Guided Meditation Lovingkindness and Letting go of the 5 Aggregates

We'll just start up with some loving kindness to ourselves. Bring up the loving kindness, allow that to percolate and just be there in the heart and let that come up. And then we're going to radiate it. So we'll just allow it to expand, send it out in different directions. So for a while after that's done, when the mind is very settled, then I will guide you through the contemplation practice through each of the five aggregates.

So I'll walk you through the form aggregate and you imagine the form aggregate in terms of your own body as you were when you were an infant, and then when you grew up to become a toddler and then a child, and adolescent, your adult self, so to speak. And then beyond that, as you continue to age and grow. And even beyond that, when your form basically dies and you're looking at the stages of decay in the body, in the corpse, and letting it go. Then I'll take you through feeling. Just listening to my voice, just listening to my voice, paying attention to my voice, paying attention to any internal feelings, paying attention to the thoughts, seeing how they arise and pass away, realizing that this is just arising through contact and letting go through the insight of seeing them as impermanent, dukkha and not self.

Then the same with perceptions, the same with formations and finally with consciousness. So that which sees the other four aggregates is aware of the other aggregates in one way or the other. So you have to be able to let go of even consciousness. So we will begin. Are there any questions before we start?

Clear. Okay, good. So I want you all to find a comfortable sitting position. If it's in a chair or on a cushion or whatever works for you, keep your body straight. Don't slouch. Close your eyes. Put a little smile on your face.

A little smile in your mind and in your eyes and in your heart. Pay attention to your breath as you inhale and exhale. And relax. We're going to do a little body scan. Just pay attention to parts of your body. Notice any tension anywhere throughout your body, and just let it go. Soften it. Relax. Notice any tightness in the shoulders. Notice any tightness in the shoulders, in the back.

And just let it go. Now we're going to bring up the feeling of loving kindness. You can say in your mind: May I be happy. May I be happy. May I be happy. May I be well. May I be well. May I be filled with loving kindness.

May I be free of suffering. May I be free of suffering. And just imagine a little baby in your arms, just smiling at you. Just smiling at you. Giggling, giggling, laughing. Just looking at you with innocent eyes. Just looking at you with innocent eyes. And feel the warmth that comes in your heart. Let the mind just stay there.

If you notice any tension, just relax. Let it go. Soften. Feel the warmth in your heart. Throughout your heart. Just bask in that. Just pay attention to that feeling. Just recognize that feeling. Let it go.

Come back to your body. Soften. Relax. Come back to your smile. And bring up that warmth again. Bring up that feeling. Stay with the feeling. If you find your mind like a candle flame, just glowing, like a candle flame, just glowing. That's okay. It's fine.

That's the nature of the mind. Just recognize that. Let it go. Relax. Come back to your smile. Come back to the feeling. And let the feeling grow. Let the energy pervade your entire heart. Let it glow outward throughout your torso. Feel the warmth throughout the torso. Let the feeling expand.

If you're feeling joy, come up. If you're feeling joy, come up. That's okay too. Let the joy pervade you. Let the joy come up. Don't do anything with it. Let it be. Just come back to the feeling of loving kindness, the good wishes to yourself, the desire to be happy and to be well.

Just stay with that warmth. Just stay with that warmth, with that loving and kind energy. Let the mind settle into it. Don't do anything. Just watch. Just watch the mind sink into that feeling. There's nowhere to go. Nothing to do. No one to be. All is well. All is well. Now we're going to share this loving kindness. Just say: May all beings be happy.

Allow it to go in the forward direction, and just feel that. Just observe it. That's it. And as the loving kindness spreads, now we are no longer in our bodies. Now we are in a conscious space beyond the body. Just let the feeling continue. Don't do anything.

