2022-04-21 Satipatthana (60) Tranquility and Samadhi Factors of Awakening-

8:20PM Apr 21, 2022

Speakers:

Gil Fronsdal

Keywords:

awakening

factors

awareness

happiness

joy

practice

meditation

samadhi

settled

happening

natural

concentration

imc

trail

old habits

mindfulness

brings

thoughts

process

connected

So, today I will cover the tranquillity, factor of awakening and the concentration factor of awakening. So that sixth, the fifth and sixth factors. And these factors of awakening the way that the instructions are in that satipatthana suta, it does not say evoke these, make them come forth or it says, recognize when they're present. And then when they're present, support them and maintain them. And I think the reason why it says that is that this the seven factors of awakening are a byproduct of doing mindfulness practice. And as the practice begins to have some momentum, it it brings forth within us a clearer and clearer capacity for awareness. So mindfulness practice, is bringing forth a an abiding a living in a state of awareness, a way of being aware, that's maybe very individual, how different people recognize that they are aware, some people may be more with thoughts, some people are more with other perception, perceptive ways of being, some people feel awareness is more like consciousness, it's just a broad field a state of attention. There's a heightened sensitivity that comes naturally, it's like whatever we for you, that is awareness, that if you're relaxed deeply, you can't turn it off. In a relaxed, quiet state that's not distracted in thoughts. awareness will be there, just no way not to have it. And so this natural state, somewhat natural state, becomes strong becomes pervasive. It's kind of like if someone you know, it's like, now it's gotten light outside. So we're enlightened this room, if you come in here, and it's dark, I don't see anything. And then slowly, the light, the sun comes up and slowly gets more more light until finally, you, maybe you don't say it this way, but the natural state of the room, when the sun is up, is to be able to is to have light and be able to see it, the whole room is then in awareness in a kind of effortless way. So the son of awareness, dawns and grows within us, until awareness becomes stronger, and there's heightened clarity of what's happening in the present moment. And that heightened clarity lets us distinguish between the trail that leads to suffering, the trail leads to stress and reactivity, and the trail that leads to peace to wisdom to, to happiness, and, and to be able to see that distinction, then it can bring a lot of joy, because then there's, we know where the path is, we know the trail to take, we know what trail to avoid. And so it might not be easy to avoid old habits. But at least we know there's a difference and people don't even know. And then slowly we break the old habits. And we begin following a healthy way of being the trail to happiness into peace. And this brings a lot of joy, too. So very much associated with the joy of being able to practice finally I have meditation. And I know meditation is a good thing. And, and the way I was living my life didn't work or there's there's no peace or no freedom and preoccupations being lost in my life. Meditation seems to be a path of happiness of following a trail towards something that's really good. I feel so much calmer and settled when I meditate and affects the rest of my life most of my day. So certain delight and happiness can arise of knowing this possibility to practice. As we really started coursing in this practice more and more. There's a way in which that joy that the light gets stronger and stronger. And, and that so Almost as if

