Four Applications Of Mindfulness Retreat 2013 with B. Alan Wallace (part 44)

0:07 We'll have two sessions, both will be guided, so please find a comfortable position. Report an error in the passage at 0:07 Highlight the passage at 0:07

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:14 Settle your body in its natural state, and your respiration in its natural rhythm. Report an error in the passage at 1:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14

· · · silence, 2 minutes

3:00 Then as for settling the mind in its natural state, let your eyes be somewhat ocean, and without looking at the space in front of you, without taking it as an object, simply rest your awareness in the space in front of you, taking nothing as an object, or rather, not taking anything as an object. Report an error in the passage at 3:00 Highlight the passage at 3:00

· · · silence, 1 minute

4:05 And once again here, the key is Report an error in the passage at 4:05 Highlight the passage at 4:05

4:12 having a deep sense of ease, of looseness, relaxation. Psychologically being carefree, free of hope and fear, craving and aversion. Report an error in the passage at 4:12 Highlight the passage at 4:12

4:24 Just being present, Report an error in the passage at 4:24 Highlight the passage at 4:24

4:28 being content just to be. Report an error in the passage at 4:28 Highlight the passage at 4:28

· · · silence, 1 minute

5:08 Sustain that flow of mindful presence in the present without distraction, without moving, without grasping. Report an error in the passage at 5:08 Highlight the passage at 5:08

· · · silence, 1 minute

6:26 Little by little, like the sun rising behind your back, Report an error in the passage at 6:26 Highlight the passage at 6:26

6:32 with increasing clarity, it may dawn on you. That even when you're not explicitly or deliberately knowing something else, not directing your attention to anything, you are already aware and you already know something. Report an error in the passage at 6:32 Highlight the passage at 6:32

6:54 And that, of course, is your awareness of being aware. As that dawns on you, rest right there in that flow of cognizance, Report an error in the passage at 6:54 Highlight the passage at 6:54

7:07 of awareness resting in its own place, Report an error in the passage at 7:07 Highlight the passage at 7:07

7:12 illuminating and knowing itself. Report an error in the passage at 7:12 Highlight the passage at 7:12

· · · silence, 1 minute

8:37 And now let's begin the oscillation, once again, Report an error in the passage at 8:37 Highlight the passage at 8:37

8:43 setting your own pace, your own rhythm. In conjunction with the breath, if it's helpful. Otherwise, do it on your own. But a time for arousing, sharpening, really focusing, which entails withdrawing from all appearances and going right into the very nucleus of being aware, Report an error in the passage at 8:43 Highlight the passage at 8:43

9:04 experiencing it without adulteration, without additions, as in that thought experiment of the perfect sensory deprivation tank. Report an error in the passage at 9:04 Highlight the passage at 9:04

9:24 And then utterly releasing, relaxing from your core, releasing your awareness into space with no object. Report an error in the passage at 9:24 Highlight the passage at 9:24

9:34 Total surrender, and yet sustaining very gently in a subtle fashion that flow of awareness of awareness. Report an error in the passage at 9:34 Highlight the passage at 9:34

9:52 In this practice there's no extra practice of applying introspection. It's built into the practice of mindfulness itself, which is to say as you are arousing, you're naturally overcoming any tendency towards laxity and dullness. And as you deeply release from your core, you're releasing any energy or momentum behind excitation. Report an error in the passage at 9:52 Highlight the passage at 9:52

10:17 Agitation. So it's a self-correcting practice, bringing you closer and closer to the very center, the essential nature of your own awareness. Report an error in the passage at 10:17 Highlight the passage at 10:17

· · · silence, 2 minutes

12:55 And now we'll step over the line from shamatha into the domain of vipassanā. And we do so, of course, with a question. Report an error in the passage at 12:55 Highlight the passage at 12:55

13:07 And that is, as you have been inverting and releasing, arousing and relaxing your awareness, you've voluntarily chosen to engage in this practice. Report an error in the passage at 13:07 Highlight the passage at 13:07

13:21 It entails an exertion of will, Report an error in the passage at 13:21 Highlight the passage at 13:21

13:26 So it would seem there must be someone who's doing this, someone who's exerting his or her will, doing the meditation, arousing and releasing. Report an error in the passage at 13:26 Highlight the passage at 13:26

13:37 There must be an agent, someone in here, who's controlling the mind. Report an error in the passage at 13:37 Highlight the passage at 13:37

13:47 Who is it? Or what is it that is arousing and releasing the attention? Rather than thinking about this, philosophizing about it, or going into abstractions about neurocorrelates, take a rigorously and radically empirical approach. As you invert your awareness, draw it in from all appearances, invert your attention with concentration right in upon yourself as the agent with the question, who or what is doing this? Report an error in the passage at 13:47 Highlight the passage at 13:47

14:25 And as you invert your awareness in upon yourself, simply see what you see. Do appearances come to mind? Do you see more? Do you see less? So these are answerable questions, but not answering by thinking, answering by looking closely and then releasing again. Report an error in the passage at 14:25 Highlight the passage at 14:25

· · · silence, 2 minutes

16:22 And as you invert your awareness in upon yourself as the agent, the meditator, if some appearance does come to mind, an appearance that seems to represent yourself, an appearance of yourself, examine it very closely. Is that indeed yourself or is it simply an empty appearance, an appearance with no substance, without referent? Examine closely. Report an error in the passage at 16:22 Highlight the passage at 16:22

· · · silence, 7 minutes

23:51 Release the oscillation without Report an error in the passage at 23:51 Highlight the passage at 23:51

23:55 directing your attention out into space or withdrawing it. Simply let it be. Report an error in the passage at 23:55 Highlight the passage at 23:55

24:08 Resting in its own nature, knowing itself. Report an error in the passage at 24:08 Highlight the passage at 24:08