Rest in the Nature of Alaya, the Essence

What is the nature of unborn awareness? When we meditate on our Lojong precepts, the 59 Buddhist precepts given to us by two great Tibetan Buddhist master teachers: Atisha in the 10th century—and then Geshe Chekhawa in the 12th century, our minds begin to find some rest.

Lojong Slogan No. 5.  Rest in the Nature of Alaya, the Essence

When we sit in meditation, we find rest from our normal mental states. Typically, in every day life, we are mentally and emotionally wandering through the world of samsara, that is, the world of illusory reality, or thinking and desire. This is our normal habitat. It’s also a rather exhausting state of being, as we’re always grasping, defending ourselves, constructing false constructs of ourselves, fighting ourselves and others, and just generally creating lots of havoc and drama for ourselves and others as we go about our daily lives.

However, when we finally sit and meditate, and relax into our breath, and other states of more normalized mental control, we at last relax into the present moment, and in these moments, we may suddenly find that we are in a peace that passes all understanding. We may suddenly find as we sit that we are at last at peace. Our desires may seem to melt away, and all may suddenly seem to feel right with the world. This state of being may at first be fleeting, but as we advance in our practice, we may find that we can rest in this state more and more. We’re totally in the present moment, just experiencing life as it is this moment.

We’re not thinking, living or reflecting on our past, nor are we projecting to the future. We’re right here, right now. We’re aware of everything happening in the present moment. It is a type of unfolding. We may hear the whir of a ceiling fan, the honk of a car on the road. We hear our breathe go in and out. We’re aware of our body, but not really conscious of any discomfort. Our breathing may have slowed down slightly. Our sight is soft and relaxed. We’re totally in the moment. We’ve shifted into another reality. In this state, we no longer have a sense of our ego and the rest of the world as “other.”

This is the essence of alaya, the true essence of being alive, a sentient being. This is the way that animals, the plant world, and the natural world experience life. We too are part of the natural world, part of the order of all sentient beings.

In this state we don’t feel separate from life, but rather we feel harmonious and connected to all of life. Now we can awaken our compassion (karuna) heart, and mind of kindness (maitri) because we’re connected to all of life. This is the essence of buddhist life on earth. Alaya.

This state of mind is the only true vacation. We can travel to the ends of the earth and spend thousands of dollars on cruises and tours seeking to find this state of mind, but we can also sit in our living room and find the peace that passes all understanding. We’re vacating the whirling, spinning chaos of our own shifting, chaotic thinking, desires, the constant metamorphosis of the phenomenal world and resting in the great peace of alaya, the luminous unbiased principle.

Not that there’s anything wrong with taking vacations, which do help us vacate our normal busy mind and change our  point of view for a while. But lasting peace comes from making interior changes, from the interior practice of working on our own thinking and behaviors.

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