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.

Difficulty in Expressing Ourself

This is a double-edged problem: the self that is the identity with the stuff-in-the-mind, and the nature of mind itself. Which ‘self’ are we talking about? Usually we express ourselves through programmed, cultural responses – the stuff-in-our-minds. But it’s different when expressing from the nature of the mind itself.

Intuitively we may know, but cannot express. Actually, the nature of mind – essence – cannot be expressed, but it can shine light onto the stuff in the mind and therefore discern what is and is not beneficial. The light of essence neither accepts nor rejects; it is purely aware.

So what are we wanting to express? Well, the light of essence is clarity. It is clarity that essence brings to the stuff-in-the-mind.

When we are on our own and we need to do things, we see what is needs to be done and do it….or put it off! Most of the time we’re busy – too busy. Or we’re vacant – too vacant. But there are times when we can stand back and take a fresh look, without comment. That ‘standing back’, pausing into emptiness, allows essence – clarity – to express itself because it has just broken out of the programming. The ‘robot’ wakes up!

That IS expressing yourself!

When we are in company, others’ needs come to the fore: this waking-up-clarity shines on another’s problem, not by being clever, but by not reacting to the stuff-in-the-mind. We are connecting to the nature of mind itself. A meeting of minds.

Learning lots of words and phrases and repeating them is merely ‘robot’ talk, even if it’s dharma talk. We express ourselves by allowing space to be, for self and other. This space allows inspiration to occur. This space allows a meeting of essence of minds, not a meeting of stuff-in-the-minds.

This inspiration is blessing. When space occurs, one is open and (here I’m going to sound weird) receptive. I shall say no more 😉

Sometimes we just feel – different.
Everything is an expression of emptiness.
Everything is connected by cause and effect.
Everything has no permanent existence.

Everything having no permanent reality
is an expression of emptiness – reality.

We truly express ourselves in silence
I shall say no more 😉

…but I can’t keep this to myself…absolute expression is love.

Empathetic Compassion

Try not to correct the person.
Clarify the point,
allowing recognition to take place
in its own good time.

There is absolutely no point in arguing.
People have to see for themselves.

At the art academy, teachers came round twice a day to give us a ‘crit’. They looked at the drawing or painting and said, “This is too long” or “This is too short” or “That is warmer” or “That is cooler”. They never said, “You are wrong.” This is something we can appreciate. Teachers went through this same clarification from their teachers: a lineage clears the luggage! Empathetic compassion would certainly make this a better world: it would make us all responsible.

We all have to learn to be teachers.

Respecting Our Lineage

If we have a karmic connection with the Dharma or any spiritual tradition, meaning that we have an attraction to understanding relative truth and absolute truth (ultimate reality), then we have engaged in this process before!!!

This means you have your own lineage: our previous lives are your own ancestors. These ancestors would have had associations with other like-minded people, so that group may also have had a lineage.

We know that traditions are a lineage, and that lamas have lineages…and so have you.

Be true to your ancestors!
You never know who you were.

 Spiritual Centres

Spiritual centres are support groups where teachings can take place. They are good places and good company, with like-minded people. More or less.

However…

They are full of beings from the six neurotic realms from Hell being to Gods, out to project onto you, just like everywhere else, and you may feel that you don’t belong there.

However…

You’re one of these too. Spiritual centres are intense catalysts for change: very annoying. The best part of a retreat is going for tea outside when it’s finished!

However…

The commentary on a text by the teacher is invaluable: the next six months will be spent studying your notes. The purpose of teaching is putting it into practice, and connecting with that which already knows. Practice allows information to become knowledge through experience; knowledge then becomes wisdom, seeing ultimate truth within relative truth. When we reach this stage, our demons are useful as there, recognition has no permanent existence. In fact, the neurotic realms become the Buddha realms. The demons come to cause trouble, but receive only compassion and so move on to bug someone else – the universe is full of emotional beings!

However…

There is a certain dynamic within centres and that is to do with the yanas (vehicles). A group will have a particular attitude, and so will the teacher. Remember, a teacher can only deal with the type of people he or she attracts. All too often, if the centre is Tibetan Buddhism for example, people try to become Tibetan…this doesn’t work. Changing cultures does not change attitudes, and creates jargon barriers.

So sometimes, it is time to move on. If you have a genuine Dzogchen temperament, it will go crazy within a Hinayana set up – and the same applies in reverse. You have every right to chose what suits, and change if necessary.

Hinayana does not like demons and so stays away from them. Dzogchen practitioners welcome demons. In old Tibet, practitioners would go to graveyards at night to face their fears, because they believed in that sort of demon. This will not work for westerners: we don’t have that sort of fear. All we need to do is go to spiritual centres – there are enough demons there, which are reflected within!

However…

Saying all this, I’ve taken a break from spiritual centres for a while….too much sugar for my taste! And I’ve learnt so much, for which I am grateful. I’ve found my spiritual centre!

However…
Nothing lasts!

🙂

This is just a reminder that my name is Tony Barrs and the email address is 

buddhainthemud@hotmail.com

If you would like to say “Hello”

🙂

Re-inventing the Dharma Wheel

The Buddha’s teaching are complete.
But how do you know?
Just by being told they are the truth
isn’t knowing the truth.

We have to deconstruct the Buddha’s teachings
and re-build them.
We have to re-invent the teachings
to recognise, understand and live them for ourselves.

Then we know!

Spirituality is not a Package

When we talk,
we say much about our self.
When we listen without comment or reaction,
our self is out of the picture.

That is emptiness.
That is love.
It’s that simple.

You don’t need
a special name,
a special attitude,
special clothing,
or to be a spiritual package.

Just be ordinary.
Pure intelligent awareness.

Follower, Seeker, Finder, Accepter, Supporter.

At death, we forget and have to re-remember at birth.

However, in each of us, there is a residue left from the past; a tendency, which may be good, bad or indifferent. Most of us ignore these tendencies, even though they may be having an effect on our lives. If a tendency is strong, it can cause a conflict within us; it could even give rise to depression, as we may feel something but cannot express it in unsympathetic company.

If we are fortunate, we find a supportive path that matches our tendencies (our decent human tendencies rather than our cruel ones), and we become a follower.

Once we have an understanding of the language of this path, we become a seeker and are a little more independent.

Through experience we become a finder; we have understood the language.

Having found – or realised – what we were looking for, we can rest and become an accepter; we allow life to play itself out. And, in our next incarnation, maybe this residue will be stronger and we will not have to waste so much time in conflict.

If our understanding is unshakeable and we are full of joyous confidence, the tendency of love will arise. We become a supporter, going back down the path to see who might need help. Then, we become a follower again, obeying others’ needs – but this time, there is a unbreakable, diamond quality to our actions.

It’s what we all want…and what we all need.

Do you follow?

😉

Give your brain a rest

Give your brain a rest
Give your heart a rest
Give your guts a rest
Give your senses a rest
Give judgement a rest
Give referencing a rest

Rest as if being scanned and nothing is registering.

