Day 1 - How to do Self Inquiry - The Dyad Process (Tell me Who you Are)

The self-inquiry intensives at
the samadhi center

are a rigorous form of Sadhana

or spiritual practice

designed to create conditions
of ‘no escape’

for the egoic mind, to bring about

the possibility of Samadhi and Awakening

to your true nature.

Self-inquiry can be done individually

and when it's done on your own

it's meditation

self-inquiry can be done with a partner

in what we call dyads

or it can be done with a group where

the entire group is focused on one person

who is doing the inquiry.

The main technique used during the

self-inquiry retreat is the dyad.

The Retreat format involves working from

early morning 6 a.m until 11 pm at night.

The participants are encouraged to enter

into a period of continuous practice,

continuously inquiring into Who We Are.

For this period of time all distractions

are set aside.

There are no devices, phones, books

or anything to engage
the conditioned mind.

During the break periods, or while eating,

one continues to inquire.

This continuous practice creates a

strong inner pressure or inner energy.

Energy is diverted from the old condition

patterns and starts to build.

A sort of alchemy starts to happen.

Awakening is an energetic event.

There is a flip from the conditioned ‘I’,

the sense that you are this character,

to the true self, to the unlimited ‘I’.

The self-inquiry Intensive is the most

direct way to bring about Awakening

that I know of.

By Awakening, I mean realizing

the true Self beyond name and form.

It's called 'Kensho' in Zen.
The word kensho

means 'seeing essence',

in Mahayana Buddhism it is
'Prajna Paramita',

the highest wisdom, the absolute

wisdom of our true nature.

In Western Traditions, the terms 'Gnosis'

or 'Apophaticism' refer to the realization

of our true or divine nature.

For this period of time, we turn

attention away from thoughts and

sensations away from the

outer world of form,

towards the self, continuously.

If we do this practice continuously,

eventually we will awaken from

identification with the false self,

to our true nature.

It's extremely simple but it's not easy,

because the ego construct which is made

up of samskaras or condition patterns,

will generate hindrances, just

as it does in meditation. The whirlpool

of the mind may generate thoughts,

we may experience egoic preferences,

the mind may focus on comfort

or discomfort,

it may become tired,

it may get confused or disoriented.

It may find the whole process intolerable

and want to give up.

It HAS to give up.

The conditioned ‘I’ may think it is

already awake, we have to humble the

conditioned mind.

It is said that one must want to awaken,

like a person with their hair on fire

wants a pond to jump into.

We must proceed with a beginner's mind,

a not knowing mind, a humble mind,

a mind that is open,

mirror-like, alive.

For this process we enter into the cloud

of unknowing, we let go of control and

connect to a sense of curiosity

and investigation.

During this process, one remains

equanimous with whatever comes up within

the mind and senses, having a complete

experience of everything arising in the

present moment.

We observe everything that is arising,

not pushing anything away and yet not

getting identified with anything.

We come to the true self by realizing

all that we are not.

We make the unconscious patterns that

are in play within the self-structure,

conscious.

When we inquire into who we are, first,

everything that is the false self will

come to the forefront.

All of our thoughts and blocks, repressed

emotions, imprints, and samskaras that are

part of the self-structure, will start to

come to the surface.

By not reacting,

by having a complete experience,

a purification starts to happen within the

self-structure.

This practice that leads to samadhi,

is cultivating single pointed focus.

You become continuously present,

observing what is,

allowing what is, always becoming aware

of subtler and subtler aspects of what is.

Gaining sensory clarity,

allowing the mind to be open,

responsive, without analyzing.

When self-inquiry is done with a partner

it can be particularly potent.

One can't drift off into the mind,

you're accountable,
it's like meditating with

a partner. You have to be present because

you're being witnessed, you're staring

into someone else's eyes,

you can’t wander away.

At these retreats we begin the

self-inquiry when we're in
the waking state,

but the practice can carry over into

dreaming and even deep sleep states.

Here I'm going to describe
the dyad technique.

In this practice, one person is witness,

and the other engages in deep

inner investigation,

inquiring into their true nature.

First, decide who will be the witness

and who will start doing inquiry.

You will switch roles back and forth

all day long.

If you're doing this with a large group,

you will switch partners,

roughly every 40 minutes.

Sit across from your partner

looking into their eyes.

Maintain eye contact in silence.

As an introductory exercise, just look

into each other's eyes for about

three or four minutes.

Allow yourself to see this being

across from you.

Allow yourself to be seen.

The witness will connect to their

intention, to know who this being is,

that is in front of them.

The witness will say to their partner

‘tell me who you are’.

The imperative should come from a place

of sincere wanting to know.

For the one doing the inquiry,

simply allow yourself to be open,

to receive the imperative.

Inquire into who you are,

earnestly, sincerely, penetratingly.

Notice how the imperative lands within

the self-structure.

There may be an impulse to close the eyes,

or the eyes may remain open, simply let

it land in the deepest
part of your being.

Take a moment or several moments to

observe the mind, body, the energy,

any phenomena that arises

within the self-structure.

