2021-01-22 Mindfulness of Breathing (16) Clarifying Attitudes

Insight Meditation Center14min

Gil Fronsdal

00:01

Continuing with the practice of mindfulness of breathing, I've covered the first four steps of the 16. And rather than continuing today with that, into the fifth step, I think it's good to emphasize the importance of caring for one's attitude in meditation. And one of the inspirations for that today is to have an attitude of patience, to not succumb to any attitude of impatience, wanting more, eager to go to go further, wanting to somehow always feel like we're improving and getting more, learning more, or learning something new.

Gil Fronsdal

00:50

There's something quite, there's something quite simple about mindfulness of breathing, and maybe even something humble. There's a kind of lack of greed, or wanting more, or expectation of more. A willingness. Instead, there's a willingness to just be ordinary and simple, and be kind of in the, you know, on the ground floor. To be somehow a modest servant of the Dharma, modest servant of the practice. To really kind of give ourselves over to the practice the best we can. But trust the Dharma. Trust this process. Just be willing to kind of offer the sincere way, our best we can. And then trust that what will unfold, will unfold accordingly. And we don't have to be ahead of ourselves, or looking ahead, or planning ahead.

Gil Fronsdal

02:17

So in mindfulness of breathing, one of the first lessons for many people is patience – lots of patience. And it's also a little bit of a trick, I suppose maybe, to say this. It's true. It's completely true, what I'm saying. And it turns out that the fastest way to develop in meditation is to not be in a hurry.

Gil Fronsdal

02:54

The fastest way to cultivate the receptivity, the openness, the calm, the settledness that really allows the practice to unfold and deepen – is not to be too concerned about unfolding and deepening. To be more concerned about just being content. To sit patiently, openly, with what we actually have in the moment. To have continuity with breathing, as if we're in it for the long term. As if, you know, this is, you know, our job is just to keep showing up and doing the best we can and, and let the progress take care of itself.

Gil Fronsdal

03:45

So what I'm talking about here is an attitude. And a huge part of meditation is coming to terms with, understanding, and adjusting the attitude with which we meditate. And one of the advantages of meditation is that there's something about sitting quietly in meditation – doing something as simple as being with the breathing – that we start seeing attitudes we have, which are invisible in daily life. But we don't really notice that well. Some of them because they're so subtle. Some because they're so habituated, they've kind of become invisible to us. And, and certainly we don't see the subtlety of how it works.

Gil Fronsdal

04:29

And so when we sit and meditate, we have this heightened sensitivity. Even the smallest movements of attitudes that take us away, or interfere with the deepening of settling. Just being there in a simple, relaxed, patient way starts standing out in the highlight.

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