No activity, but awake.
Perception is wide open but not active
The senses are wide open but not active

All clear?

A teacher is anything that causes you to realise something
that you hadn’t realised before.
That teacher is clarity.

All clear!

When clarity is present,
ignorance isn’t.

This Present Moment of Consciousness

This present moment of consciousness was created by the previous moment of consciousness. This seems reasonable enough, until we realise that this is precisely how we keep our very limited programming running. This is precisely how essence is distracted. We have consciousness; we are not consciousness itself.

The problem I had in the past with the idea of consciousness was due to the way in which the word ‘consciousness’ was being used. In the west, we use this word to mean awareness; “I was conscious of the fact”. This, to us, means the same as, “I was aware of the fact”. I have even heard the expression, “a ‘conscious’ work of art”.

In Buddhism, the word consciousness means facilities in the mind. There are eight levels of consciousness – five of the senses and three of the mind: perception, judgment and reference. It is how we perceive, or how perception takes place, and so we believe that because of this, there must be a perceiver. In fact, that so-called perceiver is still mind consciousness. Ultimately, pure perception has no perceiver as that would be a duality. In pure perception there is merely pure perception – no time for reference. The idea of a perceiver arises a moment after we come out of pure perception.

So how does knowing that this present moment of consciousness was created by the previous moment of consciousness help us? Remember that ‘us’ is pure awareness that mistakes appearances as being reality, when pure awareness is the reality itself.

In knowing how the present moment was created, we can break through this programming cycle. Just by recognising that moment, pausing and allowing space, a fresh approach will present itself.

There is a faculty in the mind which is the messenger called manas or manas-vijnana http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manas-vijnana We could call this the messenger of the mind, the same as Hermes and Mercury – messengers of the gods.

Here is a personal observation.

When I need to write or respond to someone, falling silent and allowing space – emptiness – the mind stops producing habitual reactions; their residue is still there but one leaves this alone. This allows the mind – the messenger – to scan itself for a response. If the response is not satisfactory, one just says, “Please go back and try again.” What is strange is that it scans for short term memory, but also deeper memories…I’m not sure where they come from! It seems to work. There is no effort involved – it is spontaneous. If nothing comes, then nothing comes. We all have this facility, but are too used to jumping in ‘head’ first!

This cuts through the present moment of consciousness. Then everything is brighter, fresher, inspiring. We have just walked out of prison – the prison of consciousness.

Einstein didn’t look Buddhist

😉

Was Einstein a Buddhist?
No. He was just a human who made perfect sense.

Albert Einstein:
“Insanity; to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.”

*“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”

*“Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.”

*“Of you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

*“The only source of knowledge is experience.”

*“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”

*“The world is a dangerous place in which to live, not because of people who are evil,
but because of people who don’t do anything about it.”

Is your You in the driving seat?

Your driver is your karma, taking over and driving you all over the place. Some days it’s interesting, some days it’s boring and some days it’s just routine as usual. And, who’s in the back seat?

How do we change this arrangement?

Well, actually we don’t. We merely recognise it. Karma still drive us, but it is just playing itself out…of a job! The closer we look, the more we recognise that the driver is less and less important. It’s now a mere driver, a mere I.

Our route was set up by our past actions and reactions, causes and conditions. If these do not change, then the driver keeps following the sat nav (GPS). When we recognise – meaning that we are aware – from there we can look, see, drop, rest. We remember that we are on a journey to no where…now here!

We lose a sense of direction when our driver goes through the same old routines. Sometimes, our practice feels a little jaded, and we might even want to give up. But that will only invite more suffering. It’s foolish to stop, and we also feel foolish being on the journey to nowhere.

However, being now here allows everything to drop away, and space occurs. It’s not familiar so we are not sure what we are supposed to do in this space. It may sound trite to say, “Just be happy”, but that is your natural state…get used to it! Our karma – our programmed sat nav – has to play itself out while we are not adding to it.

Must go…my driver’s waiting…. 🙂

How Small Ideas Imprison Us

It’s interesting how we can pick up a small idea, and it then colours our whole life. As a four year old, we would say, “You have to do it this way” – we don’t change much 😉 It’s a fear we pick up, that turns our life into a set of beliefs; our ‘protection blanket’.

Most people need their blanket in order to cope with life. It’s understandable, as we’re being pulled in all directions. To a certain extent, we have to conform with others, but not fall into their conformity! If we have no sense of direction, then perhaps we need the support of others’ direction for a while, but this does not entail living their lives.

We may talk about how wonderful …* is, or what a fabulous …* we went to, but rarely about how life is, in reality. This is a denial of suffering, which lacks compassion. We cover ourselves with do’s and don’ts – our banal, spiritual blanket…our prison.

Are spiritual teachers aware of how quickly westerners want to conform and please? How honest can they be?

A lama actually said to my wife, “One cannot be that honest with students.”

We have to be honest with ourselves.
Is the Dharma a two-edged sword?

Acquiring ideas will not set us free.
Honest awareness will.

* insert your own words as appropriate!

“I have no time for spirituality”

“I have no time for spirituality;
the inherent love present in all sentient beings”.
How many people make this statement?
You see, we are not all the same,
at the same time.

The world we create is self-serving:
we are here to serve others,
and in doing so, undo this self-serving world.

Each sentient being will awaken in their own good time.

So how did we start our waking journey?
We encountered someone who displayed a certain quality.

Are you that person?

Maha Ati

Yesterday was an introduction to Maha Ati – Dzogchen – resultant Mahamudra*. It is the completion stage of all practices; the fruition. It is not a practice in itself; it just is. It is effortless recognition – non meditation. Resting in emptiness.

However, it is up to us to remember to sustain this recognition. Just reading or hearing about it is not enough to gain stability. The last thing we should do is assume we know.

At death, Maha Ati is vitally important, as it is the recognition of our essential nature of pure awareness. In this stability, all appearances are seen as a projection of the mind – rainbow illusions.

To be honest, unless we are an exceptional practitioner, we have to rely on other methods as well. This is the reason Tibetans emphasise deity practice, where all images are merely a rainbow projection…and also a reminder.

Maha Ati yoga is what it’s all about, so we now know what we are looking for; it’s the end of the book. But when we get a little foggy or too agitated, we need the other methods in order to bring about normality…I mean sanity!

It is at death that genuine recognition is extremely important. That is no place for acting!

The recognition of Maha Ati is why we are here, in a human form, on earth.

It is to counter the other reason that we are here as humans on earth;
because of ignorance of Maha Ati!

As my teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche says, “We need Fearless Simplicity and Carefree Dignity” (these are the titles of two of his books).

*Mahamudra starts with shamata and gradually goes up to Maha Ati. Dzogchen starts at Maha Ati and uses the other methods to suit personal conditions.

Are You Maturing Spiritually?

