BREAKING OUT OF THE PROGRAM

Posted on June 26, 2014 by tony

The real Dharma is breaking out of the programme completely. 

“The closer you look, the less you see.”
This is the illusionists mantra.
Looking is not seeing.

When we see, we recognise.
Looking is merely distraction.

We talk about the mind control of MKUltra and the like
as if it is over there. Really? It’s right here, now!
It is maintained by our past karma: when we re-act,
it is due to past experiences.
Reacting is merely maintaining our future programming.

Break out of the shell by realising you are inside.

 

 

We can made to believe anything, as our perception can be misinformed!
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KARMA = HYPNOSIS

Posted on June 26, 2014 by tony

Karma = Hypnosis Hypnosis = Karma

We self hypnotise: we are hypnotised by an image of ourselves, which creates a programme to which we adhere.

A hypnotic state is believing something to be real when it’s not. It permits a modification of behaviour which is based on the illusory state of self interest. A self which has been conjured up, which we believe to be real and solid.

There are two aspects to this: one is our own hypnotic state and the other is that of those around us. Both of these maintain the illusion. The result is karma, which is an imprint in the mind, which modifies our behaviour (a programme). We react because of these karmic imprints, and so we live within a loop, a vicious cycle of existence. In Sanskrit, this is called Samsara. In the video, the illusionist Derren Brown explains how it is easier to hypnotise those who are quick to react, defending and re-enacting their constant self-programming. It is more difficult to hypnotise those who can step back – and meditation is about stepping back! At 1.15 Derren talks about those who are more susceptible…

If we are obsessed in any way, we are trapped in an inner prison. There are those who exploit this in order to to distract us from experiencing reality: they may be corporations or your family and neighbours, and it may be done consciously or unconsciously. We can note how quickly some become angry when we talk outside their programming, to the extent that they may even crucify or poison those whom they perceive as not playing “the right game” (Christ, Socrates, Milarepa…).

Obsessed: preoccupy or fill the mind of (someone) continually and to a troubling extent be constantly talking or worrying about something. ORIGIN late Middle English (in the sense ‘haunt, possess’, referring to an evil spirit).

Hypnosis: the induction of a state of consciousness in which a person apparently loses the power of voluntary action and is highly responsive to suggestion or direction. Its use in therapy, typically to recover suppressed memories or to allow modification of behaviour. A hypnotic state. ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from Greek hupnos ‘sleep’.

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CLEVERNESS CAN OBSCURE WISDOM

Posted on June 25, 2014 by tony

 

Cleverness Can Obscure Wisdom

I came across this poignant three minute video yesterday evening: it exemplifies perfectly the danger of a lack of humanity in academic learning. Talk about synchronicity!

There is a great difference between how we should feel, and how we actually feel. Scholastic learning is not the same as actual experience. We all know this, but still fall into the same old trap. We are so keen to learn, to acquire and ‘have the answer’, that we miss the actual experience.

This acquiring of answers only make us kings and queens of samsara (conventional reality). This feels empty precisely because it lacks the genuine experience of emptiness…and genuine compassion.

Personal experience has shown me that when I have had a problem in the Dharma, people (Buddhists) trot out jargon, mainly to show off and feel good about themselves. It seems to be the only way they know how to respond. As Frasier says at the end of the clip, “It’s all I have.” There is never the question, “How do you feel?” and then we could start from there, because that would initiate a reply and they would have to listen.

Although this is a sitcom, the script is accurate. Frazier’s experience of feeling empty is because he thinks he is the master of book learning, and realises that is all he knows.

Can you recognise this?

 

 

Here is a previous article relating to this, dealing with the fact that you don’t have to be clever.

Recognising the dark is ‘being’ in the light

The light is our natural clarity recognising temporary dark confusion.

In the relative world, others may seem more knowledgable than us,
about this and that. We merely have to recognise our own confusion,
and we are home, in the light. It really doesn’t matter how clever others
are in the relative world, as they are merely stuck in their cleverness.

