Snow Lion's Dharma Quote of the Week - On Meditation

Nice dharma quote from Snow Lion Publications.

NO SELF, NO PROBLEM
by Anam Thubten,
edited by Sharon Roe
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Dharma Quote of the Week

So what is meditation all about? Actually meditation begins with a true aspiration to just let go of everything. Remember that the definition of Dharma, the purpose of following the spiritual path, is nonattachment. There is a line in Buddhist literature:

There WAS no attachment.
There IS no attachment.
There WILL BE no attachment.

Seen from this view, meditation is very profound and yet very simple.

Have you ever ridden a bicycle? The bicycle does not run on its own. The bicycle only runs when somebody is pedaling it. The moment we stop pedaling the bicycle, it falls over. Unenlightened consciousness works in the same way. It doesn't perpetuate itself. The moment we stop perpetuating it, it dies. Like everything else, it dies on its own. Meditation is not so much like doing something or going somewhere or acquiring this and that. Meditation is actually a way to stop feeding this unenlightened consciousness.

When we sit in silence, being in the present moment, what happens? Nothing happens. But sometimes there is a moment so liberating, so illuminating, that everything is gone. The self is gone. All of the story lines are gone and universal oneness is dancing in front of us.

--from No Self, No Problem by Anam Thubten, edited by Sharon Roe, published by Snow Lion Publications

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No Self, No Problem was chosen as the first selection for the Tricycle Book Club.

Tags: Buddhism, meditation, No Self No Problem, Anam Thubten, Snow Lion Publications, Dharma Quote of the Week