Our practice tonight is called perceiving with awe and wonder.
And I think it really speaks to one of the very core principles I think of instinctive meditation and and where it came from the Radiant Sutras because the front of the Radiant Sutras is subtitled 112 gateways to the delight,
Sorry to the yoga of wonder and delight.
So wonder or delight I think they're all synonyms for one another and and if we look and think about that as a title for a text it has a different context perhaps to a lot of meditation which is which is maybe closing off and and being sort of centered and calm.
This is a different perspective on meditation where we can we can look at both the world as well as it externally as well as our inner world and be in an experience of wonder and delight and awe even.
So if if we take our meditation practice and and recall something that was beautiful then that really causes to be in awe of creation essentially.
And one of the ways that we practice that is is by engaging with our senses.
So rather than closing down to the outer world we want to practice opening up our senses to experience the world.
It's like a sensory delight.
So there's many different ways that we can practice this.
We can simply if we feel to if we can simply look around the room and open our eyes with an awareness with with with with some sort of attention on this thing that we call sight.
And just being in awe of the fact that light is coming into our eyes and it's touching the back of our eyes.
Somehow this vibration of of waves or particles that is touching us is creating a response in our in our eyes and it's traveling through the optic nerve and it's coming to our brain.
And over the billions of years of evolution we've come to the point where we create meaning from that.
And in this human brain we can actually even give it language and we can say I'm looking at a curtain or I'm looking at the window or I'm looking at a flower or I'm looking at the mandala on the wall behind Matt.
And we can we can look at that and wonder.
We can think oh my goodness I can see.
And we can say well I salute that sense of sight and and this is one of the practices that we could we could say we create is a salute to our senses.
So maybe we might start with that and just just say even if you want to turn away from your screen and I don't know what what space you're in but if there's something in your your room in the space that you're in that you you feel like I could just rest my eyes on that and and spend a moment being in wonder of the sense of sight.
And our sense of sight we can have it we can have this this attention to detail but we can also have a spacious and open sort of peripheral vision where we're aware of about 180 degrees either side and above and below.
Now this sense of sight that we have part of it's done with the light in our eyes and but a lot of it's done in our brain.
A lot of the a lot of the sense of sight is created in our brain.
And if I invite you to recall something beautiful to think of what's one of the most beautiful visions that I've ever seen.
I was fortunate enough this evening to be sitting before we came here to be sitting on the beach at Malolubar around towards the spit where I could look back towards towards Malolubar itself and see the sun setting over Malolubar and the brilliant orangey and apricot colors against the sky against the clouds.
So if I if I ask myself what is something beautiful that I've seen I have this capacity to bring that back into my awareness.
So it's not just my eyes that see but I can see in my mind's eye.
And if you bring into your awareness some place or something that you've been able to perceive with your eyes and then recall with your mind's eye with this inner sense of vision.
Perhaps that invites you into some more deeper and richer experience.
And maybe some other senses come into you or your awareness whilst you're recalling that.
I know from that experience that I had there was of course the the gentle sound of the waves.
And maybe whatever it is that you're recalling there's some recollection of sound.
And we can pay a sort of tender attention to our senses as we dive into the experience of being in something that we love,
Something that we thought was beautiful.
And of course I have the capacity to recall the shape of my body as I was sitting on the sand.
And maybe in your experience you can you can think okay well what is my body shape at the moment as I was in this experience?
What is my body shape that I'm feeling at the moment as I was in that experience?
Like yes I'm sitting in the chair now.
But can I recall what it was like to sit or if I was moving can I recall what it was like to be moving?
And we have this capacity to attend to all of our senses.
So have you recall whether it's warm or cool this temperature sensing that we have.
Whether there is air blowing across the skin or whether it's still.
And we can be simply diving deep into the rich sensory experience.
We can add a little layer of this awe and wonder that you're able to perceive.
Very subtle nuance of sensory experience.
Our eyes are extremely sensitive we can pick out millions of different colors.
We can hear a voice of a friend in a crowd amongst hundreds.
We can smell with just one or two molecules of a smell coming into our nostrils.
We know exactly where our body is in space.
We know exactly where the center of the earth is.
We can perceive through the slightest tilt of our head.
Where we are in relation to the center of the earth where we are in relation to the sky.
And we can be in wonder.
