'Release Into the Dance of Stillness'

An Excerpt from Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's January 2018 Facebook Live Teaching, Kathmandu, Nepal

Usually when we think about stillness, we think about not moving, not doing, not manifesting, not developing, not accomplishing – some sense of being frozen in stillness. But that's not the case. The true sense of stillness is the full mastery in movement – mastery in development, mastery in manifestation, mastery in creativity. That is the true realization of stillness and, as we all know, stillness is a very important part of our practice for entering into or accessing our true nature.

Sometimes people who have been doing meditation for a long time, just being still, become very stiff, very rigid, very tense. Because they are trying to be still with this deep sense of rigidity, a sense of resting fully in the nature of mind becomes too far away for them.

So today I'd like to share about discovering the dance of stillness. To begin with, let's just sit for a moment and simply be still in our body. As I'm speaking, just bring your awareness to your body, an awareness of the stillness in your body. In this stillness, you might feel some sense of rigidity, stiffness. But if you're aware of that, then simply allow it to go. Breathe it out, and rest deeper. Then in that depth of stillness, there is a sense of movement, of freedom, there is a sense of dance. So just try and connect with that a little bit right now.

In our everyday life, most of the time we lose the connection to the source because of our actions. Our actions are the opposite of what this idea of stillness is. These actions are driven by duality, pain, confusion, fear, and they are not arising as spontaneous manifestations. They are driven by our disconnectedness from the source. They are driven by our being lost in actions. In some sense, our actions in life are the cause for losing the connection to the stillness.

It is important that each of us look at our own life very closely, and ask what does this word stillness mean to you? What does awareness of the stillness in your body mean to you? And then look at the actions in your life – either the actions that you have to do professionally, or the actions that you like to do, or that you're driven to do, or that you're addicted to doing. Whatever those actions are and from wherever these actions come, ask yourself: Do these actions cause you to lose the connection to the source, to the stillness? Or are these actions arising as dances of the stillness and of your connection to the source? This is a question that each one of us can ask ourselves.

So first, I want everyone to reflect on the recognition of your actions – everything that you do. Just think back on your life and everything that you have been doing – today, this week, this month, this year. Ask, how many of these actions are created by pain, confusion, duality, addictions? How many of them? Look at everything – including your spiritual practices, including your social service, including your profession, including your sense of trying to help your family, or help anybody. See how many of these actions are driven by disconnectedness, pain, duality and fear. These actions then are not the dance of stillness, but rather the manifestation of disconnectedness.

However, you could be doing any of these same things as the dance of stillness when you are connected to the source. Your profession becomes like a dance of the stillness. Your social service becomes like a dance of the stillness. All of your actions, particularly those things that you do with the body, are a dance of stillness when they are connected to the source. So are your actions a dance of the stillness? Are your actions connected to the source and the stillness? That is a good question to ask yourself and to reflect on.

When you realize that many of your actions are not really the dance of stillness, but rather a manifestation of duality, look at the consequences of that. You are not being very creative in doing what you do, and you are not necessarily able to accomplish what you are trying to do. Maybe the effect is that you end up doing a lot, but not necessarily accomplishing anything – all because the things that you are doing are not the dance of the stillness, they are a manifestation of duality and being lost in action that is lost in pain. Those actions can be very draining, very stressful and disconnecting, and not necessarily accomplishing what you wish, because of where they are coming from.

Secondly, you can come to see that many of those actions are absolutely unnecessary. This is a very important point. During this last winter retreat at Serenity Ridge, I encouraged everyone, including myself, to reduce their actions by at least by 5 to 10 percent to facilitate more connection to the stillness. That would mean less actions not only in your formal meditation, but more importantly in your informal lifestyle. That is not to say you will be less creative and accomplish less when you do this. No. You will definitely be more creative, more restful and accomplish more, because your actions will be more like the dances of the stillness and coming from the connection to the source. Even a positive action that comes from disconnectedness will still have an effect that is more like a negative action because of the outcome. It may at first look like it is coming from love, but then love becomes hate. It's like you are trying to rest, but the rest becomes stressful. Or like you are trying to connect, but then you end up disconnecting. Then in some sense the outcome of your action becomes negative. That is why reducing such actions is helpful.

So how would you do this? Basically, be aware of the kind of commitments that you make with people, and don't become overly enthusiastic about things, or don't enthusiastically make unrealistic promises. Rather, when you are moving into making an enthusiastic promise, for instance, then just settle down, relax, reflect, think carefully, and from there you can say yes or no with some sense of clarity.

Reflecting in that way you may find more time to realize that there are a lot of actions that are absolutely not necessary. In the absence of those actions, you can rest more, recover more, heal more, be more creative. You can connect more to the source, feel the dance of the stillness and manifest those dances in your life. That is important.

So self-reflecting, recognize how many of these doings are absolutely unnecessary, not only unnecessary but how they are negatively affecting you. Realize that often you are doing something to become more happy but you are becoming more sad. You are doing something to accomplish something but you are not accomplishing it. You are doing something to gain something but you are losing it. You are doing something to connect with someone but you are disconnecting with them. You are doing something to become more happy but you end up being more depressed. It is because all of those doings are coming from the wrong space – a lack of connection to the source and to the stillness in yourself. They are not the dance of stillness. But when you bring a little more consciousness, more awareness, then naturally you feel more connection to that stillness. Naturally you feel more connection to that movement – the dance of stillness, this sense of being unblocked. When the dance of stillness manifests, every doing is doing from freedom, joy, flow. Every doing is like a dance. There's not a sense of effort.