Adyashanti is a wonderful teacher whose audiobook True Meditation offers some unique ways to experience the practice. Here he is talking about whether meditation should be done with eyes open or closed, but it is clear that he is talking about something much deeper. (This was given as a talk and is lightly edited for print):
“Another thing that people often ask me is, ‘Should I have my eyes open when I meditate or closed?’ And again, various traditions will emphasize different things. Some traditions say you should have them open, others encourage you to have them closed. As a teacher, what I'm always interested in is what are you drawn to when you take away what you think you should do, or what you think you shouldn't do. When you take away the authority that you've learned from somewhere else and reconnect with what is really intimately yours. When you let go of what was given to you by something or somebody, and you connect to yourself.
“If you're drawn to have your eyes open, have them open. If you're drawn to eyes closed, close. It may even change from day to day. But what I find is that we get filled with so much knowledge and teachings and instructions that after a while we get disconnected from what's intimately ours.”
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
