Live Guided Nondual Meditation with Michael Taft
Hey everybody, welcome to tonight’s live nondual meditation with me, any person or one other sitting in a room somewhere talking about something. “A somewhat something moving a dream like on a fading road” as Lalla wrote in her spontaneous poetry from the Kashmir region–I forget how way back that was. I feel it was not less than within the 1500s perhaps even earlier. (Note: actually the 1300s)
Meditation
Anyway, here we’re tonight and I’d love to start meditating with you now. So let’s go ahead and do this. Sometimes we spend numerous time talking about our posture, tonight I’m going to simply say “get in a meditation posture. what to do.” After which other times, after we get in our meditation posture, I spend numerous time we do visualizations – what we’d call ‘resource constructing’ or if we were speaking more traditional language, we’d call it some type of a practice or practice, i.e. deity yoga. But tonight what we’re going to do as an alternative is, when you get settled into your posture, we’re just going to begin. And to start with I would like you to simply check in with yourself in probably the most general sense. What does it feel wish to be you right away? Otherwise you’d be asking yourself “what does it feel wish to be me right away? What’s it wish to be me right away?” And after all you don’t ask that in words. It’s more like a general tune in thoughts, emotions, the body… just checking in with every little thing. How’s it going? And again the reply isn’t words or some type of checklist. It’s just feeling the way it’s going, tuning in, dropping in. You only do this briefly.
After which from here what I would like you to do is to consider belongings you’re grateful for. They could be small things like “I’m grateful for the peanut butter sandwich I had this morning”, “I’m grateful for the smell of petrichor on the bottom outside, that after rain smell” or it might probably be “I’m grateful for air basically” and “grateful for food basically”. You’ll be able to make it large or small, grandiose or type of micro. But either way I would like it to actually mean something to you. That’s what’s essential. What it’s, isn’t essential. What is essential is that you simply actually feel gratitude. And so I would like you to sit down here for a pair minutes bringing up things you’re feeling grateful for. You’ll be able to visualize them. You’ll be able to take into consideration them. You’ll be able to remember them. And I would like you to feel that gratitude warming your heart, warming your heart region. Just feel gratitude right away. Let’s do this together.
And you would possibly just notice that as you’re feeling more gratitude, there may be a touch of a smile coming… the sensation of a smile in your mouth, where you would possibly feel type of weepy–in a positive way–around your eyes, and your heart softens, it warms up and it softens and also you begin to feel that glowing type of sensation in your heart. So let’s just proceed picturing, remembering, appreciating things that we feel gratitude for. Really feel that gratitude.
Okay, good. Now you’ll be able to let go of the visualization and the remembering and all that. And I would like you to simply sit and meditate upon that gratitude in your heart, the gratitude within the chess region. Just feel it glowing. Feel it. Feel the gratitude. Don’t get into numerous thoughts about it. Now don’t think lots about it. Just feel that nice warm melty heart sensation and really let it fill awareness. Let it fill your whole awareness. And just sit with it in a extremely relaxed comfortable open manner.
Fabulous! Now, let’s begin our usual sequence with shamatha with an object. Just focused leisure. The mind is evident and shiny. And we’re meditating on a specific object. On this case, I would like you to be meditating on the body sensations of respiratory. But let’s breathe in a specific way. You desire to make this comfortable. You desire to make it give you the results you want. Don’t do it if it doesn’t work. But what I would like you to do is a traditional in-breath after which a extremely long out-breath so long as you’re feeling comfortable. So that you’re respiratory in normally after which the out-breath is long, long, long. And on that long out-breath, if you should make it even longer, you constrict your throat so that you simply’re respiratory–you’re respiratory in the way in which that it could make your voice sound like that if you happen to were talking. So it’s type of a Darth Vader sound. And that’s called ‘ujjayi breath’ in Sanskrit; ujjayi. And so forth the out-breath, you’re just holding that a part of your throat somewhat bit tight in order that it’s allowing you to do really long out breaths. Now I don’t want you to do an out-breath so long that it’s uncomfortable. But I would like you to do an out-breath that’s perhaps twice so long as you’re in-breath or something like that–it doesn’t should be exact. And you then are meditating on the sensations of respiratory. Okay, so let’s begin there. If you should, you should use a label “respiratory in” on the in-breath, after which on the out-breath you would possibly should say it a pair times “respiratory out, respiratory out, respiratory out, respiratory out.” Mental labels will show you how to stick with it. So, let’s begin there.
