Stillness Of Mind And Stillness Of Rigpa

Stillness in the mind is a temporary event. In shamata practice, we block thoughts coming out of our memory storehouse in order to remain in stillness; to be in the now*. But this is a holding back process, and there is also a time element present in now…now…now.

However, shamata practice (awareness of the breath and not allowing thoughts to enter) helps us note the thoughts, and letting go brings about a temporary stillness. This is essential for the next step of realising Rigpa – pure awareness of empty essence.

In Rigpa stillness, the three times of past, now and future are not present. There is natural timelessness – a continuous, spontaneous presence. This isn’t something to philosophise about, as it is only recognised in effortless practice: actually, we can’t even call it a practice, as there is absolutely nothing going on, except deep, relaxed awareness.

The hop from Shamata to Rigpa
could take a moment
or a life time…
or several.

*This is being a little simplistic as there is shamata with support (breath) and shamata without support (awareness) leading to vipassana – insight – which leads on to mahamudra/dzogchen.