The Most Profound Spiritual One-Liner

There's one simple instruction that cuts through all the BS—if, that is, we can just act on it. It shows up in all wisdom teachings in various language, and it's available to all of us, right here, right now.

Transcript

The most profound wisdom teaching I ever came across is a one-liner from the Tibetan tradition.

Rest naturally,

Without seeking or describing anything.

That's the whole teaching.

And the reason that I take this to be the most profound instruction is because if we could all do it,

There would be no need for any further teaching or practice.

But those who gave this instruction knew that we couldn't all take that simple instruction—certainly not the first time that we heard it.

And so,

There was the inclusion of all of these other practices.

It's been said many other ways.

The Buddha himself gave the basic instruction to relax in various ways.

There is a great bias toward doing in modern culture.

That's why we find it so difficult to relax.

The first question that usually comes up when someone considers resting naturally is,

How do I rest?

How do I relax?

But resting,

Relaxing is not a doing.

It's a non-doing.

It's a cessation of all of the things that cause us all of our troubles.

All the mental fabrications,

All the contrivance,

All the clinging and grasping and aversion,

All the desire that is the cause of our dissatisfaction.

And dissatisfaction is the word that translates most neatly from the Pali dukkha.

And this was the Buddha's basic premise.

Dukkha,

Dukkha nirodha,

Dissatisfaction,

And the cessation of dissatisfaction.

In the suttas,

It's said that that was all he taught.

Dukkha,

Dukkha nirodha.

How could that be all the Buddha taught when there are 84,

000 suttas?

He elaborated because he saw that he had to elaborate in order to teach everyone that he came across.

I strongly suspect that if the Buddha could have simply approached everyone he met and said,

Relax,

And seen them do so,

He would have had nothing more to teach.

But,

Of course,

Most students will ask,

How do I relax?

Well,

The teacher could plant their feet and say,

You just relax.

Relaxing's not a doing.

That wouldn't be an effective teaching strategy,

Certainly not for everyone.

And so,

Methods were developed.

Skillful means upaya.

I think that word shows up in both Pali and Sanskrit,

Upaya.

Skillful means such as meditation,

Investigation,

Contemplation,

Conversation with teachers and wise friends,

Reading of wisdom texts,

And even certain rituals were created,

Even though the Buddha said that one of the first things to go on the path of realisation is adherence to rites,

Rules and rituals.

So,

How did rituals show up?

Well,

As we all know,

Buddhism became a religion.

That was not the Buddha's intention.

And people just want to know how to do it,

How to get free,

How to relax,

How to stop fabricating and contriving.

And so,

Someone sometimes said,

Hey,

If you're a light incense at this,

This and this time of day,

Then you'll earn some enlightenment points.

Well,

This is just an example of the kind of thing that human beings do on the relative level.

We operate on cause and effect.

So,

Schemes like karma and reincarnation were dreamt up.

Because on that relative level,

We just feel better.

If we can earn some points and be told that we're good,

We want some kind of a guarantee.

But all of this is just stuff arising and passing away.

Really,

What we're interested in is going beyond stuff,

Or at least going beyond taking stuff to be absolutely real.

And we're looking to see that actually it's only relatively real.

It's only what we interpret it to be.

And if we keep stepping back and stepping back and stepping back,

Breaking our attachment with stuff,

Ceasing our demands regarding stuff,

How it ought to be different,

How we wish it were different.

Having all of these ideas about better and worse.

Then,

We're stepping toward relaxation.

We're stepping toward that condition of accepting things just as they are.

And this is the fundamental goal of any spiritual practice worth its salt.

I hesitate around the word goal because we're really interested in going beyond goals.

To relax is not a goal.

To accept is not a goal.

But from where we begin,

We all feel that we need a goal,

So we replace our worldly goals with spiritual goals.

But this dissolves too.

Everything dissolves.

And it's seen to be mere appearance,

Existing only as awareness.

When we think that stuff has an inherent nature from its own side,

Then we believe that it has the power to push us around.

For example,

If I really want a motorbike,

And I believe that the motorbike itself has the power to be desirable,

Then I'm under a certain kind of self-created spell.

Though it would seem that the spell is being cast by the motorbike,

Because I'm then going to go and do all kinds of stuff to get that one stuff that I really want.

This works both ways.

Say my significant other has a motorbike,

And I think it's dangerous.

I want that motorbike out of my garage.

I don't want to see my significant other on that motorbike.

Well,

Now I'm under a different yet similar kind of self-created spell that will seem once again that it's actually cast by the motorbike.

I'm going to do all kinds of stuff to get rid of that one stuff,

And I'm likely to feel bad as long as that motorbike remains in the garage.

So,

We have the individual who isn't satisfied until they get the motorbike,

And we have the individual who isn't satisfied until they get rid of the motorbike.

What does that tell us about motorbikes?

They have no inherent power to either draw one in or push one away within themselves.

It's all interpretation.

It's all appearance.

That motorbike appears as a different thing to one person than it does to another,

And this is all interpretation.

This is what is meant by emptiness in the Buddhist literature,

That the motorbike or anything else—anything else,

Including other people—has no inherent nature of its own.

The way that we experience things is all interpreted until we rest naturally without seeking or describing anything.

When we give up our descriptions of things—and bearing in mind those descriptions might not always be experienced as verbal descriptions in the mind or certainly out loud,

But a description could simply be our interpretation of something,

The way that we describe something,

The story that we tell ourselves about something.

If we can drop that,

We break the spell,

And then we're free.

Simple,

Right?

Well,

Maybe not,

And if not,

Maybe we take ourselves into a distraction-free environment and we practise what's called meditation.

Meditation is just distraction-free time given to the practice of seeing things as they are.

Wouldn't it be great to see things as they are?

To not be under any spells of interpretation.

To be free of the pitfalls of inaccurate interpretation.

To see things just as they are right now and accept them as they are right now.

No clinging,

No grasping,

No aversion,

No desire,

No wishing things were different.

This is what all spiritual practices are about.

Though really I rather like the way that Dordji Ziji Sal Rinpoche puts it,

When she says that this is just about being human.

May we all find our way to resting naturally without seeking or describing anything.

Reviews

When I began teaching software use over 30 years ago I learned something really important. In order to guide others to new knowledge the teacher had to really know their stuff.
You have explained meditation in the simplest and most practical understanding I have ever heard since starting on my journey a meer 2 years ago.
A talk of simple clarity that anyone can understand but at 1.30 mins before the end you ram home with your description of meditation. I recorded your words so I can write them down later and practice remembering them to share as the opportunity arises.
It's my first time listening to your channel and followed you ofc.
I tend to like longer talks but I'll do your shorter ones and look for the longer format along the way. ❤️

That was simply amazing!

Very helpful.

Thank you.

Thank you for sharing.

Thank you. 🌈