Skeleton

Adam Mizner's Dhamma Talk on Skeleton. Adam Mizner has dedicated many years to the in-depth study of Daoism, western Hermetics and the Buddha Dhamma, is initiated into and teaches methods from these traditions. He is a senior lay disciple of Ajahn Jumnien in the Thai Forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. This deep spiritual background has a large influence on his approach to internal development teaching.

This talk was recorded live, so note there could be background noises.

Transcript

As you listen,

I want you to keep your mind on the skeleton,

Keeping awareness of the skeleton and the skeletons around you.

So in the practice of the Buddha Dharma we have Sila Samadhi and Banya.

Sila Samadhi Banya.

While you're sitting here in stillness,

With the senses restrained,

That's Sila.

Sila is restrained.

To restrain the senses.

Bringing the awareness to the skeleton,

Resting the awareness on the skeleton,

Allowing the awareness to become still on the skeleton is Samadhi,

Or Samatha practice.

Observing the nature of the skeleton,

White,

Hard,

Smooth,

Rough,

Heavy,

Light,

Big,

Small,

Stained,

Not stained.

This is still Samatha.

It's a natural observation of the way things are,

Seeing.

Then we try to look directly at the nature of the skeleton.

The skeleton is simply matter,

It's simply bones,

It's simply there.

The skeleton has no knowing,

The knowing has no skeleton.

We can't move the skeleton,

Devoid of the muscle,

Tendons,

Skin,

Blood and life force.

Consciousness cannot command the skeleton.

The skeleton is dependent on all the other parts.

There's a separation between the knower,

Jnana,

And the skeleton.

The part that knows,

The part experiences,

And the skeleton are not one.

Skeleton is not self,

Skeleton,

Anatta not self,

Anatta not self.

We call this vipassana yana,

Vipassana yana,

The knowledge of clear seeing.

Knowing the way things are,

Knowing reality clearly,

Seeing clearly,

Bones are not self,

Skeleton is not self.

The skeleton knows nothing,

The skeleton feels nothing,

The feeling feels the skeleton,

The skeleton feels nothing.

You feel the floor but the floor doesn't feel anything,

It's just matter,

Skeleton is just matter.

Observe the separation,

Observe the matter,

Observe feeling,

Observe knowing.

When these come together we call it ata,

We call it self,

And we think that we exist,

I and mine,

Me and mine.

The self arises when the khandhas come together.

When we mix consciousness,

Feeling,

And bones we think my skeleton,

Skeleton,

Adam's skeleton,

Nick's skeleton,

Kim's skeleton.

My skeleton,

My precious skeleton,

My beautiful skeleton,

Look at my bone structure.

Look around at the bone structure of the skeleton sitting around you,

They're all pretty much the same.

Just like the model in front of you,

Devoid of life.

Skeleton is not self.

Can the skeleton hear me speaking?

Does the skeleton get bored with the talk?

The skeleton doesn't even feel the pain from sitting there,

Just like a bundle of sticks.

Bones,

Skeleton,

Anatta,

Not self,

Not self,

No me,

No mine,

Empty of self,

Anatta,

Shuneta,

Empty of self.

Sati,

Not the ability to know or to recollect,

Know the skeleton,

Sati,

Knowing the skeleton.

Knowing the skeleton without deviation,

Mahasati,

Maha is great,

Or on time,

Unending,

Unceasing,

Mindfulness,

Great mindfulness,

Mahasati.

Just knowing the skeleton,

Recognizing that the skeleton and the knowing are separate,

Vipassana,

Yana,

The knowledge to see clearly the way things are.

The skeleton and the knowing are separate.

This skeleton is not me,

This skeleton does not belong to me,

Not me,

Not mine,

Empty,

Empty of self.

This skeleton will decay,

Fall to bits,

Turn into dust.

If you took the tendons away,

It would crumble onto the floor.

It has no will of its own,

It can't pick itself up and fix itself.

Just like the bones we throw to the dogs or the bones we cut out of the meat,

The bones we spit out of the meal.

No different,

Impersonal,

Not self,

Anatta.

Shamata is the quality of seeing,

Of resting the mind on the skeleton.

When we see through,

Penetrating through all the way to not self,

To emptiness,

Anatta,

Sunita,

This is vipassana,

Clear seeing.

To see clearly the way things are,

Not to paint a picture on top of what we see,

Not to label the skeleton as beautiful,

As fine,

As mine,

As me.

That's not seeing clearly the way things are,

That's seeing clearly the way things,

The way we want things to be.

Simply look nakedly at the way things are.

The knowing is separate from the skeleton.

In the same way that an eye cannot see itself,

The knowing is looking at the skeleton and the skeleton cannot know itself.

The skeleton knows nothing,

The skeleton feels nothing,

There is no knowing in the skeleton.

The skeleton is devoid of the quality of self.

Separated and you have a pile of matter.

If we mix all the bones up in this room together in a pile,

You'd have a lot of trouble discerning which bones belong to which body.

They're just bones,

There is no longer me and mine,

No longer individuals,

Just bones,

Just a pile of bones.

