Nondual Guided Meditation with Michael Taft
Meditation
Okay, ready. It is advisable to take your glasses off, perhaps, don’t should. And just ensure that you’re nice and cozy in your seat. Okay, one last deep breath like this. Let’s do three of those. I actually enjoy the large deep gigantic in-breaths.
Excellent. Now just check in with yourself and see the way you’re doing. Just tune in, just notice. Ask yourself the query, What’s it wish to be me at once? How do I feel? How’s my mind? How are my emotions? That sort of thing. What’s it like in there? What’s the weather like? And be really very honest about it. It’s just you evaluating. Nobody’s going to ask you what, and so don’t kid yourself–what’s it really like in there?
And at the identical time whatever it’s like, let that be for now completely okay. So for those who’re feeling great that’s okay. For those who’re feeling awful that’s okay too. Just let or not it’s tremendous. So that is sort of a non-judgmental weather report about your individual being and just tune into that and feel it clearly, directly, truthfully.
More often than not we’re so caught up in what we’re doing that we’re not only taking the time to ask ourselves, What’s it wish to be me at once? After which really letting that be okay. Often if we notice what it’s wish to be ourselves, we then immediately try to alter it. So that is the alternative of that. We’re immediately totally accepting it.
Okay, good. I’m just going to do slightly invocation so just allow this to simply wash over you. Okay, I’ll just do that for a couple of moments.
Aum
Bhur Bhuvah Svah
Tat Savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi
Dhiyo Yo nah Prachodayat
Good. Now just imagine yourself to be meditating as for those who are the sky. You’re only a wide-open clear blue sky. How does the sky meditate? Nonetheless you imagine the sky to meditate, invoke that now. But we are able to imagine that it’s pretty open, very spacious, very clear, very shiny. And so just see for those who can tune right into a sense of real openness and spaciousness. We’re not narrowing our attention. The sky doesn’t narrow down. The sky opens up. So just meditate just like the sky at once, being wide open, really relaxed, really clear, lucid. The sky can be beautiful, so see if there’s a top quality of beauty confined in that meditation. And just rest as this openness. For those who notice your mind bunching up around something, the minute you notice that, just return to openness and just calm down. And it bunches up again around something else some thought or some feeling or something
after which as soon as you notice that just let it naturally calm down wide open and just rest in that place of wide openness.
We don’t should make it open or coax it to be open or by some means cultivate that. It’s naturally like that after we don’t bunch up around something. The bunching up or constricting or grabbing onto something, that’s the trouble, that’s the tightness, that’s the doing. So if we notice any of that occuring we just calm down and open. Let’s just sit with that for a moment.
With the notice wide open, notice the breath wave rising and falling inside awareness. So we’re not narrowly attending to the breath at our nose or something like that, you’re staying wide open. And similar to you may hear the train outside, you’re just feeling the breath. There’s nothing special about it. But let the breath be a sort of anchor or a sort of home base for some time, as you only rest on this wide openness noticing that breath wave rise and fall. It’s just rising and falling and that’s sort of our home base.
Vast open awareness. Rising and falling wave of the breath. As that’s happening just within the background again, because awareness is wide, that is all in a position to be noticed. Allow your face muscles to calm down. Let go of any fixed expression. Your jaw can loosen to the purpose where your upper and lower teeth will not be touching. You’ll be able to let your neck release and calm down your throat open slightly bit. And just notice how even that little little bit of leisure allows much more of a way of spaciousness and ease and rest. We don’t should keep our face and throat all tight, it will probably just be open, it will probably just be easy, it will probably just be gentle.
Continuing to simply notice that rising and falling breath wave. Allow your shoulders to release and calm down and let go and your arms and hands to be as loose as wet noodles, completely without tension. Not even residual background tension, they only go limp. And again along with your face relaxed and your throat and neck relaxed and your shoulders slightly bit more released in your arms and hands all loose, notice how that just brings on a far more profound sense of ease and openness. And it means that you can just drop now right into a far more open, easy, relaxed space of gentleness and stillness. Wide open stillness where the breath wave is coming and stepping into a really nice easy manner. We’re just sitting here respiratory. It’s not that tough. Now notice any tension in your upper back or upper chest and just let that calm down as much as you may. Let your heart just open, just melt open. For those who’re defended or holding yourself back, just commit, completely give yourself to the now of this experience and let your heart feel melty and open and perhaps slightly bit tender and sensitive.
