Youtube recording: 12/12/2024
Meditation: MP3 Audio file
SanghaOfOne.com

Alternative MP3 player

Dear Jeff, please let me know if this works better (on your Android phone):

Welcome, everyone.
Lovely to be with you.

So for the first part of this meeting,
we’ll, spend some time together in meditation,
and then we’re welcome to explore questions
that you may have.

So sit comfortably,
and you can turn your gaze inward.
You can close your eyes or not
as you wish, and,
invite yourself to relax,
relaxing the body resting.

And, invite your mind
also to let go for now.
You don’t need to do anything.
You don’t need to figure anything out
or attain any state or any goal.

Nothing to fix.
Nothing to do.

The breath is gentle.
Sensations appear to you.

Certain thoughts may appear
within awareness, like,
passing clouds in the wide open sky.

Which you are,
this effortless awareness.

Which is not limited in any way.
It is not obstructed by thoughts
or by sensations.

You are
the perceiving element,
the perceiving reality,
effortless.

In this effortlessness,
in this,
and as this awareness,
there is no separation,
no divisions.

No worries
and no concerns.

A moment where
thinking is quiet.

So welcome yourself
as this aware presence,
the reality which perceives.

There is no personal self anywhere.

In the wide open sky,
there are clouds of different shape
and different size,
but they’re all made
out of the same substance,
water.

Similarly,
your mind:
various thoughts,
various perceptions,
various sensations.
But they refer to
the same substance,
the same essence,
which is awareness,
consciousness,
the formlessness,
the formless reality of being,
which is your very being,
your reality
and the reality of the mind,
the reality of the world are one.

Everything you perceive
refers to the perceiving aspect,
refers to awareness.

Although we label the ocean,
Pacific Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean,
they are the same reality, water.

We divide the sky
into the eastern sky
and the western sky.

Conceptual divisions.
You refer to yourself as
somebody.
You refer to yourself as this,
but not as that.

But this division
between this and that
is conceptual.

The division between
you and I is conceptual.
Because there is only one I,
one self, one reality,
formless,
invisible to the senses.
And yet,
without awareness,
what would perception be?

What is the oak tree in the yard
without the knowingness of it?

What is me
without the knowingness,
without the awareness.

And this awareness has no boundaries,
no limitations,
no beginning,
no ending.

Why limit yourself
with belief?
The belief that you are somebody.
The belief that you are a body-mind entity.
The belief that you are born,
that you are something which is born.

Because what goes hand in hand
with this belief is
the fear,
the fear of ending,
the fear of disappearance:

What will happen to me?
Where will I go?
What will I become?

What is this I,
which is going somewhere?
The fear of absolute disappearance.
The end of what?

We know that thoughts
appear and end,
perceptions appear and end.
    
But,
have you ever experienced
your ending or your beginning?
Or is it one more belief?

The belief that I have a beginning and an ending.

This belief can be very troublesome:
My ending,
what is gonna happen to me,
my life,
my intelligence,
my being,
where is it going to go?

These thoughts,
having a gripping power,
can generate tremendous fear.

But what is this you,
in this moment?

A stream of thoughts
and memories
and sensations,
opinions… passing
one cloud after the other,
one dream after another.

And yet deep down,
you know yourself to be
this eternal formless Being,
beingness itself.

But you don’t even need to know that,
to simply cease to cherish
beliefs about yourself.

When there is a small clearing
in the cloudy sky,
no matter how tiny the clearing,
the sun shines through.

The blue sky is perceived infinite.
Sky is perceived,
through a tiny clearing in the cloud cover.

Simply cease to cherish
your stories and your beliefs
about yourself.

No narrative.
No history.
No story.

This may seem to be scary,
to do,
to let go of
the entire structure
that we’ve been identified with
and we’ve been holding on to.

Fear of disappearing:
What will I be
without my veils,
without my masks,
without my identities?

You need to find out.
To have to walk through
this gateless gate,
to explore life
without being somebody,
to be not-knowing,
and not to incessantly
keep referring to yourself
as if you know what you are,
this person,
this narrative.

We are blessed
with the faculty
of contemplation,
of inquiry,
of investigation,
about our true nature,
about truth,
about reality.

We do not lack anything.

This passing dream
is about understanding,
the understanding
about the dream and its reality.

Because everything
which you perceive
refers to its reality.
What is it?

It is said that “I am it”.
But these words may not be satisfactory.

What will be satisfactory?
Find out,
look into it.

So if you have any questions,
anything that you would like to explore,
please go ahead.

You can unmute yourself.
You’re welcome to raise your hand,
or use the React icon
at the bottom of the screen
to also raise your hand.

Any questions?

Also, you’re welcome to turn on your video,
if you’d like.

I’d like to see you.

Any questions?