Guided Nondual Meditation with Michael Taft
So let’s begin our meditation now. What I’d such as you to do is to establish your posture and keep in mind that in these meditations, the best way we’re doing this, you’re welcome to meditate standing up if that makes it easier to stay alert and to maintain you present along with your meditation. You’re also welcome to meditate lying down. For some people lying down meditation actually increases their ability to chill out. Now, we don’t wish to increase your ability to chill out a lot that you just go to sleep. But assuming you’ll be able to stay up, then for many people laying in your back often along with your knees up, is a really very powerful approach to meditate. As I’ve mentioned previously in case you’re going to meditate along with your knees up you either wish to have a bolster like a robust pillow underneath them so that you just’re not holding them up along with your leg muscles. You’re just allowing them to rest on a pillow. Or a really traditional yogic approach to do it’s; you’re taking a belt–like a yoga strap or perhaps a belt like a out of your pants–and you simply put them put it around your knees gently in order that the knees can’t separate after which that can hold your legs together again without you having to make use of your muscle power to do it. And in order that’s how we lay on our back with our legs. And that, again, can allow us to chill out rather more deeply than we’d have the ability to otherwise.
So arrange your posture, whatever that’s. As usual on this meditation–I’m going to sneeze–you’ll be able to (thank god for the mute button) There. In these guided meditations, I’m going to do mine sitting up and with my glasses on because I’m watching the pc, but for you, you would like to do it sitting. If you would like to do it sitting up or laying down and even standing up you most likely want glasses off, if you’ve glasses.
And for sitting be certain that that your back feels very nice. Your back is upright. Your lower back is curving in, and your back is good and erect, not tense, not such as you’re a soldier sitting up, but still nice and upright. And the highest of your head could have this interesting feeling that it’s being pulled on this very gentle nice way and that causes your chin to tuck just slightly bit. And there’ll be this sense that your back, now your spine, is good. It’s on this perfect spot in the center where it’s not an excessive amount of effort. It doesn’t take an excessive amount of effort to maintain it upright, feels perfectly balanced, and really relaxed and nice. That’s what we would like. So set that every one up and be certain that that your face is relaxed, and your neck and throat are relaxed, and your shoulders are relaxed. Okay, so the spine is upright but the remaining of the body is basically loose, really open, really relaxed, really gentle, feels good, right?
After which, from there, we’re going to begin out with a metaphor tonight. We wish to meditate with metaphors. And tonight–remember recently we did the metaphor of being like a mountain, after which before that we were doing it like being fire, we were using the element fire–tonight we’re going to meditate like we sometimes do using the element space.
Okay, so in the standard Indian system there aren’t 4 elements; earth, air, fire, water, there are five. There’s fire, water, and space and in order that’s the quintessence, right? The fifth element. So on this case the fifth element just isn’t Leeloo Multipass but in actual fact is space, right? And we are only pretending or taking over the metaphor of being space, right? So I need you to take a seat as in case you are vast space. We’re not imagining space within the sense of picturing the sky in our mind or something. But in a way sky is one other approach to say the element space. The actual word for it’s in sanskrit like in case you’ve ever heard Akashic records that’s what they’re talking in regards to the records which can be stored in space and that’s coming from the theosophy tradition which is type of funny. But is just the word for the or the element of space. So, we’re being space at once.
You frequently hear me discuss vast spacious awareness after we’re talking about pristine awareness right? or awake awareness, or pristine awareness–the mind with no conceptualization of any kind. The mind of the Buddha that I’m at all times talking about. The mind of a totally woke up being, that’s rigpa, that’s awake awareness, that’s pristine awareness. The closest metaphor to pristine awareness, it’s a metaphor however the very closest one, is space. It’s just spacious, there’s room because there’s no conceptualization, there’s no reification of self and world, and due to this fact it just feels…it has this sense of expansiveness and openness.