We may hear teachings, but…
We may pretend that “all is well”, but…
We may give generously to people “over there”, but…
We may be “filled” with compassion, but…

How much do we care
about those with whom we interact?

We may know many things, but the brain needs time
to assimilate
to rewire itself
to put theory into practice.

Until then, we will still be caught up in the assumption
that we are progressing.

Am I a better person?
Being honest isn’t easy.
No one said it would be easy.

Putting theory into practice is challenging.
No challenge, no progress.

The Dharma does not make you happier.
Your understanding – and true generosity of compassion – does.

Release your Potential

When we forget our true nature, we become lazy. Lazy, lazy, lazy 😉

When we become lazy, the emotions creep back in to our system. Devotion turns to pride, and compassion to jealousy. Devotion becomes mechanical and routine… “Done that, feel good, what to I do now?” Compassion gets tired of listening to others… “Why doesn’t anyone listen to me?” This is easily done. Of course, this is how we get caught up in samsara…again and again! Lazy, lazy, lazy 😉

So, we are a work in progress.

But. Are we a work in progress? Or do we consider ourselves a finished product?

From a relative point of view, we feel we are the finished product – enlightened – “I know”. In spite of this, we are easily upset, feeling vulnerable because, in actuality, we are not enlightened. We forget knowing: Knowing is rigpa. Not knowing is ma-rigpa. They exist in the same space. These two seem different, but the only difference is that rigpa is the light, whereas ma-rigpa turns the light off. When the light is switched on, the darkness disappears. Rigpa dispels* ma-rigpa.

Rigpa’s magic is that it can dispel the spell of darkness.

We are, in fact, the finished product, but we just don’t know it. We are rigpa in ma-rigpa – knowingness in forgetfulness.

When we realise that we are the finished product, there is still work in progress…and that’s love!

We release our potential.
Rigpa is essence.

Releasing that
is essence love.

* “dispel”: from Latin dispellere, from dis- ‘apart’ + pellere ‘to drive’.

Why doesn’t satisfaction last?

It was a shock when I noticed that I was never satisfied. I should have felt satisfied, but didn’t.

What is it that needs to feel satisfied? The feeling of satisfaction comes from fulfilment of a desire. We spend our lives seeking satisfaction, and this becomes addiction…there is always another desire coming along! Frustrating, isn’t it? 😉

We use words such as “dissatisfaction” in order to spur us on to make progress; the energy from that dissatisfaction is the basis for our next step. We can then use this energy, which produces inspiration, but without becoming self indulgent; our personal agenda will dictate how that energy is used – for self gain or compassionate altruism. We either maintain a state of closure, or we open up.

The feeling of satisfaction is a conventional reality. We need it in order to be motivated; it is energy. It brightens the mind, and that’s all. It’s at that point that we can readjust our reactions. In that moment, what is, is. As it is. On a relative level it’s not perfect. From the ultimate point of view, it is perfect.

We can’t do better than we are doing, but having done it, we can then readjust. In a game of chess, we make a move from hundreds of possible moves, and then readjust our position in relation to the changed board. A brush stroke made by an artist will influence the next mark on the canvas. A conversation is the same: if preconceived ideas are dropped, things are always fresh.

Everything is a learning process. There is only complete satisfaction in enlightenment, so there’s no point in beating ourselves up! We have to accept where we are at this present moment, and be satisfied with that. In that acceptance lies our fastest progress.

Ultimately, there is no satisfaction or dissatisfaction,
so there is no point in looking for satisfaction.
That is a relative activity.
Sorry… 😉

In looking for satisfaction, we will always be dissatisfied.
Sorry… 😉

If we do not look for satisfaction, there will be no dissatisfaction1
Hurray!

The acceptance of dissatisfaction
means there is constant inspiration for the next moment.
Hurray!

What is, is. And then we adjust.
What isn’t, isn’t. And then we adjust.

Karma is Jamming our Perception

Karma is the result of our previous reactions,
which create our present reactions.
If we do not stop reacting,
the same reactions will reoccur in the future.
It is this that is jamming our perception.

Our reactions are stored in the mind:
to be more precise, in the 7^th and 8^th consciousnesses.
The 6^th is perception and other five are the senses.
It is in the 6th consciousness that we meditate.
The 7^th is judgement and the 8^th is our reference library.
This is the Jamming Control and Command Centre 😉

When resting in the spontaneous, present moment
all consciousness is clear.
Perception becomes pure perception,
and no karma is produced.
This is why the present moment is so important:
it is our teacher.

Being in the present moment creates space.
Once convinced of this, the jamming stops
and clarity illuminates.

Our conviction comes down to previous work.
We either see this immediately,
or need time and method to be convinced.

In vajrayana we require
intense compassion
intense intelligence
intense raw emotions…

…though these, it’s easier to recognise directly what is jamming the machinery!

Obstruction to Understanding Reality is Mara

Mara (demon activity) is anything that obstructs our understanding of reality.
Understanding this will depend on how much we value reality 🙂

There are two aspects to mara activity – outer and inner. The outer is activated by the inner; when we are selfish, we attract selfishness. There are three negative emotions that keep us bound in selfishness: desire, aversion and ignorance. Ignorance is ignorance of reality – our true nature – selflessness – non-identification – non-duality. Merely being.

Interestingly, the two energies that control us in the outer world are fear and addiction, and these two are aversion and desire! They only become active when we consent to be activated by them. The news is full of mara activity controlling our base instincts of desire, aversion and ignorance. Remember: like attracts like. Although we always have a choice in this, we are constantly seeking out that which supports our chosen belief system, and this enhances our karmic load.

Mara is anything that obstructs our understanding of reality.

The antidote to mara activity is any thing that dissolves the obstruction to understanding reality. That is Dharma. Dharma explains the nature of the three demonic emotions: desire, aversion and ignorance. These three hold us in prison, but they are also the keys to unlocking the prison doors. That knowledge reveals wisdom. The Buddha in the Mud!

Mara is anything that obstructs our understanding of reality.

Q.“But! But! This means I can’t do anything!”
A. All it takes to recognise the obstruction to understanding reality.

The moment we recognise is the moment of liberation.

A lie gains its power from the element of truth it contains.
The very nature of a poison is where its antidote lies – knowledge and wisdom.
As mara cannot understand this,
that is our protection.
Wisdom dissolves mara.

Here is how it works

The three wisdoms (our true nature) are emptiness, awareness and compassion.
In Sanskrit these are called Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya.
Their demonic manifestations are desire, aversion and ignorance.

When there is an “I-identification” …
Emptiness becomes desire:
Our being is empty – pure sacred space.
Desire fills that sacred space with concepts.

Awareness becomes aversion:
Our being is Awareness – the knowing quality.
Aversion arises when these concepts are claimed and judgements begins.

Compassion becomes ignorance:
Our being is Compassion – confident joy.
Ignorance arises when empty awareness forgets its true nature, and that of others.

