This collage is in the same vein as the other two collages on this substack, Bewildered Mindfulness and Engaging Silence that are about the practice of contemplative silence. With the exception of the final quotation it is primarily compiled from material written by practitioners of the Indo-Tibetan ‘mind essence’ traditions of Dzogchen and Mahamudra. However, the fundamental idea is that the point of contemplative silence, regardless of tradition, is to ascertain the goodness (loving intelligence) inherent in the ongoing immediacy of experience and rest there with confidence and trust.
Good is a quality held to be present in every experience.1 We start from the premise…that there is nothing to be done. Practice consists of letting mind (the way we experience life) untie itself until there is no separation between the experience of life and what we are.2 Whatever thoughts or afflictions arise, don’t reject them. 3 Rest the mind directly on the recognition of the identity of whatever arises...In the absence of acceptance and rejection, if you become used to resting on their identity thoughts will cause no harm.4 The arising of a…thought is like a thief entering an empty house. The house has nothing to lose, and the thief has nothing to gain.5 No matter how many identified thoughts you have, there is no problem at all.6 When a thought arises, rather than look directly at the nature of the thought, you look directly at the nature of that which recognizes the thought’s arising.7 We find that at present there is no location and nothing to locate.8 Though nothing can be established to be this or that, we are still able to function completely with a mind that continually thinks of this and that and which habitually reifies things and self. There is no contradiction here.9 We let go of wanting things to be different and simply meet what arises. We do what is possible and accept what is not.10 Confusion will naturally be purified, and all good qualities will spontaneously unfold.11 Never lose trust in the working of love and goodness.12
Ken McLeod, A Trackless Path, pg.7
Ibid, pg.31
Peter Alan Roberts (Trans.), The Mind of Mahamudra, pg.117
Gerardo Abboud (Trans.) The Royal Seal of Mahamudra vol. l, pg.84
Dilgo Khyentse, Primordial Purity, pg.72
Gerardo Abboud (Trans.) The Royal Seal of Mahamudra vol. l, pg.87
Peter Barth, (Trans.) The Meditations of Longchen Rabjam, pg.244
Dilgo Khyentse, Primordial Purity, pg.41
Peter Barth, (Trans.) The Meditations of Longchen Rabjam, pg.268
Ken McLeod, A Trackless Path, pg.79
Dilgo Khyentse, Primordial Purity, pg.85
Maggie Ross, Silence: A User's Guide vol. l, pg.35
''Good is a quality held to be present in every experience'' stood out to me in particular thanks for sharing