really get into this one. In general, however, I’d like to
encourage you to use the whole lojong and tonglen
approach as practice even after you finish your formal
meditation period. That’s where it’s most powerful,
most real, and most heartfelt. As you’re going about
your day and you’re seeing things that touch your
heart, or you’re feeling things that scare you or make
you feel uptight or resentful, you can begin to think
of doing the exchange, breathing in and breathing out
on the spot. This is necessary and helpful. After med-
itation this practice feels quite real, sometimes a lot
more real than in the meditation room.
This slogan about the four kayas points out that it’s
in shamatha-vipashyana practice that you begin to
see the nonsubstantial nature of things. It’s ad-
dressed to that part of the practice where we say,
“Thinking.” You’re completely caught up. You’ve gone
to New York City in your mind, and you’re having that
breakfast, and you’re reliving resentments and joys,
and then without any effort, you wake up. That’s
what happens, as you know, but it’s not like you make
yourself come back. It’s that suddenly you notice and
wake up, and then you’re told to say, “Thinking.”
That label, “thinking,” is the beginning of acknowl-
edging that the whole drama doesn’t have any sub-
stance, that it arises out of nowhere, but it seems
extremely vivid. Even though the story line goes away,
there’s energy and movement. It definitely seems to
94 Cutting the Solidity of Thoughts