Experience Deep Connection and Love with the Practice of Benefactor Meditation
Embarking on a Path Less Traveled
Benefactor practice has become an almost daily practice for me.
Unique in its approach and not inherently tied to any religious tradition, it's a reminder of our profound belovedness.
This practice acknowledges that none of us get to where we are on our own. We trace our origins and ancestors back 13.5 billion years ago to the dance and attraction of hydrogen and helium.
Inspiration and Personal Reflection
I first discovered this practice through reading Lama Rod Owen.
I’ve made it my own tweaking it every so often depending on circumstances. As I share with others, it’s refreshing to see it at work in different ways. The practice is a testament to the power of imagination helping us tap into deeper realms of consciousness and connection.
The imagination is a holy instrument.
Creating a Sanctuary Within
As you embark on this practice, remember: it's not a race.
Slow down and you may sense an expansive, open space within yourself. This space, often unexpected, is where we experience feeling safe, happy, healthy, and at ease.
That space is our inner sanctuary, a birthright that remains untouched by the circumstances of our lives.
The Benefactor Practice: A Step-by-Step Guide
Embodied Awareness
Start by grounding yourself in your body. Notice any discomfort, not just physical, but emotional or spiritual. This awareness is the first step towards healing and understanding.
Inward Inquiry
Pose a simple yet profound question to yourself: "What do I need right now?" Instead of rushing to answer, allow your body to respond in its own language, free from judgment.
Visualization of Compassion
Now, let your imagination unfold. Envision a being that represents pure love and compassion for you. This could be anyone or anything - a divine figure, a family member, a historical figure, even a beloved companion animal. I sometimes imagine my dog, Ossie.
Whoever you imagine should be a source of unconditional love for you.
Connecting with the Benefactor
Don't just see this being. Feel their presence within and around you. They are your benefactor, a wellspring of compassion, strength, and care.
Engaging with Love
Visualize this benefactor before you, radiating love and warmth. Communicate your current need and remain open to how they respond, free from expectations.
Don’t put words to their response.
Integration of Love
Feel their love envelop you, transforming into a radiant golden light within your heart. This light is a soothing presence, exactly what you need in this moment. Hang out here for a bit. Go slow.
Expansive Compassion
Finally, as you are filled with this light and warmth, extend your thoughts to others. Think of the countless beings who also ache as you do.
Wish for them what you have received and embrace the intention to become a source of their needs.
Some Tentative Thoughts
This practice is a journey, not a destination. The more you do it, the more you may find yourself entering a state of ease.
That loving space you sense while practicing does not come from an outward source. It’s within you, and accessible in the fluctuating tides of life.
Make this practice at your own, and watch as it transforms not just your inner world, but your capacity to engage the world around you.
and the mantra from the Heart Sutra: tayate gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi soha....♥️
Rant
You cannot write a single line w/out a cosmology
a cosmogony
laid out, before all eyes
there is no part of yourself you can separate out
saying, this is memory, this is sensation
this is the work I care about, this is how I
make a living
it is whole, it is a whole, it always was whole
you do not "make" it so
there is nothing to integrate, you are a presence
you are an appendage of the work, the work stems from
hangs from the heaven you create
every man / every woman carries a firmament inside
& the stars in it are not the stars in the sky
w/out imagination there is no memory
w/out imagination there is no sensation
w/out imagination there is no will, desire
history is a living weapon in yr hand
& you have imagined it, it is thus that you
"find out for yourself"
history is the dream of what it can be, it is
the relation between things in a continuum
of imagination
what you find out for yourself is what you select
out of an infinite sea of possibility
no one can inhabit yr world
yet it is not lonely,
the ground of the imagination is fearlessness
discourse is video tape of a movie of a shadow play
but the puppets are in yr hand
your counters in a multidimensional chess
which is divination
& strategy
the war that matters is the war against the imagination
all other wars are subsumned in it.
the ultimate famine is the starvation
of the imagination
it is death to be sure, but the undead
seek to inhabit someone else's world
the ultimate claustrophobia is the syllogism
the ultimate claustrophobia is "it all adds up"
nothing adds up & nothing stands in for
anything else
THE ONLY WAR THAT MATTERS IS THE WAR AGAINST
THE IMAGINATION
THE ONLY WAR THAT MATTERS IS THE WAR AGAINST
THE IMAGINATION
THE ONLY WAR THAT MATTERS IS THE WAR AGAINST
THE IMAGINATION
ALL OTHER WARS ARE SUBSUMED IN IT
There is no way out of the spiritual battle
There is no way to avoid taking sides
There is no way you can not have a poetics
no matter what you do: plumber, baker, teacher
you do it in the consciousness of making
or not making yr world
you have a poetics: you step into the world
like a suit of readymade clothes
or you etch in light
your firmament spills into the shape of your room
the shape of the poem, of yr body, of yr loves
A woman's life / a man's life is an allegory
Dig it
There is no way out of the spiritual battle
the war is the war against the imagination
you can't sign up as a conscientious objector
the war of the worlds hangs here, right now, in the balance
it is a war for this world, to keep it
a vale of soul-making
the taste in all our mouths is the taste of our power
and it is bitter as death
bring yr self home to yrself, enter the garden
the guy at the gate w/ the flaming sword is yrself
the war is the war for the human imagination
and no one can fight it but you/ & no one can fight it for you
The imagination is not only holy, it is precise
it is not only fierce, it is practical
men die everyday for the lack of it,
it is vast & elegant
intellectus means "light of the mind"
it is not discourse it is not even language
the inner sun
the polis is constellated around the sun
the fire is central
by Diane di Prima
from "Pieces of a Song: Selected Poems"