Why is space only a metaphor for awake awareness? Well, because when we expect of space as a component it’s dead. It’s just; there’s no one, there’s nothing and no one there, right? But after we’re talking in regards to the mind of a Buddha, after we’re talking about Rigpa, after we’re talking about awake awareness, it’s space nevertheless it’s got one additional essential feature that’s different than space and that’s what? It’s cognizant. It’s knowing. It’s having an experience, right? It’s awake. It’s not only dead space. It’s alive space. It’s space with knowing, in other words, it’s conscious, right? So I need you to simply settle in at once to feeling like awake space or conscious space or we could just say vast spacious awareness as I at all times do, right?
So we’re meditating like we’re an unlimited sky, right? An enormous limitless open sky with no clouds, no obstructions, no boundaries. It’s greater than the actual sky, right? Since the actual sky has boundaries but this has no boundaries of any kind. It’s just space and so get that feeling of being awake, aware space, vast spacious awareness and just settle into that and just feel that now.
And tonight we’re going to–again–we’re going to visualise our own buddhanature, our own already existing woke up mind, our already existing pristine awareness, which is already there. The one reason you’re not noticing it in case you’re not on this very moment is just called The technical term could be , it’s like ignorance, nevertheless it’s not like ignorance in English, which has a type of a negative connotation, it just means you’re not aware of it. And so we make ourselves aware of it. We make ourselves aware of our already existing, fully perfect and pure Buddha awareness right on this moment, and oftentimes we’ll picture a specific deity in Buddhism, or whatever.
Tonight we’re going to do–I’m going to depart it as much as you–I’m going to say I need you to picture a mother deity, a mother goddess, or some type of mother archetype that could be very positive.This will be the Virgin Mary, it could possibly be Green Tara, it might be Kuan Yin, it might be many many other female deities. But it surely could also just be type of the concept of mother, but not a human mother, it’s a totally enlightened, fully awake, or I should say not only a traditional human mother, but a traditional human mother, or a deity mother manifesting full pristine awareness, manifesting even beyond that full liberation, full Buddhahood with all its powers. And so picture this loving being before you now. And possibly that’s a–once I say picture I mean possibly it is basically a picture in your mind–nevertheless it may also just be a sense or a mood or whatever.
So there’s this mother archetype in front of you now and I need you to actually settle in with this mother archetype. She is in front of you now, beaming a way of total unconditional love and acceptance. You might be wonderful just exactly the best way you might be. You might be loved exactly the best way you might be. She’s beaming at once to you tremendous wisdom and clarity, right? She is smart, like 1,000,000 years sensible, a billion years sensible, and that’s coming into your mind now, and he or she has perfect clarity, nothing is foggy, or muddy, or sleepy, or fuzzy, or dark. It’s crystal clear, right? That’s the wakefulness property of Buddhahood. That’s in actual fact what the word Buddha means, it doesn’t mean a god or something. It means awake. So when people said to the Buddha–when he first got enlightened, they were like, “are you a god? What are you? And he just said, “I’m awake,” and if you say that in his language which was something like Mahdi but near Pali he said, “I’m Buddha, I’m awake.” So it’s just the word which means awake. So this archetypal mother is awake, perfect clarity, perfect wisdom, that’s that Buddha nature fully awake and that’s beaming into your mind at once along with what? Crucial property; confidence, confidence in yourself, confidence in your practice, confidence in your ability to note and recognize your individual enlightened nature, your individual Buddha mind. So just take that into your being really clearly now.
Good, and now what I’d such as you to note next is, after all, the divine mother has a heart like dripping honey, is stuffed with love, and stuffed with kindness, and compassion, and caring, and never just that; it’s joyous, so completely happy, so joyful and joyful for you all the great things that occur for you cause this mother archetype to feel , like that honey-like sweetness, that joyfulness in your joy. And so feel this mother deity beaming like to you, beaming kindness and caring, gentleness beaming joy, tremendous joy, and joy in your joy, right? The things that bring you true joy make her completely happy for you. That’s , right? So these qualities of -compassion, that joy in your joy, and the standard of friendliness, and caring, and kindness, right? So that is just beautiful energy coming from her heart into your heart, melting your heart, opening your heart, allowing you to beam with kindness and caring, but in addition with great joy, tremendous joy. So feel that now.