In wonder of the fact that we exist.
That we are sensory beings that can perceive the world.
We can be in awe of these perceptions and in awe of that.
Which we are perceiving which we are recalling.
It's like the universe has given itself a gift of perceiving itself through us.
So as you linger in your experience and you're inviting all of your senses to the party.
Let's listen to Sutra 50 from the Radiant Sutras and then we'll just be in our own experience for about five minutes or so.
All around you in every moment the world is offering a feast for your senses.
Songs are playing,
Tasty food is on the table.
Fragrances are in the air,
Colors fill the air with light.
You who long for union.
Attend this banquet with loving attention.
The outer and inner worlds open to each other.
There's a oneness of vision and a oneness of heart.
Right here in the midst of it all,
Mount that elation,
Ascend with it.
Allowing yourself to be in the center of your heart.
Mount that elation,
Ascend with it.
Allowing yourself to be in awe and wonder of both the universe and your ability to perceive it.
Become identical with the ecstatic essence that is embracing both worlds.
So so so so so so and it seems that the more the more time we attend to our senses the more I suppose honor that we show them.
The more what we perceive,
We then perceive with more awe and more wonder.
We're tuning ourselves up,
We're tuning ourselves for life.
And that tuning ourselves up allows us to perceive the beauty in the in the world more readily.
The colors in the sky can be more vibrant.
The touch of the air on your skin.
The smell of a flower.
The sound of a bird.
They all have the capacity to make your heart sing.
And when you've been practicing being in tune and tending to the world through this idea of your senses being a gift.
A wondrous gift.
A wondrous gift.
Then you can see the world perhaps through the the lens of sutra 72 in the Radiant Sutras.
The universe is here to reveal unlimited splendor.
Infinite diversity of expression.
No one can stand her allure.
Adore the colors and the shapes of her enchantment and know the one who permeates it all is a great lover.
Deeply relating above and below.
Mortal and immortal transient and eternal.
Perceive the terrifying beauty.
Be free to suffer and to be thrilled.
To tolerate intolerable ravishment.
The universe is here to reveal unlimited splendor.
Infinite diversity of expression.
No one can withstand her allure.
We're invited to perceive the universe with awe.
With wonder.
With delight.
It's like when I open my eyes,
When I open my ears,
When I open my nose,
My nostrils,
When I taste,
When I feel the air on my skin.
How can this exist?
How can I,
How can I be perceiving life,
The universe,
So richly?
So so so so so so so and perhaps one of my favorite sutras of the Radian sutras by Dr Lauren Roche's sutra 49.
And it might be that you start to use this sutra as the beginning of a transition back into your normal awareness.
It might bring a smile to your face.
Tasting dark chocolate.
A ripe apricot.
A luscious elixir.
Savor the expanding joy in your body.
Nature is offering herself to you.
How astonishing to realize this world can taste so good.
When sipping some ambrosia raise your glass,
Close your eyes,
Toast the universe.
The sun,
The moon,
The earth,
They dance together to bring you this delight that we call life.
Receive the nectar on your tongue as a kiss of the divine.
Our senses are here to declare an outrageous world.
To fill us with delight.
To offer us awe and wonder.
Both in our inner world and our daily lives.
We practice,
We practice attuning to our senses in our meditation.
So that we can experience life in a richer deeper fashion.
So perhaps you might want to attend to,
Attune to the room in which you are in now.
Even if it's just feeling the air on your skin,
Listening to any sounds.
Feeling the shape of your body again.
Recognizing where the center of the earth is.
Feeling the movement of breath.
The expansion and contraction of your ribs,
Your belly.
You may want to feel the shape of your body change as you invite some movement.
And eventually,
Eventually your eyes pealing open.
So this practice of attending to our senses is available to us.
At the click of a finger,
Click of your fingers,
Anytime you feel like.
I've got a moment here where I can just be more attentive to how the world is conversing with me through my senses.
How the universe is conversing with me through my senses.
And if we offer ourself to the world with this attitude of awe and wonder.
Then the world gives back to us beauty and riches.
Things taste better,
Things smell better.
So we can simply get into our idea.
I'm just going to have a quick salute to my senses.
I'm going to attend to my senses and let the universe talk to this part of the universe.
So I'll close the recording.
And then we'll have an opportunity to discuss our experiences.
