What Is Awakening?

In this excerpt from a Live Sangha on IT, we explore what awakening is. From a Buddhist perspective, we are awakening from the illusion of separateness - and seeing instead the reality of how interconnected and interdependent everything in the world is, including us. That we are waking up to the fact that we are not separate, but in fact, a part of the universe.

Transcript

From a Buddhist perspective,

Awakening is awakening to the truth of reality.

The nature of reality of how this,

Everything we see in this world,

What is the reality of everything?

And that includes seeing us,

The reality of how we are.

And so when we say like awakening,

It's like we're asleep right now.

We're walking around asleep.

We're believing,

We're believing there's this little me,

There's this little Meredith that inherently exists,

Inherently on her own,

Independent of all of this interconnected,

Interdependent,

Causal conditioned world.

But there's something here that is independent and separate from all of this.

And that's who I believe myself to be.

And from that perspective,

I believe I am the center of the universe and everyone should do what I want them to do.

And because they don't do what I want them to do,

I spend a lot of time upset.

I spend a lot of time irritated,

Frustrated,

Right?

Why don't people see me like this?

They should see me in this way.

Why are they doing that over there?

That's bothering me,

Right?

Even when it has nothing to do with me.

So it's seeing,

So we're asleep.

We are lost in this,

Like we have this little VR headset on and we see ourselves in this VR headset as though that's reality.

Me,

The separate independent being over here and everything else is outside of it.

So what we are awakening to is the reality of nature.

That this little me that I,

This thought created me,

That I've taken to be me my whole life is simply an illusion that arises through thoughts.

And it can be a helpful illusion as long as we know it's an illusion.

But it is not me.

But because all of my attention is going up into the VR headset,

Paying attention to that little me and what it wants,

It wants to get over there.

It needs to be over there to be happy.

It needs this to be out of its way to be happy because our attention is up here all the time.

What we're not paying attention to is the reality of how everything is arising moment by moment,

Interdependent,

Interconnected,

Empty of inherent existence.

Nothing is arising independently.

And the seeing of this,

Right,

The seeing through this illusion,

It's like this veil drops and you're realizing,

Oh my God,

I am a part of this amazing,

Unbelievable experience that's happening here moment by moment,

But I wasn't paying attention to it.

I didn't feel the richness of this moment,

Feeling it and experiencing it through my senses.

I wasn't feeling what's here.

I wasn't seeing what's here.

I was missing.

It's like we're having this amazing 3D,

4D experience,

And yet we go up into this almost 2D experience and go,

No,

No,

I'll take that one instead.

But it's not reality.

So what we are awakening to is the reality of nature,

Of everything here in the universe,

Including us,

That I'm not separate from the universe.

Each of us is arising as the universe,

That we couldn't not be a part of this.

And so much of this existential crisis that we feel today,

Particularly in the modern world,

Where there's so much feelings of unworthiness,

Of not belonging,

Of not being lovable,

Of being alone,

Of being lonely,

Of feeling separate,

Is because when my attention is on the separate self,

When my attention,

When my thoughts,

When I'm thinking about myself and believing that little me,

That representation to be who I am,

I believe I am separate.

But when you see through that illusion and the illusion falls away,

And you see reality as it is,

There's this feeling,

This knowing of connection,

Like you can be perfectly on your own somewhere and not feel lonely,

Because you're a part of this.

We're all arising interdependent,

Interconnected in each and every moment,

Based on each other,

Based on the snow,

Based on the rain,

Based on the wind,

Based on the dogs,

Based on the insects,

Based on the trees,

Based on our biology,

Based on our DNA,

Based on what we're consuming in our media,

In our mouths,

What we're not consuming,

All of this is affecting how we're arising moment by moment.

It's not that there's not something here.

This is what we confuse with awakening,

That we,

If we're,

And I've used this analogy before,

If you're walking down the street and you see what appears,

It's dark,

And you see something that appears to be a snake in the road,

And you stop and you,

Oh my gosh,

It's a snake,

And then you put your flashlight on the snake and then you see,

Oh no,

It's not a snake,

It's a rope,

It's a rope.

The snake couldn't have appeared if the rope wasn't there.

The ego couldn't appear if there wasn't something here.

There is something here.

What we are is a process.

We are an activity,

Not a solid,

Independent thing.

We take ourselves to be so solid and real when in fact we are an interdependent,

Interconnected,

Changing,

Arising,

Or arising,

Changing moment by moment by moment.

There is nothing solid here.

And this is what we are awakening to,

Reality.

To flow in reality,

To flow,

To let go,

Means to see reality.

I'm not controlling,

Not controlling the snow,

Not controlling the rain,

I'm not controlling the weather,

I'm not controlling what the next thought is that comes out of this mouth,

Or pops in this head,

Or comes out of this mouth.

I don't know what it's going to be.

I'm not controlling any of this.

And as we've discussed,

You know,

On our Sangha calls,

On the Tuesday Sanghas,

You know,

It's not that we fall apart through this understanding,

Because as the grasping falls away,

As we start to see reality,

That we're not controlling it.

