What If?

Nondual Guided Meditation with Michael Taft

So let’s begin just by checking in. Just tune into yourself and see what’s occurring. Ask yourself the query, what’s it wish to be me straight away? And also you check into your body, check into your emotions, your mind, and whatever else. Just check in with yourself, what’s it wish to be you straight away? And whatever it’s like, that’s the right strategy to be straight away. So, nevertheless it’s, whatever you discover, is strictly the precise strategy to be straight away. So let’s just check in with that for a minute.

What if exactly the best way you’re straight away is the perfect possible strategy to be?

Good. Now, as usual, let’s just begin with slightly little bit of some stabilization. So I need you to simply chill out into the vast open sky of your mind and into that vast unimpeded boundless sky just notice, with none focusing, with none effort, just notice that the feeling of respiratory is noticed and the feeling of respiratory rises and falls and is noticed within the sky of awareness, with none effort it rises and falls like a wind rising and falling on this vast open sky. And let’s just be with that together for some time here.

We’re not focusing our mind, our awareness is wide open. The feeling of the breath rising and falling in awareness is out there without attention, without the stress of attention it’s just naturally present. If the sky of awareness tightens down right into a ball around pondering, just allow the pondering to dissolve back into the sky, and chill out back as awareness. If the mind tightens around a thought, just chill out the tightness, allow the thought to, just of its own accord, drop away and the mind returns to the vastness of boundless sky.

Good, now into this sky of awareness, this endless sky, allow a picture to arise, a picture of a fountain. It will possibly be manufactured from anything and it could actually have any liquid in it, but this fountain is the fountain of pure liberation, fountain of pure enlightenment. I need you to see very clearly this fountain is flowing with the waters of liberation. I remember one time I used to be at an art installation in Los Angeles and there was a big fountain with a transparent liquid in it and the sign said that it was a fountain of pure liquid LSD. You possibly can have whatever liquid in your fountain you would like, but notice that it’s got certain qualities, this fountain has certain properties. One is that it’s filled with energy, it’s always moving and flowing and shifting and changing. It’s never static or stale, it’s fresh and clean and filled with energy. Really notice those properties of its freshness and cleanness and vivacious, energetic, energized quality, and feel that very same energetic quality coming into your body now.

Good, now notice that the fountain has more qualities, it has the standard of kindness, and it’s flowing with a way of affection and joy and compassion, overflowing, spraying, bubbling kindness and joy and love. And feel those properties too, coming into your heart now, heart overflowing as a source of affection and joy and kindness. Good. Moreover, notice that the waters, or the liquid on this fountain, has a way of tremendous clarity and wisdom, it’s overflowing with awakeness, vivid, vivid, clear, beautiful awakeness. 

And this hyper-lucid quality of wakefulness and clarity and wisdom is entering your mind now all together. See the fountain flowing with wisdom and clarity and vivid, shining awakeness, lucidity, love, joy, and compassion, and a sort of springy, bubbly, playful energy of spontaneity and liveliness. On an in-breath bring that fountain into your body and have your body turn into the fountain, so that you just yourself are the fountain of liberation, you yourself are the fountain of awake awareness, you yourself are the Buddha, and feel the energy of the fountain flowing upward out the highest of the top into the sky and raining back downward, as a rain of all those qualities, beautiful peaceful rain of liberated and joyful kindness and energetic playfulness. 

What would it not be wish to be a fountain of pure liberated love and wisdom? Just be with that now. Be that now.

And now let that each one fall away and just rest as boundless, timeless sky of awakeness. This is just resting anything in any respect that arises within the sky of awakeness. It just dissolves back into the sky without leaving a trace of any kind. Should you’re sleepy sit up, for those who’re really sleepy, or simply for those who feel prefer it, sit along with your eyes open. This can be a sky of boundless wakefulness. And I need you to ask yourself now, what would it not be wish to be completely free? What would it not be wish to be totally liberated? I don’t wish to take into consideration a solution or imagine anything, just ask that query and are available back to resting because the sky, it’s a boundless sky. What would the mind of perfect freedom be like?

Again, if thoughts come up, we’re just letting those go, ideas arise, they simply dissolve back into the sky. We’re not imagining answers or pondering.

