by Bill Morgan
Learning to stay receptively attentive when the mind is settled is one of the high arts of meditation. Generally we are either (a) attending to something actively, (b) spaced out, or (c) absorbed in an experience. When mindfulness becomes more stable and is accompanied by relaxation and interest, a fourth mode of perceiving becomes viable. Attention can be present without effort. I had previously experienced this outwardly, when watching a sunset for example, but not in meditation. This was a revolutionary breakthrough in my practice.
There are two main postures of mind when relating to experience, most simply described as directed and receptive, or moving toward and opening to. The easiest and most accessible example is in the relationship with sound, as you experienced in an earlier meditation. You can either move out to a sound or settle back and allow the sound to wash over you. It doesn’t take muscles to listen.
The capacity to stay in receptive mode increasingly in meditation is an extremely important training, and one which we may not easily stumble upon. This is not the natural inclination in our culture, which is to be more assertive, to move out and capture experience, take hold of it. Grasping has found new footholds with the deluge of social media. Constant connectivity is the new “must-have” in our culture. Because of this constant social pressure to move outward in an acquisitive manner, to make oneself visible (selfies come to mind), it takes some practice to trust that experience will come to you, that you don’t have to create it or go out and get it. It can be quite an insight to recognize that if you settle back, experience keeps arising all on its own. After acquiring a taste for this mode of experiencing, it is also a great relief. It takes less energy. You don’t have to work so hard to organize the flow of your experience. Even thoughts keep coming if you settle back! It was groundbreaking when I began to trust that I didn’t have to rehearse the next thing I was going to say, in conversation or in the office, that the next appropriate phrase or gesture would arise spontaneously on its own if I stayed relaxed and present.
This can be practiced both in meditation and in daily life. You simply have to notice when you are reaching out for sound, for example, and settle back into a more receptive posture. Same sound: different mode of attending. You don’t even have to close your eyes. Try it now.
Listen to a sound in the vicinity. Notice that you can reach out to it, so to speak, or receive it, simply settling into a posture of attending, as if the mind were a satellite dish receiving frequencies. One often hears that it is not the experience, but the relationship to the experience, that changes in meditation. This exercise is a concrete way of shifting one’s core relationship to experience. In particular it supports a settling-back orientation, which in turn is critical for a deeper and more sustainable meditation practice. The previous two guided meditations emphasized active or directed mindfulness. The next meditation weaves receptive mindfulness into the practice.
GUIDED EXERCISE 3: RECEPTIVE MOMENTARY CONCENTRATION WITH BREATH AND SOUNDS
1. As always, as if for the first time, take a few moments to settle the body and soften the breath.
2. Establish the holding environment, arousing qualities of delight, gratitude, warmth, and wonder.
3. With each exhalation, imagine the energy moving down, releasing with gravity.
4. Imagine the out-breath to be tumbling out, like a waterfall moving down.
5. Maintain a state of relaxation on the in-breath, but with no particular object of focus.
6. Notice that the breath is moving all on its own. Remember: as with all creatures, the body is “breathed” naturally to maintain life. Establish this receptive perspective.
7. Notice the difference between leading the breath, which is directed attention, and following the breath, which is receptive attention.
8. When the mind moves into a more directed mode of attending, notice this and return to a receptive mode of attending.
9. On the exhalation, allow sensations of the breath to come to your attention.
10. On the inhalation, allow sounds to come to your attention.
11. If the mind gets too relaxed or drifty, allow the attention to become a bit more directed. For a few breaths, on the out-breath attend to a few precise sensations of breath, and on the in-breath attend to a few precise sensations of sound.
12. Then invite a more receptive quality of attending once again.
13. Play with these alternating modes of attending to experience and see how they weave together. Emphasize receptive attending, but invite directed attention when the attention becomes too lax.
14. See if you can move from directed to receptive modes of attention, and vice versa, without becoming distracted.
15. Take a few more easy breaths before slowly opening the eyes.
Traditionally, verified faith—the direct confirmation in one’s immediate experience that meditation is effective and beneficial—creates positive reinforcement in one’s practice. This is to be distinguished from taking something on faith, the assumption that it must be so because an esteemed other, or the Internet, says so. Approaching mindfulness practice, we may have provisional faith in the Buddhist teachings or the research studies on mindfulness or the teacher we are working with. Verified faith, however, is said to arise when benefits, such as calm and steadiness, begin to show up directly in one’s mindfulness practice. In this case, I may theoretically understand the value of tranquility, but I move to verified faith when I taste tranquility and experience its benefits. Because of some combination of lack of interest, striving, and agitation, however, these encouraging qualities do not arise readily for many Westerners, so conceptual faith does not straightforwardly graduate to verified faith.
These step-by-step exercises—maintaining the holding environment, developing momentary concentration, and inviting receptive mindfulness—are the keys to making progress in tranquil concentration and the gateway to verified faith.
QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION
I was taught that this kind of momentary concentration was “insight” practice. Can you say more about the difference between concentration and insight practice?
