Letting Go

Lama Shenpen Hookham's talk on Letting go, on Meditation instructions as hints or just pointers and on Meditation as a matter of being natural, as nothing more than bringing our attention back to our immediate experience.

Transcript

Could you say something more about the process of letting go?

We're told to let go of something and let go into something Are these processes actually the same?

And are they something we can do?

Do we just notice them happening?

So I often say this about meditation instructions It's a misnomer in many ways,

You know,

It's an instruction,

This is what you're supposed to be doing We're not really,

They're hints And you have to take them as hints And you have to kind of see if it's,

You're getting the hint It's actually leading somewhere that makes sense to you,

That kind of works for you,

That gets you where you're intuitively feel You're trying to move in a certain direction and you take the instruction So maybe intuitively you have the idea,

I'd like to be more peaceful and relaxed So meditation's about that,

So here's the meditation instruction So let go into space,

Let go on the out-breath into space or something like that Or breath or whatever it is Is it OK?

Am I doing this right?

Is this what I'm supposed to be doing?

I don't seem to be doing what this instruction says I should be doing I don't know if I can do this,

I'm not sure if I'm a good meditator,

Maybe it's not for me So that kind of thinking is kind of naive really It's more like you sit down and say OK,

Let go into space That means space,

Kind of,

I've got a bit of a sense of that but it's not good I don't think that's,

It's like we were saying yesterday,

I think it's more,

Maybe I'm imagining it I wonder So as you're doing it you're kind of thinking,

Thinking but in a very light way Kind of wondering,

Reflecting and And it's for you,

As I said yesterday,

It's for you You're not doing it because you're supposed to Because somebody says you should or there's a right way of doing it You're doing it because you want to discover truth You want a truth that's liberating And when you say you want relaxation and you want to feel better in yourself It's because you want that So you know,

If letting go into space is that relaxing And your first,

I think your first intuitive feeling is it would be You know,

Like letting go into space,

Oh yeah that sounds good You're just leaping into space The first moment of that instruction is a really good hint But then,

As the question's implying,

But then you can't do it can you You know,

If I actually think to myself,

OK I'm now going to,

Let go into space Let go of what?

Let go of something into somewhere Which where?

You know,

You've actually got yourself in a bit of a knot,

Haven't you?

So you have to go back to that first inspiration really It seemed to be the right direction,

Letting go into space But I'm not doing it So that's actually the meditation,

Because otherwise you wouldn't need to meditate You'd just kind of hear it and get enlightened at the end But we don't quite get it So you work with the hint That's the idea of space,

Oof,

Yeah there's all sorts of associations with that That resonates in my heart somehow,

Yeah And then the more you sit with it,

The more you notice your experience You've got these strange paradoxes start to emerge Like,

I can't stay there It says let go into space,

But I can't stay there I always start thinking immediately You know,

I might think,

Space,

OK I'll focus on it But you're already thinking,

You haven't really let go So that's what the meditation consists of really In a very light way,

Noticing Oh,

That's interesting,

Thinking again,

Can I not think?

Interesting isn't it?

It's impossible to not think It's your own question How would it be to not think?

It's a little tiny glimmer of something isn't there?

Thinking's going on somewhere But somewhere has no boundary I must know it,

Because I can If it wasn't like that,

Then thought couldn't appear,

Could it?

Either there'd be nothing or it would be blocked So when it says let go into space,

It kind of goes against all your assumptions I'm going to meditate on space and I'm going to let go of anything that's obstructing It's just set full of assumptions,

You don't know what any of it means What do you mean by I?

What do you mean by space?

What do you mean by thought?

What do you mean by let go?

What do you mean by.

.

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None of it's intuitive really isn't it?

It's kind of hinting at something So that's what you have to get interested in really Follow those hints to somewhere where Why would somebody say that?

Why would somebody describe it like that?

Can I find anything in my experience that perhaps that's a kind of way of describing it,

Although I wouldn't describe it like that You know what I mean?

How would I describe it?

