What is Right Action?

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We are all very familiiar with confusion and quandary when facing certain decisions in our lives. We feel frozen and caught in the pros and cons the mind presents us with, even drowns us in. What is good to do in certain situations warranting an action but either way, harm to something or someone is an inevitability. One such very widely used teaching is in the Bhagwad Gita when Prince Arjun is in deep sorrow at having to go to war and is having a conversation with Krishna, his friend, mentor and teacher, also mirroring “Witnessing Awareness” space.

The basis of Right Action is to do everything in mindfulness.

Thich Nhat Hahn

It is never what you do which entangles you. It is the expectation of what you should get which entangles you.

Sadhguru on the Bhagwad Gita

Where does Right Action” originate from?

Buddha’s eightfold path to Nirvana, enlightened living, includes the spoke of Right Action. The importance of compassion in Buddhism cannot be overstated. The Sanskrit word that is translated as “compassion” is Karuna, which means “active sympathy” or the willingness to bear the pain of others. Closely related to Karuna is Metta, “loving kindness.”It’s important to remember also that genuine compassion is rooted in prajna, or “wisdom the realization that the separate self is an illusion. This takes us back to not attaching our egos to what we do, expecting to be thanked or rewarded.

Yoga of Action 

In the Bhagwad Gita, Krishna articulates in detail, the characteristics of a person of a person whose mind is firmly established in Yoga. Virtues self-control, serenity, and relinquishment of desires are highlighted. Contemplation on the source of action, the ground of Awareness, Consciousness, and the space of “surrender” are highlighted. The viability of “actionlessness” when one is “stuck or frozen in choice…and the relationship between action and attachment and between agency and individuality in this process of the grammar of selfless or non-selfish action are shared. Action done without attachment, selfless action, is explained. Effort is transfored to effortlessness.

A silent meditation practice is simply an aspect of this intention to remember our true nature. We come together, to “just sit”. We listen to the silence. We listen to our thoughts, We listen to our feelings and emotions. When we “just sit” we just BE the witnessing awareness. And this continues as we get off our mats or chairs and DO what needs to be done to live the dailiness of our lives. The BEing and DOing, the inhalation and exhalation and the gaps in between, Having this understanding empowers us to choose the lens we perceive and experience our lives with. “Just sitting”, silent meditation, reveals the layers that veil the clarity and luminosity of our true nature and the gap between these layers. Glimpses of the background, the ground of awareness, reminds us to rest in our true nature that is the witness to all experience. 

How To Keep Your Heart Open In Hell – Ram Dass 

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Ram Dass was born Richard Alpert to a Jewish family in Boston. His landmark 1971 book, Be Here Now, opens with his origin story: He shares the essence of universal teachings pointing to being witnessing awareness and the flow or life, auspicious just as it is..

“We are fascinated by words but where we meet is in the silence behind them”

Ram Dass

This Silence…Witnessing Choiceless Awareness.

A silent meditation practice is simply an aspect of this intention to remember our true nature. We come together, to “just sit”. We listen to the silence. We listen to our thoughts, We listen to our feelings and emotions. When we “just sit” we just BE the witnessing awareness. And this continues as we get off our mats or chairs and DO what needs to be done to live the dailiness of our lives. The BEing and DOing, the inhalation and exhalation and the gaps in between, Having this understanding empowers us to choose the lens we perceive and experience our lives with. “Just sitting”, silent meditation, reveals the layers that veil the clarity and luminosity of our true nature and the gap between these layers. Glimpses of the background, the ground of awareness, reminds us to rest in our true nature that is the witness to all experience.

Highlights from last week’s gathering

Antahakarana: Confusion vs Clarity… what witnesses both?

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We come together, to “just sit”. We listen to the silence. We listen to our thoughts, We listen to our feelings and emotions. Not concentration, only awareness of all the arisings…And catch glimpses of a gap…a silent gap between two thoughts. Too many thoughts, the monkey mind, veils the gap. Multiple methods and techniques in various traditions are all aids to “settle the mind” so we get established in steadier glimpses of the “gap”, the sky behind the clouds, the screen behind the movie, our true nature. When we “just sit”. We just BE the witnessing awareness.

Antahakarana: Confusion vs Clarity…what witnesses both?
Antahkarana refers to the whole psychological process, including emotions. levels of the mind, both the intellect (buddhi) and the middle mind or mental body (manas).
According to Vedanta literature, antahkarana consists of four parts:

  1. Manas (mind) – the rational part of the mind that connects with the external world
  2. Chitta (memory) – the consciousness where impressions, memories and experiences are stored
  3. Buddhi (intellect) – the decision-making part of the mind
  4. Ahamkara (ego) – the attachment or identification of the ego, also known as “I am-ness.”

