Put Ego In Its Right Place | Atisha's 7 Point Mind Training

The test of meditation practice happens in the real world where ego takes charge. In this session, we are on point 5 of Atisha's 7 point mind training, where he encourages the meditation practitioners to test their learnings. And putting the ego in its right place is a fire test one must go through to judge their practice.

Transcript

A very warm welcome to all of you in this daily morning live meditation session with me,

Dhyansay.

30 minutes every morning,

We take one step further in this spiritual and meditative journey towards silence,

Towards awareness,

Love,

Peace,

Compassion and somewhat some wisdom that brings us one step closer to putting our lives back in order.

We are on this journey right now going through the 7 points of mind training by Atisha and we are now on the 5th which is the time to test,

The time to test the training.

Meaning Atisha says all what you have learnt,

All the awareness,

All the silence that you have learnt while you take this back into your world,

You will come across so many situations where you will have to test these.

Otherwise what use are these all these trainings if they are not tested in the world and if you don't apply them in the world.

I love this about Atisha and these 7 points of mind training that these are very practical.

These are not only remaining in the realm of philosophy,

Remaining in the realm of intellectual understanding of this world but also taking this wisdom,

This spirituality,

This meditation back to the world and testing it on daily basis what is the outcome.

Am I a different person?

Am I the same person?

Am I reacting and interacting with the world in the very same ways as I was doing before or am I doing it differently?

If I am doing it differently how does that matter?

Is it improving the experience of my life?

Is it improving the experience of others lives?

Is it making this world slightly a better place to be?

So he is really testing the metal,

He is really testing meditation and the wisdom of spirituality in the real world in ways in which no other religion,

No other spiritual tradition put themselves in front and said let's test ourselves,

Let's test our teachings.

So in this point number 5 let me go through a few sutras that he had put together and we'll go through them in the next days one by one.

Patricia says in point number 5 all dharma agrees at one point.

Of the two witnesses hold the principle one.

Always maintain only a joyful mind.

If you can practice even when distracted you are well trained.

Let me repeat these sutras and then we'll go into the first sutra because there's a lot to unfold in these sutras so we'll take them step by step.

Let me repeat them once again for you.

All dharma agrees at one point.

Of the two witnesses hold the principle one.

Always maintain only a joyful mind.

If you can practice even when distracted you are well trained.

Let that settle in your mind,

In your consciousness.

The first sutra.

All dharma agrees at one point.

For simplicity sake let's just say all teachings,

Let's just say all wisdom traditions instead of calling it dharmas.

They all agree at one point.

First thing to understand is why they did not agree at other points.

Why there is one point where there is convergence and otherwise there is not convergence.

You have to see that we in this world have so many different ways of approaching life and we have to respect each and every way.

We have to respect each and every individual.

We have to respect how things are for different people and that respect is what is allowing us the diversity of views,

Diversity of opinions,

Diversity of minds and diversity of expression of one consciousness into many.

But what is this convergence point?

Why then if there is diversity is there really a convergence point?

Across traditions,

Across ages all those who have risen above their mind they seem to converge.

In the mind we are all different.

In the mind we all have different perspectives,

Different views,

Different thoughts.

We all have different practices but there is something where there is a convergence.

No matter you come as an individual or you come at it as a practice,

As an institution of religion,

Of spirituality there is eventually a convergence at one point and that convergence happens only when you are out of the mind.

You are out of your own view,

Own version of things and when you rise above that,

When your consciousness opens up you see that we all converge at one point.

And from there on the journey for everyone is the same.

Until that point the journey may be different.

Somebody may be practicing meditation this way,

Somebody may be practicing meditation and spirituality the other way but there is no convergence.

So there is also not really a conflict.

But after a point,

After we have attained to put ourselves,

To subject ourselves beyond our own mind then we see that there is a convergence and from there on there is still a journey to be travelled but from that point on all meet into one.

Now why this divergence?

What is it that is about our mind creating this diversity which has to be converged at one point of time?

This diversity arising out of our mind is because of a component in our mind which we call as Ahankara.

In yogic traditions it is known as Ahankara.

You can simplify this as ego or the sense of self.

All of us are born with this sense of self,

This I.

If you observe,

If you shift your awareness inwards you will always see that everything,

Your entire act into the world is converging towards yourself.

