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Wednesday, July 18


oops, forgot to send Wednesday's highlights! --jerry

JOYCE SHORT

***Who is Longchenpa? Sounds Tibetan?***

Longchenpa (1308-1363) was one of the most celebrated adapts
of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, king of Dzogchen
practitioners. What you were saying happened to reflect what
I was reading at the moment and I know there are some here
who resonate to Dzogchen. It is not primarily a Buddhist
teaching.

"Just as the images on television are nothing more than
light, so are our experiences merely the dance of awareness.
Often we form attachments to, or feel enslaved by, these
experiences, but they are only reflections. As easily as
television pictures vanish when the channel is changed, the
power of our experiences fades if we penetrate to the heart
of reality-the light of the natural mind within everyone.

So -if anyone finds this interesting, you can find "You Are
The Eyes of the World" which presents a method of discovering
awareness everywhere, all the time. "This book does not
discuss how to turn ordinary life off, it does not describe
how to create beautiful spiritual experiences; it shows how
to live within the source of all life, the unified field
where experience takes place."

Book is written by Kennard Lipman, Merril Peterson-students
of Namkhai Norbu who writes the introduction to the Dzogchen
text this book elaborates. This book is complete in itself
but those interested in Dzogchen can also find a longer
reference: "The Supreme Source"-the Fundamental Tantra of
Dzogchen Semde (Chogyal Namkhai Norbu and Adriano Clemente)

So-of course, no "trick" involved-more like walking down the
street and all of a sudden you recognize a friend coming to
meet you. You recognize this person because you have met
before, but as they get closer and closer, you (mind) sees
more intimate details. The aim in Dzogchen is the reawakening
of the individual to the primordial state of enlightenment
which is naturally found in all beings. The master introduces
the student to (or one happens upon) his or her real nature
already perfect and enlightened, but it is only through
recognition of this nature and remaining in this state of
recognition in all daily activities that the student becomes
a Dzogchen practitioner. So the practitioner is aware of the
absolute clarity and purity of his/her own mind, and, without
trying to modify what is already perfect in itself, without
trying to obtain from somewhere else the state of
realization, remains always in the real nature of existence,
in the supreme spource of all phenomena. At this point, all
conceptualized, dual seeking drops away. But on occasion one
gets involved with the TV drama for a time.

"Those who try to meditate and to realize this condition
through effort are like a blind man chasing the sky."


__________________________________________________________________________

GARY MERRILL

**Who is Longchenpa? Sounds Tibetan?***

Thanks for the info. Tibetan Buddhism used to be very special
to me back when I was a teenager starting out with all this
stuff. Then there were very few books available to me and the
only ones I could get hold of were the WY Evans Wentz series
of books - The Tibetan Book of The Dead of course and several
others. I still remember fondly the book on Milarepa, which
you may know. A few years ago I did come accross Dzogchen too
and much of it does seem to capture the essence of Tibetan
Buddhism and Buddhism in general. The only problem I see is
that people into Buddhism tend to be Buddhists and like all
followers seem reluctant to take the step into the void of
themselves. Instead there is generally some sort of practise
going on in the hope of spiritual progress. Trying to make
that Void personal again!

"Those who try to meditate and to realize this condition
through effort are like a blind man chasing the sky."

Good quote, that was Longchenpa? You see I think that
religious followers will take a quote like that and start
practising 'non-doing', which is to miss the point. The point
being the simple one of no-self. No meditator.

Having said that, effort is done by no one (no efforter! new
word!), all that seems to happen is that the programming
speeds up and there is a lot of banging into things :-) Where
is that darned controller just when asked to present himself?

________________________________________________________________________

DAN BERKOW AND JOYCE SHORT

JOYCE:

Or, as Longchenpa would say regarding the passions:

"So then, not eliminating passions, as do those who are
content with preaching and listening or being independent, or
refining away passions, as do bodhisattvas, nor transforming
them, as the tantrics do; these judgmentally-conditioned
passions are transparent and pure in their own place. This is
called the spontaneously perfect, universally creative,
self-generating, majestic state of pure presence. In here
lies the distinguishing superiority of this approach over all
others. By means of this sheer presence, whatever passions
arise are freed as facets of pristine awareness. Thus one
definately gets in touch with, right now, the naturally
perfect state of buddhahood."

