practicing Mu today, these words from the poem Wild Geese by Mary Oliver have come to mind: You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rainare moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting - over and over announcing your place in the family of things.
the more I sense into Mu the more apparent it seems that nothing I searched for outside of myself was ever going to fulfill me, or make me feel less lonely, or answer my questions.
In the beginning MU is secondary to the thousand habits that have taken over the mind. Eventually though the MU habit takes over and the thoughts trying to intrude become secondary.
I grabbed MU some time ago on your recommendation. It brought me straight out of the awareness trap and spiritual desert. MU is on the dashboard of my car as a reminder. When I grab onto MU huge surges of energy fill me and I feel as though I’m flying at the speed of light right into boundless space and time. It’s brought me so much clarity and I’m so grateful. ❤️🙏🏻 🐄
Yes. Whenever my mind wanders or I’m feeling strong emotions, I bring it back to MU. Sometimes I see the letters MU, other times it’s just awareness going back to the sound of MU in my head. Something broke when I kept doing this. In a beautiful way. I wish you well ❤
Maybe more like an anchor rather than a chant. Before MU, it occurred to me I wasn’t my thoughts. That thoughts are just appearing within my awareness and there is no control over them. MU has been bringing me back to awareness. I hope that makes sense and helps in some way. 😊
So in 97 when you gave MU your life energy, did you go thru daily life with Mu in you mind not leaving MU? I want to say did you think only MU 24/7 but think seems wrong. Hopefully you understand what I’m asking.
Hi Angelo, can you please clarify how necessary is concentration, Nimita and jhana for awakening and liberation? Is it the only way or do nothing and noticing of arising and passing is enough. Do nothing is my practice but now I am confused after watching some videos of Daniel Ingram.
Thank you for sharing MU, it is very powerful. I am a student of Adyashanti and he never mentioned MU. MU seems on the surface like a funny word, but embedded in it, just underneath the surface is great profundity. Thank you for sharing MU. MU is ever lasting, MU is the source of all Being and non-Being. Realize MU as yourself and be free. :)
I love the way you explain this, but can this same sentiment be used for all other inquiry questions? How would one not separate themselves from "what is thought", or "what am I". just doesn't have the same "ring"
So I actually went to look up what this one pointed way was exactly and one of the first things I see today is this video. Thanks Angelo. I still don't get exactly what you're recommending with Mu, does one just keep their awareness on Mu, is that how it works? Thanks for some of your story also, right now I'm really feeling the weariness of holding on to the suffering.
Can you do a video about using a one pointed approach while doing intellectual work? Im a computer programmer and I find it very difficult to keep the question in mind while also doing "thinking" work. I always end up dropping the question in order to put my full attention on work-related problems and I think it would be hard to hold the question all day without the quality of my work slipping drastically. I'd imagine this would apply to many other fields as well as college students.
A Zen teacher would likely tell you not to.. luckily I’m not a Zen teacher so I will tell you that it is possible either way, tho a realized teacher will help a lot !
Listening to these words today, moved me deeply, for the care, the profound heartfelt energy you express in giving help to those who follow you. It reached my heart and released tears of gratitude. Thank you
I'm adding to my earlier comment. I just started repeating Mu in my head and I don't know if this is the correct practice but it felt pretty powerful, like the sound of Mu just echoed on and on in my head, no begining no ending and a sense with it that I don't need to know whilst being held very firmly in presence. When I forgot about Mu and returned, it was as if that sound of Mu was still echoing on awaiting my return. Someone commented here that they grabbed hold of Mu, I hear that, but I also feel that Mu has grabbed hold of me. There must be some powerful energy connected to this word and what it represents. Magic indeed.
To offer an explanation as I understand it, Mu is a symbol acting as a pointer to take one beyond language and dualistic and conceptual thinking. It’s offered as an answer to questions that would typically be expected to be responded to with a yes or no, or some other answer, but is not an answer so much as a rejection, or unasking of the question. It’s the ultimate negation, going beyond a simple “no” and being more like a thing “is, is not, both is and is not, and neither is nor is not”. As well as an ultimate negation, it’s about opening up to an awareness where things can’t be pinned down by the usual logical structures and classifications we habitually - near automatically - operate within. Mu is basically shorthand for all of these things… and none of them 😁
It's so beautiful when I hear you talking about it and you are describing exactly my experience. MU. When we experience (not understand intellectually) that there is only this moment everything opens up. Are you still practicing MU, or do you use it in situations that stimulate the sensations particularly intensely?
