Guided Nondual Meditation by Michael Taft
Streamed on February 25 2022
I’m going to guide you thru a guided meditation this night. And this guided meditation is one thing we haven’t finished shortly, we’ve finished it earlier than however we haven’t finished it shortly. We’re going to do a variety of investigation, okay? So be ready to analyze with me this night. And I ask you a variety of questions and a variety of them are form of odd. However do not forget that the best way to work with that is to really not try to search out the reply to the query in your ideas or by figuring it out or by, you recognize, in search of the correct reply or by memorizing, you recognize, wanting into your reminiscence; however relatively simply straight your expertise. That’s how we do that, okay?
Meditation
So let’s start by setting our intention, tonight we’re going to meditate – why are you meditating? What’s the level? I would like you to tune into that now for only a minute. I’ll be quiet when you do this and I’ll inject myself with some intravenous caffeine from this stunning PG Ideas black tea with some hemp milk. I’m not a giant hemp milk fan however that’s what we now have within the fridge, in order that’s what’s in there. It’s not too unhealthy.
Good. In order that’s why you’re meditating. So do not forget that, preserve that as a part of your intentionality, a part of the sensation of, you recognize, gathering your thoughts round why we’re doing this in order that it lets you be clear. Good. Subsequent let’s work on some useful resource stuff, proper? We wish to construct useful resource after we start meditating. So, first we’re going to do that by tuning into some gratitude. That’s what we’ve been doing for the previous few weeks, we’ve been doing a little gratitude follow. So I’m going to offer you about three minutes to simply take into consideration belongings you’re grateful for and really feel grateful for them. It’s actually easy. Don’t take into consideration belongings you’re supposed to be glad about however don’t care about. Actually take into consideration belongings you truly do really feel grateful for and take into consideration them in a means that brings up that feeling of gratitude, and also you’ll discover it begins melting your physique, armoring. It begins making your coronary heart open a bit of bit, and that’s good. So we’re going to try this for a pair extra minutes and I’ll simply be quiet right here whereas all of us do this collectively.
Okay? Good. That’s our gratitude follow and that’s just a bit little bit of heat up. One other a part of the nice and cozy up is once more to visualise some useful resource once more. And so what we’re going to do tonight is, I would like you to image a diamond; in no matter means, that is completely free type. You do that in no matter means works for you. I would like you to image a diamond and this diamond is sort of a spherical diamond with triangular aspects, proper? It’s primarily a sphere, however it’s faceted and the aspects are triangular and this diamond is glowing with a form of very tender, very pleasant, bluish white mild. Nearly just like the moon. Typically the moon, the complete moon particularly, can mirror pink or orange a bit of bit, however generally it’s actually white blue in a means that could be very, very, very nice. So an image of this huge, clear diamond sphere with this simply slight, very slight blue tint to it; just a bit little bit of blue. And this can be a illustration of our personal deepest, awake consciousness. Our personal bodhisattvahood, our Buddhahood, proper? We’re simply symbolizing it, we’re simply picturing it. And, I would like you to simply really feel that this blue diamond, bluish, primarily clear, however simply barely bluish diamond sphere is radiating knowledge to you and also you’re feeling the knowledge. It’s radiating love, you’re feeling the love, the large acceptance, proper? Love and acceptance, precisely the best way you might be, it doesn’t want you to vary in any respect. It loves you precisely the best way you might be. And moreover, really feel the playfulness and the spontaneity that’s current with this huge, clear diamond.
So I would like you to simply sit with that for some time, picturing it and feeling these emotions of affection and acceptance and pleasure and knowledge. Really feel assured, daring and assured. The Buddhas are by no means shy, proper? They’re prepared to vary the world and so there’s a form of confidence that comes from this Buddha-nature and there’s a playfulness of spontaneity. It’s not afraid, so it will possibly play and it will possibly take possibilities. So actually, really feel that, really feel that vitality coming at you now in a really nice means. We’re going to try this. We’re going to visualise that and really feel these energies for about 5 extra minutes.
