BUDDHA IN THE MUD is a blog – a living book based on the Dzogchen teachings. Our teacher is life, and life is karma. We are all Buddhas in the mud of concepts.

A Two-Tier System Is Meant To Divide

Consciousness is divided.

When we ignore whatever is happening in the world, we’re doing ourselves no favours. It must be obvious that a two-tier system is meant to divide a society, and divides the attention of consciousness.

Deciding who or what is right and who or what is wrong is subjective. Divide and conquer has always been the controlling factor throughout history.

So who are the ‘right’ people?
Anyone who can question their own motivations.

Mara, the divider, always overplays its hand; it is too confident, believing its position is stronger than it really is, leading it to push too hard and ultimately spoil its chance of success. Thank goodness. 🙂

Dependent Arising

Everything arises dependent on a previous cause. Ideas have a cause, an instigator(s). When consciousness claims these ideas as its own, this gives rise to a self image, which affects whatever we do or say.

Unless we realise our true reality of consciousness, objectivity (not influenced by personal feelings) is a fallacy as everything is subjective (personal feelings). The truth of our natural being is realised through verifiction, testing the words, as words are merely a generalisation. Never think that learning a few words means we’ve ‘got it’.

We’ve got it when we are it.

‘It’ is compassionate understanding arising from practice,
verifying that all beings are enlightened essence.

Does It Depend On Who Says It?

Does it depend on who says it?
It seems that it does.
🙂

Our problem is that if the speaker is charismatic,
this conveys that extraordinary features are required
when the absolute truth of pure consciousness has no features.

And so subtle confusion reigns.

The idiom, ‘all that glitters is not gold’, refers to that which may seem good – or charming – but which isn’t always as it appears. Appearances can be deceptive, and so we need to look beyond the surface to find true worth.

And here’s the surprise that turns everything on its head …

All that glitters is gold. For a practitioner of meditation, all appearances – anything that is projected into the mind – are but a reflection within consciousness. This is the yoga of one taste.

The seemingly real and the real are simultaneous.
It doesn’t matter who says what,
the authority comes from personal observation.

The Promotion Of The Unintelligible

There is an idiom, “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”, which has the the same effect as saying, “See no truth, hear no truth, speak no truth”. The universe is complete in opposites; when we know the truth, we will recognise evil. We recognise evil because we know the truth.

The truth has been obfuscated.
Obfuscate: make obscure, unclear, or unintelligible. From late Latin obfuscat-‘darkened’.

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND!

Obfuscating is misleading communication by making the message difficult to understand, usually with confusing and ambiguous language.

Obfuscation can either be unintentional (as a result of following others) or intentional, and is  accomplished by talking around a subject, with jargon or technical language that uses in-group speak, thus limiting any communicative value to outsiders.

We can even cite Tibetan Buddhism as an example, where we’re enthralled by the Tibetan culture with its exotic and meaningful words and names, but we can easily miss the simplicity of personal realisation and experiential, compassionate understanding.

Realisation is more than doing pujas and prostrations, and ringing bells.
It is knowing what is essence and what is culture.

Stop Carrying The Past

All the things that we regard as failures or distortions by ourself and others are what brought us to this present moment.

There is nothing to forgive, because that requires judgement. We’re all deluded because of what is passed down to us; to forgive is to say “I am now right”, while you are wrong.

We live in the universal soup of deluded and reactive consciousness.
“Being in the soup” is being in trouble.

That which recognises this soupiness
(sentimental exaggeration)
is our reality of pure consciousness.

Gurus Aren’t Real

The outer guru is only a reminder of the inner guru – or it should be. Adoration of a guru is counter-productive as it creates a duality – me and my guru. Worldly gurus cannot be with us 24/7; they cannot point out to us precisely where we’re going wrong – we have to do that for ourselves.

Adoration creates competitiveness, a ‘holier than thou attitude’ as we behave as if we’re morally superior to others.

We are humans with an enlightened potential which includes all flaws and imperfections, revealing exactly how we are, including the bad parts, without hiding anything.

The idea of ‘guru’ is fanciful.
The real guru is our tainted mind,
showing us (consciousness) all our faults.

For that we are grateful.
This teacher bring us back to our home,
right here, right now.

Our Reality Is Beyond Teachings

It’s not the teaching that will set us free; it is the experience of the teaching that liberates. For millennia, there have been forces dedicated to deceive us so that we remain a ‘product’. Through stories – childish stories – we are created in the image of our makers.

‘Good’ people think they are going to heaven and will meet their loved ones (or voluptuous ones 🙂 ). What are you going to do when you get there if you don’t have a body? The stories don’t go any further than a vague belief.

Our reality is right here right now, it is simply being. Heaven cannot be sitting around a circle chatting to ‘loved’ ones. We are here to end the effects of karma = beliefs from past actions clinging to ideas handed down to us.

Our reality of pure consciousness is beyond body, mind,
memories, stories, teachings, and desires.

Human Conditioning

The things we can’t say.

Through tradition, we follow the crowd and stay ‘mum’, not speaking out about what really matters. We only speak out what we are told to speak out about.

We vote for fools: we get what we wish.
Vote: from Latin votum ‘a vow, wish’.

Words Can Be Twisted

Direct experience of pure consciousness cannot be twisted, but our perception can be clouded by biased words. We don’t see that we just see – that we are not seeing with clarity – as we are seeing through cultural programming.

If we were born into a different family or country, would we be the same person? We take on that culture which we then identify with. That is our prison. Once we recognise this, we know how to escape – simply by not identifying with ‘local’ ideas. 🙂

Everything we read or hear has a bias – a cultural identity which limits our perception.