When we truly recognise our own confusion – this is wisdom.
When we truly recognise the confusion in others – this is compassion.

We don’t have to feel inferior because we are confused.
It is the recognition that is important: that which recognises.
The moment of recognising the dark is ‘being’ in the light.

The first noble truth is recognising suffering: suffering is merely our confusion
about our own specific, individual reality that we have created. Without that
recognition, there can be no liberation from suffering.

Having recognised the confusion – the light in the dark – continuity is sustained through
mindful detachment. We can then interact with the dark, because nothing sticks.

If we become involved in the dark while still confused,
we remain stuck in the dark.

The dark is a very sticky place!
The light has no place for anything to stick!

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THE OPPOSITE OF DEPRESSION IS DELIGHT

Posted on June 24, 2014 by tony

The opposite of depression is delight.

It’s Amazing!
E ma ho!

Delight comes from resting at ease naturally, in an uncontrived state, with whatever happens. Delight is already within us, but we misperceive ourselves.

After a day’s fishing, a man was resting by the shore watching the sunset and drinking a beer. A second man came up and said, “Lazy fellow! You should be out there fishing more, and then you’d make more money, get another boat and better yourself! You could have a whole fleet of boats, become rich and retire, and then you could rest by the shore, watching the sunset and drinking a beer.” 😉

In the moment of realising that whatever we see arises from our confusion because we are fabricating and contriving at every moment, this confusion is reversed by resting in an uncontrived natural state, taking delight in simplicity. When we recognise that this is so, and gain confidence in it, contriving drops. Effort drops into effortlessness. No shoulds…just recognising.

The most uncontrived state is pure awareness: here, our mind doesn’t fall under the influence of that which it perceives, by being constantly attached or repelled, or by ignoring. We don’t make any equally contrived effort to counter the contriving – we merely let it drop. We just take delight in watching the sun set and drinking a beer. The antidote to contriving is not contriving.

Rest not in depression, but in ‘de-light’ man 😉 !

 

Realising this is amazing!
E ma ho!

 

 

“E ma ho” (Tibetan): an exclamation of wonder and amazement. An admiration interjection expressing compassion. How wonderful! How marvellous!
http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/e_ma_ho

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LOW SELF ESTEEM

Posted on June 23, 2014 by tony

Low Self Esteem
“Low self esteem!? I thought the idea was to get rid of self esteem!”

Our view of ourselves, and the views which we hold, are a hinderance to pure perception – but we do have conventional relative abilities, one of which is to become enlightened. Despite this potential, we, as sentient beings, all feel we are never good enough.

This continues from yesterday’s blog about our social, programmed “I”. It was about how childhood traumas (however subtle) eat away at our bodies and minds, and we become trapped in guilt, which sows the seeds for other negative emotions. This, in turn, gives rise to depression and self harm. Self harm – in its many guises – slows our progress.

Remember, the Buddha said, “Not too tight, and not too loose.” So we have to find some divine pride within ourselves to carry us through all experiences. Over eons, we have developed some talents which can be beneficial to our and others’ development: these talents are expressed in degrees of clarity or selfishness.

Who knows – maybe there is a cosmic battle going on between good and evil for those very talents! 🙂

This is what deity practice is all about. Theistic religions have a God, and thus we can have “God consciousness”. In Tibetan Buddhism, we have deities who represent qualities of our true nature, such as compassion: these deities remind us to be compassionate, arising from an understanding of our (and others’) pure nature.

Incidentally, if we can supplicate good powers, then there are those who worship evil powers…daft lot! We can attract either total liberation by giving in to love, or more indebtedness through self-cherishing.

We need to recognise that we get caught up in our programming, which is not us. However, in that very programming is much skill. We always have a choice: if we want something more interesting, then we just need to look more closely at our own inspiration.

Our excellent manure is the food to nourish our fruition 🙂

 .

 

 

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WE HAVE THREE SELVES

Posted on June 22, 2014 by tony

We have Three Selves
This is just another way of seeing our make up.

