"Do Nothing" Meditation w/ Shinzen Young

Expandcontract ~ Shinzen Young Teachings, 1/3/11; CC Liu, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

American Buddhist meditation teacher Shinzen Young talks about a technique he calls "do nothing," which is associated with what other traditions call Choiceless Awareness, Just Sitting (zazen), the Great Perfection (Dzogchen), and the Grand Symbol (Mahamudra).

Teacher Shinzen Young (Wikipedia)

Shinzen Young's instructions for how to do this are in his own words: "Let whatever happens, happen. As soon as you're aware of an intention to control your attention, drop that intention."

• 00:05 - Techniques with effort and without, techniques with choices and without
• 01:04 - Choiceless awareness, just sitting, the great perfection (Dzogchen), the grand symbol (Mahamudra) are all related to the Do Nothing technique.
• 01:59 - With time, the Do Nothing technique is designed to create a sensitivity to the circuit that controls attention and an environment so that that circuit will turn itself off for a while
• 04:02 - Confusion is a strong arising from the place of choice
• 05:20 - The subtleties of the Do Nothing instruction, "Let whatever happens, happen. As soon as you're aware of an intention to control your attention, drop that intention."
• 08:00 - If you can't drop the intention to control your attention, no problem, because the technique isn't asking you to do that.
• 09:30 - "If noting makes you racey, do nothing. If do nothing makes you spacey, try noting."
• 09:53 - You are not being asked to willfully monitor your attention.
• 10:36 - Gomme (sgom med)
• 11:50 - With time you pinpoint whatever is in us that decides to initiate, suppress, direct, or pursue thoughts
• 12:36 - You are not meditating, "spirit" and the momentum of concentration, sensory clarity, and equanimity meditate you.
• 14:27 - In the future, we may be able to induce this experience of freedom from the limited identity from the outside.

Filmed at a group process in Jan. 2010 at the Mary and Joseph Retreat Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

• As a contrast and compliment, see: How to do Labeling and Noting During Meditation, Part 1 of 2 by Shinzen Young
• How to do Labeling and Noting During Meditation, Part 2 of 2, Zooming by Shinzen Young
• See also: Bear Down or Ease Up in Meditation? by Shinzen Young
• Don't Know Mind: Not Needing to Have Answers & the Wisdom Function by Shinzen Young
• Hacking enlightenment: Can ultrasound help you transcend reality?
• tricycle.org/trikedaily/brain...