Enjoy The Joy Of Natural Meditation
by: Lama Surya Das

Twin Cities Wellness December 2003
Copyright 2003 Twin Cities WELLNESS newspaper

MEDITATION IS SO simple and profound, a truly transformative spiritual practice. It is the heart of the path of awakening called Buddhism. The way of awakening to one's fullest potential, in Western terms.

Awakening from what? you might ask. Awakening from the sleep of semi-consciousness, the dream of delusion. Awakening to enlightenment, illumination, freedom, nirvanic peace—inner peace as well as outer peace. This is a path that we travel. It is not a dogma or belief system that we need to accept. In fact, as a very wonderful wise guy, a friend of mine, an American lama, once said, "It doesn't really matter what we believe. It only matters what we do and are." In Buddhism we usually say it doesn't matter what we do, it matters how aware we are. It shows that the outer and inner are totally inseparable. It is what we are that counts, but that is what we do, actually. Our inner state shows up in our behavior, doesn't it?

Meditation, in short, is the intentional use of awareness to attend to the present moment. We call it mindfulness, or choice-less awareness. being aware of what is, just as it is, and not as we might like it to be. Seeing things as they are, in short. This is reality; this is wisdom, according to the Buddha. Meditation helps calm and clear our mind so we achieve clear seeing, perfect vision, and can see things as they are.

Natural meditation means fully inhabiting the present moment. Meditation is finding yourself in that natural state of pure presence or contemplation where you discover your authentic condition. This is the essence of nowness, beyond past and future, and even a little outside or beyond the present. In Tibetan we call it the fourth time, the timeless moment of nowness.

The cultivation of mindful attention in the present moment in meditative practice is like a mirror to help us see ourselves, to better know ourselves, thoroughly. In this we come face to face with our true selves—not just our superficial personalities and conditioned social selves, our persona, but our true nature, our true selves. It is to recognize our true identity and attain spiritual self-realization or awakened enlightenment and through this incandescent process realize what is possible; millions have done it, over the centuries. That's what we call enlightenment, spiritual liberation, or awakening the Buddha within.

There is nothing here to believe or subscribe to. There is everything to discover; it is a path to travel. As the Buddha said, "I only point the way. I am not a God. I am not special. I am awakened. I point the way of awakening. You yourself must walk it, as I have, if you choose to." In that sense, it only matters what we do. If we practice this path, we experience the fruits, the results. Each of us innately has that Buddha potential or Buddha-nature, enlightened perfect nature. Not just in us, like a needle in a haystack, so hard to find; rather, it is us, just waiting to be realized fully, or actualized. So this path of meditative practice, of self-inquiry, of cultivation of awareness is a practice path that we travel ourselves. Not a dogma we need to believe. Just sitting is the practice. Not chanting, not praying, not reflecting conceptually on analytical questions. Just sitting in choice-less awareness, without judgments or reactions, is one of the main forms of meditation. This may involve breath awareness—mindfulness of breathing in while inhaling, and mindful observation of breathing out while exhaling as a concentration and calming device. But there is a lot more to meditation than that. True meditation implies total engagement, total openness, with nothing left in us to protect or to control. It's pretty advanced.

Don't be deceived by the simplicity of what we are doing. There is a lot of ancient, timeless Buddhist wisdom behind this, in case you are not familiar with the contents of all those groaning bookshelves lining spiritual bookshelves around the world. For as Milarepa, the Tibetan yogi and songmaster, sang, "Nature is the only book I need to read. Everything is written there." So contemplate your own true internal sacred nature. Contemplate the nature of one's own heart and mind. That is called the womb of all the Buddhas, the womb or source of enlightenment the nature of your own heart and mind.

How to meditate

As meditation instructions—let's do this right now—even for just a few seconds, as a sort of instant mini-meditation. Lean back, relax, drop the shoulders, raise the gaze; elevate the scope of global, 360-degree sphere of luminous, receptive, present awareness. Sky-gazing, space-mingling, infinite dissolving "natural meditation" letting the body rest, leaving everything at ease, just as it is. Natural body is Buddha's body, nirmanakaya—just sitting. Letting the breath and energy rest in the body; natural breath and energy is Buddha's breath, sambhogakaya—just breathing. And letting go of the mind as well; natural mind is Buddha mind, dharmakaya—just being. You can rely on and take refuge in these three inner meditator's jewels—the "three naturals"—just sitting, just breathing, just being.

Let it be, as it is—natural flow. Let it come and go; let it go as it goes. With eyes open, ears open, nose open, mouth open, throat open, chest open, posture open, heart and mind totally open—at ease, relaxed, yet vividly present, alert and aware. Follow the out-breath, if you need an anchor to present awareness; concentrate lightly on the exhalation. Casting the gaze into sky-space, casting all thoughts and perceptions into mind-space, while releasing everything into rigpa, into awareness-space—into the infinite absolute, groundless and boundless being-ness, total awareness...sky-gazing, with eyes gently focused in sky-space—simply letting everything come and go as it goes, without reactions, beyond judgments of good and bad, liking and disliking—not identifying with thoughts, feelings or perceptions of mine and me abiding at ease in the transparent openness of innate wakefulness, far beyond the duality of self and other, inside and outside—not looking for anything outside, not looking inwardly for anything, nor being stuck in-between...simply present and wakeful—alert, attentive. Not waiting, not hurrying, not comparing, not controlling or interfering.

Pay attention. Attention pays off. Present awareness is the unfabricated innate Buddha, as my late guru Dudjom Rinpoche always said. Take refuge in that; rely on that. Give way to that natural awareness, natural meditation—one breath at a time, breath after breath, moment after luminous perfect moment. Enjoy the peace, the simplicity, the natural ease of inner peace; enjoy the joy of natural meditation.

Lama Surya Das, an American-born and Asian-trained lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, is one of the foremost Western Buddhist meditation teachers and scholars in America. Based on his relationship with the Dalai Lama, Surya Das founded the Western Buddhist Teachers Network with the Dalai Lama and is active in interfaith dialogue and social activism. More information can be found at www.Surya.org or www.Dzogchen.org (Dzogchen Center, Cambridge, MA).

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