How Mindfulness Works by Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Author:Tsoknyi Rinpoche [Rinpoche, Tsoknyi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781941529102
Publisher: Parallax Press

FREEDOM AND RESPECT

When we allow space into our practice, though, we begin to see the impermanent nature of the thoughts and feelings that arise within our experience—as well as of the conditions, over many of which we have no control. That greasy residue doesn’t build up, because there’s no “plate” for it to cling to. Whenever I find myself in a challenging situation—and there have been many over the years—I think of Holi, the Hindu festival during which people throw colored powder into the air. For a few seconds after the powder is thrown, the sky becomes red all around; but then the colored grains fall back to the ground and the sky is once again clear.

In the same way, if we can allow some space within our awareness and rest there, we can respect our troubling thoughts and emotions, allow them to come, and let them go. Our lives may be complicated on the outside, but we remain simple, easy, and open on the inside.

Once we find this free, open space, not caught up by conditions, the basic natural awareness we enjoyed as infants and young children begins to reemerge and, along with it, the warmth and freedom we experienced before we began to identify so closely with the conditions inside and around us. As we taste that warmth and freedom again, we begin to experience a deeper and more enduring sense of contentment and joy. We begin to smile. Our neck relaxes, our chest opens, our mind becomes less cloudy, our whole being starts to feel good—and that is the best basis for practicing real compassion. Otherwise, there’s no way to practice compassion because we’re caught up in our own stuff.

We don’t need to feel guilty about being free. If we’re free, we can free the next person; we can offer joy to the next person; we can help the next person more effectively. With that freedom, all the sublime qualities of our essential nature—kindness, compassion, clarity, and openness—can emerge. As we cease grasping, attaching, and pushing, gradually we begin to see more clearly what the next wise step is and what action we can take that will minimize suffering not only for ourselves but for others.

The ultimate goal of the Dharma is to assist us in seeing the truth that reality is unimaginably free and unimaginably open. Of course, we act out our daily lives in a realm of relative reality that emerges, abides for a while, and dissolves as various causes and conditions temporarily come together. But relative reality and the absolute reality need to complement each other. We cannot hold ourselves as something or somebody defined by this or that characteristic or combination of characteristics or attributes. From time to time, we need to come home to the simple fact that ultimately we can’t be defined by our circumstances. We need to remind ourselves “I’m nobody. Really, literally, I’m nobody. I’m just a fellow human being . . .” and just rest there.

Approaching our experience in this way is a bit like staying in a hotel.

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