Guided Nondual Meditation with Michael Taft
Let’s begin with our setup. What’s the primary a part of our setup? The primary a part of our setup is getting in our meditation posture. So I need you to take a seat up nice and straight in a way that feels good but can be alert and upright. I need you to weave around a little bit bit. Weave your back like a reed within the wind, a supple fresh young reed within the wind. And just find that place where the back feels absolutely perfectly still and nice, where it naturally balances after which the wind dies down and we’re just perfectly utterly still. After which we raise the highest of our head a little bit bit, the back of the top, tuck our chin a little bit bit and breathe in, after which just let go and loosen up completely.
Now for the previous several weeks at that time we spent like quarter-hour relaxing but we don’t at all times try this. Tonight we’re not going to undergo the long guided leisure part but notice there’s a moment once your posture is about you may do an extended leisure there. As a substitute I need you to set your intention for this meditation; I’m going to meditate for an hour together with Michael’s guidance with the intention to…whatever it is correct, whatever your goals are. “So as to save all sentient beings,” can be a typical Bodhichitta style vow, however it might just be, “with the intention to deepen my practice.”
So, state your intention after which from here fairly often we do like sort of a visualization, right? Of a deity image or whatever and sometimes we have now a metaphor. The metaphor for tonight’s meditation is that we’re gonna sit like a mountain. So we’re sitting like a mountain utterly still, utterly immovable, utterly silent. In order that’s our metaphor; sitting like a mountain. Now this just isn’t just a daily mountain. That is the world mountain, perhaps Mount Meru, and so it’s like this type of ultimate mountain. So tackle that mountain-ness. We’re sitting in perfect stillness, perfect silence, total immovability. That’s how we’re sitting tonight after which as a substitute of a deity image we’re just gonna do more of a psychological thing.
I need you to think about a time and produce up a memory of while you had total confidence, not while you had arrogance or while you had some sort of blow-hearty overconfidence but slightly while you really just knew what you were doing and also you knew how you can do it. And I need you to picture in front of you; you having that tremendous confidence. So remember a time while you had great confidence Maha confidence after which see it. See that point. See what that was like and feel the emotions of that point of getting great confidence after which once that’s very clear what I need you to do is just bring that in, right? So as a substitute of seeing it in front of you, you’re bringing it in and also you’re feeling that level of confidence now. You’re feeling how that felt in your body and the way that felt in your being, right? So that you’re just taking up a sense of confidence.
Okay. And now in the identical way I need you to recollect a time while you felt tremendous joy let’s say love and joy, where all this type of spontaneous heart opening was happening and perhaps it wasn’t spontaneous, who knows, perhaps it was due to something particularly but you felt all this love and joy arising. And I need you to see that scene in front of you. Remember it, and see it, and feel in your body, what it felt prefer to have all that love and all that joy arising, and see it really clearly. After which I need you to–on an in-breath–just take that in. Take the image in and now it actually is you. And feel that love and joy arising in your being immediately, right? So there it’s. It won’t be as strong or it’d…perhaps it’s quite strong however it’s the identical vibe. So, you’re feeling all this confidence, and now you’re feeling all this love and joy, and just notice how you are feeling now; confident, joyous, loving… and just tune into that.
These are the actual properties of the already fully enlightened Buddha that you simply really are, and so imagining a time while you felt that and bringing it up is an exercise in imagination but you’re imagining yourself right into a state that’s your true state, way down deep contained in the state of your already existing Buddhahood. So it’s a little bit more powerful than simply imagining since it’s beginning to reveal what’s underneath. It’s just like the clouds slowly parting to disclose the moon, right? It’s beautiful and starting to point out what’s really there. So despite the fact that it’s a imagination exercise, psychological exercise, you may feel that confidence, you may feel that love, you can feel that joy.
