Nafis Rahman Sharing on Self-Enquiry

Nafis Rahman shared some resources and pointers on Self-Enquiry:


https://www.facebook.com/groups/AwakeningToReality/posts/8567095486665139/?__cft__[0]=AZV24dhKB-M9mIzj2p26a6q9IlB92e0ydb5huZ2PnBGAG1_l4QDAl17Wf2pOD_5boeXPR6Ueio6AtlMQ3E0fCs8nitJKxZKr7bsuFiaLVW_Vfdr0FUieFRHTXNSucOE9QfUQD8Y4qs2lrxP99U8eukFz_f01Rb3VdXcOS68rxp0Wx4ehygetdUwimZNe2HKFYXw&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

  • Nafis Rahman
    Admin
    “Not sure if I should stay focused on the feeling of Is-ness and let them pass, or stop to inquire again, or something else”
    Yes, important to stay focused on the feeling of Is-ness and let go of any discursive/”fuzzy” thoughts. This is a related pointer you can try out:
    In order to answer the question “Who am I?”, in order to go back to before the beginning within your own experience, you have to put your attention on the deepest sense of what it feels like to be yourself right now, and simultaneously let everything else go. Letting go means falling so deeply into yourself that all that is left is empty space.
    To discover that infinite depth in your own self, you must find a way to enter into a deep state of meditation—so deep that your awareness of thought moves into the background and eventually disappears. As your awareness detaches itself from the thought-stream, your identification with emotion and memory begins to fall away. When awareness of thought disappears, awareness of the passing of time disappears along with it. If you keep penetrating into the infinite depths of your own self, even your awareness of your own physical form will disappear.
    If you go deep enough, letting your attention expand and release from all objects in consciousness, you will find that all the structures of the created universe begin to crumble before your eyes. Awareness itself—limitless, empty, pristine—becomes the only object of your attention.
    As your attention is released from the conditioned mind-process, freed from the confines of the body and the boundaries of the personal self-sense, the inner dimension of your own experience begins to open up to an immeasurable degree. Imagine that you have been fast asleep in a small, dark chamber, then suddenly awaken to find yourself floating in the infinite expanse of a vast, peaceful ocean. That’s what this journey to the depths of your own self feels like. You become aware of a limitless dimension that you did not even know was there. Moments before, you may have experienced yourself as being trapped, a prisoner of your body, mind, and emotions. But when you awaken to this new dimension, all sense of confinement disappears. You find yourself resting in, and as, boundless empty space.
    In that empty space, the mind is completely still; there is no time, no memory, not even a trace of personal history. And the deeper you fall into that space, the more everything will continue to fall away, until finally all that will be left is you. When you let absolutely everything go—body, mind, memory, and time—you will find, miraculously, that you still exist. In fact, in the end, you discover that all that exists is you!”
    _____________
    The contemplation of consciousness—which is the contemplation of no-thing whatsoever—is endlessly fascinating. It’s like staring at a candle in a dark night—you find yourself mesmerized by something that is unchanging yet infinitely compelling. You feel drawn into something you don’t understand rationally but that your heart or soul grasps completely. You are drawn into it, and as you are drawn into it, the only thing you experience as real is the eternal or timeless nature of Being itself. You find yourself in a state of rapture, because the deepest part of yourself has been released from your ego’s endless fears and concerns, and drawn out of the time process altogether.”
    _______________
    “The secret of enlightenment is the absolute, unequivocal conviction that it exists.
    What does that mean? It means you have discovered an unshakable confidence in the fact of nonduality—in the perennial mystical revelation that IT IS . . . and I AM THAT. A confidence in that which can never be seen or known is the very ground of the enlightened state. Being is ungraspable, it’s unknowable, it’s ever elusive, and yet it is the only place you can find true confidence in life. Why? Because it is the very source of life itself.
    The conscious experience of Being, which is what enlightenment is, has always been the ultimate answer to the most fundamental spiritual questions: Who am I? and Why am I here? Those who have tasted enlightened awareness find that in that experience, any trace of existential doubt and all the questions that go along with it instantaneously disappear. It’s not even that they are answered, but rather, the questions lose their meaning. When you locate the nonrelative, or absolute, nature of consciousness in the depths of your own self, it is experienced as a clarity that is empty of content; a weightiness that is full of nothing in particular; a profound knowing that dissolves all questions. In that questionless state, you find yourself profoundly rooted and radically free, supported by an absolute confidence in the knowing of no-thing that changes everything. The experience of that empty ground is the answer—the one answer that always liberates each and every one of us. You simply know, unequivocally, before thought, that I am. That’s the only answer: I AM. There is no why.”
