Gil Fronsdal of the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) gives this dharmette, a brief dharma talk. It is about practicing with nothing at stake, and noticing what we may be depending on that makes the practice more complicated than it needs to be.
When you discover what’s not needed, maybe you can let go of that and become much simpler.
There’s a slogan: Nothing’s at stake right now. Have nothing at stake as you practice. Nothing needs to happen. Nothing tied or hooked into the practice. If I do the practice, then I’d be happy ever after.
What do you have at stake when you meditate? What are you trying to accomplish that you’re depending on in a way that’s actually not useful. That you’re depending on that agitates the scene and makes it more complicated than it needs to be, that interferes with your ability to see things as they actually are. Because if we have expectation about what things that we have at stake then it kind of clouds the vision or kind of has us leapfrogging the present moment not noticing what’s here.
More from: Gil Fronsdal