Having this understanding empowers us to choose the lens we perceive and experience with. How much separation is there between the object and subject? (Sharing an illustration from Ayurveda Institute)

“Just sitting”, silent meditation, reveals the layers and the gap between these layers, a glimpse of the background, the ground of awareness, and we rest in our true nature that is the witness to all experience.

On the subject of LISTENING from the space of AWARENESS

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On the subject of LISTENING from the space of AWARENESS, witnessing awareness, Sakshi, Shravana, non-judgmental, healing, rejuvenating….SILENCE.

Sue read for us:

The Winter of Listening
David Whyte

No one but me by the fire,
my hands burning
red in the palms while
the night wind carries
everything away outside.

All this petty worry
while the great cloak
of the sky grows dark
and intense
round every living thing.

All this trying
to know
who we are
and all this
wanting to know
exactly
what we must do.

What is precious
inside us does not
care to be known
by the mind
in ways that diminish
its presence.

What we strive for
in perfection
is not what turns us
to the lit angel
we desire.

What disturbs
and then nourishes
has everything
we need.

What we hate
in ourselves
is what we cannot know
in ourselves but
what is true
to the pattern
does not need
to be explained.

Inside everyone
is a great shout of joy
waiting to be born.

Even with the summer
so far off
I feel it grown in me
now and ready
to arrive in the world.

All those years
listening to those
who had
nothing to say.

All those years
forgetting
how everything
has its own voice
to make
itself heard.

All those years
forgetting
how easily
you can belong
to everything
simply by listening.

And the slow
difficulty
of remembering
how everything
is born from
an opposite
and miraculous
otherness.
Silence and winter
has led me to that
otherness.

So let this winter
of listening
be enough
for the new life
I must call my own.

A silent meditation practice is simply an aspect of this intention to remember our true nature. We come together, to “just sit”. We listen to the silence. We listen to our thoughts, We listen to our feelings and emotions. When we “just sit” we just BE the witnessing awareness. And this continues as we get off our mats or chairs and DO what needs to be done to live the dailiness of our lives. The BEing and DOing, the inhalation and exhalation and the gaps in between, Having this understanding empowers us to choose the lens we perceive and experience our lives with. “Just sitting”, silent meditation, reveals the layers that veil the clarity and luminosity of our true nature and the gap between these layers. Glimpses of the background, the ground of awareness, reminds us to rest in our true nature that is the witness to all experience. 

Lifestyle & Daily Practices Anchoring us in Meditation

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We watched: Getting Back to Clarity In 10 seconds | Rupert Spira

When you feel depressed, what is to be done? Simply go back to your essential nature. Trace your way back, disentangle yourself from the content of experience in which you have lost yourself—in your own activity of thinking and perceiving, like an actor who temporarily loses himself in the part he is playing. What is to be done? He just needs to trace his way back to himself. That’s all you need to do right now. Even in the midst of a deep depression, the nature of your mind is clear.

A silent meditation practice is simply an aspect of this intention to remember our true nature. We come together, to “just sit”. We listen to the silence. We listen to our thoughts, We listen to our feelings and emotions. When we “just sit” we just BE the witnessing awareness. And this continues as we get off our mats or chairs and DO what needs to be done to live the dailiness of our lives. The BEing and DOing, the inhalation and exhalation and the gaps in between, Having this understanding empowers us to choose the lens we perceive and experience our lives with. “Just sitting”, silent meditation, reveals the layers that veil the clarity and luminosity of our true nature and the gap between these layers. Glimpses of the background, the ground of awareness, reminds us to rest in our true nature that is the witness to all experience. 

Lifestyle & Daily Practices Anchoring us in Meditation

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We watched Your Real Nature | What are You | Swami Sarvapriyananda

Continuing on the subject of: How to we remember our true nature in the midst of daily life? In this talk, Swami Sarvapriyananda reminds us:
You are Awareness. In Awareness you are aware of the thoughts and feelings in the mind. Through the thoughts and feelings in the mind, you are aware of the body with the senses, and through that you are aware of the world.

Antaha Karana is a concept in the Vedic tradition referring to the totality of the mind, including the thinking faculty, the sense of I-ness, and the discriminating faculty. Another description says that antaḥkaraṇa refers to the entire psychological process, including mind and emotions, are composing the mind levels that seem to obscure our true nature, the witness of all experience.

In Vedāntic literature, this antaḥkaraṇa (internal organ) is organised into four parts.

