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#2248 - Friday, September 2, 2005 - Editor: Gloria Lee
Do not seek any rules or
method of
worship. Say
whatever your pained
heart chooses.
- Rumi
posted to Along the Way
I have a pragmatic approach to Self inquiry/discovery, meaning
I am
not interested in spiritual theories but in what works to open
the
mind and heart.
People who don't have a strong emotional nature tend to see
suffering as mental, and that is correct. But the idea,
"This
horrible feeling is just a mental perception." doesn't
actually
release painful emotional patterns. And old emotional pain
held in
the body serves to veil the answer to, "Who am I?"
This is like the teaching: "Don't talk to a starving
man about
God. First fill his belly, then he can hear your
satsang."
No amount of spiritual ideas will fill a starving emotional
heart.
This is how I see it after much investigation: We are, in
essence,
pure awareness - Self. We are also configurations of energy
that
make up our individual body-minds. When these
configurations hold
memories of lack of love, of neglect and abuse of any kind (and
the
automatic protections against feeling that again), there is
little
or no space in one's individual consciousness for awareness as
pure
Self.
A friend said, "No one goes from negative ego to no
ego. Negative
identity is just too dense." In my experience, as the
patterns -
the negative identifications of the pain body - are released and
healed there is increasing room for That in consciousness.
This is
a often-neglected but important aspect of Sadhana.
Xan
posted to MillionPaths
We also often add to our pain and suffering by being overly
sensitive, over-reacting to minor things, and sometimes taking
things too personally.
-His Holiness the Dalai Lama
From "The Pocket Dalai Lama," edited by Mary Craig,
2002
photo by Alan Larus http://www.ferryfee.com/bluesky/Sunday_in_the_forest.htm
Alan Jacobs gave me permission to post this. It is a message
from Sri
V.Ganesan is a grand nephew of Sri Bhagavan , and was brought up
mainly in the Ashram , with his family .
Dear Friends,
I have received the following E Mail from Sri Ganesan which he
has
given me permission to post .
Namaskar.
We have a mutual love for 'sharing' ! In the 'Kali Yuga' , no
preaching, no rituals, no worship, no scriptures can
transmit
the 'Truth' -- the only recourse is "sharing" !
You know the vital difference between 'sharing' and the
other
archaic methods (mentioned above) ? Only in 'sharing' , the
perfect
balance of the speaker and the listener in absolutely equal
terms (I
like to call it : a 50% + 50% 'sharing') could be maintained;
and,in
that state of equality, mysteriously and powerfully the
transmission takes place !
Thus,the 'speaker' is not more important than the 'listener' ;
or,
the 'giver' is not greater than the 'receiver' ! There is
no room
for 'exploitation' -- as 'guru', 'priest', 'teacher', 'religious
heads', 'heads of ashrams' , etc. For, in 'sharing' , one
is
directly in touch with the real "GURU " - the 'Self',
the 'Heart' !
Sri Bhagavan made Himself available for 24 hours, to all, for 54
years - day and night -- only
to emphasize and demonstrate this true nature of
spiritual 'sharing' ! To Paul Brunton, He said:
"Brunton ! There is
absolutely no difference between you and me. Only, give up this
thought that there is difference." I picked up the cue
from our
Beloved Master; and, avowed to myself that, in my own
limited
capacity, capability, I will put this important facet of
our
Master's 'Direct Teaching' into daily practice ! Don't you see
the
beauty behind the glory of 'sharing', ?
Love,
Ganesan.
posted to Practice of Self Inquiry by Richard Clarke
photo by Alan Larus http://www.ferryfee.com/bluesky/Sunday_in_the_forest.htm
You need not wait to be what you are
It is the clinging to the false that makes
the true so difficult
to see. Once you
understand that the
false needs time and
what needs time is
false, you are nearer
the Reality, which is
timeless, ever in the
now. Eternity in
time is mere repetitiveness,
like the movement of a
clock. It flows from
the past into the
future endlessly, as empty
perpetuity.
Reality is what makes the present
so vital, so different
from the past and future,
which are merely
mental. If you need time to
achieve something, it
must be false. The real
is always with you;
you need not wait to be
what you are.
Only you must not allow your
mind to go out of
yourself in search. When you
want something, ask
yourself: do I really need
it? and if the answer
is not, then just drop it.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
from "I Am That"
posted to Along the Way
They are completely fulfilled by spiritual wisdom and
Self-realization. Having conquered their senses, they have
climbed to the summit of human consciousness. To such people a
clod of dirt, a stone, and gold are the same. They are equally
disposed to family, enemies, and friends, to those who support
them and those who are hostile, to the good and the evil alike.
