The practice of meditation allows us to experience all the textures of the roadway, which is what the journey is all about.

“There are different traditions of sudden and gradual paths to realizing buddha-nature. But it seems that the conclusion is the same, no matter how suddenly it dawns. Still, every path has a beginning, middle, and end. Therefore sudden could be called gradual, and vice versa. As long as there is a need for clearing away clouds of confusion, there is a path. In fact, the concepts of sudden and gradual are merely mental flickers. In either case, when the student begins to have a longing or passion for buddha-nature as his prize, that in itself is an obstacle. Sometimes we find that very dedicated students have difficulty in making progress. When there is some freeness combined with tremendous exertion and practice, then buddha-nature begins to shine through. But it seems to be dangerous to talk too much about buddha-nature: we might formulate a mental image of it.

Our life is an endless journey; it is like a broad highway that extends infinitely into the distance. The practice of meditation provides a vehicle to travel on that road. Our journey consists of constant ups and downs, hope and fear, but it is a good journey. The practice of meditation allows us to experience all the textures of the roadway, which is what the journey is all about. Through the practice of meditation, we begin to find that within ourselves there is no fundamental complaint about anything or anyone at all.

Meditation is a way of permitting hang-ups of mind to churn themselves up. If we try to focus on our neurosis as a practice, that is an escape; and if we try to suppress it, that is also an escape. So the process is to relate with the neurosis as it is, in its true nature, the actual simplicity of it. Then we begin to make some progress. As this process of relating to our hang-ups develops, at some point we at last begin to trust ourselves. We begin to develop some kind of faith and trust that what we have and what we are is, after all, not all that bad. It is workable, usable.” ~ from Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche author of Shambhala: Sacred Path of the Warrior and Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

Here is the man himself, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, offering instruction in the practice of meditation. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUCSA_MkZ_I

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