So really take ownership I don't find that instruction helpful Honestly myself I don't Let go into space But I can go back to it and I can think It is quite helpful actually that sense that Even though I've got a concept of space And that's kind of sort of opened I feel more open and more But it is still a concept so that To not have the concept would be like I can't stay there,

Oh right Into,

Let go into There's a hint That suggests there's something other than my concepts Maybe there's a hint there of something It's almost like There is something else there But if I think it's there then it's a concept So kind of It's one movement in a way isn't it?

The question is saying is it one movement?

From one point of view when I talk about it it sounds like there's lots of thinking going on doesn't it?

Again you've got to use all my words as hints Towards something simple If you try to describe something simple it takes a lot of words And none of them describe it but they could hint at it I think that instruction is very helpful In the sense that It suggests an element of trust or faith in something That there is If we let go of the thinking There's something there that we can trust that we could somehow We're moving towards something that's in a sense more real But again it's only a hint And when we talk about faith and devotion Again it's a hint That there's There are different ways you might want to describe it because it's a different way of knowing That you could trust which is what we're getting at in the DHB The Openness,

Clarity and Sensitivity There's the reality of that openness,

The reality of that clarity,

The reality of that sensitivity It just is real And like as you become more convinced about that That sort of closed in feeling of the thoughts You could perhaps trust the Openness,

Clarity,

Sensitivity and notice That closed in-ness of the thoughts isn't necessary And as you notice they're not necessary,

This is a question that is a matter of noticing As you notice they're not necessary That might give you just a moment of relaxation Again like the space image So you can't do anything with it,

You can't grab it,

You can't grasp it But you can gain in conviction that actually that must be there Like the ground under your feet or the air you breathe You don't have to think about it all the time but you trust it's there and that works And the same with this,

You trust that true essence of your being is there And you act as if it's there and you find it works It turns out that that works but you can't actually,

As I was saying yesterday You can't actually turn around and look at it You can't do anything about it But you can gain conviction in it Over time you gain conviction but you can rely on that And that changes you,

Changes your experience Lightens everything up,

Resources you You can start to see the thoughts for what they are And you can see the stickiness of the thoughts for what it is You're not trapped by them anymore So you could call that letting go But you haven't actually got hold of something and then let it go You stop getting caught up and thinking you have to do something with them So from that point of view you could call it You might want to use the phrase let it go It's not a bad phrase,

I suppose I suppose it's so important to speak to a teacher about your meditation practice Because you need to check that out and you know how it is in a conversation where One person is using one set of words and the other person is using another set of words And you can kind of talk about the same experience using different words And you can tell between yourselves if you're talking about the same thing or not Just by the pattern of the conversation really I was talking to Biggs and Shipwell about this the other day Talking to a student trying to point out the nature of the mind,

The nature of the experience And you get to some very fine point And you think they're going to get it Or at least they're going to go Oh right,

Yeah,

I've got a way to think about that But at that very point they kind of yawn and say Is there anything else?

And you sort of think hmm That didn't kind of.

.

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The penny didn't drop,

You can tell it didn't drop And that's how the conversation has to go really Because everybody's got their own way of relating to things So you have to,

As a teacher you would have to learn from that Oh right,

That kind of.

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That went by the wayside But that particular conversation didn't really come alive So you know,

The student carries on and you carry on Maybe another time something clicks So I'm saying all that Having said that I can't see people this time But you've had Katie here and you've had Dasha and Tara I think So hopefully you've had a chance to end with each other You've had a chance to kind of talk I think the conversation is so important Real conversation where you really try to understand what the other person is saying And they really try to understand what you're saying And then both of you gain something from that Different perspective perhaps So I hope that answers the question in a roundabout sort of way You could say they were the same process,

One thing As we let go of the concepts Even if for a fraction of a second something kicks in for a fraction of a second Kind of.

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You could perhaps call space because it isn't anywhere,

It isn't anything So from that point of view it's spacious But then sometimes our concepts close down so quickly That we don't even notice the moment before it became a concept So that's where the meditation is important to loosen up Give more space,

Allow things to go a little less speedy And it's not just you that's like that,

Everybody's like that We all come in very fast with the thoughts,

The concepts and the assumptions That's why enlightenment is so difficult You can't just tell people it's like that and they get it and they all go off enlightened It's sad isn't it?