In this issue:
The practice that we call “meditation” is a quiet activity that we can do to relax into the “waveless sea” of the Buddha Nature. When we are floating in that waveless sea, and when all the cares of worldly life are seen as at a great distance, and recognized as being ephemeral, fleeting shadows, this is called “samadhi.”
This can be misleading, because samadhi is not a transitory state of mind and body. Rather, it is the very spiritual “water” within which we are floating. It is just that we do not recognize this fact while we are occupied with the fleeting shadows on the surface.
There is no attainment of samadhi. Rather, when we forget to chase after unrealities, we give ourselves the opportunity to awaken to the fact that we are floating in the waveless sea. We do not plunge into the waveless sea from some other place: we just find ourselves there.
The Buddhas and Ancestors do not force that awakening upon us. Nor can we force the awakening upon ourselves. We must do the spiritual training that allows us to get out of our own way, trusting that the waveless sea is always there. Such trust is well-founded, for it is always there, always sustaining us, always the true refuge and true reality. Again and again, when we are not seeking anything, when we need to once again have the comforting assurance of the deeper reality, we find ourselves floating in the waveless sea. It never went anywhere; we never lost it.
Buddhas and Ancestors are perfectly at home in the waveless sea. It would never occur to Them to think that any being did not belong in the waveless sea, that any being was unworthy. They know that all beings, and indeed the whole of existence is within the waveless sea. They realize that there is “no distinction of self and other” within the waveless sea.
Thus, there is not “my samadhi” and “your samadhi.” There is just samadhi. Its immaculacy cannot be sullied; its peace cannot be shattered. It is our spiritual birthright.