Insurance is not available

Apprentice When I am practising shi-nè, does it matter if being uninvolved with my experience is only another form of commentary, or is that inevitable?

Ngak’chang Rinpoche You cannot begin from the position of perfect practise. Perfect practise is less important than the act of practise and the regularity of practise. Simply perceive experience and allow it to disown itself.

A common problem amongst practitioners, especially in the West, is that they want to commence with practise at the same time as attempting to ensure that everything is perfect. But somehow that kind of insurance is not available. You have to take a chance and accept the uncooked or patchy quality of your practise of shi-nè. Commentaries and analysis could typify your distraction from shi-nè for some time—but that analysis needs to be seen as integral to your path. So simply leave your conceptual situation as it is. Nothing needs to be finalised. Commentaries are not problematic as long as they are not converted into conclusion. Simply avoid the creation of definite established ‘messages’ that can be referred to as indicators—because such indicators indicate nothing beyond the situation in which they existed.

Apprentice In the moment when my commentary exists, I tend to cling to that commentary.

Ngak’chang Rinpoche Yes—that is to be expected.  There is no problem unless you give the commentary special value. Commentaries are simply referential chatter, which is all right as long as it is not converted into praise or blame. Let the commentaries be what they are and simply avoid interfering with them as if they were problems.