by Billy Ledford
“First
there is a mountain,
Then
there is no mountain,
Then
there is.”
--- Ch’an master Ch’ing
yuan
Wei-hsin
As we
practice Integrative Restoration – iRest – Yoga Nidra we will experience
three movements – construction, deconstruction and re-entry. During the movement of
construction we are learning how to welcome the countless structures or
forms – the various bodies or sheaths and their respective sensations, emotions,
thoughts, etc. – that arise in awareness.
During the movement of deconstruction we experience all forms
dissolve into their home ground of Pure Awareness. We are disidentifying from form – from
the sheaths – and discovering ourselves as Awareness itself within which these
forms arise and within which they ultimately dissolve. During the re-entry we return to
the world of form-identity.
However, we do so with the realization of who we really are. We are able to play in the world of form
without the need to create a false identity.
“First there is a
mountain...”
First,
there are separate bodies and egos with their opposites of sensation, emotion,
belief, etc. There is “me” and
there is “you.” There are mountains
and there are valleys. We live in a
world of duality – a world of separation.
“Then there is no
mountain...”
Then, as
we gradually deconstruct all form-identity through a process of deep
self-inquiry, we experience the reality of non-separation and non-duality. We see that there are no separate bodies
or egos. We see the illusory nature
of all dualism and experience what Buddhists call “emptiness” – “the absence of
conceptual construction” (Puhakka, 2007, p. 158).
“Then
there is.”
Finally,
we seemingly return to the world of form, the world of separate bodies and egos,
while retaining the knowledge of who we truly are. We are engaged in the world at the same
time that we remain as True Nature.
We realize that abiding in a state of
“non-dual bliss” that is separate and apart from the world of duality is itself
a form of dualism. It is as if we
become the very embodiment of paradox itself – empty fullness, self as other,
other as self.
“First
there are conceptual mountains,
then
there are no concepts,
then
there are perceptual mountains”
---
Jean Klein
Meditative self-inquiry
allows us to see reality clearly rather than through the filter of our concepts
– our stories. At first we see
through a dark glass. Then we see face to face.
One way to conceive of how this works with Integrative Restoration is to
think of each sheath as if it were a layer of clothing. The constructive phase of iRest
consists of integrating each sheath into the fabric of our self-identity
and sensitizing ourselves to it. We
are not attaching to the sheath. We
are also not resisting it. We are learning to meet it with a sense of openness and
welcoming.
We then begin the process of “disrobing” during the deconstructive
phase. Beginning with the
physical body, we welcome the sensations that arise and then take that layer of
clothing off and drop it on the ground.
Next, we cultivate awareness of the breath and of subtle energy before we
take that layer of clothing off and drop it on the ground. We continue through each sheath –
feelings and emotions, the intellect, bliss, and the “ego-I” – welcoming and
then disrobing, until we get to what we know as our “essential nakedness.” We are now restored to True Nature – Awareness Itself –
free of identification with form.
Now that we are restored to our home ground of Awareness, we are ready for
the re-entry. We are ready
to return to the “marketplace.”
During this return journey we pick up each sheath. We put them back on, one layer at a time
– the ego, the body of bliss, the intellect, the body of feelings and emotions,
the subtle body of breath and energy, the physical body. The difference is that now we wear these
sheaths more lightly. They no
longer weigh us down. We know our
“essential nakedness.” We know who
we are free of conceptual constructs.
We
know who we are without our stories.
There is also a potent image for these three movements of construction, deconstruction and re-entry – the image of the labyrinth. Before we enter the labyrinth we see and know the world of mountains and separate bodies and egos. Once we enter the labyrinth and begin the journey to the center, we are on the path of deconstruction. Eventually we reach the center – the core of who we are – the place of pure Presence. We quickly realize, however, that we cannot set up camp at the center of the labyrinth. The journey does not end there. We then take the same path that led us to the center and begin the process of re-entry. We return to the so-called world of mountains, bodies and egos, but now we know the truth…
First
we know mountains,
then we
“no” mountains,
then we
know.
---
Billy Ledford
Sources:
Klein, Jean (1989). I
Am. Salisbury: Non-Duality Press.
Miller, Richard (2007). Integrative Restoration – iRest Level I
Training. Sebastopol: Anahata Press, Center of Timeless
Being.