Insight is not something that can be practiced per se. It is a fruit of practice. We can only create the conditions from which insight may arise. One of these core conditions is tranquility. Various insights will arise, at different levels, in every form of mindfulness practice. Not all of them are delightful. The first insight is that we are much less present than we thought! This is followed by insights into how wild and uncooperative the mind is at times, how it doesn’t respond to our bidding or willpower. This is why, when practicing concentration, it is so important to have previously introduced lightness and warmth into the holding environment. With balanced practice and inquiry, further insights arise into the causes and conditions, the inner moves necessary for positive qualities of heart and mind to arise more frequently. Following this are insights into the nature of the mind, the radical impermanence of experience, the ways we create unnecessary trouble for ourselves, and how to substantially mitigate that. These insights arise and deepen in the fertile soil of calm, heartfelt, steady attention. Often we focus too much on acquiring the insight fruits and reaching for those in unbalanced ways. Instead the intention here is on creating the conditions in which the plant can grow and mature, trusting that fruit will happen as a result of kindly and dedicated tending.
Active versus receptive mindfulness is a new concept for me. Does this require self-monitoring during meditation, or is this something that will arise on its own?
Because we tend to “lean into” meditation practice, because we are so oriented to steering, leading, controlling, and orchestrating, both outside and inside, because this is the water we swim in, I have found it particularly helpful to bring special attention to this tendency and to consciously invite receptive attention. We need to see how predominant active attention is in our orientation and the limits of that approach. It can be a genuine surprise to see that the world does not fall apart if
I stop directing attention and to discover the richness of receptive mindfulness, which takes less effort and more attunement. Again, this is an acquired taste, one that requires practice and trust. If I take my hands off the wheel, there is less control about what arises in my experience, which could be unsettling at first. Starting out simply, with sound, is the simplest entrée into this exploration.
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DEEPENING TRANQUILITY
EVEN AFTER PRACTICING concentration meditation for some time, we mustn’t put our toys away and get too “serious.” When mind and heart have arrived and settled, when the attention is more inclined to be present (because the grass is quite green here and now), there are still a number of ways to enrich the experience. There are four dimensions that can further broaden and deepen tranquility: calming, saturating, spreading, and stabilizing. There are games—creative meditation exercises—for each.
MEDITATION EXERCISE: DEEPENING CALM
The challenge as calm develops is to stay connected to the experience, to stay aware of what is going on. This is the one area where we can let the lute strings become too slack. When we are lying on a beach for example, the mind is generally lost in thought or dreamy meandering. What we are aiming for in this exercise is a deep sense of serenity without losing the awareness that watches over and protects it. In the previous chapter, we identified 4 as the ideal number on the Likert relaxation scale for cultivating the inner holding environment for meditation. Here we are leaning toward 2.
This is a delicate training because as relaxation deepens it is natural to begin to drift in a trancelike manner and become lost in the experience. This is why images that evoke both grounding and ease are best. Floating in warm Caribbean water, for example, may be too relaxing.
However, the image of lying on fragrant grass on a warm spring day with pleasant sounds can work. This image captures elements of soothing and grounding simultaneously.
In the following sequence of tranquility exercises, the starting point builds on what we have cultivated in the previous chapter. As we move along, these exercises are nested within one another. Before beginning, be sure you have settled considerably and invited the heart qualities of delight, gratitude, warmth, and wonder, so that the holding environment for your meditation has been established to some degree.
MEDITATION EXERCISE: CALMING
1. Imagine that you are lying in a field of fragrant grass next to the ocean. The temperature is comfortable; the rays of the sun, warm and soothing.
2. With each in-breath you smell the fragrant grass.
3. With each out-breath you feel the warmth of the sun.
4. The rhythmic sound of the ocean also holds you.
5. The pleasant feeling that accompanies this calm is compelling; you are naturally drawn to it.
6. With each breath more calm arises, and you move ever closer to the calmest state you have ever experienced.
7. Enjoy this state for a few minutes.
8. Imagine that the warmth of the sun and sound of the ocean are now gently energizing, circulating warmth throughout your body and mind.
9. Take a few more restorative breaths before slowly opening the eyes.
MEDITATION EXERCISE: SATURATING
Saturating connotes soaking completely through, the way steady rain gently soaks the soil in your garden. In this exercise, tranquility saturates every corner of the body, heart, and mind; no part is left out. It is as if there is one undifferentiated blanket of tranquil attention covering the landscape. As always, establish the holding environment for this exercise before proceeding.
1. Imagine that you are lying in a field of fragrant grass. The temperature is comfortable; the rays of the sun, warm and soothing.
2. With each in-breath you smell the fragrant grass.
3. The smell fills you, permeates every cell of the body, soaks into the mind, and saturates the atmosphere.
4. With each out-breath you feel the warmth of the sun soaking deeply into all the cells of your body, with no cell left out. The warmth is all-consuming, inside and outside.
