The Gate

Dear Rali

Here are examples in the manner you requested .

I missed the point that it had to be exact

Brushing Teeth

Holding toothbrush simply = feeling ( sensation)
Brushing teeth simply = moving ( movement ) and feeling ( sensation )
Hearing brush and liquid simply = Hearing ( sound )
Smelling toothpaste simply = smelling ( smell)
Spitting water simply = seeing ( colour ) feeling ( sensation )
Thinking about ..= simply thinking ( thought )


Texting on my phone
Touching phone simply = Touching ( sensation )
Looking at screen and text simply = seeing ( colour )
Reading text simply - seeing ( colour )
Thinking about content simply= thinking ( thought )
Feelings about text simply = feeling ( sensations )

Mai

Dear Rali

I did not follow your instructions ‘ Exactly ‘

Here we go

Brushing Teeth
Holding toothbrush , simply = feeling ( sensation )
Brushing Teeth , simply = feeling ( sensation)
Hearing brush and water ,simply =hearing ( sound )
Spitting out , simply =seeing ( colour ) and feeling (sensation )
Thinking about going to work , simply = thinking ( thought )

Using Mobile
Holding phone, simply = feeling ( sensation )
Reading Text , simply =Seeing ( colour )
Listening to a message, simply =hearing ( souind )
Thinking what to text , simply=thinking ( thought )
Reaction in body after reading something , simply =feeling ( sensation )

Mai

Hi Mai
Thank you for doing such wonderful looking! :) It is now to incorporate that looking into your everyday….make it a habit.

How does it feel to see what actually is?
Now that you know how to look...
For the next exercise I want you to sit somewhere quiet and observe thoughts.
A thought appears.
In that moment is there anyone or anything which recognises the thought or is being aware of it?
Can you see anything that is separate from the thought and does the thinking?
Did you do anything to make a particular thought or thoughts appear? Could you have done anything to make a different thought appear at that exact moment instead? Can you select from a range of thoughts to have only pleasant thoughts?
Can you choose not to have painful, negative or fearful thoughts?
Can you pick and choose any kind of thought?

Is there anything that is responsible for the thoughts like a traffic cop saying which one to go and which one to stay? Can the flow of thoughts be changed?
Where do thoughts appear from? Where are they coming from and going to? Do they appear randomly or in a structured way? Watch like a hawk.

Write down a sequence of 5 thoughts in the order that they appear. Now check:
Could you predict the order of their appearance?
Did you know which will be the second or the fourth?
Is it possible to prevent a thought from appearing? Can you stop thinking a thought in the middle? How long does that last? Test it for the fun of exploration.
It seems that thought has some logical ordered appearance, but look carefully and just notice if there is an organised sequence. Or is it just another thought that says ‘these thoughts are in sequence’ or “they take content from previous thought”, or that "one thought follows another thought"?

Are thoughts 100% true?
What are you, when you don't think about what you are?
Love
Rali

Rali

The reason you keep getting what you do not want is because you keep writing out the unwanted version!!!!

You dont want the narrative

Brushing Teeth
simply = feeling ( sensation ) hearing ( sound )seeing ( colour ) and feeling (sensation )thinking ( thought )

Using Mobile
simply feeling ( sensation ),Seeing ( colour )hearing ( souind )thinking ( thought )

Frustration
simply = feeling , thinking


This is not as you had written it but I do not find your instructions v clear
Mairead

Rali

I read an earlier response( not your latest ) and sent you a frustrated message , but now see your latest.
Never mind , will work on the latest

Mairead

Hi Mai

I don't understand where the confusion and frustration is coming from. Please let me know if you need any help of further clarification.

