The Direct Method of Realization

Padmasambhava
The Great Secret of Mind (pages 165-166)
by Tulku Pema Rigtsal (translated by Keith Dowman)

People who are not interested in elaborate methods or who are unable to practice them can
use this instruction from The Super-Refined Oral Precepts of Pema Lingpa, which is eminently
portable and extremely potent in its blessings:
Then the Dakini Yeshe Tsogyel requested her master Padmasambhava to give her simple
instructions that condense the teaching into a single precept that is easy to practice. The
Guru replied, Listen, you beautiful, devoted, and joyful being! There are all kinds of
instructions on posture, but just sit relaxed and at ease thats the main point. There are
many precepts concerning speech and energy, like binding the breath and reciting mantras,
but just stay silent like a mute thats the main thing. There are many key points of mind to
follow, like fixating the mind, relaxing, radiating and absorbing light, concentrating, and
many more, but just stay free and easy without trying to change anything, just resting
naturally thats the main thing."

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

(edited selection from a longer piece)

The everyday practice of enlightenment is simply to develop a complete carefree acceptance,

openness to all situations without limit. We should realize that the purpose of meditation is
not to go "deeply into ourselves" or withdraw from the world. Practice should be free and
non-conceptual, unconstrained by introspection and concentration.
Seeing all things as naked, clear and free from obscurations, there is nothing to attain or
realize. The nature of phenomena appears naturally and is naturally present in timetranscending awareness. Everything is naturally perfect just as it is. All phenomena appear
in their uniqueness as part of the continually changing pattern. These patterns are vibrant
with meaning and significance at every moment; yet there is no significance to attach to such
meanings beyond the moment in which they present themselves.
This is the dance of the five elements in which matter is a symbol of energy and energy a
symbol of emptiness. We are a symbol of our own enlightenment. With no effort or
practice whatsoever, liberation or enlightenment is already here.
When engaging in meditation practice, we should feel it to be as natural as eating, breathing
and defecating. It should not become a specialized or formal event, bloated with seriousness
and solemnity. We should realize that meditation transcends effort, practice, aims, goals and
the duality of liberation and non-liberation. Meditation is always ideal; there is no need to
correct anything.
Therefore we should simply sit. Simply stay in your own place, in your own condition, just
as it is. Simply plunging directly into meditation in the moment now, with our whole being,
free from hesitation, boredom or excitement, is enlightenment.

Dogen Zenji
Zazen (shikantaza just sitting) is not a meditation technique. It is simply the Dharma gate of
joyful ease; it is practicing the realization of the boundless Dharma way. Here, the open
mystery manifests, and there are no more traps and snares for you to get caught in.
To study the Way (Tao, Dharma) is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self allows one to be enlightened by all things. To be enlightened by all things
of the universe is to cast off clinging to the body and mind of ones self as well as those of
others. Even the flickering traces of enlightenment cease, and then life with traceless, endless
enlightenment goes on without interruption.

Ramana Maharshi
Reality is simply loss of the ego (clinging to the delusion of an inherently existing and separate self).
Dissolve the ego by seeking its identity.
Because the ego has no inherent existence,
it will automatically vanish and Reality will shine forth in all its glory.
This is the direct method.
All other methods retain the ego.
In those paths so many doubts arise, and the eternal question remains to be tackled.
But in this method the final question is the only one and is raised from the very beginning.
No special practices are even necessary for this quest.
Because people want something elaborate and mysterious,
so many religious practices have come into existence.
Only those who are mature can understand the matter in its naked simplicity.

Saraha
Mantras and tantras, meditation and concentration, they are all a cause of self-deception.
Do not defile in contemplation [the Awareness] that is pure in its own nature, but abide in
the bliss of yourself and cease those torments.
It (mahamudra, pure awareness, Buddha-nature) is empty of any mandala.
Empty of devotees who make burned offerings.
Detached from any mantras, mudras, and the visualization of deities.
It cannot be realized through tantras and shastras.
This indestructible awareness, which is our own natural state of being,
is perfect in its natural state.
He (Saraha) criticizes monastic Buddhism for perpetuating endless doctrinal disputes, and tantric
practitioners for further binding themselves to subtle fixations and dualistic concepts with their methods. He
maintained that enlightenment can be more readily obtained by simply resting in the nature of the mind.
Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche M ind at Ease (pg. 8)