Although liberation is the natural state, in most of us it is covered by ignorance and obscured by false concepts of who we are and what is real. That is why the wisdom lineages prescribe practices to re-awaken us to our natural freedom.
The fundamental sadhana, or spiritual discipline, for awakening to our natural freedom are the 3 practices: listening, contemplating and meditating.
Listening is hearing the teachings that point to our original freedom, and that remind us there is nothing to attain. This can include book study. But the liberation of the wisdom lineage is primarily an oral tradition and transmission. It is most helpful to hear the teachings in person from someone who genuinely understands them. A qualified teacher of a wisdom lineage can turn language into a mirror that will reveal your original face, your face of unobstructed freedom.
Once you have heard the teachings, it is necessary for most of us to think about them and to clarify any doubts. This is contemplation. Contemplation includes wrestling with doubts, and bringing them to the teacher for clarification. Any genuine teacher will welcome the voicing of sincere questions and doubts as a sign of your intention to be free.
When doubts have been clarified, meditation on what has been understood helps the gaining of firmness in the understanding of your true nature. Even after understanding the natural condition of liberation, the mood or habit of imprisonment, the habitual feeling of lack and confusion may persist. By meditating on the truth over and over, you will become established in it so that the winds of habitual ignorance and desire can not uproot you.
These 3 practices are the primary sadhana of one who wants to be free. They are the dharma, in the sense of the path, and, as is said, they are delightful in the beginning, in the middle and in the end. Please enjoy these practices as often as you can, but remember that you are already intrinsically free, so there is absolutely nothing to gain except clarity and confidence in this truth.
Real Dharma 