Original wakefulness
Deluded self image
Programmed expression

Original wakefulness – pure essence awareness
Deluded self image – ego clinging
Programmed expression – the vehicle to project either deluded self image (self cherishing),
or essence love (‘mere’ I).

The third self is what others see: our expression and conduct. It is our current, educated state and capacity, and it is here that we have a conflict. We might mean well, but may express this

well-meaning in an unfortunate manner… “Oh, I wish I hadn’t said that!” This is a result of habits in our programming – our software – when our responses are mechanical, and just slip out. Trotting out Dharma to the wrong person at the wrong time is an example of that.

It does not matter whether or not we are well-educated, we can still slip up and reactions based on assumptions still slip out, revealing how much we cling to an ego – a deluded self image.

Then again, it does not matter whether or not we are well-educated, we can still know pure essence awareness, and express essence love in our conduct – in our own way: “To thine own self be true”. Of course, our expression and conduct may be misunderstood by others because of our limited capacity to translate what we feel, but we know what we intended, and if the person with whom we are conversing is bright enough, they will know what we mean. That is a compassionate meeting of minds, because each wants to understand what the other is meaning! Quite often, we can have insight, but not know how to express it or communicate it clearly to others.

We may think that we have to be perfect before we can express love. That we should know how to wave a dorje or beat a drum, or understand Abidharma or Madyamika etc…not so! These are just reminders.

All teachings are a reminder to remain in Original Wakefulness. The Dharma is about subtracting, not adding! Of course, there are many texts explaining details and sub-divisions of the teachings: these can sound complicated and daunting to a degree where terminology can become an obstacle. However, this knowledge is important if we wish to disseminate our and other people’s problems, for example being caught in one of the six realms: this method comes under the heading of “enriching”, and clarifies what we already know but can’t express because of the programming we have consented to – our assumptions about reality.

But remaining in carefree knowingness is all that is needed to experience.

Actually to do that…all you need is love! This is the enlightened activity of pacifying: there is no problem. There may be times when we need to magnetise, enrich or destroy – but these are all within love.

(This third aspect of self is sometimes called the ‘Social I’. It’s how we relate to others, usually due to the feed back we get. It may account for low or high self esteem.)

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SPIRITUALITY IS NOT “AIRY-FAIRY” – IT’S JUST AIRY!

Posted on June 21, 2014 by tony

Spirituality is not ‘Airy-Fairy’…it’s just Airy!

The reason I write this blog is to offer access to Buddhist teachings – a feel of the teachings and how they work. Of course, there are many teachings available in books and videos, but to go deeper we need a commentary on those teachings – and sometimes a commentary on the commentary 😉 – in order to get to the actual experience. Retreats go a certain way towards this, but then we have to take the teachings to heart, to realise how it really does feel.

Certain teachings may not be readily available for all sorts of reasons, due to karma or synchronicity.

I don’t wish to sound conceited, but you come here through synchronicity – your synchronicity! It’s a sort of halfway house. This blog is not advertised (except by a byline on a certain forum). If you are reading this, it means you have done some personal work. This information is for those who are interested, and not for mere entertainment, although I do try to be humorous at times (well, I think it’s funny!:-) )

Another reason for writing is to come at Buddhist teachings from different angles. A change in wording, an unusual phrase, turning the subject on its head…any of these may switch on the light.

Once one ‘gets it’, then that catalyst can join up all the dots, changing one’s perception.

There is one other factor. Your reading this inspires the writing to continue. Maybe you will read a phrase which will help to explain how you feel, or express your understanding of reality to others.

 

What we are is…

pure wisdom essence
emptiness
shunyata
unembellished
pure perception
unconfined love
crystal clear intelligent space…

…totally airy!

However, the experience is beyond these made-up words.
It’s just nice to share.