The trick, of course, is recognize pure presence, our natural
state of total completeness and intrinsic freedom and remain
there. When this occurs, passions and anything else are
naturally freed in their own dimension, the dimension of the
total field of events and meanings. Nothing is dropped.
(Dzogchen)

DAN:

Hi Joyce,

True words, indeed!
Namaste!

But it's too funny, isn't it?
Longchengpa has dropped all ideas
that anything must be dropped (or gotten rid of).
He doesn't even see anything to drop!

And this is not the "usual human condition", to
be trying to get rid of, change, manipulate, etc.

"Dropping" dropped!

To speak of "the superiority of an approach"
is utter silliness. If everything is "spontaneously
perfect", what approach is there?

Hopefully, Longchengpa laughed himself to
sleep the night of the day he uttered
this hilarious words!

__________________________________________________________________________

GILL EARDLEY

by Immortal Sister Wu Cailuan

My body lives in the city,
But my essence dwells in the mountains.
The affairs of a puppet play
Are not to be taken too seriously.
When the polar mountain fits into a mustard seed,
All the words in the universe may as well be erased.

__________________________________________________________________________

ERIC VASEY

name=eric vasey
email=eric.vasey@ntlworld.com
subject=non duality
text=i think, therefore i think i am, it seems to me it's all in the
mind.
Does anyone in the North Wales area of the U.K. think likewise?

___________________________________________________________________________

DOC HOBBES


No. We do not avoid the 'you are' <pssssttt... always knew
you>. But consider that we would rather journey with you than
without you. That's it. Your imagination is taking you to
extremes which is creating separation, conflict, and
destructive behaviors.

Besides, fish and chips are better when crispier with lots of
tartar sauce for dipping on the side!

Life is life there is no glamour or fantasy about it.

We still get up in the morning with bad breath. We still wipe
our bums. We suffer through the good stuff as well as the
bad.

Your fear is of family. Being loved, not desired. Desire
tarnishes the spirit whereas being loved polishes it to a
shine. The difference? Commitment.

Imagine how much better you would be at everything you do if
you could put this sex, desire, sense of belonging, fear of
being alone as you watch others coupling up. Not by taking it
out of your life but by satasfying those areas.

Consider: There will always be greater and lesser than you in
every aspect of life. Therefore to become greater or lesser
is of no consequence as there is no starting point. 'Pretty
pictures' fade in time and candy coating is used on the
harshest of medicines.

Why reach for more or less at the risk of losing what you
have?

"What do I have?"

Good question... is there an answer?

o
-- hobbes

ps... perhaps it would be more 'personal' if you placed your
self behind and with it rather than being out in front
probing it and creating a cycle of self-esteem vs.
desirability based on the disappointments and abuses of past
experience?

_________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

MATTHEW FILES

The act of being human is a necessary and important stage in
the evolution of a planet.....and more importantly, in the
personal evolution of the being.

It allows us to actively participate in self-evolution by
fusing the intellectual, emotional and physical centers into
a single *unified presence* through the process of
intentional suffering; to perfect ourselves through conscious
labors; and to attain crystallization of the soul through the
process of the collection and transformation of higher
substances.

*To be human* is a sanctification not possible in any other
form. Human beings have the unique property of being
potentially able to make the special conscious efforts
necessary to help God. Because of this unique property, we
have the chance to perfect ourselves automatically, through
the means of *taking upon ourselves a special obligation*.

The human lifespan is abnormally shortened compared to what
it could be. Scientists today wonder how "primitive savages"
were able to live very long lives without the so-called
benefits of modern medicine.

Until recently human beings lived normal lives for the
organism, which was placed under continual tension and
stress, thus developing the *essence* automatically by
preventing the formation of personality, which can only
function under extreme low-voltage conditions of the nervous
system. Stress produces high voltages, forcing the essence to
operate the organism.

At the same time, live was much simpler, allowing one to
maintain oneself internally without the need for externals
demanded by todays mechanical culture. Now all this has
changed, and life no longer presents the stress and
simplicity it once did...And if by accident it happens to,
why there is always some pill or otherone can take to make it
go away...That stress which was in ancient times called the
*Alchemical Fire*.

Today these factors are not found in nature and in this
comfort- oriented, labor-saving, civilization there are very
few who wish actively for a life of stress and friction for
themselves, when they can simply slide through life just
"getting by".

Under conditions normal for a human being, the continual
state of tensions keeps the individual at least in the
organic sense, awake. Through practices of self-calming,
stress is dissipated, thus allowing the individual to plow
himself even more deeply into sleep.

________________________________________________________________________

MICHAEL READ

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