#2790 - Monday, April 16, 2007 - Editor: Gloria
Lee
Nondual Highlights
It's all I have to bring today
(26)
It's all I have to bring today—
This, and my heart beside—
This, and my heart, and all the fields—
And all the meadows wide—
Be sure you count—should I forget—
Some one the sum could tell—
This, and my heart, and all the Bee
Which in the Clover dwell.
--Emily Dickinson
For the young lives
lost and dreams unfulfilled - may we honor them by making good
use of the days we are given,for it
might be otherwise....--Joe Riley on
Panhala
I have been participating in a thread on a Zen Buddhist forum
on the topic of koans, passing koans, and awakening, and I
thought to share my responses here: Everything is
originally just as it is. When we say "originally", it
is really just right now. Right now, everything is complete,
perfect, self-evident -- just as it is, just as we are. However,
because we are the way we are, we often find ourselves in
conflict with events, circumstances, or relations.
This sense of conflict will manifest in all sorts of ways, but at
the core, it is characterized by dis-ease, a stress in the being,
which is habitually superimposed on original suchness by the mind
of doubt. So, OK -- in koan study, we take this doubt and delve
deeply into it. Is it true, are we inherently some suffering
critter, or is it more of a case in which our beliefs and notions
stand in opposition to reality?
When we see through these conditional beliefs and notions through
practice, we can notice that everything is originally just as it
is. Koans are expedient ways to probe into our doubt, rather than
ignoring or supressing. The biggest doubt is ourselves, and so
the koan is actually all about us. We are the koan. When we are
sitting, we are the koan. When we are standing, walking, lying
down, we are the koan. When we wake up in the morning, here is
the koan -- us.
Passing a koan is like removing a phantom limb. It was never
there in the first place. Nothing is changed. We made up this
sense of doubt, cherished and coddled it, and then it is no
longer there. Cheers! Everything is still just as it is. Should
we be congratulated or elevated because we got rid of what we
never really had? Someone has a dream in which they are chased by
a gorilla. When they wake up, do they ask if the gorilla has also
awakened? Now, on the one hand, consider this: there is no
one who is not already awake. How can one awaken then if they are
already awake? The biggest delusion is that one is not already
awake. In reality, there is only awakeness. This is the source of
some real humor, that we run around trying to awaken when it has
always been the case. Nor can one evade their own awakeness, so
we might as well relax. It's like they say, "eyes are
horizontal, nose is vertical".
On the other hand, it is obvious that there is suffering.
Clearly, a component of consciousness is stress, yearning,
disappointment. The trouble is, we separate happiness and sorrow,
seeking for one and avoiding the other, and thus go around
divided in our being. This division arises in consciousness as a
play of opposites, one de facto necessary for the other.
Consequently, we can investigate this consciousness, and see if
that is what we truly are. Are we this consciousness? Most say
so, but is it true, or more like an identity we assume in a stage
drama? Well, it's fun to find out, as Mr. Rodgers would assure
us, and indeed, there's an invitation there that some hearts find
irresistible.
Friends, there's an old Persian poet, Hafiz, who claimed that all
a sane man can ever care about is giving love. What a remarkable
statement! He doesn't talk about awakeness, he doesn't talk about
consciousness, he just loves. Gives love. Gives and gives and
gives. When one is dedicated in their heart to giving, there is
no time to be happy or sad, awake or asleep, enlightened or
deluded. There is just giving, and what is this giving? It is
forgetting the self, always exceeding the self-position, always
surrendered, always practicing. It is not Buddhist or Hindu,
Christian or Muslim. It is not a belief or identity, it is just
action. We are alive, we must do something. What is there to do?
What will we do? Well now, there's a koan!
LoveAlways
Good morning group, friends,
Today something special, the teachings by Dilgo Khyentse
Rinpoche.
As far as I am concerned, the two pictures are already the
teachings.
The depth of his realisation shines through his smile, posture
and natural kindness.
It is an effortless mudra: a direct pointer to the natural state
of man, reality.
Love and regards,
Ben.
PS For more information go here
That is also the place where I got these teachings from.
Consider all phenomena as a dream:
This precious human body, supreme instrument though it is for the
attainment of enlightenment, is itself a transient phenomenon. No
one knows when, or how, death will come. Bubbles form on the
surface of the water, but the next instant they are gone; they do
not stay. It is just the same with this precious human body that
we have managed to find. We take all the time in the world before
engaging in spiritual practice, but who knows when this life of
ours will simply cease to be? And once our precious human body is
lost, our mindstream, continuing its existence, will take birth
perhaps among the animals, or in one of the hells or god realms
where spiritual development is impossible.