You are a source of loving kindness. You are a light, a lamp of loving kindness. If the mind is wandering or pushing too hard, just recognize it. It's okay. Let it go. Soften. Come back to your smile, and just let the loving kindness flow again. That's it. Just feel the expansion. Now keep your attention behind you and let the feeling of loving kindness spread backwards, behind your head. May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be filled with loving kindness. Don't push. Just let it flow in the backward direction. The mind is wandering around and it's okay. Recognize it, let it go, soften, let the mind expand, relax, let the energy flow, and relax. Relax. Now we're going to bring our attention to our right, towards the right direction. May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be free of suffering.

May all beings be filled with loving kindness. Feel that warm, loving and kind energy just flow out. Allow it to spread. Don't push it. Let it pervade all through the right. So that's okay. If you notice the mind pushing, if you notice the mind pushing, if you notice any tightness, just soften, just relax, relax, let go. Come back and just keep your attention there. That's it. Just let the mind settle into it. So that's okay. Now bring your attention to your left. Flow out to the left.

don't push. Just soften. Relax into it. I'm going to go. now bring your attention to below you. let your lovingkindness flow. Let your lovingkindness flow downward to all beings in the ground in the ground in the water to all beings to all beings to all animals to all animals to all birds and reptiles to all birds and reptiles to all beings in the hell realms to all beings in the hell realms. your suffering.

May all beings be happy and safe. Let your loving kindness pervade all the lower realms below you. May all beings experience your loving kindness. Share it with them. let them experience it. Let them experience it. If you notice your mind wandering around. It's okay. Let it go. Relax. Come back to the feeling. Going out to the lower realms.

may they all be happy. May they all be happy. May they all be happy. If the mind starts to slide away. It's okay. If the mind starts to slide away. It's okay. let it go. Let it go. Soften. Let the mind remain. Let the mind remain. Let the mind remain. Expansive. Let the feeling of loving kindness pervade all lower beings. Let the feeling of loving kindness pervade all lower beings. Let it go. If you notice any sloth and torpor, it's okay.

Bring a little focus in your mind. and straighten up a little. Relax. Relax. Settle into it. Let the feeling pervade. Let the feeling pervade. Let the feeling pervade. Below you. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Now we're going to turn our attention upwards. Let the feeling of loving kindness. Let the feeling of loving kindness flow out through the top of your head.

Out into the sky. Out into space. Out into space. Just feel it flow. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it. Let the feeling go up. Let the feeling go up. To the realm of the four great kings. Don't push it. Don't push it. Let the feeling go up. To the realm of the four great kings. Don't push it. Don't push it. Let the feeling go up. To the deva realms. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it. Don't push it.

Feel the loving-kindness flow through you. Feel the other's loving-kindness in you. Now you have become one symbiotic aura of loving-kindness. Allow that feeling to expand. If the mind is trying too hard, relax. Soften. Feel the expansion of loving-kindness. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. Let it go. Just feel the expansion. Soften. Relax into it. Move beyond the body.

Beyond the mind. Beyond this room. Go outward in all directions at the same time. Beyond this building. May all beings in this building. May all beings in this building feel your loving-kindness. Keep the feeling going. Don't push. Feel the expansion. Now, there is no border between your body and the space around you. There is no border between your body and the space around you. It's all just loving-kindness.

There's nothing else but the feeling. There's nothing else but the feeling. Let the feeling flow out. Throughout the city. Keep expanding. Keep expanding. Keep expanding. Let it pervade all around you. In all directions. Into the sky. Throughout the country. Throughout the world. May all beings. May all beings. May all beings. All animals. All peoples. All peoples. All peoples. All peoples. All peoples. All nations. All nations.

Everyone. Feel loving-kindness. Pervade the entire globe. With a powerful aura. The aura of loving-kindness. All nations. Out. Out. Out into space. Out into space. Pervading the entire galaxy. Out into space. Pervading the entire galaxy. Just keep it going. There is no limit. There is no limit. If you notice your mind drifting. If you notice your mind drifting.