When I stay with Mu, from morning to night, should I disregard *all* thoughts at *all* times? Let’s say a thought goes: “hmm, what could I do with my friend when he comes to visit?”. If I just stop, and go “Mu” won’t I neglect people or situations in my life?
@@just_me_melanie sure, I see Mu as a device that helps me disregard thoughts as thoughts, and points me to what is here right now inquisitively. I’m just worrying about disregarding certain kinds of thoughts which are useful tools to navigate life with. Planning a trip for example, would require thoughts. Imagining what to gift someone for their birthday also. Can I never stop Muing now? 🤣🤣 I’m afraid
I’ve been hearing about Mu. I don’t know what it is. Is it a mantra you keep repeating to yourself? What are you talking about when you mention the word Mu?
I don’t want to rob you of the process of discovering what it is for yourself. And I don’t mean read about it, that’s not the point at all. Rather find it in your own experience right now. When the mind says “well I don’t know what it is how can I find it?” That is a thought it isn’t Mu. So then where else can you look?
@@josephschulz5256 blank is an improvement over concepts (seriously). AND if I tell you that blank is also not what Mu is, where does your attention go? Where can it possibly go? Look there! This is the process. It’s dynamic, not predefined
How do you combine this with emotional work or inquiry? Would they be considered distractions from Mu? At the same time, focusing on Mu while strong emotion connected with thought comes up, seems like bypassing.
A word as a sound can represent whatever its definition is. To work with that sound we need to know what meaning we are to apply to that word/sound. We need a starting point. When we don’t know a meaning of a particular word/sound, it could have any number of meanings. The sound of Mu could represent anything from the trunk of an elephant to a jar of peanut butter. In looking online I found five specific meanings to the word/sound of Mu: -12th letter in the Greek alphabet - u is the lower case letter M in Greek. - a voltage gain through a vacuum tube used in a preamplifier or an amplifier-audio or RF. - means to lack or be without in several east asian languages. - it is used to symbolize millionth in electronic components such as u-farad (micro farad). - in Zen it represents nothingness. Can I assume we are using the last (nothingness) in the context of this video? :-Don
@@SimplyAlwaysAwakeit feels like it’s between sound and silence 🫠 but listening to that space between feels more like a solution than saying the words 🙂
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Thank you Angelo. I realize what you talked about was meditating on What is Mu?” In Awake: It’s Your Turn, chapter 4: Paradox is this: “First and foremost, we assume that the label refers to the same object fr both of us. If we used the same label for different objects in some arbitrary way, then we would get nowhere in communication. If I was talking about a “chair,” but to you that label referred to a goat, the we aren’t going to have a meaningful conversation. Mu might be a goat, but I think you are talking about a chair. So, when I meditate on “What is Mu?” How would I know if I’m even moving in the desired direction? P.S I was in attendance in your Zoom meeting last Sunday. Where do I look for the future dates? Thanks. :-Don
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Thank you Angelo. I read thought the comments, and doing so was quite helpful. What has helped clear the confusion by pointing some direction is comments made by @just_me_melanie and @sandraraellis3878 and others, along with your responses to these. Thank you. This helps.
how does the nihilistic lens play into your story? nihilism is at the root of most, i might dare say all, journeys of deconstruction and reconstruction .... spiritual , religious, ideological, ethical i hear this story , combine it with the other video of yours about thought and take away that MU is the rejection of thoughts reject sensation. it feels like settling into nihilism instead of moving through it. - can i tell my boss MU when i have a project due? or the taxman when i have to pay taxes? what about real world examples? the philosophy, cool , great... but the praxis.... i.e. you made this video.. that came from a thought. that doesnt sound like MU to me...
