The fifth, and concluding, day of our Virtual Rains Retreat with Tejananda saw us exploring the Receptivity or 'just sitting' aspect of the System of Practice, seen as a 'Dynamic Mandala'.  Tejananda introduced this aspect of practice as a transition from a 'fabricated' to an 'unfabricated' approach. 

In a period of meditation practice we had an 'experiential resume' of the material from the previous four days. Questions and observations followed, including how to work creatively with a 'frozen heart' and working with eyes open.

A second practice explored whether awareness could be in past or the future, and how even the sense of 'flow' is something that the mind creates.

Tejananda went on to explore the question of awareness more fully, in terms of the formed/unformed or contrived/uncontrived approaches to the elements of the System of Practice.  He shared a reading from Longchenpa's Precious Treasury on the Basic Space of Phenomena which offers a visionary, poetic description of what awareness is.  He went on to explore how, in just sitting, one can open to all the qualities of the System of Practice simultaneously.  Further questions and discussions included exploring the terror that can arise along with glimpses of insight.  

We concluded the morning, and the retreat, with two more short periods of just sitting with questions and answers to conclude, including the non-difference of awareness and love.

Although this material is open to all, please note it is intended for those with a regular meditation practice.