Guided Nondual Meditation with Michael Taft
Meditation
Okay, so we’ll do something we haven’t done before. Sit together with your hands like this in your thighs. Palms up. And I would like you to simply breathe in through your hands. So the palms of your hands have holes that you could breathe through. Just take big deep breaths through the palms of your hands for a number of minutes. Feel the air rushing up your arms and down into your belly after which back up out of your belly and out your hands.
All right. So on the out-breath, you’ll be able to put your hands back wherever you would like them. And just check in with yourself asking the query: what’s it wish to be me without delay? So just tuning into your frame of mind, your state of heart, your state of body, the state of life. What’s it wish to be inside your skin on this moment? And only for the time of this meditation, let that be good. Meaning regardless of what’s happening there, let or not it’s that way. Don’t have any agenda to vary it. Just allow yourself to be exactly the best way you might be. For once letting go of the agenda to consistently make it something different, make it something higher, make it something it needs to be, and as a substitute just letting or not it’s exactly what it’s.
After which into the space of being you without delay, just allow yourself to note, with none particular focus, the rising and falling of the wave of the breath. So we’re not narrowly attending to that, we’re just, in a very normal way, noticing the approaching and going of the breath, or lets say, the rising and falling of the breath wave. So your mind stays nice and open, nice and wide. Not narrowing down on anything particularly, but aware of this rising wave of breath after which the falling wave of breath. And let’s stick with that together for a number of minutes here.
Just continuing to permit the mind to be relaxed and open and easily noticing that the breath comes and goes without doing anything particular with it, but just sitting and relaxing and opening.
And if it’s available to you, I would like you to take up a metaphor of meditation tonight as if we’re meditating like a tree. Meditate like a tree and in reality, if this works for you, imagine in front of you a gorgeous tree. It may well be whatever form of tree, but it surely’s ancient and thriving, and tremendously beautiful. So either feel that or imagine it or simply feel like a tree, but this tree has roots that go down into the core of the Earth.
And so Earth energy is rising up spreading out through the trunk and branches and leaves of the tree. This ancient, grounded, humble energy that’s paradoxically each humble and noble. And the branches of the tree opened up into the vast, open sky, and the sensible warm, healing, sacred light of the Sun is soaked up by all of the leaves of the tree and runs down the branches and into the trunk.
Remember we’re staying absolutely motionless.
And you’ll be able to imagine in the middle of the tree within the trunk there’s a spot where the daylight energy and the earth energy meet and mingle within the core or the guts of the tree connecting the earth and the sky. And when those connect the tree is full of blossoms and with fruit and with birds and animals. Now either feel that, or picture that, or imagine that as clearly as you’ll be able to.
And when you’re doing that just allow yourself to essentially let go. Let go of any tension in your head or face, or any in your front or back, your belly or your back. Release all tension out of your legs and arms and hands and feet. Allowing yourself, as you form of bask within the presence of this beautiful tree, to simply completely chill out and let go with none effort. Just being within the presence permits you to simply drop now far more deeply right into a relaxed, open, nice, being with.
And through which not only your body relaxes but your heart loosens and opens. And on the following set of breaths, you notice yourself coming together or merging with the tree in order that the tree body and your body are one body. Your roots go right down to the core of the earth. And on the in-breath, you’re feeling the daylight pouring in from above filling your entire body. And on the out-breath, you’re feeling the earth energy rising from below meeting in the guts and opening your heart increasingly more beautifully, increasingly more perfectly. Feeling the tremendous vitality and aliveness and generativity and sweetness and charm of this tree, and the harmony and balance of the earth energy and the sky energy coming together in your heart.
Now regularly allowing the mind to expand upward and outward into increasingly more of the sky. Because we’re rooted so deeply within the earth, the mind can expand upward and outward and upward and outward. Naturally, easily, effortlessly rolling open just like the sky. If the mind starts closing down around any particular object–grabbing on, tightening, constricting–just chill out. Let it return to its natural effortless, vastness just like the sky. Holding on to nothing, allowing all the pieces, utterly easy and open.