PS
So what about the ‘Fairies’? Well, fairies are Yidams, Dakinis, Dakas and Protectors. This what Tibetan Buddhism is all about: these beings represent ‘Guru Yoga’, which in turn represents the essence of your inner teacher. And these beings are very airy…rainbow light, in fact!

dorje-yudronma-ii-2009-02-08-1

 Dorje Yudronma

These are notes from a seminar by Chokyi Ngingma Rinpoche in Boudhanath Nepal.

…”The guru is not only over there, but right here (points to heart).
The Yidam is not something solid, but the knowing unity of clarity and emptiness.
The Dakini is the expression, the energy of wakefulness. One’s own awareness manifesting unceasingly, that is the nature of the Dakini”…

 

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RECOGNISING THE DARK IS ‘BEING’ IN THE LIGHT

Posted on June 20, 2014 by tony

Recognising the dark is ‘being’ in the light
The light is our natural clarity recognising temporary dark confusion.

In the relative world, others may seem more knowledgable than us, about this and that. We merely have to recognise our own confusion, and we are home, in the light. It really doesn’t matter how clever others are in the relative world, as they are merely stuck in their cleverness.

When we truly recognise our own confusion – this is wisdom.
When we truly recognise the confusion in others – this is compassion.

We don’t have to feel inferior because we are confused. It is the recognition that is important: that which recognises. The moment of recognising the dark is ‘being’ in the light.

The first noble truth is recognising suffering: suffering is merely our confusion about our own specific, individual reality that we have created. Without that recognition, there can be no liberation from suffering.

Having recognised the confusion – the light in the dark – continuity is sustained
though mindful detachment. We can then interact with the dark, because nothing sticks.

If we become involved in the dark while still confused, we remain stuck in the dark.

The dark is a very sticky place!
The light has no place for anything to stick!

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TRAUMA IN CHILDHOOD DAMAGES DNA

Posted on June 19, 2014 by tony

Trauma in Childhood Damages DNA

“A new Tulane University School of Medicine study finds that the more fractured families are by domestic violence or trauma, the more likely that children will bear the scars down to their DNA.”

This is where science and spirituality meet. Interestingly and synchronistically, the article I wrote yesterday was about the effects of stress, and how meditation could address this.

If this finding is true, then we must also consider the effects of violent computer games, watching violent films, witnessing parents arguing…what cumulative effect do these have? Trauma can be very subtle, and can take the guise of righteousness.

Buddhism is well aware of suffering. In one prayer it says, “…from time without beginning, wandering in samsara, beings experience unendurable suffering”.

The point is, that this research is about children...and we were all children!

http://tulane.edu/news/releases/family-violence-leaves-genetic-imprint.cfm

“Children who witness domestic violence often bear emotional scars, but now a study has found that seeing family members being hurt can also scar a child’s DNA.
Young people in homes affected by domestic violence or suicide have significantly shorter telomeres – or ‘caps’ on their genes – than those in stable households.
Such genetic damage could also increase the child’s risk of heart disease, obesity and other problems as they grow up.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2661422/Domestic-violence-scar-childs-DNA-Watching-family-members-hurt-linked-damage-chromosomes.html#ixzz350kgD8Qd

“Telomeres are the caps at the end of chromosomes that keep them from shrinking when cells replicate.
Their role is to protect the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighbouring chromosomes.
Over time, due to the division of cells, the telomere ends become shorter, but they are replenished by an enzyme.
Shorter telomeres are a cellular marker of ageing.
Shorter telomeres are also linked to higher risks for heart disease, obesity, cognitive decline, diabetes and mental illness.”

 

 

Here I have to say that I have a problem with Buddhists. They know that suffering exists, and that the cause of suffering is in our own minds. However, there is no discussion about the evil environment in which we live: when governments create poverty and war, and at the same time allow uncontrolled immigration, there is bound to be tension in society because people find they can’t cope. This has an effect on family life. My contention is that governments and psychologists know all this – and I believe it’s done on purpose: the more stress people are under, the easier it is to control them. As shown in the research above, this stress can result in physical and mental illness.

 

The reason this is important is that people need to realise that the struggles they may be encountering are not all their fault. 

