This passage from a retreat on mind training articulates a principle that runs through all Buddhist practice: move into the experience of whatever is arising. The forms differ across traditions, but the orientation is the same. Don’t try to reach any particular state; instead meet experience directly.
Seen this way, the huge variety of methods taught in Buddhism begins to look secondary. Whether described as endurance, as treating everything as a dream, or as resting in direct awareness, the point is consistent. Bring attention fully into what is happening, without distraction and without interference. The mahamudra formulation—no distraction, no control, no work—captures this with exquisite clarity.
What distinguishes this principle for me is how little it depends on effort in the usual sense. It’s not about improving daily experience or making something happen. Instead, the emphasis falls on relinquishing deeply ingrained habits of control and manipulation. Across traditions, practice becomes a matter of staying present with experience exactly as it is.
From Mind Training in Seven Points 2
Ken: The key principle in all Buddhist practice is to move into the experience of whatever is arising, right in the present. In the Theravadan tradition this is characterized as the courage to endure what arises. Mahayana—we cheat. Everything’s a dream. Vajrayana, or direct awareness techniques, sit and be with everything. Never lose attention for a moment. Don’t try to make anything different.
The mahamudra instructions: no distraction, no control, no work. Means you’re not distracted by anything. You don’t try to control your experience in any way. And you don’t work at to make some kind of experience happen, or some kind of ability happen. You’re just right in what is.
It’s the same right across all Buddhism. Move right into the experience and be there. The whole point of all of these different techniques is to develop that ability. Whether it’s Soto Zen, Theravadan, vipassana, visualization meditations, Six Yogas of Naropa, dzogchen. It all comes down to that point.