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#3676 -
Monday, October 5, 2009 - Editor: Gloria Lee
The Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
The Teacher in Everything
In taking up Zen Buddhism, we find that the life of the Buddha is
our own life. Not only Shakyamuni's life, but the lives of all
the succeeding teachers in our lineage are our own lives. As
Wu-men Hui-k'ai has said, in true Zen practice our very eyebrows
are tangled with those of our ancestral teachers, and we see with
their eyes and hear with their ears. This is not because we copy
them, or change to be like them. I might explain Wu-men's words
by saying that in finding our own true nature, we find the true
nature of all things, which the old teachers so clearly showed in
their words and actions. But the authentic experience of identity
is intimate beyond explanation. And it's not only with old
teachers that we find complete intimacy. The Chinese thrush sings
in my heart and gray clouds gather in the empty sky of my mind.
All things are my teacher.
- Robert Aiken Roshi "The Teacher in Everything,"
Tricycle, Fall 2001
Read the complete article on tricycle.com
by V. Subrahmanya Iyer
(Author), Andre van den Brink
(Compiler), Mark Scorelle (Editor)
Mark Scorelle Paul Brunton left 1200 pages of single spaced type
written notes from his period with V.S.Iyer. Iyer was an Advaitin
teacher behind the scenes of the Ramakrishna Mission in the 40's.
Guru of Swami Siddeshwarananda and Swami Nikhilananda and the
Maharaja of Mysore. The notes are available at http://wisdomsgoldenrod.or
GRACE by Rupert Spira
Dear Chuckee,
I am touched by the openness and honesty of your response. I feel
that in
our conversations in this group we are beginning to move away
from the more
intellectual aspect of the teaching (which certainly has its
place) and to
talk more about raw experience.
Chuckee: I have come to the conclusion that it's a matter of
grace, and
there is nothing outside of that that can affect a thing in
regards to
awakening.
Rupert: I agree with you entirely that 'there is nothing outside
of that
(grace) that can affect a thing with regards to awakening...' but
we seem to
have a different understanding of what constitutes grace. You
seem to
suggest (and please correct me if I have misunderstood) that
grace comes
only in the form of an unsolicited and spontaneous awakening such
as took
place for you 40 years ago. Moreover, you suggest that anything
other than
such a spontaneous event is somehow simply "all mere
entertainment....
Passing the time as mistaken identities searching for something
that can't
be found."
In other words, you first decide what constitutes grace and what
does not,
and then dismiss anything that does not fall within your own
particular
belief as mere entertainment and trivia.
But how do you know that a 'chance' meeting, a book that you come
across, a
few words read in an email or suggested by a friend, the desire
to sit
quietly and welcome your feelings or to turn your attention
towards its
source and other such occurrences, suggestions or impulses, are
not
expressions of exactly the same grace that delivered that
experience 40
years ago? The only thing that makes them seem otherwise is your
belief that
they are otherwise.
If we did not superimpose our own beliefs on top of grace (yes,
of course,
that is also an expression of grace) we would relieve ourselves
of the
'there is nothing to do' dogma and more importantly the despair
and
frustration that accompanies it. We would be open to the
possibility that
grace comes in a wide variety of ways and that each of those ways
is
uniquely tailored to our predicament, even sometimes in ways that
may
challenge our views as to what true 'non-duality' looks like.
I meet so many people who are unhappy and have been told there is
absolutely
nothing they can do about it. So, in addition to their
unhappiness a layer
of resignation and frustration has been added. This unhappiness
is often all
the more intense in those such as yourself who have had profound
moments or
periods of awakening.
It is quite true that from an absolute point of view there is
nothing to do
and no one to do it. However, unhappy people are not speaking
from the
absolute point of view. They are speaking from a level at which
the apparent
separate entity, its unhappiness and the seeking that inevitably
attends it,
are experienced as being very real. There is absolutely no
judgement in
that.
