This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Four Inspirational Blessings (2 of 5); Sitting in deep honesty, Preserving truth. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers.

Dharmette: Four Inspirational Blessings (2 of 5) Preserving Truth; Guided Meditation: Sitting in Deep Honesty - Kim Allen

The following talk was given by Kim Allen at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on April 09, 2024. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Guided Meditation: Sitting in Deep Honesty

Good morning, friends. Let’s go ahead and start meditating together.

Settling in and finding a good posture for meditation. If you're comfortable doing so, please close your eyes and just sense the body from the inside. Letting go of ideas about your computer, or the day before you, coffee, whatever has been on your mind as you're moving toward this session, and allowing the attention to become simpler. Just oriented toward sitting in this posture, supported by the chair, or the cushion, or the bed—wherever you're sitting.

Maybe taking a couple of long, slow, deep breaths, and on the out-breath, softening the body. Feeling into the stability of where you're sitting, your weight resting down onto the chair, or cushion, or bed, the floor. Allowing yourself to tune into the kind of basic physicality that is ever-present, but we don't always put our attention on it. And it may be that the physical being is not so comfortable at this moment; that's always a possibility in the body. But just allowing that to be as it is.

Gently inviting softening through the face, the eyes, down through the shoulders and the arms and hands. Softening down through the torso, the muscles of the upper back, diaphragm area, belly, and the low back. Often, as we soften the muscles that we habitually hold rigid, there's a new sense of support or straightening almost from the inside out, that we liberate through allowing ourselves to be at ease.

Releasing the hip joints, down through the legs, all the way to the feet. Tuning into the natural balance of the body, trusting it to find its alignment in gravity.

When a wheel is well balanced, the axle right in the middle of the wheel, and the wheel is round, if you spin it, it's said to spin "true." This is one of the meanings of "true." Can your body sit in a posture that is true? Aligned, balanced, simple. However that looks for your body.

Bringing attention also to the mind, the inner life. Perhaps looking upon that with just a natural inner gaze, like we might just see what's there. Are there emotions present? Thoughts, intentions, or other kinds of feelings? Looking upon these with ease and softness, inviting the mind also to relax in the simple awareness of mindfulness.

As with the body, the mind may not be entirely comfortable at this moment, entirely pleasant or easeful. And similarly, we can let that be as it is. Just knowing.

If you're familiar with the noting practice, you may wish to do that for a few minutes. This is a way of just gently naming what is arising in the mind. And it changes. We may have a moment of sadness, but then we move to hearing, and then a sense of softness as we exhale and ease, and then a thought. So we say, "thinking," gently in the mind. Or if a word is too much, we can just have kind of an impression. Clearly knowing each experience through the impression it makes in the mind, like feet make impressions in the sand.

This kind of simple noting is a way of being clear about what's happening in experience rather than somewhat disconnected. But perhaps just as importantly, it's a way of being honest about what's happening. The aim of noting is to really know what is arising. And if it's anger, then we've done the task when we've labeled it "anger," and then we move on. It's not, "Oh, anger, oh I shouldn't have that, how can I get rid of that?" That's one of the hindrances¹. Instead, it's just a note: "that was anger." And then the next moment, maybe something else.

It's okay if what arises is something that you would call a hindrance or an unwholesome mind state. If you've noted it, it wasn't taking over your mind. I wonder if we were really open and honest, just labeling everything as it comes with no concern that it says anything about you or your practice.

So if you'd like, resting in that space of deep openness and honesty. There's a lot of care in that.

If the mind has drifted away and moved into thinking, then we note "thinking." The mind is back to the present, back to sensing things as they are. If there was any concern about that or judgment, then it's just "judging." It's just what the mind is doing.

Just as we said about the well-balanced wheel that it will spin "true," there's a way that when the mind is just willing to be simple and present, then the mind has come into "true." It's just knowing itself. And there can even be a visceral sense of relief when we really know what is happening honestly. It's such a relief. Allowing that ease in the mind of being true.

And now gently bringing in again the awareness of the body, sitting or lying posture that you're in. Maybe feeling the breath coming in, going out. Sensing if there is some sense of alignment or integration. Is there a way that the deep honesty with the mind informs some connection with the body? Feeling of wholeness?

Might it be that this foundation of really being clear about what's happening moment to moment feels like a reliable foundation for navigating life? Starting from this place of really knowing—without our projections, ideas, judgments. That might be that we would then choose not to say something or choose a particular action. But when we do so from this deeply truthful foundation, it's much more likely to be beneficial.

