Selected verses from the Anuttariya Sutta (AN 6:30) of Theravada Buddhism.

“Monks, these six things are unsurpassable. Which six? The unsurpassable seeing, listening, acquisition, training, service, and recollection.

And what is the unsurpassable seeing? Some people go to see an elephant-treasure, a horse-treasure, a jewel-treasure, or a diverse spectrum of sights; or ascetics and brahmins of wrong view and wrong practice. There is such a seeing, I don’t deny it. That seeing is low, crude, ordinary, ignoble, and pointless. It doesn’t lead to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment. The unsurpassable seeing is when someone with settled faith and love, sure and devoted, goes to see a Realized One or their disciple. This is in

But what of the unsurpassable hearing? Some people go to hear the sound of drums, arched harps, singing, or a diverse spectrum of sounds; or ascetics and brahmins of wrong view and wrong practice. There is such a hearing, I don’t deny it. That hearing … doesn’t lead to extinguishment. The

But what of the unsurpassable acquisition? Some people acquire a child, a wife, wealth, or a diverse spectrum of things; or they acquire faith in an ascetic or brahmin of wrong view and wrong practice. There is such an acquisition, I don’t deny it. That acquisition … doesn’t lead to extinguishment. The unsurpassable acquisition is when someone with settled faith and love, sure and devoted, acquires faith in a Realized One or their disciple.

But what of the unsurpassable training? Some people train in elephant riding, horse riding, chariot driving, archery, swordsmanship, or a diverse spectrum of things; or they train under an ascetic or brahmin of wrong view and wrong practice. There is such a training, I don’t deny it. That training … doesn’t lead to extinguishment. The unsurpassable training is when someone with settled faith and love, sure and devoted, trains in the higher ethics, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom in the teaching and training proclaimed by a Realized One. … This is called the unsurpassable training. Such is the unsurpassable

But what of the unsurpassable service? Some people serve an aristocrat, a brahmin, a householder, or a diverse spectrum of people; or they serve ascetics and brahmins of wrong view and wrong practice. There is such service, I don’t deny it. That service … doesn’t lead to extinguishment. The unsurpassable service is when someone with settled faith and love, sure and devoted, serves a Realized One or their disciple. … This is called the unsurpassable service. Such is the unsurpassable seeing, listening, acquisition, training, and service.

But what of the unsurpassable recollection? Some people recollect a child, a wife, wealth, or a diverse spectrum of things; or they recollect an ascetic or brahmin of wrong view and wrong practice. There is such recollection, I don’t deny it. That recollection is low, crude, ordinary, ignoble, and pointless. It doesn’t lead to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment. The unsurpassable recollection is when someone with settled faith and love, sure and devoted, recollects a Realized One or their disciple. … This is called the unsurpassable recollection.

These are the six unsurpassable things.

Translation by Bhikkhu Sujato
https://suttacentral.net/an6.30/en/sujato?lang=en

Not sure which technique is best for you? Not sure how to find out or where to begin? Here is my short, straightforward answer. Try a variety of methods, multiple times.

We usually react to life by either: wanting, rejecting, or ignoring. But a fourth possibility is mindfulness.

Jon Kabat Zinn defines mindfulness as a combination of three things:  (1) Intentionally paying attention (2) in the present moment (3) nonjudgmentally.

Shinzen Young and his work at Harvard Medical, defines mindfulness as a combination of three things:  (1) Focused awareness (2) sensory clarity (3) equanimity.

Use whichever terminology you prefer. And you can use just about anything as an object of meditation. But pure unbroken focus alone is not “mindfulness”. To qualify as mindfulness meditation, it must have the 3 qualities listed above.  That also means that 2 out of 3 is not enough.

You may be focused AND have sensory clarity in the present moment, but if you are judging your experience, you only have 2 out of 3 going for you. True mindfulness meditation includes the practice of equanimity a.k.a. non-judgement. Practicing allowing this moment to be whatever it is. Again and again and again.