Good. Notice now, on this sky of awareness, that body sensations appear. There’s the sensation of body and people are only sensations flowing through the sky of awareness, identical to wind within the sky. The sensations are there. They’ve various properties. Flowing like wind within the sky and never remaining anywhere. Always changing and moving and open and free. Even difficult sensations, even painful sensations simply like wind moving through the sky. Notice that these body sensations don’t have any particular center. They only arise within the sky of awareness and flow there for some time like wind after which pass away like wind, with none particular location.
Let’s notice something similar about any emotions which might be arising. Whatever they could be. Irrespective of how strong or how wispy and minute, emotional sensations simply go through the sky of the mind like wind, not sticking on anything, not disturbing the sky and yet there in all their complexity and detail. The sky of the mind remaining tremendously open and simple, relaxed and vast. There’s room enough for all body sensations. There’s room enough for all emotions. None are rejected, none are suppressed or denied. They’re all welcome.
And just allow the query to arise within the sky of the mind: What emotion have I been attempting to not feel, attempting to avoid, attempting to suppress? And whatever that’s, just let that arise now unimpeded. There’s good enough room within the sky of the mind for whatever we’ve been attempting to not feel to be present. After which allow the query to arise: What feels this? after which look. What feels this? after which look.
Good. Now notice that into the vast sky of the mind of awareness the winds of thoughts are rising and falling. Various thoughts coming and going with no home, no place they arrive from, no place they go to. The winds of the thoughts don’t disturb the sky of the mind in any way. Not an issue in any respect and in addition not special, they’re just winds.
After which into this vast, wide, open, effortlessly boundless sky of awareness, allow the query to arise: What knows these thoughts? What’s aware of the winds of thought? What’s that? Look. You’ll be able to’t answer that query with more thoughts you’ve gotten to look.
Now into the sky of the mind is arising the sensation of being you. And the sensation of being me, that sense of personality and history and story that you simply are inclined to carry around, that’s just arising like wind within the sky, unique, fascinating, blowing around like winds in an unlimited, open, vibrant blue, heavenly sky, not disturbing the sky in any way. Coming from nowhere, returning to nowhere. Mercurial zephyrs of being you swirling around.
Into the sky of the mind allow the query to arise: What knows this being? What knows this personality? After which look,
Good. Now into the vast sky of the mind arises the winds of this experience meditating. Perhaps with aches and pains, perhaps with difficult emotions, perhaps with chaotic thoughts, perhaps with a way of self that’s judgmental or harsh. Notice the winds of this moment of experience rising and falling within the sky of the mind. Never the identical in a single second to the following. Changing this manner and that. Not bothering the sky in any respect and yet there in all their richness and detail.
And the following moment of the experience arises and blows across the sky of the mind and the following moment. And an issue arises: What knows this moment? You’ll be able to’t answer that with words you’ve gotten to look. Look now. What knows this moment? If you happen to think you found it, look closer. And what notices that the winds of body sensation, and the breezes of emotion, and the Zephyrs of thought, and the assorted airs and winds of being a self, and being an experience are all a part of the sky of awareness. Not separate in any respect. Naturally and spontaneously each of them knowing themselves, effortlessly, with none center and with no rim.
What knows that? Now look. Look. Look. Noticing that even the branches and roots and trunk of the tree and the leaves aren’t different than the sky. And feeling the sunshine, the nice and cozy, life-giving light of the sun flowing within the branches on the in-breath and the grounding, healing, earth energy flowing on the out-breath. And feeling the groundedness and aliveness of this tree.
And in your image allowing the tree now to shrink down in order that it lives in your heart, utterly alive, tremendously beautiful, burgeoning with flowers and fruit, birds and animals living within the tree, the nests have babies in them and the tree glows with a lightweight of sanctity and charm, blessedness. And where will you plant the seeds of that tree? Where will they find wealthy soil and take root?
