Doing a Little Doing
I listen to a lot of dharma talks, which sometimes can get a bit repetitive, but this week I listened to one that’s quite different.
It’s called: At-Home Retreat with Phillip Moffitt and it’s a selection of instructions and guided meditations from a Day-long for Experienced Students held in 2011.
Here’s the description:
“If you’ve never had the opportunity to study with Phillip in person, here is a way to experience one of his day-long retreats. Explore what inspires you to practice, regain trust in your own knowing, and discover ways to direct you attention.”
I highly recommend it.
The tape begins with very rich instruction on the use of the “Four Elements” practice as a way to establish presence, then moves to an image-based guidance for practicing “Aiming and Sustaining Attention” to develop samadhi, then progresses through several specific practices for working with sleepiness, then on to “Open Awareness Meditation,” then quite a unique practice directing Metta to the body, and more. (The whole tape is 3 hours long, but it’s sequenced so you can listen to it in segments.)
All this could seem like a lot of work. But I love what Phillip has to say about that:
In meditation, we are seeing how things happen… You are looking to have the experience. You are not looking to “get it right.”
This is a huge difference.
There is as little “doing” as possible in our “doing” in meditation. And “getting it right” is a whole lotta doing!
Having the experience and saying: ‘OK, I’m going to use this technique’…that’s a little “doing”. But it’s a light “doing.” But a “getting it right” is very, very heavy as “doing.”
OK. Here we go….
***
Give it a try. Click here, then click on the mp3 link. Enjoy!