Self-view, non-duality, and Zen (video)

Alan Watts (alanwatts.org); KPFK.org (Audio Archives); Wisdom Quarterly

• PLAY NOW ("Intellectual Yoga," Aug. 5, 2012 8:00 am)

Yoga (to yoke) means union. There are different ways (to yoke, to union). It opposes alienation, the view of separateness of "self" from all (sakkaya-drishti). Experiencing the ONENESS of all things is not enlightenment. But it is blissful, a  relief, giving a sense of connection longed for (connectedness) at a profound and innate level. How? Allow it.

   

We may be finding it difficult to meditate. That's common and to be expected for untrained hearts. Stress not. Relax more deeply. Wish for it less. But keep applying the "method" -- bring mind back to the object of meditation. What does that mean? It only means remember to give attention to what the mind is being centered on -- the present moment, this breath, a mantra, a sensation, a visualization, a fragrance. If one is engaged in the fundamental practice of not concentrating on the breath but simply allowing attention to go back to the breath again and again until it sits there. There is no effort to make other than persisting, waiting for a natural elevated state to come as a result of everything falling away, letting go, restoring consciousness to pure awareness without a goal.

Full-length "The Art of Meditation" by British Zen teacher Alan Watts

 

MCTB The Non-Duality Model

DharmaOverground.org

The Non-Duality Model essentially says that the goal is to stop a process of identification that turns some patterns of sensations into a Doer, Perceiver, Center Point, Soul, Agent, or Self in some very fundamental perceptual way. By seeing these sensations as they are, the process can gradually be seen through until one day: “In the seeing [there is] just the seen, in the hearing just the heard, in the thinking [otherwise experienced] just the thought”...