Relax. Soften. Come back to the feeling. Come back to the feeling. You. The flow of the loving-kindness. To soften. To soften. To relax. To become space. To become space. Itself. Let it all go. No expectations. No goals. No goals. Just the feeling. The feeling. Allow the mind. Allow the mind to be suffused with it. To be quenched by it.

To be quenched by it. To release into it. To release into it. To relax into it. To relax into it. Nothing to do. to go. No one to become. No one to become. As your mind settles into that. Let the feeling be. As your mind settles into that. Let the feeling be. Now incline. Now incline your mind towards the aggregates. Now incline your mind towards the aggregates.

Look at your body. Imagine yourself in front of your reflection. Notice your face. Notice your face. Notice a DH. Notice it turn into an infant. What does it look like? Notice how the infant moves. Notice how the infant moves. What it does. Notice how the infant moves. What it does. Notice how the infant moves. What it does.

Notice your body grow up. Notice how the infant moves. Notice how the infant moves. Notice how the infant moves. Notice how the infant moves. Notice how the infant moves. The structure of your body changes as it grows. Your hair. Your skin. Are you that? Are you the infant? Are you the toddler? Are you the child? Are you the teenager?

Notice as the body continues to grow into adulthood. Notice the changes in your skin. In your hair. In your structure. The body continues to grow. To age. Notice the wrinkles. Notice how your body ages. Let the body keep aging. That is the nature of the body. Do you want to age? Do you want the body to have gray hair and wrinkly skin?

Broken teeth. No. That is the nature of reality. Your body arose, and one day it will pass away. And that's okay. That is the reality of this existence. It's okay. I am not this body. I am not the hair. I am not the skin. I am not the muscles. I am not the eyes. I am not the ears, the nose, the tongue, the brain that keeps changing. That is not me. That is not mine. That is not myself. Let go. Notice how the body continues to change, and now it is a corpse. Your body is decaying. It is a corpse. It becomes bloated and green and livid. That's not you. That's just hair and skin and nails, muscles and bones. Nothing to do with me. And now it decays further, just a skeleton. Are you the skeleton? Are you the bones? Are you the joints?

These are all just form. Let it go. Look deep into the body, into the hair, into the skin, into the nails, into the bones, made up of trillions of cells. Are you those cells? Those cells keep going and passing away, keep arising and passing away. Those cells keep going and passing away, keep arising and passing away, arising and passing away, changing all the time. But you are observing it. That's not me. That's not mine. That's not myself. Just let it go. Be free of the body.

Be free of the elements. Be free of the elements. Now the body has disappeared, no more. Now the body has disappeared, no more. Bring your attention to feeling and sensation. Notice the sound of my voice. Pay attention to the moment. The sound of my voice. Pay attention to the moment. The sound of my voice. Pay attention to the moment the sound makes impact onto the ears. Notice it. I'm going to snap my fingers, and I want you to notice the moment of contact. Notice that contact and the sensation. That is not me. That is not me.

That is not mine. That is not myself. Notice what's happening inside of you, the sensations that you're experiencing. The sensation of that, you can't change it. You can't change it. That's not you. Notice the thoughts that arise. You can't change it. That's not you. Notice the thoughts that arise. You are the observer, not the thoughts. There's only observing going on. Did you call those thoughts up? Did you call those thoughts up? Did you ask them to be there? Did you ask them to be there? Did you ask them to be there? Did you ask them to be there? Did you ask them to be there? Let them flow. Just watch the traffic of thoughts. Just watch the traffic of thoughts. Just watch the stream. Don't enter it. Don't become part of it. Just let it go.

And if your mind starts to wander, around and look into that thought and become the thought, try to find the point when that happened. And try to find out what was the thought before that. And what was the thought before that? And what was the thought before that? Were you in that? Did you create that? Did you cause it?