You're identified with thoughts, through that lens you won't hear what I'm pointing to when I point to Mu. Sorry I don't have anything I can say that won't just be interpreted through all of that thought. This is the beauty of Mu however if you take it up as a practice. All of those thoughts, doubts and fears (what will happen at work ect) are essentially thought, so first step is move beyond all of that thought and conjecture. Mu is one very good way to do that, there are others.
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake is there a less wordy way of describing MU? i get the idea of thoughts not being who we are. i.e. being offended is not what is said but how a person takes it.... but my rent, that i have to pay for with my job, that i needs to appease another person to keep ... how does MU help me there?
practicing Mu today, these words from the poem Wild Geese by Mary Oliver have come to mind:
You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rainare moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting - over and over announcing your place in the family of things.
🥲🙏🏻
🙏 so beautiful. I’ll share this with my landlady tomorrow during our Friday night kombucha catch up. ❤
the more I sense into Mu the more apparent it seems that nothing I searched for outside of myself was ever going to fulfill me, or make me feel less lonely, or answer my questions.
Beautiful insight !
In the beginning MU is secondary to the thousand habits that have taken over the mind. Eventually though the MU habit takes over and the thoughts trying to intrude become secondary.
Don't tell me what to MU!
MUve along, nothing to see here.
Time is CRAP 😅
Dude I just came to write that same comment LMAO. The way he said that cracked me up.
@@mnaffinsame 😂
I grabbed MU some time ago on your recommendation. It brought me straight out of the awareness trap and spiritual desert. MU is on the dashboard of my car as a reminder. When I grab onto MU huge surges of energy fill me and I feel as though I’m flying at the speed of light right into boundless space and time. It’s brought me so much clarity and I’m so grateful. ❤️🙏🏻 🐄
What does it mean to grab Mu? Are you just repeating the sound in your head constantly?
Yes. Whenever my mind wanders or I’m feeling strong emotions, I bring it back to MU. Sometimes I see the letters MU, other times it’s just awareness going back to the sound of MU in my head. Something broke when I kept doing this. In a beautiful way. I wish you well ❤
Interesting, thanks. So it's like a chanting exercise basically. I'll give it a shot.
Maybe more like an anchor rather than a chant. Before MU, it occurred to me I wasn’t my thoughts. That thoughts are just appearing within my awareness and there is no control over them. MU has been bringing me back to awareness. I hope that makes sense and helps in some way. 😊
I thought its an intense concentration rather than just focusing on it am i wrong
"time is...time is crap" is my favorite spiritual quote now
Thank Mu
"Time is crap
Time is torture"
LOVE
LOVE
LOVE
🙏❤️💥
So in 97 when you gave MU your life energy, did you go thru daily life with Mu in you mind not leaving MU? I want to say did you think only MU 24/7 but think seems wrong. Hopefully you understand what I’m asking.
Always at the right moment, thank you Angelo!
I kinda laughed at the words "Move" and Don't Move!" Because Mu sounds like Mo from Move and you can make Muve xD
Hi Angelo, can you please clarify how necessary is concentration, Nimita and jhana for awakening and liberation? Is it the only way or do nothing and noticing of arising and passing is enough. Do nothing is my practice but now I am confused after watching some videos of Daniel Ingram.
Extremely helpful 👌🤗🙏 stay on the iron rails - Mu 😊
Indeed! Into infinity
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake And… don’t get sidetracked 😉🙏
Thanks Angelo. Mu Muing Mu.
Thank you as always ❤😊
Thank you Angelo. My teacher gave me MU last year and it’s so simple. ❤
Thank you so much❤❤❤Perfect timing😇🙏
I am so close. All of this resonates with me to the core. No thought, only Mu.
You are already there. You always have been.
Thank Mu 🙏🏽
Thank you for sharing MU, it is very powerful. I am a student of Adyashanti and he never mentioned MU. MU seems on the surface like a funny word, but embedded in it, just underneath the surface is great profundity.
