Nature of Mind Practice With 5-MeO-DMT
We are completely prepared: we have the medicine, instructions in NOM practice, and in essence love and basic okayness. All of our parts are happy and have softened back. Now, nothing is standing between us and NOM practice with the medicine.
Sustain Self-awareness in Moderate Doses
What happens then? We need to go up slowly. Don’t jump to high doses. Optimize for bliss. Puff, feel into it, puff, feel into it. We want to go up, without leaving the well-being behind. Maybe bliss is too strong a word. We are looking for really bright well-being. We have to stay within our confidence zone.
We are getting used to rigpa over many sessions. In my case, I practiced 130 moderate-dose sessions over 6 months, an average of 5 sessions a week. I didn’t know that high-dose rigpa sessions were important, so I didn’t seek them out. After 130 sessions, my nervous system yearned for more intense training.
We are sustaining Self-awareness. Don’t take more medicine than we can sustain in Self-awareness. I have watched many people take more than they are prepared for, and blend with a part. Whenever we become blended, it is a sign that we are taking too much. When blended, do not take more medicine. When back in Self-awareness, start again slowly.
Distinguishing Rigpa from Experiences
Rigpa is not the six consciousnesses. For example, bliss is an emotional arising of the mental consciousness. Bliss is sometimes a side-effect of rigpa, but it is not rigpa. If we try to experience bliss or love, that is hankering after an emotional state, which will be an obstacle to our rigpa practice. Wanting the experience of nonthought is grasping for a state.
Rigpa is Self-awareness. As the child clarity becomes brighter, the Self-awareness becomes clearer. Clear, intense, direct, naked self-awareness is rigpa. Meet the bright awareness! Lean into the intensity. Be with the intensity. It is a lot to feel. Self-awareness is not vague. Self-awareness is sharp! Self-awareness is relatively stable.
Rigpa is the direct insight of emptiness. Within the bright awareness, it is obvious that there is no “thing” there. As the child clarity becomes more intense, the insight of emptiness becomes very clear. There is no object of mind. There is no separate observer. The subject/object duality collapses in the insight of empty luminosity.
Rigpa is non-conceptual. Awareness is emptiness and contains no concepts of its own. Thoughts can arise, but do not take us out of the flow of awareness. In rigpa, relative concepts arise and cannot stick to anything, so they all self-liberate as wisdom. Thoughts self-liberate as they arise, like writing in water.
Rigpa is objectless openness. There's nothing that we are fixating on. There is no looping. There is no holding on to anything because there is nothing to hold on to. We are getting used to complete mental openness. Relax into openness. Openness is the wonderful experience of internal freedom.
Rigpa is limitless clarity. We normally think of our awareness as the size of the body or the room that we are in. Everything arises within awareness, so awareness is beyond any perceivable limits. We can stretch our little personal reference points out into limitless awareness.
Rigpa natural perfection. Luminous emptiness is naturally perfect and complete. It includes everything within it. We are not trying to generate a state with effort. We are letting go of doing and striving into pure being. We are recognizing the Buddha nature we already have.
As Tulku Urgyen said, we can think of many wonderful things to say about rigpa, but not a single bad thing!
Tantric Energy Yoga
Challenge ourselves at the top end of our confidence zone in every session, so it does not become boring, and our rigpa practice progresses. Over time, we will become very confident in recognizing rigpa. Eventually, our subtle body will no longer be satisfied in moderate doses and will yearn for more intense training.
As we gain confidence with higher doses, the practice becomes a high-intensity tantric energy yoga practice. In the tantric tradition, three channels travel the length of the body. When we are in the conceptual dualistic state, prana travels along the left- and right-hand dualistic channels. The dualistic channels are dim. When we are in nonconceptual rigpa, the prana enters the central nondual channel, the avadhuti. The avadhuti can hold vast amounts of energy.
When we go into rigpa, the energy enters the central channel, and the felt intensity multiplies by 2-3. When we go into concepts, the energy diminishes into the left and right channels. The felt difference in intensity is a clear signal of whether we are in nonconceptual rigpa. In nonconceptual rigpa, we do not need much medicine because the vast energy of the central channel amplifies its effect.
The training is to voluntarily enter the very intense experience of nonconceptual rigpa again and again. We can always go into concepts, so nonconceptual high-intensity rigpa is a voluntary choice. Every time we choose to remain nonconceptual, we are destroying the habit of distraction, the habit of duality. When the habit of duality is gone, the realization of rigpa will become stable.
Tantric energy yoga is the extent of our understanding of the practice at this moment. Over time, our understanding of the practice will evolve, and we will add new classes. This class completes the psychedelic meditation course for now.