We are in balance and compassionate when emptiness and awareness are in unity

Emptiness = Ultimate truth.
Awareness = Relative truth.
Compassion = the unity of Ultimate and Relative truths.

We are out of balance when:
There is just emptiness and, forgetting awareness, we become spaced out = Nihilism.

There is just awareness, and, forgetting emptiness, we mistake everything (and our self identity) as being real = Eternalism
There is therefore no chance of real love.

The important point is that if we are aware of our true qualities, then when the negative aspects arise, they immediately remind us of these true qualities. That is wisdom!

Mara is anything that obstructs our understanding of reality.
All it takes is recognition and we are in reality.
Our practice is to sustain continuity.
Blaming or finding fault with others is mara activity!
To counteract this is a big step.

Dzogchen Practice in Everyday Life 
by HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

The everyday practice of dzogchen is simply to develop a complete carefree acceptance, an openness to all situations without limit.

We should realise openness as the playground of our emotions and relate to people without artificiality, manipulation or strategy.

We should experience everything totally, never withdrawing into ourselves as a marmot hides in its hole.  This practice releases
tremendous energy which is usually constricted by the process of maintaining fixed reference points.  Referentiality is the process by
which we retreat from the direct experience of everyday life.

Being present in the moment may initially trigger fear.  But by welcoming the sensation of fear with complete openness, we cut through
the barriers created by habitual emotional patterns.

When we engage in the practice of discovering space, we should develop the feeling of opening ourselves out completely to the entire universe. We should open ourselves with absolute simplicity and nakedness of mind. This is the powerful and ordinary practice of dropping the mask of self-protection.

We shouldn’t make a division in our meditation between perception and field of perception.  We shouldn’t become like a cat watching a mouse. We should realise that the purpose of meditation is not to go “deeply into ourselves” or withdraw from the world.  Practice should be free and non-conceptual, unconstrained by introspection and concentration.

Vast unoriginated self-luminous wisdom space is the ground of being – the beginning and the end of confusion.  The presence of awareness in the primordial state has no bias toward enlightenment or non-enlightenment.  This ground of being which is known as pure or original mind is the source from which all phenomena arise.  It is known as the great mother, as the womb of potentiality in which all things arise and dissolve in natural self-perfectedness and absolute spontaneity.

All aspects of phenomena are completely clear and lucid.  The whole universe is open and unobstructed – everything is mutually interpenetrating.

Seeing all things as naked, clear and free from obscurations, there is nothing to attain or realise.  The nature of phenomena appears naturally and is naturally present in time-transcending awareness.  Everything is naturally perfect just as it is.  All phenomena appear in their uniqueness as part of the continually changing pattern.  These patterns are vibrant with meaning and significance at every moment; yet there is no significance to attach to such meanings beyond the moment in which they present themselves.

This is the dance of the five elements in which matter is a symbol of energy and energy a symbol of emptiness.  We are a symbol of our own enlightenment.  With no effort or practice whatsoever, liberation or enlightenment is already here.

The everyday practice of dzogchen is just everyday life itself.  Since the undeveloped state does not exist, there is no need to behave in any special way or attempt to attain anything above and beyond what you actually are.  There should be no feeling of striving to reach some “amazing goal” or “advanced state.”

To strive for such a state is a neurosis which only conditions us and serves to obstruct the free flow of Mind.  We should also avoid thinking of ourselves as worthless persons – we are naturally free and unconditioned.  We are intrinsically enlightened and lack nothing.

When engaging in meditation practice, we should feel it to be as natural as eating, breathing and defecating.  It should not become a specialised or formal event, bloated with seriousness and solemnity.  We should realise that meditation transcends effort, practice, aims, goals and the duality of liberation and non-liberation.   Meditation is always ideal; there is no need to correct anything.  Since everything that arises is simply the play of mind as such, there is no unsatisfactory meditation and no need to judge thoughts as good or bad.

Therefore we should simply sit.  Simply stay in your own place, in your own condition just as it is.  Forgetting self-conscious feelings, we do not have to think “I am meditating.”  Our practice should be without effort, without strain, without attempts to control or force and without trying to become “peaceful.”

If we find that we are disturbing ourselves in any of these ways, we stop meditating and simply rest or relax for a while.  Then we resume
our meditation.  If we have “interesting experiences” either during or after meditation,  we should avoid making anything special of them.  To spend time thinking about experiences is simply a distraction and an attempt to become unnatural.  These experiences are simply signs of practice and should be regarded as transient events.  We should not attempt to re-experience them because to do so only serves to distort the natural spontaneity of mind.

All phenomena are completely new and fresh, absolutely unique and entirely free from all concepts of past, present and future.  They are
experienced in timelessness.

The continual stream of new discovery, revelation and inspiration which arises at every moment is the manifestation of our clarity.  We should learn to see everyday life as mandala – the luminous fringes of experience which radiate spontaneously from the empty nature of our being.  The aspects of our mandala are the day-to-day objects of our life experience moving in the dance or play of the universe.  By this symbolism the inner teacher reveals the profound and ultimate significance of being.  Therefore we should be natural and spontaneous, accepting and learning from everything.  This enables us to see the ironic and amusing side of events that usually irritate us.

In meditation we can see through the illusion of past, present and future – our experience becomes the continuity of nowness.  The past is
only an unreliable memory held in the present.  The future is only a projection of our present conceptions.  The present itself vanishes as
soon as we try to grasp it.  So why bother with attempting to establish an illusion of solid ground?

We should free ourselves from our past memories and preconceptions of meditation.   Each moment of meditation is completely unique and full of potentiality.  In such moments, we will be incapable of judging our meditation in terms of past experience, dry theory or hollow rhetoric.

Simply plunging directly into meditation in the moment now, with our whole being, free from hesitation, boredom or excitement, is enlightenment.

We either get it or we don’t

Looking for our self, and not finding anything
The recognition is in the recognition

When we’re looking, we are doing something.
When we recognise, there is nothing doing.
The recognition is in the recognition

Doing nothing is not the same as nothing doing
‘I am doing nothing’ is a reflective duality
‘Nothing doing’ is non-dual absorption
The recognition is in the recognition

Not getting it is a good starting point
We merely recognise that which recognises that we’re not getting it
The recognition is in the recognition

😉

THE RECOGNITION OF RECOGNITION IS BUDDHA NATURE

Dharma = Relaxation

It is difficult to find words to convey a certain meaning: “Relaxation” here means at rest, not busy, dignity of inner peace, wisdom, not hurrying, effortless, barely aware. In the modern world, we are very alert – our consciousness darting everywhere, looking, wanting, judging, referring …’-ing-ing’ all over the place. The mind cannot keep still. And so we have to relax.

The Dharma is the teaching of relaxation.
Meditation is the method to relax.
The Fruition is relaxation.

