Hi,
Everyone.
My name is Stephen Hick,
And welcome to my guided meditation on realizing the selfless self,
Or put another way,
Realizing no self.
It's a guided meditation that helps us see through the illusion of thoughts,
Emotions,
Sensations,
Even awareness itself,
That those don't define who we truly are.
So let's just begin by finding a posture that's steady and comfortable,
Whether you're sitting on a chair or a cushion,
Lying on the floor,
Allowing the spine to rise naturally,
Tall but not rigid,
Letting the hands rest softly,
Letting the eyes close or open with a downward gaze,
And feeling yourself arrive into this body,
Into this breath,
Into this moment.
Perhaps sensing into the body as it settles more and more,
The weight of the body,
The contact points,
The sit bones and the chair,
The cushion,
Feet,
Contact points with the ground,
The weight of the hands on the thighs or the lap,
Beginning this meditation with a simple intention to allow the body to cease movement,
Just to be still for this period of 30 minutes,
Allowing the stillness to envelope the entire body,
Bringing awareness into the breath,
Feeling it move and flow gently in the body,
Not controlling it,
Just noticing it,
And bringing attention down from the head,
If that's where it is,
Lowering it down through the body,
Bringing attention down,
Letting it settle in the lower belly,
Feeling the rising and falling on the in-breath and the out-breath.
Notice how the breath flows on its own.
There's no need to make anything happen.
Breath just flows in and out without your controlling or struggling,
Without any need to do anything.
The breath gently flows,
With each breath gently letting go,
Any striving or efforting.
We're just simply allowing what's already happening all on its own to be seen,
Observing this natural process of breathing,
Noticing how breath,
Body sensation,
Posture,
The awareness of all of that all arise together,
All arise on their own,
Just simply flowing as nature arising.
Independently,
Without any controlling or doing on your part,
Sensing into this deep truth how the breath just breathes,
Body sensations simply arise,
The knowing of all that simply happens,
Breath by breath.
Perhaps while you're sitting in this stillness,
Thoughts simply arise on their own.
The mind starts secreting thoughts without any doing on your part,
Become lost in the thoughts,
Tensions drawn away.
That's okay.
Just once you notice that,
Gently refocus your attention back onto the body,
The breath,
Sensation,
All just happening.
And so while all that is happening,
We can also notice that there's this automatic arising of feeling tone,
This subtle flavor of the experiences of pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral.
Seeing if you can notice that also just happening moment by moment.
For example,
There might be a sense of easefulness or spaciousness,
Openness in the heart that arises as pleasant.
Or there might be a pain or discomfort in the knee,
The feeling tone of unpleasant arises.
Whatever's arising for you,
Just noticing the feeling tone,
Pleasant,
Unpleasant,
And neutral arising on its own,
Independent of any you moment by moment.
Sounds in your environment or internal sounds might have a feeling tone.
There's a slight leaning in.
Perhaps you hear the sweet song of a bird and there's a pleasant feeling tone.
Perhaps sound of a truck going by brings a negative,
Unpleasant feeling tone.
Noticing how these feeling tones just happen.
They don't arise from any essence,
But from contact,
Simple contact in our sense organs,
Ears,
In this case of sound,
And the world.
It's continuing to be with the breath,
The body sensations and sounds,
As well as feeling tone of all those experiences.
Now,
Turning attention towards perception,
Noticing how perceptions are just simply arising filtered through habit,
Memory,
Conditioning.
Just observing how perceptions just arise independently.
Noticing as well,
Again,
Thoughts,
Other mental formations,
Emotions,
Things arising in the mind,
How they just simply appear.
You can have the intention to have a calm mind,
But,
Of course,
Thoughts just appear without your consent,
Without your doing.
They might turn into an emotion.
Simply noticing thoughts also arising in this unfolding field of awareness.
Just observing the breath,
Body,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
Feeling tones,
Perceptions,
Simply happening,
Occurring all on their own,
Without any doing,
Without the need for a self that's somehow controlling it all,
Like a joystick in a video game.
It's just all unfolding.
Just deeply sensing into that nature,
The sense of nature unfolding.
You can also look at awareness itself.
Who's aware?
What's aware of the breath?
What's aware of the sensations in the body?
You notice all these things.
Can you locate the one who is knowing these things,
Or is knowing simply arising as these events unfold?
Some come to your attention,
And others happen without any sense of awareness at all.
Can we truly see,
Directly observe,
An independent self that's in control of our experience?
When you really look within,
You may find a thought,
A sensation,
But is that who we truly are?
You may notice the thought,
The thought such as,
This is me,
But is the thought itself the self?
If the thought comes and goes,
Does the self come and go?
Just gently inquiring in this way,
Without looking for an answer,
But simply looking with curiosity,
Directing directly.
What is this thing called me?
Is the me in the body that is felt as sensations coming and going?
Is my true essence in the breath that comes and goes on its own?
Is it in thoughts and emotions that seem to flow and happen without my consent?
Is it in the feeling tone or perceptions that unfold naturally?
Or is it in the awareness that sees these things unfolding?
You can look and look,
Looking at your direct experience,
And the more you look,
The less you'll find.
Eventually,
You bump into a silence,
A space.
Even the awareness that notices is not fixed,
Independent.
It moves depending on what is known.
It moves depending on what the senses take in as experiences.
So it,
Too,
Is not independent,
Not a self,
But a process,
A happening,
An unfolding.
Just letting yourself rest here in the not knowing,
Letting the questions dissolve.
Noticing if there's any subtle sense of someone sitting here meditating,
A doer,
A watcher,
A controller,
And gently seeing if even that can soften.
Letting go of the sense that there's a meditator,
What happens when even the feeling of being the meditator is released,
Is let go of?
Noticing how the breath continues,
Thoughts continue,
Awareness remains,
How the moment simply unfolds all on its own.
No need to push or pull at this,
No need to understand or define,
Simply resting in these questions.
Letting yourself settle and rest in this open field of being,
This presence,
Just this breath,
This body,
This moment,
Just as it is.
Perhaps silently asking,
Can I let go a little more?
Can I be with things exactly as they are?
Can I rest in this mystery,
The mystery beyond self,
Self,
The mystery of being?
Taking this mystery with you as you move about your day,
As you end this meditation.