Then simply convey to your partner what

has arisen as a result of

doing this inquiry.

What's coming up in the present moment,

what's the most REAL thing

happening in this moment.

If there are thoughts or doubts

or if there's a feeling that nothing is

happening, just observe the most real

thing about this moment.

Connect with your I AM-NESS.

Inquire into who you are by being aware

of this I am-ness, the
sense of existence.

Don't think that there is a right

or wrong answer,

we're not looking for an answer on the

level of the mind. Don't think that you

have to please someone with your answer,

be free, playful.

You don't have to search for an answer,

be free in the not knowing.

A Bible passage comes to mind unless, you

become like little children you will

never enter the Kingdom of Heaven,

Jesus said.

There was a sense of ‘I’ that you had when

you were a little kid, the sense of YOU,

the unconditioned you,

it was there when you were a teenager,

it's there at every point in one's life.

Feel that sense of ‘I’ right now,

that sense of I am.

What is that sense of I am?

I t has no quality, it doesn't change.

The body changes, the mind changes,

the phenomena of life changes.

Sensations change,
but that sense of ‘I am’

does not change, it has no location.

‘Tell me who you are’

it is not a question, it is an imperative.

One trap people fall into is that they

mistake it for a question.

It is not about getting the right answer

with words, it's about

knowing who is answering.

WHO is responding.

The practice is to report any phenomena

that arises within the self-structure

to your partner. Explaining as clearly

and as truthfully as you can.

There are some rules to this game:

Don't refer to your partner as ‘you’ and

don't refer to anything that your

partner may have said in a previous dyad.

This is not a conversation.

In this practice, we also eliminate words

like ‘I’, ‘mine’ or ‘myself’.

When we use the word ‘I’ we habitually

refer to the ‘false I’, the condition self

so we want to communicate

whatever comes up without

using this dualistic language.

If you know that you are referring to

the ‘false I’ then don't use the word ‘I’

instead of saying I am feeling tired

or I am feeling angry, say there is a

feeling of tiredness arising,

or there is a sense of anger within the

self-structure.

Is it true that I am tired?

Is it the body that is tired?

Am I the body, or am I aware of the body?

You can start with what is obvious,

but don't miss the subtle.

Go into the feeling,

the sensory layer, the somatic field.

If a feeling comes up, where does it live

in the body? How does it move? How does it

change through time?

If there's sadness or anger, what

do those feel like? Notice any energetic

contraction, any holding or resistance

within the body, having
a complete experience

of everything arising in the

present moment.

During this process, the witness holds

the container of Silence.

Witnessing without reaction,

without encouragement, the witness

maintains a neutral face and lets go of

any body language.

When witnessing, you disappear,

there's only your partner.

Make sure that you're understanding

your partner,

following what is being said.

Don't zone out or stare

through your partner.

If something is said that you don't

understand, you can say ‘clarify that’.

This is the only thing the
witness can say.

As a witness you may be feeling what

the other person is feeling,

you may even synch breaths and movements.

This happens spontaneously, you don't

have to try to do anything.

It’s possible for the witness to enter a

samadhi state where there's no

separation from the one being witnessed.

Don't sympathize with the partner.

Don't play into their drama.
Be totally neutral.

This neutrality allows the freedom of

expression to unfold. You are a mirror.

A mirror has no opinion,

judgment or preference.

At the retreat, the facilitators will

come around and use various tools and

their own intuition, to point

participants beyond their conditioned

minds, towards a direct experience

of their true nature.

The dyad facilitator may come and

observe, and may ask you questions.

If this happens, stay connected with

your partner's eyes,

don't turn and look at the facilitator,

simply answer the question but stay

connected to your partner.

Stay awake in the ‘not knowing’.

Primordial Awareness is inseparable from

Stillness and Presence.

It is a stillness and presence beyond

the movement and stillness of

the limited mind.

It is closer than the you that

you think you are.

It is neither near nor far,

because these are mere concepts.

Don't try to manufacture some answer

with the mind or philosophize about

who you are. Let the thoughts

and experiences come up, observe them and

report them, but don't get caught in their

content. We want to objectively report

what is coming up within
the self-structure.

We want to express freely in an

inhibited spontaneous way.

Don't overthink it.

This process is incredibly simple,

you don't have to do anything other than

observe and report.

It is the condition mind responding,

trying to answer.

But who are you?

There is nothing to attain, there is only

the dropping of the false identification

and realizing the truth of the ‘true I’

Primordial Awareness is so simple and

obvious, that the mind misses it.

It is always the conditioned mind

that looks, that moves.

The conditioned mind is nothing but

movement, looking here and there.

If you give up that movement, then

what remains, who is aware,

ever present in the seeing.

The Zen master Dogen said:
‘To realize your

true nature, is to realize the self.

To realize the self is to
forget the self.

To forget the self is to be actualized

by myriad things.

To be actualized by myriad things,

your mind and body as well as the mind

and body of others drops off.

When mind and body drop off,

there is only direct experience
of what is.

Samadhi is the dissolving of the illusion

between observer and observed

experience and experiencer.