Good, and nevertheless we’ll go all the way down to the belly, the belly of the good mother and from this tremendous belly that births the entire world–right? It gives birth to your complete universe moment by moment–the belly of the good mother is beaming to you health and strength. It’s beaming to you energy, life force, life-giving life force energy, and it’s beaming to you what comes with all that health and life force, which is that this sense of play, playfulness, right? When we now have spare energy, after we feel really healthy and joyous, we turn into playful, we turn into spontaneous, we turn into loose and open and free, right? So, beaming from the belly of the good mother, which provides life to your complete universe, you are feeling life coming in, health and strength coming in, life force energy coming in, and that’s bringing up this sense of playfulness and spontaneity. So, tune into that now.
Good, now as usual I need you to breathe in that image of the good mother and take it into your heart in order that she is your heart, and permit the energy of wisdom and clarity in the top to return into the guts. And let this energy of spontaneity and playfulness and health and strength and life force come into your heart. So, it’s all one big ball of awake awareness shining in your heart, tremendously vibrant, tremendously soft and type, tremendously sensible, deep, and clear, tremendously, after all, just radiating love, radiating joy, radiating kindness, and friendliness. And just sit with that now. We’re going to take a seat with that for a number of minutes together. I need you to simply allow that tremendous enlightened mother energy to simply radiate in your heart and radiate out. Let’s do this now together.
Feeling all that lovely energy radiating inside you, remember the arrogance. Notice that that is coming from your individual Buddha nature, your individual already existing, fully enlightened nature, and so feel that confidence. Understand that you just are a Buddha and so meditating is, in the long term no problem, awakening in the long term no problem, stuffed with liberation in the long term no problem. Why? Because even within the short run, even on this very moment, it’s already here and all we’re doing is learning to acknowledge it, learning to see it more clearly. So, feel that, feel that confidence, feel that clarity, and really tune into that.
Okay. Good. Now let’s do our Shamatha with an object. It means, after all, we’re going to get nice and stable. And with an object means we’re going to make use of some external, or apparently external, or apparently not-our-mind, type object to stabilize our mind with. And so let’s do this on the breath. So, I need you to note as your breath is coming in–we’re feeling it, feeling it, feeling it, feeling it all of the approach to the underside of the breath, and see the tip of the in-breath. Really notice that moment when the in-breath ends, after which feeling the breath going out, out, breath out, breath out, breath out, breath going out, after which feeling all of it the best way, after which notice the very end of the out-breath. And be certain that you notice the very end of the out breath. Don’t miss it. Then we’re taking the breath in again, and feeling, waiting, waiting, noticing, noticing, noticing, until we mark the tip of the in-breath. Respiratory out again, respiration out, respiration out, respiration out, respiration out, until we notice the tip of that out-breath. Don’t miss those.
And so long as we stick with those you’re gonna get increasingly focused on the breath. So don’t lose those two moments; end of the in-breath, into the out-breath. And if you would like to you’ll be able to label when you’re respiration; respiration in, respiration in, respiration in, respiration in, respiration out, respiration out, respiration out, respiration out, like that, in a really gentle tone, possibly much more gentle than I just did it. Respiratory in, respiration in, respiration in, respiration out, respiration out, respiration out. And staying with it very very clearly and repeatedly. Don’t miss a second, and in case you do, just come right back, staying right with that breath. We don’t need to stick with it like with tight focus but we would like to get repeatedly involved with the breath, noticing every moment of the in-breath, and each moment of the out-breath. And it’s really helpful to note the tip of the in-breath and the tip of the out-breath because that’ll just be certain that you’re staying with it, you’re staying with it, you’re staying with it. So, get as involved as possible with that breath’s sensation.
