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#3936 - Monday, June 28, 2010 - Editor: Gloria Lee
The Nonduality Highlights
To know this Reality directly
is possible only through practicing non-duality.
When you live this non-separation,
all things manifest the One, and nothing is excluded.
Whoever comes to enlightenment, no matter when or where,
Realizes personally this fundamental Source.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hsin Hsin Ming
Translated by Richard B. Clarke
posted to Along The Way
[14] The best student goes directly to the ultimate (from The Shodoka)
By Yoka
Genkaku (Yongjia Xuanjue)
(665 - 713)
English version by Robert Aitken
The best student goes directly
to the ultimate,
The others are very learned but their faith is uncertain.
Remove the dirty garments from your own mind;
Why should you show off your outward striving?
This selection from the
Shodoka has that wonderful no-nonsense quality you often find in
Zen teachings...
"The best student goes directly to the ultimate." That
is, it is an effortless process of settling into the true nature
of Being. There is no real work involved. It is
"direct," already there. There is no need for learning,
elaborate dogmas, or techniques. It is right there, immediately,
and everything else just gets in the way. The "best
students" just go silently "to the ultimate."
From the perspective of the Shodoka, that means that everyone
else who is showing off their great spiritual efforts, their
impressive theological learning, what they're really doing is
proclaiming their spiritual shortcomings. They are saying, in
effect, 'I need these elaborate aids to achieve what the best
students attain effortlessly.' In other words, "their faith
is uncertain," not steady enough to allow them to surrender
to the Reality always present. The author works in a teasing
jibe, saying they've got dirty laundry piled about the mind -- an
uncleansed mind, musty mental habits that prevent a more direct
perception of the ultimate.
comments by Ivan Granger
Distinguish between Spiritual Experiences and Realizations
In Buddhism, we distinguish between spiritual experiences and spiritual realizations. Spiritual experiences are usually more vivid and intense than realizations because they are generally accompanied by physiological and psychological changes. Realizations, on the other hand, may be felt, but the experience is less pronounced. Realization is about acquiring insight. Therefore, while realizations arise out of our spiritual experiences, they are not identical to them. Spiritual realizations are considered vastly more important because they cannot fluctuate.
The distinction between spiritual experiences and realizations is continually emphasized in Buddhist thought. If we avoid excessively fixating on our experiences, we will be under less stress in our practice. Without that stress, we will be better able to cope with whatever arises, the possibility of suffering from psychic disturbances will be greatly reduced, and we will notice a significant shift in the fundamental texture of our experience.
-Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, "Letting Go of Spiritual Experience," (Fall 2004)
Click here to read the complete article.
Reality is simply loss of the ego.
Destroy the ego by seeking its identity.
Because the ego has no real existence, it will automatically
vanish, and Reality will shine forth by itself in all its glory.
This is the direct method.
All other methods retain the ego. In those paths so many doubts
arise, and the eternal question remains to be tackled.
But in this method the final question is
the only one and is raised from the very beginning.
No practices (sadhanas) are even necessary for this quest.
~ Ramana Maharshi
posted to Facebook by Cliff Shack
If one remains quiet without abandoning that understanding, then egoity—the individual sense of the form "I-am-the-body"—will be totally destroyed. And ultimately the final thought, the "I"-thought, will also be extinguished, like camphor that is burned by fire. The great sages and scriptures declare that this alone is Realization.
~ Ramana Maharshi