And if it’s available to you let your diaphragm calm down. Notice the breath waves slowing down getting much deeper as we get increasingly relaxed. Within the vast space of the sky of the mind allow the belly to let go. Release all that belly tension, there’s a lot. Just calm down that, and release that, and let that be open, undefended. A loose, open belly not tight, not armored, not waiting for the gut punch, but quite completely open.
And something similar within the back within the kidney region. Just let that open, unfold like an accordion because the breath wave rises and falls absolutely naturally and effortlessly within the body. And see much more of a way of leisure and openness rising into the sky of the mind. Even when some things are tense, just notice the openness. Notice the comfort. Let that be very foreground. We’re not fighting with the stress that may be there, but we’re just noticing the comfort, noticing the openness.
Let the pelvic region calm down and release and open the hips and hip joints and permit the legs and feet to simply be as limp as wet noodles, utterly, completely, totally relaxed. And also you’ll notice as you do this, similar to your hands did, perhaps your feet warm up slightly bit because as you calm down the muscles the blood flow increases. They may even sort of tingle. So since you’re so relaxed you would feel some tingliness in your feet and hands, perhaps your lips that’s nice. That’s
And since your face and head and neck and shoulders and arms and hands are relaxed and your torso and belly are all relaxed and your pelvic region and your legs and feet are all relaxed, just let that leisure permeate your whole being. Bringing you now–since it feels so nice, feels so open, feels so free, allow yourself to simply calm down much more completely, much more totally, much more profoundly now. And you could notice since the body and mind will not be separate, they’re one system, as your body gets much more relaxed, the mind sort of melts and becomes much more open.
The mind itself becomes relaxed and open. It’s almost prefer it melts and turns to a sort of vapor. As an alternative of a mind of sharp, cold ice, it’s now similar to steam or mist, wide awake, very clear, but in addition very, very porous and relaxed. Now let’s just sit with this wide open completely relaxed mind, very deeply relaxed body and just allow awareness to naturally notice the breath wave coming and going. If the mind starts to show to ice again, starts to congeal around some object, just let it calm down and open again. Time and again. Each time the fist tightens around a ball, grabs onto a ball to play with, just calm down and let the fist naturally fall open and the ball just drops. So let’s do this together for slightly while.
You’ll notice perhaps, that there’s a sort of a habit of grabbing onto stuff along with your mind, but you’ll also notice you don’t should do it. It’s not needed. So for those who notice the mind grabbing onto something–Oh I need to take into consideration that–just calm down. It’s a lot easier to simply calm down and let the thing drift away and the mind come back to this very nice, wide openness where there’s respiratory happening. You are feeling drained or whatever, such as you’re slipping away, just open your eyes or sit up. This isn’t a sleepy meditation. The sky of the mind is shiny and clear and crisp, very awake.
Good. I keep talking in regards to the mind, let your mind return to whatever you think its rest condition is, nonetheless it normally is for you, after which I even have some questions for you that I need you to analyze directly. These will not be mental inquiries to answer from logic or memory, they’re just looking-type questions like: is that the colour green or whatever? You look and see. That’s it.
So these are look-and-see questions on your mind. Everybody has a mind. So the primary query is: What’s the shape of your mind? Is it a sphere? Is it a cube? Does it have a shape like a chunk of popcorn? Look now directly at your individual mind. What’s its shape? What’s the shape of your mind and as you’re looking, does it just have one shape or does it change? Is it constantly changing shape? What’s the form? You’ve got a mind, it will need to have a shape, right, what shape is it? And for those who determine that it does have a selected shape, look and see if it truly is that shape or not. What are you finding? What shape is it? It’s interesting, looking directly.
Here’s one other one, this sounds easy, but it surely won’t be. Where’s it situated? Where’s your mind situated and for those who say in my head, okay, where in your head? Or if it fills your whole head, is it head-shaped? Where is it situated? If it’s smaller than your head, is it like rolling around in there or is it sort of suspended in the course of the pinnacle? In that case, what’s holding it there? Look. It’s your mind, it’s best to know. So I assume you found it by now, you understand the precise location of your mind. Although, if you could have found it, it’s an interesting query, what’s taking a look at it? But anyway…
What’s the colour of your mind? Is it blue, is it orange? Perhaps you could have a brindle mind or something. What color is your mind? Or a pattern, perhaps you could have a paisley or orange and purple paisley mind. Let me know if you could have considered one of those. Those are the special people. But what color is your mind? And what pattern does it have? Look. Look clearly now.
