The Gaze

In shamata and vipashyana practice, the eyes are either closed or slightly open (slightly open is better, because then we don’t drift off into a doze!). We look straight ahead.

In Dzogchen Mahamudra pure awareness, the eyes are open. Not staring – just to the extent of being aware of peripheral vision all at once. As with all the other the senses, one’s awareness is wide open. 

This is a prelude to mingling meditation (or non-meditation) in daily life: there is no separation between practice session and moving around. If one’s eyes feel a little strained or dry, it could mean that one needs to do a little loong practice (subtle body practice of taking the breath down to below the navel – there more information about thismedt on the blog ). In that case, one can close the eyes for a while.