Tempel Smith spent a year ordained as a monk in Burma and teaches Buddhist psychology and social activism in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is currently part of the IMS/Spirit Rock Teacher Training Program.
In daily live many of our actions are habitual and unconscious. The Buddha asked us to be increasingly aware of our motivation and intention behind each action so we can better sort out what is wholesome and helpful, and which actions are connected with greed, harm and ignorance. On a silent retreat we have a chance to see the habits we have and how they drive our behavior.
Every being experiences loss, pain and fear, and often feels the additional suffering of isolation. Our process of waking up gives us increasing awareness of our own vulnerability and that of others. Practicing compassion strengthens our hearts to stay conscious and even move lovingly towards ourselves and others when we are in pain.
At some point we can fully let go of all our concerns to give our full attention to the breath and body. As we build faith and devotion to this simple fullness of attention we can feel the mind healing from its habits of being scattered and exhausted. This practice develops into full absorption and becomes the basis for liberating wisdom.
The Buddha stated we are often lost in craving and aversion when we are not mindful of our bodies. In a discourse named the Six Animals (SN 35.247) the Buddha strongly encouraged developing the concentration of body mindfulness as a pillar to collect and calm oneself, and learn to have a conscious relationship to the six sense. From developing calm and collectedness mindfulness of the body continues to liberate us from our confusions towards having a body. As both a refuge of samadhi and a place for deepening wisdom, mindfulness of the body is considered the central foundation to the buddha's path to freedom here and now, and ultimate liberation.
Here is a simply guided meditation to bring kindness and patience to our mindfulness practice. As mindfulness develops it brings both clarity and warmth to our awareness.
All practices of mindfulness begin with commitment toward breath and body awareness. This is where we start our practice and where our practice develops. Here in this guided meditation we simplify our ambition just to rest in the in breath and out breath.
Close to the four Brahma viharas lives the heart warm with gratitude. Blending intentional gratitude into our dharma paths and to the practices which open the heart, counting our blessing of a human body, simple resources around us, and gratitude for our planet helps dispel any sense of scarcity and an over-focus on what we feel is lacking. Feeling gratitude allows us to discern if and what is truly lacking, and to be free at times to be bathed in countless miracles.
Our hearts' defenses might be most reinforced where there has been emotional pain. Using the previous practice of loving-kindness for easier relationships we can visit the places in our own hearts where we hold fear, hatred, resentment, and judgment. Relaxing these hard and painful places within us, by small, steady degrees, frees us from squandering our inner resources. Healing these places of pain can transform our understanding of how we can be in the world with a more open heart.
The developed momentum of loving-kindness can become a stable flow of both happy contentedness and stability of attention. This is the unification and immersion (samadhi) cultivated through dedicated metta practice. Like a river unblocked by fallen trees and debris, the flow of the heart can reopen into a smoothly pouring stream called loving-kindness concentration or metta samadhi.
Opening the heart and balancing with wisdom, the equanimity sacred dwelling becomes established as we relax the tightness of our preferences to be more intimate with how the world actually is moment to moment. Equanimity brahma vihara is a flow of sacred caring without reactivity or agitation to complex truths. Starting with the open heart we have in loving the natural world, we progress to bring loving equanimity to our personal lives. Through caring equanimity, we can discover how clinging to our preferences blocks deeper connection.
