Morning instructions on mindful seeing

0:28 As I was walking over this morning, coming into the hall, I was appreciating the amazing gift that you've all given yourselves of being in a place where your only job is to be mindful. Suggest a fix for the passage at 0:28

0:54 That's kind of a rare situation in the world. You have no other responsibilities for this period of time. Suggest a fix for the passage at 0:54

1:07 And remembering that being mindful doesn't take much effort. The capacity for awareness is already here, and it's simply a question of remembering to be aware. Suggest a fix for the passage at 1:07

1:25 Many times that we get lost or carried away, at whatever point we remember, we can take delight in that quality of remembering, of coming back to awareness, of being back already in awareness, and simply beginning again. Suggest a fix for the passage at 1:25

1:52 So that's your only job. And it's quite... Quite inspiring to think that simply by doing this, we have begun, we're continuing, and awakening is the inevitable outcome. So I hope you enjoy this day, you know, with this understanding. It actually can bring about quite a bit of confidence and joy in the practice, even... As we may be going through difficult experiences. Suggest a fix for the passage at 1:52

2:38 This morning I'd like to highlight one arena of experience which is probably the most predominant experience of our lives for most people. Suggest a fix for the passage at 2:38

2:55 And yet one that is probably the least attended to. Suggest a fix for the passage at 2:55

3:03 And because of this, we find that a good part of our lives A good part of our experience falls outside the domain of what we consider practice with Suggest a fix for the passage at 3:03

3:23 all the consequences of being an experience and not being mindful of it. So this particular arena of practice has tremendous implications not only when we're on retreat but for how we're living our lives in the world. And that is the domain of seeing. Suggest a fix for the passage at 3:23

3:53 For many people, although not all, Suggest a fix for the passage at 3:53

4:00 we live most of our lives involved in the experience of what is being seen. This is the sense field through which we navigate our lives. Suggest a fix for the passage at 4:00

4:24 Mostly what happens is that the mind, the knowing mind, goes out through the eye door, Lands on the object being seen, whether it's another person or some activity or nature. It's as if the mind goes out through the eye door, lands on what is being seen, whatever it is. And because we're not aware that that's happening, as it lands on what is being seen, it triggers all kinds of habitual reactions. I like, I don't like. Triggers comparing. Suggest a fix for the passage at 4:24

5:20 Triggers different emotions. Suggest a fix for the passage at 5:20

5:25 And it's all because we're not mindful in those moments that we're seeing. Suggest a fix for the passage at 5:25

5:35 And it's difficult to remember to be mindful that we're seeing because perhaps even less than thoughts, which as we've talked about are very slippery and seem to enter the mind without much tangible impact. I think sites impinge. On the mind, in an obvious way, even less than thoughts. Suggest a fix for the passage at 5:35

6:05 For many of us, it's simply, we might say, the sea that we're swimming in. And we're not paying attention. We're not even cognizant most of the time that we're seeing. We're simply lost in the world of what's being seen. Suggest a fix for the passage at 6:05

6:30 So it'll be very interesting during this time, both in the sitting, Walking in moving about to begin to bring mindfulness to the act of seeing, to times of seeing, and simply making the soft mental note as a reminder intermittently, occasionally, as often as might be needed. Seeing, seeing, seeing. One of the most dramatic places To observe this is when you're going through the day and you're with a situation where there are a lot of other meditators about. So I found it particularly useful, for example, when I would go into the dining room. Suggest a fix for the passage at 6:30

7:32 And I would notice at first, as I would go into the dining room trying to be mindful, but that my mind would have comments about almost every single person walking too fast. Walking too slow. Taking too much food. Oh, not taking enough food. They're going to be hungry. I like what they're wearing. I don't like what they're wearing. It was endless and ridiculous. So at a certain point, just started investigating where are all these judgments coming from? I didn't really care about any of them. But there they were in the mind. So with some investigation, I saw... All of those comments had their origin in seeing. I'd gone in and not being mindful of that. Suggest a fix for the passage at 7:32

8:35 As I said, the mind would go out through the eye door, land on a particular person, not mindful that that was happening. That unmindful seeing triggered all kinds of comments. I started going into the dining room and I started noting seeing from the time I went in. All the way through getting the food, going through the line, sitting at the table, seeing, seeing, seeing, seeing. It was amazing. 95 % of the comments were eliminated because the mind was back in itself, so to speak, right at the sense door and simply noting the sense contact. Seeing, seeing, seeing. It was very soft, very open, very receptive. Suggest a fix for the passage at 8:35

