Hello and welcome.
My name is Beth and I will be guiding you on this mirror meditation inspired by the sacred text of the Ajataphata.
Please seat yourself comfortably in front of a mirror.
Sit as close to the mirror as you can comfortably while still taking in your whole image.
Look into your own eyes and begin to notice your breath.
If you notice any tension in the body,
Release it on the exhalation.
Deepen your breath,
Soften the body,
And center yourself.
As I read the following phrases,
Just be as you are,
Connected to your own gaze,
And invite the spontaneous arising of thoughts,
Questions,
Associations,
Sensations,
Emotions,
Plays of light and shadow or memory.
Allow but remain unattached.
Here we go.
Only the eternal is real.
If you want to know what's real,
Ask yourself,
Will this last forever?
If not,
There's your answer.
It is illusion that makes things appear separate.
Such illusions come and go.
The eternal remains.
If the universe is something that one day came into being,
Then how can it be real?
The real is neither born nor dies.
The real is eternal.
A universe must only seem to exist,
And one day it must cease to exist,
Like all other unreal things that are born into existence and then die to existence.
If the universe is unreal,
Then everything within the universe is real.
Within the universe must also be unreal.
The universe and everything in it is mere appearance,
A dream,
An apparent manifestation of the universe.
When you are dreaming,
All in that dream will feel very real,
But the moment you awaken,
All will be revealed as vapor.
Upon waking,
One is outside the dream that was,
But how can you be sure you are not yet in another dream?
And where did that old dream go?
So,
Who are we?
The dreamer who wakes?
The wake one who dreams?
Or the non-dreaming sleeper?
Each state of consciousness arises and then is taken over by another,
So how can any of them be real?
The fact that we can go between such states,
That they come and go,
Are born and then die,
Must mean none of them are real.
They mutually dismiss each other.
Neither the universe which one perceives upon waking,
Nor the universe of the dream,
Remains in a deep sleep.
Even the no universe of the dreamless deep sleep state must give way to the universe of the waking state when one wakes.
Hence the three states are equally unreal and the universes perceived cannot in any way be real.
Only truth is not subject to such negation.
When we become the non-dreamer,
Fully awake,
Fully aware,
Eternally unborn,
Eternally unborn,
Unborn.
You may now gently close and rest your eyes.
You may now gently close and rest your eyes.
Place one hand over your heart,
The other across your forehead.
Allow your hand to support your head and breathe.
Now relax your hands in front of your heart in Anjali Mudra and gently open your eyes,
Pleasing once more upon your image,
And bow to yourself.
That ends this mirror meditation.