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MEDITATING IN AN AVATAR

Posted on June 18, 2014 by tony

Meditating in an Avatar
Now, more than ever, is the time to meditate.

Our bodies are under attack from bad food, bad medicine, bad water and bad electrical atmosphere. Our bodies are stressed out and exhausted: all of these affect our immune system.

So we need to relax and be aware of our bodies…these avatars!

Upon investigation, we find that the cause of stress and anxiety comes from the mind: we need to be aware of the software in the avatar, which reacts to its environment.

Meditating to heal the stress in the body is part of the process.
Meditating to heal the stress in the mind is part of the process.

We then need to step back into the owner of the avatar…the awareness itself.

Even here there is tension, as we still have a need for identification – a reference point. A me, owning the mind and body, which is merely a temporary vehicle created by karma.

The real healing starts when awareness rests in awareness, and there is no tension whatsoever. There is no time for tension when there is merely pure awareness. There is no duality: no me and it.

Complete healing takes place when all karma is exhausted in body and mind.

No avatar, no comment!

 

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EVEN THE DHARMA CAN IMPRISON US

Posted on June 17, 2014 by tony

Even the Dharma can imprison us

The Dharma is the teachings of the Buddha about reality.
The reality of the Buddha’s teachings is in the actualexperience.

When we are caught up in any activity in the mind, we imprison ourselves.
There are countless methods to liberation: these are not, in themselves, liberation.
A method is merely a reminder to recognise
that which recognises the reaction: pure awareness – the real Dharma.

The trick is not to get stuck in the method!

 

 

 

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SEEING BUT NOT LOOKING

Posted on June 16, 2014 by tony

Seeing but not Looking

In meditation, especially in awareness meditation, the body, speech and mind are immobile. Then there is the gaze. The eyes are open, as are all the senses. Not staring: just open.

Be aware of your peripheral vision. It is like taking the scene in all at once, but not focusing on anything. As if we are seeing from deep within the eyes, and just allowing in the quality of light.

It is the same with all the senses: sounds are heard, but we are not listening etc. What then seems to happen is that thoughts try to bubble up, but because of this panoramic awareness, thoughts do not totally manifest and so dissolve. There is just awareness of mental stirrings.

When the body and mind truly relax, blinking ceases. Tulku Urgyen explains that they used to put a coloured powder on to the upper lashes, which transferred to the lower lid if a practitioner blinked. If the eyes are tired or dry, this could mean that the loong is up: this is the inner wind. Chanting and inner wind practice to take the loong back down can both help.

Try it like that, and see if it helps. Whatever works for you, do it like that.

 

 

Tsoknyi Rinpoche.

Tsoknyi Rinpoche on Western “Lung”

 

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BEING ORIGINAL

Posted on June 15, 2014 by tony

Being Original
Being original is going back the source of inspiration: the origin.

The thoughts in our minds are not original, as they are the result of other causes and conditions.
To put it bluntly, “We do not have an original thought in our heads!”

In order to be original, we have to go back to the source, from which everything stems, and that’s our original nature – pure essence – pure awareness – pure being.

It is from our own originality that creativity takes place, and therein lies our problem. We created an “I” – a self image – with the help of the environment within which we live, and then we went a little crazy 😉

Once we recognise our own originality, we have no further need to create anything, apart from “putting bread on the table and a roof over our heads”.

There are two reasons to create: one is to feel good about our self image (and that’s a never ending job) or to use creativity for the benefit of others (helping them find their own way back to their original nature).

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was duty.
I acted and behold, duty was joy.”
Rabindranath Tagore

Humanity is asleep, stuck in a dream, longing for joy and happiness. But this dream has turned into a nightmare, because we lack love.

We will know when we are awake
because we will be in love.

Being in love,
there is never a lack of it!

 

 

 

 

 

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MEDITATION – BEYOND JOY AND HAPPINESS

Posted on June 11, 2014 by tony

Meditation – Beyond Joy and Happiness

I know this is a strange thing to say, but bear with me.