  1. Ahankara (ego)—identifies self with the body as ‘I’. The attachment or identification of the ego, also known as the ‘I-maker’.
  2. Buddhi (intellect)—the decision-making part of the mind. The part that is able to discern truth from falsehood and thereby to make wisdom possible.
  3. Manas (mind)—the lower, rational part of the mind that connects with the external world, and controls sankalpa (will or resolution). It is also the faculty of doubt and volition; seat of desire and governor of sensory and motor organs.
  4. Chitta (memory)—the consciousness where impressions, memories and experiences are stored; the part that deals with remembering and forgetting.

A silent meditation practice is simply an aspect of this intention to remember our true nature. We come together, to “just sit”. We listen to the silence. We listen to our thoughts, We listen to our feelings and emotions. When we “just sit” we just BE the witnessing awareness. And this continues as we get off our mats or chairs and DO what needs to be done to live the dailiness of our lives. The BEing and DOing, the inhalation and exhalation and the gaps in between, Having this understanding empowers us to choose the lens we perceive and experience our lives with. “Just sitting”, silent meditation, reveals the layers that veil the clarity and luminosity of our true nature and the gap between these layers. Glimpses of the background, the ground of awareness, reminds us to rest in our true nature that is the witness to all experience. 

Lifestyle & Daily Practices Anchoring us in Meditation

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We come together, to “just sit”. We listen to the silence. We listen to our thoughts, We listen to our feelings and emotions. Not concentration, only awareness of all the arisings…And catch glimpses of a gap…a silent gap between two thoughts.

Too many thoughts, the monkey mind, veils the gap.

Multiple methods and techniques in various traditions are all aids to “settle the mind” so we get established in steadier glimpses of the “gap”, the sky behind the clouds, the screen behind the movie, our true nature. When we “just sit”.

Pranayama or Breathwork is one such tool that helps immensely when incorporated in a daily routine. 

We have shared 2 Pranayama’s thus far: (Below, I share from a workbook from the Ayurveda Institute)

1. BRAHMARI or BEE’s BREATH

Brahmari in Sanskrit translates to bumble bee. In this prānāyāma, we are mimicking the sound of a bee buzzing, by closing off all of our senses and creating a humming sound. The “Bee’s Breath” soothes the nerves and calms the mind. During this practice, the breath makes a steady, low pitched ‘hum’ sound at the back of the throat on the exhale (like the humming of a bee). The bee goes to the flower and creates a humming. sound around the flower, and the flower opens its heart allowing the bee to get the pollen. There’s a beautiful romance going on between the flower and honeybee. Likewise, in mankind there is a beautiful lotus behind the breastbone. Through bhrāmarī prānāyāma the lotus blooms more and secretes divine nectar. It unfolds the love divine. Hum is the bīja of the ether element. Therefore, bhrāmarī breath unfolds the ether element in all bodily channels. It removes the occlusion of the channels so energy and prāna can flow freely.

Benefits • Calms and soothes the mind and nervous system • Helps with throat and thyroid ailments • Relieves stress and anger • Reduces blood pressure • Induces good sleep • Improves the function of the thyroid, parathyroid, and thymus gland to support immune function

Contraindications • None

Progression Bhrāmarī is to be practiced with 1 round. It is important to note that is imperative your spine remain straight. Start off with a round of 7, slowly progressing up to a total of 17.

2. ANULOMA VILOMA or Alternate Nostril Breathing (Yogic)

Anuloma Viloma is considered the king of all prānāyāmas. It merges the right and left brain hemispheres into the diencephalon—the place of choiceless, passive awareness. It is said to “unfold the inner blissful state of being.” Anuloma Viloma means to and fro, prograde and retrograde, to come and go, the up and down, in and out movement of prāna. Lunar energy is offered to the Sun and solar energy is offered to the Moon. Male energy is merging into female and female and into male, Ardhanareeswarar. When we offer male into female and female into male, a neutral zone is created.

Benefits • Reduces depression and migraines • Clears the sinuses • Brings high levels of vitality to visceral organs • Regulates agni • Decreases cholesterol • Strengthens immune system • Brings clarity to the mind, inducing contentment and serenity

Indications • Depression • Migraines • Blocked sinuses • Poor digestion • High cholesterol • Insomnia

C

Progression Anuloma Viloma is to be practiced with 2 rounds with a rest of 2-3 minutes between each round. Begin with 2 rounds of 7. Slowly increase your practice until you reach 2 rounds of 30 each. This may take a few months to reach this point. Do not feel discouraged.

Buzzing Bee’s Breath (Brahmari Pranayama)

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A practical tool from the Yogic tradition was shared as an aid to alleviate anxiety and stress. Sometimes, aids to sitting meditation can be very helpful to calm the mind. this is one such tool. 