Superb. Now, with me, together let’s chant Om mani padme hum very loudly, very resonantly a number of times, like perhaps nine times.
Good. Let’s end the meditation there. Be at liberty to maneuver and stretch.
Dharma Talk, Q&A
Om Mani Padme Hum is the mantra of the Bodhisattva of compassion called Avalokiteshvara normally which implies she who hears the unhappy cries of the world. She who listens to the cries of the world. And Om is after all Om, the universal Mantra. After which at the tip we’ve got Hum. Sometimes I hear people say Om mani padme om. It’s Om mani padme hum. That hum or hung, depending on the way you’re pronouncing your Sanskrit, is the seed syllable of Mahakala, this super intense protective deity, tantric type of Shiva. So Mahakala. After which in between we’ve got the Mani Padme which accurately means Jewel Lotus. And so you’ll be able to hear translations prefer it means the jewel is within the lotus, but after all that’s not there linguistically, but it surely’s really just saying to the Jeweled Lotus. So probably we’re calling Avalokiteshvara by one other name like a Bodhisattva name Jewel Lotus, like a fairly name. So Om to the Jewel Lotus Hum. It’s form of an open-source Mantra. You don’t should have any initiations or whatever to make use of. I like that one.
So notice what it’s wish to be you without delay. We did an entire bunch of trying out stuff, what it felt wish to feel your body and feel your emotions and permit thoughts to simply be there. And even: What it was wish to allow personality to easily arise? Or this experience of this moment to arise? So notice now’s it different in any way from after we began? And what’s that like? And it’s form of paradoxical because I said take a look at what it’s wish to be you without delay after which don’t change it, or don’t feel like you’ve gotten to vary it in any way after which we mainly spend an hour changing it, but not with any agenda, but simply that it’s all the time changing anyway. So you’ll be able to just type of undergo these steps and as an experiment and see what happens, not as some form of mechanistic sequence of change.
So what’s it wish to be you without delay? And far more importantly, who knows it? Or what’s knowing that? Really often you’ll hear a solution to that query but really you’ll be able to’t answer it with words and you’ll be able to’t answer it with memories and you’ll be able to’t answer it with rationalization you’ll be able to’t answer it with, at the least you’ll be able to, but you’ll be able to’t do it truthfully just from eager about it. You’ve got to look. In order I’m all the time saying, it’s like a where’s Waldo puzzle, you’ll be able to’t figure that out, you simply look.
So after I say, what knows this? It’s not, Oh I got to figure that out or I do know the reply to that, it’s no, look, without delay, look. So do it without delay. Look. What’s knowing this moment? Are you able to find it? And what’s so interesting is, once you notice you’ll be able to’t find it, hint, you’ll be able to’t, that it is extremely easy to begin saying, Oh that’s the special separate thing that knows, regardless that I can’t find it, it’s just like the space of the thing that’s aware. After which the thoughts and body sensations and emotion and sense of self and all that may be a form of like happening inside that or that’s like fish within the water of awareness or something. And it’s not that that’s not true but it surely’s like that’s only half true.
It’s only half true because all those things are, in a way, not any different than awareness. They’re the expressions of awareness. They’re the waves on the ocean or whatever. In order that it’s not the case that we’ve this special awareness that knows experience and experience is something else. If anything it’s the experience. We’re the experience or at the least aren’t separate in any way from the experience. We could almost say the experience is the ornament of awareness. So even your form of most dark, judgy, contracted, shitty thought remains to be a pure expression of this knowing, absolutely perfectly pure, as pure as anything.
So the arising of this room without delay and everybody and all the pieces in it and all of your most intimate internal sensations and emotions and memories are like this effulgent expression of knowing.
So I’m curious if that’s landing for you? Or in case you had a meditation experience you’d wish to share? Or if some burning query is arising that you’re feeling like throwing at me. Although why I’d know the reply, who knows, but when something’s arising for you that you simply’d wish to share, raise your hand and I’ll call on you and be happy to share it. We all the time should form of break the surface tension here. There’s just like the first goer. So in a minute, I’ll just call on some random victim unless any person’s brave enough to share their experience or ask an issue or critique me intensely that could be fun.
