Natural stability.

Recently, some Dharma friends and I were discussing the natural stability that we find when resting in the natural state and we came upon a useful metaphor that is worth sharing: that natural stability in our meditation is like the buoyancy of the body in saltwater. 

Our bodies naturally float when they are put in the correct position. When our head and lungs are properly positioned, we can find a lot of natural stability and ease in the water quite effortlessly. It often takes really simple corrections to get the body into the correct position, and then we find that we can relax into the natural stability of that state. 

It is much the same in meditation, by relying on the correct technique (such as the three immovables),  we put our awareness in the correct position to discover natural stability. When relying on this technique, oftentimes small corrections can have profound effects. We don't need to manufacture stability, or put in a lot of effort to make it happen. Rather, we are allowing the natural stability of awareness to come to the fore. 

What we are discovering in this type of meditation is our natural condition, the nature of our own mind. Stability, clarity, peaceful, satisfied, these are all qualities that are naturally present when we are resting in the natural state. By learning to rest naturally, we are not so overwhelmed by our day to day interactions. Like a buoy out at sea, we become an island of safety and a source of refuge for those who are lost at sea. 

Equanimity.

The four foundations of Dzogchen naturally unfold in our meditation if we are able to maintain the uncontrived natural state. Each stage is marked not by a sense of accomplishment or progress being made, but rather by what we are not able to resolve in our meditation or where we are getting stuck.

Initially, we are distracted by the play of appearances and the diverse experiences that arise in our meditation. As we gain agility in working with appearances, we can have a very clear appreciation of our meditation moving from the immovable state to single-pointedly abiding in rigpa. As we continue to cut through dualistic appearances and to not fall prey to subtle distraction or dullness, the single-pointed state becomes like a vast limpid ocean. This is the state of equanimity.

In the state of equanimity, stability and clarity are equal. Whatever arises in our meditation is equal in being the dynamic energy of awareness, or rigpa tsal.

There is no need for other methods. There is no doubt, no excitement. Everything is equal.

Clarity and dullness are equal in nature, equal in experience. Clarity and emptiness are equal. Stability and clarity are equal.

Often in meditation, too much stability can lead to dullness. Here, abiding in equanimity, stability induces clarity.

Often in meditation, too much clarity can lead to agitation. Here, abiding in equanimity, clarity induces stability.

It is here that the subtle Dzogchen mindfulness that we employed moves from effort to effortless. Mindfulness here is really mindfulness of the instruction, of the pointing out. While previously, as we struggled to resolve appearances, we employed a subtle mindfulness that allowed us to cut through appearances. Here, that mindfulness becomes completely effortless.

As we gain greater stability in the state of equanimity, we eventually cut through to baseless spontaneous presence, naked awareness beyond mind. 

A key distinction.

When we have arrived at the completely settled state, we can enjoy a degree of peace and clarity. We have found a place of rest and have attained an approximation of the result of practicing shamatha.

What distinguishes this completely settled state from the state of resting in equanimity?

Total pliancy of mind and body.

When we are resting in the completely settled state, there is a sense of being enough, but the movement of the mind stirs ever so gently and we end up cycling through various thoughts about the past, future or our present condition. There isn't that sense of deep inner wealth that continues to fuel our meditation.

Our mind and body also continue to act as problems for our meditation. We get physically and mentally tired, we experience soreness or pain, and we lose our focus. We fight what is coming up in our mind and body as we strive towards our goal of resting single-pointedly.

The state of resting in equanimity is effortless. We aren't involved with struggle or achievement. Our minds simply rest naturally, and we can enjoy a deep sense of well-being, clarity and freedom from the elaboration of thoughts. This inner joy and wealth fuels our meditation so that we can sustain it effortlessly for as long as we want.

The completely settled state is not far from resting in equanimity, but we have much more work to do.

Four ways of working with the mind.

As we are learning to bring the mind to rest, settling into a calm and clear mind, we will encounter four different ways of working with the mind.

First, we encounter involvement with effort.

When we first sit down to settle the mind, we encounter movement. Lots of movement. It is not easy to rest the mind, to focus it on our intended object. The first stages of bringing the mind to rest require effort. If we don't bring effort into our meditation, we simply rest in our monkey mind and that will not bring any result, at least not the result we are looking for. We need to apply effort to settle our mind and to continuously settle as we experience distractions.

Second, we encounter involvement with interruption.

We have started to settle the mind and prolong that experience. Then, we experience interruption in the form of thoughts, emotions and sensations that pull us away. Using mindfulness and vigilance, we recognize that we are distracted and come back to our object of meditation. Settle. Wander. Come back. Our practice is involved with interruption from the stages of continuously resettling the mind through the stage of completely calming the mind, as we continue to learn how to work with agitation and dullness.

Third, we encounter involvement without interruption.

Once you have gained agility working with agitation and dullness, you arrive at the stage of single-pointedness in which you are no longer affected by these waves of thoughts and emotions. There is still some subtle effort of mindfulness and vigilance at play here, but one does not fall out of meditation into states of distraction.

Fourth, we encounter effortless involvement.

Having settled the mind into a state of equanimity, you can effortlessly maintain the practice without the need for additional applications or remedies. Applying effort at this stage would be a fault, contriving something to be done. One simply rests in complete evenness. The mind abides in a state of limpid clarity, with no stirring or wavering.

