Pearls of DailyGelek 2: LEAVE IT AS IT IS

As a response to the covid times and the imposed seclusion, for a couple of years Khenpo Gelek Jinpa gave support to Shenten´s community with his regular online teaching from Gyalwa Chaktri, the famous practice manual of Bon Dzogchen. At the beginning, those one hour long meetings took place every day, and combined thirty minutes of teaching with meditation. They were attended by up to three hundred people and many of them expressed their gratitude to the lama. During those encounters, Khenpo la repeatedly shared his key instructions. We decided to collect some and present them as a series of daily reminders. We continue with “LEAVE IT AS IT IS” and what it means in the context of Dzogchen practice.

Whenever I shared a worry with my master, Yongdzin Rinpoche, he used to say:  leave it as it is. I repeat it to myself when I feel disturbed.

Khenpo Gelek Jinpa

Leave it as it is

Do not chase after the past, do not create the future, do not modify the present – these are traditional recommendations about how to keep our mind when we meditate, how to detach it from our usual rush after thoughts and make it still.

It is a healthy attitude in general, not only in the practice.

Whatever happened, is gone. We should not lock it in our heart. Good things, bad things – let them go. Do not get obscured by your past.   

As for the future, nobody knows what it will be, so we should not spend much time in thinking about it. The future is not ripened yet, so do not shape it with your worries. With too much thinking, concepts become more and more concrete, it is like water becoming ice.

Be relaxed instead and help other people to relax about the future. Relaxed does not mean lazy, it means being able to release the stress from our mind and our body.

And what does it mean “do not modify the present”? Accept without judgment whatever arises in your mind. Do not elaborate it. Abide in the presence of it. Whatever comes, if you do not grasp at it, it will be liberated by itself. It is easier to say than do, but it is not too hard either. It is possible.

Whenever I shared a worry with my master, Yongdzin Rinpoche, he used to say:  leave it as it is. I repeat it to myself when I feel disturbed. I try to leave the mind unpolluted with negative thoughts and avoid negative reactions. Do not hold on those thoughts, and do not block them either – it is the best way how to deal with them.

We should keep this advice in our hearts. These are challenging times but worrying does not help. So do not worry much, whatever happens, take it as a result of our collective karma and a sign of the reality of impermanence.

Leave it as it is, leave everything in your mind freely. And if I cannot do that for the moment, then I pray, I at least pray as much as I can for everybody´s release from suffering. This is helpful for me and for others.

What matters is what is inside our hearts, our minds. There, you can cultivate peace and compassion, deep understanding for yourself and others. We all can.

(Daily sessions on ZOOM were called DailyGelek initially; later, Geshe Samten, Geshe Lungrik and Geshe Kalsang joined and the meetings were renamed DailyShenten).

Photo: Jitka Polanská, Largen Lama