There is means very skillful practices that support. Learning the backward step. And in particular. It's again. Patience is the root of wisdom. It's the way we take our seat and settle and then see. So this learning the backward step happens at our seat, happens where we are. And if we're in pain, it happens in the moment. where we sit and settle with all Buddhas who are also sitting in that same seat, practicing patience.

[01:11]

Buddhas practice patience. Without practicing patience, we cannot be Buddha. If we're wiggling away from our pain, we can't learn the backward step so we have to take our seat right in the middle of it then we can see the light turn around also when we take our seat and settle down and stop resisting the pain energy comes up The energy to pay close attention to what's happening comes up. The enthusiasm to practice that comes up.

[02:14]

The energy's there, wasted anymore in fighting the pain. So it just becomes available or the meditation practice. Turns out once you're sitting there not moving, there's not much else to do besides meditate anyway. So let's have fun and do it. Now, we have already learned the forward step. Forward step is attending to images. Which are made by our faculty. Our image making faculty. Our image making factory.

[03:18]

We have this capacity to create images, to create concepts. We know how to do that. But that's not the full extent of the forward step. The next step of the forward step, which we learn by conversing face-to-face with, we learn how to imagine that these images which are created in our mind are outside of our mind. And then we grasp them. And then The world's rolling along. We grasp upon them inexorably. Once we see them as external, we have to grasp them. And then we seek and we attach to them. The forward step is seeking and attaching to. It's noisy on the conceptual front. It's activating the mind on the conceptual front.

[04:31]

It's activating the mind around the objects which we've created and made external. It is the result of eons of wonderful human development. We know how to do it. Now we're trying to learn the backward step. We don't know how to do so well. And people have been trying to learn the backward step, it looks like, from what I can tell, for about 2,500 years. But that's not very long compared to millions of years. So it's a new habit for our human form of existence. So we keep trying to learn it. And now here we are trying to learn it.

[05:34]

And now you do have to have patience to take our seat in the middle of psychological and physical pain. We need to also practice patience with the difficulty of learning this practice. studying this practice of the back. As the great ancestor Daoshin said, the bodhisattva shamatha practice cannot be expounded in full. The proper skill at it comes from one's inmost heart. So there's so many ways. And I've been telling you so many ways. Making so many suggestions about how to learn the backward step, how to study the backward step.

[06:39]

To once again now review them for you. We learn and we study the backward step. by learning and studying, not seeking and not attaching to anything in the mind. We learn the backward step by attending with continuous mental attention. to the uninterrupted mind. We learn how to stabilize our consciousness by attending to non-conceptual images, non-conceptual non-images.

[07:52]

by being quiet on the conceptual front. Concepts may still arise, but all around them we are quiet. Continuous mental attention to the non-conceptual. The mind is stabilized by attending to the image-making by attending to the imager rather than the images. We learn the backward step by attending to the capacity of something rather than thinking of something.

[09:04]

We learn the backward step by reversing our habitual thought patterns of the thinking mind. We learn the backward step by turning the light and shining it inward instead of outward. By shining it back rather than forward onto images. We learn the backward step by not grasping at images. We stabilize the consciousness by making the mind like a wall.

[10:10]

By making our mind like Bodhidharma's mind. We stabilize our consciousness by not moving. These are the instructions of Buddha, instructions of Bodhidharma, the instructions of Kamalashila, the instructions of Daushin, Wangbo, the instructions of Dogen, and so on. These are even the instructions of some of you to yourself. Comes from your inmost heart.

[11:23]

Use your imagination to study your imagination. To attract yourself to this very subtle work. Which stabilizes. this extremely sensitive, easily disturbed human mind. In this phase of meditation, we die to the world of images. We let go of it. We die to it. We close our eyes to it. and closing our eyes to the world, we become calm.

[12:29]

Closing our eyes to the external world, the mind is stabilized. When this kind of mental attention is continuous, The mind is stable, at ease, and flexible. You're still alive, even though you've died to external things. Matter of fact, you're very alive. You're full of life, but you're also calm. When this kind of mental attention is continuous, the yogi is ready to turn the light back in its usual direction. To turn the light again, now back out onto images.