Meditation master Shinzen Young says, mindfulness meditation increases total happiness in five ways:

1. Reduces Suffering & Stress

2. Elevates Positive Feelings of Fulfillment

3. Gives You a Deeper Understanding of Yourself at All Levels

4. Helps You Make Positive Behavior Changes 

5. Elevates Your Feelings of Connection to Others

See the full happiness grid chart here:

https://www.shinzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Happiness.pdf

Selected verses from the Dhātuvibhaṅga Sutta (Majjhima Nikāya 140) of Theravada Buddhism.

“He understands thus: ‘If I were to direct this equanimity, so purified and bright, to the base of infinite space and to develop my mind accordingly, then this equanimity of mine, supported by that base, clinging to it, would remain for a very long time. If I were to direct this equanimity, so purified and bright, to the base of infinite consciousness… …to the base of nothingness…to the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception and to develop my mind accordingly, then this equanimity of mine, supported by that base, clinging to it, would remain for a very long time.’

“He understands thus: ‘If I were to direct this equanimity, so purified and bright, to the base of infinite space and to develop my mind accordingly, this would be conditioned. If I were to direct this equanimity, so purified and bright, to the base of infinite consciousness…to the base of nothingness…to the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception and to develop my mind accordingly, this would be conditioned.’

He does not form any condition or generate any volition tending towards either being or non-being. Since he does not form any condition or generate any volition tending towards either being or non-being, he does not cling to anything in this world. When he does not cling, he is not agitated. When he is not agitated, he personally attains Nibbāna. He understands thus: ‘Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being.’ ......

“Formerly, when he was ignorant, he experienced covetousness, desire, and lust; now he has abandoned them, cut them off at the root, made them like a palm stump, done away with them so that they are no longer subject to future arising. Formerly, when he was ignorant, he experienced anger, ill will, and hate; now he has abandoned them, cut them off at the root, made them like a palm stump, done away with them so that they are no longer subject to future arising. Formerly, when he was ignorant, he experienced ignorance and delusion; now he has abandoned them, cut them off at the root, made them like a palm stump, done away with them so that they are no longer subject to future arising. Therefore a bhikkhu possessing this peace possesses the supreme foundation of peace. For this, bhikkhu, is the supreme noble peace, namely, the pacification of lust, hate, and delusion.

“So it was with reference to this that it was said: ‘One should not neglect wisdom, should preserve truth, should cultivate relinquishment, and should train for peace.’

“‘The tides of conceiving do not sweep over one who stands upon these foundations, and when the tides of conceiving no longer sweep over him he is called a sage at peace.’ So it was said.

“Bhikkhu, ‘I am’ is a conceiving; ‘I am this’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall be’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall not be’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall be possessed of form’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall be formless’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall be percipient’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall be non-percipient’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall be neither-percipient-nor-non-percipient’ is a conceiving. Conceiving is a disease, conceiving is a tumor, conceiving is a dart. By overcoming all conceivings, bhikkhu, one is called a sage at peace. And the sage at peace is not born, does not age, does not die; he is not shaken and does not yearn. For there is nothing present in him by which he might be born. Not being born, how could he age? Not aging, how could he die? Not dying, how could he be shaken? Not being shaken, why should he yearn?

“So it was with reference to this that it was said: ‘The tides of conceiving do not sweep over one who stands upon these foundations, and when the tides of conceiving no longer sweep over him he is called a sage at peace.’ 

READ MORE: https://suttacentral.net/mn140/?view=normal&lang=en

An infinite array of worlds; an infinite ocean of realms… 

As I bring them all to mind, I hold with compassion all the beings they contain.

My body, enjoyments, and whatever I own; my aggregates, elements, and senses; my aspirations and everything I grasp as mine… 

Letting them all go, may I be blessed with the end of self-grasping. 

May I now release all forms of greed, hatred, and delusion.

Completely liberated from the bounds of real and unreal; transcending all concepts of arising, cessation, and abiding; attainment and non-attainment, affirmation and denial…

I bow to:

The Great Perfection. 

The Great Completion. 

The Supreme Mandala.

I bow to the Buddhas of all places and times. 

Please bless me to remember my buddha nature, the true condition, the natural state, primordially enlightened mind.

May ALL beings be free from suffering and swiftly attain the most precious jewel. Unsurpassed, perfectly complete Enlightenment.

