Chris,
Yes, well, that's the Party line as I understand it, too. ;-)
When we practice our method of meditation, the method serves as a monitor, as
well as a method. So, if you/we are not aware of what's "doing", then that's
an indicator of just that. I'm not saying "you" personally, Chris! Not *just*
you.
I think everyone wants to cleave to the method, in the sense of being intimate
with it, _qua_ method, and because of what it may open up in us/for us/for all
beings (the heart of compassion).
I think everyone wants to do "better", just as we are exhorted to do by our
teacher. It may seem a difficult walk, a difficult balance!, but I think we
know when we are on the beam. Of course, being on the beam is not the end of
it. It's just being on the beam. Awakening may or may not come. And then
there's all that practice after awakening.
The emphasis on all being fine already is fine, and true from the point of view
of Enlightenment, but from the point of view of Samsara or delusion, it's
fiction to a lot of people. These are the people I care most about, if I were
to pick and choose.
Well, also, and as I like to say:
The rain that
has not fallen
does the parched ground
no good.
(I live in the desert).
But, we practice; and that's what counts for one who values practice, either
for itself, and/or for what it may reveal.
No matter why we practice, practice has the power to straighten us out... if
we're lucky; have a scrupulous teacher; have a life that supports practice (&
vice-versa); and we appreciate whatever comes, and pour back into practice what
it pours out.
On the other hand, there are people who are just drawn to practice because it
seems natural to them, or else maybe they don't know *why* they are drawn to
practice.
In the Mahayana -- such as we are -- people who are drawn to practice are
usually not drawn to it for themselves. In fact, we put off liberation, don't
we?, until Samsara is all emptied out.
But that's another conversation. ;-)
--Joe
> Chris Austin-Lane <chris@...> wrote:
>
> We are in general discouraged from evaluating sitting periods as being more
> or less satisfactory. The emphasis is more on right here, right now.
> "Just as it is." Not about the student gaining something by diligent work
> which the teacher already had, but the teacher being with the student who
> is practicing living with the perspective that everything is fine already:
> right now, right here. [snip]
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