Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
once described the energy that sustains the vow taken by a Bodhisattva as follows, “Taking the Bodhisattva vow implies that instead of holding onto our own individual territory and defending it tooth and nail, we become open to the world that we are living in… in fact, it means taking a big chance.” Later Trungpa Rinpoche
adds, “Even fear itself is frightened by the Bodhisattva’s fearlessness.” This sort of fearlessness is meditation. The practice of meditation has nothing to do with focusing on some-thing without ever getting distracted. That is holding onto our ground; some reference point that enables the belief that we are a separate ego existing apart from life to persist.
Meditation is surrendering in the ultimate sense. With each breath we are letting go of even the idea that we are letting go! We are touching the earth. This is direct experience, and direct experience discovers sanity. By sanity I mean, the content of thought is supplied by reality; instead of the "he said- she said" world world that between our ears. In meditation we become vulnerable, and in our vulnerability we touch sanity.
This sort of opening up requires fearlessness. When we come to meditation practice we suffer the symptoms of an ego-centric consciousness. Meditation practice is essentially asking the ego to plan its own death. So, naturally there is resistance! When I speak of fearlessness I do not mean the absence of fear; rather moving forward in the face of fear.
Not wanting to practice meditation is no obstacle to practice... Practicing in spite of the fact that you do not want to practice is the practice. It is discovering the freedom to act outside the dictates of the ego- liberation!
If you liked this you might also like these posts by Ben:
*Human Dignity and Meditation Practice
*Remembering Now
