This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Guided Med: Sources of Confidence; Trust 2/5 ... in the Potential for Freedom, the Path, & Community. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers.

Guided Med: Sources of Confidence - Nikki Mirghafori

The following talk was given by Nikki Mirghafori at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on August 20, 2024. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Greetings everyone. Greetings. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever in the world you are. And again, it's so lovely to see all the hellos and greetings coming from different places in the world. I'm Nikki Mirghafori, delighted to be practicing together this week. So, let's sit together. Let's land and let's sit together.

How nice to sit with community. Feeling the presence from all around the world.

So, beginning, arriving. Arriving again and again, fresh in this moment. Arriving in this body. In this moment, you might have been thinking, doing, running around in the previous moments leading up to this. And here we come, we rest. We rest for a moment, allowing ourselves to connect with the sense of stability. A sense of stability, touching the Earth with our bodies, becoming aware that we are touching the Earth. Feeling our feet on the earth, relaxing our legs.

Feeling your sit bones on the cushion or the chair. Feeling these touch points, these points of connection and stability. Not just metaphors, not just nice things to hear, but actually try it. Really inhabit, feel the connection to the Earth through these touch points as a source of balance and stability and groundedness. Even before you go to the breath, which might be the go-to for many of us, before that, really spend time settling into the sensations of these touch points.

And allowing your spine to rise up with a sense of stability, of uprightness from your sit bones. Not pushed up, but held up effortlessly. There is an invisible string connected to the top of your head, pulling up, pulling up vertebrae by vertebrae, letting there be a sense of ease in your shoulders and your arms, your chest, and your abdomen. Relaxing all these parts I'm naming one by one. Your sit bones, let them offer their own weight and the entire weight of your torso to the Earth. Your legs too, upper legs, lower legs, and feet.

And allowing awareness to connect, to be aware of the breath through this body. The sensations of the breath, the feeling of the breath, the tender music of the breath. As if a violin, the bow of a violin, moving through, across this instrument of yours. Maybe it's more like a cello; it's bigger, this body, this cello. The breath, this body and the breath moving. Appreciating, not taking any note of this breath for granted. Listening deeply to how it resounds, how it vibrates throughout this whole body. One breath, one bow movement, one note at a time.

And if there are thoughts, stories, memories arising in this moment, see it with clarity. It's okay. It's all right. It's part of being human, these thoughts, these emotions, these memories. And for the duration of this practice, ask them, "Come sit, it's okay. Come. I'll pick you up later." But for now, I'm taking refuge. I'm putting my trust, my confidence in this practice right now, giving my whole heart to it right now as best as I'm able to, to see how it develops, what it cultivates. I'm giving it my best.

So, gently, lovingly releasing what takes your heart away. Not needed right now. Coming back to ourselves, to this body, to this breath, connected to the Earth, the sense of stability and ease. Softening the heart and the body. This breath that plays the music of being alive in this body for a limited time. Enjoying, relishing this breath like a sweet song resonating in the whole body.

I'm going to invite you to drop in three reflections to support our practice today. And dropping in these reflections as if you're dropping a pebble in a pond—the pond being your body. Not in your head, but in your body. Letting them drop and see what happens as the pebble settles in the depths of the still pond.

The first reflection, dropping it into our hearts, our bodies, our bellies:

Just like the human being Buddha, just like that human being, I have the potential. I have the potential for awakening to wisdom and compassion in this life. I have the potential. I do have the potential. The seed is in me. Of course it is. I can wake up in this very life.

And if doubts and judgments come up, see them. See what happens if you just release the self-judgments or doubts, just for a second. You can pick them up later. But what happens if you release them and allow this knowing, this conviction that it is possible for every single person, given the circumstances of their lives, to wake up? It's possible for me. What happens if you receive it? I can have more freedom. I can have trust in that. I can have more freedom than I do right now. It is possible. It's absolutely possible. I can have more ease and freedom in my heart. I know it is possible. I trust it's possible.

And let it settle. Let this settle in the body, in the heart, in your bones. I can have more freedom. I know I can. It is possible. More ease.

Dropping in the second reflection in the body, and see what happens:

Other people have walked this path and have had more freedom, more ease, more love, more compassion, more wisdom. I know that. I see that. Others have done it, so it's not impossible. I know it's possible, of course. And I am supported. I'm supported by others on this path, like this very moment, listening, attending this. I have the support of Sangha. I'm supported by a community. I'm not alone. I know this. Simply showing up together, we're supporting one another. I am supported.