Okay. Good. Now, if that’s working for you and also you’re getting nice and focused on that breath then just stick with that. If the subsequent move is just too difficult then just stick with the breath, that’s wonderful. The subsequent move we’re going to do is Shamatha still, but Shamatha without an object. So, we drop the breath now, and it’s just there within the background but we’re not specializing in it, and as a substitute we’re just being space. We allow the attention to simply be its natural vastness, its natural spaciousness. We’re not making the attention spacious. We’re not in some way pushing it or whatever we’re just allowing awareness to be naturally spacious. After which in that space, way within the background, we’d feel the breath coming and going, but all we’re really doing is allowing that vast spacious awareness to pay attention to itself. It just rests in itself. It’s naturally very still, and so this wakeful space is just aware of itself, after which and that takes no effort. That’s not some strong doing, it’s just–you’re already aware, right? You’re not doing anything to remember and in order that awareness is just aware that it’s aware. That’s it, and it’s resting like that while the breath comes and goes within the background. If thoughts come up we’re just not engaging those in any respect, emotions come up we’re just not engaging those in any respect, even the sense of the outside world, the sights and sounds, or any type of body sensations, we’re just not engaging those in any respect. They’re there but no engagement, as a substitute we’re just allowing this vast spacious awareness to rest perfectly still in itself. So let’s do this now together. I normally do that with my eyes open, by the best way.
Again, awareness is just resting in itself, engaging with nothing, so if thoughts come up–let’s just let that occur, but in case you end up involved within the thought in any respect just drop that. If emotions come up and you end up involved in that in any respect just drop that. Where awareness is simply aware of itself; vast, spacious, still, vibrant, clear, cognizant, and just completely motionless, completely at rest, uninvolved with anything.
Again, if this is just too hard, be happy to return to specializing in the breath. Sometimes since that provides you a more solid seeming object, something slightly more concrete-seeming to deal with. But in case you can do that, there’s the sense of awareness just resting, and it doesn’t exit to anything, it doesn’t exit and grab a thought. For those who feel it exit and grabbing a thought you simply drop that and permit it to return back to resting. For those who feel it going out to grab anything just let go of that come back to resting, over and once more. Just allow awareness to simply be still and clear without doing anything, right? It doesn’t have to do anything in any respect. It’s already vibrant, clear, still, perfect, pretty, clear, vibrant. Notice how still that vast spacious awareness will be. Awareness is perfectly still but you furthermore mght notice that things come up sometimes, and maybe sometimes you get entangled with them, particularly thoughts, but thoughts aren’t our enemy. We just need to learn to work with them properly.
So, let’s switch now from shamatha without an object to some Vipashyana. Vipashyana means insight, right? So we’re going to get insight into the character of thought. Hint–thoughts are empty, identical to emotions are empty, identical to the outside world is empty, identical to personality is empty. All empty, right? And so, what I need you to do now’s maintain that skylike awareness and remember the sky, the vast spacious sky of awareness continues to be. It’s perfectly still, perfectly cognizant, vibrant, clear knowing. After which notice how–now we’re going to have a look at something now, that is engagement–notice how thoughts come into that sky of the mind, they usually’re moving identical to birds through the sky, or something, clouds through the sky. So the sky itself is perfectly still, after which there’s thoughts that move through the sky, and I need you to simply take a look at that now.
Just allow this awareness to effortlessly notice that thoughts move through it. You don’t have to focus tightly, don’t use attention on the thoughts, just allow this vast awareness–since it is aware–to simply notice the thoughts moving through. It’s remaining uninvolved within the thoughts, but now actually noticing them moving, noticing them moving. Let’s do that for a number of minutes. The thoughts are moving. The mind continues to be.