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    • Owen Richards
      Nafis Rahman hey Nafis, hiw do you practise to this extreme meditative depth if self inquiry is supposed to be done all through the day?
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  • Nafis Rahman
    Admin
    Zen Master Bassui, Three Pillars of Zen:
    Do not try to prevent thoughts from arising and do not cling to any that have arisen. Let them appear and disappear as they will; don’t struggle with them. You need only unremittingly and with all your heart ask yourself, “What is my own Mind?” I keep urging this because I want to bring you to Self-realization. When you persistently try to understand what is beyond the domain of intellect, you are bound to reach a dead end, completely baffled. But push on. Sitting or standing, working or sleeping, probe tirelessly to your deepest self with the question “What is my own Mind?” Fear nothing but the failure to experience your True-nature. This is Zen practice. When the intense questioning envelops every inch of you and penetrates to the very bottom of all bottoms, the question will suddenly burst and the substance of the Buddha-mind will be revealed, just as a mirror [concealed] in a box can reflect [its surroundings] only after the box is broken apart. The radiance of this Mind will light up every corner of a universe free of even a single blemish. You will be liberated at last from all entanglements within the Six Realms, all effects of evil actions having vanished. The joy of this moment cannot be put into words.
    …
    In zazen neither despise nor cherish the thoughts that arise; only search your own Mind, the very source of these thoughts. You must understand that anything appearing in your consciousness or seen by your eyes is an illusion, of no enduring reality. Hence you should neither fear nor be fascinated by such phenomena. If you keep your mind as empty as space, unstained by extraneous matters, no evil spirits can disturb you even on your deathbed. While engaged in zazen, however, keep none of this counsel in mind. You must only become the question “What is this Mind?” or “What is it that hears these sounds?” When you realize this Mind you will know that it is the very source of all Buddhas and sentient beings. The Bodhisattva Kannon [Avalokitesvara] is so called because he attained enlightenment by perceiving [that is, grasping the source of] the sounds of the world about him.
    At work, at rest, never stop trying to realize who it is that hears. Even though your questioning penetrates the unconscious, you won’t find the one who hears, and all your efforts will come to naught. Yet sounds can be heard, so question yourself to an even profounder level. At last every vestige of self-awareness will disappear and you will feel like a cloudless sky. Within yourself you will find no “I,” nor will you discover anyone who hears. This Mind is like the void, yet it hasn’t a single spot that can be called empty. Do not mistake this state for Self-realization, but continue to ask yourself even more intensely, “Now who is it that hears?” If you bore and bore into this question, oblivious to anything else, even this feeling of voidness will vanish and you won’t be aware of anything—total darkness will prevail. [Don’t stop here, but] keep asking with all your strength, “What is it that hears?” Only when you have completely exhausted the questioning will the question burst; now you will feel like someone who has come back from the dead. This is true realization. You will see the Buddhas of all the universes face-to-face and the Dharma Ancestors past and present. Test yourself with this koan: “A monk asked Joshu: “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming to China?’ Joshu replied: ‘The oak tree in the garden.’ ” Should this koan leave you with the slightest doubt, you need to resume questioning, “What is it that hears?”
    If you don’t come to realization in this present life, when will you? Once you have died you won’t be able to avoid a long period of suffering in the Three Evil Paths. What is obstructing realization? Nothing but your own halfhearted desire for truth. Think of this and exert yourself to the utmost.
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  • Nafis Rahman
    Admin
    'Natural Radiance' - Lama Surya Das:
    Once your mind is calm, focused, lucid, and clear, abruptly turn the mind on itself—mind the mind and turn it inward, with laserlike self-inquiry questions: “Who is thinking my thoughts? Who is trying to meditate? Who is it; what is it; where is it? Who is experiencing my experience right now?”
    There is no need to analyze too much—just abruptly pop the question and observe what happens. Let go and see if you can startle yourself into a new way of seeing and being, short-circuiting your usual outward-looking, dualistic thought process of self and other. See through the seer, directly experience the experiencer, and be free; rest in luminous centerless openness, the natural Great Perfection, pure presence, rigpa.