And next I’d such as you to assume a time in your life while you just felt so alive and energized and vivacious, right? It doesn’t should be excited but just an amazing amount of strength and health and life and aliveness and engagement in your body, like you simply felt fully there, like the most effective day you ever had at sports or something like that where your body’s just fully alive, fully engaged, fully alert, and just bursting with the vivacity, right? Vivaciousness, bursting with life energy, and movie that in front of you, and feel that aliveness, that life force really really burgeoning and effortlessly upwelling, right? And see that point, do not forget that time in your mind, after which I need you to bring that in. Bring that in and feel the way it uplifts your body, it uplifts your mind, you are feeling more energized, more awake, but additionally it brings those other qualities to the force. So it makes the love and the enjoyment much more effulgent. It makes the arrogance much more solid, right? Much more present. So, you’re feeling the arrogance, you’re feeling the love and joy, and you are feeling this type of tremendous power of the life force.
Okay, and so again that is tuning in to among the few, just just a few of the properties of the Buddha inside. And so despite the fact that we’re remembering and bringing up this stuff in an imaginary way they’re really pointing to what’s actually at all times already there. And so we’ve learned to do that in a bunch of how; we will do it with deity images, and sometimes visualizations of things like diamond spheres, and so forth, or a sun. If you happen to go over the past many months we do things like that but sometimes we will do that in only this manner. Just remember having these qualities and take them on they usually’re already there so that is more…I’m showing you a lot methods of doing this and that is just like the more imaginative, psychological method, a little bit bit more of a secularized method, but notice you continue to feel the arrogance, you continue to feel the love and joy, still feel that tremendous energy in your body, and it feels great.
So, there you will have it. Good, now from this place we’re going to start doing a little Shamatha.
We’re going to only saddle our minds and so the primary object I need you to work with here, in a really relaxed way–you’re relaxed but you’re very energized. Right, smooth energy, it’s not energized like agitated, able to go start kicking chairs around some room somewhere but slightly very still, very smooth, but very awake. Okay, and so the very first thing I need you to note from this place–remember meditating like a mountain–I need you to note the stillness, and it’s not only stillness in your body, it’s stillness in your mind, and it’s not only stillness in your mind and body, it’s stillness in all the things. Okay, so now we’re just we’re just respiratory out and in very normally, but we’re not meditating on the breath, we’re meditating on stillness. Just find stillness in your experience and begin noticing that. Let’s sit with that for some time together.
Good. Now, after all, when you’re distracted, when you’re involved in thoughts and mental talk, and imagining stuff, and remembering stuff, and all that–that’s not stillness, right? So we just let that go and refocus the mind on this tremendous stillness–the stillness that exists within the body, the stillness that exists within the mind. It’s not that the mind needs to be silent or the body has to stop respiratory or something because that’s movement–the considering, the respiratory can occur but you’re not specializing in that, you’re not involved in that in any way, you’re refocused on all the things that’s already completely still.
Okay. Good. That’s the stillness of the mountain. Now, I’d such as you to note an adjoining property, something that comes along with the stillness, and that is the silence. The silence at the center of the world mountain, right? That is utter silence. So, notice the silence within the body again. Perhaps your stomach is rumbling or whatever. That doesn’t diminish the indisputable fact that there’s tremendous silence within the body. And see the silence in your mind. Even when there’s thoughts happening there’s also silence there. There’s also silent parts of the mind, specializing in those. Even when there’s sound on the planet around you there’s also silence on the planet around you. So, you’re focusing now on not only stillness of the infinite world mountain but additionally the silence. It’s very beautiful silence, very restful. So, let’s be with this silence now.
Now, after all, when you’re getting distracted by non-silence, remember all that noise and hubbub is allowed to be there, but I need you to come back back to only the silence. Rest within the silence within the body. Rest within the silence that’s there within the mind. Rest within the silence that’s there on the planet around you. Keep letting go of… just letting or not it’s. Let go of the noise, come to the silence and deal with that. Be with the silence.