Okay good, then assuming that’s all clear. Is your mind situated in a single spot and still? You found the placement I presume, but is it still, or is it moving around? Is your mind moving or still? It’s got to be one or the opposite, right? Look. I’m saying look, but, in fact, you’re not using your eyes so don’t screw up your eyes or make them tense or something. That is awareness simply aware. Is it moving or still? If it’s moving, in what way is it moving? Is it bouncing up and down or forwards and backwards, or perhaps wiggling like jello? What’s it doing? How’s it moving?
Don’t move for those who don’t should, especially don’t make motions that make appears like cracking your knuckles. Please don’t do this. That’s just fidgeting.
Good, now hopefully you noticed that you could’t really answer any of those questions because irrespective of how hard you look, you may’t actually find your mind. So let’s try something different, really different. I need you, with awareness, to look along the back of your head. Feeling the inside the back of your head, or for those who can’t feel that then the scalp on the surface of the back of your head. Feeling fastidiously along it until you discover a spot slightly below your occiput where there’s a hole. Seems like there’s a hole there.
And once you find that I just want you to get able to push your mind out the outlet so awareness goes out the back of your head. Don’t do it yet just wait. Find that hole and okay ready, now one, two, three go! Awareness goes out the back of your head into space. If it snaps back in then just take a breath and extend it out again, out the outlet, out into the space behind your head, and see for those who can calm down in such a way that it stays there. Notice what it’s like back there. It’s just sort of vast, just like the sky, but it surely’s also type of like just outer space or something. It’s totally empty.
There’s no partitions, there’s no floor, there’s similar to this totally empty space. For those who end up seeming to inhabit the inside your skull again and find that hole again and pop back out the back into space and just rest there in that openness. That’s just like the sky again except it’s just this totally empty sky with no partitions of any kind, no ground of any kind, there’s not an earth or it’s not even blue.
Okay good, superb, now feeling along the back of your neck, come to the place type of behind your voice box somewhere in your neck, there’ll be one other hole like that within the back. It’s like a spot–you may feel your skin all along, but there’s one place you may’t feel the skin, that’s the outlet. So when you found it then one, two, three, pop awareness out that hole, out into that vast space. No ground in any respect. Wide open. Can you’re feeling it? That’s at all times there right behind. Just hanging out in that space. There’s nothoughts or feelings there, it’s just space, aware space.
Okay, let’s do that another spot. Feel the back of your neck again. Come down your spine below your shoulders until you come somewhere within the neighborhood of your heart but behind your body. So in your spine wherever your heart is, there’s a gap there. It’s larger, very distinct once you feel it. Once you find that we’re gonna do the identical thing, but on this latest spot. Ready one, two, three, go, shoot awareness, shoot your mind out that opening into space. Feel the large space. No partitions, no ceiling, no ground in any respect. Zero ground.
Notice your mind can just be back there on this gigantic space and the body is sort of similar to the skin of a balloon on the front of that space. And that vast space back there may be very still and really peaceful, incredibly still. Now notice that the space behind the guts and the space behind that hole within the neck and the space behind the pinnacle, it’s all one space. Dwell in that space. For those who end up coming back into the body just return out. You already know where the holes are. Return out. Rest in space. Wide awake, utterly aware, empty space.
Alright, we’ll do another. Allow awareness to travel down the spine way, way down into the pelvic region. We almost never do that one, so that is cool. And within the pelvic region in the world of the sacrum, you’ll notice one other opening and this one’s really big. If you find that, prepare, one, two, three go. Shoot awareness, shoot the mind out that hole into the space behind, the incredibly vast open space behind. That one you may really feel the bottomless, groundless, emptiness beneath. And see again how that isn’t any different than the space behind the guts or the throat or the pinnacle, it’s one big space.
So notice those other openings in the guts, the neck, the pinnacle abruptly. All of them opening out into this vast, vast, vast space. It’s almost hard to carry on to being any person in any respect when there’s that much space and if you wish to you may just let go. You won’t disappear or die. Nothing bad will occur. Just let go and just fall into the space. After which for those who get caught up in a thought you’ll snap back but you understand what to do, just return out considered one of these openings into the space. Back into the space. Total stillness, tremendous freedom, wide openness.