Thank you for sharing MU. MU is ever lasting, MU is the source of all Being and non-Being. Realize MU as yourself and be free. :)
Oh, words. It’s striking me now as an ever changing constant 🙂
I love the way you explain this, but can this same sentiment be used for all other inquiry questions? How would one not separate themselves from "what is thought", or "what am I". just doesn't have the same "ring"
When you become one pointed it is just obvious, doesn't matter the catalyst
🙏
So I actually went to look up what this one pointed way was exactly and one of the first things I see today is this video. Thanks Angelo. I still don't get exactly what you're recommending with Mu, does one just keep their awareness on Mu, is that how it works? Thanks for some of your story also, right now I'm really feeling the weariness of holding on to the suffering.
"Time is crap"
A. Dilullo 2024
Thanks Angelo! 🙏🏻💜🙏🏻 Can MU be feeling the body? Where ever is called for attention?
Can you do a video about using a one pointed approach while doing intellectual work? Im a computer programmer and I find it very difficult to keep the question in mind while also doing "thinking" work. I always end up dropping the question in order to put my full attention on work-related problems and I think it would be hard to hold the question all day without the quality of my work slipping drastically. I'd imagine this would apply to many other fields as well as college students.
🙏🙏🙏🌈
Is it recommended to work with Mu, without direct feedback from a teacher?
I have the same question
A Zen teacher would likely tell you not to.. luckily I’m not a Zen teacher so I will tell you that it is possible either way, tho a realized teacher will help a lot !
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake , thank you! 👃
Listening to these words today, moved me deeply, for the care, the profound heartfelt energy you express in giving help to those who follow you. It reached my heart and released tears of gratitude.
Thank you
Mu sounds like shunyata, the void, emptiness concept from buddhism... ?
I'm adding to my earlier comment. I just started repeating Mu in my head and I don't know if this is the correct practice but it felt pretty powerful, like the sound of Mu just echoed on and on in my head, no begining no ending and a sense with it that I don't need to know whilst being held very firmly in presence. When I forgot about Mu and returned, it was as if that sound of Mu was still echoing on awaiting my return. Someone commented here that they grabbed hold of Mu, I hear that, but I also feel that Mu has grabbed hold of me. There must be some powerful energy connected to this word and what it represents. Magic indeed.
Time is crap.
Love it ❤
Angelo, do you have a channel on Rumble, or are you strictly YT?
This is my way as well
🐄
🍔🥩
Muuuuuu
There is an answer to Mu. You have to show it to a teacher in the Rinzai tradition. 'Show me the answer'.
What exactly is MU? That term is new to me
Can someone point me to videos explaining what MU is?
@@aaronshowers1613this video is explaining it 🙃
@@christinaforras Okay I will observe it again
To offer an explanation as I understand it, Mu is a symbol acting as a pointer to take one beyond language and dualistic and conceptual thinking. It’s offered as an answer to questions that would typically be expected to be responded to with a yes or no, or some other answer, but is not an answer so much as a rejection, or unasking of the question. It’s the ultimate negation, going beyond a simple “no” and being more like a thing “is, is not, both is and is not, and neither is nor is not”. As well as an ultimate negation, it’s about opening up to an awareness where things can’t be pinned down by the usual logical structures and classifications we habitually - near automatically - operate within.
Mu is basically shorthand for all of these things… and none of them 😁
Hope this helps you.
It's so beautiful when I hear you talking about it and you are describing exactly my experience. MU. When we experience (not understand intellectually) that there is only this moment everything opens up. Are you still practicing MU, or do you use it in situations that stimulate the sensations particularly intensely?
Angelo - when you were persistently tending to Mu, did you consciously tend to bodily sensations or other physical phenomena, or just be Mu?
When I stay with Mu, from morning to night, should I disregard *all* thoughts at *all* times? Let’s say a thought goes: “hmm, what could I do with my friend when he comes to visit?”. If I just stop, and go “Mu” won’t I neglect people or situations in my life?
my thought is that Mu exists regardless of thoughts
@@just_me_melanie sure, I see Mu as a device that helps me disregard thoughts as thoughts, and points me to what is here right now inquisitively. I’m just worrying about disregarding certain kinds of thoughts which are useful tools to navigate life with. Planning a trip for example, would require thoughts. Imagining what to gift someone for their birthday also. Can I never stop Muing now? 🤣🤣 I’m afraid
@@Moleshaveeyesyou Mu when you have free time or are not heavily cognitively engaged. Mu has to be your muse.
