Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation 08/10/16 with Sharon Salzberg

Episode Date: August 29, 2016

Every Wednesday, the Rubin Museum of Art presents a meditation session led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area. This podcast is a recording of the weekly practice. If you would like to attend in person, please visit our website at RubinMuseum.org/meditation to learn more. We are proud to be partnering with Sharon Salzberg and the teachers from the Interdependence Project and the NY Insight Meditation Center. This week’s session is led by Sharon Salzberg focusing on the theme of Generosity. To view a related artwork from the Rubin Museum's permanent collection, please visit: rma.cm/17b

Thank you. To join us in person, please visit our website at rubemuseum.org. We are proud to be partnering with Sharon Salzberg and the teachers from the Interdependence Project and the New York Onsite Meditation Center. In the description for each episode, you will find information about the theme for that week's session, including an image of a related artwork chosen from the Rubemuseum's prominent collection. And now, please enjoy your practice. Sharon Salzberg is the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society. She has been studying and teaching for over 45 years, and she is the author of many fabulous books, so helpful if you want to dive a little bit deeper and take your practice to the next level.

And one of those books, her most most recent is Real Happiness at Work which you can find upstairs in our shop or online. Please give a warm welcome to Sharon Salzberg. Generosity is such a main virtue in the Buddhist teaching. It's the first quality of an awakened mind, and it's the primary quality that brings us to awakening. And one of the things I like the most about the Buddhist teaching, in a way, is that the inner qualities we develop are the same as the life practices we do. And so there's no dividing line. It's not like, oh, the kind of spiritual pursuit is sitting in a certain posture

and how you live and how you speak to people and how you look at people doesn't matter. It's not completely internal, nor is it completely external so quality like generosity really is a main practice in both our inner life as we let go of certain thoughts habits patterns it's not like we see these things come up in our experience and we hate them and we fear them and we want to like push them away or hurl them away we let go we relinquish um one of my teachers who i just did a retreat with i just came back from england um the other night uh i went there to sit with him which was like my birthday present to myself. And speaking of generosity, one of his sayings is something like,

it's not the thoughts that arise in our minds that are the problem, it's the glue. Right? Because any kind of thought can come up in our minds. And sometimes, you know, when you're in a really good mood and you've really rested and you sent your book in, you know, some like wonderful circumstance like that. And then you have like this completely crummy thought that comes up in your mind. But you have the ability to be amused by it. It's like, oh yeah, there's that again. Same old can't do anything right thought.

Hi. In fact, in the book, I heard back from the publisher just this morning, and he said one of his favorite passages is where, and I've talked about this here before, I was talking about the inner critic, and I said a good response to the inner critic, in my case it's a she,

is to send her off to a corner with a cup of tea and suggest she take a nap. You know, there's a kind of generosity in that, right? It's not like you're trying to annihilate her or destroy her or you hate her or you're so ashamed or you're so freaked out. It's like, here you go, have a cup of tea, right? So that act of letting go of certain thoughts, emotions, patterns, habits is actually a practice of generosity. And so anything we do in our external life, which may be material generosity, the Buddha said very beautifully once, if you knew as I did the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass by without sharing. So that might mean, you know, in the kind of old days it would mean taking like a

grain of rice and offering it to an ant, because you're eating outside on the ground, something like that. These days, it may not mean that. But it may not mean material generosity at all. It might just mean generosity of the spirit, paying attention to somebody, thanking them, making a point of looking at somebody and really listening and not just thinking about the email you need to write and things like that. With our

presence, with our energy, we give, we have that capacity to offer, to pay attention. We practice internal generosity and all that letting go, which needs to be done just right, not harshly and not as a punishment for ourselves. And external generosity, which also needs to be done just right, not because we feel obliged, not because we're showing off, not because we, you know, it's not that wholesome to give, as an example, based on the feeling

that you don't deserve to have anything, and therefore you're only giving. You know, that's not considered actual generosity. And so we keep playing and deepening and evolving in both these realms at the same time, the internal and the external. And it's really a tremendous adventure. When we think of generosity, sometimes we think of it as a kind of ultimate loss. You know, what am I giving up?

