Within the Great Perfection, daily life is not regarded as an obstacle to realization but as its very field. The essential orientation is to recognize rigpa—primordial, aware openness—within whatever is occurring, rather than seeking a special state apart from ordinary experience. This means sustaining a natural, unforced awareness during all activities, allowing the same clarity known in formal contemplation to pervade walking, eating, speaking, and working. The distinction between “practice” and “life” is gradually seen as a conceptual habit rather than a real division. Activities then become occasions for recognition, not distractions from it.

A central method is to rely on short, repeated moments of recognition. Many times throughout the day, one briefly relaxes body and mind, releases grasping at thoughts and emotions, and rests in the open, cognizant nature of experience. These glimpses are not strained efforts to manufacture a state, but simple acknowledgments of what is already present. Over time, this rhythm of “short moments, many times” allows awareness to become more continuous, even amid complex tasks and conceptual thinking. Thought and activity then function like waves on an ocean, without obscuring the underlying expanse.

Emotions and thoughts are not treated as enemies to be eliminated, but as displays of the same awareness. When anger, fear, or desire arise, the instruction is to recognize them as vivid yet insubstantial, temporary appearances within rigpa. Without suppressing or indulging them, one allows them to self-liberate, like patterns dissolving in water. In this way, what are usually called afflictive emotions become workable energy, revealing their empty, luminous nature. The same approach applies to all sensory experience: sights, sounds, and sensations are seen as vivid yet ungraspable, inseparable from the awareness that knows them.

Practical supports can help this integration. Everyday actions—passing through a doorway, starting a car, pausing between tasks—serve as reminders to return to natural awareness. Speech and relationships are approached from this ground of openness and warmth, allowing compassion and clarity to arise without rigid self-control. Before sleep and upon waking, one can gently re-establish the view, letting go of the day’s stories and resting again in simple presence. Throughout, the emphasis remains on an effortless, uncontrived attitude: allowing experiences to arise and dissolve as they are, trusting that all phenomena are equal expressions of the same primordial awareness.