At present, the outer universe—earth, stones, mountains,
rocks and cliffs—seem to the perception of our senses to be
permanent and stable, like the houses built of reinforced
concrete that we think will last for generations. In fact, there
is nothing solid to it at all; it is nothing but a city of dreams…
Take an example from the recent past. Before the arrival of the
Chinese Communists, how many monasteries were there in what used
to be called Tibet, the Land of Snow? How many temples and
monasteries were there, like those in Lhasa, at Samye and
Trandruk? How many precious objects were there, representations
of the Buddha’s Body, Speech and Mind? Now not even a statue
remains. All that is left of Samye is something the size of this
tent, hardly bigger than a stupa. Everything was looted, broken
or scattered, and all the great images were destroyed. These
things have happened and this demonstrates impermanence…
If we have an understanding of impermanence, we will be able to
practice the sacred teachings. But if we continue to think that
everything will remain as it is, then it will be just like rich
people still discussing their business projects on their
deathbeds! Such people never talk about the next life, do they?
It goes to show that an appreciation of the certainty of death
has never touched their hearts. That is their mistake, their
delusion.
The Mind:
…What shall we say about these so-called thoughts? At this
moment, while I am teaching Dharma, let us consider the mental
experience, or thought, which you have, of listening carefully to
me. Does this have a shape or color? Is it to be found in the
upper or lower part of the body, in the eyes or ears? What we
call the mind is not really there at all. If it is really a
thing, it must have characteristics, such as color. It must be
white, yellow and so one. Or it must have shape, like a pillar or
vase. It must be big or small, old or young, and so on. You can
find out whether the mind exists solidly or not by just turning
inwards and reflecting carefully. You will see that the mind does
not begin, or end, or stay, anywhere; that it has no color or
form and is to be found neither insider nor outside the body. And
when you see that it does not exist as a thing, you should stay
in that experience without any attempt to label or define it.
All suffering comes through not recognising ego-clinging as our
enemy. When we are hit by a stick or a stone, it hurts; when
someone calls us a thief or a liar, we become angry. Why is this?
It is because we feel great esteem and attachment for what we
think of as our selves, and we think, “I am being attacked.”
Clinging to the “I” is the real obstacle to the
attainment of liberation and enlightenment… It is from
within that the trouble comes. It is due to fixation on “I”
that we think: “I am so unhappy, I can’t get anything
to eat, I have no clothes, lots of people are against me and I
don’t have any friends.” It is thoughts like these that
keep us so busy—and all so uselessly! This is the reason why
we are not on the path to liberation and Buddhahood. Throughout
the entire succession of our lives, from beginningless time until
the present, we have been taking birth in one or other of the six
realms. How long we have been labouring in the three worlds of
samsara, slaves to our ego-clinging! ..............
The source of all phenomena of samsara and nirvana
Is the nature of mind void, luminous,
All-encompassing, vast as the sky.
When in that state of sky-like vastness,
Relax into its openness; stay in that very openness,
Merge with that sky-like state:
Naturally, it will become more and more relaxed
Excellent!
If you become accomplished
In this method of integrating mind with view,
Your realization will naturally become vast.
And just as the sun shines freely throughout space,
Your compassion cannot fail to shine on all unrealized beings.
The mind, dividing experience into subject and object, first
identifies with the subject, 'I,' then with the idea of 'mine,'
and starts to cling to 'my body,' 'my mind' and 'my name.' As our
attachment to these three notions grows stronger and stronger, we
become more and more exclusively concerned with our own
well-being. All our striving for comfort, our intolerance of
life's annoying circumstances, our preoccupation with pleasure
and pain, wealth and poverty, fame and obscurity, praise and
blame, are due to this idea of 'I.'
We are usually so obsessed with ourselves that we hardly ever
even think about the welfare of others in fact, we are no more
interested in others than a tiger is interested in eating grass.
This is completely the opposite of the outlook of the
Bodhisattva. The ego is really just a fabrication of thought, and
when you realize that both the object grasped and the mind that
grasps are void, it is easy to see that others are not different
from yourself. All the energy we normally put into looking after
ourselves, Bodhisattvas put into looking after others. If a
Bodhisattva sees that by plunging into the fires of hell he can
help even a single being, he does it without an instant of
hesitation, like a swan entering a cool lake.
Translated by Matthieu Ricard
From “Rabsel” Issue 5
Shechen Publications
