So with a significant enough vision or experience or recognition here and now of the absence of clinging, the absence of reactivity, the absence of conceit, the absence of holding on tight—where there’s an emptiness or a cessation, a stopping or an openness or profound sense of well-being—that begins to work on us. That begins to kind of spread, even unintentionally. You don’t even want to do it; it’s just kind of something organic that grows, it spreads, moves through your body.
I had the maybe unfortunate metaphor for myself that non-clinging had become like a bookworm that was slowly working its way, eating up all the inside of the book. So something was kind of moving through me and kind of releasing, letting go, eating all the places of clinging that existed in me. And it wasn’t exactly conscious, or maybe better to say, intentional. It was just the nature of this freedom that it works us. We’re being worked. We’re being matured more than we are doing the work. We are doing the maturing.
And so one of the reference points for this new vision, that sometimes can be the primary one, the one that has lots of meaning, is we see a sense of well-being, we see a sense of peace, we see a sense of emptiness, something that feels really inspiring and good. And we have a heightened appreciation of how we lose that. We have a heightened appreciation of how we mess that up, how we make it worse. And that can apply to many different areas of life.
In the English-speaking world, we often talk about ethics. And we can feel if we intentionally want to harm someone that there’s a tremendous loss inside of us of this wonderful reference point of well-being, of peace, of calm, of freedom. We lose a lot. Something is violated within us. And the more mature we become in practice, the more we feel that violation. We feel how it makes things worse for us in particular. Maybe we’re also making it worse for others.
And it can become more and more subtle. It becomes subtle how we speak, how we talk about others. There’s less inclination to gossip, less inclination to speak badly about people, to spread rumors or speak behind people’s backs in ways that they would never want to hear. And it isn’t because we should, because it’s moralistic to do it and we’re following some kind of tight rule. It’s rather because we have this wonderful feeling, a maturation of the practice in us where there’s such a sense of well-being that it becomes a reference point to why would I make it worse for myself? Why would I get involved in that kind of speech if it harms me?
So rushing, rushing around, having a lot to do, we can feel we’re making it worse. And what is pushing us to make it worse for ourselves? What justifies it? What are we holding on to? What are we clinging to that we feel like we have to rush in such a way that we’re getting tense? And to really spend time questioning that, reflecting on that, looking at the deep, deep reasons. What are the beliefs that are operating? What are the attachments? What are the ambitions? What are the fears that we’re willing to make the situation worse for ourselves? Why not do things well, calmly, in a present moment way? You probably have less to clean up afterwards or less to have to do over again or make mistakes.
And so I propose that it’s a very profound thing to carry with us the statement, “don’t make it worse.” And that with this new vision that comes from the depths of practice, that’s one of the ways that this new vision operates. Don’t make it worse now. Don’t mess it up. Don’t add suffering to the situation. Don’t add it for yourself. Don’t add it for others. And it’s not exactly something we’re thinking about actively, but it’s something that’s just really obvious. If you put your hand on a hot stove or even close to it, you’ll pull it away. You don’t have to go around saying, “don’t touch this hot object.” You know, it’ll be obvious not to do that. And so in the same way, it’s obvious not to make it worse as we get close to that possibility.
And so the new vision that we have is this heightened sensitivity to this way of living. And it’s not like getting busy now always analyzing everything this way. But it’s living from this place of freedom, of emptiness, of something having radically stopped, the reactivity having stopped to some degree, a sense of happiness, calm, peace. There are many ways of describing this that it becomes strong enough that as we get close to losing it or shutting it down or introducing the opposite, something inside of us says, “Why? Why are we sacrificing this? Why do we want to give this up?” That’s taken me maybe a long time to become mature, settled, calm, peaceful, where I have so much more to offer the world in terms of the good heart. Why should I sacrifice it? Why should I give it up? Why should I make things worse?
And as practice deepens, as this Buddhism becomes stronger for people, the practice becomes stronger, the clear answer is it’s not worth giving it up. It’s not worth sacrificing your well-being. It’s not worth giving up a greater happiness for a lesser happiness even. Don’t make it worse.
And it’s not a selfish thing to do. Some people protest, because to be selfish is to make it worse, to be self-involved in that kind of way. But sometimes being selfless and just everything is for someone else, there’s such a deep disconnect to ourselves that that also makes it worse. The wonderful way is the middle way, where we have a clear sensitivity to not making it worse for ourselves and not making it worse for others.
This little saying, “don’t make it worse,” can seem simplistic. It’s not going to be a whole beautiful, profound treatise on the philosophy of life. It’s not a profound, big, inspiring religious teaching full of lofty and wonderful images and ideas and promises. It’s not something that some people would like to say is at the heart of their religion. So it can be this simple thing, this ordinary thing, which is however phenomenally profound, effective, and it opens so many doors. It allows so much more to grow and develop and open up to the fullest feeling of spiritual maturity that Buddhism offers or points to.
So you might want to consider the vision that you get at any given moment by how you are and how you cannot make it worse. And see if you keep that close by through the day. That simply being attentive enough to not make it worse in all kinds of circumstances as you drive, as you shop, as you talk, as you cook, as you walk the streets, as you sit down at a device to look at the device. Don’t make it worse with your posture. Don’t make it worse with the speed, with the eagerness, with the attachment. Don’t make it worse.
And see if by the end of the day, or if you only want to do it for an hour, at the end of that period of time, whether you feel better. I hope you do. I hope that not making things worse will open doors to greater and greater happiness.
May we all not make it worse for this world and promote the possibility that we all grow in happiness, peace, and deep fellowship.
Thank you.
Dharma: A Pāli word that refers to the teachings of the Buddha, the path to enlightenment, and the universal truths of existence. ↩