Seattle Insight Meditation Center | Sep 2015
Investigation can make our daily life a fruitful and profound spiritual practice. Yet, investigation can slip into analysis or rumination if not done with with a strong emphasis on the "felt sense" contained in the body's sensations. Three components make investigation effective: steadiness of attention; knowing the difference between thoughts and direct experience; seeing investigation in service of unbinding and loosening our sense of self. This is the first talk in a series of three.
Investigation helps us uncover areas of delusion, ignorance, and unconsciousness while developing an embodied wisdom. Through investigation, we see how our conflicts and reactivity actually reveal the much deeper infrastructure of greed, hatred and delusion. This is the second talk in a series of three.
As we turn toward the difficult patterns of mind with investigation, we notice some are quite tenacious. These return over and over, often for years. Despite careful investigation, these patterns define and shape how we create our world. This unconscious identification keeps us from fully seeing and releasing this suffering. Turning toward the pattern with appreciation allows us to realize the unseen benefit it holds for us. This is the third and last talk in this series.
(Because of a technical problem, the sound on this recording is of low quality.)