2022-03-10 Satipaṭṭhāna (41) Knowing the Expanded Mind

4:05AM Mar 11, 2022

Speakers:

Gil Fronsdal

Keywords:

mind

imc

delusion

desire

awareness

feel

aversion

expansive

contracted

ukraine

concern

pleasant

state

greed

aware

transition

open

journey

wide

great

We are now continuing to talk about the third foundation of mindfulness. I would like to point out that in the second, third and fourth, each of them, as the description of the practice unfolds, there is a shift. I like to think of each of these three as being progressive, or describing a journey that a meditator takes.

In the second foundation, one begins by becoming aware of the feeling tone of experience – pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. As we settle in and become more familiar with it, more sensitive, we are able to distinguish between those things that are pleasant of the flesh, and those that are not of the flesh. That which is part of the sensual world of mind and body, and those that are more spiritual in nature. We are making a shift, a journey from one into the other as we deepen the practice.

In the third foundation, we begin by becoming aware of a mind that is accompanied with greed, hate and delusion. There is a journey from that state of mind, into what can be called more meditative or spiritual states of mind. That is what the last four pairs of mind states are. This journey from these mind states, which are characterized by greed, hatred and delusion, has an intermediate, stepping stone to it. That is this fourth one of the eight pairs.

The fourth one is a scattered mind or a contracted mind. When the mind is not caught up in greed, hatred and delusion anymore, it is sometimes a little bit lost. Greed, hate and delusion always have some focus of attention – some concern, something that we want, something we do not want, something we are confused about. The degree to which we are focused on this object of thought, this object of concern, limits the mind. In the language of the Buddha, it is a limitation for awareness, for the mind. The mind becomes smaller, contracted. Its scope becomes sometimes very, very narrow. We can feel the mind gets tight and narrow, preoccupied with one thing.

It can even feel pleasant – a lot of good energy or strong, compelling energy, habit energy – around desires, aversions, and illusion. The mind goes into it like it is a black hole, where a strong gravitational pull pulls us into this. It can feel so natural, so normal, that we do not realize the impact it has on us. We do not realize so easily, that there is another whole option.

When the mind is no longer focused on objects, in this narrow, constricted or forceful way, the mind goes through a transition sometimes. It is a bit confused, not quite sure what to focus on, or what to do. It is like desires, aversions, and delusions are like caffeine – it keeps us energized. When we stop taking that caffeine, the mind goes through a period of adjustment. In that period of adjustment the mind does not have a particular object that it is concerned with, but the mind has not developed its capacity for settled, concentrated presence. The mind then can get scattered, jumps around, looking for something to be concerned with, but not enough focus to settle on anything – the mind becomes scattered. Or the mind becomes shrunken – it sinks in on itself. Sloth and torpor set in. A kind of giving up or deflation can happen. Without greed, hate and delusion, sometimes it is deflation, sometimes a scatteredness or restlessness of the mind can happen.

We keep practicing. It can feel like things are going backwards because our mind is all scattered, jumping around, or more deflated and shrunken. It is actually a transition time, sometimes. We have to go through it – be patient with it, and be willing to breathe with it and be aware of it. At some point, some of the fruits of practice come into play. The first one, it says in this third foundation, "One knows, an expanded mind as an expanded mind. And one knows a non expanded mind as a non expanded mind." "Mahacitta" could also mean "big mind." "One knows a big mind."

In the earlier exercises one knows a mind accompanied by desire as a mind accompanied by desire, accompanied by aversion as accompanied by aversion. The mindfulness shows us, or creates a wider context of the mind to be aware of desires and aversions, so the desire and aversion do not take over fully. Desire and aversion are just part of the mind, a big influence, a big part. In this transition, after this contracted or restless mind, there comes this time when the mind starts feeling expansive, open, wide, large, because the mind and awareness become more closely linked, rather than overlapped or coterminous.

Now we can almost talk as synonyms, that awareness and mind become almost the same. That awareness becomes broad and expansive, which can include everything. This idea of an inclusive awareness, an open mind, open set of perceptions – everything that happens, is allowed to appear in its own time, in the field of perception, in the world of what we perceive. There is not a for or against our experience. There is not a preference for one thing over another. The preference is – not for the object of attention, not for the thing that we are aware of – the preference is to rest in this wider, calm awareness. The awareness that can receive things in a relaxed way, can know things in a relaxed way, perceive.