[13:32]

This is the rebirth into the world of images. rebirth into the world of conceptual observation, samadhi. After stabilization into the world of images is higher vision, vipassana. Abiding only in the stable flexible mind, one is ready to develop continuous mental attention to conceptual images that are the focus of samadhi in the practice of vipassana. Now having

[14:45]

combined Samatha and Vipassana. They become completely united when we mentally attend to one pointed mind. And one pointed mind is the realization that the image which we're looking at now is mind only. The image which is the focus of the samadhi in vipassana is cognition only. Mentally attending to this is one-pointed mind.

[15:47]

When we're meditating like this. This is also. Mental attention. Such as. This is the vision which now can be used to. Really. Enter into wisdom fully. This is really just the beginning. Even though it's a great realization, it's the beginning of the vast work of studying the universe of beings. Now we, at this point, are meditating on suchness.

[16:59]

Now meditating on ultimate reality. So at this point one understands that phenomena do not exist apart from mind only. And when we understand this, We take suchness to heart. And the language is slightly different. Listen to outside of mind there are no things. That's different from saying, outside of mind, there's nothing. Do you feel the difference? Outside of mind, there are no things.

[18:07]

That's this realization. We're not saying that outside of mind, there's nothing. Like there's nothing. because it takes mind to make things. In reality, there are no things. But in reality, it's not that there's nothing. Reality is something. Very meaningful. It's just not a thing. There are things because there's mind. It's like, you know, once you're stable, or rather, put it this way, when you can look at somebody and die to their face, you become stable.

[19:17]

Like if you can look at someone and close your eyes to them, close your ears to them, die to them, as an external object, you become stable. Then you open your eyes again, and from the stability, you see the face again. And from the stability, seeing the face again, guess who you see? It's you. Always you that you see. It's only your mind. Once you die to this other face, close your eyes to them. When you open again, you see that everyone is yourself.

[20:26]

And you have entered the self-fulfilling samadhi. Everyone gives you your life. Everyone. And you see this when you die to everyone, become stable and open your eyes again. If you're off, you'll find it in the other's face. Especially if you're looking for your original face, you'll find it in the others. The kind of ironic, almost paradoxical thing is that as we approach the session, the end of the practice period,

[21:43]

we come to the ultimate practice. The ultimate practice of facing . And as we get right to where we always wanted to come, we want to go back to the beginning of the practice period or skip over this end part. You know, this suchness, this Buddha, characteristics is completely free of any characteristics.

[22:46]

It is transcendence of all characteristics. Normal human beings, again, being well trained in the forward step, we always want to grasp some characteristics, some image, some signs. So as we the backward step and pull away a little bit from grasping at characteristics and as we start to calm down from this nice practice and start to relax a little bit from and not attaching. we start to notice this ungrasped area.

[23:55]

There seems to be this big hole opening. And then we maybe feel like, let's go back to grasping a little bit. Then we feel uptight again. we start to go back to not grasping. And as we grasp, this hole gets bigger and bigger. And it's almost like when the attention to the uninterrupted mind, when the mind like a wall becomes extended and continuous and broad and very extensively covering everything, then also it's like this hole gets bigger and bigger too. It's like the hole gets covering everything too.

[25:03]

So everything becomes calm and at the same time everything becomes abysmal. Everything becomes bottomless. And we become, perhaps, if we think about it, afraid we're going to fall into . So there's this difficult adjustment here between extending the practice of not seeking and not attaching and being frightened by the void that is implicated and being afraid that we'll fall in. The closer we get to non-seeking and non-attachment the more we're tempted to go back to seeking and attachment.

[26:05]

The more we get to non-seeking and non-attachment the more intimate we become with the void The void sounds like a New York accent. You lean into the right. There you go. So this is different. This is part of the difficulty. But I tell you, I tell you, that void is a void, but it's full. It's full. It's packed. And guess what it's packed with? All things. It's you. You're not going to fall into that void and never be seen again.

[27:08]

It's bottomless, and it's filled with you. And you are also bottomless. That's why when you settle down, you feel this bottomlessness. But you're not going to fall into it and get hurt. You are it. You are the void. And you're full of yourself. You're not going to not be anything. You're not a thing, but you're not nothing. You're full of life. It's just that you're not a thing. But I can say this, but when you actually get in there and start scary. But really, you're starting to go into the self-fulfilling samadhi.

