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Day 2 - Teaching 2- The Great Way/ Faith Mind Poem

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    okay so I'm going to talk a little bit
    about what's been called the negative
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    path or the the Via Negativa. So it's
    where we come to understand who we are
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    by seeing and realizing what we are not.
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    So in the Vedic tradition sometimes they
    have this term Netti netti, which means
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    not this, not that. And so we we come to
    see what we are by recognizing the false
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    self in all of its different incarnations.
    So what is that, what is that false self?
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    What is the ego?
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    There are many ways to bring it into focus
    bring it into Clarity, but one way
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    I like to talk about it. is beginning when
    we're a little kid. If you think about
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    a little kid, that luminosity coming from
    the eyes and that aliveness and that
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    engagement with life, It's just a very 
    natural sort of direct connection to life
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    when we're a little kid. The ego hasn't
    been cultivated yet. And then
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    experiences are sort of overwhelming
    or they they there's a charge to the
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    experiences of the the little kid. So
    these experiences create a resistance
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    within that self structure within the
    body, the body mind.
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    And that resistance gets wired in over 
    time. So these charges happen and
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    sometimes the charge is a big charge,
    in the the case of a trauma you know,
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    it can be some very deep wiring, sometimes
    they're just repetitive patterns that just
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    get wired in. And so these resistances
    in the body create this wiring for
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    patterns of craving and aversion. So over
    the child learns 'I want this I don't
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    want that' and there can be behaviors that
    get created as the child gets positive
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    feedback from the world. So they learn
    if they behave a certain way then they
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    get approval you know, they behave a
    different way then they get scolded.
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    So they learn to move in a certain way,
    they start to change their their natural
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    behavior and they start to behave
    according to other people's expectations
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    or the world's expectations. They create
    this false Persona in order to pacify that
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    craving or or to get rid of something that
    feels uncomfortable.
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    And so we we craft this false self, this
    false persona and so that false self
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    is nothing but resistance to what is.
    It's literally, if you think about wiring,
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    or in science they have these things
    called Lichtenberg figures, where they're
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    patterns that electricity makes when it
    hits something. So the the electricity
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    hits something and it creates almost like
    a little tree of branching patterns and
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    so you you see when when electricity or
    energy hits something it creates these
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    pathways. And it and it looks like neural
    pathways, it looks just like what you see
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    in the mind. And the whole universe
    is made up of that, you know.
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    When we look at the you know dark matter
    in the universe with one of those
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    supercomputers... The max plank Institute
    did this this big thing called the
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    'Millennium Run' with a supercomputer
    and you can see that the universe is made
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    up of these same patterns. The dark
    matter forms what look like neuron
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    pathways through the universe.
    So everything is this one mind.
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    And the experience of being separate, to
    be a separate being is this resistance,
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    some form of resistance to what is,
    so one of the biggest forms of resistance
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    in life is our preferences that we have,
    the preferences really tie us to the ego
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    structure. So have a little teaching that
    comes from the Zen tradition, it's
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    about 15 minutes long and it's called
    'The Great Way' or sometimes it's called
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    the 'Faith Mind Poem' and it really cuts
    to the heart of what ties us to the ego.
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    It's a really beautiful non dual teaching
    and really makes it clear how these
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    preferences of choosing one thing over
    another, you know, judging as right and
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    wrong all of these things, we become
    attached to those things and that forms
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    an ego and then we we think we're that.
    I am this person who has this belief, or
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    this affiliation, or this moral code, or
    whatever it is, anything can become an
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    attachment. So I'm going to read this,
    and I might pause along the way at certain
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    points. There's certain things in here
    that are particularly relevant for
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    meditation practice as well.
    So I might Point those things out.
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    So this is the great way and this 
    was written by one of the founders of
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    Chan Buddhism which is the 
    the Chinese version of Zen, basically.
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    The Great Way is not difficult
    for those who have no preferences.
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    When Love and Hate are both absent,
    everything becomes clear and undisguised.
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    Make the smallest distinction however, and
    heaven and Earth are set infinitely apart.
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    If you wish to see the truth, then hold no
    opinions for or against anything.
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    So when it says love and hate are both
    absent and everything becomes clear and
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    undisguised, it's not saying to become an
    unloving person. It's talking about the
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    duality of love and hate good and bad so
    some spiritual teachers talk about Divine