Because they are impartial, they rise to great heights.
-Bhagavad Gita 6:8-9
Buddhism is really quite simple to understand. Let me
try: In
Buddhism, we discover within ourselves, a fundamental
consciousness,
that is perfect and pure from the very beginning of beginningless
time. This pure and perfect consciousness is beyond our
ordinary "thinking" or discursive mind. It is not
something we
create, attain or manufacture through meditative or religious
practice. This pure and perfect consciousness is already
fully
present and complete right now... in you, as well as all sentient
beings. The goal of Buddhist practice is to have the
"experience" of
this pure and perfect consciousness for yourself.
Note "experience". You don't learn
"about", but rather "taste" the
presence of this pure and perfect consciousness to be your own
true
nature, your actual and authentic Being. Like jumping in
the water
directly, beyond reading and studying books or "thinking
about" the
topics of water and swimming.
A teacher is anyone who has had a thorough and
unmistakable "experience" of their own pure and perfect
consciousness, and now shares this "knowingness" with
others.
Hopefully, the teacher will be able to orient others to have
this "experience" for themselves, if they are ready and
open.
A very deep and thorough "experience" of one's own pure
and perfect
consciousness is known as "enlightenment"... coming to
know one's
own true nature as it is. We call this pure and perfect
consciousness "Buddha-Mind" or "Zen-Mind" or
in Tibetan
Dzogchen: "Rigpa".
Once we have this "experience", we practice by
immersing ourselves
in this present pure and perfect consciousness more and
more.
Eventually, we are in this consciousness more often than we are
in
our ordinary "thinking mind". The problem is that
our "thinking
mind" has created a self-image of itself. This
conceptual self-
image is our sense of "me" or "I" in our
"thinking mind". We call
this false or fantasy self, "ego". Our true self,
on the other
hand, is the pure and perfect consciousness in contrast to
our "ego". But interestingly, this "true
self" has no concept of
a "self" itself. It has no shape or form nor any
material
components that continue through time. It has no boundaries
nor
location in space and time. However, space and time and all
things
are included in it! See, I told you... simple!
Actually, this point is not that difficult to understand
conceptually. Take the example of water and waves.
All of reality
is like one great ocean. One's Being has two aspects,
figuratively
speaking: open, infinite and vastly spacious Awareness and the
Energy of that
space-like Awareness. Get it? Ocean equals vast
space-like
Awareness and it's Energy is the waves within and upon the
ocean.
Kind of like in theological terminology: God and
Creation. But
don't get caught up in that analogy too much. In any event,
the
waves and the water are "one" thing... as you can't
separate the
waves from the water.
In life, ALL that we "experience" is waves. The
Awareness or
Perceivingness (the pure and perfect consciousness i.e.
Buddha-Mind)
is the water. Since the water and it's waves are
"one", we then can
see that our Awareness(water) is "one" with it's field
of perception
(waves) or experience, internally or externally experienced,
beyond
any possibility of duality. Well, at any rate, you come to
realize
that too, as a first hand experience.
In Dzogchen, we say the pure, vast space-like quality of
Awareness
is "kadag" (primordial purity). At the same time,
we call the
spontaneously arising Energies (waves) "lhundrub"
(spontaneous
energy arisings).
These two aspects, "kadag" and "lhundrub" are
inseparable. Like
water and waves. This inseparability of "kadag"
and it's energy
manifestations, "lhundrub" is known as
"yermed" (inseparable). In
Dzogchen, in all of reality, of all possible universes, there is
nothing outside of this unified field of "kadag" and
"lhundrub".
Now here's the interesting part, your own, currently existing,
pure
and perfect consciousness is this very "kadag"
Awareness! And all
dimensions of your experience are (internal and external)
this "lhundrub" Energy! And this complete reality
is known the
Great Perfection or in Tibetan "Dzogchen".
We come to realize non conceptually, that we ARE Dzogchen, the
Great
Perfection!
Current Dzogchen practice is divided into two parts. The
first
corresponds to realizing the "kadag" aspect, known as
"trekchod".
The second part deals with realizing the "lhundrub"
aspect, known
as "thogel".
So there you go, Buddhism and Dzogchen in a nutshell.... and then
some!
posted to Dzogchen Practice by Jax
Amazingly beautiful and stimulating. Life stories of dzogchen
siddhas
as exposed by the late Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche (whose "As It
Is" part 2
I repute to be one of the best resources available on dzogchen
teachings)
Check it out:
http://www.blazing-splendor.blogspot.com/
greetings from Holland
Pierre
posted to Dzogchen Practice