Good, now on the in-breath I would like you to note the tip of the in-breath, after which on the out-breath keep waiting for the tip of the out-breath, end of the out-breath, end of the out-breath, and really notice, really notice when it finally, finally, finally, finally ends. Okay, so that you’re feeling the breath all over but you’re giving extra attention to the tip of the in-breath and the tip of the out-breath. And that’s going to show you how to stick with it. All this respiratory is thru your nose by the way in which, not through the mouth – all through the nose.
Now, let’s proceed to meditate on the breath. But I would like you to be certain you’re not coming from like a spot inside your head and beaming the flashlight of attention on the breath. That is from vast spacious awareness. Imagine in a way the entire room and even the entire sky is feeling the breath. And it’s probably not imagining. Just notice that awareness is broad. Awareness is vast. It’s boundless and that feeling of the breath simply arises inside awareness. Awareness is aware of it naturally. You don’t have to focus. You don’t have to make it like a highlight. The attention is just wide and the sensation of the breath rises in awareness. Still keep doing the long out-breaths. But just notice that you simply’re meditating on the out-breath from this very wide awareness.
Just keep allowing awareness itself to pay attention to the breath sensations. It’s quite simple. Going much more deeply, much more richly, much more completely involved with the breath sensation, but allowing it to simply arise in awareness that’s already aware.
Feel how good that feels to simply allow the breath sensations to arise in awareness, really noticing the tip of the in-breath, really noticing the tip of the out-breath, and doing those long, long, long, long out-breaths. They get very settled and get very still and really shiny. Awareness itself may be very shiny, very vast, very wide, very effortless.
Feels so good. Now, what I would like you to do is allow the breath sensations to now move into the background. And permit just that vast spacious awareness itself to be within the foreground. I find this much easier to do with my eyes open. But your mileage may vary. You’ll be able to do that together with your eyes open, your eyes closed, your eyes half closed, whatever works for you. But what I would like you to do is ‘just allow awareness to rest in awareness’. There are other ways to say this. We are able to say ‘allow awareness to note itself’ or ‘allow awareness to give attention to itself’ or ‘concentrate to itself.’ That is somewhat misleading because after all there’s no tightness or attention in awareness aware of itself. But still, have the attention just give attention to itself. Or one other solution to say it’s to ‘simply show awareness to awareness.’ All right, so we’re just resting in awareness aware of itself. The rest that comes up: thoughts–we’re not listening to those; feelings–we’re not listening to those; the breath sensations–we’re not listening to those; external sights and sounds–we’re not listening to those. If we notice ourselves listening to any of that stuff, we just release that spotlight, we just drop the ball and are available back to awareness aware of itself. That is the least effortful meditation on the planet because awareness is already aware. So awareness is effortlessly aware of itself and never getting involved with anything.
Okay good, now, continuing to simply rest as vast spacious awareness, we’re going to now move into vipassana. So there’s somewhat little bit of effort here. And I would like you to note that we’re going to do it suddenly: All the things arising in awareness is empty. If it’s a thought that arises in awareness, it’s empty. If it’s an emotion that arises in awareness, it’s empty. If it’s a body sensation that arises in awareness, it’s empty. If it’s a considered ‘how I can’t do that’ or ‘that is difficult’ or ‘I don’t like this’ or ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’ or ‘this takes me perpetually’ or ‘I’ll never get there,’ those thoughts are all empty. Even ideas about the encircling world – like
the world around you, all empty; sounds of the world around you, all empty; images of the world around you, all empty. All the things that arises in any respect in awareness is empty. Remember, empty doesn’t mean it’s not there. It just means it’s like an ephemeral projection in awareness. You only notice its wispy, ephemeral, nebulous, undefined nature. So we’re resting as awareness just like the sky, just this vast, blue, empty, open sky, and all of the experience that’s arising is similar to wind moving in that sky–empty, empty, empty, not different from the sky and in addition having its own form of movement, its own form of wave or ripple. So just notice the emptiness of all arising and permit yourself to, allow awareness itself to grow to be quite absorbed with this ‘seeing of emptiness’ which can feel like seeing wispiness, seeing indistinctness, seeing the changingness, the impermanence, seeing the proven fact that things come and go, but seeing that even while they’re present. They’re nebulous, indistinct, dreamlike, rainbowlike images.
In case you’re caught up in considering, just notice the emptiness of considering. Pondering is just wind in an empty sky.
