Remaining At Ease

2025, November, Issue 175

All that comes your way,

remain at ease

When storms arise,

remain at ease

When our body starts to fail,

remain at ease

When we find ourselves

at death’s door,

remain at ease

Through it all,

Through the inexplicable

fields of energy,

these great storms of mind,

the unfathomable depths of mind,

the unknowable

everythingness and beyond

surprising us

as our beliefs turn useless,

remain at ease;

Discover liberation

from all that vexes you, by

relying upon your own

diligence, your compassionate

Aspiration to Awaken,

then

Awaken

A poem by Robert Aho © 2025

So, as you should know by now, I chanted mantras for a hundred years, in order to return to this life, in order to pass through the most violent storms imaginable, all the while remaining at ease. When I died and instantly became that most brilliant bright condition, beyond all obstacles, I remained at ease, even though self became completely integrated, absorbed and obliterated down to the last detail. When I eventually entered my body once more, I remained at ease.

For Spiritual Practice, Bodhicitta is the key to everything. For passing through the death bardo, we must also develop the ability to remain completely at ease or we won’t be able to deal with the great storms, the unexpected aspects of what we thought was reality, the falling apart of self into that which cannot be described in any way. We must remain at ease or death will be quite unpleasant, as we become propelled into the next lifetime by our karmic winds.

If we can remain at ease under all circumstances, the death bardo will be quite a rewarding experience. We’ll be able to navigate through unexpected turbulence, beyond belief, beyond all of our expectations, beyond what we thought were our limitations or what was even possible. We might even awaken within that bright condition that I have referred to as Timeless Luminosity.

When we die, we must leave our physical body behind. What we are left with is a mental body that somehow finds itself held together by our consciousness. We transmigrate in this way.

Now, when we do Spiritual Practice, it is important to learn about remaining at ease first. We simply sit comfortably and focus on breath, without letting our thoughts wander or take over. Once you have mastered this, which might take several years of diligent practice, then we find ourselves with a strong foundation, ready to deal with those much more challenging aspects of our transmigration, such as disturbing emotions and exploring our potentiality in mind, along with transforming everything. It is best to practice calm abiding meditation every single day, as often as you can, and do this accompanied by other practices you find beneficial.

Meditation is never a one size fits all activity. We must adapt to our very unique circumstances. In this, it is beneficial, some say it is crucial, to find a Spiritual Friend who can help. This does not mean that you must go looking for some famous lama or guru of some kind, it means that you must find someone who has more experience than you do who you can trust, someone who you investigate very carefully before asking advice or deciding to become their student. Remember, we must always protect our aspiration to awaken and hold that above all.

In reality, our aspiration to awaken is our Ultimate Guru, not any different than Samantabhadra or a rather advanced understanding of God or Source. Even though we aspire at the beginner level of our Spiritual Journey, we discover that it is really the same as enlightenment itself. We also discover that we cannot actually go anywhere on this journey. All that we can discover is already within us. We discover that we were already aware, already illuminated, already living with unlimited potentiality. We simply unlock that potentiality.

Unlocking this requires us to courageously face our demons, removing them, clearing the obstructions, or simply realizing the obstacles are of our own making and that we already exist in this state of nirvana without knowing it. It takes no effort at all, if we have instant presence in the clarity of our natural condition. Even though enlightenment is discovered to be the easiest thing there is to attain, we’ve become habituated into not knowing this. That’s why the Spiritual Path seems so arduous and cumbersome.

When we sound AH, remain at ease. This energetic single syllable mantra opens our heart and mind to the ineffable. This is why it is said that it unites all gurus and all mantras, as well as any of the millions of possible meditational practices that you can do. We completely open our eyes, we open our mouths fully and sound AH. In this way, we remain at ease with our unlimited potentiality, without engaging in the cluttered landscape of our conceptual mind. We simply unite with the Guru. We shed this silly notion of being somehow separate.

Through our own insight into mind, through our efforts to awaken, we discover the effortless path. We discover our Real Nature, that we are actually just sleeping Buddhas, that we already possess primordial wisdom. Enlightenment requires us to remain at ease as we discover who we really are.

Blessings in Light,

Robert Aho