INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT (00:00 - 17:00)

• Discussion about the pandemic's impact on businesses and related moral dilemmas in investments​​.

SPIRITUAL AWAKENING DISCUSSION (17:00 - 30:00)

• Kenneth Bok asks about the start of John Tan's spiritual journey.
• John Tan shares his journey began at age 15 with the "I Am" experience, describing it as a direct experience of self-awareness, linking it to Buddhism and Hinduism​​.

THE NATURE OF EXPERIENCE AND NON-DUALITY (30:00 - 1:00:00)

• John Tan elaborates on the difference between experience and insight, emphasizing non-duality and the phases of realizing no-self​​.
• Discussion on how the concept of self is a mental construct and the phases of realizing no-self, including insights on reification and Madhyamaka​​.

ANATTA AND TOTAL EXERTION (1:00:00 - 1:20:00)

• Detailed discussion on the experience of anatta (no-self) and total exertion.
• John Tan explains anatta involves experiencing things directly without the conceptual overlay of self, and how total exertion involves seamless integration with all experiences​​.
• Practical methods mentioned include Vipashyana (insight meditation), mindfulness, and the importance of direct, non-dual experiences​​.

INTEGRATING INSIGHTS AND PRACTICAL APPLICATION (1:20:00 - 1:40:00)

• Conversation shifts to practical applications of spiritual insights in daily life, including the continuous process of deconstructing concepts and the importance of sincerity in self-inquiry​​.

SOMATIC PRACTICES AND YOGA (1:40:00 - 2:00:00)

• John Tan and William Lam discuss various somatic practices and yoga.
• Mention of Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Yoga, and other somatic exercises as methods to facilitate spiritual insights and bodily awareness​​.
• Discussion on how these practices help in managing stress, fear, and enhancing bodily awareness through exercises like deep breathing and rhythmic movements​​.

TAOISM AND OTHER SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS (2:00:00 - 2:20:00)

• John Tan discusses his experiences and insights from Taoism, comparing it to Buddhism.
• Explanation of key Taoist concepts like Wu Wei (Actionless Action) and the interconnectedness emphasized in the I Ching​​.
• Discussion on Taoist practices focusing on the transformation of Qi (vital energy) and the cultivation of Shen (spirit)​​.

ADVANCED SOMATIC AND MEDITATIVE PRACTICES (2:20:00 - 2:40:00)

• Discussion on advanced practices such as the microcosmic orbit in Taoist alchemy, involving the circulation of energy through the body.
• Mention of Kundalini practices and their parallels in Taoism and Yoga​​.
• John Tan explains how these practices aim to balance and enhance energy flow, contributing to spiritual development​​.

CONCLUDING REMARKS AND FINAL THOUGHTS (2:40:00 - END)

• Reflections on the journey of spiritual practice, the importance of understanding and deconstructing concepts, and maintaining a connection with teachings and experiences across different spiritual traditions.
• Emphasis on the continuous nature of spiritual practice and the integration of insights into daily life​​.

TOA PAYOH MEETING ENDING

OVERCOMING ATTACHMENT AND CONCEPTUAL DECONSTRUCTION

• John Tan elaborates on overcoming attachment and the nature of attributes and objects.
• He discusses how attributes like color are not inherent in objects but are dependent on consciousness and the whole exertion of consciousness​​.
• Emphasizes the gradual process of deconstructing concepts such as cause and effect and attributes over years, leading to a deeper understanding of dependent origination​​.

 [20/5/24, 11:34:02 PM] John Tan: Understanding the orientation of continual practice, the attitude of devotion to what is real, gets us closer to the mystery of the relationship between practice and realization. When we first learn to practice, we usually have an experience of ourselves practicing. As we come to more thoroughly understand the nature of the self and of reality, our sense of self transforms until, at some point, we realize that when one is practicing, when one is meditating, when one is inquiring, when one is chanting, it is not one particular individual that is practicing, it is the totality of all that there is that is practicing. The more continual our practice and the more unflagging our orientation toward reality, the more our understanding of who or what practices can shift from an identified self to the totality of reality.

[20/5/24, 11:34:33 PM] John Tan: From diamond approach, I like this one.

[20/5/24, 11:35:59 PM] Soh Wei Yu: from Runaway Realisation.. that book by him i want to read but haven't had time. its about anatta and total exertion

[20/5/24, 11:36:01 PM] John Tan: Without core (essencelessness) and totality presenting itself is one understanding.