9:29 Instead of feeling as if the mind was going out to the object, it felt much more, you could almost say that the object was coming in to the mind, into the sense field. So it was very receptive and easeful. And at a certain point it even became a dance of color and form. Suggest a fix for the passage at 9:29

9:56 Because the mind doesn't actually see a person. Or a building or a car. Those are concepts which we're putting on what's being seen. What the eye sees is color and form. Suggest a fix for the passage at 9:56

10:12 Perception will recognize what it is. So it's not that those words may not come. But it's helpful just to play with that bare experience of seeing. Seeing. Seeing. Suggest a fix for the passage at 10:12

10:29 In the sitting practice, you might give special attention. To being aware of any images that arise even with the eyes closed. Often people experience pictures in the mind. So we've talked about working with thoughts and can work with these pictures in the same way. But it might be helpful to use the more specific note with the pictures in the mind of seeing. Picture comes, seeing, seeing, seeing. Suggest a fix for the passage at 10:29

11:11 And in the same way that it serves when the eyes are open as not to have the mind get involved in comments about what's being seen, in the same way in the sitting, Suggest a fix for the passage at 11:11

11:27 when an image arises and you note it as seeing, it may help you stay disentangled from that image so that it doesn't evolve into a whole long story. It's just a momentary experience of seeing, seeing, the image comes and goes. And we begin to realize that from the perspective of mindfulness in this context, the content of the image does not matter at all. We're not so involved in this story. Suggest a fix for the passage at 11:27

12:14 We're not judging a good image or a bad image or a beautiful one or an ugly one. It's simply an image. It's simply a moment of seeing, just like a sound appears and disappears. These pictures appear and disappear. Seeing, seeing, seeing. They come and they go, and they don't disturb the mind at all. Suggest a fix for the passage at 12:14

12:48 The Buddha gave one powerful metaphor for the act of seeing and perception, perceiving. He said, perception is like a mirage. Suggest a fix for the passage at 12:48

13:06 You know, if you're walking on a hot day on the road and you look ahead and you might see a pool of water, there's not really a pool of water there, but it's a mirage, it's a visual impression. Suggest a fix for the passage at 13:06

13:23 In some fundamental way, everything that's being seen on some level, we don't want to get into a metaphysical discussion here, but on some level we can appreciate the mirage -like quality of what's being seen. And one way just to get a taste of this would be to realize that whatever is being seen is Suggest a fix for the passage at 13:23

14:05 experienced in a particular way because of the conditioned nature in which our eyes are constructed. And if an insect was seeing the same thing, its experience of what was being seen would be totally different. Suggest a fix for the passage at 14:05

14:28 So I find that just interesting As a way of loosening our view that our seeing, our perception is describing the ultimate reality of it all. Rather we see that it's just a conditioned perception based on the conditions of our organic structure. Suggest a fix for the passage at 14:28

15:00 This last reflection is not something you really have to think much about, but if at any point Suggest a fix for the passage at 15:00

15:13 You have a moment or two of boredom. You might entertain yourself a bit with this reflection because it's pretty interesting. Suggest a fix for the passage at 15:13

15:26 This reality that we feel is so stable and so real is on a relative level. But we can begin to see more deeply into the conditioned nature of all experience and all our perceptions. And in seeing this, the mind doesn't cling. cling as much. And when it doesn't cling as much, it doesn't suffer as much. And that's the aim of the whole practice. Suggest a fix for the passage at 15:26

· · · silence, 13 minutes

28:42 Notice what the mind is doing in relationship to hearing sound. Is the mind going out to the sound, creating a concept, Suggest a fix for the passage at 28:42

28:59 having different reactions to the concept, or is the sound coming into the field of awareness? Suggest a fix for the passage at 28:59

29:11 Were it simply another arising in the flow of experience? Suggest a fix for the passage at 29:11

· · · silence, 1 minute

29:57 Can you experience the flow of momentary changes within the sound? Suggest a fix for the passage at 29:57

30:14 In perceiving change, the mind doesn't cling. When it doesn't cling, it is not agitated. Suggest a fix for the passage at 30:14

· · · silence, 13 minutes

43:40 Do you have any questions about working either with hearing or with seeing? Suggest a fix for the passage at 43:40

43:47 Thank you for listening. To learn how you can support the teachers and Dharma Seed, please visit Dharma Seed dot org slash donate. Suggest a fix for the passage at 43:47