If emotions keep grabbing you, you retain getting absorbed into emotion, it’s like taking the entire sky and suddenly cramming it down into an emotion – just come back to being the sky and
notice that emotion is just empty. It’s just wind moving within the sky – swirling, changing but probably not different than the sky and probably not in a position to trap the sky. The sky of awareness is all the time boundless. It’s all the time vast. It’s all the time clear. It’s all the time shiny.
All the things that arises is empty, empty, empty, empty – just keep feeling, keep noticing awareness noticing that emptiness. The sky noticing its own winds. They don’t interrupt the sky. They’re not different from the sky and yet they’ve their very own movement, their very own swirling paths. All the things that arises is totally empty. Keep noticing that again and again and again and again and over. In case you want you’ll be able to even use a label like ‘empty,’ ‘empty,’ ‘empty’ to notice these.
Thoughts are empty. Feelings are empty. The story of yourself is empty. Your personality is empty. The world around you is empty. Ideas in regards to the world around you’re empty. Ideas of time, ideas of space all empty. It’s just an unlimited sky of awareness with all these winds arising in it and the winds are all empty. And now I would like you to note the emptiness of some particularly
interesting arisings. Notice now the emptiness of the sense of effort, the sense that you simply’re attempting to do something – within the sense that you have got this intention to make something occur. Now again remember, emptiness doesn’t mean it’s not there. So you’ll be able to still have the trouble, you’ll be able to still have the intention to make something occur, but notice that it’s empty. It’s just wind within the sky. It’s not different than awareness. It’s in essence unfindable and yet you’ll be able to still experience it. But notice that that sense of trying, that sense of effort, that sense of grinding, that sense of doing, it’s all empty. Notice its emptiness. And whenever you notice its emptiness how light it becomes–meaning buoyant and never heavy. It becomes very light this sense of doing.
Good, so any sense of effort, any sense of trying, any sense of doing–it’s just empty. Now, notice that the sense of being a doer, the sense of being the one making something occur, being the one who’s attempting to meditate, being the one who’s trying to sit down here, being the one who’s attempting to do it right, being the one who doubts they will do it, being the one, being the one, being the one…that sense of being a doer is just empty within the vastness of vast spacious awareness, within the open sky, that good, clear, shiny, awake, aware sky of awareness. When the sense of being the doer comes up, the one who’s doing, notice, it’s just wind within the sky. It’s just wind within the sky, utterly empty.
Good, now notice even the sense of doing a meditation in any respect is empty. That’s just an idea. Doing a meditation in any respect, anybody doing anything, but especially the sense of a doer, within the sense of me doing a meditation, now that’s all just an idea. That’s empty, empty, empty wind in an open
sky. That vast crisp sky of awareness isn’t modified by the wind in any way. No effort, no person making an effort, no meditation in any respect, all empty.
Now, just let go completely back into shamatha without an object–back into dropping the ball. But notice, nothing modified. We’re not doing a meditation. All the things’s completely empty. There’s simply an unlimited open sky of awareness that’s already completely aware of itself. Awareness aware of its own awareness with none effort, with none doing. All the things absolutely empty on this vast sky of awareness. What is that this? … This has all the time been here–wide open, utterly awake, utterly clear, perfectly pristine. There’s nothing to do. There’s nothing to alter. All the things arising on this is empty of its own accord, already empty upon rising, no effort required.
Rest here in nobility, in simplicity and dignity an empress of all of creation needing nothing, doing nothing, wide awake, absolutely vast in infinite emptiness.
Pristine vast awake awareness, absolutely pure, absolutely effortless, absolutely restful, absolutely awake. I’m going to read some verses from the tibetan master Jigme Lingpa that refers to this awareness:
He says ‘awakening mind’ – I say ‘woke up awareness’ or ‘awake awareness’.
[Note: read from Ken McLeod’s “A Trackless Path”]
Good, now just notice a way of gratitude arising on this awake awareness – a natural easy open gratitude, a gratitude for all times, gratitude for breath, a gratitude for the chance to meditate together, a gratitude for the chance to attach with sacred teachings. And just feel that gratitude, just of its own streaming through awareness, arising and streaming throughout the infinity of awareness.
Dharma Talk
Okay good, now let’s bring the guided meditation to a detailed. But notice that nothing changes. Pristine awareness continues to be there, vast spacious awareness continues to be vast – it all the time is. We’re not making it that way. The meditation practice doesn’t by some means make awareness vast. Awareness is of course spacious, naturally boundless, and timeless. So despite the fact that we end the meditation, nothing has modified. And remember, we noticed that even the sense of being a doer doing something is empty. So not only were we in quotes “not doing meditation” but now, whatever we’re doing now–like me talking to you, you listening all of that–is refrained from any effort. All of that is occurring with none doer. All of that is just arising inside this crisp, clear, fresh, shiny, vivid awareness that’s all the time there, absolutely sweet, absolutely easy, absolutely open. Nothing to alter, nothing to repair, every little thing alright just the way in which it’s. Just notice that now.
