Transform Your Mind & Change Your Life Retreat - 7-Point Mind Training from Atisha (part 15)

0:00 We'll return to meditation momentarily with just one quick comment, and that is, whatever method one adopts for, let's say, refining one's attention skills, moving along the path of shamatha, it's very important that you have traction, which is to say that you feel you're doing it correctly. Not perfectly, but you feel that you know how to do it, you are doing it, that you're engaged. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:22 Going up a hill and your tires have traction, you're actually moving, you're not spinning your wheels. And so it's possible to engage in a practice that is just subtler than your mind is. So when you try to do it, you just feel your wheels are spinning, and that is you're just filled with uncertainty. Am I doing it right? I don't think so. I'm kind of spacey here. Report an error in the passage at 0:22 Highlight the passage at 0:22

0:42 What am I supposed to be focusing on again? And it's easy to do. And our approach that we've taken to mindfulness breathing is rather subtle. And resting in the awareness with no object outside of itself is subtle, for sure. It's like climbing at very high altitude with no oxygen, or no extra oxygen. Report an error in the passage at 0:42 Highlight the passage at 0:42

1:01 So what I'd like to do for this final guided meditation for today is to take a little step back to classic teachings of a saṅgha. So I mentioned we're following a Dzogchen approach here, where you're primarily resting in the awareness of awareness and peripherally, almost out of the corner of your eye, so to speak. Report an error in the passage at 1:01 Highlight the passage at 1:01

1:19 Just keeping touch with the rhythm of the breath. A Saṅgha doesn't say anything about that, of resting 80%. That's a Dzogchen approach, and the Saṅgha was not teaching Dzogchen. A Saṅgha's approach is very straightforward, and that is you're directing full light of your awareness to the space of the body and those subtle fluctuations throughout the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:19 Highlight the passage at 1:19

1:40 You're attending to it as a clear referent. That's where your attention primarily is. I would suggest, as an interpretation of a Saṅgha, That do sustain, with some portion of awareness, the awareness of the stillness of your awareness. But primarily, we're just switching the tables here. And that is, we're primarily attending to those fluctuations of prāṇa, just the fluctuations of energy, the sensations of your body breathing. And that's where you're giving your primary attention. Report an error in the passage at 1:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40

2:08 And a little bit of tucked away there, just being aware. So let's try that. It gives you a bit more traction, a bit more, how do you say, not quite so subtle. Report an error in the passage at 2:08 Highlight the passage at 2:08

2:20 And when it comes to shamatha, as you're settling in, I'll just make this very simple but important point. Shamatha is a very transparent practice. You don't have to wait until your next life to know whether you're doing it. You don't have to ask your guru whether you're doing it correctly. You should know through your own experience whether the practice is working. And it's working if, as you develop, cultivate the practice, you are overall becoming, in body and mind, more relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 2:20 Highlight the passage at 2:20

2:46 If that's the first thing you're noting, then I relax when people report. I'm feeling so much more relaxed than I relax. Oh, good, you're on the right track. So first of all, you're feeling more relaxed. Secondly, if you find an increasing sense of inner calm, of composure, of stillness, of stability, then it's working. Thirdly, on that basis, greater clarity, vividness, alertness and so forth, that's it. Report an error in the passage at 2:46 Highlight the passage at 2:46

3:10 There's three criteria. But in that sequence, So don't go for stability and vividness without relaxation. Don't go for vividness without stability. So bottom up, if your practice is working, first of all, if you're feeling looser, more relaxed, at ease, that's good. On top of that, the stability. On top of that, the vividness. It's transparent. So then you'll know, am I getting traction or not, by seeing whether it works. Report an error in the passage at 3:10 Highlight the passage at 3:10

3:35 So we'll have one 21-minute session. We're going to go back to straightforward asangha approach, mindfulness of breathing, full body awareness. Report an error in the passage at 3:35 Highlight the passage at 3:35

3:45 And Report an error in the passage at 3:45 Highlight the passage at 3:45

4:12 as soon as you hear the bell, it would be quite nice actually if that triggered a kind of a Pavlovian response of relaxation, not salivation, relaxation. Just hearing the bell and feeling your shoulders drop, your awareness relax, descending into the body. As you settle your body with the three qualities of relaxation, stillness and vigilance, your breath in its natural effortless flow, and settle your mind. Report an error in the passage at 4:12 Highlight the passage at 4:12

4:46 Relaxed, still and clear. Report an error in the passage at 4:46 Highlight the passage at 4:46

· · · silence, 1 minute

5:55 From this stillness, Report an error in the passage at 5:55 Highlight the passage at 5:55

5:59 in light of your attention, the focus of your attention, the Report an error in the passage at 5:59 Highlight the passage at 5:59

6:06 somatic field, to the sensations corresponding to the respiration Report an error in the passage at 6:06 Highlight the passage at 6:06

6:14 of the entire field. Be aware of the body breathing without visualizing the body, without thinking about it. Just be aware of the sensations of the respiration Report an error in the passage at 6:14 Highlight the passage at 6:14

· · · silence, 2 minutes

7:56 with which you began the session. That's the challenge. Deeper relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 7:56 Highlight the passage at 7:56

· · · silence, 2 minutes

9:40 Sustaining that balance. Relaxation while sustaining the clarity. On Report an error in the passage at 9:40 Highlight the passage at 9:40

9:51 the second challenge. Now gently, breath, enhance the stability of attention, the coherence of attention, without sacrificing the underlying sense of ease and relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 9:51 Highlight the passage at 9:51

10:10 So stay focused, for Report an error in the passage at 10:10 Highlight the passage at 10:10

· · · silence, 2 minutes

11:43 some people and not for everyone. Then you might try an auxiliary technique, and that is counting the breath. So experiment. Report an error in the passage at 11:43 Highlight the passage at 11:43

11:55 The technique that I suggest here is very simple. As you arouse your attention during the inhalation, focusing, concentrating. Report an error in the passage at 11:55 Highlight the passage at 11:55

12:05 When you come to the very end of the inhalation, very succinctly, Report an error in the passage at 12:05 Highlight the passage at 12:05

12:14 waxing deeply through the out-breath. The sensations throughout the body are Report an error in the passage at 12:14 Highlight the passage at 12:14

12:29 to concentrate until you come to the very end of that next breath and you count Report an error in the passage at 12:29 Highlight the passage at 12:29

12:39 just before exhalation between counts. Let your mind be as conceptually silent as possible. Report an error in the passage at 12:39 Highlight the passage at 12:39

12:59 Missing a count. Report an error in the passage at 12:59 Highlight the passage at 12:59

13:03 Try it. Report an error in the passage at 13:03 Highlight the passage at 13:03

· · · silence, 3 minutes

16:21 Full system of the Report an error in the passage at 16:21 Highlight the passage at 16:21

16:25 sensations corresponding Report an error in the passage at 16:25 Highlight the passage at 16:25

16:34 that you can't detect with the breath. Then you take on the third challenge and that is to enhance the vividness, the acuity, the high resolution of your awareness Report an error in the passage at 16:34 Highlight the passage at 16:34

16:57 within the body corresponding to the breath. Report an error in the passage at 16:57 Highlight the passage at 16:57

17:22 Or if you find it more... Report an error in the passage at 17:22 Highlight the passage at 17:22