This Illusory Form Practice category is for participants in the Dreams of Light book group to share insights, offerings, questions, and suggestions.
It is principally to discuss the illusory form practice introduced in session three that brings appearances, or form, onto the path. But if you like, you can share anything that pertains to the study of this material, the relationship of form to emptiness – the practice of illusory form.
As the group continues, I will refine this practice of looking at form, offering a number of “leading the witness” questions that will invite you to eventually discover the non-dual nature of perception, or what in our context is called perfectly pure illusory form. I’ll also offer material from other disciplines (philosophy, cognitive science, etc) to support this practice.
For now, share your experience of this practice with others. Here are some guidelines for posting. Perhaps check your motivation before you post something. Are you doing so as an offering to others? Or are you doing so to draw attention? Try not to be discursive. Be pithy, on the spot, precise; but balance this with speaking from your heart. This is not the place for oratory or indulgence. This is a place of offering, the practice of generosity (the first “perfection” or dana paramita ). Part of the aspiration for this platform is to cultivate a stronger sense of community. It’s also in the spirit of engaging the second and third wisdom tools, or contemplation and meditation. We’re going to be contemplating/meditating on the nature of mind and reality with this practice.
At first we all stumble and fumble with this practice, not sure we’re doing it right, not sure we’re doing it at all! That is normal. I started doing this practice decades ago, and it took me many weeks to get the hang of it, and longer for the insights to arise. But it is a potential deal maker, and can rock your world as you come to see “rocks” and “world” in an entirely new way.
This practice is very subtle, so be patient, kind to yourself ( maitri ), and playful as you engage in it. An attitude of childlike wonder is helpful as we cultivate “fresh vision” with a beginner’s mind. We’re going to be deconstructing the normal way of seeing things, and there may be some resistance (an internal “conflict of interest” as the evolutionary spectrum of your identity clashes with the devolutionary end). Part of you truly wants to wake up and see the world like a buddha; but another part of you prefers to stay asleep. It’s important to understand this, smile at it, and as the Dalai Lama says of anything worthwhile: “Never give up!”
The Instruction
It helps to first sit in meditation for a few minutes, to gather and center the churned up mind. Imagine a glass filled with stirred up debris, creating unclear waters. By sitting in meditation, things settle down, like sediment. We’re going to be looking into the “bottom of the mind,” and it helps if we can see to that bottom clearly. This, of course, is the practice of shamatha (which always precedes vipashyana, or clear seeing). Once you feel somewhat settled:
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Find a neutral object, like a vase, or anything that isn’t laden with too much history. A book or a photo of a loved one may be too charged, for example. At fruitional levels, you can do this practice with any object and ride out into the world, but “training wheels” are helpful at first.
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Place the object several feet in front of you, take off your glasses if you wear them, and dim the lights a bit. Taking off your glasses and dimming the light helps to create a new “mood” for this practice, which is about learning how to see in a new way. This is not mandatory, but highly recommended.
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The practice is to look at the object, engage it, with a sense of crisp concentration at first. But don’t analyze it, or look too closely at any entertaining aspect of the object. Look at the object, but don’t get lost in it. This is like striking a gong. How long to do this varies, and you have to trust your intuition. I don’t want to give you a fixed metric, but a few seconds is probably too short; and a few minutes may be too long. Listen and trust your inner wisdom.
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Now relax the gaze, and open to the object. Let your mind expand, and almost embrace the object with a more receptive awareness. This is like resting in the “hum” of the gong. Again, no fixed time for this, but a few seconds is probably too short, and a few minutes may be too long.
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Alternate this opening and closing of the aperture of your awareness. We do this because it’s easy for this practice to get stale. At first, I recommend shorter sessions for the entire practice, 5-10 minutes perhaps, to keep things crisp. We’re exercising the luminosity of the mind, which can space out and get hazy if we try to do this too long at first. If you find yourself blanking out, spacing out, you’re doing this too long.
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This practice is a form of analytic investigation, or vipashyana (insight meditation), which often uses questions to “lead the witness” towards insight. A host of questions will be offered in the following weeks, each one acting like the facets of a diamond, reflecting the light of your awareness in slightly different ways. The question/investigation for this week is: Are you separate from this object? Are you and the object perceived as different? These questions “perfume” steps 3-5. In other words, you don’t want to be too tight and pound the object with these questions; but you also don’t want to be too loose, and just space out on the object. The maxim “not too tight, not too loose” applies. You will probably bounce off of the extremes of too tight and too loose till you find your sweet spot, the “middle way.”
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Be open to whatever arises. Don’t expect anything (expectation is pre-meditated disappointment), but be open to anything. Be inquisitive, and playful. Swami Kripalu said: “The highest form of spiritual practice is self-observation without judgment.” So don’t judge what you experience, and don’t “should” on yourself (“I should be experiencing this, I should be feeling that” etc.) Be like a child, even a baby: open and even amazed at whatever it sees. If you have a “spiritual” experience (nyam), don’t try to repeat it. If you have no experience, smile at it. So many things can happen with this practice, or nothing at all. It’s all good.
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It helps to journal your experience, to see how this meditation progresses as you get more familiar with it, and we continue to refine it. Be a good objective reporter. Don’t write down “answers” you feel you should be writing down. Write down what you honestly experience. If you experience confusion, or bewilderment, write that down. If you have no idea what you’re doing, write that down. Mostly, have fun on this trip, which is a journey into . . .