Brahmari in Sanskrit translates to bumble bee. In this prānāyāma, we are mimicking the sound of a bee buzzing, by closing off all of our senses and creating a humming sound. The “Bee’s Breath” soothes the nerves and calms the mind. During this practice, the breath makes a steady, low pitched ‘hum’ sound at the back of the throat on the exhale (like the humming of a bee). The bee goes to the flower and creates a humming 4 sound around the flower, and the flower opens its heart allowing the bee to get the pollen. There’s a beautiful romance going on between the flower and honeybee. Likewise, in the subtle body of humans per the yogic sciences, there is a beautiful lotus behind the breastbone. Through bhrāmarī prānāyāma the lotus blooms more and secretes divine nectar. Hum is the bīja-root sound of the ether element. Therefore, bhrāmarī breath unfolds the ether element in all bodily channels. It removes the occlusion of the channels so energy and prāna can flow freely.

Benefits:

  • Calms and soothes the mind and nervous system
  • Helps with throat and thyroid ailments
  • Relieves stress and anger
  • Reduces blood pressure
  • Induces good sleep
  • Improves the function of the thyroid, parathyroid, and thymus gland to support immune function
  • Stimulates the pineal and pituitary glands
  • Stimulates secretion of tryptophan, serotonin, melatonin, acetylcholine, and dopamine
  • Harmonizes the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
  • Mind is dissolved into pure consciousness.

Is it Possible to Live Free of Anxiety?

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by Rupert Spira

Is it possible to live free of anxiety? Rupert is asked this common question by someone who says that they approach so many life situations with a feeling of anxiety because it feels like ”I am the one doing this” or ‘I need to get it right”. Rupert suggests that we are actually already completely free of anxiety, and that it is indeed possible to live a life free of anxiety. Rupert goes on to say that our anxious habits relax or subside during other activities such as attending a retreat. This is evidence that our being, or the presence of awareness, is emerging from the background of our experience and that our identity is shifting from ‘I, the anxious person’ to ‘I, awareness’. This clip was taken from the 7 Day In-Person Retreat at the Mercy Center: The Silence Which Beckons Us Into Ourselves which took place from October 23 – 31, 2021.

Timestamps: 00:00 Awareness Pervades Everything 1:13 Habit of Feeling Anxious 2:25 Living Without Emotional Resistance 3:00 You Are Already Free Of Anxiety 3:55 Shifting Your Identity from Anxious to Awareness

Path of Aliveness

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Enryu read from the book called Path of Aliveness by Christian Dillo

Encouraged to remain unmoving and withhold any attempt to make it go away.

Whatever your experience is, open up around it, just make space for it. Be the space for your experience. This added inner space has the power to transform conditioned reactivity.

Christian Dillo received Dharma transmission through Zentatsu Richard Baker Roshi in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. Many readers will know Shunryu Suzuki as the author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, one of the most popular books of Zen spirituality ever published.

When talking about “liberation” from suffering, for instance, Dillo focuses on the positive more than the negative. Liberation is not only about what to avoid in or prune from one’s life; liberation is also about “the path of nourishment.” How can we make our experiences more nourishing to our lives? Allow them to “complete themselves and develop into bodily expression,” he explains.

He points to the example of crying: “We generally don’t like to experience sadness or grief. We tend to resist not only the painful sensations that come with loss but also the bodily convulsions involved in crying. Have you noticed the difference between a way of crying that feels purifying and one that leaves you depleted and distressed? The difference lies in the willingness to let the painful sensations sequence through your body.” Dillo then offers further teachings from the Buddhist practitioner who taught him this way to cry.

Taken from a review online:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59386092-the-path-of-aliveness

The practice of Zen Buddhism can transform your life in the direction of less suffering and greater vitality in this very moment. The Path of Aliveness presents a fresh Buddhist path of rigorous exploration of experience at the sensory, emotional, and cognitive levels. Christian Dillo offers four tenets as guideposts for this exploration. It is possible, he writes, to:

– Cultivate a path of transformation.
– Liberate ourselves from unnecessary suffering.
– Live in accord with how things actually exist.
– Work for the benefit of all beings.

Dillo revisits classic Buddhist teachings such as the Four Noble Truths and the foundations of mindfulness meditation, reconstructing them as forms of embodiment training that are essential for transformation. This contemporary reconstruction of the teachings is always in the service of helping the reader make experiential distinctions in their own body-mind. This secular approach respectfully plumbs Buddhist tradition while opening itself to dialogue with science, psychotherapy, and other aspects of modern life. From this vantage, Buddhist practices appear as intentional cultivations moving us toward freedom, wisdom, and compassion. Dillo demonstrates how the space opened up by such practices can lead to skillful responsiveness, whether toward the problems in one’s life or broader issues like the ecological crisis.