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A Natural Allegiance
Jeffrey
Veteran
From Rigdzin Shikpo's Never Turn Away:
As Dharma practitioners, we often have to bring together seemingly paradoxical things. Sometimes we work with the sense of boundless space around us. At other times, we work to feel the stability of earth beneath us. This isn't earth as such, but a symbol for the quality that supports and sustains, which is also a quality of space. And we have to work with both. We need stable confidence that we are in the center of our world, even though we are surrounded by boundless space in all directions.
When we experience the ground as space-like, it may very well feel like we are floating. This is just one of the many meditative experiences--nyams in Tibetan--that may arise as we practice. This particular nyam of space, or emptiness, is not a proper experience of emptiness itself, it is a spin-off effect that comes from moving in that direction.
Another kind of nyam may occur when we realize we don't make volitions happen; they arise of themselves. This nyam can make us feel suddenly powerless and lead to a kind of paranoia. We feel that we ought to be the one who makes things happen. Eventually we realize that it was never like that. All our actions are spontaneous, if we could but see it.
This is all very unsettling, but Buddhist practice offers no insurance against feeling strange. It would be very surprising if you didn't feel strange. But as we practice, we are moving toward a greater stability, which rests on awareness and confidence itself.
That final stability might be some way off. But you could have a flash experience at any time; as an inspriration, an intuition, or a sudden revelation about the remarkable nature of the space around you--the amazing fact that space is connected with the truth itself. Buddhist practitioners have practiced like this for 2,500 years and more, and a great many people from very different cultures have experienced the same unsettling things.
If it is all so disturbing and unsettling, why do people follow this path? The answer is that these meditative experiences may not be the ultimate truth, but they do lead tin a direction that has more truth to it than where we normally stand. When we ask ourselves those fundamental questions about the nature of existence, we really want to know the truth. Human beings seem to have a natural allegaince to truth, and that's why we continue to practice, however unsettling it may be.
As Dharma practitioners, we often have to bring together seemingly paradoxical things. Sometimes we work with the sense of boundless space around us. At other times, we work to feel the stability of earth beneath us. This isn't earth as such, but a symbol for the quality that supports and sustains, which is also a quality of space. And we have to work with both. We need stable confidence that we are in the center of our world, even though we are surrounded by boundless space in all directions.
When we experience the ground as space-like, it may very well feel like we are floating. This is just one of the many meditative experiences--nyams in Tibetan--that may arise as we practice. This particular nyam of space, or emptiness, is not a proper experience of emptiness itself, it is a spin-off effect that comes from moving in that direction.
Another kind of nyam may occur when we realize we don't make volitions happen; they arise of themselves. This nyam can make us feel suddenly powerless and lead to a kind of paranoia. We feel that we ought to be the one who makes things happen. Eventually we realize that it was never like that. All our actions are spontaneous, if we could but see it.
This is all very unsettling, but Buddhist practice offers no insurance against feeling strange. It would be very surprising if you didn't feel strange. But as we practice, we are moving toward a greater stability, which rests on awareness and confidence itself.
That final stability might be some way off. But you could have a flash experience at any time; as an inspriration, an intuition, or a sudden revelation about the remarkable nature of the space around you--the amazing fact that space is connected with the truth itself. Buddhist practitioners have practiced like this for 2,500 years and more, and a great many people from very different cultures have experienced the same unsettling things.
If it is all so disturbing and unsettling, why do people follow this path? The answer is that these meditative experiences may not be the ultimate truth, but they do lead tin a direction that has more truth to it than where we normally stand. When we ask ourselves those fundamental questions about the nature of existence, we really want to know the truth. Human beings seem to have a natural allegaince to truth, and that's why we continue to practice, however unsettling it may be.
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