Okay? Good. Now from right here, from this place, let’s start merely following the breath. Permitting the breath to easily do what it’s going to do. You don’t have to vary the breath in any means and once more we’re going to observe the breath in additional of an open consciousness type meditation. So chill out, permit consciousness to be huge and spacious prefer it naturally is. Consciousness is already very broad, already huge, already spacious. We don’t must make it that means, we simply tune into that facet of consciousness. And from that place, with the thoughts very broad, sitting perhaps with our eyes open however with a tender gaze. Only a very, very broad consciousness, permitting the wave of the breath to easily come up and cross, come up and cross via consciousness, with out us essentially having to seize onto it or concentrate on it. We’re simply conscious of it. That breath wave arising in consciousness and passing away in consciousness. I would like you to stick with that now in a really light and open means.
Bear in mind consciousness is simply conscious naturally, that’s why it’s referred to as consciousness. And it’s conscious of this breath sensation within the physique, the breath feeling the physique, the physique increasing naturally with the incoming breath and contracting naturally with the outgoing breath. It’s conscious of that with none wrestle in any respect. With none want to love, focus or slender consideration, or something. It’s simply the vast, open sea, the vast, open sky of consciousness, noticing the wind of the breath passing via it with none huge deal.
Let your self unwind, let your self naturally simply let go. Let your self chill out. Remembering that consciousness is each huge, it’s spacious, it’s relaxed however it’s additionally wakeful. It’s very brilliant and clear, it’s not sleepy, it’s not muddy. So we’re each very relaxed, very open and comfy and on the similar time wakeful; very clear, very brilliant, all with none effort.
Okay? Good. Now what I’d such as you to do is to sink even deeper. Let go much more utterly. Simply relaxation as consciousness, following the breath, simply observe the breath with none effort. Bear in mind consciousness is conscious so it feels the breath transfer. Feeling the breath root transfer and simply let the whole lot else drop away. Let it drop away just like the chains once you’re leaving jail. Let it drop away, like… utterly. Let it drop away totally. Let it drop away such as you’re letting go of the heaviest burden. Simply permit your self to simply be merely consciousness conscious of the breath wave, with out another burdens.
Okay? Good. Now from this place of simply open, huge, spacious, clear, brilliant consciousness I would like you to, proper now, simply look; if ideas are current, the place do ideas come from? I don’t need you to make use of your pondering to determine this out. I don’t need you to make use of your reminiscence, or your understanding of neuroscience, or your concepts concerning the mind. I don’t need you to attempt to get the correct reply by figuring it out. All of that may be a mistake after we’re doing one of these follow. As an alternative, I would like you to simply look or pay attention or really feel or no matter. In your personal expertise, as consciousness, the place do ideas come from? The place do they arrive from? Look. Look now and preserve wanting. Discover the place they arrive from. The place is the origin of thought? Look now.
For those who’re attempting to determine it out, cease doing that. For those who suppose you’ve solved it, preserve wanting. Simply preserve wanting in that place or listening or feeling or no matter. The place are ideas coming from? Are they..? For those who suppose you discovered it, look, or examine is the correct phrase; examine extra clearly, extra exactly. Proper now, look. The place do ideas originate?
Okay? Good. So that you’ve been wanting straight at the place ideas come from. Trace, what in the event that they don’t come from anyplace, proper? You may discover that you just’re having a tough time truly noticing the place they arrive from however, however perhaps not. Let’s look now at, straight, at the place ideas go to. So in the event that they’re, don’t generate ideas on goal, simply relaxation as open, spacious consciousness; noticing ideas arising and passing. However when the ideas cross, watch the second of their passing. The place did they cross to? The place do they go away to? The place’s the trash can in your thoughts, proper? The place is that precisely? Look now. Once more, don’t determine it out. Look now. In your personal expertise, examine. Discover the reply for your self.
The place are these ideas going to? Preserve wanting, don’t simply be glad. Even when the reply is that they don’t appear to be going anyplace, preserve watching that nowhere, so to talk, to which they disappear. It’s actually, actually fascinating.