This way of perceiving being open spreads from us to others. We can include other people also, really seeing them as they are. Really seeing them freshly, not through the filter of yesterday or last year. And there we can choose how to respond, which parts of reality to speak to. But always starting from this place of truth and truthfulness within our own being. It's a very beautiful offering for the world. And it's done just internally, privately, quietly. Others can feel it without us having to say so.

Considering what you've learned from this basis of deep honesty for being with others.

Dharmette: Four Inspirational Blessings (2 of 5) Preserving Truth

So we're talking this week about four foundational practices that are very simple to name and pretty simple to start doing in some way. And then they can keep unfolding in our practice for a long time, eventually going quite deep. I like things like this where they're immediately accessible, but then if we really follow them for a long time, they are onward-leading and keep opening up more and more.

So we're talking about them first as practices, and then near the end of this week, we'll reframe them as beautiful benefits in our life. These four are: to not neglect wisdom, to preserve truth, to cultivate relinquishment, and to train for peace.

Yesterday we talked about ways to keep connected to whatever wisdom we've developed. And we all have some, because it starts right away when we begin practicing. Sometimes the bigger issue is that we don't remember to be in touch with what wisdom we have. It's less about "I don't have enough wisdom yet" and more about "I'm not accessing what I do have." Paraphrasing Sharon Salzberg: mindfulness is easy, but remembering to be mindful is difficult. But when we do remember to be aware of just this and to bring in a wise perspective, we have more clarity in navigating our life, whether on or off the cushion.

So today we're moving on to preserving truth.

If someone, for example, the Buddha, said to you, "Preserve the truth," what would you do with that? How would you do that?

When I consider such a phrase, it strikes me that the verb is "to preserve." So what is true is therefore something that could be preserved—or maybe not. And when we don't, what is that? What does it mean to not preserve the truth? Does it mean kind of allowing it to decay, or covering it over, or distorting it? Instead, we can practice with preserving it.

I visited a state park a few days ago where ecosystems and certain species of trees are being preserved. And I've also visited wildlife preserves where animals are protected. So I see preservation as something beautiful that is done out of a sense of care, out of a sense of deeply valuing what is being preserved, along with the accurate understanding that it could be lost if action isn't taken. So do you see truth in that way? Is it something that you deeply value to the point of wanting to actively preserve it?

Maybe we need to look at this word "truth." Sometimes that can be a little bit of a sticky word. The Pali word is simply sacca², which is always translated as truth. It's pretty much a direct translation. And in Pali, just like in English, there are multiple shades of meaning of the word sacca, the word truth. I can say with confidence that the Buddha does not appear to be advocating a fundamentalist kind of truth, an absolutist truth that is rigid or dogmatic. I think it would be very hard to read the suttas and get that impression. So instead, there's an understanding that there are different layers or levels or aspects of what is true. And part of the art of Dharma practice is to align ourselves appropriately with some kind of truth. If we're out of alignment, something is off, something is not well-oriented in us.

So I guess I'll say that I'm not really afraid of the word truth. There are things that are true and things that are false or deceptive, and that can be known in ways that are appropriate for a given situation. The Buddha's teachings support this way of thinking about the truth.

So don't worry, we won't be analyzing all the kinds of truth for today. I just thought it was important to clarify that term a bit. We're just going to consider what we can clearly know in our life. Know the basic kinds of truths that we may wish to preserve in our actions of body, speech, and mind, and some ways that we can do that.

So if we're not neglecting wisdom, then we are in touch with some kind of truth. For example, this cup is warm. And my sweater looks reddish to my eyes. And there's a pressure of my feet against the floor, and it feels like it does right now; I can feel it from the inside. And I'm speaking these words, and I know that I'm speaking. There's no distortion there, no judgments or projections or abstractions. So maybe consider for a moment just a few things like that that are true for you in this moment. Can you notice any feeling of clarity in alignment with just those basic things that are true at this moment?

One of the best ways to practice with preserving truth is in our speech, in our communication. So once we get into these truths where we're sharing, communicating with others, it can get a little bit dicier. Now we have to be a little bit more precise about what it means to preserve truth in a more public way.

But just as an example, something I do when I write in an email to somebody—we're arranging, we're calendaring together—and I write to them, "I've put this in my calendar." I actually pause in writing the email, I go and I put that into my calendar, and I save it. And only then do I press send on the email. It would be easy to dash off the email saying "I put it in my calendar" and then go do it. But that makes the statement in the email not quite true, doesn't it? I haven't put it in my calendar yet. So I put it in my calendar before I send the email. These little details can be important.

So as noted, we have to be clearer when we start sharing or communicating with others. Then we have to look at this truth.

