spaciousness meditation

spaciousness meditation

The Mind is Empty Yet Manifests Phenomena

The mind in essence is empty. But that doesn’t stop phenomena from happening. The mind is going to manifest phenomena. Surely. Without ceasing. Always. By learning to dive beneath the waves of the phenomena we can find the spaciousness of the ocean.   Meditation is the tool we use to do this.

Meditation – What is Happening?

We sometimes meet meditators who think that there should be something happening in their meditation other than what is happening.

Do you ever get the deep seated feeling that your meditation should be something other than what you’re actually doing? Do you ever wonder “Aren’t I supposed to be in bliss, clarity and non-clinging awareness? Isn’t the emptiness of the mind supposed to be revealed? Why am I going on about the way so and so eats her food?”

Habitual Patterns will Grab Your Attention

Your habitual patterns are very strongly ingrained. Yet you expect your meditation to all of a sudden take on holy significance. You spend half your time complaining about each other and the other half worrying about yourself. Then all of a sudden you want to sit down and be in bliss, clarity, non-clinging awareness, dwelling in the suchness of the mind, recognizing emptiness everywhere…

In meditation, the phenomena are going to grab your attention.

Sense data is going to grab your attention—mental, emotional, physical. But what you really want to be doing is sitting behind the mind, as it were, and seeing what is experiencing the arisings.

Ask, what is the nature of the thing that is experiencing each arising?

Like Waves on the Ocean

The phenomena, the thoughts, the feelings, are like waves on the ocean. In meditation you’re diving through the waves.

The phenomena are going to keep happening. They’re not going to stop. But when you’re practicing meditation, your attention is going to the ocean, rather than the waves.

Let the mind fall behind the phenomena and experience that mind in its nakedness. That’s meditation.

Spaciousness within the Phenomena

As you have more contact with that mind behind the phenomena you’ll see how that contact produces the feeling of the phenomena being empty. Phenomena don’t have the same hold on you. You get contact with a feeling of spaciousness within the phenomena.

What you’re encouraged to do, as best you can, is to look behind the phenomena.

Doug Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat, Western Mysteries TeachersDoug Duncan & Catherine Pawasarat are modern day teachers of transcendence. Their work with students draws upon Buddhist, Western Mysteries, modern psychology and other traditions.

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