Selected verses from the Ashtavakra Gita. A beloved book from the Advaita Vedanta tradition. Translated by Thomas Byrom and published as "Heart of Awareness" by Shambhala Dragon Editions. Earlier translations are available through Vedanta Press.

"Rare is the broad-minded person who has neither attraction for nor aversion to: duty, prosperity, desire, liberation, life, and death." 

"A person of Knowledge does not desire the dissolution of the universe, nor has aversion to its existence. Therefore, One lives happily on whatever subsistence comes as a matter of course." 

"Where is delusion, where is the universe, where is renunciation, moreover, where is liberation for the One who is and rests beyond it all."

 "The steady One who sees the same everywhere, sees no difference between happiness and misery, man, and woman, prosperity and adversity." 

"The enlightened One neither abhors the objects of the senses, nor craves for them. Ever with a detached mind, he experiences them as they come." 

"Those desirous of worldly enjoyment, and those desirous of spiritual liberation, both are found in this world. But rare is one who is not desirous of either enjoyment nor liberation." 

"The knower of Truth is never miserable in this world, for the whole universe is filled by himself alone." 

"Let the body last to the end of the age or let it go even today. Where is there any increase or decrease for You, pure consciousness?"

Selected verses from The Gospel of Garab Dorje: The Highest Secret Teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. Translated by Christopher Wilkinson. Published by Lotus Press.

You are and always have been Infinite Consciousness, the living presence and creative power of the Divine, the vast spaciousness of being, always good, and beyond the grasp of the intellect.

Perfect love being your essence, attainment is already complete, and there is no need to strive at practicing compassion.

Phenomena are not other than the True Condition, the Great Perfection. Without input on our part, phenomena appear and disappear. Self-liberating by nature, revealing the way.

The suffering of sentient beings is only the play of Infinite Consciousness, intrinsically perfect energy, in varied forms.

The Mind gives rise to all appearances. Being unborn, it is indestructible. This timeless space of Pure Being is beyond the reach of thought.

There is no need to conceptualize nor to purify the mind of concepts. The deepest meditative tranquility does not think of itself as this or that.

Real meditation is effortless letting go, into The Great Perfection.

Abiding in spacious consciousness, beyond desire and directed intent, one's condition widens to infinity.

Primordial Enlightenment is the source of All. Its manifestations are marvelous wonders.

Appearances, symbols of the All-Good, never change into something other than Pure Presence. All possible circumstances and all beings in them arise non-dually from this Pristine Continuum.

The True Condition cannot be grasped conceptually, but appears in various ways, according to how one thinks about it.

Blessed are the ones who abide continuously in The True Condition, not discriminating between self and other. They enjoy the magical illusion, while abiding in The Great Perfection.

In truth, nothing arises, and nothing ceases. Equal in all its manifestations, all forms being One in reality, nothing needs to be dedicated in any direction.

The True Condition being intrinsically perfect, there is no need to make offerings. No need for our minds to visualize or intend.

Even an instant of this contemplation is Divine Union. And the satisfaction of this union fulfills all spiritual commitments.

Non grasping is already the perfect offering. Equanimity is already the perfect mantra.

Obscured by active striving, The Great Perfection cannot be realized.

The sky of Mind presents nothing that requires improvement or cultivation, avoidance or acceptance.

We are not peering into the beyond nor hankering for special feelings or visions.

The sky of Mind does not crystallize into anything which could be a source of hope or fear. This being the case we simply sit.

When this becomes our lived experience then all appearances (both inner and outer) are recognized as waves of the ocean of infinite consciousness. We allow them to appear and self-liberate.

Because of its invisible intelligence and equanimity, whatever we intend appears, and because the True Condition is nothing, no-thing, it can bring forth the appearance of anything whatsoever.

When we get involved with vows, techniques, good works, mandalas, stages and paths, we are inadvertently cherishing and holding on to the small self. Striving with notions about purity is a mistaken path.

The light of wisdom, the clear light of awareness, is already perfect. The Alll-Good is endlessly playful. The non-dual reality will reflect itself to us in just the way we think about it. Everything is the energetic play of primordial enlightened mind.

The real significance of desire is the wish to know that all appearances are in fact The Great Perfection...

This is where it all starts. An invitation to spend more time tending the garden of your mind. Beginning with understanding the "I AM" principle.