Photo Credit: Ashim D’Silva
This meditation was given by Freeman at the Our Wellness and Liberation monthly gathering on 12.19.17.
Using the Meditation Script
We make this meditation script available so practitioners may review the content of the meditation, and so experienced meditators may offer this meditation to their meditation groups. If you want to offer this meditation to others, please read the article Twelve Tips to Peer-Leading Guided Meditations. For a printable copy, download and print this PDF of the Sound Meditation Script. Enjoy!
Sound Meditation Script • 30 min • Beginner Level
Ring Bell
We do this practice for the benefit and welfare of all beings and all life everywhere, including our own.
May we know the peace of accepting the truth of reality as it is.
May we know the security of having our intentions arise from unconditional, boundlesslove.
May we know the freedom of renunciation which liberates us from greed.
May we know the joy of living skillfully for the benefit and welfare of all beings and all life everywhere.
May all beings and all life everywhere be free of delusion, suffering, and dissatisfaction.
May all beings and all life everywhere be loving, peaceful, compassionate, and joyful.
Comfortable Posture
Position yourself comfortably in a way that allows you to be both relaxed and energetically aware.
(2:40)
Kindly do your best to remain as still as possible. Remaining still will help your mind become more concentrated and peaceful. If you do need to move, do so slowly, calmly, quietly, and mindfully.
Using Breath to Calm Body and Mind
If possible, gently breathe in through your nose, deep into your abdomen so your belly expands. Deep belly breathing helps tell your body and mind to relax and be calm.
Let your breaths be slow, silent, effortless, and soothing.
Breathing in through the nose offers the body many health benefits, but if nasal breathing is too distracting, then breathe in whatever way makes the most sense for you, given your situation.
On each in-breath, calmly feel all of the energy and life in the body.
On each out-breath, kindly invite all the muscles in the body to soften, relax, and be calm.
Gently allow your breathing to help you balance these two qualities of energetic alertness and relaxed calmness.
Breathing in, lovingly feel the energy and life in the body.
Breathing out, gently feel all the peace, ease, and relaxation of the body.
Calmly, now, let go of all control of the breath. Simply let the breathe breath how it wants to breathe.
(5:20)
Let Go of Clinging
During this meditation, let go of the need to do, achieve, or accomplish anything. Let go even of the need to do this meditation correctly.
Lovingly do your best to follow the meditation, but also allow whatever arises to simply arise.
Relax the Body
Gently feel your entire body. Lovingly invite any parts of the body that are tense, tight, or stressed to relax and soften.
A relaxed body helps us concentrate the mind.
Peacefully allow the whole body to be calm, relaxed, and soft.
At any point during this meditation, if you notice stress, tension, or tightness in any area of the body, kindly invite that area to relax and soften.
Sound Meditation
Having calmed the body, we now begin sound meditation. Turn your attention to all the sounds you hear.
Let the sounds you hear be the anchor of your awareness.
During this meditation, whenever you get lost in thought, compassionately and silently note "thinking" and with ease and effortlessness return your attention to hearing the arising sounds.
(8:00)
Rest all of your attentions on the sounds you hear.
As you listen there is no need to identify or interpret the sounds. Gently hear the sounds as they are, and add nothing too them.
If you hear someone else speaking, do not concern yourself with trying to understanding their words. Simply hear the sound of their voice and allow the sounds to be, remaining free of aversion and attachment.
Whether a sound is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, listen to it with peace, ease, interest, and curiosity. Allow all of the sounds to be as they are.
To help anchor ourselves in listening, we will do some listening exercises.
Without straining, listen to all of the sounds coming from outside of this room....
Maintaining comfort and ease, note the most distant sound you can hear....
Kindly notice if you hear any high pitched ringing or subtle static noises in your ears....
If you hear these sounds, listen to them in a peacefully detached manner. Allow the sounds to be there, while remaining free of fear and worry.
Gently let awareness listen globally to all sounds that arise....
Calmly notice the most subtle, most faint sound you hear....
(11:20)
Let awareness peacefully take in all of the sounds you hear.
...The sound of my voice.
...The sound of cars outside.
... Any birdsong you may hear.
... The hum of machinery in the building.
... Just notice whatever sounds arise.
Observe how the sounds are dynamic, changing, temporary, and impermanent. They arise, stay for a while, then pass away.
Notice how the sounds you hear are impersonal. The sounds arise lawfully due to numerous causes and conditions that are outside of your control.
Because these sounds have nothing to do with you, and are outside of your control, there is no need to judge the sounds, take offense at the sounds, be upset by the sounds or the life forms who are making them. Nor do you want to identify with the sounds. Instead, easefully and compassionately allow the sounds to be.
If thoughts distract you from listening, kindly note, "thinking," and return your awareness to the sounds that arise.
Listen to the Silence
In addition to the sounds that you hear, listen also to the silence.
With ease, comfort, and awareness, notice how all of the sounds come from silence and return to silence....
(14:40)
You may even hear how silence seems to surround and penetrate the sounds....
As you listen to the silence, and listen to the sounds, effortlessly feel any stillness, peace, or joy that arises in your body....