    Again cutting even deeper, abruptly turn the mind upon itself again: Who is experiencing? Who and what is hearing? Who and what is seeing, thinking, and feeling? Who is having these physical sensations? Who is it; what is it; where is it? Is it in the head; is it in the body; is it in the heart; is it in the mind and consciousness? Who is experiencing? Who or what am I? How is it happening? See if you can enter the bottomless gap between thoughts, beneath thoughts. See if you can directly experience whatever is not thought—the luminous awareness that exists prethought or beyond or beneath thought, or after all thought has ceased. Trace the source of all of your thoughts, feelings, experiences, physical sensations, and perceptions. Notice how they arise, and, after they arise, where they are in your present experience and where they go. See if you can follow the disillusion point back into the luminous void that is centerless—the openness that is everything’s ultimate identity, the great Who, the great What that is known as buddha nature. And if you cannot find anything to follow, just rest in that great silence, and be nothing for just one instant. Being nothing but pure awareness for an instant would be transformative in itself, and more than enough. Emaho!
    When the mind starts to move, as it will, and thoughts and feelings and physical sensations again begin to proliferate, turn the mind upon itself again instead of looking outward at outer phenomena, projections, and perceptions. Turn the searchlight inward and mind the mind, becoming more keenly aware of awareness itself. Continue this laserlike questioning of who and what is experiencing, who is thinking, who is hearing, who, what, where, how and then let go and release—drop everything: drop body and mind—and sense who or what is present between thoughts and when thought has ceased, even for a moment. If you discover that you really do not know who you are, then that is enough. That is what is true for you in this moment, and that is sufficient truth for now.
    …
    “In addition to what you wrote, I hope to convey another dimension of Presence to you. That is Encountering Presence in its first impression, unadulterated and full blown in stillness.
    So after reading it, just feel it with your entire body-mind and forgot about it. Don't let it corrupt your mind.
    Presence, Awareness, Beingness, Isness are all synonyms. There can be all sorts of definitions but all these are not the path to it. The path to it must be non-conceptual and direct. This is the only way.
    When contemplating the koan "before birth who am I", the thinking mind attempts to seek into it’s memory bank for similar experiences to get an answer. This is how the thinking mind works - compare, categorize and measure in order to understand.
    However when we encounter such a koan, the mind reaches its limit when it tries to penetrate its own depth with no answer. It will come a time the mind exhausts itself and come to a complete standstill and from that stillness comes an earthshaking BAM!
    I. Just I.
    Before birth this I, a thousand years ago this I, a thousand later this I. I AM I.
    It is without any arbitrary thoughts, any comparisons. It fully authenticates it's own clarity, it's own existence, ITSELF in clean, pure, direct non-conceptuality. No why, no because.
    Just ITSELF in stillness nothing else.
    Intuit the vipassana and the samatha. Intuit the total exertion and realization. The essence of message must be raw and uncontaminated by words. It cannot be secondhand.
    Hope that helps! – John Tan, 2019
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    • Nafis Rahman
      Admin
      You can also contemplate “Before thinking, what am I?”
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    • Nafis Rahman
      Admin
      Hi,
      Steps are not necessary in self inquiry, because this method is meant to cut through all steps, thought-inference-process, conceptualizations, to directly awaken to your True Self. This is why Koan and Zen is known as the method and school of Sudden or Instantaneous Awakening, not gradual or step-by-step awakening. This is the Direct Path.
      For example,
      Hear a bird chirping.
      What/who is hearing?
      (silence)
      Silence means you aren't trying to answer the question using your mind (because the answer cannot be found there - the more you try to figure out with your mind the more time is wasted because you are looking at the wrong direction), but instead you are directly looking at 'What Hears' and experiencing your True Self, your Hearing-Nature/Pure Awareness. The inner cognizer (I AM) turns within and cognizes itself, its true nature.
      The pure silence underneath the sound is your true nature, but it is not an inert nothingness, in fact not even silence as such, but more accurately a featureless wide-awake space which perceives all sounds, all sights, all thoughts, etc. It cannot be understood by the mind. You have to trace the hearing, the radiance, the seeing, to its Source.
