This meditation is simple, like so many that we do. The simplicity is a teaching and a training. I wonder if our modern world has almost obliterated simplicity? I wonder if, unless one has chosen a reclusive and rural life, is simplicity possible anymore? Yet, one has choice; every moment. Is simplicity a by-product of our environment and circumstances? Yes. But only these? No. Simplicity -the simplicity of Awareness- is our natural state like the simple clarity of the space all around you right now.

After sitting with this simplicity for a while, we complete the meditation and then reflect upon what is being conveyed, in part, in the Buddha’s teaching on “brightly shining,” and “luminous.”

There are many levels and layers to what is pointed at. We begin with clarity. Clarity is bright, specific. To read these words requires the brightness -the clarity- of the mind, the mental processes involved in reading and interpretation, as well as whatever specific emotional responses such as the ah ha’s that occur. This process -specific and vivid- plays out as one chooses clothes to wear, chooses words to speak, actions to take, as well as the specificity within robotic, unconscious actions or activities.

Emotions are bright as in distinct. Joy is distinct from happiness, doubt specific from worry. Each is bright in that each is recognized discreetly. The emotion of anger is sharp, clear, and vibrant. The emotion of desire is vibrant and alluring due to its vibrancy. Desire is why a moth goes to a flame, even when that means death. The vibrancy of desire does the same within a human being all too often: slow death through unwise habits with food and behaviors such as addictions for example.

More on this subject is on the podcast after the meditation. “Luminous is the mind, brightly shining” might not be experienced by someone as a lamp turned on or the sun in the sky. Nothing is wrong with that person or their experience. The error is thinking that the Buddha’s terms are that reductive and limited to visuals.