Questioner 1: It was the primary time where I felt like I used to be in a position to meditate and it was very special.
Michael: What did it feel wish to meditate for the primary time?
Questioner 1: It felt like I took a step away from myself. I went into one other room of like a really healthy distance.
Michael: So that you got to form of have slightly little bit of perspective on yourself.
Questioner 1: Yeah, it felt like watching a movie where I used to be a personality
Michael: Yeah, and that felt impactful.
Questioner 1: Yeah, I feel I’m slightly bored with myself.
Michael: Aren’t all of us, right? This may very well be an actual relief. Excellent thanks for sharing and letting me just call on you. Who else has something to share before I just start calling on you? You are feeling the rising tension…
Questioner 2: Okay, selecting your adventure. My query is why, what’s the purpose of doing this? What’s the purpose of doing anything?
Michael: That’s two questions and do you mean them to be expansions one in all the opposite or do you would like it to essentially be two questions?
Questioner 2: The second query is a broadening of the primary query as your reading suggested.
Michael: Okay so that you’re form of asking me what’s the meaning of life right? Would you say that’s a very good…
Questioner 2: Within the context of the stuff that you realize about that I won’t go into great detail. I’m type of having a tough time and the best way through which I’m having a tough time with something that I had practiced for several years within the hopes of not having occur to me, and on condition that that did occur to me, I type of don’t know why I should show as much as the spiritual practice besides things prefer it feels nice and it’s relaxing.
Michael: Okay
Questioner 2: That’s why I said you selected your adventure.
Michael: No, yeah, I’m down for it. So, initially, it feels nice and is relaxing. That’s already something. That’s already a reason and in case you completely shrug those off, then the remaining of the explanations will probably be shrug-off-able as well, but I’d say there’s something about greeting our fate with grace and with acceptance and perhaps even with love that’s the meaning of wisdom because every life goes to come across really difficult shitty stuff. Even perhaps the very things that person dreaded essentially the most and yet all of us should work with that.
Something that we are able to–I almost never do that, you guys know I don’t do that–but okay, so classic Buddhist story… That is when the historical Buddha was walking around in India and a girl got here to him with a… whose infant child had recently died and she or he was in abject grief after all and the Buddha comforted her and was very kind and so forth. And yet she kept asking ? So it wasn’t nearly being comforted, there was this query of why. And so he said you realize we’re in such and such a village here. I would like you to knock on the door of each house on this village and ask them in the event that they have had any misfortunes or grief. And so she goes from house to accommodate and after all, every one in all them have also had family members die, have also had terrible things occur to them, have also seen their worst fears come true, have also suffered.
And the purpose there wasn’t form of the dickish move of trying to reduce her suffering in any respect, it was about that query and to indicate that this befalls everyone and the meaning of wisdom is to reply gracefully and maybe even beautifully to that have. And that in a profound way we’re not picked out for special punishment, regardless of how much it feels that way or regardless of how painful it actually is and it’s painful, but every human and doubtless every being experiences that grief, that pain, that sorrow and ask themselves why.
I remember one time after I was like perhaps five I got really excited concerning the pasta that was cooking and grabbed the pot of boiling water with one hand, form of by chance, and I can still feel the spot of my hand there. I just burned myself so badly and I’m like sobbing and I used to be really little, and I just kept asking “but Mommy why, why did that occur to me? why did that occur to me?” and after all, my mom is crying. And I mean it comes with having a belly button, right? I mean that’s life. Nevertheless it’s not that’s life in form of a callous, Buck up Buttercup form of way, it’s a why can we do that? We do that in order that we are able to respond with grace and with beauty and perhaps even meaning-making to tragedy, in addition to rejoice and create and be generative and provides thanks for all the pieces.