Good, now ask yourself the query, what would it not be wish to have a heart overflowing with love and kindness and joy? Good, now ask yourself, what would it not be like if the body itself were the energy of pure freedom, playfulness, spontaneity? The body, just because it is, exactly the best way it’s, what if that were the energy of pure liberation? Not another body, not your body is in some way higher or fixed but this exact body, the energy of pure liberation, pure playful, spontaneous freedom. What would it not be like if there have been absolutely nothing to vary, no plans to make, nothing to repair, all the things already complete and excellent? All thoughts of any kind just dissolve into boundless sky effortlessly, naturally, unimpeded. What if the place of your saddest most terrified broken aloneness, what if that place, were an identical to your deepest awakening?

Good, what if all those things are literally true and also you, straight away, just exactly the best way you’re a totally awake enlightened buddha? Immediately, utterly free, utterly kind, wide awake. Recognize that now. Recognize your already existing woke up heart and rest as that, without changing anything.

Now again, into the sky of liberated utterly joyous, boundless awakeness imagine this fountain again, the fountain of pure, on this case, joy, kindness, belonging, and compassion, love, and movie this fountain radiating out out of your body in all directions, shooting out so high and so wide that it’s bringing this love and joy and kindness to everyone in all places, all people in all places, all animals in all places, all beings of all kinds in all places, and by in all places I mean in all universes, the energy of touching their heart filling them with an actual sense of being seen and held and loved and nurtured and cared for after which since it’s an imaginal fountain turn it up 10 times, 10 times as strong, 10 times as gentle, 10 times as sweet, after which much more, after which much more. Soaking universe after universe in divine love and joy and kindness.

After which, let go of all of it and just rest as space, fundamental freedom, fundamental fullness. 

Chant

Good, now you possibly can let go of the meditation, be at liberty to maneuver and stretch.

Questions and Answers

Michael: Good, so anyone have any comments or questions?

Questioner 1: So it was easier to sit down this time.

Michael: Superb. Were you practicing within the meantime?

Questioner 1: I went to the gym.

 Michael: You went to the gym. That’s its own sort of practice. Superb. Other comments or questions?

Questioner 2: What was the very very last thing that you just said to finish the meditation? What does it mean?

Michael: So, that’s a really traditional Sanskrit verse, comes from the verb it’s cognate to the English word so the Bha there is similar as be. Bhavantu is a subjunctive so perhaps. It’s interesting bhavana or bhava, same verb, may also mean to meditate, so there’s a sort of interesting valence there. But on this sentence, it means to be. , let’s leave that for later. The primary part is similar because the English word location. On this case, it means in all places in all locations, in all locations. –may all beings, everyone in all places, may all of them be. After which the third word out of 4 is sukhino anyone know the word sukha? –may all of them be comfortable, so may everyone in all places be comfortable. Very, very straightforward Sanskrit verse that I actually like, and since Sanskrit is linguistically related to English parts of it are comprehensible for those who know what to listen for. 

What else?

Questioner 3: Whenever you use words like or within the meditation, nothing really happens and like…

Michael: Good, nothing’s alleged to occur.

Questioner 3: But there’s a reason why you mention these words, right?

Michael: Yes. So, it could actually sometimes seem as if the mind is sort of tight, or sort of small, and definitely, if we’re feeling real agitated or anxious or ashamed or something, it could actually really feel like we’re locked inside a good little ball, a really uncomfortable little ball in our mind. However it’s funny, that’s sort of a trick we play on ourselves because one thing the mind can do is sort of curl back on itself, if it appears like it. And that might be sort of uncomfortable.

But for a reason that no person knows, even though it’s probably just a few sort of playfulness, we decide to try this, and we’ve learned to try this, and our society reinforces us doing that, curling back in that tight little ball. But that’s not the true condition of the mind, in any respect. The true condition is just boundless space and a luminous cognizance. So it’s not only dead space, it’s really awake space with none tightness in it in any respect, and so I’m just inviting you to note that about your individual mind. And for those who don’t notice it, it’s since you keep looking contained in the tight ball, using tight energy to look contained in the tight ball, and so it’s such as you keep playing the trick on yourself. And yet, the minute you only chill out for a second from doing that, it’s just open.

