Goals for the immovable state.

There are two primary goals for the immovable state:
1. Learn how to work with appearances in all their variety.
2. Increase the power of mindfulness and vigilance.

We start the practice by settling into and abiding in the natural state, the nature of mind to which we have been introduced. We simply want to maintain this state continuously, in an uncontrived and effortless manner.

In the beginning, as we sit for a few moments or minutes, stuff starts to come up in our experience. We encounter a variety of sights, sounds and sensations. Our mind wanders to various thoughts and memories. We might experience certain emotions. We become aware of all kinds of appearances within our field of awareness.

How do we work with these appearances?

We simply rest, which is not easy to do. Our mind quickly grabs onto various appearances, chases after pleasure and pushes away pain. Our vigilant peripheral awareness notices when our mind has wavered, and with the effort of mindfulness, we return to the natural state.

This might seem similar to meditating on the breath. We simply return the distracted mind to our breath, and refocus on our object. Our attention likes to be placed on something. It likes to be exercised. The challenge is when we are resting in an uncontrived open presence, we suddenly become aware of lots of things that our attention wants to grab onto. 

As we learn to work with appearances, it is important to remember that we are not concerned with the contents of our experience. What is appearing isn't important, even if it seems to be. It is more important how we are engaging in the practice, rather than what is happening. We should be aware of the activity occurring in our field of awareness, but not concerned with what is occurring. 

This is a really important distinction. Our goal isn't to stop appearances from arising, our goal is to cut through fixating on those appearances as they arise. This isn't easy, it is counter to everything our minds normally do. Our mind wants to hold onto its experience, savor its pleasure and take another sip.

Which brings us to our second goal of this practice, which is giving rise to powerful mindfulness and vigilance. Initially, our minds are overwhelmed by appearances. Whatever is occurring in our experience is too exciting, too painful, too intense. We get swept up and carried away by all the movement of our mind. By increasing the power of mindfulness and vigilance we don't get so overwhelmed by appearances. This takes time and effort. Eventually, through practice, we start to loosen up our fixation. We start to let appearances be, just as they are. We let them arise. We let them abide, We let them cease. Eventually, appearances don't disturb our meditation. Eventually, we don't waver. 

This is what we mean by the immovable state.

The way to increase the power of mindfulness is to practice. There is no other way that to simply become familiar with the natural state. Start with short sessions. Sit for 10-15 minutes. Then break for a minute, and then meditate again. Go in and out on purpose. Develop agility for resting in the natural state, not only on the cushion but off.

We can increase the power of vigilance by expanding our awareness.  You can see that when you are experiencing dullness, peripheral awareness closes down and has a sinking feeling. Everything is losing energy and shrinking, and you simultaneously lose clarity and alertness. To increase the power of vigilance, imagine expanding your field of awareness. Imagine your awareness is a transparent glass that can see everything inside and out, above and below.  This vast, powerful vigilance awareness simply witnesses the extent of space, both inside and out. Everything is clearly apparent, appearances naturally unfolding in all their variety.

Combining a powerful mindfulness with clear and alert vigilant awareness, we simply rest in the uncontrived natural state. As we continue to learn to work with appearances, we gain more and more stability such that we no longer waver. As stability further increases in this immovable state, we transition to the state of unification.