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    love as our natural state, so it's not
    talking about that, it's talking about
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    the polarity the Judgment. I love this
    I hate that. That kind of duality.
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    When the deep meaning of things is not
    understood, the mind's essential peace
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    is disturbed to no avail.
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    The Way is perfect, like vast space,
    where nothing is lacking and nothing
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    is in excess. Indeed, it is due to our
    choosing, to accept or reject, that
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    we do not see the true nature of things.
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    Live neither in the entanglements of outer
    things nor in inner feelings of emptiness.
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    Be serene in the Oneness
    of things and such erroneous views
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    will disappear by themselves. When you try
    to stop activity, to achieve passivity
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    your very effort fills you with activity.
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    As long as you remain in one extreme or
    the other, you will never know Oneness.
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    Those who do not live in the single way
    fail in both activity and passivity,
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    assertion and denial.
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    To deny the reality of things, is to miss
    their reality.
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    To assert the emptiness of things
    is to miss their reality.
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    The more you talk and think about it, the
    further astray you wander from the truth.
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    Stop talking and thinking, and there is
    nothing you will not be able to know.
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    To return to the root is to find the
    meaning, but to pursue appearances is
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    to miss the source. At the moment of inner
    enlightenment, there is a going beyond
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    appearance and emptiness. The changes
    that appear to occur in the empty world we
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    call real, only because of our ignorance.
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    so in meditation you know often we
    get this idea that we have to somehow move
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    beyond thoughts, you know. To come to
    this emptiness but the truth is you know
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    the nondual state is not one or the other.
    That Duality actually falls away.
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    So I I'm going to be reading the heart
    Sutra tomorrow and it says form is exactly
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    emptiness, emptiness is exactly form and
    that's what they're getting at here.
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    So the the non-dual truth is beyond these
    dualities. There actually is no form and
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    emptiness. There's no such thing as either.
    It's just the Mind construct.
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    It's our concept, that creates these
    dualities.
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    Do not search for the truth.
    Only cease to cherish opinions.
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    Do not remain in the dualistic state.
    Avoid such pursuits carefully.
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    If there is even a trace of this and that,
    of right and wrong, the Mind Essence
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    will be lost in confusion.
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    Although all dualities come from the One,
    do not be attached even to this One.
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    When the Mind exists undisturbed in the
    Way, nothing in the world can offend,
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    and when a thing can no longer offend
    it ceases to exist in the old way.
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    When no discriminating thoughts arise
    the old mind ceases to exist.
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    When thought objects vanish
    the thinking subject vanishes.
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    As when the Mind vanishes, objects vanish.
    Things are objects because of the subject.
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    The mind is such because of things.
    Understand the relativity of these two
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    and the basic reality; the unity of
    emptiness. In this emptiness the two are
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    indistinguishable and each contains
    in itself the whole world.
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    If you do not discriminate between course
    and fine, you will not be tempted to
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    prejudice and opinion.
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    To live in the Great Way is neither easy
    nor difficult, but those with limited
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    views are fearful and irresolute.
    The faster they hurry the slower they go,
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    and clinging cannot be limited. Even to be
    attached to the idea of Enlightenment
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    is to go astray.
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    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxtoday
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    so not going to say much about that I'll just 
    let it land one thing that some times comes
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    up for people is this idea of no preferences you 
    know how do we live life with no preferences and
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    you know the Awakening that happens is just 
    simply a flip from that conditioned eye that
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    character where all the preferences reside 
    to the unconditioned or the the true self so
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    in that sense you know nothing changes like 
    when we're in that samade state you know the
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    character goes on you know doing whatever it's 
    doing it can do whatever it wants it could have
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    preferences no preferences but it has nothing 
    to do with the true eye the true eye is free
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    has always been free from those preferences so 
    you know so people think you know if I awaken
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    I'm not going to enjoy chocolate anymore I'm not 
    going to pick my favorite tea that's that's not
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    true the character will always do what it does 
    you know if it if a special diet is required
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    for that body to be optimal it's still going to 
    choose that diet nothing changes in that sense
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    but but the the sense of I you know you you could 
    say I have no preferences when that flip happens
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    you know we know where those preferences reside 
    so it's an an interesting thing that nothing
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    nothing has to change in the world upon 
    Awakening everything is exactly as it is
Title:
Day 2 - Teaching 2- The Great Way/ Faith Mind Poem
Video Language:
English
Team:
Awaken the World
Project:
05-IAM Online Retreats Teachings
Duration:
25:02

English subtitles

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