Sky Gazing
There is a meditation practice within Tibetan Buddhism called Sky Gazing it comes from the Meditation tradition of Dzogchen – which strongly emphasises resting in a natural state free from conceptual elaborations. This natural state is wide open, clear and lucid; it neither rejects anything or clings to anything and is sometimes referred to as spontaneous awareness. It is spontaneous because nothing has manufactured or created it, like having to meditate or having to be calm. It always has been there and therefore is also called primordial awareness.
The clear blue sky is the closest external example of what this natural state is like. The clear sky is also a metaphor for the natural states indestructibility. Just like the sky is not affected by the passing weather neither is our natural state stained by thoughts or emotions no matter how strong they may be. This is a liberating view in the field of meditation. No longer do you have the idea that you have to purify and remove all the negative states of mind, now there is a teaching that directly points to an aspect of yourself which is your essential nature.
This nature is pure right from the beginning and accessing that awareness is what sky gazing skilfully aims to do.
Another important things to understand is that the sky like nature of your mind is always there, it is permanent. All other mental states come and go. This is the reason enlightenment is possible. If disturbing and negative states where permanent or fundamental to the mind they could not be removed, but because all negative states are impermanent and not an essential nature of the mind they can be removed. This is great news.
Sky gazing is apart of the Dzogchen tradition which is considered the highest spiritual path within Tibetan Buddhism and has been kept secret and only given to the most devout students, but as one Meditation Master has said in these times of strong materialism, chaos and disturbing emotions there needs to be an equally strong practice that can counter those negative forces and sky gazing is a practice that can do just that.
“Sky gazing is a way to feel release from the narrow confines of the personality or ego. It connects a person to the vast, expansive, clear, open, space of awareness that is their authentic nature. It brings relaxation, peace, joy, and a fresh, crisp sense of connecting to reality; the natural state of things.”
Before I explain how to do it I would like to include here the psychology of why it’s so powerful. My Buddhist teacher always emphasised how the mind is clear like water and whatever you focus on colours that clear awareness. By it’s very nature the awareness is clear and pure but gets muddied and coloured by focusing our attention on negative thoughts and disturbing emotions. In fact just like water becomes muddied our mind becomes the same as what we focus on. If we focus on anger our minds become anger, if we focus on our ego our minds become the ego. In this way what you focus on is like cordial and your mind is like water, once they are mixed together they become almost inseparable. This is where sky gazing comes in. By gazing into the clear sky you can experience the purity of awareness without it being coloured by thoughts and emotions, this is an amazing discovery, which you can realise for yourself, it does not require belief it requires practice.
Your awareness becomes clear and open too like the sky and this becomes an access point for the clear and lucid spontaneous awareness of the natural state itself.
The key to the natural state is that it is both empty, without boundaries like the sky but it is also lucid and cognizant, the realisation of these two inseparable things, emptiness and awareness, as your true nature is your enlightened nature which does not need to be created because it’s always there – it needs to be discovered.
This meditation unlike others has the eyes wide open and this is also a great way to train because it does not shut anything out but opens up to all things. This can have a profound effect on the mind to keep the eyes open while in a meditative state. A great Dzogchen Master Jamgon Kontrul Rinpoche explains:
“Present awareness is empty, open, and luminous; not a concrete substance, yet not nothing. Empty, yet it is perfectly cognizant, lucid, aware.”
I have practised sky gazing and I must say it is by far the most direct path to an enlightened experience. I have so far been technical in my explanation but the experience is nothing less than poetic and magical. An open expansive state beyond the bounds of normal thinking, its clarity is only surpassed by its indescribable quality, any only people who have sat on a high mountain and gazed out at the eternal nothingness have probably had a glimpse of what I am trying to put into words.
Open, naked, enormous and all engulfing. A moment of timeless unity where all things seem so vivid yet so incredibly insignificant.
As I mentioned Dzogchen or sustaining the natural state of non-conceptual awareness is literally the highest and most advanced practice of all of Tibetan Buddhism. It is something that can take you to full awakening of enlightenment in a few short years and is also been called Tibetan Zen for its similarities to the cutting simplicity of Zen Buddhism. The enlightened Master Jamgon Kontrul Rinpoche says this about the meditation tradition:
“…. the heart of all practices is included here, in simply sustaining the luminous nature of this present awareness….If you search elsewhere for something better, a Buddha superior to this present awareness, you are deluding yourself.”
How To Practise Sky Gazing
Method 1:
1. Find a high place with a good view of an expansive clear sky. (You can also lie on your back outside and try it)
2. Sit comfortably and for a few moments calm your mind with long deep slow breaths.
3. With a good posture tilt your head slightly upward and with a noble disposition gaze without distraction or dullness into the clear expansive blue sky (best done on non cloudy days).
4. Let go of all thoughts allowing them to pass by like clouds and encourage your awareness to slowly merge with the expansive blue sky
5. Notice how inner thoughts evaporate into your inner sky like awareness like clouds evaporating in the sky.
6. Recognise that this open and expansive experience is actually the most fundamental and natural state of your being.
7. Sustain this recognition of an open and expansive state as being for as long as possible and return to it when you get distracted.
Method 2.
1. Find a high place with a good view of an expansive clear sky. (You can also lie on your back outside and try it)
2. Sit comfortably and for a few moments calm your mind with long deep slow breaths.
3. With a good posture tilt your head slightly upward and with a noble disposition gaze without distraction or dullness into the clear expansive blue sky (best done on non cloudy days).
4. Fully concentrate on your breath going in and out without getting distracted or becoming dull.
5. Follow the breath out with your awareness and notice or imagine how it dissolves into the sky in front of you.
6. Follow the breath in with your awareness and notice or imagine how it dissolves into the inner space of your sky like awareness.
7. Keep following the breath in and out noticing it dissolve into outer space and inner space repeatedly.
8. Notice and fully recognise that the outer sky is exactly the same as the inner sky like mind and allow yourself to dwell in this non dual realisation without distraction and without dullness- The inner space is one with outer space.
NOTE:
Whilst this meditation is meant to be done on a high up place it also can be done right now at your computer. There is always space in front of you that you can merge with and recognise as your true and authentic natural state. Even the space between you and the computer can be used to shift your attention from objects to clear open space. Try it now.
Written by Chad Foreman
Chad Foreman has been teaching meditation since 2003 and is determined to bring authentic meditation practices into the lives of millions of people. Chad is a former Buddhist monk and spent 6 years living in a retreat hut studying and practising meditation full time. He is now a fully qualified meditation teacher with the Australian Institute of Meditation and has designed a unique 21 day meditation challenge to guide people gradually from the basics of mindfulness and relaxation to profound states of awareness. Click Here to learn more about the 21 Day Meditation Challenge.