Looking forward to your answer to the thought exercise

Love
Rali

Rali

No confustion now, the system does not reboot sometimes and I read an earlier message as your latest
All ok now.
Thanks !

mai

Dear Rali

I did the exercises then wrote later, some feedback follows

In moment of looking, seeing, feeling, tasting, thinking there is awareness of this
I have looked a lot and cannot find anyone who is aware
There is definitely a sense of looking but no I / person
What do I find when I look, sense of hereness while the thought is here?
That which is thinking and here, is here at the same time as the thought
There is no division where one starts and other ends, so no nothing separate from the thought
Thoughts are just appearing as I look, as I cannot find anyone/anything else here they seem to be happening for no one, no one making any of the thoughts happen. No one choosing
They are happening in no particular order, If I could make only pleasant thoughts appear then I think that would have been evident by now

Difficult to say if there is anyone/thing responsible for the thoughts, if that were true then I should be able to look and find it.
Where do thoughts appear from? I don’t know, they just appear and then disappear especially when not grabbed onto. Sitting in silence they appear out the silence, sometimes seeming connection between them other times randomly different.


Five Thoughts noted
My fingers are salty after the chips
My hands feel warm
I am listening to silence
My stomach is gurgling
What time is it

No prediction , completely random
I tried to stop a thought , was more like a looking away , yet I still knew the thought was here.

Thoughts seem more connected when I am concerned or pay attention to the subject , but is this really true?
If I am not interested they do not seem to be connected

What am I when I don't think about myself ?
I cannot say anything as that would be using a thought. Nothing yet spacious.

Thank you
Mai

Hi Mai
What is the problem with the quoting function? Do you need help with that? Did you watch the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fAToDNh9hQ

In moment of looking, seeing, feeling, tasting, thinking there is awareness of this
I have looked a lot and cannot find anyone who is aware

Is awareness a container for experiences? Some kind of lone witness? Is awareness a container in which all arises? Please provide a description
Ok so you are saying there is no awareness as an entity but there is aware-ing (being aware).

How is witnessing/awaring (being aware of colours, sounds, smells, tastes and/or sensations) different from seeing (colours), hearing (sounds), smelling (smells), tasting (tastes), and/or feeling (sensations)? How is thinking different from awareness (being aware of thoughts)? Does thinking happen before being aware of thoughts or simulteneously? Go to the experience of thinking and go to the experience of knowing about thinking. Are they two different experiences or is it the same experience?

I want you to look very carefully at the following pointer...

Where does a thought end, and the knowing of it begin? Is there a visible border/a distance between a thought and the knowing of it? OR is that just an imaginary distance?
Are there ”solid”/separate thoughts floating around in “awareness”- “arising, appearing and disappearing”? Without the thought content (ignoring that), are there separate thoughts with visual outlines? OR just thinking (a constant flux)?
Are the thinker/awareness, thought, and thinking separate? Can there be awareness without objects (nothing else there – no thoughts, sensations, etc.)? Even in the most amazing meditation where there is silence, spaciousness and nothingness, there are still subtle sensations – “aliveness”, “heartbeat”, “breathing”. Even the experience of empty space (silence, spaciousness and nothingness) is still an experience (e.g. sensations) – a subtle experience nonetheless but still experienceable. Can there be objects (e.g. thoughts) without awareness? Is awareness prior to, or is it arising together with, the objects that it is being aware of? Can it be separated?
In experience now, listen to sound; is there anything there besides what is heard? Is awareness/being aware ever actually experienced or is it just an idea, an abstraction? Is there independently/inherently existing awareness/aware-ing?

Please LOOK, don’t intellectualise, imagine or remember from your previous experience/teachings!
This video might be helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lm3G0_ ... ex=17&t=8s

There is definitely a sense of looking but no I / person

I have looked a lot and cannot find anyone who is aware

Let’s explore what focus/looking is.
Close your eyes and sit quietly for 10-15 minutes.
Watch what focus does.Focus on focusing, attention itself.
Do you move it, or it moves by itself?
Hold focus on breath - see how it moves to thoughts, sensations, feelings, sounds.
Is this something you control?
What moves attention? Can anything be found that moves attention, or does attention/focus move on its own?
LOOK carefully! What is focus/attention? Is focus like a torch? Do “things” sit in the dark and wait to be illuminated? How is this known or is it assumed? How is focus different from labelling/thinking exactly?

