free and easy

free and easy: a spontaneous song of indestructible reality

Gendün Rinpoche




happiness is not to be found

through great effort and willpower

it is already present in open relaxation and letting go


don't strain

there's nothing to do or to undo

whatever momentarily and adventitiously arises in body–mind

has no real import at all

has very little reality at all

why identify with it and become attached to it,

passing judgement on it and on yourself and others?

 
far better simply

to let the entire game just happen on its own

springing up and falling back again like waves

without 'rectifying' things or manipulating things

just noticing how everything vanishes

and then magically reappears, again and again and again

time without end

 
it's only our searching for happiness

that prevents us from seeing it

like a vivid rainbow one runs after but can never catch

or a dog chasing its own tail


though peace and happiness have no existence

as some actual place or thing

they are forever at hand —

one's constant companion at every instant

 
just don't be taken in by the apparent reality

of good and bad experiences

they're like today's passing weather

like rainbows in the sky


wanting to grasp the ungraspable

you exhaust yourself in vain

but as soon as you open up and relax the tight fist of grasping

infinite space is right there — open, inviting, comfortable



use this spaciousness — this freedom and natural ease

don't look anywhere else

don't go off into the tangled jungle

searching for the elephant of great awakenedness

when he is already at home

quietly resting in front of your own hearth

 
there's nothing to do or to undo

nothing to force

nothing you have to want

nothing missing

 

emaho — how marvelous

 

everything just happens of itself





translation by Mike Dickman