With the sīla practice in place, we give attention to samādhi practice – finding our center within the world of sense contact. From this steady place we are present, witnessing, attuning to how citta is touched by it all.
Citta requires strength to meet the afflictive perceptions and meanings that compress it. Shutting down and distracting ourselves is understandable, but inadequate. Cultivation of spiritual faculties gives citta tools and capacity to meet phenomena with compassion and skillful action.
Tune into the capacity to open and be sensitive. Listen in a feeling way to the pulses, tinglings, warmth of the body. Everything that resonates in your heart is felt directly in the body. Stay with awareness and allow feelings and emotions to shift, move, be ventilated and pass.
It’s important to learn to feel our thoughts. When thoughts are felt, there’s an instinctive filtering for true, uncluttered, undistracted thoughts. Chanting gives us a way to practice with this.
The clinging reflex constricts citta, causing the loss of intelligence and sensitivity. Allowing things to shift and change lets us live more harmoniously and respectfully. In meditation, practice bringing attention back to the entire body, not fixating on any one point. Where citta and body come together, the all-encompassing world can be reviewed with goodwill and compassion.
How do we heal the wounds and bruises of self? Recognize what is met: perception, contact, a cascade of memories. Don’t go into the stories, don’t try to fix or change anything. Let the feelings surge and move through your embodiment. Soften, widen, let citta do its work – keep the personality to one side.
Chanting is a resounding of the potentials of realization. Be part of the celebration, it’s very good for the heart. Put your voice in that and be part of the flow.