Even in meditation practices we can forget to relax; “Am I doing it right?” Visualisation practices are extremely complicated, and some things are not explained clearly. The preliminary ngondro practices, which are done before visualisation practices (111,111 prostrations, recitations of Vajrasattva mantra, mandala offerings and guru yoga) are complex and time consuming, but do help with a feeling of relaxation, which is helpful for future practices. I once heard a fellow student begging to do 12 million recitations of a certain practice. Let’s hope it helps him relax. My reaction was, “Sod that!” 😉

We don’t have to make it so complicated, if we can just relax in practice. Could it be that we like complication because we are easily bored? Hm…boring? Now that’s interesting! Interesting? Now that’s boring!

As Trungpa Rinpoche said, “We need cool boring.” Just aware. Merely being present. Sitting back. Perfect relaxation. As the Native American chief was named Sitting Bull – unshakeable!

The effect of being relaxed will manifest in how we speak, how we sit, how we feel, the muscles in our body – everything about us. We reside in the space of dignified relaxation.

Our being is plain and simple – pure awareness.
It’s worth remembering to relax.

We can still enjoy the illusion

If we do not notice that everything is impermanent, we will become caught up in a seeming reality. If our observational skills become sloppy, and we are taken in by the claims of others, we will not see this, and merely join in a pointless parade.

If things were real, they would be permanent – but they’re not!

The only ‘things’ that are permanent are space and pure awareness (actually, I came up with a third – mathematical formula. I’ve had some blank looks from students and teachers about this, but if we have the same ingredients and conditions, we will always create a cookie…but I’m open to being talked down on that one! 🙂 )

Whatever…we can still enjoy the cookies!

The body survives in a healthy state because we are good to it. This, in turn, helps us feel relaxed, as long as we are not excessive. The enjoyment actually comes from knowing that things are impermanent: think of a flower or in the changing weather (English weather is quite exciting that way!). There is a spontaneous moment…then it goes…and there’s always another just behind! 🙂

Even though everything has only a seemingly reality, we can still enjoy touch, smell, taste, sight and sounds. After all, it’s what the body does, and there is much that is pleasing. Good communication is pleasing. Satisfying a need is pleasing. It’s also pleasing to experience neutral states: if we pleasured our selves all the time, it would get boring. Ah, breathing’s ok! 🙂 The trick is not to get stuck in the pleasing.

When we see the illusion for what it is and enjoy it, there lies humour – “Ah! Got caught again!” We can then just let it go. Not seeing the illusion is a mistake, and a mistake is funny! I paint in oils, and every painting comes out differently. Sometimes I wish I had a style, but then that would get boring, so I just have to enjoy the changes!

We need time to stop and enjoy and be healthy human beings, laughing – simply laughing – at simple things. (I can’t tell you how uncool my wife and I are…and it’s getting worse…is that better?! We’ve played “pinch punch first of the month” for 36 years now…I think I’m winning…but there again, so does she…)

Dharma is not sophisticated and serious.
Sophisticated and serious is what samsara is all about.

Acknowledging and enjoying the illusion is what compassion is all about.
It’s a constant reminder of smug-free, childlike joy.

How are you?

This is not as easy to answer as it might sound. We normally give an expedient response: “Alright” or “Fine”. This is because most people do not actually want to know how we are because they are often too busy: “How are you?” just means “Hello”. We also have the wish to project a positive image, and may choose not to be honest.

How different life would be if we truly meant, “How are you?” not just in a physically sense, but mentally and spiritually as well. Of course, this would all depend on how deeply we – or the other – investigate life itself. We may also say “Alright” as we may not want to express how we are truly are, as it feels too personal and exposes us. And that’s why we cling to our realm for ‘safety’ and can’t communicate. But it’s not safe at all, as our precarious position is glaringly obvious to others, even unconsciously. This is why birds of a feather flock together.

As we have seen in the past few days, suffering is everywhere, and even if things are going well, there is the suffering of change…it won’t last. This is because we cling to a misunderstanding of our true nature, which is awake and free from adornments.

When we can admit and acknowledge that we don’t feel right, that is the moment that we can change direction by finding the path of liberation, free from suffering. However, instead of doing this, we turn, for distraction, to our usual attachment to entertainment – and this includes ‘our’ spirituality. It’s busy-ness as usual, and this turns out to be our lifetime’s work. Our problems may seem huge but it all comes down to attachment to things, this body, this mind and even our spirituality.

At this moment, Thursday 31st July 2014, there is serious suffering going on in the world. Wars and senseless killing. Wars are political agendas, and their knock-on effect is tremendous even to those who may not be engaged in the situation directly.

I spend my time feeling furious at political agendas…political hell!

Politicians are well-educated and well-prepared – and say nothing, but do much via subversive agents. Wars are created by politicians who are trained to blame others. Who benefits? The huge corporations. Be very wary of saying such things as, “I’m too busy to think about these matters.” This is precisely what governments and oppositions want: it means that they can do the thinking for you.

Take a closer look. Wars are blamed on religions, which are seen as divided groups. Groups are naturally divided because they are groups! Politics is used to exacerbate situations, and drive an even bigger wedge between factions. This is easily done through propaganda, or a single shot. When blame is used, exaggerated strife creates a hell realm, and now both sides can be controlled. It’s outrageous that innocent people are the victims in all this: politicians and the military call this “collateral damage”, when it’s actually murder. Mass murder (I sometimes wonder if this is the actual objective).

So.
How are we now?!

We may feel all right, but we cannot ignore the suffering of others.
We all want to escape suffering.
Better still to be liberated from suffering.
Best is to want everyone to be liberated from suffering.

Ultimately, suffering does not exist
as it is a temporary state.

We start by meditating to understand our true nature. Through meditation, we come to understand that others have this same true nature and we wish them relief from their suffering. Each has to attend to their own story: we cannot do this for them, but we can support. This is empathy and compassion.

So.
How are we?

Sad, but with possibilities.

.

Know Hell, Know Heaven*

When we recognise hell,
we recognise heaven.

Part four

Since beginningless time, sentient beings have wandered in samsara, experiencing unbearable suffering. Samsara is the vicious cycle of existence, in which we are constantly going up and down, and is expressed by our emotions which are manifested in one or other of the six neurotic realms, or psychological states. This comes down to three factors: ignorance of our true nature, which gives rise to desires and aversions.

These are three maras: demons that cause trouble for us. Just feeling uncomfortable is mara activity. Even if we say “Well, my life is wonderful!” (the god realm), we then hope this will last and fear that it will not. It’s all down to mara activity of ignorance.

We live in a vicious cycle of existence – samsara – and it’s hell. Feeling depressed is hell isn’t it?

The depression comes from dissatisfaction: we then attempt to cover up the effect and the cause of this dissatisfaction in one of the realms. This activity creates karma, which is our mental reference library. It will take more than a pill to be liberated from samsara. Pills will merely make suffering even more unnoticed.

We are all in it together, acting as demons for one another by projecting the desires and aversions of the “I”. The “I” likes to get its way.

