"Inner rest is the sacred ground on which we meet the light of enlightenment."

“Complete rest includes letting go of all forms of mental effort.”

Both of the above quotes are by Anam Thubten from his book, “No Self. No Problem.”

Today I offer you an opportunity to consider “complete rest” as a meditation practice. 

What does it mean to “let go of all forms of mental effort?” Well, if you have already been watching your mind, you have seen all sorts of mental formations. When a song plays in your mind. When you are mentally going over a conversation that happened earlier. When you are remembering something that happened earlier in the week. These all fall into the overarching category of “memory.” 

When you are thinking about your daily to-do list. When you are worrying about something you fear will happen in the future. When you are envisioning a particular outcome for a situation. When you are making plans. These types of thoughts fall into the category of “imagination.” 

Most of our thoughts involve memory and imagination; sometimes at the same time. For example, if you are remembering a confrontation and thinking about what you wish you would have said, that is both memory and imagination at the same time. Of course the human mind is intensely complex and there are MANY more mental formations, but memory and imagination are two of the most common ones, and easiest to understand for our purposes here. 

Take a moment and watch your mind. Set a timer for just 4 minutes, and during that time watch your thoughts and see just how often your mind engages in memory and imagination. 

It is not a negative thing to remember, or to imagine, but rest is required. Every night you rest your body by sleeping. How often do you rest your mind? Even while you are asleep your mind is very often creating dreams out of a combination of memories and imagination. When can your mind rest? 

In meditation, when you approach it as sacred rest, you can begin to let go of these mental formations. In the beginning, you will just watch your thoughts. You will notice how often your mind wanders into memories and imagination. But if you keep resting, you will soon be able to drop these mental efforts when you recognize them. 

Again, remembering and imagining are not negative things in themselves, but it is the amount of time we spend with these types of thoughts that robs us of the present moment. Your actual reality is what is happening now. Nothing else really exists, in a concrete way, other than this moment. 

This is why the author says that "Inner rest is the sacred ground on which we meet the light of enlightenment." Because in sacred rest, we let go of unnecessary mental efforts and root ourselves deeply and firmly in the present moment. 

And remember what Thich Nhat Hahn said; “The present moment is the only place where life exists.”

Enlightenment isn’t a far off, heady, psychological trip. It is actually as simple as resting, right here, in the present moment, where life exists.