Streamed survive Jan 2, 2025
Hey you guys. Welcome to this guided meditation. As usual, let’s do somewhat short movement thing. I’ll do it from my chair. You’ll be able to do it out of your meditation cushion, but just begin by respiration upward like this. Really expanding your lungs and chest, stretching your arms up, stretching your neck, back. You’ll be able to take a pair breaths here. Make it be just right for you, in fact. Have it fit your body. Then slowly bring your arms down, respiration out after which over a technique, opening your side ribs. Taking a deep deep deep breath. Respiration, taking a pair breaths here—making it be just right for you—after which back up. Respiration in the middle position for a moment, after which taking one other deep breath and opening up the opposite way. Really stretching open those side ribs—feels so good—after which coming back to center.
Okay, after which, again, if it really works for you, let’s do a twist a technique. Hold it for somewhat while, after which twist the opposite way. Hold it for somewhat while. Okay. You then can just move forwards and backwards like this somewhat bit, to feel some looseness, some openness. Rotate your arms and wrists, taking some nice deep breaths. Then slowly bring that to an in depth.
What we’ll do is sit in our meditation posture. I’m in a chair once I’m doing this at home, so we just sit up within the chair, nice and straight, try to not slump back in a chair. In reality, the perfect is in case you lock the chair within the upright position, then sit forward on it enough that my feet are flat on the bottom, and my back is definitely not being supported by the chair. I’m sitting up. But in case you’re in your cushion, then same thing. You’re just getting your back nice and upright, having your chin down just somewhat—bit not way down—but only a tiny bit, like five degrees, in order that the back of your neck opens very barely. The very top of your head seems like it’s being lifted up towards the ceiling in a pleasing way, after which your shoulders really calm down, really calm down, really calm down, and you might have your hands in your knees. If you should do mudras, you place them in your knees like this, down, along with your palms in your thighs. Or, using the identical mudra, you may turn them over, with the backs of your hands flat in your thighs. Don’t hold them up like within the mindfulness photographs online. Nobody meditates like that. Either flat down or flat up, or you may rest them in your lap like this—that Zen mudra. Any of those are high-quality.
Now, whatever feels good for you, okay. As usual, you may do most of those meditations either open-eyed or closed-eyed. For doing nondual meditations like we’re doing on this channel, traditionally we’d do them eyes open, because eventually with nondual meditation you’re doing it as you’re walking around, and you should practice for that from the very starting. So that you are likely to keep your eyes open when you’re meditating, but you don’t should, especially if it makes it really rather a lot harder. Also, there’s sort of an in-between one, where you might have your eyes technically open, but you’re looking straight down at the ground or the carpet, or something uninteresting like that, so light is coming in, but you’re not likely anything. In order that’s sort of the in-between one.
Okay, we’re going to start tonight with the bodhisattva of great compassion, Chenrezig. Avalokiteshvara, he who hears the cries of the world. Although, in East Asia, he switches gender and becomes a she, and is Quan Yin. Sometimes called the Virgin Mary of Buddhism, which will not be in any respect what a bodhisattva is. But, in any case, I’ve heard Quan Yin described that way. We’re going to do the om mani padme hum mantra, which is, in fact, the mantra of Avalokiteshvara, the mantra of Chenrezig. Normally, it’s really fun once I do it within the room on the Alembic where we now have a bunch of individuals, and we’re all doing it together. There’s no break within the sound, because once I take a breath, other people proceed chanting. But here, with just me and also you, each of us in our rooms, or wherever we’re at, we’re going to do the om mani padme hum mantra together. So I’m just gonna start doing it, and I like to recommend for the mantra chanting, you do this along with your eyes closed, and just feel that sense of affection and compassion, and think about your third eye.
Normally, before we start, we just open up, we drop into our greatest approximation of awake awareness. Just noticing the openness and space and freedom of awareness that’s all the time there after we’re not caught up within the mind. It’s all the time there. That’s our natural state. That’s our basic nature, just spaciousness, and consciousness. Total freedom and total awakeness, and it’s only the layers and veils and confusion and muck of the considering mind that gets in the way in which of that. But, in fact, it will possibly’t really get in the way in which in the long term, because even that, all that considering mind, is made from nothing apart from this awake spaciousness. But, either way, we drop into that for only a moment. Notice that spacious awakeness, after which we start to chant. So let’s do this together.
[chanting]
Excellent. Now, feeling the energy of chanting, that mantra radiating out through all of space, all of time, all the universe. Finding no boundary, finding no impediment, finding only compassion, kindness, love, caring, joy. Spreading that to all sentient beings in every single place in your entire universe. May everyone in every single place be comfortable. May everyone in every single place be crammed with love. May everyone in every single place be healthy and powerful. May everyone in every single place have enough to eat and a lifetime of peace. Just feel that radiating out, radiating out the energy of the mantra, just radiating out in all directions, and in addition radiating back into you, since you’re the recipient of that from everyone else also. Just feel that. Remaining in your natural state, remaining as just wide open, wide awakeness, remaining completely outside the considering mind.
