Date: 04/19/2025 04/20/2025
Location: Star River Meditation Center
Teacher: Yunquan Huang
Sitting Meditation
Observing the Flow of Life
To “observe the flow of life” is to recognize that life is a continuous, ever-changing process.The body shifts, emotions rise and fall, thoughts appear and vanish, and the world itself is in constant motion.By observing this flow, we understand impermanence, non-self, and dependent arising, allowing the mind to relax its grip and discover freedom.
1.Life Is Never Still
1.The body flows
Breath moves, blood circulates, sensations come and go—nothing in the body remains the same.
2.Emotions flow
Joy, anger, fear, and sadness rise like waves and naturally subside.
3.Thoughts flow
Thoughts arise without origin and disappear without trace.
4.The outer world flows
Situations, relationships, and environments constantly change.
Life is defined by movement.
2.Why Observe the Flow of Life?
1.To release attachment to stability
Clinging to permanence creates suffering.
2.To soften the mind through impermanence
Seeing change helps us accept and appreciate each moment.
3.To understand the non-self nature of experience
If everything changes, then “self” is also a changing process.
4.To weaken the power of emotions and thoughts
What is seen as movement cannot imprison the mind.
3.How to Observe Life’s Flow
Method One: Follow the flow of the breath
Steps
Notice the beginning of inhalation
Follow the rising movement
Observe the turning point
Follow the exhalation
Breath is the simplest gateway to life’s movement.
Method Two: Watch bodily sensations change
Steps
Feel pressure, tension, warmth, pain, ease
Observe how they shift and transform
Notice how sensations dissolve or relocate
The body is like a river—never the same twice.
Method Three: Observe thoughts drifting like clouds
Steps
Acknowledge a thought as it appears
Avoid suppressing or chasing it
Watch its natural transformation and fading
Seeing thoughts flow weakens identification with them.
Method Four: Observe the wave-like nature of emotions
Steps
Recognize the emotion at its onset
Feel its presence in the body
Do not judge or grasp it
Watch it diminish and pass
Emotions become less intimidating when seen as movement.
Method Five: Notice flow in daily life
Observe rhythms in walking
Listen to sounds arise and fade
Notice shifting relationships
See changing conditions behind events
Everyday life becomes a field of insight.
4.The Transformation That Follows
1.The mind becomes flexible
Less resistance, more acceptance.
2.Suffering decreases
Because clinging to fixed states dissolves.
3.Harmony increases
You flow with life rather than fight against it.
4.Wisdom deepens
Flow → impermanence
Impermanence → non-self
Non-self → emptiness
Conclusion
Life is a river of constant change.Observing its flow—body, thoughts, emotions, environment—helps us release grasping and find natural freedom.Seeing impermanence and non-self, the mind opens and becomes peaceful.