[28:11]

And if you don't stay from this and face this void fearlessly, you'll be fine. You'll be okay not grasping. You'll be super fine. Don't worry. So again, there's like There's dying to the world of images. That's a kind of death. And there's rebirth from this calm, deadly state into facing the images again with new life and vision. Then there's seeing that these images are just mind. Then there's a new death. And that's the great one.

[29:17]

And in the story in case 32, I see the monk went through two deaths. First, he went through the death to the world of images, attained stability, reentered meditation on images, realized their emptiness, and died again, the great death. But he didn't come back from the great death. back into the world from the great death. He came from the small death of the Samatha practice and realized but didn't come back from the great death. And we have to come back from the great death. In case anybody goes through it, we have to come back from it and take care of the guest season. The entire universe sees it.

[30:25]

But that's for tomorrow. Today, it's go down into deadly calm night. The backward step. Keep practicing Keep your legs crossed and keep practicing non-attachment and non-seeking. Keep your fingers crossed and keep practicing the backward step. And tomorrow you will be released after attaining realization of mind only and meditating on suchness, then you can take your suchness into the marketplace.

[31:42]

You can take your meditation on suchness into the marketplace. You already got your suchness, but you got to start meditating on it before you can get out of this session. Okay. Ready to go, Nigel? Okay. Right. Right. Okay. Okay. Ready? So. Briefly, right? You know, the the once you realize such this.

[32:49]

You're protected from. of things. Once you realize that things are only mind, you do not affirm their existence. And the other side of the means which you practice, compassion, patience, patient immersion in suffering, working with all suffering beings, practicing generosity, practicing the precepts. This protects you from negation. In this way, you enter the middle way. This is both mind only and majamaka. That's a brief answer. An extended answer will be given

[33:54]

We call it the time to be announced. You have to consult the schedule. So is it pretty clear now? Seems like it is to you what I can tell. But frankly speaking, some of you are. Still trying to. In terms of like patients and that's fine, that's where you're at. Others of you are trying to practice this and are getting depressed because it's so difficult. And in that case, again, as I said yesterday, well, just turn your attention to some other kind of practice with an object. Samatha practice can be practiced with objects like loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Or concentrate on the breathing. Use conceptual images, that's fine.

[34:58]

And when you feel again, come back to this samatha, this bodhisattva samatha practice. The reason why this is a bodhisattva samatha practice is because it's immediately emptiness. It's mind-only practice. It's harder than the conceptual practice. which we're so familiar with. But you can still stabilize the consciousness with conceptual images. It's just that then, after that, you can come back and practice Samatha with a non-conceptual image. As is being presented by the Samadhi Nirmacana Sutra, Dai Daoshin, Wang Bo, Bodhidharma, Dogen, and so on. these Zen people. Clear now, kind of?

[36:01]

Even though difficult to practice, is it clear? Luminous also found a place in the Pali texts where the Buddha seems to be directing this meditation on his uninterrupted mind. In the Pali literature it's called the bhavagra citta. Bhavanga, bhavanga citta. Bhavanga. Do you have bhavanga in Argentina? Huh? Yes, there has been.

[37:09]

The luminous owl has settled the matter. The way he did it was like the priest in the book of Zerub. He gave the gift. He gave the stolen items to the thieves. So there was no theft, actually. It was an illusion. And the luminous owl's assistant understands. So really, there never was any theft, but there was some owl consumption. So you see what a fearful confession is. It really does help move the practice along. Making mistakes is making mistakes. But recognizing mistake as a mistake is Dharma.

[38:13]

So we all have plenty of mistakes to recognize, right? Recognizing moves the Dharma forward. So later in this sutra, Maitreya asked the Buddha, you know, how to go in and, you know, take the signs off everything. So that everything becomes signless and you enter into liberation. And the way you take this is by meditating on suchness. bring that meditation to everything and the signs drop away. So then Maitreya says, what about the signs of suchness? Do they also get eliminated?

[39:18]

So that's for later, OK? That all for today?

[39:28]

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