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Guided Meditation: Mettā; Dharmette: Buddha’s Mind (5 of 5) Awake and Beyond - Kim Allen

The following talk was given by Kim Allen at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on October 11, 2024. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Guided Meditation: Mettā

All right, it is nice to see everyone. As we settle in, I'll mention that our wholesome quality for today's meditation is mettā¹—goodwill or loving-kindness. We will explore it from a few different angles, so I hope you will just follow along as you wish.

Settling in, sensing the body in whatever posture you are in, and allowing the attention to come inward. Closing the eyes, maybe taking a long, slow, deep breath in... and softening on the out-breath.

Offering the invitation of ease to the body. Could there be an easeful way to rest against the surface you are resting on? Softening into your seat or whatever you are lying on. Not having any pushing against that surface, but just a softening, or even a melting into it.

Then, also feeling a comfortable straightness and alertness that is actually more easeful than collapsing. Soft and present. Allowing the shoulders to relax and soften down, maybe imagining the shoulder blades sliding down the back. Softening the eyes in the eye sockets. Inviting some ease through the torso area—through the chest and heart area, down into the abdomen. Not as a demand, but just an invitation.

Softening the arms and legs so they are in a natural position. Feel a sense in the body of having arrived, to the degree it is available right now. If there are any parts of the body that are uncomfortable today in some way, that is fine. We feel that it is okay for the body right now. We just offer our caring attention to those parts without dramatizing them.

You are welcome to continue with the meditation on the breath or the body if that feels right for you. The invitation is also to bring the attention into the area of the heart, to point the mind towards some goodwill. Have a sense of softening in the heart area. How is it there? It might already be warm or soft, or it might feel a little bit tight, hard, achy, or numb. We just see what is there.

Some of the feelings may be physical, and some extend more into the energetic aspect of the body—a little more subtle. Again, using the mental function of the mind in a skillful way, we can bring in the image or felt sense of a being for whom it is easy to feel friendliness. It might be yourself; that is a totally fine place to start, a very classical place to start. If that is not as easy, people often like to use an animal, like a pet. It should be some simple being, not someone with whom you have a complex relationship. Usually, we wouldn't choose our partner, for example. Choose some easy being for whom it is just simple to wish well.

Rather than focusing entirely on them, we just use their image or sense on our heart as a way of evoking the feeling of care. The focus is on the feeling in us: goodwill, an easy kind of loving-kindness, friendliness. We just want this being to be happy. Feeling that feeling in the heart of wanting that, caring about that.

Sensing that feeling and connecting it to our breath. As the breath comes in, it is like a bellows shining on the beginning of a fire. When we pump the bellows, the fire gets bigger; it is being fed. As we breathe in, the mettā grows, getting warmer and brighter. As we breathe out, we notice the shining of that flame or the radiance of that hot coal. Breathing in again, this sense of this being—the mettā grows, glowing on fire. Breathing out, we notice the radiance.

As you get a sense of that, you can actually let the sense of the being go and just notice the mettā growing and radiating. Now, the thing about a fire is that it radiates in all directions equally, whereas we tend to be focused on the front where our sense organs are. We can deliberately imagine that the radiance is shining forward. Start where it is clear, as if we've drawn a curtain aside and it is shining freely out to the front. Then, drawing that curtain around to the right—radiance shines out to the right. To the back—it might be a little messy, but easy—keeping the feeling of mettā, feeling it extending out of our body. And to the left side. Also above and below.

We have removed all the curtains, and the heart is shining freely. Turning back into that feeling of mettā—can you even feel it physically? A sense of warmth or ease in the mind? Perhaps it's a pleasant feeling of friendliness, openness, or subtle joy. It may be that this feeling is not so accessible at this moment; that happens. If that is the case, then just stay with the intention and whatever feelings are present that are somewhat useful.

Letting the mettā permeate the body as it shines outward. It doesn't need to go very far. A light doesn't push its energy out, so you just let it shine. Maybe it's a pretty small candle, or maybe it's bigger; it doesn't matter. It's just the shining.

If you want to imagine that this mettā is nourishing for the body, that's fine. Notice how it shines through your body before it goes out into the world. We are always the first recipient of our mettā. We may bring in a sense of how any being in any direction would be touched by this field of mettā.

One quality to focus on is its non-contention. Mettā has no conflict in it. It's just itself. It's just friendliness.

[Silence]

You're welcome to continue if you would like, but there's also an invitation to now soften that deliberate use of the mind and relax back to an open awareness of the flow of experience, but retaining this quality of non-contention. Allowing each thing in the body and mind to have its life in the field of our awareness without a sense that we need to decide if it should or shouldn't be there, or what it's about. The awareness is just itself—simple knowing without any conflict with what is coming and going. We stay present, non-entangled. See if you can rest like this for a bit.