Your mind is creating this process,

Is acting in a way that everything should converge towards you.

This process to enforce the Aham,

The I,

The Ahankara is there somewhat inbuilt in our mind.

It is somewhat of a,

You can call it as a proxy.

It is built not only as a barrier but also as a protection.

So those who jump onto the subject of ego as saying we need to destroy the ego,

We need to completely get rid of the ego or the Aham or the Ahankara are also on a dangerous path.

This is what also integrates,

Holds our body,

Our mind,

Thoughts,

Emotions,

Our actions in the world and it is also becoming a barrier at some point of time.

So the way to deal with ego,

The way to deal with Ahankara is not trying to break it,

Not trying to destroy it but you rising above the mind and then you can use the ego,

You can use the Ahankara,

You can put it in its right place and from there on you can utilize whatever utility it has for our life.

In our daily life you also see that it is difficult to come out of the ego,

To rise above the mind.

Why?

The societal structures,

All the structures that we have built for ourselves,

If you pay attention from societal to economic to financial to legal to taxes,

You name it,

They are all dependent upon you recognizing yourself as ego,

As Ahankara.

If you come out of the ego,

If you come out of the Ahankara,

If you disidentify yourself from you as only self,

These structures start to fall weak,

The legs of these structures start to shake.

So of course everything is designed in a way for you to never come out of it.

In other words,

The way we live in our daily life,

It becomes even more difficult for us to come out of the self,

To come out of the ego.

That is why these moments of meditation,

That is why these moments of the practice of meditation to first of all learn and taste what does it mean to rise above the mind,

What does it mean to have those moments without the self,

Have those moments when you recognize that you are not the self.

When you have lived those moments in the practice,

When you go out in the world,

When these are challenged,

Then comes the real unfolding of consciousness where you in your own ways find how you will live this self,

How you will live the selflessness.

Lots more can be said about self,

Ego,

Ahankara and how to come out of it.

For today's session,

I would like us to go into the practice,

First of all recognize ourselves as the self,

See that all the time this is how we identify ourselves,

How we recognize ourselves and take few minutes to step out,

Few minutes to step away from the self and see do we exist also as something beyond the self,

To see if there is a convergence of all these different selves that we all different people have,

Can we raise ourselves to a point where we see a convergence.

In today's meditation session,

I would like us to experience that or at least take a step forward,

Move towards that experience of rising above our own self.

With that please close your eyes,

Sit in a posture that is comfortable for you,

With your back upright.

Start the meditation by becoming aware of our body,

That draws our attention,

Our awareness from outside and turning it inwards towards our body in this moment.

Breathe flowing in and out naturally.

Imagine your awareness in this moment on your body.

With every breath,

Attention on your body and this awareness of the inner space becoming brighter.

Notice everything about you that you call as the body.

Shift your awareness to your mind.

For a couple of minutes,

Observe the contents of your mind,

The thoughts,

The images,

The inner voices,

Simply observe the contents of your mind.

Don't try to change anything.

You observe the state of your mind,

The contents of your mind.

You observe the state of your mind.

Now shift this awareness.

This sense of self,

This feeling of self.

This sense of I,

Which is not the body,

Not the mind.

This sense of self,

This feeling of self.

We're remain aware of the sense of self and silently observe,

Feel the sense of self and silently observe,

Feel the sense of self andaunting you.

All your awareness,

And the sense of self,

On your eye,

On your eye,

And put this sense of self to rest,

And remain silent and simply aware for the next minutes.

Let your awareness expand while there is silence within.

If you wish to stay longer in this silent awareness,

Let everything go,

Stay like this,

Or very gently and slowly,

You may open your eyes.

While maintaining this inner silence,

This awareness which witnesses the self,

And as you go through your day,

Notice,

Observe your self functioning,

Your self determining what you want,

What you like,

What you dislike,

Remain observant,

A witness of the self,

And see how this shapes your entire life.

From there on,

The journey is towards the selfless,

As you proceed further in your meditations.

I'll see you tomorrow at 7am CET.

Namaste.

Reviews

Dhyanse,
Thanks for these 7 points Atisha mind training.
It would be useful to label them in the titles as 1, 2, 3....
Nanaste!