Good. Now allow awareness to return back into the body, but notice it like latest. The sensation of body sensations, how they’re just sort of hanging out in that space. It’s not like there’s some space behind your body, it’s like this vast space has this tiny little little bit of body sensation arising in it. Nice or unpleasant, but vivid and shiny, various and interesting, every kind of body sensations. Emotions, feelings, being nervous or joyous or disenchanted or frustrated or whatever. Perhaps abruptly. That’s all shiny and colourful and interesting and sort of weird since it’s just hanging out on this space. Where does it even come from?
After which, there’s all that considering which so often looks as if the middle of every little thing and filling up, but it surely’s not even a minuscule, tiny fraction of that space. And yet it’s shiny, it’s got pictures and sounds, it’s there, it’s flashing through space like lightning in a dark sky, coming and going and yet not coming from anywhere or going to anywhere.
So it’s not that this empty space is by some means realer than the emotions and thoughts and body, but it surely’s also that the emotions and thoughts and body aren’t realer than that space. They arrive together in a sort of magic show through which anything can arise. That’s the thing in regards to the space, anything can arise from it. Every part does arise from it. In order we get to the top here I need you to, on purpose, have a selected thought and feeling arise. It’s like a wish and sometimes we see peace and healing for the entire world.
Tonight I just want you to assume that everybody on this room experiences physical healing, emotional healing, spiritual healing to the nth degree, the best amount of healing of all types that they may possibly have. Just allow that want to arise inside you. Everyone here to be utterly totally permanently healed in every way. It’s like a shining wish within the sky of the mind. Our open heart and our perfectly clear minds just let that wish shine forth, because that’s a sort of compassion practice, let’s do the mantra of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Avalokitesvara which you most likely already know. It’s Om Mani Padme Hum. And we’ll sing all of it together several times. I’ll just ring the bell every time and sort of follow with me at the identical time. Om Mani Padme Hum…
Just feel that. Excellent, let’s end the meditation there for now. Be at liberty to maneuver and stretch.
Dharma Talk / Q&A
Those of you who were moving the entire time, now stay perfectly still. And let’s just go to questions. Plenty of folks here tonight, so if you wish to report how that meditation was for you, great. If you might want to run and go to the lavatory, great, go do this. There’s no less than three bathrooms, so go ahead and do this, but when you wish to report on how that was for you or ask me questions, or whatever, let’s do this. Don’t be shy, raise your hand. I’ll bite, but it surely won’t hurt that bad, it’s only mildly poisonous. So what’s happening on the market?
MT: How’d it go?
Questioner 1: Very strangely, I believe due to previous experiences and the last things have been very intense. I don’t know what happened this time that my mind starts shutting off and as soon as I got relaxed and commenced feeling very sleepy, like really, really sleepy.
MT: Yeah, okay, that’s like an escape clause.
Questioner 1: Yeah, exactly after which the moment that you simply said “Oh, it’s almost finished,” then I used to be now not sleepy.
MT: Right so you probably did the suitable thing though, you kept your eyes open and also you sit up and do it from there.
Questioner 1: Yeah, but I did do a lot of the exercise I used to be just very surprised at how much each time I’d do it for slightly bit, sleepiness, right?
MT: But you didn’t fall over.
Questioner 1: I didn’t.
MT: Excellent. This can be a gold star. You didn’t fall over. There’s really sort of two things that may occur, perhaps you’re just discovering that once you calm down you’re really drained, you aren’t getting enough rest and perhaps you only need sleep. That’s one thing. Or that’s one other technique to not experience the vastness, because that’s been sort of terrifying, right? So that is one other…
Questioner 1: Mechanism
MT: Yes, so just notice it. The more you notice it, it won’t have the ability to maintain doing that. So we’re not attempting to force you into it. So step-by-step, every little thing’s cool, you understand, just little by little, that may start feeling comfortable. Relaxed and open, your mind shuts off or no less than gets quieter, it’ll begin to feel very nice, so excellent, very, superb. And also you keep showing up, so one other gold star for bravery. Excellent.
Good, so what else is happening on the market?
Questioner 2: That is gonna be somewhat hard to speak about. The exercise of moving out of the holes redirected may be very interesting in that in a single sense it didn’t really feel like awareness was going anywhere, though in imagination, it was as if that was happening and by some means that did amplify the notice of the space. It was like doing it in a magical space…
MT: Did it? God, it’s so weird.
