Monday, June 10, 2013

The Sky is the Limit

Take care not to impose anything on the mind. When you meditate, there should be no effort to control, and no attempt to be peaceful. Don’t be overly solemn or feel that you are taking part in some special ritual; let go even of the idea that you are meditating. Let your body remain as it is, and your breath as you find it.
            Think of yourself as the sky, holding the whole universe.

Glimpse After Glimpse
Sogyal Rinpoche
&

It is one of those paradoxes that I put aside a part of my morning with a space for meditation and yet I still must drop all pretenses that I am doing anything more special than breathing… taking the time to do nothing more than to breathe. Spiritual competitiveness tells me that we have to have candles, incense, a beautiful altar and the best: the most righteous church, the best master, guru, teacher, sponsor or guide to practice the dharma, the Steps or the best of any one of a thousand spiritual disciplines. While there is nothing “wrong” about any of these extras; and, not only that, I have found it to be important for me to set aside a time and place to start my day; yet, when I sit, I am sitting…that is all. This attitude makes meditation portable. I can pause and breathe while waiting in line at the market. I can breathe while in traffic. I can breathe anywhere I am and I can make contact with my inner master… the Heart of Compassion. This frees me from the trap of the ego… of being a follower or a disciple of an idol that will fall.
Isn’t it an amazing phenomena that (if I progress enough to be honest with myself), whenever I put anyone on a pedestal, the edifice crumbles with time and I find out that the person I admire is human or that this practice or religion is made up of humans? In this space in which I simply breathe, I am not a Buddhist, Hindu, a Catholic, a Christian, Muslim, Jew, or a disciple of anyone. To become more human is the idea here: to become a disciple of everyone and not anyone. The Heart of Compassion is open to all of us at any time and any place. It is open to me and I am the sky.

geo 5,376

No comments:

Post a Comment