“You are the unshakeable awareness
The eternal stillness
That has no name
Form or shape
And yet gives life to all name, form and shape
Right now you are aware
And this awareness permeates everything
It dissolves everything within itself
Thoughts come and go
Sensations come and go
Forms come and go
Everything can dance and play
And yet this awareness
Never comes and goes
It is the stillness
Of the mountain
Immovable presence
The heart of everything
By God’s grace
We come to this recognition
That His Love alone
Is everything.”
———
Right now, in this moment what is here?
You are here undeniably. Your presence is here.
Sensations are here. This moment is brimming with pure life energy. It is vibrating with pure presence.
Within this pure presence there is no separation. There is no concept of duality. There is only this moment in its absolute simplicity.
From this presence, attention can move towards all the myriad of sensations that are arising within this moment.
And for most of us there is the habit to focus on the sensations and label them as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
This automatic mechanism creates the sense of a limited person who has a particular identity, role or position in life.
And when we are living from a particular position or identity it is easy to feel helpless, stuck, isolated.
But what if for this moment we look at these habitual tendencies.
What if for just this moment, we leave everything alone. We let everything be as it is. Thoughts feelings sensations can all be there.
And we can ask, who do these sensations and feelings belong to?
You might say they belong to me.
But who is this “me”?
When you really look, can you actually find a concrete “me”?
We know that all feelings, thoughts and sensations are constantly changing - even if there is the apparent sense of a constant feeling, it is impossible to hold on to it. It is a state and by the law of nature will change.
Knowing the changing nature of all thoughts and feelings, can you sense that there is a backdrop of Silence or Stillness against which everything is happening? And it is this which has been here to watch all the changes that have happened through your life.
This Silence, The Stillness is your self, your true nature. It has no name. It is absolute and ever-present.
It is not for or against anything.
Everything just is.
And in this instant of letting everything be as it is, there is no longer a person who needs protection.
Living, breathing, moving is all simply happening. And yet there is something that is not happening.
Awareness is alive stillness, Ans it is here watching all happenings.
In this freedom, we are simply who we are.
There is no need to be loved, seen or accepted as “person”. All of that can just melt away as we realise there is nobody who needs to be perfect or special to be loved.
Because in this recognition, you know that you are love itself. And this love is total fulfilment. More than words can ever express.
In this love there is total acceptance of all our human frailties and insecurities. There is great humility and compassion for all beings.
There is no longer a need for life to be a particular way.
By grace, all the pressure can just melt away.
Our attention softens and begins to relax into its natural state of being.
In this softening, habits and tendencies of conditioning may continue to arise.
But no matter what comes up - no matter how extreme, no matter how difficult or challenging there is a power that is guiding you through it. And you stay true to your heart. To the simple bright light of your heart. Knowing your true self to be the only constant. Here through it all.
And you can offer everything to it - giving your heart, mind, body, your whole life to God, Reality, Spirit or whatever expression of Truth feels most resonant for you.
And in this giving everything, perhaps there is the recognition - whatever I am experiencing is not mine. Nothing belongs to me.
In this recognition that there is no need to control life. the sense of you being a separate person melts away.
And there is a deep exhale into the freedom of being.
This deep exhale gently meets every spot of tension. It moves like a soothing balm through your skin, through your hair, through your bones, through every cell, through every organ. Releasing any pressure. Bringing you home. Home to your self.
“Listen,
O brothers and sisters,
You who have mastered the teaching -
If you recognize me,
Queen of the Lake of Awareness,
Who encompasses
Both emptiness and form,
Know that I live in the minds
Of all beings who live.
Know that I live
In the body of mind
And the field of the senses,
That the twelve kinds of matter
Are only my bones and my skin.
We are not two,
Yet you look for me outside;
When you find me within yourself,
Your own naked mind,
That Single Awareness
Will fill all worlds,
Then the joy of the One
Will hold you like a lake-
Its fish with gold-seeing eyes,
Will grow many and fat.
Hold to that knowledge and pleasure,
And the creative will be your wings.
You will leap through the green meadows
Of earthly appearance,
Enter the sky-fields and vanish.”
Yeshe Tosgyel