Questioner 2: Yeah, it happens imaginably, don’t really go anywhere that space was at all times there and yet it’s as if one is moving out into that space.
MT: Yeah, and so it helps facilitate noticing that right? Absolutely. The funny thing is after we’re talking in regards to the mind, imagination counts. That’s your mind right, so it’s not like–plenty of meditation traditions sort of throw out imagination, don’t do this, that’s just considering, but actually it’s interesting, it’s useful, it will probably be anyway. So superb. Was there more to say about that?
Questioner 2: That’s it
MT: Thanks for pointing that out. How’d it go?
Questioner 2: Yeah it’s interesting how what is amazingly obvious isn’t at all times.
MT: It’s probably the most obvious thing on the planet, but we’re contracting down onto other things, right? As soon as we sort of let go of that toy for a minute you’ll start noticing Oh, the thing that’s at all times there, right? We just really there’s a number of toys – Tik Tok is basically interesting you understand and super vital, but you let go of it, it’s like okay, you understand there’s this vast space of the mind there. So yeah it’s probably the most obvious thing there’s. Excellent thanks. What else is happening on the market? Questions, comments, reports, movie reviews… yes?
Questioner 3: I definitely noticed there was type of this constant balance of getting to self-regulate to ensure that that I felt physically comfortable and that I didn’t start tensing up, but the opposite really interesting thing that stuck out to me was that as I used to be like convincing myself that the space around me was as real because the space inside me, it began to feel very intuitively weird that I could only experience my very own sensations and like every little thing was just contained to me and that I couldn’t feel other people. In order that was quite surprising.
MT: You mean other people’s physical sensations?
Questioner 3: I believe so.
MT: Because you may see the room right, in order that’s a sensation outside you. You’ll be able to hear the room, right? So you would possibly not have the ability to feel the itch on my knee. I believe that’s what you’re saying?
Questioner 3: Yeah.
MT: Okay, yeah it’s sort of weird right? There’s little local areas of contraction type of, but there’s also all this other experience on the market. Very cool, so questions on or is it just sort of a report.
Questioner 3: I suppose the query is, does it get easier to not feel so itchy?
MT: Relies on your food plan or whatever is causing itchiness, even when it’s just psychological but what does get easier isn’t being bothered by it. So for instance, if I sit still like this long enough my legs will fall asleep and that feels sort of tingly, not itchy but tingly, but it surely’s not hurting my legs for that to occur. They’re not gonna turn blue and fall off or something. They only feel tingly for a minute after which I just allow them to do it after which after some time they don’t do this anymore.
So you only sort of get used to the itchiness or discomfort. Numerous persons are sort of wiggling so much. It’s like eventually you only sort of get used to the discomfort and stop wiggling and it actually makes it less–no more. So do a number of it, but that feeling of: there’s plenty of stuff–perhaps sort of a contracted feeling–there’s these certain discomforts which can be background more often than not. But after we sit they’re foreground for some time after which eventually your brain is like well that’s at all times there and it type of just shuts it off.
MT: Good. What else? Any burning questions?
Questioner 4: I just noticed the type of melty-like, relaxing into your body thing that it just felt really good.
MT: It does.
Questioner 4: In a way that was type of like a narcotic, you understand, I wasn’t sure if I used to be just type of melting into that feeling of feeling good without being more aware.
MT: Yeah, so how did you understand you felt good, right?
Questioner 4: Right
MT: Yeah, so just don’t go to sleep yeah.
Questioner 4: That wasn’t really a problem, I didn’t feel sleepy, I felt…
MT: …really relaxed, but notice there’s sort of a sense like perhaps leisure is bad, so just even flirt with just narcotic-ing out on leisure, but then if it seems like–wow perhaps I went too far with that– how do you understand you’re relaxed, right? Just notice that you simply’re totally aware of the comfort. Okay? And sure, it will probably be the case that you simply start to truly go into hypnagogia or whatever after which just come out of it. Although later when your awareness is basically clear you may even go into that and not sleep and even into dream and be awake right, so we’re not quite so afraid of that in here. I mean we don’t want to simply sleep after we meditate, but notice the notice part. That is the report corner. The remainder of the room is basically failing. Other stuff happening on the market?
Questioner 5: I just wish to report that the holes did nothing for me.
MT: What does that mean? Well, all you notice is space and stillness, in order that they’re not doing anything. You mean you couldn’t exit them?