This is not me. This is not mine. This is not myself. Let them go. Let all sensations be as they are. Because that's how they are. There is no you in that. There is no you before it. There is no you after it. It is just feeling. In the hearing, there is only the heard. In the sensing, there is only the sensed.

In the cognizing, in the thinking, there is only the cognized and the thought. I am not in it. I am not in it. It doesn't belong to me. Let it go. Let it go. Let all feelings vanish and disappear. Drop them. Let them go. Let the mind be free. Now we are going to turn our attention to perceptions. Now we are going to turn our attention to perceptions.

Notice the ideas. Notice the ideas you have about the feelings. Notice the ideas you have about the feelings. Notice how, when I speak, your mind recognizes my voice. Notice the memories that come up. The concepts that arise. All concepts are dukkha. All concepts are dukkha. All proliferation is dukkha. All proliferation is dukkha. Let it go.

It's not worth holding on to. Whatever concepts you have about yourself, about your relationships, about your job, about your job, about your career, about your career, about your family, about your family, and friends, and enemies. Let them go. They're all concepts. They're all concepts. They have nothing to do with you. Have nothing to do with you. Relax. Relax all ideas.

Come to that point where the mind is free of all concepts. That is relief. No thoughts. No thoughts. No mind also. Just relax. Soften. This is not me. This is not mine. This is not myself. Let it go. If you notice the mind wandering, that's okay. That's not you. Why be bothered by it? Just relax. Come back to the stillness.

Let it all go. Relax. Relax. Relax. All of the decisions that you've made. Take one decision that you've made in your life. One intention. And notice how it came to be. Go back and see what caused you to make that decision. Go back to the source of that. The cause and condition of that. Let it go. All decisions, all intentions are not me. Not mine. Not myself.

It's just a river flowing. That's it. Just watch the river. All these choices. All these ideas. All these formations. All these formations. Arising and passing away. Arising and passing away. Arising and passing away. Arising and passing away. That's it. Nothing else. Just arising and passing away. There is no me in that. There is no me before that. There is no me after that.

It's just formations. It's just formations. It's just formations. Let it go. Relax. It's just formations. Let it go. Relax. Relax. Be free of all choices. Be free of all choices. All intentions. All intentions. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. Let go of the meditator. Let go of the meditator. Let go of trying to meditate. Let go of trying to meditate.

Let it be. There is just the meditation. Let it be. There is just the meditation. Nothing to do. Nothing to do. Nothing to achieve. Nothing to achieve. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to go. No one to be. No one to be. Sink into just pure awareness. There is just the awareness. Notice how the mind is aware.

Just the observer. Just the observer. Silent witness. The background behind everything. Just the observer. Silent witness. The background behind everything. Just rest in that. Just rest in that. Just the background. Who is the observer? And there is the mind watching the process of meditation. And there is the mind watching the process of meditation. Let the mind watching the process of meditation. Let the meditation go. Let the meditation go.

Whatever comes up. Let it be. Let them sink back in. Let them sink back in. No need to notice or pay attention. Just rest. There is nothing here. No need to notice or pay attention. Just rest. There is nothing here. No one here. There is no here. No there. No beyond. No now. Nothing. Just let it be. Just let it all go. Just let it all go.

Soften and relax into it. Rest. Rest. Don't look at anything. Don't look at anything in particular. Whatever arises. Whatever arises. Let it be. Don't look at anything in particular. Whatever arises. Let it be. Go beyond. Go beyond. No looking. No looking. No observing. No observing. No awareness. No attention. No signs. No direction. No. Just emptiness. Just emptiness.

Void of all things. Void of all things. Void of all things. Void of the conditioned. Relax and let go. No. No. No. No. No. No. There's nothing. No. There's nothing to do. No effort. No effort. No thoughts. No. No jhanas. No awareness. No awareness. And rest. And rest. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Sensations around you. And when you're ready, slowly, with pure presence, come back to the awareness of all. And when you're ready, open your eyes. Welcome back. That's it.