And from here, we just switch into noticing our considering mind. We’re not engaging with the thoughts in any respect, we’re just noticing what I call the thought activity, the bubbling up of a thought. And we just notice it. Now, for some people, that is the standard sound type considering, mental talk—blah blah blah—for others, it’s mental pictures bubbling up after which fading away. For some it’s a combination of each mental talk and mental images bubbling up and fading away, but in fact we’re not taking note of any of that content in any respect. We’re just noticing that it’s bubbling up after which fading away, after which bubbling up after which fading away again.
Okay. Now, for a few of us, after we really are noticing thought activity, we’re not likely encountering it a lot as words and pictures—although that’s there, it’s not that it’s not there—but a few of us feel the thought activity as almost like a current or of a bubbling up of body sensation or something like that. We are saying the energy of thought, and it’s not something I’m attempting to get you to note, I’m just aware that some people experience it that way. I definitely experience it that way often, and so, whether it’s a flow of images, or a flow of mental talk, or each, or a flow of energy, like a flow of body sensation, or bubbles coming up, whatever it seems like, or is experienced like for you, just be the awake space wherein that thought bubbles up. And remember, to be the awake space, will not be something you might have to attempt to do. It’s there mechanically for you, it’s just that you just don’t get entangled within the considering— that’s all it requires. Once you’re not involved within the considering, you then’re present in space.
Okay, now, if this is just too hard. If thought is so sticky, even after the mantra. If thought is so sticky that you just just can’t detach from it enough to follow it in this fashion, then just follow the breath. But we’re still doing it, we’re still following it from awake space, as boundless, timeless, awakeness.
So, from boundless, timeless, awakeness, just pay attention to thought activity. We’d say the bubbling and churning and flow of thought itself, without getting engaged in it in any respect. We’re not attempting to stop the flow of thought, we’re not trying to vary the flow of thought, we’re not attempting to interrupt it, or one way or the other make it go away, or divert it, or anything like that. You’re just letting it’s exactly the way in which it normally is, but you’re watching it, and by watching, I mean, nevertheless it’s coming up for you, you’re just aware of it. So that you’re resting as awake space, which, again, remember, is something that just happens if you’re not involved in thought. Letting the thoughts bubble up and pass, and bubble up and pass. It’s identical to the expression of the moment, this fountain, this, burbling, gurgling, fountain of thought. So I’ll be quiet now for some time, and we’ll just do that together.
Let’s keep going with that, remembering it’s pretty easy to get caught up in thought, because we are likely to do that every one day long. So don’t give yourself a tough time about it. Just anytime you notice that you just’re back contained in the machinery of thought, you’re back grinding on it, just let it go, let it go, and are available back to only resting as awake space. Just resting as awake space. And you might have to do this time and again and over—and that’s completely high-quality. Keep in mind that we’re not attempting to one way or the other witness the thought or be separate from the thought. The thought is arising inside awake space, and so we’re just aware of it. Just aware of it, observing its flow but not getting involved within the content in any respect. Let’s proceed. We’re going to do that for some time, so just keep going.
Okay. Excellent. Now we’ll go somewhat deeper with this. As an alternative of simply observing the thought activity, being with it, I need you to note specifically its flow-like nature. It’s flux nature. The undeniable fact that it keeps moving and changing, and moving and changing. The undeniable fact that it’s never still. It doesn’t sit there. It just burbles and gurgles and flows along, and is utterly, utterly, transient. It arises and passes, and arises and passes, and arises and passes. So we’re in search of this particular impermanent quality within the thoughts now. Don’t narrow down. Stay in your nature is awake space, but just notice somewhat more particularly—just with somewhat more attention on the thought—just notice its continuous changing nature. Let’s tune into that again for a number of minutes together.
Okay, good. Now to take this somewhat deeper, begin to note where the thoughts are coming from. So we’ve been watching them arise after which pass, and arise after which pass, now let’s look specifically, where do they arise from? From where did they arise? Hint: it won’t be any particular location. Even when sometimes it looks as if there’s a location, then other thoughts will arise in other parts. So just attempt to look into where thoughts come from. Where do they arrive from? This flow of thought activity—whence does it arise? Let’s look.
Keep in mind that we’re doing this phenomenologically. It’s not an idea—well, they arrive from my brain—not like that in any respect. You’re attempting to notice in your experience where you experience them as arising from.
Hint: it’s not that we’re going to search out a location. The thoughts don’t really come from any particular location. But if you look, or sense into, or feel into, or notice, where they’re coming from, what do you notice? Where are they coming from? That starts to get pretty interesting.
