Let your body be present and also relaxed. As you let go, feel how the Earth completely supports you. Let the heart be soft to receive whatever arises with compassion. Begin to notice how the body is breathing itself, exchanging air with the leaves of the trees around you and with the breath of every other living being on Earth—we share this atmosphere.
This dharma talk centers around teachings from The Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta which is a story about the last year of the Buddha's life.
This text has two main themes:
1. The Buddha wanted to leave his teachings as guidance for his followers to empower them.
2. The Buddha wanted to encourage his followers to foster wise relationships to one another in the spiritual community and to the world.
The five spiritual powers are essential accompaniments that guide us into deepened realizations of liberation. Each faculty is an active power that is soverign in its own domain, but also pairs with another to effect balance. As a whole unit, the 5 faculties work together to strengthen our resolve, by establishing inner balance and harmony. In this way, they cultivate our capacity to see each moment clearly without the residue of external conditioning.
After our initial work to begin meditation on in and out breathing we can further relax with total faith into immersion with breathing awareness. Some gentle supporting techniques of counting can be helpful, as well as welcoming an attitude of devotion and patience to support breathing as a sanctuary.
When the Buddha taught detailed instructions for breath meditation he often used 16 steps from initial meditation to complete freedom. The first 12 steps on the common meditation guidelines to develop stable concentration and experience a mind temporarily free from inner turmoil.
In this guided meditation, we explore connecting with our intention, relaxing the body, and then devote ourselves to the first two jhanic factors: vitakka and vicara, initial application and sustained application, or connect and continue. The guidance ends with planting the seeds for gladness and joy by noticing the absence of the hindrances, as taught in the satipatthana sutta.
What is samatha Practice (concentration)? Why practice samatha? What is the different between samatha (a practice), samadhi (the state), and vipassana (insight practice)? What are the five jhanic factors? And how do we work with the five hindrances, or rather, "coverings," in samatha practice as opposed to insight practice?
