The purpose of this meditation is to let go of our fears, anxieties, etc., what we might call our Karmic threads, the mental patterns that keep following us everywhere.  It can commonly be things like insecurities, pride, feeling not useful enough.

In this meditation we release these by finding a larger container for them, so they are not as strong as they are in the landscape of our “regular” mind where they tend to invade and control the scene…  The structure of this meditation can also be used to transform other fixed idea we have.  It is based on Thay’s suggestion that we look at our beloved (or the one who makes us angry) and contemplate where will we both be in 300 years…  From the perspective of 300 years, I can see that much of my thinking is far less urgent than it appears on the scale of today, this week, or even this year…

We start with Shamata, the base of all meditation practice, establishing ourselves in mindfulness, calming and stopping the habitual mind.  Once I have come back to my breathing and created a sense of spaciousness in the mind I begin the first exercise.  I contemplate each exercise as a Koan, a statement to be examined with total openness, with no expectation of an answer.  Clarity comes as and when it does…  My job is to allow the exercise to simply penetrate my being, my consciousness, so as to create the conditions that are conducive for insight.  I cannot, and should not be “creating insight” (which is then obviously being manufactured by my habitual, aka tainted, mind).

(1) I contemplate surrender to Life,  In this phase we have done no preparation, and it may come (or not) in many ways.  This will also be the last exercise, so after the meditation I can compare the “spontaneous” feel in this section and what might come at the end.

(2) I contemplate connecting with Life.  Mountains, rivers, oceans, the sky, stars, galaxies, flowers, animals, people, etc.

You may choose to reverse these two exercises as it makes sense to connect first and then surrender.

(3) I see myself as a small child, vulnerable and dependent, and I see that small child as part of the stream of Life.

(4) I see myself as a young person, stepping out to the adventure of my life.

(5) I see myself as an adult, perhaps settling into the rhythm of life.

(6) I see that I have been constantly changing throughout this life.

I also see that there may have been themes that keep repeating in my life, Karic threads throughout it.

(7) I see myself 500 years ago (this can be in any form the you happen to connect with during this meditation – it might suggest reincarnation, it might suggest being part of galaxies, of human history, of the plant or mineral world, etc.)

(8) I see myself 500 years in the future (again, there are no prescribed “truths” in this contemplation – it is an exploration of one’s own mind)

(9) Seeing Life as a stream that has no beginning and no end, I see that in some places some are hungry yet others are satiated, there are successes in some places and failures in others, suffering and happiness – in the vast stream of life these are all but rivers, or waves, or drops that are balanced by other rivers, waves or drops  – they do not belong to anyone, they belong to all of life.

(10) My problems, my passions, my Karmic threads, manifest through me, but they do not belong to me, they belong to life.

(11)  I surrender to Life.  This is the same contemplation as the first exercise.  This time it may have a different quality because the mind has been shaped, perhaps, made more supple by the previous contemplations.

(12)  I “catalog” the feeling of surrender to Life in my physical body.  I then also feel surrender to Life while also having a sense of Core – I am part of life and I am also this part of life, this drop, that reflects certain Karmic threads, which belong to Life, and yet in some way also belong (or create) what I consider to be “me.”

Having a physical sense (a sense of what it feels like in my body, energetically), is very useful because I can then produce that sense to create space in my mind almost bypassing the exercises – it is especially useful when I might have only seconds to create space in my mind before responding to a stimulus…