[Extended Silence]

Let's bring in now another aspect of mettā. It's been implicit in this sit, but I want to make it explicit: to consider that we don't actually know what will arise next in experience, do we? Even in our own mind, sitting quietly here, you're basically just with yourself, but you don't know what's going to come. You don't know absolutely everything about your mind. There's this certain kind of courage and faith in just offering this goodwill, this non-contention. "I don't know what's going to come next, but the intention is to meet it with mettā, in a non-conflicting way of being." It's beautiful to have that in the face of the unknowability of the flow of experience.

Similarly, as we will soon come out of meditation and go out into life—interacting with others, going somewhere—consider that you don't fully know others. They are always going to be deeper and wider than you can see, maybe even deeper than they can see. And yet, can we have this intention that we would meet that with friendliness, kindness, or goodwill—whatever dimension of mettā is appropriate in that moment? What a courageous heart it would be to go out into this vast, unfathomable world but still wish inside that we can meet it with kindness, care, and well-wishing, even in the face of that ultimate unknowability. In a sense, why not? Why not offer goodwill?

May it be that we retain some of that momentum heading out into the wider world, meeting it in this good way. It certainly doesn't guarantee that everything goes well, or that others like us, or any of those smaller considerations. But it's a good place to start. What's the alternative, really?

May we continue with our open heart. May we have the courage to let that be what we're about: finding a way to meet life with this care and kindness. Others may, to the degree that they're receptive, sense that and benefit from one kindness in many ways, seen and unseen. May all beings receive kindness and find in themselves happiness and peace.

Dharmette: Buddha’s Mind (5 of 5) Awake and Beyond

We'll continue with the ten epithets of the Buddha and finish up today. There is one that we haven't covered out of these nine that we're mostly talking about. The extra one is Tathāgata², which is technically the first, though not always included in the traditional practice. This means "thus come" or "thus gone," depending on how you read it. Or maybe it means both; the word being slightly vague might be meant to convey both. It's a little unclear what it is if you just give that literal translation. I like Gil Fronsdal's rendering of it as "the one who is thus." It’s a kind of "thusness"—it's just what it is—a way of being that the Buddha had. I mention it today on the last day because we've reached the culminating qualities of the Buddha, which have an air of unfathomability about them.

With that introduction, we'll move into the last two that we haven't talked about yet. The first of these is Buddho³, which simply means "awake." It's the general form of the word "Buddha" that we often use to address him. What's interesting is that, if you remember back from the sequence, on the very first day we talked about the quality Sammā-sambuddho⁴, which I translated as "fully self-awakened." So why do we now get to just Buddho—a simpler version—late in the list? We've seen over the week that this list is pretty sequential. It has a directionality where it starts more internally with the Buddha's awakened mind itself, then the way he acts, and eventually his ability to see everything from which he teaches. We see it's going "outward," if you will.

So why Buddho now? The usual understanding of this, which makes sense to me from having done the practice myself, is that this is meant to be a direct, simple, powerful awakeness that the Buddha has about him, such that those who are attuned to the teachings can feel the presence of freedom when they're in his presence. The Buddha's awakeness was so deep and so unshakable that it was something that could be resonated with by others if they were of a certain mind. It doesn't mean everybody could feel that, but this "awake" quality can influence us directly at a subtle level.

Buddho has to do with the Buddha's ability to connect so directly with the heart that a person actually could awaken if their mind was properly trained. We have to do the training ourselves; this isn't like a magical transmission where he can touch anybody and wake them up. There isn't that kind of magic in this understanding. But if the mind is trained and if the person is participating, then yes, actually we can gain that influence from the Buddha.

The suttas⁵ name ten instances of people becoming fully awakened simply from hearing a Dharma talk from the Buddha. It was more than ten people total; sometimes there were a lot of them. But if you really analyze the suttas—Leigh Brasington⁶ has done this analysis—there were ten cases where one or more people became fully awakened just from hearing a Dharma talk. Presumably, their minds had been prepared in some way.

Those are the suggestions in the early teachings that this is possible. We can see in our own experience how this relates for us since we don't have a living Buddha. Even translations of the Buddha's teachings—even passed down and translated into another language—can have a direct impact on the mind if the mind is ready. I'll give an example: I've had experience with this. I read the suttas quite a bit, and teachings from other Buddhist traditions also. I had an experience one time of reading a verse translated from a certain Buddhist teaching. It was in English, and it was like there was a shift in my mind. I was somehow just ready at that moment, and my mind shifted into a meditative state. I noticed it just from reading this verse. I thought it was so interesting; I actually put it down, did some meditation, and went on after that. At some point, I mentioned this to a friend, and it actually had the same effect on her mind.