Wonderful. Now, again remaining energized, remaining alert, not only will we contact stillness and silence we contact vast space. There’s tremendous space inside and around this world mountain–it’s just boundless space, space with no boundary of any kind. It’s still. It’s silent and it’s tremendously vast. I don’t want you to assume space. I need you to only notice no boundaries. If boundaries come up that’s identical to noise or movement, we just sort of look past those to stillness, look past those to silence, past the boundaries to spaciousness that’s already present. We don’t should make spaciousness occur. So, rest in vast spaciousness. Don’t struggle with finding spaciousness, it’s there. Struggle is tight and struggle is constricted and struggle collapses space, so let go, loosen up, don’t struggle, and see that space is already at all times present along with the silence and the stillness. So just loosen up and see space. Just allow this space to permeate all the things. The stillness of this vast space, silence of this vast space, the openness and receptivity of this vast space all come together to be tremendous, utterly restful and in addition alert, awake, brilliant, clear.
Good. Now, let’s notice that from this place of silent spacious stillness we will allow awareness to easily rest in itself, awareness rests in that just means awareness shows itself to awareness and we notice the soundness like a mountain. The soundness of awareness itself–identical to the silent stillness and spaciousness–the attention itself is silent, remains to be, is spacious…
Things may come and go inside awareness but the attention itself is sort of a rock. It’s like a mountain. It’s immovable. So, just allow awareness to rest in itself.
Now, many individuals find it’s easier to do that with the eyes open but you may meditate along with your eyes open or closed whatever you want. Just be with this brilliant crystal clear pure awareness resting in itself like an infinite world mountain, massive mountain totally immovable, totally at peace. If that feels real unstable or real hard to do come back to focusing awareness on stillness, silence, and spaciousness, but notice the attention itself is already the stillness, the silence, the spaciousness itself. It doesn’t need anybody to deal with it. It’s already aware of itself. We’re just resting in that. So, every time awareness moves up away from rest into grabbing onto something, into trying to manage, or manipulate, or change, just let go. Just rest. Come back to resting in stability. It’s very very stable, this awareness, like a mountain. Rest as stability.
Stay brilliant. Stay alert. Stay clear. This vast still awareness may be very very alert, very awake.
From this space of vast silent still awareness, tremendously clear awareness, I need you to try to search out your personality. Where is the standard you that walks around on the planet and has opinions and likes and dislikes and a history and a story and a biography and…where is that now? And by where is it I don’t mean as an idea. Don’t consider a solution prefer it’s right here and I need you to look and find it. Let this vast still awareness simply look and see if it might probably find any such entity, any such personality. And if it finds thoughts and feelings of a personality I need it to look very, very clearly. I need you to look very clearly now and see; do you actually know where they’re situated? Do you actually have a way that they’re situated anywhere? Look clearly now into that. Keep looking, notice that the more you are trying to pin it down, this personality, the more you may’t actually find it.
Good. Now I even have one other query that I need this vast silent stillness to analyze, meaning; look now, don’t answer from the mind, don’t answer from considering, don’t answer from memory, don’t answer from concept. Just look directly and that query is; where is your mind? Find your mind, immediately. If you happen to think you found it look and see when you actually know where that’s. Where is it situated? So find your mind, immediately. Keep looking.
Where is your mind? Can you truly find your mind? Have still silent spacious awareness just look directly. You don’t have to take into consideration this, you simply look in experience. Where is the situation of the mind?
Okay. Now, notice you may’t find your personality, you may’t find your mind, but perhaps you could find some effort. I need you to note, immediately, where is there any effort?
And as this awareness vast, still, silent awareness notice any effort? See when you can actually pin it down. Are you able to find effort? Even the hassle of on the lookout for effort, where is that effort?
Good. What if there’s nothing to do? What if there’s absolutely nothing to vary?
What if there’s no person to do or change anything? What if this vast silent still awareness is already perfect? Already complete. What if it’s at all times been here? And at all times can be here within the everlasting present? What if this awareness is sort of a mountain resting in itself?