Can you even differentiate between the senses and thinking without the labels that describe them as different experience? Close your eyes and allow a thought to appear. Continue to pay attention to thoughts as they appear for a few more seconds. With your eyes still closed, listen to whatever sound is present for several moments. Now, go back and forth between thoughts and the sound.
Does the sound appear in a different “place” to thoughts?
Can you find an actual line/wall/boundary that divides the thoughts and the sound? Or is the line a mental construct? If the line does not exist is there anything to be aware OF/focus on, or there is just THIS - indivisible seeing_hearing_tasting_smelling_feeling_thinking/labelling?

In Buddhism the term “suchness” or “thusness” (whatever is happening) is used, referring to the nature of reality free from conceptual elaborations and the subject–object distinction. I like the word “THIS” as it is more like a pointing word – pointing to whatever is directly experienced like an arrow with no extra meaning – rather than labelling the experience.
Love
Rali

Hi Rali

What is the problem with the quoting function? Do you need help with that? Did you watch the video:

No problem , I guess I dont always follow instructions , had looked at the video
The site is a bit clumsy , wil try and do as I am asked
Cant promise perfection :)
Some feedback follows

What is the problem with the quoting function? Do you need help with that? Did you watch the video:

It seems like experience is inside awareness , when I look to awareness no edges or boundaries are found , no devision between the experience and awareness .The experience appears and melts or merges back into awareness .

Are they two different experiences or is it the same experience?

They are happening at same time , again no devision , same

Are there ”solid”/separate thoughts floating around in “awareness”- “arising, appearing and disappearing”? Without the thought content (ignoring that), are there separate thoughts with visual outlines? OR just thinking (a constant flux)?

They are occurring simultaneously, all here in the same moment .

For something to be solid and floating around in something there would be two and separate boundaries ,

Can there be awareness without objects (nothing else there – no thoughts, sensations, etc.)?

I love this question , Yes awareness is present without objects. There is a knowing that objects are absent. There had to be 'something 'present to know that there was nothing.

.

Can there be objects (e.g. thoughts) without awareness? Is awareness prior to, or is it arising together with, the objects that it is being aware of? Can it be separated?

No objects without awareness
No prior to anything , similultaneous appearances of objects , which in truth are not separate or different.

In experience now, listen to sound; is there anything there besides what is heard? Is awareness/being aware ever actually experienced or is it just an idea, an abstraction? Is there independently/inherently existing awareness/aware-ing?

Listening to the noise of the washing machine , simply hearing ( sound )

is there anything there besides what is heard?

There is the space/silence which is here and makes it possible to hear it.Does this mean there is anything besides ? I don’t think so , sound appearing in the silence.
Question comes to mind, is there silence and awareness or is silence awareness
As awareness cannot be found , seems to me there is only silence which is the same as the sound and what ‘Im calling awareness

Do you move it, or it moves by itself?

Focus moves by itself, there is a thought that is saying lets look and see what focusing/looking is.

What moves attention? Can anything be found that moves attention, or does attention/focus move on its own?

Attention and focus move on their own

What is focus/attention? Is focus like a torch? Do “things” sit in the dark and wait to be illuminated? How is this known or is it assumed? How is focus different from labelling/thinking exactly?

Focus is just another thought , appearing from nowhere.To focus would imply someone/thing that can focus . Or a someone who can choose to focus. Focussing is same as thinking/labelling.

Can you even differentiate between the senses and thinking without the labels that describe them as different experience? Close your eyes and allow a thought to appear. Continue to pay attention to thoughts as they appear for a few more seconds. With your eyes still closed, listen to whatever sound is present for several moments. Now, go back and forth between thoughts and the sound.

No , the appearing of sound and thoughts are showing up in the same ‘ place ‘

Can you find an actual line/wall/boundary that divides the thoughts and the sound? Or is the line a mental construct? If the line does not exist is there anything to be aware OF/focus on, or there is just THIS - indivisible seeing_hearing_tasting_smelling_feeling_thinking/labelling?

When I read this there was a ‘yes’ there is only this – indivisible
No devision between a thought and awareness of this and no boundary between the thought and the sound. No boundaries means only this the oneness indivisible unchanging .