Questioner 5: I wasn’t perceiving holes. I’m not at good at visualising. I believe that’s the issue. The space was there without the holes.
MT: And so you may notice space behind your body at once?
Questioner 5: I suppose so.
MT: Yes or no.
Questioner 5: Sure.
MT: So do you notice space inside your body?
Questioner 5: Sure
MT: Is there anything between those two spaces?
Questioner 5: Just space.
MT: That’s the outlet. It’s just a extremely big one. Okay? You already know you understand tips on how to do the space. So it’s just an enormous hole. Right, there you go, thanks in your report. Yes?
Questioner 6: I just imagined the holes. I’m unsure in the event that they were there or not.
MT: They’re there. Were you in a position to exit?
Questioner 6: Oh yeah. Well, I used to be in a position to get the vast space. I used to be already like in all places. I got the perception of the vast space behind more. Yes.
MT: Yeah, and you then notice we did 4 holes after which we’ve got all of those open directly, but eventually where it might go to is where you only noticed–it’s just–there’s just space back there and there’s no boundary in any respect. Right, superb, you imagined it.
MT: What about your mind, what shape and size and color? Anybody got a purple and orange paisley mind? I keep in search of those. What’d you notice about your mind?
Questioner 7: At school on Monday the teacher was talking in regards to the developmental patterns and the way it evolves…
MT: We’ve got a meditation class on Monday?
Questioner 7: It’s a movement class, it was BMC, and he was talking about and mainly just like the front part develops into your viscera and the center part goes into the musculoskeletal system and your external part is your skin and your brain. Like sort of come from the same zone developmentally. And so it just sort of got me eager about it just like the shape of after I was sort of fiddling with the form of mind. I used to be sort of distributing that throughout the whole lot of my body and it sort of felt like this after I was doing like a visualization it was type of like this glowy tendrily thing that was vaguely shaped in my like sack of skin…
MT: Okay so with no visualization what shape is your mind?
Questioner 7: Well I mean… it doesn’t… yeah.
MT: Right, in order that’s the direction just notice you may’t discover a shape. The opposite thing may be very cool as a visualization and possibly really useful for energy stuff and all that. The major thing to note is you may’t discover a shape, you may’t discover a color, you may’t discover a location, you may’t find what’s holding it up, you may’t find what size it’s since it’s not a thing. You’ve a mind but it surely’s not an object, but I can say that time and again and it doesn’t mean anything but once you actually search and look fastidiously in those categories that we use for objects, you may’t find it.
Or is it moving or still? You’ll be able to’t even answer that right, not for those who look closely, it’s very odd. So the undeniable fact that we’re a mind or have a mind or nonetheless you wish to say it, is there it’s, you’re having an experience, but you may’t find any object qualities about it. In order that’s sort of what we’re pointing to there. Everybody understand that? So I need to hang around doing the flicker jellyfish thing you’re describing. It’s like a cool visualization, but you may do this because there isn’t a shape to your mind. You’ll be able to visualize anything. So, anybody else find a selected… yes?
Questioner 8: There’s such a robust temptation to assume something at the middle of me that’s like contacting something else in my awareness. And the more that I used to be in search of like where is the mind and sometimes like an emotion would arise and it’d be like oh that’s similar to in my stomach, like there’s not a thing in the middle that’s like touching the thing in my stomach, it’s just after which that starts open things from…
MT: And that’s the direction exactly and particularly for those who discover a spot where your mind is, well, what’s taking a look at the spot? Oh, it’s a latest spot over here. Well is that where it’s? You’ll be able to’t land anywhere and truly for those who take a look at that emotion closely, you may’t discover a spot really. Even type of high-res way it’ll be in a certain area but for those who go right to the middle of it you may’t really locate it, since it’s empty also. There’s no object. It’s a constantly changing field of sensation, right? Excellent. Yes? How’d you get here tonight?
Questioner 9: I drove
MT: How did you understand this exists?
Questioner 9: I got here here with a friend for… uh, I mean I forgot his name the…
MT: Uh, who’s that guy?
(Laughter)
Questioner 9: No, no I didn’t forget my friend’s name, we got here for Daniel Ingram, yeah, it was great awesome. So yeah that’s how I discovered about this. But I’ve been meditating by myself for quite a while which was… it’s at all times…
MT: How long is kind of a while?