Meditation works on three levels: body, mind and spirit.
We can meditate to relax and relieve stress – our health.
We can use it find inner peace and a senses of self enhancement – our mental state.
We can realise the wisdom – our true nature.

The first two deal with our human existence, and are part of our conventional reality. The third deals with our ultimate nature, and encompasses the first two. The third isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, as they just want to meditate in order to feel better about themselves: that can become a lifestyle that requires maintenance and causes problems: “Don’t disturb my peace” indicates a lack of true peace. But the first two are certainly a good start!

As has been said many times, we first have to identify the problem before we can heal it: maintaining a healthy body and mind is only part of the enlightenment equation. The real answer is in our ultimate nature. It’s just logical maths!

The title Meditation – Beyond Joy and Happiness is the ultimate answer. Of course, the goal is joy and happiness, but we cannot hold onto this. If we do cling to our joy and happiness we drop back into a mental state, which creates emotions, which has an effect on our bodies.

There is great contentment in recognising joy and happiness – and then dropping it like a hot cake! To hold on to is to squeeze out all the juice. We know we are doing the right thing, but that was in that moment; we now have the next moment. In spontaneous presence, there is no time to veg-out!

 

If we are all Buddhas, we should start acting like Buddhas,
accepting with compassion
whatever occurs at every moment.

Compassion doesn’t mean doing nothing.
Compassion is essence love.
Resting in essence IS doing nothing.
Because of this, compassion arises.

 

 

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RE-COGNISE

Posted on June 10, 2014 by tony

 Re-cognise
To recognise, is to re-cognise, to know again, to validate.

So when we recognise truth this is because we recognise what is already known. That is how we know. We only doubt because of not being quite sure what is real, as we have been distracted – unable to concentrate because our mind has been preoccupied.

When we say truth, we mean that which never changes, an absolute truth. So what is absolute truth?

Well, it is this knowing quality, for without it nothing would be known. It is awareness. In it’s purest form it is what we are. Pure awareness. All we have to do is re-cognise this. We are that which recognises. We are what we seek.

 

Meditation
is re-cognising what has been forgotten.

Meditation
is being able to concentrate because one’s mind is not preoccupied.

Meditation
is relaxing being free from tension and anxiety.

Mediation
is becoming familiar with one’s original nature.

Meditation
directs our attention to mindfulness, awareness and beyond.

Meditation
is being real.

 

Meditation
costs nothing only time.
If we have no time then we have no wealth.

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MEDITATION IS BEING ORDINARY

Posted on June 9, 2014 by tony

Meditation is Being Ordinary

Meditation is just being.
That ‘just being’ is being happy.
Just being happy is our natural state.
Due to this, we naturally love.
Because we love, we have confidence, and are therefore compassionate.
Meditation is just a reminder of our true nature.

 “But I am not happy.
I cannot love and I lack confidence.”

Ah – do you want happiness, love and confidence?

“Well, yes!”

Ah – there’s your problem…you want what you already have.

“How can I know this?”

When we are just being, there is no ‘I’ to please.

“How can I know this?”

The fabricated ‘I’ cannot know this, as we are already what we seek.
That is why we seek it but haven’t recognised:
to recognise is the action of re-cognising something that is already known.

“So it’s my fault?”

We always have a choice – to know ourselves or to be something else.

“I’m not convinced!”

The ‘I’ will never be convinced as this is a mental state.
Our essence already knows, but we lack confidence

The ‘I’ is a conventional truth – the chattering commentator.
Our essence is absolute truth – cognising in silence.

Our conventional self says, “There’s a red car!”
Essence has already recognised that.
Conventionally, we translate what we already know.

“But commenting is being ordinary. We all do it!”

This is true…unfortunately 😉
When we stop commenting, we find peace, happiness, love, confidence and compassion.

Ordinarily, we think we lack these qualities.
Being ordinary, we recognise these qualities within us.
Meditation is just a reminder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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HOW DID EVIL START?

Posted on June 8, 2014 by tony

How did evil start?

Everything has a cause.