Okay? Good. Now you might have observed that it’s very tough to discover a place the place ideas come up from or a spot the place ideas go to. Very tough. We would even say it’s unfindable, proper? Now a associated query is, the place are ideas whereas they’re occurring? So, think about they come up and so they cross however in between arising and passing – you’re having a thought, proper? There’s an expertise there, however the place is that have precisely? Don’t accept the reply ‘in my head’. I would like you to essentially discover straight, the place are these ideas once they’re occurring? The place are these ideas? Look clearly now.
Wonderful, okay. Now, after noticing the place ideas come up from and the place they occur after which the place they go to. Which, in the event you’re wanting rigorously you’ll discover you’ll be able to’t even discover the place they’re occurring. They’re occurring however they don’t appear to be occurring actually anyplace. Then what I would like you to look very clearly into, I would like you to analyze – to whom are these ideas occurring? Who’s the listener of the ideas? Who’s the haver of the ideas? The instant reply will probably be ‘me’ or ‘my mind’, or one thing. However what does that even imply? I would like you to look previous that straightforward reply into your personal expertise, proper now. Not your concepts about expertise, like in the event you simply preserve saying, “nicely it’s me and my mind.” I would like you to look – who’s the haver of this thought? Who’s experiencing the thought? Look now, very, very rigorously.
Preserve wanting, actively wanting on this restful, open area of consciousness that’s naturally awake, naturally conscious, naturally relaxed. What or who’s having these ideas? To whom are these ideas arising? What’s pondering? The place is it? Are you able to discover a thinker?
But it surely’s not simply ideas. There’s sounds coming in, there’s sight in case your eyes are open, there’s physique sensations. To whom is all this occurring? Who’s the knower of all these occasions, who, to whom is the whole lot arising? Look rigorously now. What’s it that’s conscious of the whole lot? For those who simply say “me” or, “it’s my mind” or, “it’s my physique,” these are simply phrases. You gotta look. You gotta really feel it, you bought to analyze. Sense into it. To what, to whom is all expertise arising? Examine now, clearly. Look in your personal expertise, don’t settle for the straightforward solutions. Look. Look now.
Now, have a look at who’s doing any meditating. Who or what’s doing a meditation proper now? Once more simply pondering ‘me’ or ‘I’m’ or ‘my mind’ or ‘my physique’; that’s not a solution. You gotta look. Look now. Look clearly, who or what’s meditating? Who or what’s making an effort? Who or what’s attempting to see? Attempt to see. Attempt to see that. However who’s doing it? Look rigorously you’ll discover one thing actually, actually fascinating. Actually, actually fascinating. Look.
Who or what’s meditating now? Look rigorously, look deeply. Who’s doing something? Who’s experiencing something? Who’s pondering something? Who’s feeling something? Who’s listening to this guided meditation? Look now. Look clearly and thoroughly.
Good. Now from this place of huge, spacious consciousness that’s relaxed, that’s open, that’s comfy, that’s awake. I would like you to easily start to radiate out love and pleasure to all the universe. I would like you to radiate out emotions of peace and kindness in the direction of the folks of Ukraine. I would like you to radiate out love and understanding and kindness and compassion in the direction of transgender kids within the United, within the State within the U.S. of Florida and likewise Texas and likewise everywhere in the U.S. I would like you to radiate out love and pleasure and kindness to the entire world. Peace to the entire world. Compassion to the entire world. Could everybody really feel the enjoyment of awakening, the candy kindness of compassion, the knowledge of awakening, the readability and confidence of the Buddha-mind. Radiate this out in all instructions now. Feeling the enjoyment, feeling the boldness, feeling the knowledge. Feeling this absolutely awake Buddha that you just actually are, blessing the entire world, therapeutic the entire world. Bringing pleasure and playfulness and spontaneity and readability to all beings.
Dharma Speak
Okay? Good. Let’s let go of that now and I wish to speak a bit of bit about this type of meditation that we’re doing, which is an inquiry type meditation, proper? We inquire. So we’re doing inquiry type meditation. I ask you a query, proper? Inquiry is finished with questions. I ask you a query and also you look.