Remain completely uninvolved within the content of the thought. Just allowing awareness to note that thoughts are moving like birds within the sky. They’re just moving, moving. We’re not attaching to them. We’re not getting involved. We’re not going for a ride with the bird. We’re just noticing that it’s movement within the still sky of mind.
Okay. Good. Now, continuing to rest on this vast spacious awareness, the sky-like mind. I need you to note now; where are these thoughts occurring? These moving thoughts, where are they occurring? And I don’t mean in your head, I mean within the sky of awareness is there any actual location that we are able to pinpoint and say they’re there? In an actual physical location? As thoughts just sail through the sky of the mind, where is that even occurring? Look into that, and in case you think you found a location, ask yourself; where is that location in point of fact? What spot on the earth is that? Hint–there isn’t one. So interesting, within the vast sky of the mind, the vast sky of awareness, thoughts come and go, moving against the still background of awareness, and yet you can’t actually locate them in a spot. But possibly they’re coming from somewhere. So, now allow awareness to easily investigate where thoughts come from. What’s their source? Is there like a hole they arrive out of? Is there a specific spot they arise from? Are you able to find that spot? Allow awareness to look very clearly, very rigorously now and keep looking. Keep looking. Where do these thoughts come from? When it comes to space, what’s their origin? Hint–you’ll be able to’t find an origin but keep looking.
Good. So, notice that not only is there no location of thought, there’s no origin of thought. It’s just appearing. It just appears in awareness somewhere, moving. A moving thought appears from nowhere, dances in awareness for a number of moments, after which what happens? It disappears. But possibly, despite the fact that we don’t know where they’re coming from, and we don’t know where they’re while they’re there, possibly there’s a specific spot they disappear to. So, I need you to look at, or to place it more clearly, I need awareness to simply concentrate on the place where thoughts disappear to. And see in case you can find such a spot. Allow awareness to look with tremendous clarity now.
So, thoughts disappear, but they don’t disappear anywhere. So we now have this interesting situation where thoughts don’t have any origin, they simply appear out of nowhere, they usually don’t have any location after they appear out of nowhere. They’re not situated anywhere. They’re just in awareness, whatever which means. We’re aware of them. They’re somewhere flying within the vast sky of awareness but that’s not likely a location after which after they disappear. They disappear again to somewhere we all know not. We don’t know where they go. So, we don’t know the origin, destination, or location of thought, and which means thoughts are empty. It doesn’t mean there’s no content. It doesn’t mean there isn’t a thought nevertheless it means it’s empty. And so now just allow yourself, allow awareness to simply rest in itself again, uninvolved with thought resting. Awareness resting on its lotus, not reaching out for anything, divinely in divine repose, completely relaxed, completely open, completely vibrant, and vivid, and clear, and sharp, uninvolved with anything, especially thought.
Okay. Good. Now let’s notice again this sun of full enlightenment radiating in the guts. It’s just like the sun within the vast sky of awareness. So we now have this vast, vast infinite awareness sky, and the sun in the guts of it’s radiating wisdom and clarity out to the entire universe, and it’s radiating love and joy and kindness and caring to the entire universe, and it’s radiating health and strength and life and vitality and playfulness and spontaneity to the entire universe. And feel the sun of awareness within the sky, and the vast sky, the sun of enlightenment within the vast sky of awareness radiating out, radiating out, radiating out now, shining and flowing with all these buddha properties all these enlightened mother properties. Feel that just spilling out, overflowing in all directions, this exquisite sun of full pristine utterly complete liberation buddhahood shining on this vast vast sky of awareness, touching all beings in all places.
Okay. Good. Okay, let’s end that there. Now allow yourself to maneuver and stretch. Stretch like slightly kitty cat, oh, nice big cat stretch. Feel good, that feels…possibly a distinct cat stretch. Allow your body to feel loose, and free, and open, and really, very, very gentle and soft. Have a drink of water. Adjust in whatever way you have to adjust to feel cozy.
