Letting Go and Letting Be

Please listen to this podcast for silent and guided meditation, group sharing, and a Dharma talk exploring the compassionate and wise practice of letting go and letting be.  This practice leads to the joy of spiritual freedom. 

One of the best ways to benefit spiritually from seasonal change as we move into autumn is to explore how we can live more mindfully in the present moment.  This can include letting go of (letting be) the past. The unobserved mind tends toward grasping.  Often this is grasping or clinging to things that bring momentary pleasure or security, but don't last.  The result is dissatisfaction, disappointment, despair, and grief.  With mindfulness practice we are invited to look at this process.  To really investigate and observe the process of change and let go of what is not ours to grasp or cling to. 

The Buddha said, “whatever is not yours: let go of it. And what is not yours? Form is not yours . . .” (that’s the body and stuff) “Feeling is not yours . . .” (feelings come and go; they’re not who you are) “Perception is not yours . . . Fabrications” (or “mental formations”) are not yours . . .” (your thoughts) “Consciousness is not yours: let go of [all of] it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness and benefit” (Majhima Nikaya 22).

"Renunciation is not giving up the things of the world, but accepting that they go away." — Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

"For minds obsessed with compulsive thinking and grasping you simplify your meditation practices to just two words--- "let go”, rather than try to develop this practice, and then develop that, achieve this, and go into that. The grasping mind wants to read all the suttas, to study the Abhidhamma, and to learn Pali and Sanskrit, then the Madhyamika and Prajna Parimita, get ordinations in the Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana, write books and become a renowned authority on Buddhism. Instead of becoming the world's expert on Buddhism and being invited to great international conferences, why not just "let go, let go, let go"?  Ajahn Sumedho

 

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