I am very glad to see people working with these exercises in ordinary situations and in sitting practice both. These are in one way very advance practices: as you can see, they come at the end of the book and they build on everything that has come before. For us too they come in Course Three, and they are presented in When It Rains as “level three” practices.
All this is true, but at the same time, there is not any need to structure in terms of high and low, advanced or easy. We are asked to do the practices in a relaxed way, allowing the light to be present. And in this week’s reading and exercise, we are asked to find this same ‘lucent’ quality in all experience (Peter, even in your resistance and not knowing). My sense is that what people have written about their experience so far is helpful, for we each experience these possibilities differently, but each possibly sheds (brings in) more light.
However you practice this week, I would like you to add one thing. When you visualize light, or look for the quality of light, see if you can make the light as bright and intense as possible. A simple example is traffic lights, which are illuminated from within. A traditional example from the Tibetan tradition is the light that is reflected off newly fallen snow. A good word might be “dazzling.” Not so much that you are blinded! The light should have the power to transform.
Jack