Day 4 High Altitude Retreat -Remember the Knowingness

For the interviews today, it was very interesting because I know a lot of you are doing sittings with an object of meditation and that's completely fine. And I know some of you like to follow the structure or the path of the jhanas and so you want to be able to do that. That's also fine. But I would also recommend that throughout the day find time to rest in that space that we met with yesterday.

Yesterday night. Because that never leaves, that never goes anywhere, that remains. But I also know that in the interview, some of you are asking, how do you go back to that state? How do you access that state again? One does not access that state. One does not go back to that state. One is already you. So any form of movement towards that is only to satisfy the natural or I should say the rational mind, the analytical mind that says I have to do something about this. See this process as relaxing into it, right? You can embody the awareness. You can embody the awareness, bring your awareness back to the body and notice through one of the sense doors some kind of an experience and then relax into that experience.

Just remember these words. In the seeing, there's only the seeing. In the hearing, there's only the heard. In the sensing, there's only the sense. In the cognizing, there's only the cognized. For me, that's the shorthand. I don't have to do anything with the attention. Notice how the awareness moves in tandem with the attention. And in noticing the movement of awareness, notice how the awareness moves in tandem with the attention.

And in noticing the movement of awareness, notice that there is a knowing of the movement of awareness. It sounds like so many different steps, but it's really a fluid process. Just come back to this present moment. Come back to what's going on right now. You don't need to focus on the breath.

Just notice right now what's happening here and now. And then just by understanding the movement or observing the movement of awareness. Who is it or what is it that knows it? Right? So I've been telling you a few things. A few pointers, a shorthand. What remains when everything else fades.

Right? And the axiom that that which you can observe, feel and perceive is not you. So I would urge all of you to enter into that space. And as often as possible until that becomes really it is your natural state. It is the natural luminosity, the empty cognizance of the mind. It's the radiance of the mind.

And if you want to meditate formally from that, you can do that. But what you're going to notice is the mind just loses that. It just loses interest in that because it's already seeing through the three characteristics of a formal sitting. It's the objectless, the undirected, and the empty.

Every object. You see, the object here is for the satisfaction of the spiritual ego. It's the satisfaction for the mind that feels like it needs to do something. Right? And so far as you wanting to do something or the mind wanting to do something, okay, satisfy it for a while, but understand and see through it. Realize its impermanence. Realize the objectlessness of it.

And then notice how any intention, any direction, any sort of control is artificial. It's contrived. It's like you're trying to control, but there is no controller here. You know, humans or maybe all beings in this samsara desire security. They desire security. They desire safety. They desire surety. They desire certainty.

They desire a sense of, oh, this is what it is. And they hold on to it like a flotation device. They hold on to it, right? They hold on to it to keep themselves afloat, to keep themselves protected. And that's what can happen with a formal sitting, with a meditation practice. Don't make it into a fossilized process.

I understand there is great benefit in sitting because it gives you clarity. It gives you peace. It gives you tranquility. It's like your morning cup of coffee. But what is the point of doing that and being disturbed one way or the other? Because the process of trying to focus or concentrate or be collected is only in so far as in that time period.

What about the rest of the 22 hours or the 20 hours or the 18 hours if you're meditating that long? What about the rest of the day? What about the rest of the day? What about the rest of the time you're awake and sitting around or having your meal or whatever it is? What about the rest of the time you're awake and sitting around or having your meal or whatever it is?

Can you function from that natural space? Yes, you can. Right? You can decide to meditate for as long as you can. But I will say there is something what I would call as well as over-meditating. Over-meditation. This makes the mind brittle. It makes the mind unmalleable. It makes it like a zombie. Yeah, crunchy.

It's like, oh, when's my next fix? When's my next fix? So, if you can find that effortlessness in staying in that pure awareness or objectless awareness or spacious awareness or whatever you want to call it, it doesn't matter what you call it, but it is that knowing quality where you can remain.

And then, you know, the question will arise, okay, but what about the distractions? What about when I'm distracted? What about this thought that comes up? First and foremost, one way of handling that is to see it as just a thought, a passive thought. You're not in control of how green the grass is.

You're not in control of how bright the sun might shine. Same way, you're not in control of how bright the sun might shine. You're not in control of how bright the sun might shine. You're not in control of how bright the sun might shine. You're not in control of how bright the sun might shine. You're not in control of what thoughts are coming and going.

You feel a sense of control when you try to grapple with the sun. When you try to do something with it. When you push it away, when you work with it, when you say, let me see if I can let this go or whatever it is. Because that implies a sense of duality. There is a meditator and there is a process of meditation.

There is one who is distracted. And there is the distraction. But using the analogy of the ocean and looking at all thoughts as just the waves arising from the ocean, but being not separate from the ocean. So seeing the thought is fine.

But realizing that that thought is not different from the natural mind is where we want to be. Every effort that we want to be. Every effort that you try to make is a movement of artificiality. Even though the intention is there to be free. But if you can just rest in the expansiveness of this beautiful, wonderful knowing.

This space of knowing. Then whatever distractions come will go. They will self-liberate. They will burn up in the fire of this radiance. And I would urge all of you to look at it this way. That yeah, you could use it as an exercise to come back to the present moment. And to look at a specific sense-based door as an entry point and all of these things. But eventually just by sitting. Not serious, sitting. That's right, sitting.

Yeah, talking. Yeah, right. Exactly. You can't make this stuff, man. That's great. Such cosmic humor. So as I was saying, this sense of looking into one of the sense bases as an entry point and one. Okay, you can do that as a way of understanding how to get to it. But eventually if it's just here. Right now. The process of looking into a sense base, paying attention to it, using it as an anchor. These are different anchors. You know, we talk about the four foundations of mindfulness. What are they? They're just anchors to come back to that natural state of mindfulness.

So using that is fine as a preliminary process, as a preliminary exercise. But eventually you will notice that when you're just sitting here, right here, right now, your mind can just let go. The natural mind just shines. You're not looking outward. You're not looking inside. You're not looking in between.

There's no scoping of looking for something. Even saying right here or right now, those are all just fingers pointing. How would someone know to differentiate between normal mindfulness and the nature and the type of self-illuminating awareness at your point. That's a good question. So if you look at the normal mindfulness exercise or process of being mindful, there is a certain intentionality there.

There's a certain like, let me look at this or let me be aware of this for now. And so the attention of the mind just moves or the awareness of the mind moves in accordance to where that intention to pay attention is. Whereas the self-illuminating awareness, that self-illuminating natural mind doesn't need a cubbyhole to be in.

It's already there. Any movement that's done is for the sake of the rational mind. To kind of just step out of the way and to be absorbed into that. And when I say absorbed, I don't mean to meditate, but to just sink back into the ocean. Exactly. No agenda. Mindfulness without agenda. That's a good way of putting it. Great. There you go. Love letters from God. Mindfulness without agenda. Good to go.