Wow love it ♥️♥️
I’ve been hearing about Mu. I don’t know what it is. Is it a mantra you keep repeating to yourself? What are you talking about when you mention the word Mu?
I don’t want to rob you of the process of discovering what it is for yourself. And I don’t mean read about it, that’s not the point at all. Rather find it in your own experience right now. When the mind says “well I don’t know what it is how can I find it?” That is a thought it isn’t Mu. So then where else can you look?
I much appreciate you answering me but it still leads me to blank!
@@josephschulz5256 blank is an improvement over concepts (seriously). AND if I tell you that blank is also not what Mu is, where does your attention go? Where can it possibly go? Look there! This is the process. It’s dynamic, not predefined
How do you combine this with emotional work or inquiry? Would they be considered distractions from Mu? At the same time, focusing on Mu while strong emotion connected with thought comes up, seems like bypassing.
Do you think from a relative perspective pursuing liberation is a form of suicide
No , it’s the opposite
what to do with the sticky sensations? it is tough!
A word as a sound can represent whatever its definition is. To work with that sound we need to know what meaning we are to apply to that word/sound. We need a starting point.
When we don’t know a meaning of a particular word/sound, it could have any number of meanings. The sound of Mu could represent anything from the trunk of an elephant to a jar of peanut butter.
In looking online I found five specific meanings to the word/sound of Mu:
-12th letter in the Greek alphabet - u is the lower case letter M in Greek.
- a voltage gain through a vacuum tube used in a preamplifier or an amplifier-audio or RF.
- means to lack or be without in several east asian languages.
- it is used to symbolize millionth in electronic components such as u-farad (micro farad).
- in Zen it represents nothingness.
Can I assume we are using the last (nothingness) in the context of this video?
:-Don
No as I explain in the video, a definition will get you nowhere with Mu. And yet there IS a solution. What is it?
@@SimplyAlwaysAwakeit feels like it’s between sound and silence 🫠 but listening to that space between feels more like a solution than saying the words 🙂
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Thank you Angelo. I realize what you talked about was meditating on What is Mu?”
In Awake: It’s Your Turn, chapter 4: Paradox is this:
“First and foremost, we assume that the label refers to the same object fr both of us. If we used the same label for different objects in some arbitrary way, then we would get nowhere in communication. If I was talking about a “chair,” but to you that label referred to a goat, the we aren’t going to have a meaningful conversation.
Mu might be a goat, but I think you are talking about a chair. So, when I meditate on “What is Mu?” How would I know if I’m even moving in the desired direction?
P.S I was in attendance in your Zoom meeting last Sunday. Where do I look for the future dates?
Thanks.
:-Don
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Thank you Angelo. I read thought the comments, and doing so was quite helpful.
What has helped clear the confusion by pointing some direction is comments made by @just_me_melanie and @sandraraellis3878 and others, along with your responses to these. Thank you. This helps.
MuMuMuMuMu and, may I add Mu! After that hello WuWei!🙏🏽🙉🙏🏽
how does the nihilistic lens play into your story?
nihilism is at the root of most, i might dare say all, journeys of deconstruction and reconstruction .... spiritual , religious, ideological, ethical
i hear this story , combine it with the other video of yours about thought and take away that MU is the rejection of thoughts reject sensation. it feels like settling into nihilism instead of moving through it.
-
can i tell my boss MU when i have a project due? or the taxman when i have to pay taxes?
what about real world examples?
the philosophy, cool , great... but the praxis....
i.e. you made this video.. that came from a thought. that doesnt sound like MU to me...
You're identified with thoughts, through that lens you won't hear what I'm pointing to when I point to Mu. Sorry I don't have anything I can say that won't just be interpreted through all of that thought. This is the beauty of Mu however if you take it up as a practice. All of those thoughts, doubts and fears (what will happen at work ect) are essentially thought, so first step is move beyond all of that thought and conjecture. Mu is one very good way to do that, there are others.
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake is there a less wordy way of describing MU?
i get the idea of thoughts not being who we are. i.e. being offended is not what is said but how a person takes it.... but my rent, that i have to pay for with my job, that i needs to appease another person to keep ... how does MU help me there?
🙏🙏🙏