Bash it up,

There's not even bones,

There's just matter,

Nothing but matter.

Impersonal,

Anatta,

Not self.

Look closely at that matter,

It's decaying,

It's rotting.

Look more closely with a microscope,

We see it's flicking in and out of existence,

It appears,

It disappears,

It appears,

It disappears,

Energy vibrating,

It's nothing.

Emptiness,

Not self,

There's nothing there.

Nothing to worry about,

Nothing to get caught up in.

So you see a beautiful form,

You can look at the form,

The skin,

Beauty is only skin deep.

That doesn't mean all the beauty comes from within,

That means beauty is only skin deep.

If you take the skin off,

There's no beauty.

I guarantee beauty ends the moment you lose the skin.

You take a supermodel,

Perfect form,

Look at her bone structure,

She's amazing.

Take the skin off,

She's horrendous.

When things come together,

We identify,

We identify with the coming together of the condors.

Form,

The skeleton is form,

Just form.

But when we mix feeling and you bang your head,

Ah,

I banged my head,

I hurt my skull.

Feeling mixes with form,

Mental formations arise,

Dammit,

I hate it when I hit my head.

Perceptions arise,

Oh no,

I've split my skin,

I remember when I was a kid and I split my skin,

Now I have to get stitches,

Oh what about this,

What about that?

Hmm?

And we cognize what's happening,

Consciousness,

The feeling,

Form,

Feeling,

Perceptions,

Mental formations and consciousness come together,

We call it self,

We call it me,

We call it mine,

We give it a name,

We place importance on it,

It's something that can suffer.

Ata.

Me and mine,

The cause of all suffering,

The cause of all problems.

A pile of bones that gets thrown out,

Broken up,

Thrown in the tip from a butcher,

We don't care about that,

That gets broken,

We don't have any problem,

No problem at all.

Bones breaking is no problem,

Bones disintegrating is no problem,

It's just matter,

Bones just break,

That's their nature,

Anicha,

Impermanent,

Bones break.

But when the feeling mixes with the bone,

The bone that we call me and mine,

Perceptions mix with that,

Well that's bad news.

So there's no problem with the bones,

Bones are just simply not me and mine,

They're nothing but matter,

Impersonal,

Not self,

Anicha,

See this clearly,

Vipassana.

Just like a pile of bones.

See this clearly,

Vipassana.

See this clearly,

Vipassana.

See this clearly,

Vipassana.

Samadhi,

Resting the mind on the object,

The object being the skeleton,

Simply the skeleton,

Not the idea of the skeleton,

Simply the skeleton the way it is.

When this is still,

We call it samadhi.

Panyar,

Or wisdom,

Insight,

Clear seeing,

And the result of vipassana,

Seeing clearly the way things are,

Seeing straight through all the way to anata,

Not self,

Emptiness.

See,

Know the nature of it,

What's the nature of it,

Impersonal,

Not self,

Anata,

And let go,

Release into emptiness.

See,

Know,

Release,

See,

Know,

Release,

Vipassana yam.

See the skeleton,

Know the nature of the skeleton,

Skeleton is not self.

Don't dwell on that,

Let go,

Relax into emptiness,

Relax into not self.

There's no problem with the skeleton,

The moment you realize the skeleton is not you,

Just let go,

Be at ease,

No problem.

How could there be a problem?

How could there be a problem with the bones buried out in the backyard?

There's no problem,

They're just bones.

See your skeleton in the same way,

No problem,

No problem,

No suffering,

Just bones,

Not me,

Not mine,

Not an issue,

No dukkha,

Free of dukkha,

Free of self,

No me,

No mine,

No dukkha.

Sila samadhi bhanyāvimutti,

Or release,

Release from suffering,

Release from dukkha,

The fourth noble truth.

Restrain,

Sila.

Resting the mind,

Bringing the object to the mind,

Samadhi,

Penetrating through,

Seeing the truth,

Recognizing,

Seeing through,

All the way through,

Through impermanent,

Through dukkha,

All the way through to anatta,

Through not self to emptiness.

Bhaññā,

The result of bhaññā is release,

Release from the idea of me and mine,

Release from the suffering caused from ownership,

Ownership is the cause of suffering,

Me and mine causes dukkha.

Sila samadhi bhanyāvimutti,

These four components are the practice,

The entire dharma,

There is nothing outside of that.

If you don't go through to release,

It doesn't work.

Practice for release,

Here and now,

Not a release in the future,

Release here and now.

So you're walking around,

Bang,

You hurt yourself,

Feeling arises,

Look at the bone,

Oh,

Ok,

Bone,

Bone,

Not self,

This bone is not self,

This bone is not self,

See clearly,

Oh,

This bone is not self,

What's the problem,

Why am I making such an issue,

Let go,

Release,

Relax,

Emptiness,

Joy.

Don't make an issue,

Don't make a problem out of the way things are,

This is the practice.

Reviews

Niiiiice! 🙏

Fantastic insights! Anata shunyata vipassana Samadhi 🙏🏾🙏🏾❤️❤️