Detachment from the mind itself | A Nondual Meditation

To detach from the world is not hard. You just find a quiet place. Close your eyes, focus on the breath... And then where is the world anyway?

You have stepped away from it.

But that is not yet detachment from the mind. And any peace you get out of meditation is not dependent on the state of the world, but upon the state of mind.

So let us meditate on a deeper calm.

Detachment from the mind itself.

From all those thoughts and opinions you consider your own.

Just as you slow down that ragged breath, slow down the mind. Take away your interest from the flow of thinking, planning, and anticipation.

And watch as that flow slows down without that interest.

Like water turning to honey.

With what power do you witness the mind? With what power do you know these thoughts, these sounds, sensations?

Watch them rise up and catch the light.

Drop the interest in the thoughts. It is not the thoughts or perceptions that are important.

We are meditating upon this light that makes perception possible.

In your direct experience, this light does not emanate from any organ. It does not even emanate from the mind.

The light is just present.

And because it is present, this body's activity, as the mind and the world, are known.

Why is this light here?

From where does it emanate?

Detach from the mind and you will see.

Don't resist.

Don't try to accept.

Just observe.

There is a certain mechanism, a pull, initially just a little tug. Call it need or desire.

It is the thought of "me" and "mine".

Not the words but the mental tug itself.

Let us consider this mechanism. See how the thoughts appear and pull you into the realm of the mind.

Don't resist it.

Don't try to accept it.

Just observe.

Watch how it works.

Observe it in the moment that it first appears, that first tug, before it gains interest and strength.

How minuscule!

How insubstantial!

Just a little pull.

The thought is powerless without that interest. But given interest, given time, this little pull can turn mighty indeed. Rage, passion, panic, jubilation, desire, fear.

You have found the spark.

The I-thought, the me, the ego, the false self — do you see what they are referring to? It all starts with this little insubstantial mechanism. That pull that creates the me and the mine.

Don't judge.

Don't judge.

Just observe.

Witness how it works.

To the sage that has seen this mechanism, has seen through the illusion of me and mine, overcome the idea of existing as an individual self, seen through the concepts of birth and death, do you know what rebirth means to that sage?

It is just this recurring little tug.

That initial thought when it takes hold, when it snowballs, that is the birth.

So break this cycle of birth and death.

Give up this present birth.

Decline the next rebirth.

Pull back your interest.

Detach from the mind.

No need to judge.

No need to reject or accept.

Just witness.

Now, remain as you are.

What is the source of this light?

This light making this perception possible.

Why is there any witnessing at all?

Because you are here!

It is you.

It is not other than you.

The light emanates from You.

Is You.

You are not just the Witness.

You are the Witnessing.

And that Prior Condition in which the witnessing takes place.

Retain this clarity.

Remember this calm.