In order that’s at the least among the reasons to do stuff. And spot we’re all here together. You aren’t alone. See in case you can find someone on this room who hasn’t suffered something terrible and hasn’t felt alone and like a special you realize punching bag of God or whatever. Tell me in case you find someone because everyone knows that and with our open hearts and camaraderie we are able to
meet you there. That’s one more reason we do that. Okay? I’m glad you got here tonight.
Anything? Other questions, comments?
Questioner 3: I find the prospect of becoming more smart and graceful very motivating and yet to date, I assume through practice, I’ve seen ways in which I perhaps don’t grab so hard on experience.
Michael: That’s already wiser and more graceful. Notice that after we’re tense and contracted and grabby that’s graceless and in addition tends to harm.
Questioner 3: There’s an element of me that’s curious if alongside that, I assume absence of clutching or absence of grasping, I noticed that at best to date it’s like I can form of gently see that I’m flailing or rejecting my experience. It’s like I’m more gently rejecting my experience.
Michael: Excellent or reject it intensely but just notice it clearly.
Questioner 3: I notice there’s curiosity whether continued practice results in a source of motion that feels wiser as well, more attuned to what the moment needs somewhere, or what would add to the moment in a way that might be wiser and more graceful?
Michael: I like the query. I feel you’ll be able to’t help it. It’s not practice such as you’re gonna beat yourself into that or someway file yourself into that. It’s just by relaxing and opening and perhaps just by giving thanks that form of responsiveness starts to occur more easily and more often. It could be the case like I used to be saying last week, that just saying yes to whatever is arising could be the entire thing. Irrespective of how hard that’s. Right? Thanks.
Questioner 4: Reflecting from the last two questions, I feel for me either accepting or finding a option to take care of difficult times feels more natural or almost the thing that feels safer to simply accept that that’s what’s gonna be the longer term and be ready for it. Then enjoy things and even have the or the prospect of it may very well be bad but it surely is also amazing, the amazing side of it within the moment and after I even envision the longer term, that part feels harder. It doesn’t come naturally. So I almost feel like I’m just attending to this level of peace and contentment, but joy seems much harder.
Michael: So that you’re saying the concept of finding joy in whatever may arise is harder.
Questioner 4: To permit myself to benefit from the moment or to permit myself to think that life may very well be good. It’s easier for me to be like, Oh life may very well be very bad, I’m gonna still be completely happy even when things go bad however the considered things being good…
Michael: Is more terrifying. How come? What could be the downside of all the pieces going well?
Questioner 4: It’s uh, I don’t know why, I cannot imagine it as much, but I assume it comes right down to fear that I’d relatively not even have the hope of it because then I’ll be upset.
Michael: Right, if someone got here to you, let’s say you had a younger sister. Do you’ve gotten a younger sister? Okay, so good, so pure imagination. You’ve got a younger sister and she or he got here to you and said, “I’m so in love with this person, but I can’t tell them and I don’t need to do anything about it because I’m so afraid that it’ll go away.” What would you say to your sister? Would you say “Don’t do this, protect yourself and go be protected?”
Questioner 4: I wouldn’t say that, but I’d really struggle saying go for it.
Michael: Wow yeah, okay.
Questioner 4: It’s deep.
Michael: It’s deep and yet you see that in case you kept saying that what would life grow to be?
Questioner 4: Lame.
Michael: Lame, yeah extremely lame and still bad things would occur. So that you get only the bad side right.
Questioner 4: Well that’s why I brought this up.
Michael: But you already know the reply. You’ve got to do it anyway. We don’t get born here since it’s protected. If you happen to want ‘protected,’ this will not be the planet.
Questioner 4: What’s stopping me? How do I get past it?
Michael: Just see the fear for what it’s and recognize, like I’ve been saying, like bad stuff will occur too but that’s okay. Good things happens and I mean you’ve gotten to enjoy and rejoice the great things, otherwise why even trouble?
Questioner 4: It’s much harder accepting the nice.
Michael: Yeah well, there you go there’s your work.
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Thanks, thanks to your questions and comments everyone.
