Do We Feel There Are Secrets Being Kept From Us?
This is ‘normal’ paranoia – irregular mind! 😀
If we feel there are secrets being kept from us, we will not appreciate what we already have, and that is purified awareness. We will always have the feeling that there is something more; this is just everyday paranoia. Irregular mind.
There are many elaborate stories from the spiritual past, and many more are being conjured up in the present, such as encounters with aliens. From the point of view of pure awareness, these are merely relative toys, and a distraction. Through suggestion, we can easily become superstitious; if we went to the Great Stupa in Boudhanath, Nepal, we would see westerners joining the Tibetans in their clockwise circumambulation of the stupa, chanting mantras and swinging prayer wheels for good luck – I did it too…just in case! Such belief merely gives rise to hope and fear. This is what neurolinguistics are all about; the power of suggestion.
Life is too short to worry about things we cannot prove. If they were true and people did indeed have these abilities, surely the time is now to use them to help this messed-up world. But all we actually get are more stories. These experiences may be true for some, or they may be just a fantasy. If we’re not careful, we can merely acquire someone else’s fantasy, which is not relevant to our progress and only deepens our confusion because it’s not our experience.
The only thing we can prove for ourselves is awareness, and the purity of that awareness. Belief may help some people by easing their minds, but this delays genuine experience.
If we feel there are secrets being kept from us,
we will remain distracted
and not appreciate what we already have.
That is purified awareness.
The final secret is always in front of us;
our own awareness, empty of elaboration.
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. 
“The final secret is always in front of us;
our own awareness, empty of elaboration.”
Tony, please can you share your Dzogchen experience in relation to non-duality, infinite compassion, and shunyata. Can one go without another?
Hello Marcel,
Could you clarify by what you mean by… Can one go without another?
Non-duality, infinite compassion, and shunyata/emptiness are all one. They are reflections of the same non-thing.
There is pure empty essence. This prisms into the three kayas. This in turn prisms into the five wisdoms or Buddha families. This is then revealed in the four enlightened activities. It’s like that -various manifestations.
If you mean can one achieve realisation on one’s own?
I wouldn’t think so, not in this day and age, we all need guidance. Because the path is full of self deceptions.
In the past masters like Tilopa had direct visions, maybe some still do today.
For myself, I’ve had years of teachings from kind teachers, meditation and confusion. And nothing made sense!
It all sounded right but something always seem to be missing.
What was missing was trusting in experience, how it actually felt. Suddenly the synapses seem to join up, after all that frustration.
The experience is all in this blog.
Suddenly we realise that we understand something. Of course there is still karma to exhaust, but that is work in progress.
To illustrate how one suddenly ‘gets’ it, tomorrow I’ll put on some paintings I’ve been doing these past couple of weeks. They just suddenly happened… after years of frustration…!
They are spontaneous under paintings
I never thought I could do. They surprised me.
Tony
Lot’s of echo here. Pieces are falling into place. Synapses are joining up. Off course, non-duality, infinite compassion, and shunyata/emptiness are all one of the same! Eureka ! 🙂
Lot’s of work has been done to get there, to arrive at this level of understanding. Still lot’s of work ahead: on letting go, on taming the mind, on exhausting karma, on trusting the present, etc. but things are starting to make sense now. Thanks for your efforts Tony. Looking forward to seeing your paintings.