When I stay all alone,
I rest in naked empty pure presence.When in a crowd, whatever subtle or gross emotion arises, our attention needs to
be instantaneous in recognition of it, just as it arises, so that it can be integrated
into the matrix of meditation. In that way whatever appears is absorbed into
meditation, and there is no need to search for isolation and seclusion. But for
beginners, it is best if they find solitude in a forest, or if not there at least in a quiet
room where they can meditate morning and evening.
The main supports to accomplishment of samadhi are freedom from
entertainment and freedom from discursive thoughts: these freedoms are best
optimized in a place of solitude. As Longchenpa says in his Collected Fragments,
Mountains covered with forests are a pleasure,
And in valleys of herbs and flowers with waterfalls,
May I transcend the activities of this lifetime
And attain supreme liberation.2.9 THE DISPOSITION OF THE BODY
First, take a comfortable seat, sit cross-legged, hands in meditation posture, spine
straight like an arrow, shoulders held back like a vulture’s wings, neck slightly
hooked, tongue held against the palate, and eyes dropped to the nose. If we can
apply these seven instructions of Vairochana in our meditation, then with a
straight spine our energy channels become straight. If the energy channels are
straight, then the movements of energy within the body are quieted, and with
energy pacified, the mind is luminescent.
2.10 HOW TO SUSTAIN PURE PRESENCE IN BRIEF
The pure presence that was introduced in the section on view is itself the
meditation. Wherever a single perception falls, let it hang loosely but firmly,
without modifying it in any way, and it rests in naked empty pure presence. If we
are unable to abide in this due to the sudden arising of thought, we should just
hang loosely in the thought. Then that creativity, like a wave falling back into the
ocean, is released into its ground, and thus buddha is attained in alpha-purity. We
should engage diligently and one-pointedly in this practice until we become
confident, and then, our creativity optimized, we attain constancy.
2.11 HOW TO SUSTAIN PURE PRESENCE IN GENERAL
Generally speaking, in both the sutrayana and tantrayana, accomplishment on any
path depends upon shamata meditation. Whether on the common path of