Questioner 9: I suppose, since I used to be a child. So my mom taught me… well okay get in my life story… so I used to be diagnosed with ADHD and my mom was a hippie so she didn’t wish to throw Ritalin at me. Which they did that to my sister and that didn’t work out, in order that’s why and so she taught me tips on how to meditate. That’s why I began meditating. It was very utilitarian.
MT: Yeah, me too, that’s great.
Questioner 9: Yeah, so recently I’ve been pursuing the spiritual side of this so it’s very easy to simply type of drift into the space that you simply’re talking about and things happened tonight that were really different, like I used to be feeling my leg like the whole time and like then I needed to say I just had this thing of like I never move on meditating. I used to be like there’s a bug in my hair of course! So it was really weird to love be like alright I’m gonna play along and go along with this this thing and like I used to be forced that you simply’re saying take a look at your mind like my mind became extremely loud it’s like yelling at me like I’m a large shape, I’m a fractal, I’m not, I’m space, I’m cosmic. I’m like whoa…
MT: You’re really concerned about these…
Questioner 9: Yeah, yeah, I’ve never tried to have a look at my mind and it was so loud after which that thing that you simply were talking about happened where you were like ‘who’s taking a look at it?’ and I used to be like ‘ah I do know this one, see the witness’ after which I used to be like wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, who’s who… It was really fucked up.
MT: Yeah. That’s the goal.
Questioner 9: Yeah yeah after which after which it was… I used to be very outside my comfort zone, like literally physically uncomfortable. So yeah, it’s cool.
MT: Wonderful, yeah. notice that although that looks as if an infinite regress–the Hall of Mirrors–it’s not because your brain figures it out and goes ‘oh it’s not anywhere’ and so it doesn’t go on endlessly. You’re not a math machine. Good thanks. Yes?
Questioner 10: I just wish to say I actually appreciated the additional instructions around shape and color and around finding the mind. That’s an instruction that’s in a number of meditations that I do and I spotted when you’re giving those instructions that I used to be entering into like an actual pattern for locating a mind and that turned the mind on the mind slightly bit more.
MT: Good, yeah those are really classic Mahamudra instructions right so typically Kagyu lineage type instructions.
Questioner 10: Tonglen yeah…thanks
MT: in order that’s like core of Vajyarana sequence, but once you go at it again in a fresh way, impulsively ‘oh!’ Awesome yeah thanks for bringing that up. Yes?
Questioner 11: If you asked those questions on how is your mind, my mind is essentiallly ‘there isn’t a answer to this, why are we asking?’ So it actually distracted me…
MT: Okay, but notice that’s a thought and what I used to be asking you to do was not go into considering, but look, so even for those who can’t find it, I still want you to look, since you’re cheating otherwise. It’s like just hanging out and considering right? So it’s like I’m at all times saying it’s a ‘where’s Waldo?’ The reply isn’t, Well I do know he’s on the page somewhere. It’s likeand even for those who know there isn’t one, keep looking okay, it’s a unique thing. Excellent. Anyone else have a burning query or anything?
Questioner 12: It occurred to me within the meditation to ask, I’ve been interested by this whole emptiness thing I’ve been hearing about for a very long time.
MT: This crazy emptiness thing.
Questioner 12: And I used to be, Oh, is that this that emptiness thing? It’s that space, that’s spaciousness.
MT: It doesn’t should be space, but that’s the reason you mix emptiness, but in other words, that is empty too. Despite the fact that it’s not, that’s a piece of metal, still empty right? So it’s not that that’s it. The simplest technique to describe it in modern English and modern Western concept is: it means something is a mental construction. That’s it. So you understand there’s probably a room stuffed with people here, but you’re experiencing a mental construction of it because that’s how we experience stuff. So you only notice that’s a mental construction. That’s emptiness. Not that there’s no person here, okay, but the standard technique to go into that deeply is to note that sort of space, that aware space, because then the subsequent–what was the subsequent thing we did? It’s like notice that now stuff is just appearing on this screen of this spacious emptiness. That’s the looks, that’s the mental construct.
And interestingly the mental construct and the emptiness aren’t–one isn’t realer than the opposite. There’s an actual urge to be like, so the emptiness is absolutely the, that’s the actual thing, but it surely’s not. It’s all just as real, but we are inclined to put all of the stuff in a box after which sort of, like–the flow of experience moves on, but we still have our boxes that we’re putting every little thing in and that’s the non-emptiness. In order that’s what I need you to see there. A extremely easy way is to seek out the space. Okay, good.
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