Don't vacillate could be translated as "be steadfast", as you wrote. Or more simply "stay", as Pema Chödrön advises. I think one of the risks I face is that I think too much. I don't stay, I'm on the move. "What is the real meaning of X?", "Maybe I should read another book" – I'm always searching and I'm vacillating in that way because searching keeps me from practicing. Of course I would never have found all the valuable teachings that I did find if I hadn't been driven to look for them. The question is: when is something enough? Maybe it is time to set a stop for this unending search and concentrate on what I have.
I found this quote in an article by Repa Dorje Odzer (Justin von Bujdoss) about Tilopa's advice on meditation (Tilopa's Six Nails Tricycle Spring 2018):
"Indeed, my first teacher advised me not to read too much about instructions like these. “If you must read,” she told me, “try to read and then instantly forget. Too much knowledge of the path can make meditation much harder than it needs to be.”"
I guess both too little and too much knowledge make our little boat wobble.
I work with it as not being stuck on dualistic notions of knowing/not-knowing. Like, we are good AND we are capable of being better. I might figure something out that is true for a time, but things change and what is true in one situation is not in another. Don't hold anything too tightly, but also, don't be dismissive without first applying a teaching in various forms.
Don't vacillate could be translated as "be steadfast", as you wrote. Or more simply "stay", as Pema Chödrön advises. I think one of the risks I face is that I think too much. I don't stay, I'm on the move. "What is the real meaning of X?", "Maybe I should read another book" – I'm always searching and I'm vacillating in that way because searching keeps me from practicing. Of course I would never have found all the valuable teachings that I did find if I hadn't been driven to look for them. The question is: when is something enough? Maybe it is time to set a stop for this unending search and concentrate on what I have.
I found this quote in an article by Repa Dorje Odzer (Justin von Bujdoss) about Tilopa's advice on meditation (Tilopa's Six Nails Tricycle Spring 2018):
"Indeed, my first teacher advised me not to read too much about instructions like these. “If you must read,” she told me, “try to read and then instantly forget. Too much knowledge of the path can make meditation much harder than it needs to be.”"
I guess both too little and too much knowledge make our little boat wobble.
(Did that make sense?)
I work with it as not being stuck on dualistic notions of knowing/not-knowing. Like, we are good AND we are capable of being better. I might figure something out that is true for a time, but things change and what is true in one situation is not in another. Don't hold anything too tightly, but also, don't be dismissive without first applying a teaching in various forms.