      If you truly and successfully traced all perceptions to its Source, you will realize and experience a Certainty of Being, an undeniability of your very Consciousness which is formless and intangible but at the same time a most solid self-evident fact of your being.
      However if during the process of self-inquiry a thought arise like "could this be it, what is Awareness, etc", just ignore the thought, don't attempt to answer them using the mind/logic, but continue turning the light around, asking "Who am I" or "Who is aware of the thought?" and so on. Turn away from all doubts to the Doubtless Certainty/Undeniability of Being/Consciousness, and all your doubts and questions are resolved in an instant.
      As Jason Swason said:
      “By turning the attention to the mind, immediately there are doubts. More thoughts rush in to question the questions, confirm or contradict other thoughts. A maddening cycle...
      Notice when thoughts are paused there are no doubts; the certainty of (doubtless) Being is obviously present; the unquestionable FACT of EXISTENCE. Notice that the Being is ALWAYS presently shining, effortlessly and spontaneously. Stay with that undeniable non-conceptual confidence. Your Being has always been present for every single experience. That natural cognition in which all experiences arise is not a person.
      Be as you ARE and not what you imagine yourself to be.”
      …
      “I was doing self inquiry yesterday with my back straight and legs crossed in the position of sitting meditation, contemplating 'Who am I', 'Before Birth Who am I'... with an intense desire to know the truth of my being. As the thoughts subside, an intense and palpable sense of beingness and presence, the only 'thing' that remains that I feel to be my innermost essence... became very obvious... very very vivid and intense, and feels like a constant background in which everything is taking place, thoughts (almost none at that moment, but arise afterwards) that arise are also taking place in this unchanging background... and there is this certainty and doubtlessness about this I AM-ness, IT is absolutely real and undeniable. IT/I AMness/The Witness is the only solid and undoubtable Presence and is clearly present with or without thoughts.” - Soh’s E-Book & Journal, February 2010 entry
      …
      Sim Pern Chong (2004): “In one ‘awakening’ meditation, I came to a state of no thoughts ... In the void of no thoughts, one naturally assume that everything must be an unconscious blank. However, that was not the case! What came next was quite a revelation to me. In the void of no thought, I perceived myself to be a Presence... Here's how I will describe myself: ‘The Presence is all pervasive, yet un-intrusive. He seems to be in all things and observes with utter passiveness. He exists beyond concepts, beliefs and do not need any form. Therefore, I understand him as eternal’. It also seems to be the subtler state of myself. I also got the feeling that it existed in all my lifetimes or even more. If I were to name it, I would describe it as The Eternal Watcher.
      The Eternal Watcher is ever present. That you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Because the Presence is so close to the mind, it is not easily perceived. Perceiving the Eternal Watcher was achieved through the relaxed observation of my own breath. The ultra-relaxed observation eventually becomes a purely passive allowance for thoughts to pass through my consciousness. This, in turn, led to a gradual shutting down of the mental processes of my physical brain cumulating into a state of ‘no thoughts’. Beyond the transitional phase of ‘no thoughts’, I became the Eternal Watcher … I believed the Eternal Watcher is the individualized God/Source Presence within oneself. I also believe this Presence is Rigpa as described in Tibetan Buddhism” (important to note that there are different degrees of rigpa: http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../the-degrees-of...)
      The Degrees of Rigpa
      AWAKENINGTOREALITY.COM
      The Degrees of Rigpa
      The Degrees of Rigpa
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  • Nafis Rahman
    Admin
    Since you are new to the group, when you have some free time you can go through these links for further tips/pointers:
    AtR Guide - abridged version by Pablo Pintabona [partially done, halfway done for Stage 5]: https://atr-abridgedguide.blogspot.com/.../this-is...
    Angelo’s book and Youtube channel has good explanations regarding self-enquiry:
    Ken Wilber – I Am Big Mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA8tDzK_kPI
    Books by Eckhart Tolle, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, John Wheeler, Adyashanti, Michael A. Singer, Three Pillars of Zen, etc
    Related articles from the blog you can go through:
    In addition, some sort of samatha/concentration practice might be helpful for realizing I AM along with further insights (atleast 45 mins – 1 hour per day)
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Uninterrupted Clear Light and Rebirth

