I find just resting on a phrase such as TSK 4: ‘…it may be possible to discover a kind of space in some intimate connection with each thought, each sensation, each surface and each conceptual category, which constitutes our lived world,’ produces an instant felt state of intimacy. ‘Resting on’ includes a simultaneous kaleidoscope of subtle activity such as inviting awareness to attend to each suggestion and allowing the words to wash through my cells, like tangible water or energy. It is as though I breathe in the words and their meanings quite literally merge with my embodiment, allowing new knowledge to be revealed and known as they do.
This arises with a total relaxation of the senses and the relinquishing of any attempt to make any kind of intellectual sense of what is happening. Transmission seems to be an accurate word here.
It also strikes me that the writing itself fosters intimacy: in the use of words such as may, discover, connection and lived. It is as though Rinpoche breathes his Realisation into the language he chooses and that becomes a living bridge for the reader to connect with and embody that same realisation. When reading TSK I often have a sense of connection to ‘him’ and the ‘Space’ that ‘produced’ him.
It also sometimes seems that allowing intimacy with that Space is all I need; that that throws a switch for a completely new order of transmission to occur directly from Time, Space and Knowledge.
I’ve recently been contemplating these words of Machig Labdrön: ‘Approach what you find repulsive, help the ones you think you cannot help, and go to places that scare you.’ Surely only intimacy, in the sense in which it is discussed in TSK, can provide enough kindness to allow us to even contemplate being able to do this?
Caroline