I need to speak for slightly bit about what we checked out after we did Vipashyana, right? Which is evident seeing, that’s what it means; clear seeing, or insight. And what were we getting insight into there? We were thoughts. We were allowing awareness to simply notice thoughts, thoughts coming and going. Fascinating thing about thoughts is what we checked out you’ll be able to’t–you’re having a thought and you’ll be able to have a thought so strongly you get completely involved in it, right? So it’s not that there’s no thought there. There are thoughts there however the interesting query is; where is that taking place? After all, the fashionable way we’re taught to think is–oh, that’s happening in my head–but I don’t mean it that way because that’s an idea about where it’s happening. I mean in experience. In awareness where are the thoughts happening? While you take a look at it like that from contained in the experience, not referring to ideas about thought but slightly just the moment-by-moment experience of thought. They’re not happening anywhere particularly. They’re just, let’s imagine, in awareness. But awareness–where’s that? It’s an unlimited sky. Can’t locate that either. To even discuss a location is absurd. Awareness is just aware. It’s vast and boundless.
And so notice that despite the fact that these thoughts which can be happening–you’ll be able to tell one other person the content of it, you understand there’s a thought there–you’ll be able to’t really determine a location. Moreover, you’ll be able to’t determine a source. They only seem to return from nowhere. They pop into awareness and are they popping into awareness? Again, in a way, the query doesn’t even make sense. They’re just popping into awareness, wherever that’s. And that’s really interesting. So, they’re just popping into awareness and from somewhere, from nowhere really, they usually’re situated somewhere, or let’s imagine nowhere, really. After which if you watch them disappear, awareness can see the thought come to an end, or hear it blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, it’s coming to an end but where does it go? Where does it go when it ends? Well, again the reply is evident at this point. But awareness looks closely, awareness looks closely and what does awareness find? The thoughts don’t go anywhere, they’re just gone. And so what type of thing on the earth–we take into consideration our experience on the earth–what type of thing comes from nowhere, and isn’t situated anywhere, after which goes to nowhere? Right, this is basically odd, right?
It’s like normally we might just say that’s something that doesn’t exist if it didn’t come from anywhere, and even when it’s here it’s not situated anywhere, after which when it finally goes away from being here, which is nowhere, it goes to nowhere. In our normal way of talking about that we’d say that doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist. That’s not a thing! But it surely’s funny because, after all, it does exist within the sense that a thought is going on; there’s words there, and ideas, and you’ll be able to experience it, right? You possibly can experience it. The notice experienced a thought there. So, it’s each not there in any way that we are able to determine and at the identical time it’s there as an experience. And so there’s a technical term for that in Buddhism and that’s called That’s emptiness there–but not there, right?
One other approach to discuss it’s, well, what’s emptiness? that is just the English translation of the word . Shunya is Sanskrit for or It’s also the number zero. Shunya. Ta means or and it has the connotation of a hole reed, like what you’ll make right into a flute, like a bamboo flute, like a hole reed that you would put holes in and use as a flute. So, it’s hole in the best way it’s like there, nevertheless it’s hole it’s there, but not there, right? It appears to be there, but in case you poked it you couldn’t even find it to poke, but in case you could poke it your finger’d go throughout it. It’s just not there.
