The Donkey and the Rider: Why Progressive Muscle Relaxation Meditation is Not a Path to What You Already Are

It is a strange comedy we play, this constant looking for what can never be lost. We move through the world with a sense of lack, a feeling that if we just find the right technique, the right silence, or the right teacher, we will finally arrive at a state of completion. But who is this "we" that thinks it is separate from the totality? We are like someone frantically searching for their glasses while they are already perched on their nose. In the simple traditions of the countryside, they have a saying for this: searching for the donkey while you are already riding it. This is the heart of the matter. The absolute is not a destination. It is not something that appears at the end of a long road of spiritual effort. It is here, now, as the very fabric of this moment, whether that moment feels like a profound insight or a mundane distraction. When we talk about something like progressive muscle relaxation meditation, we have to be very clear about what is actually happening. We are often told that if we relax the body-mind, we will eventually notice what is already here. This is a fundamental misunderstanding. If the absolute is truly infinite, it must include you exactly as you are right now—tense, distracted, or seeking. If you have to change your state to "reach" the infinite, then that infinite isn't actually infinite; it’s just another limited state of mind. We don't practice to become the ocean; the wave is already the ocean, even when it is crashing against the rocks. The body-mind is a single unit, a functional modality of the totality. Sometimes this unit is tight, contracted by the pressures of a life lived in the illusion of time. We carry chronic tensions that we don't even notice because they have become our background noise. In this context, progressive muscle relaxation meditation can be a very useful tool on a horizontal level. When the body-mind relaxes, the blood vessels open, oxygen flows more freely, and the immune system finds its natural balance. It feels good to let go of a contraction. It is a form of self-care that makes the relative experience of being alive more harmonious. But let’s not deceive ourselves: feeling better is not the same as awakening. Awakening is the realization that there is no separate self to be improved. There is a common trap in the world of spiritual seeking where we turn meditation into a ladder. We think, "If I quiet my mind today, I will be closer to the truth tomorrow." But truth has no relationship with tomorrow. The only dimension of absolute freedom is vertical—it is the "now" that never ends. Whether the mind is as calm as a mountain lake or as chaotic as a storm, the aware presence that witnesses both is unchanged. The screen is not affected by the content of the film. Whether the movie is a tragedy of suffering or a beautiful romance, the screen remains white, untouched, and ever-present.