Joseph Goldstein⁷ also mentions in his Dharma talks that he had an insight from something that he read. I don't know what it was, but he read some kind of wisdom teaching and he had an insight into not-self⁸. These things are possible even now, but again, it depends on the conditions we've put into our mind through meditative practice, training, and developing ethics and wholesomeness. How much more so, going back to this quality of Buddho, if someone is literally in the Buddha's presence? There's this idea that awakeness is a "thing," and we can explore that in our own practice—the degree to which that's meaningful for us.

Then the final quality, attribute, or epithet of the Buddha is Bhagavā⁹. This is often used in the suttas and is usually translated as "The Blessed One." "The Blessed One said this," etc., or simply "blessed" as an adjective. This one, though—I mean, that's a translation, and "blessed" has a kind of religious quality to it. It's meant to capture something, but I think it's hard to put into simple words. What is a "blessing" in a religion that doesn't have a God in that way?

I think it's best encountered if we understand this last quality of Bhagavā in doing the formal recollection practice itself and seeing what it evokes for us. I'll offer some words; see how they resonate for you. This is from Bhikkhu Bodhi¹⁰, talking about his interpretation of these nine epithets. He says the Blessed One is "the fortunate one who practiced and fulfilled all meritorious qualities and extends his waves of blessing out to the world." That's his definition of how we should recollect Bhagavā.

That's interesting, right? What does that mean now, centuries after the Buddha's physical death? I don't think it's meant to be pinned down rationally. It's not something that we should think about, analyze, and really get our mind around. I think the point is more to rest in the opening that comes from this term. We kind of land on Bhagavā at the end—the Blessed One, blessings maybe still happening.

I found this quote in the suttas: "A realized one is freed from reckoning in terms of form; they are deep, immeasurable, and hard to fathom, like the ocean." That talks about form, and it goes on for the other aggregates¹¹: feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. We can't really reckon them in terms of those things. We can't pin them down and say exactly what this is for that person. They're deep, immeasurable, and hard to fathom. In the end, we don't really know the Buddha's mind. We don't really know who was the Buddha, or what is the Buddha. It's for us to feel in ourselves. We find that at the end of contemplating all of these attributes of the Buddha, we're left with the fact that we can't know it all. We just have to rest in something open.

So my sense from this is that what happened under the Bodhi tree¹², whatever that was, is still echoing in the world. Perhaps in a practical sense, there's a way that our life could be lived such that that reverberation keeps going. At least don't dampen it through the way that you live. Let that keep resonating through your body and mind. Don't deaden it; don't take energy from it, so that it continues on after you're here. In fact, doing this recollection practice—Buddhānussati¹³—is part of keeping that reverberation going. Just let it echo through your body.

As a recap of the ten epithets:

1. Tathāgata: We don't usually contemplate this in the standard list, but it's the first. "The Thus-Gone One."
2. Arahaṃ: Fully wholesome, free of greed, hatred, and delusion. Worthy of offerings.
3. Sammā-sambuddho: Fully self-awakened. He didn't just see his own liberation, but he saw the whole picture, all the way down to the depths, such that his teachings are still relevant today.
4. Vijjā-caraṇa-sampanno: Accomplished in knowledge and conduct. Able to manifest that understanding in his very actions, with his body and his knowledge of how not to get caught in anything.
5. Sugato: Well-gone, or happy. Gone to a happy place that can't be thrown by anything that happens in the world.
6. Loka-vidū: Knower of the world. Able to see and understand how suffering arises and how it can end in all situations. He sees how the mind works, how the sense system works, and how all the realms of being flow lawfully based on wholesome and unwholesome actions.
7. Anuttaro purisa-damma-sārathi: The unsurpassed trainer of beings to be tamed. He can tame even the wildest mind because he always knows how to calm it.
8. Satthā deva-manussānaṃ: Not just a trainer, but a teacher for devas¹⁴ and human beings, explaining the process so that we can be empowered to walk this path ourselves and become free and independent in the Dhamma¹⁵.
9. Buddho: So awake that it communicates to us. Just in his presence, that awakeness can enliven and awaken us if we are receptive.
10. Bhagavā: The Blessed One who continues sending blessings through the world.

These teachings encourage us to reflect upon the awakened mind and the awakened life—not as a way of diminishing ourselves, but just the opposite: as a way of inspiring us, aligning our practice, and showing us the way that we can contribute to the continuing reverberation of goodness that came from the Buddha's awakening.

The suttas say specifically that this kind of recollection leads to a series of beautiful qualities: gladness, joy, tranquility, happiness, and samādhi¹⁶. There's a way that the mind can unify and gather through this kind of recollection. I encourage you to find some way that these reflections are meaningful for you. See how this week lands and continues on.

For those who can be in the area tomorrow, I will teach a day-long that includes the formal practice of the recollection of the Buddha if you want to try it out. I think it will be recorded also.

Thank you very much for this week. May your life be an ongoing resonance of what happened under the Bodhi tree, in the specific, unique, and individual way it can be for you. Thank you.