Blogging is like walking through the snow where you are always looking back at the last step taken. So read back one step before reading this step.
Trungpa’s description of egolessness as being acceptance of the present moment for what it is can also be found in the teaching of Jesus and his principle of forgiveness that runs through his teaching like a gold vein. One can forgive the present moment for whatever it brings you, irritation, grief, doubt, anger, and even pleasures, if you accept the present moment as it is. Ego wants the present moment to be different than it is, and through this conflict with what is real strengthens its boundaries and sense of separate self agsint the world.
Meditation is the practice of strengthening the witness mind that notices the reactive mind’s clash with the stimulus of the present moment. The phone rings while you are talking to someone. Stimulus. You feel a flush of irritation flood your body at this intrusion into your plan of what reality should be. This disturbance shouldn’t be here! the mind shouts, and you pick up the phone and tell some hapless caller to call back. This reaction is the ego.
The act of forgiveness is accepting the phone call as part of the larger context of life and dealing with it as a fact and not an irritation. It’s just a phone call. One either answers it or not, but the blood should not get a spike of stress. This is how meditation is stress management. When you can put some space between your awareness and a reaction, irritation just becomes a thought with no sting, just a ripple in the larger pond, and the pond, you, need not be bothered.
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