Rapture

[2025 October DCTB Mindfulness Tip] 

In the silence of the mind, rapture erupts. When we practice meditation – true meditation, and not a relaxation exercise – thoughts cease and awareness expands. Within this still pond, waves of elation begin to spontaneously move. Sometimes there is an experience of visual light. For many, there is simply a small smile and a feeling of pure joy – of rapture.

The funny thing about this feeling is we cannot force it. The more we chase it, the more elusive it becomes. All we can do is remain still in open space and wait for it to bubble up. We sit, focus the mind, and practice patience. Eventually the bliss beyond happiness once again fills our awareness.

This bliss is intoxicating. It can be addictive. Many on the spiritual path stop when they are immersed in this timeless Joy. It can feel like one has Arrived. Instead of continuing deeper, they build a life in the pursuit and maintenance of rapture. Their attention rises and falls, seeking this elusive state of rapture. Bliss is beautiful, but it is not Enlightenment. Being caught in a cycle of rapture and ordinary attention is not freedom. Some might argue it’s better than the typical pain pleasure cycle, but it’s the same cycle of suffering, just with a different view.

How do we go beyond Bliss?

To go beyond Bliss, we continue with our simple practice. We pay attention. We surrender to the Light, allowing it to do with us whatever it will. When rapture comes, we pay attention. When ordinary attention comes with all of its human concerns, we pay attention. We remain alert and aware of all that arises and falls away – without clinging, without trying to change anything. We begin to recognize that one is not necessarily better than the other. Equanimity naturally grows.

This doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy the bliss when it comes. Of course we do! It simply means we do not seek it out. We don’t exclude and we don’t include. We remain open to everything.

It is in this willingness to remain open, aware, and alert that the real magic of the Path occurs. We discover there is nothing to force, nothing to run away from, and nothing to run towards. There is only This. Life unfolding into Life.

And in this quiet beatitude, we Awaken. Awareness remembers Itself as Everything and Nothing.

Bliss gives way to Peace. Beyond the cycle of samsara, there is recognition that samsara is Nirvana. Ordinary awareness is infused with Light, as it always has been.

All of this begins quite simply, with sitting in the silence of meditation.

No matter where you are on your journey of Light, please join us at Dharma Center of Trikaya Buddhism where we share space to experience the purity of Bliss and Peace.

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