An inquiry is the process of discovering something hitherto unknown to conscious awareness. The purpose of inquiry as a spiritual practice is to gain deeper insight and understanding into your own essential nature.
The inquiry process always begins with your present moment experience. It can begin with a question or simply be an open inquiry of your present experience.
If the inquiry is prompted by a question, then hold the question in mind as you begin the process. Regardless the question, always explore your present moment experience.
The purpose of inquiry is not to get an “answer” in the usual sense but to simply use the question (or your present experience) as a starting point for your exploration. Let the question be open-ended; don’t become focused on getting a specific answer. Let the question be lived in the present moment.
There are two forms of inquiry: horizontal and vertical; both are explorations into our present moment experience.
Horizontal inquiry is noticing all the dimensions (i.e., sense gates) of your present experience: sensations in the body, emotions, thoughts, mental states, seeing and hearing.
For example, horizontal inquiry might look like this: if you are feeling a sensation in the body then notice what thoughts are present; notice any emotions as well. See if you can identify craving, resistance, agitation, or any other mind state. Also notice your experience of seeing and hearing. This is horizontal inquiry.
Vertical inquiry is staying focused on a single dimension (sense gate) of experience and then observing how it changes over time
Vertical inuiry might look like this: bring your awareness back to the original sensation in the body; rest your attention on that sensation; notice any tendency to space out or distract yourself and then bring your attention back to the sensation. Notice how the sensation changes as you bring continuous awareness into it. Notice all the components and subcomponents of the sensation. This is vertical inquiry.
Let awareness be an end in itself--do not get caught up in meaning/ interpretation/ analysis.
If you begin the inquiry with a question then just hold the question in mind and notice the emotions, sensations etc. that arise and engage these with the inquiry process.
Some examples of starting with a general question:
· Who am I?
· What do I want?
· How do I experience my true nature right now?
Always let the response come from your present moment experience; do not become preoccupied with or attached to receiving a particular answer to the question. Stay open; allow the question to simply be the catalyst for a deeper awareness of the present moment. At the end of the inquiry session, you may wish to jot down some notes or insights.
Remember always that inquiry is about deepening insight and self-understanding, The goal is to discover true nature in the present moment. If answers are needed the will come when they are needed.
“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet