There’s a line in the Prajnaparamita Sutra in 150 lines that states that one demonstration of Perfect Wisdom is called the “Consummation of awakening to the calm true nature of all the Buddhas (tathagathas).” Underline the word calm, and then put any word that is unfamiliar or affiliation to Buddhism aside. Focus, instead, on the simplicity being said. “The calm true nature” of the most sublime beings in cosmos and the most sublime nature of our self have the same essence. To live this is the highest wisdom.

The training for this calm and discovering it as the true nature is meditation training in serenity, shamatha.

Shamatha training cannot be underestimated. Calm abiding – training the mind to rest in tranquility and focused acuity – is the foundation for all meditation, meditation states, and realizations. Shamatha is also the birth point for vipashyana. Penetrating insight is not possible without the neutrality, equipoise, and openness of shamatha.

The advancing meditations have spent over a month on simply focusing the mind, of trying to harness the horse of the mind, of trying to tame the wayward elephant of the mind, of getting the monkey-mind to settle down. And, you who have been doing these meditations remotely, you have too. I hope that awareness of what you are attempting is dawning, and that you are having some success. Don’t look for or expect big success. That will be the wiley ego making something out of normalcy. If presence is our true nature then no big deal need be made of it, rather the big deal should be made of the opposite.

May we all be served by discovering the calm pure nature of inner Being.

Downloadable: advancing feb1718 the exaltation of pure peace