Meditative contemplation with the Costa Rican Sangha


Magdi Badawy, 06-29-2024

Welcome.
Hello, everyone.
Lovely to see you.

Yes. Hello. Hello.

So just a reminder that, I think Jenny,
you will be you will be translating this morning?
Yes. Okay.
So this meeting will be conducted in English, of course.
And Jenny will be translating
it to Spanish as we’re going,
as we’re moving forward.
And the meeting is recorded also
just for your information.

So we will start with a guided meditation,
and then you’re welcome to have questions.

Okay, so just sit comfortably and
you’re welcome to either close your eyes
or turn your gaze inward.

So the meditation is a sort of a relaxation,
there is nothing that you need to do.

Because relaxation is effortless.
Our true nature is relaxed.

So for the duration of this meeting,
you can let go of the past,
let go of the future,
let go of any goal, no goals.

Notice the gentle movement of the breath.
Which is effortless.

Simply be.

Thoughts may appear to you.

They appear and disappear within awareness.

Nothing is happening to awareness.

There may be some bodily sensations
which appear to you,
but nothing is happening to you.

[…]

So, in our experience
there are perceptions,
there are thoughts,
there are sensations.

They appear to us like the weather appears to us.

We are the perceiving aspect.
We are the knowingness,
the reality which perceives.

That which perceives is not an object.

Because objects don’t perceive.
Things don’t perceive.
Bodies don’t perceive.

A computer can perform many complicated operations,
but it does not know what it is doing;
it is a complex machine.

The human body mind is a bio computer.
It can perform very complex functions
because it is designed and programmed that way;
but this complex biocomputer
does not know what it is doing.

It is simply performing what it is designed to perform.

And yet, in your experience,
there is a knowingness,
there is awareness.
And this awareness does not belong to the computer,
it does not belong to the biocomputer.

It belongs to you.
And this you is this invisible aware presence.
And this awareness is not located anywhere.
The body may be located
in the living room, in the office,
but awareness is not located
in the living room or the office.
The living room and the office appear in awareness.

Bodily sensations
appear in awareness.
Thoughts, memories
appear in awareness.

That which appears
appears within awareness
and is known by awareness.

It arises out of awareness
and is immediately
instantaneously known as it arises.

Although thoughts, sensations,
and perceptions appear phenomenally,
appear to you,
awareness does not appear to you.

Because it is what you are.
It is that which cannot not be.

It is formless.
It is invisible to the senses,
and yet it is undeniable.

Which is the only reality.

And you suffer because you imagine yourself
to be a limited form.
Because you identify yourself with something
which is impermanent.

You believe yourself to be a person,
to be a biocomputer.
You believe yourself to be an object
in time and space.

But you’re not an object.
You’re not in time and space.
You are this visible awareness.

Time and space appear to you!
Whenever you experience unhappiness
you are experiencing unhappiness as a person.
Because consciousness does not know unhappiness.

So you refer to yourself as
somebody with a history,
somebody with a past,
somebody with past trauma,
somebody with problems to resolve.
That is how you imagine yourself.

And so you spend your life trying to solve problems.
After you solve one problem,
then there is another problem,
and after that, there’s another one.

And yet we all love peace and happiness.

When peace and happiness is not available to you
later, after you resolve a problem,
because you don’t live later.
You live now.

So the the belief that you will be happy
after you resolve this problem
is overlooking now, happiness now.

Everything which you attain,
everything which you gain,
you can also lose.

But that which you are
cannot be gained nor can it be lost.

So the entire human journey
is about this understanding
and living this understanding.

So we do not live believing
we are a person, we live as consciousness,
as awareness.

We have a car, we drive the car, we take care of the car.
We have a house, we take care of the house.
We clean the house.
We fix things that get broken in the house.

As best we can.

But we are not the car,
we are not the house,
we are not the body mind.
We are not the vehicle.

You are not inside the body.
Or inside the brain or inside, I don’t know,
you’re not inside anything.

Everything appears to you.
And you decide what to do.
You decide, I want to go to the right,
I want to go to the left.

Then you learn.
You learn.
Like, oh, if I go to the right, the road is bumpy.
If I go to the left, the road is very smooth.
You learn.

We’re constantly learning how to navigate in the world,
how to navigate the body, take care of the body.

But your life is not about your car.
Your life is not about your house.
Your life is not about your body.

Because all of these things in time, they go.
They come and go.

But you don’t.
You don’t come and go.

So we can enjoy life,
we can celebrate life,
we can play together in the garden.

We can experiment.
We can explore,
but we do it harmoniously.
We do it sweetly.

Because there is nothing
at stake for consciousness.
There is nothing at stake for you,
you, consciousness.

So I invite you to deepen your understanding
about what I am sharing with you.
And explore, explore the meaning
of what you are understanding right now.

Because you’re understanding right now.
You you’re understanding something right now.
That’s very significant.
It’s a gift from the heavens.

So it’s up to you to cherish this gift
and to nurture this gift
like a small baby plant
that you have in your house.

And then to do your best in living your understanding
is to live according to your highest understanding.

And the highest understanding
is the understanding about the self,
about truth, about reality.

Okay.
So, if you have any questions,
please make sure you unmute yourself.
And you’re welcome to turn on your video.
This way we can see each other.

So any questions?


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