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ambition, balance, dzongsar jamyang khyentse, letting go, meditation, paradox, quotation, serenity, surrender, zen
If we have ambitions—even if our aim is enlightenment— then there is no meditation, because we are thinking about it, craving it, fantasizing, imagining things. That is not meditation. This is why an important characteristic of shamatha meditation is to let go of any goal and simply sit for the sake of sitting. We breathe in and out, and we just watch that. Nothing else. It doesn’t matter if we get enlightenment or not. It doesn’t matter if our friends get enlightened faster. Who cares? We are just breathing. We just sit straight and watch the breath in and out. Nothing else. We let go of our ambitions. This includes trying to do a perfect shamatha meditation. We should get rid of even that. Just sit.
—Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche
is this anything 
While I expect you will address this as I move further along through your memoir, I’m the impatient sort and will pester you about it now: do you practice meditation? I have such a hard time with it, and for the life of me I cannot imagine why, because when I do sit, my day is invariably better for it. Yet I put it off and find excuses and fritter the day away until whoops! time for bed! Maybe tomorrow!
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You’re so kind with your comments–I keep meaning to tell you that. Anyway, yes, I do meditate, in whatever quiet moments avail themselves each day. Sometimes I think of it more as “practice” than “meditation”–because the way for me really isn’t to “meditate” (or to think at all) but just to “be.” (Corny but true.) ❤
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Not at all corny! Yes, “practice” is definitely the right word!, isn’t it?
And despite my resolution to delicately treat myself to one or two of your posts at a time, I’ve gone ahead and gorged myself on the whole thing already, so now I must impatiently wait for updates (but that means I shan’t be bombarding you with comments any longer). Thank you so much… I’m so delighted I’ve found you here!
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