[20/5/24, 11:36:24 PM] John Tan: Yes

[20/5/24, 11:37:25 PM] Soh Wei Yu: https://www.amazon.com/Runaway-Realization-Living-Ceaseless-Discovery-ebook/dp/B00OYFPKK2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=G95HQNP1W4BR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.l-tL5eKFWZ16hX8XWreMDaFtqxU4pJ9OxQILOyoY3LwQVHQPsTKa6KQeoOn8vH70yBgUB5VcE0BaQsG0r9aUtNC6lfepU3hwWr-a56zm_wXv_8lA_b7DK57QD7gNSzM9IKMzvY_CSCp54z4DRS8QV8k7_IG0O2g69MMM3VEba58CM2sNxb8zJ7Xqt0mxDRnnpfcbVIIxRH-TF6MA3S9qYb97YJIhoJlmWPCNNm3qigY.p3TPBdtYle_6UW4lnef9LGKWKjEtPvA7yEH--_8lLCY&dib_tag=se&keywords=runaway+realization&qid=1716219400&sprefix=runaway+realiz%2Caps%2C387&sr=8-1 

- his first book after anatta... also this one https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Freedom-Philosophers-Secrets-Existence/dp/1611804469/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=Gvbs2&content-id=amzn1.sym.cf86ec3a-68a6-43e9-8115-04171136930a&pf_rd_p=cf86ec3a-68a6-43e9-8115-04171136930a&pf_rd_r=137-7634696-2758744&pd_rd_wg=nlkgv&pd_rd_r=e5b815bb-b6da-4644-b9d2-7ad11517f91f&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk

[20/5/24, 11:39:11 PM] John Tan: So we cannot understand one without the other.  U must deeply understand these 2 and taste effortlessness and natural spontaneity from these 2 understanding conceptually first.

Wrote in Reddit: 

IMO Just Sitting (nothing but sitting) is like actualizing anatman. In seeing just the seen, in hearing just sound, in sitting just sit (shikantaza = just sitting).

"Shikantaza is to practice or actualize emptiness." - Shunryu Suzuki https://www.lionsroar.com/letters-from-emptiness/

"The zazen I speak of is not meditation practice. It is simply the dharma gate of joyful ease, the practice realization of totally culminated enlightenment." - Dogen

"SHIKANTAZA IS MEDITATION IN its simplest form. There are only three elements: body, mind, and breath. No gimmicks. Nothing to hold on to. Not even the breath. Breath is still present, of course, but we're not fixed on it. Earlier in this book I talked about tranquility (shamatha in Sanskrit) and awareness (vipashyana in Sanskrit). In shikantaza, these two are not separate. The mind settles, but not on a particular point. In shikantaza, Awareness is objectless and subjectless—there's no "you" who does shikantaza. It's as if concentration has been filed down to a single point—yet, at the same time, has expanded outward and is taking in everything: sights, sounds, feelings, sensations, thoughts, movements. And this Awareness is sizeless and timeless. In shikantaza we discover that there is no clear distinc-tion between self and other. Are you breathing? Or are you being breathed? You need not answer. There is no essential difference. Awareness is general and without location. It's been this way all along, but only now is it clear and obvious."

• Zen teacher Steve Hagen, "Meditation Now or Never"

"Buddha said in the Agama Sutras (Soh: Referring to Bahiya Sutta): "In the seen is just the seen, in the heard is just the heard." Our six senses are naturally free and unobstructed. So, in sitting meditation, just sit like that, letting the six senses function naturally and freely. Don't interfere with them, not even non-interfering interference. In essence, there isn’t an "I" watching or listening there. Thus, zazen is about allowing all phenomena to prove there's no you, not about you proving there's no you. The key is here; don't get it wrong. When you try to prove there's no you, an "I" is already there proving it. Is that forgetting the self? No!

So, how do all phenomena prove there's no you? What exactly are these phenomena?

The seen forms, heard sounds, smelled scents, tasted flavors, felt sensations of cold and heat, the arising and passing thoughts. All these phenomena are constantly telling you, there's no me! There's no me!"

"The six senses are truly just present, operating naturally within the true and unobstructed reality. This is the so-called natural, unobstructed functioning of the six senses. It's so natural, a matter of course. Only in the genuine practice of zazen, at that very moment, do you realize our mind is incredibly vast, its applications infinite. The six senses function naturally: eyes seeing forms, ears hearing sounds, nose smelling scents, tongue tasting flavors, body feeling touches, mind perceiving phenomena. All actions and movements are the Dharma Body. The six senses are unimpeded, free from attachment or aversion, equally interacting with arising and ceasing conditions, naturally liberated. Siddhartha Gautama Buddha himself said, if you can genuinely let all phenomena prove there's no you, sitting zazen honestly in this way, just the time it takes for an ant to crawl from your nose to your forehead is more beneficial than sitting for ten, a hundred years with an 'I'. If you seek the Dharma with yourself for a hundred billion years, it's impossible, forever impossible. Because there's an "I" wanting to become a Buddha!"Shikantaza," this method, is the authentic practice of zazen. Sitting in that moment is performing the Buddha's dignified conduct, Buddha's actions. The moment without delusion is Buddha's dignified conduct, hence this is called the method of great ease."

"I' is not right, 'no I' is not right, but meditation is happening! What thing is meditating? What is meditating? How do you resolve this? Some more enlightened Zen masters, like Zemu Xingdao, sometimes say 'meditation is meditating' for the sake of instruction, for convenience in teaching. Because he is experienced, whatever he says is right. Or in English, 'the universe is universing', the universe is sitting the universe, the universe is the universe. Some people, upon hearing this, might be even more baffled."

• Zen teacher Hong Wen Liang（Full article from my translation: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2023/12/shinkantaza-just-sitting-letting-all.html ）