Hour-long guided nondual meditation. Begins with 15 minutes of deep belly breathing, and mindfulness of body posture. Then allowing awareness to contact external sounds, then body sensations. Finally diving into vast, spacious awareness with no object.
Dharma talk begins around 1:03:00 followed by Q&A.
In the history of spirituality, there has long been a dichotomy between the method of effort and the method of no-effort. Meditation can be us trying hard to learn, grow, and cultivate our hearts and minds, but it can also be a recognition of what is already complete, already perfect. Which one of these is correct? Both. Both views are helpful and interesting in our practice.
In this talk, however, I emphasize the latter view, in which there is nothing to do, nothing to gain, nothing to find. Everything is already present, and it’s merely a matter of relaxing out of the story of struggle and goals that allows us to contact that which we wanted—and that has always been present and available.
It’s always great to hear you discuss deep issues in such a simple manner. Coincidentally I’ve been reading on the subject of joriki vs tariki; self power vs other power. The question that one of the students in the video asked about the struggle with mind movies goes to the heart of the problem. Do we have to do a complicated series of steps, work, to achieve a vision of, as you called it, “the previous to fabrication awareness”, or do we just have to ease into something that is already there. Like they used to say, there are “different strokes for different folks”. I believe that beyond the way this is perceived by the practitioner, as easy, or as hard (in the embodied sense), there is one factor that will make the difference before and after the fact. Trust or Faith, if the word is preferred. Even after having a clear vision of open awareness, the choice has to be made from moment to moment to let go of the fabrications. Even for beginners this is the choice, and it may seem like hard work. But, like Keith Jarrett, the jazz musician who improvises for hours on end said, when asked how he did it, “you have to jump”. A perfect definition of practice and of Faith.
Thank you so much for this meditation and the dharma talk, which answered some questions that I’ve had for some time. It became glaringly obvious to me that Awareness is not localised in this apparent body. Several things were clarified and amplified, and I’m grateful for your willingness to share. I’ll be doing this meditation again! 🙂
Thank you, Deborah. So glad it was helpful!