And letting it just drop into your body. Not to think about it. It's not a rumination practice. Just drop it in and let the breath, let the knowing of the breath, the knowing of the sensations come from this resonance, from this acknowledgement. I am supported through an invisible web by so many. I trust this. I know this.

And the last reflection:

I know, and I keep learning more about ways that I can have more freedom. I can have more ease, be less reactive, be kinder, be wiser. I know there are ways, their practices, their teachings, their recipes. I know there are. I've tried them. They seem to work. And I know there is a lot more that other people have tried, other people have done and have been transformed. I trust this is available. These practices are available, are known to humanity.

And dropping this acknowledgement into your heart, into your body, and letting the breath, the awareness arise from it. A path is available. I know it is.

So in short, the three reflections: I know there is a path available to more happiness, more ease, more peace. The path of peace. I know there is a path of peace. I can walk this path of peace. I can. I can have more peace and ease and freedom on this path. I trust I can. It's possible. And I'm not journeying alone. I'm journeying with others, all of us wanting more peace, more ease, more happiness, more goodness in the world. The three reflections. Drop them in and return, be with the breath in the body.

As we bring this sit to a close, appreciating myself, this being who's me, who's done their best, practicing, walking this path. Appreciating the teachings and appreciating each other. Appreciating the community. Letting there be a sense of delight perhaps that shows up from all this goodness, your own goodness, your own practice. Doing your best, showing up. Yay, I showed up! Yay, as best as I could, I showed up with others to do what I believe is good for me and the world. May all beings everywhere benefit in ways I can't understand from the goodness of my actions, the goodness of my practice. May all beings be happy. May all beings be free, including myself.

Everyone, thanks for your practice.

Introduction

Hello again, and welcome everyone, especially those of you who are here for the first time. How sweet, welcome. Welcome to the community of practitioners.

So the theme for this week is Saddhā.¹ The word in Pāli,² and maybe I'll put the word in Pāli in the chat here it goes: saddha. This is Saddhā, which is translated as confidence or trust. Sometimes the word faith is used, but not so much. So confidence or trust. We started with the theme of Saddhā yesterday as an introduction, and today I'd like to continue.

As you perhaps noticed with the theme of the meditation today, the invitations, the guidance, today's topic will be about what's called the Triple Gem:³ the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Which sounds really archaic, perhaps, and you're like, "Wait, what does that have to do with me?" But I'll explain, because it's really about our humanity, making it personal. Before I do that, I wanted to share something I didn't share from yesterday, kind of a leftover, which is confidence, trust, which is needed for any endeavor. For any endeavor, we need some confidence and trust so that we begin. We have a trust that, "Oh, it is possible, maybe it's good," you know, some sense of confidence so that we get started. And also it's needed to continue this endeavor, this practice in this case.

And one thing I wanted to mention yesterday is that it's very important, especially in this tradition, that that confidence or Saddhā is balanced with wisdom, with paññā, so that it does not fall into blind faith or gullibility, or to cynicism. It needs to be balanced, this sense of confidence with wisdom.

So now with today's topic, with the, quote unquote, the classical language, trust or Saddhā, confidence, trust in the Triple Gem, let's unpack that a little bit. So, let's think of it this way. If you wanted to start any new endeavor, let's say if you wanted to learn an instrument to play—today I've been talking about the cello, right, during the guided meditation—let's say the cello. So let's say you wanted to learn how to play the cello. First, there has to be some sense of confidence or trust that, "Oh yeah, it is possible to play the cello." This large instrument, this huge thing, but other people have done it. You know, there's Pablo Casals, there's Yo-Yo Ma, if you're familiar with the cello players, Rostropovich. Okay, these are all the cello players I know. I'm done. [Laughter]

You know, it's possible. People have done it. It's possible to learn the cello. And you see other people, so, "Oh, it's possible." So when you see it is possible for others, somebody else has done it. This instrument is not insurmountable. Another human being has done it, so it is possible for me to learn. It's possible for me to advance, at least learn a little bit, to play a few notes. It is possible. So that's trust in the Buddha. Taking refuge or having trust in the Buddha here is, "Oh, somebody has done it." There's a human being, Buddha, who's done that. So I know that there is an inner Buddha. It's possible for me too. It's not impossible. He was a human being. He wasn't a god, and he made that very, very clear in his teachings, that he wasn't a god. He was a human being who had woken up, who had practiced and had found the way to more happiness, freedom, ease, and compassion. So that's trusting that it is possible because someone else has done it: compassion, wisdom, purity, etc. Outer Buddha, inner Buddha. It is possible for me.