So, a pair images that come to mind for me once I take into consideration emptiness. One is once I was a child I’d exit into the fields in Michigan, there’s so much more fields back then, you’ll exit into the sphere in the summertime and you’ll find these big grasshopper husks, right? So, a grasshopper is an insect that has an exoskeleton and it sheds that exoskeleton in an effort to grow, right? It’s gotta get out of its old suit of armor after which it bulks up after which grows a latest hard suit of armor around that greater bulk, right? So it’s molting, or whatever, but what you discover–identical to a snake skin or whatever–you discover a grasshopper exoskeleton hanging on a reed. It grabbed onto the reed when it broke out and it’s just this–it looks exactly like a grasshopper except it’s like an empty shell. You possibly can see throughout it, and it’s cracked open, and there’s nothing inside, nevertheless it’s still the form of a grasshopper. There’s not absolutely nothing there nevertheless it’s totally hole, totally empty, right? There–but not there. One other image that involves mind is a movie. So, let’s say you’ve a movie of a horse, and also you’re watching this movie of a horse, and I asked you where– okay you’re seeing a horse on a screen–and if I said where is that horse situated? Again, from memory you would say–well, that they’re filming was in Montana, or whatever. But that’s not my query, the horse you’re seeing at once, where is it? And you would say–well, it’s on a screen, it’s on a screen. But really is there a horse on that screen? Is that horse situated on the screen? Or are photons hitting a screen, they usually’re bouncing off the screen, they usually’re hitting your eyes. And so, you would say–well, possibly the horse is situated in my eyes. But here’s the reply; you’ll be able to’t find where that horse is situated. And is it even a horse? It’s just a picture like “” right? It’s it’s not a pipe. This just isn’t a pipe. It’s not a bomb. It’s not a horse. It’s just a picture of a horse, so even asking—where’s the horse?—is like, bizarre.
It’s an unanswerable query. That’s emptiness. That’s emptiness. And it seems that all the pieces is like that. The whole lot. The pc in your desktop is empty in that special way, your best friend is empty like that in that special way, even you, your deepest innermost stuff. Remember your thoughts are empty like that. Well, same thing along with your feelings, same thing along with your sense of history, all that’s there–but not there. It’s empty on this very interesting way and that is what we’re attempting to notice after we do the Vipashyana section of the meditation.
It’s very essential to note that anything that we attempt to congeal around, anything that we attempt to make a self around, anything that we attempt to make an other around, anything that we attempt to concretize, or solidify, or give a definite place, or give a definite time, is–we’re actually just making that up, right? It doesn’t have any of those properties. It’s there within the sense of an experience but that have is arising in awareness, and it has no location, no origin, no destination. It’s empty. So, even the experience you’re having of being you at once, in case you look rigorously, it’s just arising in awareness. That’s why I’m at all times saying, “you’re not on the earth, the world is in you” meaning; the world is arising within the vast sky of your individual awareness and that just isn’t situated anywhere. So after we say insight is the insight I need you–the basic insight–I need you to actually grock. Grock emptiness. Grock that a thought that you just’re involved with is basically just empty, a sense you’re involved with–empty, even the sense of involvement, who’s involved, that’s empty. Where are you when you’re meditating? That’s empty. Who’s meditating? That’s empty. All of it’s empty. Again, that doesn’t mean it’s not there, it just means the best way it’s there’s completely fundamentally unknowable. It’s a crazy mystery. It’s not a thing in the best way that we typically imagine things to be things.
So that is emptiness and it’s a core concept that we must understand, and moreover, it’s what helps us to stabilize the attention of awareness. So, after we allow awareness to rest in itself and I’m like–okay, here come the thoughts, here come the thoughts, and don’t be involved with them. Notice that that’s hard to do. For those who think the thoughts are things they turn into fascinating, and you’ll be able to climb onto them and get all involved. Getting involved in a thought is like curling up inside slightly dream. “Oh, I’m going to get inside one other little dream. Oh, I’m going to get inside one other little dream.” That’s what being fused with thoughts is, you’re just getting sucked into slightly mini dream, and that’s why the woke up mind known as awake, right? They use the word awake for a reason, since you’re coming out of that little dream and just noticing.
One in every of the things that may also help us come out of the dream of thought is to that thoughts are empty. They’re totally empty, and so is the thinker, so is the entire sense of why the thoughts could be essential, so is the sense of emotion across the importance of the thought. It’s all got this crazy, nebulous, fog-like emptiness that could be very beautiful and really empowering, right? So, all the pieces, the fullness of your complete world, comes from this tremendous emptiness.
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