Venture Fourth Weekly Work
Week Fiveteen Dec 13

Dear VF friends,

Right Speech is familiar to us all. Now we have the opportunity to take it a little deeper. Last week we worked with inner silence, to become more stable resting in that place of quiet even when there is activity in and around the mind and body. Silence never means suppression. Just as nada or luminosity is there, just as the Unconditioned itself is always there, so silence is there. Silence and stillness are expressions of awakened nature.

From Udana:

For one who clings, motion exists; but for one who clings not, there is no motion.

Where no motion is, there is stillness.

Where stillness is, there is no craving.

Where no craving is, there is neither coming nor going.

Where neither coming nor going is, there is neither arising nor passing away.

Where neither arising nor passing away is, there is neither this world, nor a world beyond,

nor a state in between.

This, verily, is the end of suffering.

"Where no motion is, there is stillness," yet there can also be stillness with motion. This is the heart of non-dual experience. From Flight of the Garuda, song 15:

Song 15

Emaho! Once again, noble children, listen carefully!

Rest your mind loosely in naturalness and

See how the mind is when calm.

Observed, it rests calmly in the continuity of awareness.

Calm, and yet empty, thus is the state of awareness.

Fortunate heart-children, you must understand this.

This is how calm resting is the mind's ornament.

Give rise to a thought and observe how it arises.

Since it does not depart even in the slightest

From the state of empty and luminous awareness,

Arising and yet being empty is thus the state of awareness itself.

Fortunate heart-children, you must understand this.

This is how arising is the play of mind.

To illustrate this, no matter how many waves may arise,

They never depart from the ocean even in the slightest.

Similarly, whether still or in movement,

The mind never departs from awareness and emptiness even in the slightest.

So rest, since whatever rests calmly is the state of awareness.

Rest, since whatever arises is the manifestation of awareness.

To believe that meditation is only when the mind rests quiet,

and maintain that there is no meditation when the mind moves

Is proof of not knowing the core of stillness and movement,

And of not having mingled stillness, occurrence and awareness.

For this reason, fortunate and noble heart children,

Whether moving or still, mind is the continuity of awareness.

So when you have fully comprehended stillness, occurrence and awareness,

Then practice these three as one.

This is how stillness and thought occurrence are nondual.

"Not knowing the core of stillness and movement..." When mind gives rise to a thought and we intend the practice of right speech, we can see that impulse to speak and right there, with the impulse and contraction, that which is fully stable in stillness. Then we rest there and let the reverberations of impulse, mind and body all settle.

Please remember that we are on a path here, picking up what we need as we travel, or stabilizing what we already have. Please just trust the journey and that if you weren't ready for this journey you would not have elected to be part of the group. Just relax and take the practices step by step.

So this week...

1) look at silence's part as right speech and se how right speech can come from resting in the inner stillness we explored last week

2) vipassana sitting practice

3) dzogchen for a few minutes daily (at least; longer if you wish). Read from Garuda for a few minutes before you sit.

4) continue to journal with meditation and spiritual inquiry

5) spend some time each week (each day if possible) with your guides

6) use the supports we have been establishing as feels appropriate and as time permits: toning, chakras, mudras, breathing, ... whatever feels right. Read Putting on the Mind of Christ through to page 215 by the next intensive. Read from Everyday Holiness as time permits , at least to the pages of the chapter on which we are working. Ask your guides for support.

Next Sunday 20^th we move into metta as the quality of the week. I timed this so we would have metta as our quality on Christmas week. Metta is such a pure expression of Christ consciousness/ awakened nature. Watch it with love to see what supports it or weakens the expression of it. Let metta be your gift to and from the world.

I may write again next Sunday, but if not, I wish you all a beautiful holiday season. Aaron said recently that while we all understand that Dec. 25 was not Jeshua's actual day of birth, in these weeks of outer darkness in our northern hemisphere, the focus on the meanings of the birth of Christ consciousness in all of us thins the veils so we do emit and receive more light. May this season truly be a celebration of Light for our entire world.

With love, Barbara