How to tame a horse.

Our minds are much like a wild horse.  It is unpredictable, hard to manage, often uncooperative and at times even dangerous.  It is also beautiful and needs to be respected.

Our minds are often left to wander and run wild, to do whatever they please.  Very few of us have really spent any significant time or energy to tame our minds, to render them serviceable and attentive.  In order to train the mind, there are a couple simple rules we can follow:

1. The initial approach.
You will find that when you first sit down to attempt to train and tame the mind it is quite agitated and restless.  This is normal.  Be patient and have compassion.  It has been habituated to running freely, is probably a little skittish and doesn't fully know how to rest with the confidence and ease of a well trained mind.  Your experience and confidence will grow as you become accustomed to this type of work.

2. Be a strong leader.
Your mind probably won't do what you want it to do right away, so you need to direct it again and again back to its focal point.  This is called mindfulness.  It is normal for the mind to act up, to stray and get excited, your job is to remain alert and maintain the discipline that the training requires, this is called vigilance.

3. Making the transition.
Initially the corrections that are required during training will require a lot of effort.  As the training progresses these corrections become much more subtle.  At some point wandering triggers an automatic reflex that auto-corrects itself such that there is no straying, this is when you enter the phase of effortless training.  While mindfulness may have entered into the effortless mode, it is still crucially important that you maintain vigilance, lest the entire training unravel and the horse makes a run for it.   There is nothing quite so embarrassing as thinking that you have a well trained horse, only to find them in the neighbors pasture the next morning.

4.  Setting out to work, with an attentive, trained horse.
A well trained mind never wavers from its discipline.  It is attentive, confident and relaxed.  It is patient and willing to bear considerable burden.  With such a vehicle, you can definitely accomplish your own aims, and you can passionately work to benefit others.

Let Your Practice have Character.

If your practice is to simply recite the words or to do what everyone else is doing, then it is fake.  It has no depth, no character.

Let your practice take on a life of its own.  Let it be spontaneous, quirky, weird.  Let it be you.

Then as your practice develops and unfolds, you will develop and unfold.  As your practice becomes more pure and uncontrived, you will become more pure and uncontrived.  As your practice generates qualities of tolerance, love and compassion, so will you. 

If you put the work into your practice, it will change you. 

The Resistance

Our aims clearly set before us, if we fail to act now when shall this opportunity present itself again?

Caught up in my own idle behavior,
hiding in mundane activities and endless distraction,
negative thoughts, emotions and doubt are quick to strike.
My own self-cherishing and confusion prevents me
from doing work that actually benefits myself and others.

My constant fear of loss and the eight worldly concerns perpetually ensnare my mind.  I am like a bird trapped in a building, the door is wide open but I keep wanting to fly higher to get out. 

This then is my primary adversary, the source of all my troubles, suffering and discontent.

These are the ailments that keep me up at night, tormenting my mind with endless anxiety.

All my efforts will be directed at vanquishing this foe.  There are as many methods for accomplishing this as there are beings, but none are as quick and effective as resting in openness free from fixation.

This then shall be my supreme vehicle, my way of abiding.

When I am no longer bound by these veils that entrap my mind, may I come to find a natural freedom and ease and like a bird, soar effortlessly through the sky. 

A Shift in Space

When you are on the ground, friction allows you to push an object away from you.  You can move big objects, but it takes a lot of force and effort. 

When you are suspended in space, you need to use creative forces to move objects (don't skip that link with all of its cool tools).  If you can learn to take your stance in space, then with very little effort you can send massive objects propelling in the opposite direction. 

So how do we hit a home run.  It doesn't matter how fast the baseball is traveling, how much inertia is has, if it is suspended in space thats all it takes is one good swing to knock it out of the park.  We just need to find our stance.

The question becomes, how do we eliminate the ground?  Or for starters, what is the ground that we are trying to remove?

Usually that ground is our own self-cherishing mind.  The layer upon layer of fixation, our cognitive and emotional obscurations, our habits and karma.  We can use logic and reason to demonstrate the falseness of this self-grasping- the confusion it creates, the problems it causes, the inherent limitations that it imposes.  But so what?  That doesn't actually remove the ground, we just know that it doesn't work and that it shouldn't be trusted.  Yet we end up using it anyways because that's all we've got.

What we need to do is get beyond mind.  Beyond all the concepts and justification.  We need to get into space and we need to figure out how to stand there.

That is not an easy proposition.

That space is unpredictable.  It is always changing and we can't use a reference point to justify ourselves for even a moment or we are stuck back on the ground.  We can't even give you the answers ahead of time because we don't know what is going to be coming up.

You have to be able to recognize that space as it unfolds.  It is not a mere nothingness.  Something is always going to be coming up.  Your options are either to recognize it or be caught up again in the cycle of ignorance.  If you can take a strong seat in that spacious expanse, then you can witness whole worlds of opportunity unfold and collapse right before your eyes.

There is a potential to act.  That is why your stance is important.

If there is a trace of self-cherishing and remnants of the ground not yet cleared, then the cycle of confusion repeats itself and you encounter lots of friction.  If there is no fixation whatsoever to be found and you are motivated by bodhicitta, seeking out the welfare of beings, then there is the arising of grace.  That grace manifests itself as generosity, love and kindness.

Its effortlessness can move worlds.