This demon activity is the MUD that surrounds the BUDDHA – us!
For those who are theistic: this demon activity is the MUD that surrounds God– us!

So, how do we get out of trouble? We merely recognise and acknowledge hell.

Hell is conventional, impermanent reality, and a useful tool in its varying degrees. That very recognition – that which recognises – is ultimate reality. Our essential nature. Heaven or nirvana.

You see, the two are inseparable. Once we are enlightened, we realise that hell never existed, but for now, it is our path to enlightenment.

In Tibetan Buddhism, we speak of “Ground, Path and Fruition”:
The ground is heaven, our essential nature.
The path is hell, and our essential nature is obscured.
The fruition is recognising that the path never existed and that heaven was present all the time.

When we recognise hell,
we recognise heaven.

It is all down to us. We need discipline, generosity, patience, perseverance, meditation and wisdom – and from these, compassion naturally arises. When we can love ourselves we can love others. Mud and all…LOVE THE MUD!

Hopefully, this blog gives some indication of wisdom, which is transcendent knowledge. The rest is up to us.

*Here, the terms “heaven” and “hell” are used in the sense that heaven is our ultimate nature and hell is our mistaken nature. This mistake encompasses all the six realms.

Not Going to Heaven or Hell

Why the human realm is important.
Part three

Here we are looking at the human realm, which is very significant as it is the key realm to unlocking the door to our prison. The human realm is the psychological realm of excessive activity, desire, and frustration. It’s not satisfying at all! And that is its key.

This realm is the escape route. However, we find ourselves still locked in because we either want to ‘better ourselves’ in the samsaric prison, or ‘blame’ the samsaric prison: it is for this reason that find ourselves going up and down. We hope that these two activities – bettering ourselves and blaming – will be the answer to our problems. Because the human realm is the desire realm, and these desires are never fulfilled, we become frustrated, and resort to our education and philosophies which in turn keep us programmed in the samsaric state. Frustration has another purpose beyond our dreams.

It is only in the human realm that we can communicate. We find that we cannot talk to those in the other realms, as they are occupied in a fixated state…

“My life is wonderful!” (god realm)
“You can’t say that!”(jealous gods)
“That’s not allowed!” (animal realm)
“It’s all mine!”(hungry ghosts)
“Nobody loves me!”(hell realms)

…all so very occupied!

The human realm is uncomfortable as it’s full of dissatisfaction – desires and frustrations – and this usually leads to addiction, so we re-enter one of the other realms.

The realm of desire and dissatisfaction is the cause for liberation. Once we recognise the fact that we are suffering, wisdom can dawn.

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

In this speech, Hamlet is telling Horatio that earthly education and philosophy can’t explain everything: now that they’ve seen the ghost, their previous beliefs are turned upside down.

NB More detailed information about the six realms is available elsewhere.

How Heaven Becomes Hell

The Six Realms
Part two

Even though we reject everything,
there is still a rejector.
As long as there is a rejector,
there is a path.

As long as we keep rejecting,
we are collecting something.

We have to accept
not to accept or reject.

Materially – or spiritually – we can become stuck. Life is pleasurable. We enjoy it – “I have arrived”. This is spiritual materialism, so there is the weakness. We are holding on to something! This is the god realm of pleasure.

In order to understand how the six realms work, we have to be honest with ourselves. For example, it’s easy to be taken in by people who inhabit the god realms, as they talk the talk, and it’s important to recognise this in ourselves – we can also talk the talk, can’t we?!

The problem is that if we don’t recognise our natural essence as clear empty space, we won’t recognise that there is a problem! We will continue to believe that the neurotic energies we experience are unique to ourselves. Because we are constantly holding on to the past and projecting into the future, we cannot find ‘now’. ‘Now’ is clear empty space – nothing doing! But we keep filling this space – this sacred space – with something or other. We could call this space ‘pure consciousness’ if that helps – it’s no man’s land.

We can start anywhere, so let’s start with the god realm – our perfect life – heaven – our achievement. The god realm is the environment of pride. Because of this weakness (pride) we are easily disturbed, which which is expressed through projections and justifications.

That is when we enter the realm of battle: the environment of the jealous gods. We pit our energy against that of others, and become very busy, picking at everything, grasping and taking. We take advantage of situations; this is the realm of envy. As we get more and more carried away, our desires become stronger, and we descend in to the human realm.

The human realm is the psychological state of excessive activity, desire and frustration. Here we see the development of addiction, because we feel that we need more and more (gradually, we are becoming aware that in every realm, the sacred space becomes more solid and frozen). This realm of desire, where we crave excessively, becomes very complicated and confused and so we attempt to simplify by categorising and pigeonholing, which then limits our view. We move to a coarser level where our intellect and humour are diminished and things become mechanical: and so we enter the animal realm of survival.

The animal realm is embodied by a rigid approach where we become habitual and territorial. We’re constantly trying to make things work, but there is never enough and we always need more: we take and take but cannot digest or share. And so we enter the realm of the hungry ghosts.

The realm of the hungry ghosts is the height of poverty. We are insatiable, always wanting more and more. Utter selfishness leads to aggression: we fixate and want to destroy everything. This is the powerful realm of hell: we either become very heated or very cold.

This is the journey from heaven to hell, and it can happen in a split second. Once we recognise that we are bound up in hell, the process reverses and we make our way back up to the god realms again. This is our psychological lot, up and down all day like the game of Snakes and Ladders! We may find ourselves predominantly living in one realm, perhaps throughout our entire life time – this was our choice.

It is important to recognise this pattern in others – not to condemn or label and then dismiss, but to understand and thus feel compassion. We can truly show compassion because we empathise, having been there ourselves, and got stuck. Spiritual knowledge is neutral: it is part of our psychological make up, and it all depends on whether we use this knowledge as a weapon or a wisdom.

The god realm is more ethereal and the hell realm more solid, but all the realms describe space under various conditions.

The six realms are unconscious consciousness.
Ego is unconscious space.

It is possible to transform this unconscious space into conscious space,
and that is done through the recognition of clarity.

The moment we recognise a realm,
we recognise the emotion associated with that realm.
That recognition is wisdom…
…the Buddha in the Mud.

That is the key to freedom.

How Heaven Becomes Hell
a description of how easily we slip from one state to another without noticing

The Six Realms
Part one

We are sacred space: pure intelligence, pure awareness, crystal clear. Emptiness. Shunyata. However, it’s recognising what we do within this sacred space that matters. We fill it up with conceptual fixations, making it more and more solid or frozen.

To see this in action, we must observe our emotions, and especially the particular emotion to which we are holding on, and which is driving us. This may be seen in our behaviour – both short term and long term – which becomes our personality for this lifetime. If we do not recognise our sacred space, then we live within an emotional realm with certain identifiable characteristics.

