Self-Enquiry & Mindfulness Meditation

Someone wrote in asking How does self inquiry relate to mindfulness practice so really interesting question in a sense it would seem like they're very, very different.

If you're not familiar with what's meant by self inquiry.

Actually, it is a range of traditions that teach it.

Including San some Zen teachers, but also many People working within the Hindu tradition. The nondual tradition and so forth basic idea is you're constantly asking a question like who am I or what am I. Whatever comes up. You're saying well who's experiencing this? What's experiencing this you're having a thought well? Where did the thought come from? Who's thinking. This thought it's an approach that's been discovered.

Independently, in a number of cultures used all around the world actually as I mentioned there's some sent teachers that teach it.

And there's also within the Hindu fold, and People not affiliated with either Hinduism or Buddhism would give you similar kind of model as I say they all have the same basic ideas like.

Turn consciousness back on itself turn awareness back on itself that would seem to be a very different practice from mindfulness mindfulness asks you to sort of keep track of what's going on?

However, if you really look deeply into what mindfulness practice is about.

You will see that there's an interesting symmetry.

Between self inquiry on one hand and mindfulness on the other hand.

It is true that the initial experiences that a person has when they do mindfulness can be described as.

I'm so I'm a meditator over here, observing stuff over there, however, with time.

A cop 2 very significant things take place.

One is that the habit of meditating begins to Meditate In other words, there's not so much that sense of.

There has to be an eye here.

Doing the meditation there's a momentum of.

Concentration sensory clarity and equanimity those 3 things a momentum of that builds up and it just carries itself, so one important change that takes place with time with mindfulness practice is that sense of.

Effort ING and thinking that you initially needed in order to observe things that goes away and the there is just the observing just declare it well if you want to call it observing there's just the concentration clarity in equanimity so that's one change a second changes that you develop a sensitivity.

To what's called impermanence now, sometimes impermanence.

Can be sort of continuous or vibra? Tori or WAVY but another aspect of impermanence is noting the moment when things vanish.

And if you read the classic visiting marked up for example, the path of purification written and probably the 5th century in Tremont card by put the Cosa.

He talks about a stage where your awareness is dominated by rising and passing and then a stage where your awareness is dominated by just passing.

They just aware of endings endings endings in my vocabulary, I have People noted as gone OK.

It's nothing Mister Gosh Mystical, you've all experienced that you pay attention to your internal conversation as soon as you notice that op arises own advantages, OK, mental images. Disappear sounds come to an end. It's no big deal, something everybody experiences, but you can reach appointed your practice with that. You become really, really aware of how many vanishings. There are and things that you thought were quite solid.

So at some point you just noting gone well. The place each time you're noting Avanish Inge.

For just a moment your attention is adverted that is to say turned twords.

The source of consciousness.

Because we are something goes to when advantages is where it comes from when it arises.

So if you want to turn the attention towards the source.

You could take one of two strategies.

You can say a has arisen.

Now let's look back and see where it came from.

That's one way to go about it that would be the self inquiry way.

And it's very powerful it works very well for some People.

But it doesn't necessarily work well for everyone.

Another way to go about it.

Is well instead of a is arising? Where did they come from constantly asking that another way to go about it? Is it has arisen?

Now a disappears.

Watch a disappear.

And that spot is going to be where be arises from.

So you watch the vanishing peace and if you want to be present at the theory instant of the rising of B.

You can do that by noticing the Vatican better shape of A. The thing that preceded it. That's gone of a is the origin of B&B meaning any two successive sensory experience is bigger small that's what I meant when I said that there's a kind of symmetry between the two ways of working.

So within the mindfulness tradition, there is actually something that.

More or less corresponds to self inquiry and its hugely hugely important, but it's not done with the model of.

Keep looking back keep looking back at where things are coming from its tongue with a bottle of keep watching where they go to when they pass away same place fo.