What is grace and where does it come from?

If you’re a Christian, you have a clear answer. Grace comes from God. But still, you don’t experience grace every day. Why not?

If you follow a non-dual path, like Advaita Vedanta, you likely think grace comes from Oneness, Spirit, or God. Indeed, some radical schools of non-duality advise you to leave everything up to grace and the will of God.

If you’re a Buddhist like me, there’s no external creator to depend on for grace. But still, there are times when you feel especially blessed. How do you explain that?

Effort or grace? What’s the right way?

Let’s explore.

Effort on the Spiritual Path

I’ve studied and practiced Buddhism for more than thirty years. During the course of my studies, I was told again and again, by highly regarded teachers, that spiritual realization takes considerable effort. 

“Do not entertain hopes for realization, but practice all your life.”—Milarepa

What we seek is right here within us, always present. It’s been called true nature, buddha nature, pure awareness, pure consciousness, and a host of other names.

But even though it’s so close and in one sense, so easily accessible, my teachers have said we must diligently address all the habits and patterns that block its recognition. 

These obscurations are four-fold in Tibetan Buddhism and include:

1. Karmic obscurations

2. Emotional obscurations

3. Cognitive obscurations

4. Habitual obscurations

Our true essence is simple. But humans are complicated, right?

If you take an honest look at yourself, you’ll likely see a hotel lobby full of emotional, mental, and habitual baggage. It keeps you in a cycle of suffering even if you engage in regular spiritual practice or simply want to be a good person.

I’m a perfect example. My first decades of spiritual practice were tainted by arrogance as well as a need to prove myself as paradoxical as that might sound. 

I thought I had found “the way” and expected others to also have unfailing devotion as instructed in the Dzogchen teachings. I worked endless hours for my teacher as an expression of my own devotion. 

But was it really devotion? 

Underneath the surface, what I really sought was my teacher’s love. I needed, or so I thought, his approval to bolster my low self-esteem. True devotion was there, but it was thoroughly mixed with my emotional troubles.

I understood the teachings intellectually. But my own unconscious emotional patterns and limiting beliefs got in the way of embodying the spiritual principles I cherished. 

I wasn’t alone either. 

Despite all the hours of teachings and transmissions, people in my spiritual community got caught up in and played out their own personal narrative again and again. They had glimpses of their true nature, but couldn’t sustain it very long.

My experience seems to prove the point that effort over time is required on the spiritual path. And the Dalai Lama himself says to practice as much as you can, whatever your tradition and even if you’re a non-believer.

“In conclusion, those who like myself, consider themselves to be followers of Buddha, should practice as much as we can. To followers of other religious traditions, I would like to say, ‘Please practice your own religion seriously and sincerely.” And to non-believers, I request you to try to be warm-hearted. I ask this of you because these mental attitudes actually bring us happiness. As I have mentioned before, taking care of others actually benefits you.”—the Dalai Lama

Grace on the Spiritual Path

But what about people who wake up with no effort at all?

Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now, is perhaps the most well known example of an individual who literally woke up overnight without any spiritual training whatsoever. 

Tolle suffered from anxiety and depression most of his life according to the introduction to his book. In his early thirties, he became suicidal and longed for annihilation. One night, at his worst and for no apparent reason, he suddenly began to wonder who or what within him was aware of his desperate thoughts.

Stunned by the realization there might be something more than his horrific thoughts and disturbed feelings, he fell into a void. The next morning he woke awakened.

Another example is Byron Katie, founder of the practice called “The Work.” According to her bio, Katie entered a ten-year downward spiral of depression, agoraphobia, self-loathing, and suicidal despair. She was often unable to shower or brush her teeth. 

While living in a halfway house for women with eating disorders, Katie had a life-changing experience thanks to a cockroach that crawled across her ankle and down her foot.

“‘While I was lying on the floor, I understood that when I was asleep, prior to cockroach or foot, prior to any thoughts, prior to any world, there was — there is — nothing. In that instant, the four questions of The Work were born.’ She felt intoxicated with joy. The joy persisted for hours, then days, then months and years.”

Prior to this awakening, Katie had never read a spiritual book or heard about spiritual practice.

How do you explain these sudden awakening experiences?

Some would call this grace. If that’s the case, why were these people chosen over others?

I think it might be positive karma from a past life, which implies effort was involved at least way back then.

This kind of sudden awakening is extremely rare. Whatever the rationale for it, this rarity leads me to conclude that effort seems to be a requirement for the vast majority of us. 

It might not be wise to sit around and wait for grace.

We all experience grace at times—moments when everything seems to flow effortlessly and synchronicity permeates the day.

But I believe we create grace ourselves through the accumulation of our own positive actions. We just never know when it will strike. And even if there is a creator, at the very least his or her grace seems to require some cooperation on our part.

"Enlightenment is an accident, but some activities make you accident-prone."—J. Krishnamurti 

Closing Thoughts

These days, I feel the closeness and the simplicity of true nature more than ever. That’ not to say I’ve awakened. I understand pure awareness is effortless once we get the conceptual mind out of the way.

I’m also more relaxed about effort. I’ve learned that too much effort, too much trying, too much wanting can block the realization of that which exists inherently within. Moments of awareness strung out over the course of the day can sometimes do more for me than a strained sitting practice.

But still, I engage in these three practices on a regular basis:

• Sitting meditation

• Contemplation (on emptiness, no-self, and other teachings)

• Rooting out emotional patterns and false beliefs

Because grace is beautiful. But it’s not guaranteed.

[Photo by Mikhail Nilov]

Thank you for your presence, I know your time is precious!  Don’t forget to  sign up for Wild Arisings, my twice monthly letters from the heart filled with insights, inspiration, and ideas to help you connect with and live from your truest self. 

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