What's arising in its place is wisdom and compassion.

And now we're acting out of wisdom and compassion.

Yes,

The noise is too much,

And it's 2am.

It's appropriate to go and ask them to turn it down.

They may not do it,

But I can go and ask.

You know,

It doesn't mean that we can't go and say things that are appropriate,

But the way that we ask for things too,

Are much more likely to have positive results,

Because we're not doing it from a straight state of grasping.

We're not doing it from a place of accusing others,

Of hating others.

You know,

Think of how much hatred there is right now in the world,

Simply through politics.

Hating someone for their views and opinions,

As though we independently somehow came up with our own views and opinions.

They're all the result of causes and conditions,

Our DNA,

Part of those conditions,

All of the information that's been building in us,

You know,

Through these causes and conditions,

But all causal,

All conditioned,

Because we don't see reality.

So awakening,

Awakening,

Angie,

In this,

In the Buddhist context,

In the typical Buddhist context,

In Zen,

There's often a lot of like instant,

Not really instant enlightenments,

Really a lot of practice,

Practice,

Practice,

And then I guess they would say instant enlightenment,

Satori.

But in general,

In most Buddhist practices,

This is a gradual awakening.

We have moments,

Deep insights where we see,

Oh,

You see it so clearly,

You see there is no thing,

Thing,

Thing,

No thing here,

No one here,

Something here,

A process arising and changing moment by moment,

Interdependent,

Interconnected.

And every time we have those insights,

Every time we see that,

The grasping falling away and the wisdom and compassion arising in its place,

And we start to trust,

We start to trust a lot more,

Exactly what you're saying,

Emma,

We're trusting the living in the now,

Because we don't trust it now,

We think we're holding it all together.

We think we've been holding this all together our whole lives through our thoughts.

We've just been causing ourselves a lot of suffering,

Probably those around us too.

But we don't trust the now because we think,

No,

No,

No,

I've got to,

If I were to let go,

This whole thing's going to fall apart.

It's not going to fall apart.

You're going to start flowing more in reality in the present moment,

Be more peaceful,

More at ease.

Doesn't mean that there won't still be challenges,

There always are,

That's part of life.

But you're not grasping at it,

You're not,

Oh,

Why did this happen?

This shouldn't be happening anymore.

Yeah,

Sometimes people are unkind.

Sometimes people take advantage of us.

Sometimes there's misunderstandings.

Yeah,

That's all still going to happen.

It's just that you won't suffer over it anymore.

And the response most often,

And,

You know,

From a perspective of misunderstandings or having a difficulty with someone,

That we use our practice as loving kindness,

Tonglen,

So that we always keep our heart open,

Because that's going to be a part of life.

But in seeing reality,

When you're seeing reality,

The compassion is there along with it.

Oh,

How could I be upset with them?

They're the result of their causes and conditions.

How could I be upset with myself for saying something that just sounded a little bit,

I thought was going to be funny and didn't sound funny,

Right?

No harm.

Oh,

Couldn't have done anything differently,

Causes and conditions.

And that doesn't,

We don't fall back on this,

Oh,

I'm not responsible for anything anymore.

This is what we kind of think,

We go to this nihilistic view,

If it's not rooted in wisdom and compassion.

And on a spiritual path,

Of course,

This is what we're preventing from happening,

Is going to that nihilistic view.

Instead of recognizing,

No,

There's wisdom and compassion in its place,

I can still feel remorse.

And I can do my practice.

I can do my tonglen.

And maybe I can include myself in my tonglen,

Or I can do some self-compassion.

So we keep trusting our practice is guiding us to seeing reality,

To seeing it.

Every time you get a glimpse,

Nurture that insight,

Nurture those insights.

Really,

You know,

Spend time with it,

Contemplate it,

Journal about it,

Deepen it,

Keep that imprint going there.

Don't,

Don't get,

Don't get lulled into this insight and that,

Oh,

I'm just,

I'm there,

Because those also come and go,

Right?

But the more that we use,

We,

Oh,

Okay,

This is,

I'm seeing it,

I'm seeing it,

How can I keep seeing this?

Not in a grasping way,

But how can I reflect on this?

How can I deepen my understanding of this?

Because this is a gradual path.

And what we do in each insight,

What we do in each,

In each moment of really clearly seeing,

That's part of the process,

Part of the path.

Reviews

So many are asleep. We are on the cusp of a great awakening. Thank you for your wisdom and insights. ✌️❤️

Oh yes, the flow of reality. Our constant causes & conditions.
I continue to do my best with your mindful wise words. Thankyou.

Namaste 🙏 🪷

I love having this as a separate talk that I can return to again and again as needed. It’s such a healthy reminder that myself or others couldn’t have behaved any differently because of causes and conditions. What that does for me is, it lets me off the hook of having to fix the world. And I say that very playfully of course. Thanks, Meredith. ✨💜🌈🩵✨💜🌈🩵✨