Let’s watch the opposite end of it. So, we were watching them arise and pass, after which we were where they arose from. Now, let’s notice where they pass to. Where do they go after they’re done, and the thoughts vanish? Into what do they vanish? Let’s watch the vanishing of every thought, or listen, or feel into, or notice, the vanishing of thought. Again, we’re never getting involved within the content, we’re just—blah blah blah blah blah blah—the top of every stream of thought, watch where it goes. Don’t intentionally make thought just so you might have something to observe. If nothing’s happening, just sit there as space, then when the thought arises, watch where it goes. There is usually a tendency here to attempt to sort of watch it closely, and also you begin to tighten up, so remember to remain relaxed, stay wide open. Just observe in an informal way.
Okay, good. Now, I need you to, with the arising of every thought, look into—again, experientially, not as an idea, not as an idea, but experientially—into who or what’s considering the thought? Find the source of the thought. Who’s considering it? So, as each thought arises—here comes this activity—just go look back at who’s considering it. And the reply will not be an idea, like me, or my brain. You’re looking, you’re experiencing, what’s the source of the thought.
Okay, good. Now, you might have noticed that the place, or the space the thoughts are coming from is identical because the place, or the space, that they’re going to after they’re done. And that very same thing is what’s considering the thoughts. It’s the awake space itself, not as a thinker, but because the source of the thinker, since the awake space is the source of the whole lot.
So, now, whatever that space is—that awake space underneath or around or inside—whatever word you should use—as a substitute of thought now, let go of thought entirely, and just rest as awake space itself. Now, it could proceed to generate thoughts, and things may proceed to occur, in fact, but we just rest because the awake space itself, which requires no doing of any kind. As soon as there’s doing, you then’re in thought, so drop out of all doing, and just rest as awake space itself, which is your natural state. There’s nothing you should do, just anytime you begin to get entangled in anything, just let go, come back.
If it’s, for whatever reason, too difficult, return to only working with the thoughts. Like seeing from where they arise, or noticing where they go to. But, on the whole, we just do that as the following step. We just let go of taking note of thoughts entirely again, not even the activity of thought, and we just rest because the wakefulness itself, wide awake, and yet not doing anything in any respect. Not even meditating, just sitting as our own natural awakeness, our own, already existing clarity, and wide open consciousness.
Resting as awake space, recognizing that the stillness of awake space, and the movement of thought, are never separate. They all the time arise together, as does the stillness of awake space, and the movement of emotion, and the stillness of awake space, and all of the movement of the world, all the activities of our mind and body, and even of the world around us, the opposite people, the cars, airplanes, birds, wolverines—especially wolverines—within the tiger satellites, moons, stars, suns, all co-arising with awake space. Never separate, all inside us, inside awakeness, inside being. A sort of reflection, a sort of show, but an exuberant, beautiful, meaningful, show, that’s all the time playing out on the screen, so to talk, of awakeness itself. Which is what we actually are—regardless that it’s not a thing. So with that allow’s bring the meditation to an in depth.
Very nice to take a seat with you tonight. The sun set here while we were doing that, so now it truly is tonight. Thanks for meditating with me. Just feel how we should not our thoughts. That doesn’t mean thoughts are bad, or fallacious. Thoughts are what arise within the awakeness. They’re just as natural, just as beautiful, just as fresh and clear and clean as anything. Emotions, too. Whatever emotions—difficult emotions, beautiful emotions, anything emotional, just arises because the natural, beautiful, pristine, expression of awake space itself. Inside space, permeated by space, not separate from space, ever.
Again, we’re talking about awake space. The being that we imagine ourselves to be—the being of thought and feeling and body sensations—consists of nothing apart from awakeness. It’s composed of nothing apart from the source of being, the groundless ground of being, burgeoning forth with an exuberant display. But when we needed to point at what we’re, so to talk, it’s that awake space, way more than the sock puppet being, way more than the looks being that’s reflected within the mirror.
And yet, our minds are all the time drawn back, over and yet again, to the reflections within the mirror, because we’re just all caught up in that. But after we meditate, like we did tonight, we notice—it’s almost identical to a half-silvered mirror we begin to see through and keep in mind that what we’re is what’s beneath the mirror, so to talk. A terrible metaphor, however it’s the one I’ve got: What’s beneath the mirror, that open awakeness, the space itself, the boundless, timeless, centerless, being itself. So there’s nothing we’d like to do to be that. We already are that. It’s only the ruminations of the mind that make us feel like we must do that, we must do this, we now have to resolve this, and heal that, and recover from this, and do this, before we will rest as awake awareness itself. But actually, we all the time are awakeness. We all the time have been awake awareness we all the time shall be awake awareness. So just let go, and rest as awakeness itself.
Okay, next week I’ll be coming to you reside from the Alembic, so I’ll see you then. Within the meantime, much love, a number of peace, harmony, joy, beauty. And really feel that awakeness. I’ll see you soon.
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