Have you ever longed to know a peace that's not fragile?
A peace that's not contingent on externals?
We all long to know this peace.
This is the peace of our very being.
But can sometimes feel inaccessible.
And when it feels inaccessible,
We often get caught trying to change externals.
So that we may have a particular experience of peace that is often just temporary.
Imagine for a moment activity on the surface of the sea.
There may be boats and choppy waves,
Storms passing through,
Affecting the water.
Because of our longing for peace,
We are habituated or conditioned to try to manipulate what's happening on the water.
In order to have some stillness.
Some peace.
But again,
This peace,
When approached through this process of attempting to control,
If it comes about,
It's fleeting.
Imagine now,
Dropping,
Sinking from the surface of the sea.
Into the depth.
Being enveloped in the quiet.
From here you can look up and see the choppy waves,
The boats,
The storms.
Feel the quiet that's here beneath the surface.
This type of quiet or stillness isn't contingent on particular external things.
Happiness without cause.
Not happiness as in glee.
But contentment,
Deep ease.
Stillness of being.
Rest in this stillness,
Not by getting rid of anything on the surface of the water.
Not by manipulating externals.
Not through control.
But through sinking the attention.
Inviting the attention to become the sea.
From stillness,
We experience everything as part of the sea.
Water found in everything.
Be like the raindrop that returns home to the sea.
Be the stillness deep in the ocean that's undisturbed by the activity of the world.
This peace is not fragile.
This peace is unbreakable.
This peace is beyond the mental construct of time and space.
Imagery might support us in accessing a felt experience.
But in truth,
This unbreakable peace is beyond the world,
Beyond experience,
Beyond form.
This peace cannot be tarnished by experience,
The activity of the conditioned mind,
Our human dramas.
This is what Zen Master Banke referred to as the unborn mind.
Unborn,
Undying,
And unbreakable.
Give yourself permission now to rest here as long as you would like.
And as you move into the rest of your day,
Bring your day into this peace.
Into this peace.
In truth,
It's the only place your day is actually appearing.
We simply sometimes forget.