And then, back to the musical instrument example, you know that there are ways, practices. Nowadays there's an app for everything, right? So there's an app for everything, or there are, through the centuries, people who have taught, have learned how to play the cello, right? There is a way to learn. You do the scales first, and then... or maybe first, I don't know anything about the cello, but you learn how to hold the bow, how to hold the instrument, how to move it. You learn the notes. Maybe then you do the scales. Then maybe you do a simple song, and then a more complicated one. You know all that. Then you start to learn music theory, get interested in that. So there's a way, there's a recipe for this. It's not like, "Okay, there's a cello, go!" There's a recipe. Ah, okay. So that's taking refuge or having trust in the Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha. They've been developed, they're 2,700 years old, and there's a recipe. There is a way, if you want to become kinder, wiser, have more happiness, more freedom in your heart, more peace in the world, this is what you do. You sit silently, you train your awareness to be calm, you train your heart in mettā, in loving-kindness. You practice in the in-between times when you get off your cushion. You practice kindness, generosity to others. There's recipes, right? The Dharma is vast. There are a lot of recipes, a lot of teachings on how to do this. There is a way. So it's just trusting that, "Yeah, I know their teachings. Of course, I'm not alone, like, okay, go figure this out. Just become happier and kinder." So trusting that there is a way.

And then trusting that other people have done this. Let's go back to the musical analogy. So yeah, there are lots of people who have learned to play instruments in the world. You know, you can listen to recordings. "Oh, cello player there, cello player there." And you know, there's so many people. There are cello classes or music schools, right? Lots of people have done it and keep doing it. So you can go to classes, you can go to meetups and share your technique. "Oh, I'm doing this, how are you doing this? How is this working?" Right? So you have the support of a community. You're not the only person in the world who's trying to learn the cello. Similarly, that's trust in the Sangha. That's trust in the community. I'm not doing this alone. And here with practice, yeah, you're practicing with a community. Yay! Right now, showing up with the community worldwide, thanks to technology and YouTube. Here we are. We're not alone. And you share your goodwill and your heart gets uplifted. There are other people, there are teachers who support you and share what they've learned, what they have practiced. So, I trust there is support. I trust I'm not doing this alone.

So this is the trust in the Dharma, trusting that there is a path. Trusting that other people have done it, and it's possible for me. I can do this too. I can do this. Maybe if it's too hard sometimes to see, "I can be fully awakened," maybe that's a little... it might be accessible, maybe that brings you confidence. But trusting that I can have a little more freedom. I can have a little more kindness for myself, for others. I can have more peace, just a little more. I know it's possible. Because there is a way, there's a path, there are recipes, teachings, classes. There's a community. Yeah. So that's Saddhā. We just unpacked the trust in the Triple Gem. I know it sounds kind of archaic, but that's the trust in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

It's quite lovely. Oh, maybe since there's a minute left, I'll share a couple more things with you. This just really uplifted me as I was researching this talk. So in Pāli, there are these three aspects of the Dharma, the teachings, that are emphasized.

One is Ehipassiko,⁴ which translates to "come and see." Come and see for yourself. You don't have to believe it magically. Come and see for yourself. Try it out for yourself.

Then there is Opanayiko,⁵ "leading onward." The Dharma, these teachings, are onward-leading. You don't get stuck. They're onward-leading. Just made my heart so happy, onward-leading.

And there is also Paccattaṃ veditabbo viññūhi,⁶ "to be experienced individually by the wise." To be experienced individually in your own heart, in your own humanity, by each and every one of us.

So these three just really uplifted my heart. I wanted to share them with you. So, Saddhā, confidence, trust in the Buddha: possibility. I can too. It's possible to have more freedom, to wake up, have more compassion, wisdom. In the Dharma: their practices, they're well-developed. And in the Sangha, in the community: I'm not alone. So, trust.

All right, thank you all for joining and your practice. Lovely to practice with you. I look forward to being together... oh yeah, an invitation. I always like to end with an invitation. Notice your confidence today, throughout the day, in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. And yeah, "It's possible. I can have more kindness. I can have more goodwill. I can have more peace. Yeah, maybe I just got reactive right now, but it's possible to behave differently next time. I know it's possible. I know, sweetheart, I know it's possible." Right? Notice that. Notice your trust in that. And "these ways, these teachings... oh yeah, I sat this morning, I felt a little more calm afterwards." Oh, there's a trust there. Notice trust. And notice the trust in the community, the support that you receive from others today in order to become kinder, more generous, more wise, more understanding, less reactive, and happier, for the sake of all beings.

May all beings be well. May all beings be happy. Take good care. See you tomorrow.