What am I going to then be deprived of? What will be my deficiency? Whereas in something like the Buddhist psychology, even short of giving your body to the hungry tiger cubs, it's to your gain. It's not to your loss. Because the joy in letting go, the feeling of oneness, when it's well-motivated, when it's not somehow coming from a place of I have to or I don't deserve to have anything, therefore I will. But when it's well-motivated, the acts of generosity are a source of such tremendous joy.

Because first of all, they reunite us with a certain sense of inner abundance. In the act of giving, somehow, the best kind of giving brings us back to a sense of wholeness within. And we realize, it's okay. I'm not going to be missing this. And in fact, there's a kind of exercise we sometimes do in the community around the retreat center I co-founded, the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts,

where the people who live around and work there, sometimes we just undertake these kind of voluntary disciplines, almost like a game, for a period of time. The point being always to be looking at your mind, looking at how things feel. How is it actually really sitting with you to make a certain kind of choice compared to another kind of choice?

And always pay attention. So one of the disciplines at times has been for really strong impulse to give something arises in your mind, and it's reasonable. You know, not like, as they always say in New York, you never give up your rent-controlled apartment. If it's reasonable, no one is going to be harmed by it.

And it's a strong impulse. It's not like a little dwippy thing, but you get the sense, I really want to give this. Then give it. Even if the 50 thoughts that follow that first impulse to give are all terrified. But I've carried it through that book through three sublets.

I mean, I must be reading it soon. You know, no doubt it's getting to the top of the pile. Or, you know, maybe I'll need that next winter. I haven't opened the box in five years, but, you know, maybe I'll need it next winter, right? So you have the strong impulse to give, followed by all that fear, and then you give anyway. And the urging is to pay attention to all of that. What does it feel like

to have that sense of connection and wanting to give? What does all that fear feel like? What does it feel like when you do give? And do you actually regret it afterwards? How does it feel like when you do give and do you actually regret it afterwards, how does it feel afterwards and I think what we mostly find is we don't regret it we really don't and in the moment the power of the

connection brings so much joy I still have boxes from my last move, this is true confessions that are not yet unpacked. I just decided to spend Labor Day weekend here unpacking, finally. And you know that moment, any of you who've ever moved, like more recently, when you think, why did I put that here? You know, like, why didn't I give that away years ago? I don't even know I still have that. I'm like, why didn't I give that away years ago?

I don't even know I still have that. That can carry on through several moves if you're not careful. So pay attention. Experiment. See what it's like when you yield, when you give. And remember, it doesn't have to be material. It may be making a point of thanking somebody, or if somebody strikes up a conversation with you in an elevator in New York, it is an act of generosity to respond.

To smile at somebody, to really fully be present, even when you feel the distractions starting to pull you away, to return and be there. And I think it's an extraordinary experiment and we really do get a glimpse of why this is such a primary and powerful quality in a path to liberation. So why don't we sit together?

And we'll practice a fair amount of letting go, I would bet. So see if you can sit comfortably. Your back straight, but not strained or overarched. You can close your eyes or not, wherever you feel most at ease. If you like, you can start just by listening to sound, whether it's the sound of my voice or other sounds. It's like the sounds just wash through you. and bring your attention to the feeling of your breath.

Just the normal, natural breath, wherever you feel it most distinctly. Maybe that's the nostrils or the chest or your breath. Just the normal, natural breath, wherever you feel it most distinctly. Maybe that's the nostrils or the chest or the abdomen. Find that place where the breath is clearest for you. Bring your attention there and just rest.

See if you can feel one breath. If you like, you can use a quiet mental notation like in, out, or rising, falling to help support the awareness of the breath, but very quiet so your attention is really going to feeling the breath, one breath at a time. And if images or sounds or sensations or emotions arise, but they're not all that strong,

if you can stay connected to the feeling of the breath, that's fine. You can let all that other stuff come and go. It doesn't matter. But if something is strong enough, it just picks you up and pulls you away. And you get lost in thought or spun out in a fantasy or you fall asleep, really don't worry about it. Here comes the moment of letting go. Wherever your attention has gone, for however long, it doesn't matter.

The most important thing is to let go as gently as you can and to return to the feeling of the breath without blaming yourself or judging yourself, but being kind to yourself. We let go and we begin again. So if you have to do that like countless times in the next few minutes, it's totally fine. That's the practice of generosity right there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.. So thank you. Thank you.