https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/10p0e6s/can_anyone_explain_the_subtlest_form_of_mind_and/

Posted by

u/Disastrous-Horror-80

4 hours ago


Can anyone explain the subtlest form of mind and how it goes from one life to the next?

Question

I am currently reading "Approaching the Buddhist Path" and His Holiness explains that there are different levels of mind. The subtlest form is not dependent on physical forms to exist, and he says it is this that transfers from one life to the next after the physical form dies.


I think my question is, does this mean that this subtlest form of conscioussness is a fundamental substrate of reality, essentially?


I'm hoping someone can expand on this topic of subtle conscioussness, also referred to by His Holiness as "fundamental, innate mind of clear light."


Thanks everyone <3


xabir (Soh) replied:

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xabir

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2 min. ago

It is important to understand that the subtlest clear light mind is not some unchanging substrate that is the atman-brahman of other religions.


It is considered by Dalai Lama to be a momentary mind-stream. Each moment of clear light consciousness is anew but dependent on a previous moment for it to arise. Its arising and ceasing is momentary, (unlike some static unchanging ground of being or substratum of other religions), yet because its continuum is uninterrupted like a river, it is termed "abiding" in a certain sense.


Here is what he said:


Question: Is the fundamental innate mind of clear light dependent on causes and conditions? If it is not dependent, how can it be empty of independent existence?


HHDL: This is a very good question. Often in texts we find mention of the fundamental innate mind of clear light being not produced by causes and conditions. Now here it is important to understand that in general when we use the term 'produced phenomena' there are different connotations. Something can be called 'produced' because it is a production of delusions and the actions they induce. Again, it may also refer to a production by causes and conditions. And there is also a sense of 'produced' as being cause by conceptual thought processes.


Certain texts speak of the activities of the Buddha as permanent and non-produced in the sense that they are continuous, and that as long as there are sentient beings, the activities of the buddhas will remain without interruption. So, from the point of view of their continuity, these activities are sometimes called permanent.


In the same manner, the fundamental innate mind of clear light, in terms of its continuity, is beginningless, and also endless. This continuum will always be there, and so from that specific point of view, it is also called 'non-produced'. Besides, the fundamental innate mind of clear light is no a circumstantial or adventitious state of mind, for it does not come into being as a result of the circumstantial interaction of causes and conditions. Rather, it is an ever-abiding continuum of mind, which is inherent within us. So from that view point, it is called 'non-produced'.


However, although this is the cause, we still have to maintain that, because it possesses this continuity, the present fundamental innate mind-this present instant of consciousness-comes from its earlier moments. The same holds true of the wisdom of Buddha-the omniscient mind of Buddha-which perceives the two truths directly and simultaneously, and which is also a state of awareness or consciousness. Since it is a state of awareness, the factor which will eventually turn into that kind of wisdom, namely the fundamental innate nature of clear light, will also have to be maintained to be a state of awareness. For it is impossible for anything which is not by nature awareness to turn into a state of awareness. So from this second point of view, the fundamental innate mind of clear light is causally produced.


From Dzogchen: Heart Essence of Great Perfection by The Dalai Lama.


....


