Why the Buddhist Meditation Path is Good in the Beginning, Good in the Middle, and Good in the End

The Path Begins in Realization

The Buddha’s teaching is often said to be “good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end” — and that is exactly how I’ve experienced meditation. It begins with grounded clarity, deepens through compassion, and culminates in the fearless recognition of mind’s potential. Each stage contains the seed of the next, showing that the path is a continuous unfolding of insight and capacity.

The First Vehicle: The Discipline of Seeing Clearly

In the Theravada tradition, meditation begins with honesty and discipline. We train to see reality as it is, not as we wish it to be. Through mindfulness of breath, body, and thought, we begin to perceive the impermanent nature of all experience and the futility of clinging. This is the work of disentangling ourselves from confusion — not to escape life, but to stop mistaking illusion for truth.

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I loved practicing with the Theravada community — the simplicity, the silence, the grounded wisdom. Yet I always missed the presence of the bodhisattvas, those luminous symbols of compassion that had first inspired me on the Mahayana path.

The Second Vehicle: The Heart of Compassion

I began in Zen — a blend of Sōtō and Rinzai — rooted in the Mahayana tradition, where meditation expands into the vast field of compassion. Here, realization is no longer about one’s own liberation but the awakening of all beings. The bodhisattva ideal teaches that wisdom and compassion are inseparable. Practices like Metta (loving-kindness) and Tonglen (sending and receiving) embody this spirit of boundless empathy.

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In Mahayana, we learn to breathe with the world — to let the suffering of others open our hearts rather than close them. Meditation becomes an act of courage and participation, not retreat.

The Third Vehicle: The Indestructible View

Vajrayana, often called the Indestructible vehicle, reveals meditation as the recognition of mind’s innate emptiness and clarity. Rather than rejecting thoughts or emotions, we work directly with their energy. The raw, unfiltered experience of each moment becomes the very path. It’s a practice of inclusion — where nothing is outside awareness and nothing needs to be denied.

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When I first encountered this approach, it felt like stepping into a new dimension of freedom. The sacred and the ordinary merged, and that’s what skydancer world is all about. The practice no longer aimed at improvement, but at revealing the full capacity that was always latent within us.

Triyana – The Three Vehicles as One Path

Through Triyana Meditation, I integrate techniques from all three vehicles into every session — the grounded mindfulness of Theravada, the compassionate vastness of Mahayana, and the fearless awareness of Vajrayana, the Indestructible Vehicle. Each reinforces the other; each is part of the same unfolding truth.

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Meditation, in the end, is not about escaping the world, or managing stress, but revealing our full potential through it, by familiarizing ourselves with the minds ways. The path continues to evolve, just as we do — steady, spacious, and indestructibly alive.

If you wish to participate in live Triyana meditation classes, workshops, or retreats, you’re warmly welcome — find upcoming events here.
And if you prefer to begin from home, you can join me in an online meditation course. It’s a way to deepen your own practice at your own pace — discovering through reflections, guidance and practice – the clarity and confidence already waiting within you.

Yours in the Dharma,

Lama Chimey