Okay, so it’s not that something’s alleged to occur or like, , the sunshine shines–it just goes from narrow to tight, that sort of effort, to simply relaxed, open, okay? But what’s interesting is even me doing that’s more effort than it really takes, just that gesture of my hands is more effort than it really takes. Seriously, it’s simply because the harder you effort, the tighter you’re making the ball, so just like the Chinese finger trap thing? I don’t know what we actually call that, but it’s like a thing where you are trying to drag your finger out and it gets tighter and tighter, that’s what it’s like. So the more that you are trying to get out of the tight mind by tension or pulling or tightness, it just gets tighter. However it’s a sort of magic trick where you only chill out and it’s just not tight anymore. Okay? If that doesn’t make sense, just keep–I keep inviting you to note and eventually you go, oh yeah, that was all the time there. 

So if there was a gunshot straight away off in the space, that is America, there’s a gunshot off in the space, would you hear it? Yes or no?

Probably, after all, you’d hear it. How did you hear that? How did you hear it? Because awareness is in all directions, right? It’s already there, so awareness is already naturally wide in all directions. And it’s only because we’re on purpose tightening down into slightly ball, and we get trained to be focused in that way, and we receives a commission to be focused in that way, and we get praised for being focused in that way, we forget that you may just be open. But that’s what your mind desires to do, just chill out and be open. So once I say those words, I’m just pointing to what’s all the time been there and alluring you to acknowledge what’s already there, okay? You don’t consider me but that’s okay.

Questioner 3: No, I think you. 

Michael: Please, don’t consider me, just notice it for yourself. 

Questioner 3: If I chill out an excessive amount of, I feel like I just go to sleep. That’s my issue straight away. 

Michael: Sure. And again, that’s because we keep ourselves so tight with numerous anxiety and tension and if we chill out the natural thing is to conk out. Okay, but even after we’re conked out the notice is just as awake. You’ll still get woken up by the gunshot. So the constant background of our lives…and so eventually you’ll notice that even within the deepest sleep you’re just as awake. Okay, so for now, if conking out is an issue meditate along with your eyes open, sit up, and just chill out. Typically, not in your case, I don’t know you, but very commonly there’s something we’re trying not to note, something we don’t need to feel, or something we don’t need to take into consideration, and so we either stay real anxious or if we begin to chill out we go unconscious, so we don’t should feel it or notice it. So the trick there, not necessarily for you, but for plenty of people, is to search for the thing you don’t need to feel and feel it, or think concerning the thing you’re attempting to avoid fascinated by, and just be with it for some time. After which swiftly you possibly can be more awake while you chill out because there’s nothing to avoid. Sounds pretty easy. Thanks to your query. 

What else? I need some hard questions or some really silly questions.

Questioner 4: How strict is the no-moving rule?

Michael: Way stricter than what you probably did.

Questioner 4: I picked a position, I used to be trying to save lots of my back, and I spotted halfway through that my knees are on fire. That’s all I could think concerning the whole time.

Michael: I saw it. So either sit in a chair or get a better cushion. You possibly can stack two up in order that your hips are way above your knees. That’ll probably do it or like I say, just sit in a chair.  It’s not–we’re not sitting rigidly still, it’s relaxed, okay? So if it starts to be real uncomfortable I invite you to either allow that discomfort to be the opening that you just undergo to awakeness. It will possibly really work or again next time just have a chair. It’s great to have you ever here. 

Questioner 5: In a situation where it’s sort of hard to chill out like that’s it still preferable to attempt to like enter that vast space? I forget the way you worded it. Or do you must attempt to give attention to that thing that you just’re probably avoiding?

Michael: It’s a judgment call. Should you’re really agitated, then just see for those who can chill out but for those who’re really conking out, see for those who can get up slightly bit by sitting up straight or opening your eyes. But for those who notice you’re too agitated, which suggests your mind goes throughout, see for those who can just breathe deep and chill out. Should you’re conking out, try to perk up, open your eyes. But when what you’re noticing is a sort of resistance or avoidance or a bouncing-off feeling, such as you’re bouncing off, then you definitely might want to research and as a substitute of ‘what’s it wish to be a superbly woke up dachshund’ or whatever my questions were, you’d say, what am I avoiding straight away? After which just open and it’ll come up.