And, as I discussed originally of the meditation and lots of instances all through the meditation, I’ll simply repeat it once more right here – you’ll be able to’t do these form of meditations by attempting to determine it out. If you end up attempting to determine it out, cease that, and return to simply investigating, simply wanting. So the metaphor I at all times use for that is – it’s like The place’s Waldo. In case you have a The place’s Waldo image and somebody says “the place’s Waldo?” That’s the inquiry query. You may’t go to your reminiscence, I imply presumably you’ve by no means seen this one earlier than. You may’t go to your reminiscence to search out out the place Waldo is. You may’t use some form of logic or reasoning or no matter to search out the place Waldo is. You simply must fucking look. And for some purpose this, for me, was actually exhausting to grasp. As an alternative I might attempt to determine it out. I attempt to get the correct reply. And in the event you carry up what you recognize is an efficient reply, theoretically or philosophically, discover that doesn’t assist. You’ve gotten, you need to nonetheless do the method of wanting and persevering with to look. And in the event you can’t discover Waldo you simply preserve wanting and also you simply preserve wanting and also you simply preserve wanting. And, perhaps, sooner or later you’ll be able to say, “you recognize I’ve checked out each sq. millimeter of this and there’s no Waldo on this image.” Nicely, that’s an fascinating reply, proper?
However you don’t know that from figuring it out and also you don’t know that out of your reminiscence. You don’t know that via some logical strategy of reasoning. that by wanting, your self, at your personal expertise, proper now. That’s the way you do any form of inquiry meditation, okay? I wish to prevent tens or tons of of hundreds or hundreds of hours of frustration of doing this fallacious. Right here’s the way you do it proper, okay? That’s the place you begin to actually get what these meditations are for and the way they work and what they’re about.
Now by way of after we’re in search of thought or we’re in search of the place they arrive, or the place they go, or the place they’re staying, so to talk. Or we much more deeply have a look at who’s having ideas, who’s even conscious of something, who’s doing the meditation. , if I let you know the reply – I’ll let you know the reply – the reply is you’ll be able to’t discover any. , there’s no place ideas are coming from. There’s not even a spot they’re going to. There’s not even a spot they’re positioned once they’re occurring, proper? There’s no place. There’s no, there’s – ideas are occurring – everyone knows they’re there, so to talk. It’s an expertise. However you’ll be able to’t discover a place, and if it feels such as you’re discovering a spot, look extra carefully, proper? However me telling you that and also you remembering that doesn’t actually assist. You gotta see it for your self.
And much more deeply, much more powerfully, much more importantly for actually beginning to get up, we take it even a step additional and we are saying – “who’s even pondering?” Discover the thinker. “Who’s even experiencing?” Discover the experiencer. “Who’s even doing a meditation?” Discover that doer. And, after all, what’s the reply? The reply is, you’ll be able to’t discover one. For those who suppose you’ve discovered one, preserve wanting. Look proper the place you suppose you discovered it and spot you’ll be able to’t actually discover it. Once more, that doesn’t imply similar to, regardless that you’ll be able to’t discover a place; ideas are occurring. They’re nonetheless occurring. And in the identical means expertise continues to be occurring, you simply can’t discover an experiencer. Meditation continues to be occurring, you simply can’t discover a meditator. And if it’s not your expertise, in the event you’re like “no Michael, I discovered it.” Then I might say, “look extra carefully – good – and look extra carefully.” Look actually, actually carefully.
You’ll discover one thing very fascinating, which is—you’ll be able to’t find it. And that’s referred to as unfindability; unfindability, non-locatability. And this unfindability is a facet of vacancy, proper? It’s essential to see this vacancy for your self, to see it for actual and to see it in your personal expertise time and again and over and time and again. Ultimately it sinks in in a really deep, necessary means. “Oh. Oh, there’s expertise, however there’s no experiencer, there’s ideas however there isn’t any thinker.” Proper? And even the ideas, even the experiences themselves in one other means are completely different. They’re not objects, they’re not positioned anyplace. It is extremely, very fascinating after we have a look at our personal expertise very deeply right here, which is what we do in inquiry meditation.