We could say that there are as many realms as there are sentient beings, but that’s too much to comprehend. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is said that there are 84,000 types of beings and so 84.000 types of disturbing emotions – and even that is too large to understand, so it has been narrowed down to six, which correspond to the six basic negative emotions. To be more precise, there are three fundamental disturbing emotions – desire, aversion and ignorance – and the basis of that is ignorance of our true nature, pure awareness.

Identifying these realms – these emotions – is good news as the emotions actually relate to the wisdoms and specific Buddha families (wisdom families). The Buddha family to which we relate is the wisdom through which we express ourselves*. The moment we recognise is the moment of freedom – this is the Buddha in the Mud! The healing is in the recognition: it’s that simple. But first we have to identify the problem before it can be healed.

The six realms are the god realm, the jealous god realm, the human realm, the animal realm, the hungry ghost realm and the hell realm. These are psychological states, and create the type of world in which we live – or choose to live. From this point of view, the realms are varying densities of emotions, filling sacred space. We could understand this basic space as our essential nature, or we can dig in our heels and never find complete fruition.

I don’t want to make this too long, and there are fuller explanations available elsewhere. What is important is to have an overall view and see the realms in action, especially when dealing with others – the smug, the argumentative, the addict, the mechanical person lacking humour, the greedy, the blamer. We are all of these – or rather, our mindset is.

* this will be expanded upon in another essay

The Magic of Compassion
There is nothing wiser than love

There is relative, conventional compassion, and ultimate compassion – conditional and unconditional. In Sanskrit they are called relative bodhichitta and ultimate bodhichitta. It may sound surprising, but we first have to understand ultimate compassion before we can understand relative compassion.

It’s quite simple!

When sitting quietly, we become aware. This is stillness: I am aware. So awareness is still relative: this is relative reality. A duality – ‘I’ am ‘aware’.

When we become aware of awareness itself, and find nothing more other than just pure awareness, that is emptiness. Ultimate reality, where duality dissolves into non-duality. There are your two truths!

Back to sitting quietly: if we recognise this duality, that recognition is non-duality. Not ‘me recognising”. Just recognition. When we recognise this unity of emptiness and awareness, a deep appreciation of that recognition arises. That deep appreciation is ultimate bodhichitta. Ultimate compassion. It’s a little goose-bumpy!

That deep appreciation is the same as in devotion. Devotion is a deep appreciation for symbolic radiance. This may be directed toward a symbolic appearance, or towards the symbolic teacher of daily life.

Once we recognise and appreciate ultimate bodhichitta, we can then acknowledge and recognise it in others. It is covered up, but it is nevertheless there. That recognition is compassion – love.

So where is the magic?

Ultimate compassion opens the doors to everything.
From this single realisation,
in the moment of letting go
everything that needs to be known is known.
That guarantees unconditional love.

In daily life, we re-enter the madness
in order for the magic to arise.
We see everything differently
as life is now our symbolic teacher.

There is magic in love.
Unimaginable magic.
The magic is blessings
of wisdom.

There is nothing wiser than love.

Blaming the Devil

In a world of increasing violence, it’s easy to get caught up in blaming.

There are two points of view which need to be seen simultaneously – conventional reality and ultimate reality. Conventional reality is what we assume reality to be – our accumulated intellect. Ultimate reality is the awareness of the assumption we are making – our intelligence.

The aspect of ultimate reality is to acknowledge mistaken view: it not an excuse not to blame, but rather, it acknowledges causes and conditions. In conventional reality we become part of the blaming machinery. Blame separates and divides. It’s meant to!

Blame diverts consciousness away from ultimate reality, to becoming involved in a conventional made-up reality – a belief system. This makes us feel righteous – but only for a moment, before the retaliation comes back at us, and off we go again.

This is the Devil’s ping-pong, and it does pong! It separates us from one another, and separates us from recognising our true nature. This is exactly what demon activity is. But there is another aspect to demon activity: the path of liberation.

Seeing police brutality on the news, one cannot help but feel sick. Excessive force is being used to create unnecessary suffering, and this is being allowing and justified by higher authorities. It is authorised torture, or even murder. But who do you blame?

That is the key. We are coerced into blaming and reacting – the devil’s ping-pong again. The world is obviously being manipulated (and has always been so) in favour of certain groups. They need people to be divided in order to create tensions, and keep us distracted and ready to obey. Just look at the news, and the sides we take. To the manipulators it doesn’t matter who wins, as they will make their sales. Just ask hedge fund managers! Actually, news is not new: situations are either orchestrated or belong to the constant cock-up theory. Either way the public loses.

How much do authorities care? Police tasers are no different from electric cow prods and are potentially more lethal. Debt and austerity are mental cow prods. Suffering keeps us in hope and fear. We are constantly being manipulated. Ping-ponged!

This is the state of the world at this present time. Blame and reaction play into the manipulators’ hands. The devil mentality makes us believe in this conventional world as reality, as a constant solid – when it’s not! Take away that belief and we cannot be manipulated. There is no devil – just utter selfishness.

Charles Baudelaire said, “The greatest trick the devil played was to persuade us that he does not exist,” thus suggesting that he does. The devil does not exist! Manipulators are constantly trying to persuade us that he does. He’s bogey man in the shadows, the alien, the reptilian… We associate Alistair Crowley Satanism, despite the fact that he actually never mentioned the devil. That is the great deception: he was a show man. But the deceivers have made a huge, huge foolish mistake…

The idea of the Devil and the idea of God have no reality. They are beliefs by consent: we’ve been a little sloppy in our thinking and logic.

There is good and evil, but this is merely a correct understanding of reality and a seeming reality. Good is our true, pure nature. Evil is the obscuration to recognising that true nature. Evil is merely a banal distraction: that which is not good, not beneficial.

So what is the foolish mistake?

The Devil wakes us up and God puts us to sleep!

The Devil is our own self identity, our self image.

God is our own righteousness about that self image – everything is fine, just believe, don’t worry, go back to sleep.

The ideas of both the Devil and God are banal beliefs.

Good and evil are to do with our true nature – pure essence – and the obscurations to recognising that pure nature, which is the excitement of the emotions. That’s all. If we want to blame someone, we should blame our selves. Whatever delusional, evil acts are committed, these are down to our and everyone’s self righteous selves.

That is not something we can stop in a hurry in others, but we can start now with our self. The whole point to this is protecting ourselves from harm, by merely not consenting to believe…anything!

When we understand the banality of ego, we can apply the four enlightened activities:

• pacifying is understanding that nothing truly exists, and there is no problem

• enriching is clarifying that fact

• magnetising is inspiring the recognition of wisdom within ego’s demonic activity

• destroying is merely reflecting ego’s activity

These arise from understanding and recognising our absolute nature of emptiness: evil can not affect emptiness. Emptiness just allows these banal distractions to be, without either accepting or rejecting.

Flawed but Beautiful
…that’s us!
😉

The body is a camera.
The mind is the film.
We need to synchronise body and mind.
Clear film and clear lens = clear perception.