it's the, it becomes not just an evaluative joy, like, Oh, I'm so glad I have this practice. But there's a kind of a joy that comes from being absorbed in the practice just just kind of coursing, cruising in the practice. And it's almost like an analogy I've given of petting the cat. As we stay with a practice theory, the practice, the cat within us begins to purr, that kind of just the wonderful delight and joy comes up. And that's a, some people then describe, surprised by this strong feeling of joy that wells up as they meditate. Sometimes it can be somewhat intense. And some people call it rapture or something. At some point, the movement of this specters of awakening is that we've, we're following the path of tranquility. And so things calm down, the whole body mind system begins to calm. And so the excitement, the enthusiasm, the inspiration of joy quiets down, and the joy becomes kind of a happiness, that's more embodied, that's more like a deep contentment, a sense of being cozy and connected in some soft, embodied way. And it's, that happened, and that happiness is then the foundation for the sixth factor of awakening, which is concentration or Samadhi. And, and, and this is important to realize, because some people think that they're going to develop Samadhi concentrate concentration, by huffing and puffing by straining and trying and no, but rather, the, the dharmic way of developing concentration is to have in place the conditions that support the mind, wanting to get settled, wanting to become unified and absorbed and focused on something. And that's a mind that is embodied, that's tranquil, and has a certain kind of happiness in it. And, and that happiness is the foundation for deep concentration. And so we're just happy to be here, there's no question about being present here now, because it's the better alternative than wandering off in thoughts and thinking about our daily concerns, or the past, in the present. Being connected here, this body, this mind, this heart feels so rich, so satisfying. That, of course, we want to settle in, of course, we kind of then was natural to settle in, to relax, to give ourselves over to this process of meditation, for example. And there's that happiness that comes with this factors, this path of the factors of awakening, then, you know, unifies, brings together all the fragmented parts of ourselves. So that the unfragmented way of being is Samadhi. And because they were absorbed, we're all unified, connected, collected. And, and then we have the, the Samadhi factor of awakening. So what's remarkable about this, we've been doing this satipatthāna now for I know, this is like the almost a 60, maybe 60 of talk on it's, that I've given, gone through all these exercises. And, and I've said this before, but it's worth saying, again, I believe that we're, we're building on the momentum of having done the practice all along. Even if you go back to the very basic beginning of it, and just do the first exercise with the breathing. It's powerful thing to do. And if you do it consistently, it just keeps showing up and taking your meditation posture and, and engaging over and over again. There's a natural process that can begin to kind of opening up and moving through you or you move through that eventually can be recognized as being the factors of awakening. When practice is really strong. And for me, it's been mostly been on retreat that I feel this, the meditation retreats, sometimes that the predominant experience of the present moment, by far the predominant is the seven factors of awakening. And what a cool, wonderful thing to do to not be anxious about

what's happening And tomorrow, or what happened yesterday or be angry at anything, just be really peaceful and settled. And all your all the focus of the mind is on these beautiful qualities of, of mind and body, the seven factors of awakening. And so there's this natural process that unfolds. But it requires practice practicing well, it sincerely practicing settled the learning how to practice mindfulness, how to bring attention, how to recognize what's happening, learning how to relax deeply, how to get concentrated, to some degree, learning all this, all this kind of the path, the world of meditation. So that more and more you can trust, that there's this natural process that's emerging this unfolding, that can happen that we allow for, if we feel like we're the agent, responsible for everything that happens in meditation, we're actually shortchanging the process of meditation, a lot of meditation is letting go of thoughts enough, being subtle enough, that we can trust and open up and allow for something to move through us. And the seven factors of awakening is one way of discussing this. So I did talk about tranquility being a bridge between joy and happiness, and which it is. And then I went from tranquility, to concentration factor of awakening. So where's the happiness? So there are other lists that go from joy, tranquility, happiness, concentration, the seven factors of awakening leaves the happiness out, not because it doesn't happen on the process, but for some reason, it doesn't need to be there. Or maybe, or maybe the number seven was a special number they want to do. So then so chose the most important parts, but so it goes. So the way we've done so far, there is the awareness that's often called mindfulness, the ability to differentiate between what's healthy and not healthy in our practice, skillful and unskillful. There is joy in being able to do that. There is no there's the energy, the effort, then to choose the healthy path. There's a joy of being able to do that. Then there's tranquility, and then there's concentration. So, then, tomorrow, we'll do the last factor of awakening, which is equanimity. And tomorrow also, we'll do a quick q&a question and response session after the this YouTube, we'll do it on Zoom. And I'll post the Zoom link here on the chat, but also posted on the IMC calendar for 745 says YouTube community meeting and and also on IMCs. What's New section, both the calendar and the What's New are found on the homepage for IMC and you can find the link there and there'll be a password required and the password will be mettā and MI TTA. And that'll be clear also. So, thank you, and I look forward to our time together.