Now in different meditations on different Thursday nights you’ve seen me go very deeply into in search of vacancy, proper? And that’s referred to as vipashyana, we’re doing vipashyana, we’re in search of the vacancy. This inquiry meditation is simply one other means of doing one thing – the identical factor – or if it’s not precisely the identical factor it’s one thing fairly comparable. It’s fairly comparable. It’s only a completely different means of going about it.
And these inquiry meditations are beloved of sure traditions. For instance, Advaita Vedanta’s very into inquiry meditations. A few of the inquiry we did tonight is similar to Tibetan Buddhists faculties, like Mahamudra do one of these inquiry and so they’re additionally associated to Zen. So plenty of traditions do that questioning. And, for some purpose some of us really feel like that’s exhausting to do, and if it’s exhausting to do – nice – do vacancy follow, you recognize, vipashyana.
However for different folks there’s one thing very form of oddly satisfying about asking a query and going and looking out and simply time and again seeing this very fascinating factor, or these very fascinating issues, proper? It begins to percolate up from under, it’s not a top-down factor. If it was a top-down factor it could simply be pondering, pondering, pondering. It’s not about pondering, it’s about expertise, proper? So – “oh it begins to come back from the underside up” – and also you simply begin noticing your relationship to concepts, your relationship to expertise, your relationship to meditation. Even, to place it in a humorous means, your relationship to your self begins to vary very drastically.
Okay? So I actually like these inquiry meditations. The varsity that’s the most into them is Rinzai Zen, proper? Zen from the Rinzai college as a result of there’s a complete gigantic means of working with questions referred to as koan follow, proper? So everyone knows the concept of koans and most of us know a minimum of two koans. There’s one koan we’ve heard of which is, ‘what’s the sound of 1 hand clapping’? However that’s not the true koan, that’s form of a nasty translation. The true koan is ‘what’s the sound of 1 hand’. Right here’s – so have a look at my hand [holds closed fist up to view] – what’s the sound of that hand? What’s the sound of 1 hand? Discover that’s an inquiry query and in the event you attempt to determine that out it’s meant to shatter your psychological equipment. You may’t determine that out. You need to simply preserve listening. And that, proper, direct expertise. It’s not one thing from reminiscence, it’s not one thing you’ll be able to determine. You’ve simply received to maintain listening. After which one thing fascinating occurs. And it’s not simply ‘the reply is, there isn’t any sound’. You’ve received, it’s an inquiry query. And it’s actually, actually fascinating.
The opposite koan that most individuals have heard of is ‘Joshu’s Canine’, proper? So does a canine have Buddha-nature, or not? And the reply is ‘Mu’. Which suggests, form of, like, not. But it surely’s not a solution to the query, by way of like, an mental reply. The reply ‘Mu’ is extra like a cosmic, mystical sound or one thing. And in order that’s even deeper – regardless that that’s the primary koan – it’s a really deep koan as a result of it simply introduces you to only a query you’ll be able to’t reply and you’ve got, and you need to reply it, proper? In order that’s the, in order that’s Renzai Zen. And that’s one other type of these inquiry questions. That’s the custom that in all probability goes the furthest with the concept of inquiry.
Zen additionally, you recognize the form of inquiry the place we mentioned, “you recognize, who’s truly conscious of something proper now?” That’s in Zen. In lots of traditions that’s the core inquiry query. That’s a very powerful inquiry query there’s.
In Advaita Vedanta significantly the Vedanta, as taught by Ramana Maharshi, he says “the one meditation is who am I?” Which is one other means of asking that very same inquiry query – who’s experiencing something proper now? Who’s conscious? It’s simply one other means of asking who am I?
And that’s the core query. That’s the deepest inquiry query. You might simply preserve asking that query time and again in your meditation after which wanting. However you’ll by no means determine it out. You’ll by no means arrive at a logical response. Slightly, you’ll truly see who or what’s wanting – who – you’ll truly see who you might be. And that will probably be a giant shock. Trace – it’s not who you suppose you might be.
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