Addressing Aversion and Judgment
If you have moments where there is no peace, calmly notice if any judgmental or aversive thoughts or emotions are present.
If any aversive thoughts and feelings arise in you, compassionately allow them to be. Neither resist them nor indulge them.
Kindly and objectively watch them without identifying with them, and without generating more aversion to them. They will go away on their own if you compassionately allow them to be.
The Ease of Listening with Acceptance
Gently allow awareness to listen globally to all sounds that arise....
Easefully notice the qualities of listening. Feel how peaceful and effortless it is to listen in an accepting, allowing, and nonjudgmental manner.
Peacefully notice how listening simply happens. Listening happens whether you want it to or not. Listening is simply there.
Calmly feel how easy and natural it is to listen. It takes no exertion, no effort, and no strain to listen. The awareness in you simply hears what it hears.
(17:40)
Effortlessly feel any peace, contentment, or joy that arises in your body as you listen to whatever is arising. Patiently get a strong, felt sense of the ease, peace, and contentment that arises with mindful listening.
Notice how awareness simply lets sound be sound.
Kindly and with ease, pay attention to all of the sounds you can hear whether near or far, loud or soft.
Mindful Accepting the Inner “Sound” of Sensations
Now with the same ease and comfort of listening to external sounds, we turn our listening inward.
In the same way that awareness can listen to external sounds with ease, comfort, and acceptance; awareness can also “listen” to the internal “sounds” of thoughts, and sensations with same sort of ease, comfort, and acceptance.
Calmly aware of external sounds, also feel any sensations arising within your body. There may be warmth... coolness... pressure… spaciousness… moisture… dryness… heaviness... lightness... tingling… pulsing… a sense of flow…
These are internal sounds. You listen to them by feeling them without aversion or clinging.
Gently notice the similarities between external sounds and the internal sound of sensations.
Peacefully notice how the sensations you feel are dynamic, changing, temporary, and impermanent. They arise, stay for a while, then pass away.
(21:00)
Calmly notice how sensations arise out of a silent stillness, and eventually return to that silent stillness.
Gently notice how sensations arise lawfully due to numerous causes and conditions that are outside of your control. Because you don’t have full control over what sensation you feel when, they are impersonal. Sensations are not who you are.
Because sensations are impersonal and outside of your full control, there is no need to judge the sensations, take offense at the sensations, be upset by the sensations, or identify with the sensations. Instead, you can easefully and compassionately allow the sensations to be as they are.
Peacefully let sensations be sensations. There is no need to grasp them, no need to create a story around them, no need to argue with them, no need to push them away, no need to judge them. Calmly let sensations be sensations.
If sensations arise, mindfully notice them arising.
Whether the sensations' feeling tones are pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, allow them to be.
Do not identify with the sensations. They are what you experience, but they are not you.
Do not relate to sensations with aversion or clinging. Instead, be curious, interested, calm, and detached.
Sensations want to be heard, acknowledged, and allowed. You listen to sensations by feeling them deeply, silently, and wordlessly, until they pass away on their own.
(24:00)
Mindful Accepting the Inner “Sound” of Thought
Thoughts are another kind of internal sound. In the same way that you can peacefully allow external sounds to be sounds, you can calmly allow the internal sound of thoughts to simply be thoughts.
Calmly keep your attention on the external sounds and the sensations you feel in the body. When thoughts arise, mindfully notice their impermanent, temporary, and changing nature.
If any thoughts arise, notice how they arise out of silence, and return to the silence on their own, without any help from you.
Gently notice how thoughts arise lawfully due to numerous causes and conditions that are outside of your control. Because you do not have full control over the thoughts you think, they are impersonal. Thoughts are not who you are.
Because thoughts are impersonal, and outside of your full control, there is no need to judge the thoughts, take offense at the thoughts, be upset by the thoughts, or identify with the thoughts. Instead, you can easefully and compassionately allow the thoughts be as they are.
Peacefully let thoughts be thoughts. There is no need to grasp them, no need to create a story around them, no need to argue with them, no need to push them away, no need to judge them. Calmly let thoughts be thoughts.
If thoughts arise, simply notice them arising and passing away on their own, just as you did with the external sounds.
(27:00)
The Peace of Mindful Awareness
Gently notice if you can “listen” to the internal sounds of sensations and thoughts with the same amount of peace, comfort, and ease that you listen to external sounds.
As you mindfully listen to the temporary and impersonal internal sounds, notice any peace, joy, appreciation, or love you feel.
Sharing the Merits
As I share the merits of our practice, try to connect with and feel the meaning behind the words.
We share any merits gained from this practice with all beings and all life everywhere.
May all beings and all life everywhere be free from suffering and misery.
May all beings and all life everywhere abide in a deep and lasting peace.
May all beings and all life everywhere know the highest forms of happiness and be at ease.
May all beings and all life everywhere know their deepest essence to be: joy, peace, compassion, and unconditional, boundless love.
May all beings and all life everywhere be liberated, fully liberated, permanently liberated.
Ring Bell
(30:00)