Insight 11: Looking at Perception

Verse 17

When one looks again and again at the mind that is not a thing to be seen,
And sees vividly for what it is the meaning of not seeing,
Doubts about the meaning of “is” and “isn’t” are erased.
Without confusion, may my own face know itself.

Instructions

Be free of creating ideas as you perceive the mind. Look at the perceiving mind during the quiet times in the recording.

Meditation

  • Allow the mind to rest naturally. 
  • Put your attention on your body, how do you perceive it? 
  • Be aware of your individuality, your uniqueness, how do you perceive it? 
  • Look at your life, how do you perceive it? 
  • Allow a sensation to arise. How do you perceive it? 
  • Look at your meditation. How do you perceive it? 
  • The moment you perceive anything, what is the next thing you want to do? Do you want to label what you perceive? Or make a story about what you perceive? 
  • Allow the mind to rest free of engaging with anything that is being perceived? What happens? Rest right there.

After Meditation

  • Does looking at perceptions enable you to see that perceptions have no existence on their own, that they are always changing? 
  • How do reactions take place after you have perceived something? 
  • After perceiving something, why does the “I” want to know, want to judge what has been perceived? 
  • Perceive something and drop the hold of an “I” from whatever you are perceiving. What happens? 
  • Where does ego-clinging take hold?
  • In what way does the perceiving mind take life seriously or playfully? 
  • Are you able to rest free of thinking about anything you perceive?

During the Day

Keep looking at thoughts. A few examples that might occur when you add a story or judgment to your perceptions are: worrying, dramatizing, being fearful of experience and/or delighting in how life is unfolding at the moment.  What would you add here? Develop your ability to recognize how much you conjure up in life from merely perceiving something.  Rest easily with what you perceive as you go about your day.