Utterly at peace, utterly comfy, totally crisp, brilliant, awake, alert, clear…
What if this awareness is utterly soft and delicate and type, at war with nothing, at peace with all the things? What if there may be nothing that’s aside from this awareness? And what if this awareness itself just isn’t a thing in any respect but is utterly empty and yet present at the identical time? What if?
Dharma Talk
All right my friends, let’s end the meditation there. And really, very slowly and gently, and at your individual pace and ease, be at liberty to maneuver your body. Be at liberty to stretch and wiggle and shake it out when you wish. Be at liberty to take a drink of some kind and just notice that this vast silent still awareness remains to be present; it didn’t go anywhere. You’re just perhaps allowing it to bind its attention into thought and feeling now, and entering into body sensations, and testing the room around you, and getting more involved.
Notice behind all that there may be, the attention remains to be there. It’s utterly still utterly clear, utterly lucid, utterly awake, utterly spacious, utterly without personality, utterly without mind, utterly without effort. It is just empty awakeness, at all times there. It never goes away. It’s at all times there.
So, despite the fact that we’re done meditating you may notice that, as I’m at all times saying, the world as we conceive it’s inside out. We expect that awareness is a little bit thing that happens in our brain, and our brain is in our head, and the top is a component of the body, and the body is roofed in clothes, and sitting perhaps in a room, and that room is in a city, in a rustic, on a continent, on a planet, in a solar system, and we see the world like that. And that’s one perspective. It’s not a false perspective however it’s not the attitude of awareness.
The attitude of awareness is utterly the other of that. It’s inside out from that. What we see is that the world, the galaxy, the solar system, the world, the continent, the country, town, the room, my clothes, my body, and even my mind, my brain, my sensations, my experiences, all of that exists inside awareness. All of that’s inside awareness, and the body sensations simply arise in awareness and are noticed. The thoughts and feelings simply arise in awareness and are noticed. The external sights and sounds and sensations arise in awareness and are noticed, they usually then do their thing after which vanish away. After which they simply vanish away, but even the sense of your personality simply arises inside awareness. Even the sense of your mind is something that arises in awareness. Even the sense of a body in any respect, your body, arises inside awareness. It’s not likely inside but that’s how sometimes we discuss it because awareness is primary, these other things are inside it. You will not be primarily an individual with a mind having awareness, awareness is just aware of the emotions, an individual, or the thoughts and feelings of a mind. But none of those things even have their very own existence from their side, so to talk. They only exist because they arise in awareness and even awareness isn’t a thing as such, it’s empty.
It’s very beautiful to see how all of the things that arise in awareness; the thoughts, the emotions, the body, the mind, the person, and all the opposite things that arise in awareness; the world, the sky, the trees, the sunset, the ocean, some geese, all of this stuff that arise because the world arise in the identical awareness as the attention of the personality, the thoughts, the emotions, within the mind. They usually’re all together in the identical awareness, and in that sense they’re not separate in any respect. In actual fact, they’re brethren. They’re family. All this stuff, all other people, all animals, all life, and even all matter, all space, all arises inside this awareness, and thus, is not directly family, is a few way equal. Though it has all its own differences too. We’re not erasing the indisputable fact that blue is different from yellow, or that the attractive geese are different from the wetlands over which they fly honking. They’ve their differences and yet all of them arise inside the same awareness and thus have an underlying unity, and underlying familial connection, and underlying brotherhood and sisterhood and siblinghood, that we will connect with and in indisputable fact that we were never ever separate from.
So, notice that immediately. Notice that immediately. Every thing has its own unique difference, individuality and yet it’s all united together in awareness. And even awareness itself just isn’t a thing. You’ll be able to’t reach out and touch it. You’ll be able to’t find its location. You’ll be able to’t find its origin or destination. It’s not an object. Notice that now.
In order that’s what we’re taking a look at; that this pristine complete timeless boundless stillness of perfect awareness has at all times been present, isn’t situated anywhere, and is–if there’s any identity in any respect that’s identity–all the things else is stuff arising in awareness and is in actual fact sort of fabricated from awareness.
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