The. basic practice of meditation is a question of simplicity, unlearning and undoing. But it can’t be a hundred percent foolproof. In order to undo,  one has to do something. We’re dealing with the samsaric, or confused, world, and in order to solve the problem, we had to create the problem. So even during meditation we’re creating spiritual materialism of one kind of another — which is, at least, relatively harmless. It just lives by itself, and dies by itself, through the simple technique of putting awareness on the breath, which has been prescribed by the Buddha. Meditation tends to cut through unnecessary thought chatter, subconscious gossip, and mental duplicity. It’s not immediate, and because of that your approach is simple-minded: just be with your breath, just be with your body. Sit down, and don’t try to think of anything else. Let the breath be your thought.

From Cynicism and Magic: Intelligence and Intuition on the Buddhist Path, page 43.

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Chogyam Trungpa, early 1970s.

Photographer Unknown.