The dust on the film and lens is doubt; the flaw.
This flaw clouds our view
with assumptions to which we are attached.
We just need to trust ourselves, and acknowledge this flaw.
When doubt clears, perception clears = clear view.

The scene is constantly changing. The pure view merely acknowledges.

It is because of the flaws that we notice the flaws.
This space dust reminds us.
Aren’t they beautiful?
Thank you flaws!!!

The Paradox of
Being in Love
and
‘Being’ in Love

Being in love
Being in love is exciting.
We love being in love!
It’s nice…but one sided.

It is essence being in love
with ideas about itself – or something else.
Feeling this has to protected,
we love ourselves more than others.

When we meet people,
we either move towards them – are attracted – I love
or
we move away – repulsed – I don’t love
or
we are indifferent – ignore – I don’t care.

“Being” in Love
This is what we naturally are – being love.
We merely let go of desire, aversion and indifference,
and love naturally manifests at every moment.

The power of love ignites
when we truly recognise
that every sentient being has this same feeling,
but it is covered up, obscured, forgotten, ignored.

The challenge is to love without expectations.
Then nothing can disturb that love.

The Buddha spoke in Pali

The Buddha spoke in Pali: We don’t, and essence certainly doesn’t.

The Buddha spoke in Pali: This was translated into Sanskrit, and then into Tibetan and many other languages. We may see certain languages as ‘holy’, particularly for prayers and mantras, but the actual experience is beyond any language or culture. Writings, in whatever language, have to be archived as a source of knowledge, but wisdom comes from experience…actual, pure experience. The truth is revealed in our intention and openness.

Calling Buddhism a religion limits its appeal, and causes people to repeat phrases which they do not understand, and so confuse themselves and others. An example: “If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him.” People repeat this to mean that you are your own Buddha, and so place no one above your head. The teaching is that conceptual knowledge isn’t actual knowledge: concepts are ‘killed’ or dissolved by cutting their roots. We have to do the work to experience the wisdom of the Buddha’s inspiration, and not just his words.

Buddhism is the study of the psychology that obscures our true nature: it doesn’t add to it. Modern psychology merely studies the human mind and its functions, but not the nature of mind itself.

We can find ourselves caught between exaggerated holiness, and modern quick-fix remedies (actually, modern quick-fix remedies delay our spiritual progress, and neither are they a quick-fix!).

Monasteries and shrine rooms with eight foot tall Buddhas and a thousand smaller Buddhas are very shiny and very ostentatious – and not totally necessary. Every time I walk into one of these, the first thought is, “How much did this cost?!” Donations are called merit, and artisans can make a living from their skill, but we will not find the truth in either a mental or physical construct.

Centres are good for people to go to for support, but Buddha – or God – doesn’t actually live in the temple, or in a book, or on a this screen…Buddha is reading this now!

Jesus said…
“The Kingdom of God is inside you, and all around you,
not in mansions of wood and stone.
Split a piece of wood…and I am there.
Lift a stone…and you will find me” (essence).

It costs nothing to to recognise essence.
It costs nothing to love…
….enough said!
😉

The Spontaneous Moment: The beer is optional
Finding contentment in satisfaction

Satisfaction has two aspects: contentment and mechanical, obsessive addiction. We all think we know the effects of addiction: those little rules we make up or conform to, in order to justify our status and existence. We chug along finding satisfaction in this and that, be it beer, Mozart or even meditation. This is why we are limited, sentient beings, enslaved by our desires. Corporations and governments use psychologists to maintain this enslavement, through unseen but effective propaganda (look up Edward Bernays*).

Finding contentment.
If we want a beer, there is satisfaction in actually sitting down with one, and satisfaction in drinking it. Like anything else, there is satisfaction in starting something, and completing it. If we look closer, we see that we have described two moments. Moments! The beginning and the end. Being satisfied with those moments, we then desire more of the same, and that is how addiction starts, resulting a mechanical personality. That is the desire and satisfaction of corporations!

We have associated those moments of satisfaction and contentment with an activity – just like Pavlov’s dogs – and so we want more of the same.

Let’s take a closer look. The activity of drinking that beer was made up of many moments, each having a beginning and an end: a series of sips. If we are one with those moments, we need nothing else – we merely sip the beer and nothing else. There is our contentment. The activity allows us to be focused on the moment, in the same way as shamata meditation watches the breath. When we are not sipping, we are merely aware: that is vipassana meditation…the beer is optional 😉

When sitting, a realised person just sits. When eating, they just eat. When walking, they just walk. This is spontaneous presence, needing nothing else. We are usually so busy between the moments that we do not notice the moments passing. We fill them with thoughts, or a vacancy: “We sleep perchance to dream…”

When there are moments, there is time.
When moments dissolve into one spontaneous presence,
awareness rests in timelessness.

The obscurations of busy-ness and vacancy dissolve
and original wakefulness is revealed.

The body clock is still running, but essence just is.

* Edward Bernays was the master of influencing and shaping public opinion: he developed ideas of earlier social psychologists and the work of his uncle, Sigmund Freud, in order to create techniques to manipulate the subconscious desires of the masses.

Finding Inner Peace and Staying There
…in a busy world

Inner peace is clarity.
Clarity is clear space.
Clear space is emptiness.
Emptiness is purity.
Purity is wisdom.
Wisdom is recognition.
Recognition is understanding.
Understanding is inner peace.
Inner peace is clarity.
It’s all one.

So, how do we maintain inner peace in a busy world?

Well, within this inner peace, clarity, space, emptiness, purity, recognition, understanding, wisdom, there is a residue of karmic reactions that arise in the mind like a movie from the past. This maintains our involvement in this world-mind. The way out is to merely accept it: don’t reject it. Let it come and let it go.

But… But… But!!! No buts. We can either stress ourselves – and those around us – by constantly getting involved in the multiplex movie theatre, or we can live in our spiritual understanding.

Don’t expect our karmic reactions not to be there, as they are our path.
Our path is our confusion; our misunderstanding about reality.
Our human life is merely our karma playing itself out.
As we sowed so we reap.
Inner peace comes when we accept this.
Some days our path is smooth, and some days rough,
but inner peace is always present.
Know that.
It’s our natural state.

We have to learn to accept everything with one taste, and not become too involved. When our day is smooth we don’t bother, and when it’s rough we become annoyed. Inner peace is stability. In this age, life is cheap. Every day there is news of killing: it is as if the earth is one great conveyor belt on a killing machine.

That’s the Kali Yuga for you. If it’s not killing bodies, it is killing inner peace.

We all have to die, and we need to die in peace, for the next part of our journey. While we are here, we do what we can with the abilities we have. The more inner peace, the more we are able to help others.

If we can accept this, then we will find satisfaction in life.
Satisfaction is being in the moment.
Spontaneous presence.
Inner peace is inner dignity.

Satisfaction lies in experiencing every moment
without expectation.
Thus, we maintain clarity and inner peace.