Diversity Divides

Diversity has the illusion of inclusion and harmony,
but in reality, it is meant to divide and conquer,
to maintain tension in a society.

Confused people are easier to keep occupied,
and therefore to control.

This confusion divides the attention of consciousness.

Dealing With The Abuse, Not The Abuser

The greatest method in reducing karma is non-reaction, seeing the abuse as our teacher, which shows us our state of mind. This has nothing to do with the abuser or whatever they say; Mara can’t help it – it just wants to control.

This isn’t easy if we haven’t controlled our Mara.
Everyone is an abuser.
Everyone seeks validation.

This method is all about our non-reaction. We aren’t ignoring what is said, but we address it in an ‘unlocking’ way – a little side-step so as not to escalate the situation. Mara wants a reaction to feed off, like a hungry ghost that constantly needs satisfaction, so we just give it a titbit to shine a little light.

This is how insanity is turned into sanity.
Until we’re perfectly enlightened, everyone is some sort of abuser,
so everyone is our teacher.
😀

Just consider what Thích Nhất Hạnh or the Dalai Lama would do.

A False I Is A Reactive I

The sadness of human conditioning stems from the three poisons – attachment, aversion and ignorance – which foster a cycle of suffering and a false sense of self.

A false I is a reactive I.

Our true reality of pure consciousness does not react as it purely perceives, before the conceptual mind obscures consciousness.

The conflict between our reality – the clarity of inner peace within – and these poisons creates the condition of misery in which we live. The root of anger comes from an idea of self which is in conflict with something external that we believe to be real.

Changing this conditioning requires mindful compassion which comes from the realisation of our true reality to transform the mind back to the clarity of inner peace.

Hostility festers and lingers in the mind = holding on.
Compassionate understanding sets us free = letting go.

Realisation Shrinks The Need For Many Words

Examples:
Not two.
The unity of appearance and recognition.
Pure consciousness.

These each contain the complete Dharma.

Beginners like collecting words,
but the truth is never in words.

The Beginners And The Advanced

Beginners adore complexity.
The advanced realise simplicity.

Beginners collect words and names.
The advanced see everything as one taste.

Why Do We Cut Ourselves Off From Others?

Why do we resist reaching out?

‘Reaching out’ means to initiate contact to offer help, seek connection, or communicate.

When we join a group, become a type, hold a belief, we adhere to group values and regard ourselves as moral and virtuous. This self-value colours our view of others whom we regard as different.

Even when there is a similar understanding, we still keep one another at arm’s length. Why? We are holding on to something. We aren’t recognising that this attitude is our personal obstacle on the path to enlightenment. It’s our challenge, and we don’t like being challenged.

We may become sentimental over words and images, but when it comes to personal interaction, we freeze.

Letting go is extremely subtle.
Anything that provokes ego’s reaction is our teacher.

Making A Culture and Replacing a Culture

Culture: the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society.

A culture is created by a certain type of temperament which is the code for that society. Some are noisy, others are quiet. A problem occurs when the noisy enter the quiet and upset the balance, demanding that everyone becomes noisy.

Technology changes how we live. Some changes are natural, while others are orchestrated. It’s not actually change; we are constantly being diverted away from our natural state.

Once we recognise the pattern, we’re not surprised – it’s predictable. We see all the lies and false information about reality, and begin to re-examine where we got our values from.

If you were born into a different family or culture who used words in a particular way, would you be the same person? No, you wouldn’t – but the essence of pure consciousness would be the same.

The noise in our head goes round and round – that’s our culture.

Observation Versus Observer

One is absolute reality; the other is relative reality.

When there is just observation, at that infinitesimal moment, there is no I, no self, no observer present. There is just pure observation. No relating is happening.

This is an important distinction to observe before consciousness starts claiming … “I see.”

The moment when there is a feeling of an observer, a relationship is set up, and an infinitesimal moment of time is taken up. This is also an important distinction to observe.

We have become so used to claiming that this colours everything that is perceived – “I see.” We are not the voice in our head; that is just an echo from our environment.

The real you is the silent observation that has no voice, no ideas.
Shocked?
🙂

Life Is A Conveyor Belt Of Industrial Intellectualisation

We can only laugh at ourselves when we actually get off. 🙂
Most of us die without knowing the journey we’ve been on.

We play the game of oneupmanship,
all the while scooting along the conveyor belt of re-education.

The know-it-alls never notice that pure consciousness knows nothing.

This is the ‘spiritual’ psychological trap
of learning words without knowing them.

We become hollow sounding-boards of belief.
This is the entrapment of predicability.

When we get off the conveyor belt of industrial intellectualisation,
we are free to … 🙂

Why Write A Blog

Not everyone wants to consider the truth of their being. People either belong to an idea, or speculate, or aren’t bothered – and realising the truth takes a lot of practice and testing.

Absolute truth is available to everyone as it’s their essence, which is pure consciousness. Having realised the truth, finding the right words to hit the right target is a challenge as the truth is never in the words.

No one can find fault with pure consciousness, and very few appreciate its significance, and what obscures it. When truth is realised, each individual emphasises what seems to be most important. 

Karma/self/emotions/belief/ideas are all the same; they are our teacher.
They show us what we are subtly holding on to that obscures pure vision.

In pure vision, there is no I, karma, self, emotions, belief, ideas, obscurations.
n this way, life is never boring.

This blog is coming up to the start of its thirteenth year.
🙂