There is a teaching in the suttas, Majjhima Nikaya 95³, where somebody asks the Buddha how to preserve truth. It's a Brahmin, and he literally says, "In what way is there the preservation of truth? How does one preserve truth?" We ask Master Gotama⁴ about the preservation of truth. And the Pali verb there for preservation is rakkhati⁵, which also means to safeguard or protect.

And the Buddha replies to this Brahmin: "If a person has faith, they preserve the truth when they say 'My faith is thus,' but they do not yet come to the definite conclusion: 'Only this is true, anything else is wrong.' And if a person reaches a conclusion based on reasoning, then they preserve truth when they say 'My reasoning is thus,' but they do not yet come to the definite conclusion: 'Only this is true, anything else is wrong.'"

And so on. The Buddha names five things total, not just faith and reasoning. So it's clear, I think, what this teaching is saying: cite your source. So rather than just asserting something as a definite truth, we carefully say how we know what we're saying, or why we have come to think that. Maybe we're believing it because we read it in the Wall Street Journal, or we read it in Al Jazeera, or we heard it on Fox News, and we trust that platform of journalism. So we say, "This is where I read this," or "This is where I heard this." Or maybe we thought about it and we're trusting our own logical ability, so we say that. Or maybe we did a scientific experiment and we're quoting data from that.

You know, yesterday I watched the eclipse using a pinhole camera. I didn't exactly see the sun being eclipsed because we can't look at the sun, but I saw a projection of the sun with a curved portion cut out of it during the time frame when the eclipse happened. So if you ask whether I saw the eclipse, I could say "Yes." But I could also preserve the truth more by clarifying that I saw it in this particular way.

So this might be a wonderful practice to do if you're interested. You could try for a whole day or just a morning, maybe, to say the source behind every declarative statement that you make. So options include: trust—you trust where you heard something. Or maybe you have a sense of approving of something—"This is aligned with my values, so that's why I'm saying it." Or "This is how our society conceives of something, so I'm saying it out of cultural tradition." Or "I'm saying it out of logic; I thought it through and this is how I see it." Or maybe you reflected about somebody else's view—"My friend told me this and I thought about it and that makes sense."

So can you preserve truth through your speech in this way? Other people may look at you a little funny for being so careful and clear, but that just shows how loose we usually are with being clear about preserving the truth in this way.

And then by the way, the other part of preserving truth in what the Buddha said is that we don't believe that we're certain. You know, we don't come to the definite conclusion "Only this is true, everything else is wrong." So this is more of a mental act of preserving truth: that even when we make statements and we declare "This is why I think it's true," we keep things open in our mind. "Maybe this is how it is, and this is why I think so." But in our mind we remember: maybe it's not. Maybe I don't have all the information. Maybe my trust wasn't correct. Maybe my logic was faulty this time around. Can we keep things open in our mind? It's interesting that preserving the truth includes remembering that it might not be completely true.

We can also preserve the truth through meditative contemplation, and this is a very important skill for living a Dharma life or for living generally with integrity. A friend of mine who's a teacher in another tradition, a Buddhist teacher from another tradition, paraphrased it this way. I want to say something about what he said about a practice that he does that I've done too and really like.

So he says: "In every situation, particularly difficult ones, take the time and make the effort to know what is true. Often there are multiple facets to a situation: physical, emotional, and spiritual. Which is true? All of them. We practice with this by simply including all of those different perspectives. Just holding them in intention, not doing anything with them. With time and some trust, the truth of the matter will reveal itself. When we're able to see or understand what is true and accept it, even though it may be very painful, mind and body relax. We find relief just from allowing everything to be there as it is, not suppressing or projecting. What comes out of that easing of tension is almost always good and wholesome."

I really liked the way he said that, and how he points to a visceral feeling that happens when we get aligned with the truth. He calls it an "easing of tension." Have you ever felt this when you were finally able to accept the full reality of a situation? I have. We can know in our very being that we are touching into what is true. It can be quite a process to get there because we don't get to choose how long it takes for the truth to reveal itself. But if we have this practice of staying open, wanting to include more and more, keeping things in alignment, then eventually we can get this direct feeling of, "Yep, this is it. This is what we've landed on, at least as far as I can know the truth with my ability at this moment."

And that can be a guide or a beacon on the path. This is what the Buddha is calling in the foundation "truth"; that's what he's calling it. So our deepest experience of truth can become a reference point for further deepening.

So I wish you all the courage to live in this kind of non-deception, this kind of alignment of truthfulness. And to preserve the truth is one of the most beautiful things that we can start doing immediately at the level that we can, and it will deepen and deepen and deepen, and it can go all the way to the deepest truth.

So thank you, and may it be a wonderful day of Truth.