What’s Going On

Close your eyes and watch your breath. Watch it all the way in, all the way out, and then with the next one, the next one, just stay with the breathing. Try to develop some consistency here. If long breathing feels good, keep it up. If it doesn’t feel good, you can change. Notice the spots in the body that are most sensitive to how the breathing feels and breathe in a way that feels pleasing to them. It could be shorter, more shallow, heavier, lighter, faster, slower. Experiment for a while to see what feels good inside.

We close our eyes when we meditate because we want to see what’s going on inside the body, inside the mind. This is our territory, but for the most part, we’re not all that aware of what’s going on in here. We’re more aware of what’s going on outside. A lot of subtle things are happening inside. We have to catch them because these are the things that make us suffer when we do them in ignorance.

So you want to learn how to observe your mind. And for that, you need a good place to stay. You need something to hold onto, to make sure that you really are in the present moment. Otherwise, it’s very easy to watch your thoughts and then slip into them. Then they go traveling, off to the future, back to the past, off to other places. But when you’re with the breath, you know you’re right here.

So try to establish a good relationship with the breath, because it’s going to be your foundation. Then you can start observing what’s going on in the mind. If there are any thoughts at the moment that go away from the breath, you don’t need to get involved with them. Just drop them and you’ll be right back at the breath. Each time you come back to the breath, breathe in a way that feels especially good, as a reward for staying here. In that way, you’ll be more and more inclined to want to stay here and see what’s going on.

We suffer inside because of our cravings. Where do they come from? They come from inside. But the solution lies inside as well. We get the mind trained to be still so that it can watch itself. Then you’re going to see things that you didn’t see before. And you’re going to see some important things you didn’t see before.

The world tells us all the important things are out there. But the Dhamma tells us, No, they’re in here, as the movements of the mind move toward something or move away from something, focus on something, neglect something. These are choices we make all the time. And all too often they’re relegated to the junior members of the committee, as the senior members go traveling around. Our minds are like a corporation. The president of the corporation isn’t there. He’s off having a vacation. That leaves it up to the underlings to make the decisions. Sometimes they make okay decisions and sometimes not.

If you want to have a good set of quality controls, you want to be here all the time. And you want to be involved in the decisions as to what you’re going to say, what you’re going to think, why you’re going to say it, why you’re going to think it. These are things you want to be involved in. You want to see clearly what’s happening, and you want to be able to direct your actions in a direction of long-term happiness.

This is why we close our eyes: so that we can watch what’s going on in here with few distractions. As you get used to watching the mind, then you go around outside and be with the breath at the same time you’re engaged with other things outside as well. But try to optimize the circumstances for getting to know your own mind with a minimum of outside disturbance, because most of the problems in life are coming in from here. But the solution can also lie right here as well, so do your best to be part of the solution.