Meditating with mystics is an exploration of our interior space,
Guided gently by the words of inspired mystics from various traditions,
Assisted with brainwave entrainment and immersive soundscapes to take us deep.
This contemplative track utilizes 40 Hz gamma sounds,
Which has been shown in multiple human experiments to improve neuromodulation,
Such that focus,
Cognitive function,
Math and musical performance,
Memory recall,
And dopamine-lifting mood effects can all be significantly enhanced.
It also produces a very still mind.
The most significant results are observed over time,
Which research indicates is between 30 minutes and 1 hour daily.
We seed our contemplation today with 15 minutes of teachings from Dogen Zenji,
12th century Japanese Buddhist priest,
Writer,
Poet,
Philosopher,
And founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan.
And then after the reading,
We allow those seeds to bear their fruit in 15 minutes of open contemplation.
Become aware of your breath.
Become absorbed in the sound.
Keep the words that suit your wisdom,
Release the rest,
And simply be.
We enter this space together with the intention of a still mind and an open heart.
If you cannot find the truth right where you are,
Where else do you expect to find it?
To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfections.
If you want to see things just as they are,
Then you yourself must practice just as you are.
Meditation is not a way to enlightenment,
Nor is it a method of achieving anything at all.
It is peace itself.
It is the actualization of wisdom,
The ultimate truth of the oneness of all things.
When both body and mind are at peace,
All things appear as they are,
Perfect,
Complete,
Lacking nothing.
Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.
Do not follow the ideas of others,
But learn to listen to the voice within yourself.
Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things.
Life and death are of supreme importance.
Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost.
Each of us should strive to awaken.
Awaken.
Take heed.
Do not squander your life.
Life and death are nothing but the mind.
Years,
Months,
Days,
And hours are nothing.
But the mind,
Dreams,
Illusions,
And mirages are nothing but the mind.
The bubbles of water and the flames of fire are nothing but the mind.
The flowers of the spring and the moon of the autumn are nothing but the mind.
Confusions and dangers are nothing but the mind.
But do not ask me where I am going as I travel in this limitless world,
Where every step I take is my own.
A fool sees himself as another,
But a wise man sees others as himself.
The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dew drop on the grass.
To start from the self and try to understand all things is delusion.
To let the self be awakened by all things is enlightenment.
To let the self be awakened by all things is enlightenment.
We must always be disturbed by the truth.
Truth is not far away.
It is nearer than near.
There is no need to attain it,
Since not one of your steps leads away from it.
Those who seek the easy way do not seek the true way.
When we discover that the truth is already in us,
We are all at once our original selves.
Practice and enlightenment are not two.
In the mundane,
Nothing is sacred.
In sacredness,
Nothing is mundane.
The true person is not anyone in particular,
But like the deep blue color of the limitless sky,
It is everyone,
Everywhere in the world.
One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world.
Continuous practice,
Day after day,
Is the most appropriate way of expressing gratitude.
This means that you practice continuously,
Without wasting a single day of your life,
Without using it for your own sake.
Why is it so?
Your life is a fortunate outcome of the continuous practice of the past.
You should express your gratitude immediately.
And though it is like this,
It is only that flowers,
While loved,
Fall,
And weeds,
While hated,
Flourish.
You should,
Therefore,
Cease from practice based on intellectual understanding,
Pursuing words and following after speech,
And learn the backwards step that turns your light inward to illuminate yourself.
Body and mind of themselves will drop away,
And your original face will be manifest.
In Buddhism,
Practice and enlightenment are identical.
You can experience this practice within enlightenment even now,
By assuming a beginner's mind and devoting yourself to the way.
This is the entirety of intrinsic enlightenment.
Enlightenment is practice,
So it has no end.
That you carry yourself forward and experience the myriad things,
Is delusion.
That the myriad things come forward and experience themselves,
Is awakening.
You should be aware of the fact that you are a part of the process of enlightenment.
That the myriad things come forward and experience themselves,
Is awakening.
All things and all phenomena are just one mind.
Nothing is excluded or unrelated.
Those who practice know whether realization is attained or not,
Just as those who drink water know whether it is hot or cold.
To study the way is to forget the self.
To study the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things of the universe.
To be enlightened by all things of the universe is to cast off the body and mind of the self,
As well as those of others.
Even the traces of enlightenment are wiped out,
And life with traceless enlightenment goes on forever and ever.
So