Thank you
Mai

Hi Mai
You still haven't mastered the quoting function... It's not that I am so pedantic about the look, but it's just easier to see what questions you are answering - what is mine and what is yours. I have to look at the previous post to see what my questions were... Anyway, see if you can you get the hold of it, please for my sake :)

I’m assuming you wrote your answers as you read them as there is quite a difference between the ones in the beginning and the end :)

Focus is just another thought , appearing from nowhere.To focus would imply someone/thing that can focus . Or a someone who can choose to focus. Focussing is same as thinking/labelling.

Yes!! Not only that, but to focus on “something” means also to isolate it from the whole, which is the domain of thought

They are happening at same time , again no devision , same

When I read this there was a ‘yes’ there is only this – indivisible
No division between a thought and awareness of this and no boundary between the thought and the sound. No boundaries means only this the oneness indivisible unchanging .

I love this question , Yes awareness is present without objects. There is a knowing that objects are absent. There had to be 'something 'present to know that there was nothing.

The last sentence sounds like a logical conclusion/assumption. Remember
“Seems like”, “feels like” = thought content
Nothing in DE is seems like, it’s either here or not.

I find these answers a bit contradicting, which happens when teachings interfere in the looking. If they are the same and inseparable then how can there be a separate awareness (present without objects). The knowing that “objects are absent” is a label for experience, aka thought. But I have to ask, is there even no aliveness, no heartbeat and breathing when you say there are no objects (senses)?
Experiencing happens through the senses + thought. If there is experience, one or more of those are present. If I close my eyes and feel expansive and like there's nothing, that happens through sensations. Emptiness in the Buddhist sense simply means that something is empty of self-nature. And no-thingness means that things are dependent. Just like a school is a thing that doesn't exist. It is empty of school-essence.
If there is 'awareness' of nothingness/emptiness, that is often a subtle mental image of "nothing" with very subtle sensations. True nothingness means absolutely nothing. So if there are "no sensations and there is nothingness", that's often a subtle thought that is trying to create something. This experience could also be called "aliveness", "presence" or "I AM", "consciousness", "awareness", but even that is a label, is it not? Is there anything here that is not the senses? Those would be not just physical, but there are also sensations when you close your eyes that don't have a location (unless they are mapped onto an image of the body).

The way I look at sensations is that they include anything that is sensed, such as touching a cup or a feeling of expansiveness. The feeling of expansiveness is a plethora of sensations happening in quick succession, making it seem and feel expansive.

It's good to remember that we can only experience see, hear, feel, taste, smell and thought. Anything not in the first five is thought. So when you say that senses aren't present, I want to question it, because you may be reifying something that isn't there. This isn't abnormal though. Many have a feeling of I AM, presence, consciousness, awareness, but even that has to be let go of at some point. Without the label “awareness with no edges or boundaries", do you notice that these are also sensations?

Once we deal with this we’ll examine body and sensations in a bit more detail…

This video might be helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lm3G0_ ... ex=17&t=8s

By the way, did you watch the video? What do you think of it?

Love
Rali

Rali

Thanks for your prompt response
It might be a few days before I respond , I have been racing through these and you have been keeping up with me.
Lot of competitiveness here , time to slow down a little :)

Mairead

Hey Mai
This is not a competition - if I have the time I can answer a second time. Life happens, so if something else more urgent has come up, yes, you can take a day or two (thank you for letting me know). However, if there is nothing of that kind please let's keep the momemtum going. Remember we agreed on a daily conversation. Otherwise, old patterns come back and guiding becomes difficult

Looking forward to hearing from you
Love
Rali

Hi Rali

I will respond daily most likely but maybe not respond to the full email

Also enjoyed the video you sent , very well animated.
Was that your voice ? By any chance !

Mairead

Hi Mai

Was that your voice ? By any chance !

Nope :). I just find the video really good in saying what I point to ;)

I will respond daily most likely but maybe not respond to the full email

Anything is good as long we keep the momentum going
Love
Rali