In the language of the Buddha, when we are too concerned with some purpose, then the mind is limited by that purpose. If we are not constricted by a purpose, or if the purpose, in a sense, is to relax and open up, then the mind is not limited anymore. It is not bounded. It is not contracted. It is not tight and narrow. It becomes broader and wider. Like the feeling maybe, that if you are inside a small, little cabin for a long time and all claustrophobic, and you go out into the wide, open fields. Open space, maybe high in the mountains with a great vista. There is an expansive feeling that arises. Certainly the vista is expansive, but something opens up in the mind, in the heart, that makes it also like a breath of fresh air. A kind of expansiveness that it takes as well.

You do not have to go out to a great vista point, to see a great view, to feel the mind become expansive. Even with the eyes closed, the mind becomes quite expansive, quite large. It is its nature to be that way. It is how it is. Awareness is consciousness, when it is not being channeled into a particular direction, not being held and contracted, or being used to focus on a particular thought, concern, desire or aversion. To be able to drop the limitations in the mind, the contractions of the mind. That is why a calm meditative state, for many people, the mind begins to feel expansive, large, peaceful, or broad.

Here we have begun this journey now into more spiritual states or dharma states. Whereas greed, hate and delusion, those mind states, are not particularly dharmic, not dharmic at all.

The awareness that can include everything, and be broad enough, is dharmic. Kind of paradoxically or ironically, it can also include the presence of greed, hate and delusion. Nothing is outside. The difference is that the mind is not contracted or focused on greed, hate and delusion. It just knows it is there, but in this wide field. It is just one thing among many. We are not identified with it. We are not prioritizing it. We are not bothered by it, or caught in its grip.

This idea of the mind that is not caught by anything – that does not stop for anything, does not get involved with anything, or entangled with anything. The mind is able to allow things to arise and pass. To be there, when they are there, but without being for or against. That begins a feeling of a mind that is whole, a holistic mind. This is one of the great delights and pleasures of meditation, starting to feel more and more whole. That we feel whole. Our whole sense of beingness feels more holistic. We come into our wholeness, rather than the contractedness, or the narrowness of particular preoccupations and concerns.

How to make that transition from desire and aversion to this expanded state. It really helps if we no longer are convinced – not us, but maybe our mind – convinced that what is important is to pursue desires. What is important is to be involved in aversion. What is important is to be constantly preoccupied with our delusions, our thoughts, our confusions about things. All those, we feel how that limits us. To begin relaxing, softening, and opening, until we feel like everything is included, all of who we are, has a place. All of who we are has a respected place in awareness and consciousness.

This is a game changer for people who do meditation. Over time we begin realizing we are actually much better off in this peaceful state than in the desire state, the wanting state, or the aversive state. If you have half an hour free in the evening, and you have a common desire you get pulled into, but instead of that you go meditate or go for a walk. Do something that allows you to tap into this expanded state, you might find that it is much more pleasant, much more satisfying in the long run.

We will continue tomorrow on this third foundation, these dharma states that open up in the last four exercises.

I want to make an announcement. IMC now has started a fundraising drive to support refugees who are fleeing Ukraine – now there are supposed to be close to 2 million or so. The organization that we are supporting is Save the Children, for a number of reasons. One, there is a bit of a personal connection to that. They are one of the highest rated charities, I think, in the world. They have been around for 100 years. They are involved on the ground in some of the refugee camps and reception centers, on the borders of Ukraine, offering care for some of the most vulnerable people, the children and families.

If you would like to donate to this fund, all the money you give to IMC for this purpose, will go to Save the Children. The way to do it is that in the What's New section, (on the homepage of IMC's website, bottom right), there is a notice about fundraising for Ukraine. The donate button there is specific for IMC to know it is for Ukraine. Maybe tomorrow, I will post it here on the YouTube Chat as well.

We are raising money through Monday. We did this for Haiti after the earthquake last August, and we raised $30,000, which was quite impressive. Maybe we can do something similar, maybe even more, to provide support for this tremendous need in Eastern Europe. Thank you all and I look forward to our time together tomorrow.