Okay, in order that’s how you may do this. And that is likely to be a wild ride. It won’t be five minutes. That is likely to be a complete hour of sitting with that but eventually, I mean that’s price doing, after which eventually you’ll notice you possibly can really begin to drop in. Okay?

Questioner 6: I’m fascinated by this moment within the meditation while you said something about you’re sort of inviting all these really form of positive experiences of kindness and love and whatever, after which I believe sooner or later you invited something like feelings that we struggle with after which said something like, what in the event that they were the identical thing?

Michael: I said, what in case your most broken sad aloneness were similar to your deepest awakening? 

Questioner 6: Are you able to speak more about that?

Michael: Yeah, so again it’s sort of related to what we were just saying or what I used to be just saying where in this manner of working it’s not that you’ve got to feel great on a regular basis or try to be this perfect thing, or only have good emotions, or only nice thoughts, or whatever. All thoughts, all emotions all states of mind, all states of being are still doorways to awake awareness. They’re just as awake. 

And, the truth is, what starts to sort of impede that is that if there’s things we don’t need to feel and don’t need to think and don’t need to experience. That starts to construct a sort of obfuscatory Berlin Wall, , like an actual wall seemingly between you and awake awareness. In order that stuff that we’re attempting to avoid, in essence, we’re sort of avoiding our self. And so, the best way through, the best way in is all the time through, right? We go in, in, in, in… So those places where you’re like, I’m so broken and alone and and and… it’s I’m too sick to ever be healed and too insane to ever be awake, and no no person could possibly love me, and the way can I… , that sort of feeling right contained in the center of that–I mean feel it straight away, right contained in the center of it. It’s just as awake as anything. It’s just as clear. It’s just as spacious. It’s just as sacred. It’s just as pure. We don’t avoid that, or in some way put that within the basement and, , attempt to never feel that. As an alternative, we make friends with all, all, all thoughts, all feelings, all the things that arises, right? It’s the one way. It’s the one way. And it’s that thing of, , you’re sitting there and also you get up at 3 a.m and just how magnified a few of that negative content can develop into, right? It will possibly just look like you’re slightly child again, and also you’re just so afraid, we’re so alone, or so broken, or whatever and that moment might be like the perfect meditation you’ve ever had. 

You recognize where you only say yes to that and just notice that the core of that’s shining with real clarity, and wonder, and a sort of aliveness, right? A sort of real aliveness. No, it’s not that we’re on purpose, , soaking in that. Although, if you must do this sure, but when that comes up that we’re used to pondering like, oh, that’s the bad thing, that’s what I need to make go away, and banish it eternally. And that banishing is sort of a banishing of ourselves, it banishes our own awakening. Our own liberation means all of the things are accepted, all of the things are included, all this. 

How could any state of thought or feeling ever hurt your awake awareness? They’ll’t and, the truth is, they’re actually the expression of it. They’re manufactured from it. All of the highs and lows and wonder and darkness, all of it. So we welcome all that. And also you’ll notice, swiftly, you possibly can drop in in a way that you just weren’t capable of before because before you were bouncing off, and bouncing off, and bouncing off, but since you said yes you didn’t bounce off, you went in. Okay?

After I was a extremely little kid my sister went to girl scout camp and he or she got here back after weeks, and I used to be–we were little enough that her being gone for like two weeks was an enormous deal–I used to be like, oh my god, you’re back! And he or she brought along with her slightly toy, it’s like slightly naked guy with big hair, a troll. Yeah, considered one of those, and he or she had this wood plaque like that big that using a magnifying glass someone had burned into it the slogan which I still remember though I used to be like 4 once I first saw it because she brought back the engraved plaque and I used to be like, oh it’s like really vital. Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is definite and it’s the identical idea. Not that we’re attempting to kill fear but go in and the wholeness is there. After we don’t need to feel something, we don’t need to experience something, that’s we’re creating fragmentation inside ourselves. And what we’re practicing here is wholeness, real wholeness, not only pretty wholeness. So what thing are you avoiding? What thing are you–I feel like I give this talk every week–what thing are you trying to not feel or think? That’s the best way forward. Thanks to your query. Yeah.

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