That is nondual or essence tradition meditation. A few of these traditions include the Tibetan traditions of Dzogchen and Mahamudra. There’s Hindu traditions of Advaita Vedanta and in addition nondual Shaiva Tantra. And a few Chinese Taoist principles, even the one other Hindu classic, all of those are traditions that made speak about nonduality speak about awareness barely in a different way, but truthfully, they’re all getting at the identical thing. And after we practice here we’re getting at that very same thing. And that very same thing is the primacy of awareness itself, that every little thing we experience arises in awareness. If we’re going to speak in a Buddhist way, and we don’t should because we could talk in a Hindu way, we could talk in a Taoist way, we could talk in type of a western secular way, but only for a minute, we’ll talk in a Buddhist way. If we’re going to do this type of practice we must take seriously the concept of bodhicitta, the concept of Buddha nature, the proven fact that we already possess pristine awareness, that we already are fully awake and buddhas from the very starting. That’s how this meditation works. That’s why once we see the emptiness of the churning of the mind. Again, emptiness doesn’t mean it’s not there. That’s just one among the meanings of emptiness, but that’s not what we mean. It’s still happening, it’s just that it’s different than what we expect it’s. One other meaning of emptiness is, we will say ‘oh, that’s just empty’ and in English that may mean ‘it doesn’t matter’ or that ‘it’s not essential’ or that ‘it’s false’. We don’t mean emptiness that way either. We mean that on this primacy of awareness every little thing that arises is just like a show, like a magic show, like a picture, like an experience arising in awareness. It’s not separate from awareness and it’s also not by some means outside of awareness. As I’m all the time saying ‘you usually are not on the planet, the world is in you’ and what I mean by that’s, we now have the concept that we’re awareness and awareness is behind my eyes and that’s a brain and the brain is in my head and the top is a component of the body and the body is on this room and the room is on the planet around me–that’s the way in which we take into consideration that typically. But that way of serious about it’s inside out. It’s the opposite way around: the brain and the top and the body and the room and the world around is all inside awareness. Meaning, here is the attention and all of the stuff that’s happening is just like an image show, like a magic show, like a movie within awareness.
And don’t take my word for it. This isn’t some weird abstract concept. Just notice. That is just what we see after we notice the emptiness of thought and feeling and personality and the emptiness of body sensation and the emptiness of the world around us and the emptiness of space and time. You’ll then be left with the plain, obvious direct experience: oh, it’s all happening in awareness. It’s like being in a video game. Let’s say you’re playing some type of first-person shooter. And also you’re in that game and also you’re running across the environment and also you’re shooting stuff and blowing stuff up and healing yourself and healing others and getting more ammo–all that stuff that you simply do in one among these first-person shooters–getting inside vehicles, crashing the vehicles, repairing the vehicles… getting worn out over and another time and respawning on a regular basis. You’re so involved after which… your dog barks and it just snaps you out of it. And also you’re like ‘oh, all of that, all of that have is just happening in the sunshine of this monitor. It’s just photons on this monitor that’s all it’s.’ Now, that’s to not say it’s nothing. It’s happening, there’s all types of knowledge there, there’s all types of stuff happening. Again, it doesn’t mean it’s nothing. However it means it’s all just this flow of photons that you simply’re experiencing. In the exact same way like these virtual worlds that we experience in the pc or in a video game or on like a PS3 or an Xbox or whatever, these give us a very good metaphor for our own experience. We get so wrapped up and ‘oh, I’m doing this and I’m me and I’m tracking my hit points you realize my health points and all the abilities I’m racking up and all of the achievements I’m racking up in this type of game of life’ after which someone just points out: ‘hey! Notice, that is all only a stream of experience happening in awareness. That’s all it’s. And also you go ‘Ohh!!’ and for the primary time, perhaps the very first time, you realize what you actually are. It’s so different than what you have got
thought you were. It’s so different than what you’ve been taught you’re and what you have got thought you’re in your whole life. You think that you’re thoughts and you think that you’re feelings and the story. ‘That is the story of me and that is the story of where I come from and what I’ve done and all my achievements and what I’m involved in and what I care about and all that’s there.’ It’s not that it doesn’t matter. All of that’s there. However it’s all just–I’m gonna mix metaphors here–it’s all just photons in the intense sky of awareness. It’s all photons in the intense sky of awareness.