It is important to understand that as this apparent entity, doing
or not
doing is not a choice. Doing (in this case searching for
happiness) is
INEVITABLE and UNAVOIDABLE if we feel we are a separate entity,
that is, if
we are unhappy. It is disingenuous to say, "I feel I am a
person, a separate
entity, and I am unhappy, and yet I know that there is nothing to
do." The
separate entity IS the doer, the searcher, the thinker etc. What
has
happened in such cases is that a thin veneer of kosha advaita has
been
washed over our belief and feeling of separation.
At the risk of being repetitive let me repeat this in a slightly
different
form, as it goes to the heart of the matter as to whether or not
there is
something to be done:
If we are unhappy we are, by definition, rejecting the current
situation. We
want things to be different. This rejection of the current
situation is
itself synonymous with the search for a different situation, that
is, the
search for happiness in the future. In other words unhappiness
and the
search for happiness are inseparable.
If we say that we are unhappy and that at the same time we
understand there
is nothing we can do, that there is no search, then we simply
haven't looked
deeply enough at our present condition.
In such a case, one clear look at ourselves will reveal an
apparent entity
who is very much in search, that is, an entity that is doing
something.
Therefore, seeking happiness is, for the one who believes him or
herself to
be an entity, not a choice. It is a given. The separate person IS
the search
for happiness.
So, the best advice such a person can be given is to seek
happiness in the
right place. As a result of the experience you describe, which
took place 40
years ago, you have already been given direct insight as to the
true nature
of happiness. It is not necessary to have such an experience to
come to the
understanding that happiness is not to be found in the realm of
the mind,
body or world, but as this has happened for you, you are in no
doubt.
If, as you say, your experience was 'a full blown awakening' then
you will
be absolutely certain that it was not located in time or space.
You will be
certain that what you are is unlimited, unlocated, unborn,
unchanging,
undying Presence. Your glimpse was a revelation of that which is
ever-present in your experience. This means that right now, in
this very
simple act of reading these words, that non-objective experience
is present.
This deep longing in your heart is a mixture of the very
happiness you seek
plus the belief and feeling that it is not present. If we
superimpose the
belief that there is nothing that can be done in relation to the
unveiling
of happiness, we consign ourselves to resignation, frustration
and despair,
relieved by odd moments of happiness. It is true that the longing
in our
hearts cannot be filled. But it can be dissolved.
It is true that the company of a qualified teacher 40 years ago
would have
been able to point you in the right direction, that is, towards
the reality
of your experience. But that help is all around you.
Happiness is the simple recognition of our own being - it is the
most
natural thing. That which recognises this Being and that which is
recognised
are one and the same.
As I mentioned to Claudia yesterday it is naïve to expect
happiness to
remain ever-present after such an awakening. The mind and the
body often
come back with a vengeance. It is at this time that a qualified
teacher can
help, both in interpreting the often perplexing reappearance of
old patterns
of feeling and, more importantly in helping to slowly realign the
mind and
the body with our new awakening. In the absence of such a teacher
the old
habits will, in most cases, prevail.
So, if we think we are a person (and feel unhappy as a result)
there are two
things that can be done. One, is to seek the source of that
apparent person.
As we turn our attention towards our own Being, this very one,
the apparent
entity who seemed to turn his attention, is revealed to be none
other than
Presence itself.
And two, taking our stand as this aware presence, we can
cooperate with the
realignment of the mind and the body, and indeed the world, with
this new
stance. It just requires patience, clarity and courage.
Presence has seemed to veil itself from itself by taking the
shape of
dualistic thought. But being the very substance of all
experience, Presence
has also provided within every experience, the way back to
itself, a golden
thread....the way of investigation and contemplation.
From the point of view of a person these two possibilities will
inevitably
feel like a doing - so be it. They are Presence's gift of grace
to itself.
With love,
Rupert
posted to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OAStudyGroup/ http://www.rupertspira.com/