5. Saturated alternately, rhythmically, by the fragrant smell of the grass and healing warmth of the sun, you are drawn toward a state of contentment as compelling as you have ever experienced.
6. Enjoy this state for a few minutes.
7. Imagine that the warmth of the sun and fragrant smell of grass are now gently energizing, circulating warmth throughout the body and mind.
8. Take a few more restorative breaths before slowly opening the eyes.
MEDITATION EXERCISE: SPREADING
This exercise addresses the expansive quality of attention, which moves outward in an inclusive fashion and in every direction. As water in a reflecting pool occupies every square inch of space, so tranquil concentration spreads completely and fills both inner and outer landscapes. Inside and outside become less distinguishable. Consciousness extends throughout to the edges of the landscape and beyond.
Take the time to create the holding environment for meditation, and then continue with this exercise.
1. Imagine sitting in a warm tub of water.
2. The tissues and cells of your body begin to unwind, succumbing to the soothing warmth.
3. The mind also begins to release its tension and agitation.
4. The edges of the body, the boundary between inside and outside, begin to dissolve in this soothing warmth.
5. A profound feeling of warm contentment begins to move outward, as if filling the entire room.
6. Now it seems to spread beyond the edges of the room in every direction, boundless.
7. Enjoy this state for a few minutes.
8. Imagine that a warm energy begins to now radiate through the body and mind.
9. Take a few more restorative breaths before slowly opening the eyes.
MEDITATION EXERCISE: STABILIZING
While stability is traditionally considered the hallmark of concentration practice and the main quality to be cultivated, I see it as the unfolding of the water lily arising in the wake of calm, spreading and saturating. As these qualities mature, a deeply rooted settling and firming of attention begin to manifest. This is classically referred to as “one-pointedness.” Now we can allow attention to begin to abide, to rest, on a single object. As always, create the holding environment for meditation again before doing this exercise.
1. Imagine you are a mountain, solid and settled.
2. Imagine the weather changing in various and dramatic ways, while you remain settled throughout.
3. Imagine the temperature fluctuating, but you remain settled.
4. Imagine variations of light, but you remain settled.
5. Conditions change constantly, but the qualities of solidness and settledness endure.
6. A profound feeling of contentment begins to arise in the body and mind.
7. Allow the attention to settle on the feeling of contentment itself.
8. Rest comfortably in this feeling. Savor it.
9. Imagine warm energy circulating throughout the body and mind.
10. Take a few more restorative breaths before slowly opening the eyes.
These exercises can be done individually or sequentially, developing and enhancing one dimension of tranquility after another. Spend time on this aspect of practice. Come to enjoy it. It is rich and valuable in its own right.
This practice also prepares you for deeper understanding and insight. We are drawn to deep comfort and ease, but we are also “meaning-making” beings, creatures who by our very natures are hardwired to search for truth, to better understand the workings of our mind, and to find purpose in the world we inhabit.
QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION
When I try these exercises, there is more inclination to drift, to err on the side of wandering mind. I struggle with that because staying present at all costs has been a core guiding principle of mine for a long time.
Staying present is not only the implicit instruction of mindfulness instructions, bu
t the explicit one. There is no argument that presence is the cornerstone of mindfulness. It’s the second half of the way you express it—“at all costs”—that is complicated. In my experience, striving to be present, as if that were the only tool in the toolbox, has created unnecessary suffering. The issue at hand is how to encourage and develop a natural willingness to be present, to find new and engaging ways to do that. First we have to see how tightly we have been holding the steering wheel, to look directly at how it feels to do that, and to give ourselves permission to relax this tight grip. On a very basic level, there is no way to develop continuity of attention when we are holding and controlling tightly. Mindfulness can only be present in short bursts in this context, and all too often these periods alternate with periods of exhaustion and discouragement. In deepening tranquility, inevitably there are periods when the mind meanders or fantasizes. However, this is an improvement over obsessional rants and self-critical tirades! Gradually the mind begins to find a deeper, quieter place of balance, ease, and presence. It is a lovely surprise when the mind returns on its own to the calm holding environment, without having to be coerced in the slightest, simply because it is the greenest pasture.
Is it possible to get too calm and concentrated? I heard that if we are not careful, it is possible to get overly attached to deep states of concentration.
I have heard this caution voiced by teachers and read about it in the texts, but I have never experienced it or spoken to anyone who struggled with this problem in the West. That would be a good problem for most of us to be dealing with. The more prevalent issue is too little concentration, too little calm, and too little emphasis upon developing it. It is possible to fall into a sinking, dreamy state when doing these practices, which can be sweet, but where mindfulness is rather weak. Part of the balancing act here is to check to see whether there is an observing/holding quality of mind present, knowing what is happening as it is happening, not letting go of the kite string of attention. There can be attachment to the soporific reverie and an unwillingness to bring more mindfulness into the equation for fear that the sweetness will dissipate, but that is not too much concentration; it is too little mindfulness. This needs to be monitored.