So, after we do these meditations it’s not about ‘oh me, my mind, my body, my story of me, I’m gonna take a look at awareness.’ That’s like saying I’m gonna take my flashlight and find the sunshine. The flashlight is the sunshine. The thing that’s in search of awareness is awareness. We don’t need the person within the loop. The thing that’s in search of awareness is just awareness itself. And in the sunshine of that awareness we notice, the person is just this flow of activity, this flow of activities, flow of thoughts and feelings and stories and stuff happening. And the world is similar. It’s only a flow of experience arising in our awareness.
And when you see this, you’ll be able to never unsee it. You’ll be able to forget it, you’ll be able to wander away again, however it’ll all the time be haunting you perpetually. And also you’ll come back to it over and another time and go ‘that’s right, that’s right’. Perhaps you’ll be sitting on the beach and all caught up in your stuff. And you simply take a look at the ocean and also you take a look at the sky. And there are seagulls just type of gliding on the wind and there are pelicans of their formation and just beautifully soaring right over the water gliding really, really, really low over the water. After which there are dolphins and there are waves, perhaps there’s some surfers–are you able to tell I live in California?–and, you realize, you’re just hanging out on the beach. And also you’ll just remember ‘oh that’s right, that’s right. Awareness. I’m awareness’ and after all, even that’s not an identity. We don’t need to reify awareness, however it’s lots closer to what we actually are. It’s lots closer to what we actually are, to that raw, clear, shiny, pristine awakeness, awakeness itself. And remember, in Sanskrit the word for awake is “buddha” – that’s why they call him that. Once I’m saying awakeness, awakeness, awakeness, I’m saying bodhi, bodhi, bodhi, bodhi–which is one other solution to say buddha. So bodhi-citta, bodhi-sattva, the buddha-nature. That’s what we’re talking about–just your raw awareness. It’s not hard.
This isn’t hard. In case you get caught up in serious about it, you’re doing the fallacious thing. Just come back to simply awakeness, right away. Notice, right away, that you simply are having an experience. Notice, you’re awake. And spot, that have includes body sensations which are only a type of flow of experience in awareness. It includes emotions which are only a flow of experience in awareness, like I kept saying, like wind within the sky. Otherwise you’re having thoughts which are attempting to figure this out. It’s a joke. They’re only a flow of experience in awareness. Same with the outside world, all of the flow of experience in awareness itself, all utterly empty, utterly effortless, utterly beautiful. They’re not different than awareness. They’re awareness. We don’t intend to make a god out of awareness. Although you’ll be able to, a number of traditions do. And even if you happen to do make a god out of it, just notice that that’s empty too. In other words, it’s not an idea of god, it’s just awareness itself. It’s just awareness itself.
Let me read this verse again. That is from this great book ‘A Trackless Path’. It’s by my good
friend Ken McLeod, He’s a Mahamudra and Dzogchen meditation teacher or was once and a really very expert Tibetan translator. So, he’s translating this poem by this Tibetan master Jigme Lingpa. And this can be a poem about Dzogchen practice – so one among these traditions. And he’s attempting to speak about how radical it’s to be coming from awareness and to have that awareness itself, that pristine awareness. It’s already there. It’s our–it’s all the time been there. There’s nothing to do. and after we come from this radical perspective, every little thing shifts. So let’s just hear this verse again. And I would like you to simply listen. Don’t give it some thought. Just listen – awareness aware of those verses:
It’s a superb verse. It’s a superb person. And Ken (McLeod)—if you happen to get the book which I like to recommend you do—he then talks about ways how we will unpack that verse and understand what Jigme Lingpa is saying. But notice, he’s saying, there’s a vastness wherein every little thing is form of there and never there, at the identical time, a vastness wherein even space and time don’t make any sense. That’s the vastness of awareness. All these traditions agree that the closest metaphor to awareness–if we wish to take into consideration awareness of being like something–is space. It’s like space. Space has no boundaries, space is vast. That’s why I even have a category called Vast Sky Mind, that’s why all these teachers speak about vastness since it’s like space. And the one difference is that space itself–we expect of that as type of dead like a brick or something–whereas this awareness space is awake, it’s gnostic. It has knowing. It’s awake. So all of the things arising in awareness are known, they’re experienced.
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