When practicing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, be mindful of every physical movement clearly and without any emotions. In meditation, there are no emotions. One is mindful of any thought and mental state, as well as any feeling—whether it is the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, or all-pervasive suffering.
The mind is extremely pure and free from emotional fluctuations. When I teach meditation, I often start by saying, “Bring your mind home, then let it go and relax.” I also often say, “Reflect the light inward,” shining the light of mindfulness inward to your afflictions, to your attachments to knowledge and views, and to your mental states. Then with mindfulness, let go of your attachments and extinguish your afflictions. Bring your mind home, and your mind will become peaceful and joyful. Sentient beings naturally reject the suffering of suffering, and embrace and cling to the suffering of change. Now we must train our minds and deal with these habitual tendencies. We should also accept the suffering of suffering openly, without rejection. For example, when our body experiences pain, our mind naturally becomes tense and protective, our muscles contract, and there are even some fear and an increase in heart rate. If you’re mindful, you may think, “This can eliminate my karma, and it’s just the result of a cause. The more pain the better, even more pain doesn’t matter.” Accept the suffering of suffering just as you would accept the suffering of change, with an open heart. This is a significant shift. Our minds become more relaxed and peaceful. “Bringing your mind home” means to turn your mind inward and rest in its nature. Our mind usually wanders and seeks outside. But if we reflect the light inward, it’s a meditation method that can reveal our true nature. Constantly reflecting in this way can gradually peel away the layers of ignorance, eliminate those subtle attachments, and finally the root ignorance will appear. When the root ignorance is eradicated, you will see your true nature. As a beginner, when you start reflecting the light inward, what you see are still some major afflictions and attachments. When you let go of these, subtler attachments and afflictions will appear. If your meditation skills are not yet strong enough, you can’t observe these subtler afflictive obscurations and cognitive obscurations, so you can’t relax and release.