Dalai Lama on the Clear Light


“According to Dam-tsik-dor-jay, a Mongolian from Kalka, when the [tantric] view of the Great Perfection is taught, it also is divided into two categories, objective and subjective. The former can be understood in the vocabulary of the New Translation Schools [Kagyud, Sakya, & Gelug], just explained, as the objective clear light, that is to say, as emptiness which is the object of a wisdom consciousness. In the Great Perfection [tantras of the Nyingma school,] the term ‘view’ most frequently refers not to the object emptiness, but to the subject, the wisdom consciousness and , more or less, a union of the object – emptiness – with the subject – the wisdom consciousness realizing it. This innate fundamental mind of clear light is emphasized equally in the Highest Yoga Tantra systems of the New Translation Schools and in the Nying-ma system of the Great Perfection and is the proper place of comparison of the old and new schools.


In the Great Perfection, however, the subjective view, that is to say, the mind which takes emptiness as its object – is not the ordinary of coarse mind described in the Perfection Vehicle of the Great Vehicle but a subtle mind. It is basic knowledge (rig pa), clear light (‘od gsal), the fundamental innate mind of clear light (gnyug ma lhan cig skyes pa’i ‘od gsal) which is the final status (gnas lugs) of things…


The fundamental mind which serves as the basis of all phenomena of cyclic existence and nirvana is posited as the ultimate truth or nature of phenomena (dharmata, chos nyid); it is also called the ‘clear light’ (abhasvara, ‘od gsal) and uncompounded (asamskrta, ‘dus ma byas). In Nying-ma it is called the ‘mind-vajra’; this is not the mind that is contrasted with basic knowledge (rig pa) and mind (sems) but the factor of mere luminosity and knowing, basic knowledge itself. This is the final root of all minds, forever indestructible, immutable, and unbreakable continuum like a vajra. Just as the New Translation Schools posit a beginningless and endless fundamental mind, so Nying-ma posits a mind-vajra which has no beginning or end and proceeds without interruption through the effect stage of Buddhahood. It is considered ‘permanent’ in the sense of abiding forever and thus is presented as a permanent mind. It is permanent not in the sense of not disintegrating moment by moment but in the sense that its continuum is not interrupted…


With respect to identifying the clear light in the Great Perfection: when, for instance, one hears a noise, between the time of hearing it and conceptualizing it as such and such, there is a type of mind devoid of conceptuality but nevertheless not like sleep or samadhi, in which the object is a reflection of this entity of mere luminosity and knowing. It is at such a point that the basic entity of the mind [clear light] is identified.


“Union of new Old Schools” in Kindness, Clarity, & Insight (trans. Hopkins)


.....


Dzogchen teacher Acarya Malcolm Smith said:




http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2014/02/clarifications-on-dharmakaya-and-basis_16.html

Excerpts


Malcolm wrote:


Yes, I understand. All awarenesses are conditioned. There is no such thing as a universal undifferentiated ultimate awareness in Buddhadharma. Even the omniscience of a Buddha arises from a cause.


PadmaVonSamba wrote:


isn't this cause, too, an object of awareness? Isn't there awareness of this cause? If awareness of this cause is awareness itself, then isn't this awareness of awareness? What causes awareness of awareness, if not awareness?


If awareness is the cause of awareness, isn't it its own cause?


Malcolm wrote:


Omniscience is the content of a mind freed of afflictions. Even the continuum of a Buddha has a relative ground, i.e. a the rosary or string of moments of clarity is beginingless.


Origination from self is axiomatically negated in Buddhadharma,


Each moment in the continuum of a knowing clarity is neither the same as nor different than the previous moment. Hence the cause of a given instant of a knowing clarity cannot be construed to be itself nor can it be construed to be other than itself. This is the only version of causation which, in the final analysis, Buddhadharma can admit to on a relative level. It is the logical consequence of the Buddha's insight, "When this exists, that exists, with the arising of that, this arose."


PadmaVonSamba wrote:


I am not referring to cognition, rather, the causes of that cognition.


Malcolm wrote:


Cognitions arise based on previous cognitions. That's all.


If you suggest anything other than this, you wind up in Hindu La la land.


Malcolm wrote:


There is no such thing as a universal undifferentiated ultimate awareness in Buddhadharma.



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