We may be able to answer the question “What is evil”
if we start with what meditation is.
Meditation is simply correcting a mistaken view.
Instead of always looking outwards,
we turn our attention inwards,
to the source of pure awareness,
and rest there.

Looking inward is the source, and the solution.

How did evil start?
Evil could be said to have started
when pure awareness became unaware of itself.
It became attracted to some thing.
In this attraction, our essential nature was forgotten, and an ‘I’ was created, an ego.
So instead of unconditional awareness – non duality –
we created a duality. “I like this.” This duality then desires more.

Following this, there is a judgement of like and dislike: we lost unconditional love
for conditional love. We love what we want, and do not love what we do not want.
So instead of pure perception, we merely have perception, which draws on its memory bank
for a preconceived judgement, and a habitual pattern is set up.

Gradually, light turned to dark, and our reaction become more and more insane.
Evil is losing our sanity, empathy, and unconditional love.

How did evil start?
The answer is seen clearly in the stillness and clarity of meditation, when we get distracted, from stillness and clarity.

In any action we could ask ourselves, “What is my intended purpose?”

 

 

 

 

 

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HOW WE POISON OURSELVES

Posted on June 7, 2014 by tony

How we poison ourselves

If we think life is a battle to be won, we will find the world a lonely place. In suspecting everyone and everything we practice the evil art of self preservation. We become nasty, bitey creatures, getting angry at every opportunity. We do the d-evil’s work!

The demon of destruction – Yama mara. Yama mara; instead of destroying what needs to be destroyed – ego games – evil obliterates everything. Trungpa Rinpoche wrote, “We begin to get inspired in the wrong way, and uproot the whole tree… and that is the karmic quality of destruction gone wild, unnecessarily”.

We create situations for others to oppose us, so that we can strike back – it’s a set up. In so doing, we perpetuate poisonous activity. The internet has allowed this to escalate: a hurtful word here, a nasty tone there, an old biased resentment brought up again and again, with the purpose of dividing.

However, not only do we poison others in this way, but we become poisonous, poisoning ourselves. The negative energies amassed to hurt others create poisonous energies within us, causing that long-lasting churning feeling in our gut and mind, long after the argument is over.

If there is are powers in this world who feed off destruction, which is the expression of evil, all they want is for evil to be self-perpetuated by us doing their work for them.

Stupidly, they do not realise that this poisonous activity is poisoning them as well. We become demons by feeding poison to others. This doesn’t bode well for our next incarnation does it?! Even if we don’t believe in reincarnation, this still has a detrimental psychological effect on us now.

Whichever we choose, it is still a banal, sleeping state, when we could awaken to our true nature of unconditional compassion. In this banal state, how can we expect to reach higher states of consciousness, allowing peace and wisdom to arise?

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‘TO BE’ AWARE OR ‘NOT TO BE’ AWARE

Posted on June 6, 2014 by tony

“To be” aware or “Not to be” aware.
That is the question!

Most of the time, we are unaware of our own awareness.
We are a little too busy being aware of something
– usually our own puffed-ness – rather than the awareness itself.

Meditation is just being…just being aware of awareness.
In the moment of being aware of awareness, there is no meditator
and no meditation.

Being aware is like switching on the light.
We take it for granted that the light is on.
Well…it is, but we just don’t notice it.

Once we recognise the light – awareness – the dark is clearly seen – unawareness.

Our true nature recognises an untruth. In our present state, the light of our true nature sees an untruth: our practice is to know the nature of this untruth, and find confidence in the recognition, which leads to compassion. All that matters is pure awareness, which is reality. In that confidence lies unconditional happiness that no outside force can disturb.

“May confusion dawn as wisdom.” We realise this when we see that the confusion never existed: we were the wisdom all along. But as sentient beings, the confusion is the catalyst leading to understanding.

 

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THOUGHT IS SAMSARA AND NIRVANA

Posted on June 5, 2014 by tony

Thought is Samsara and Nirvana
Thought is ignorance and emptiness.

When we, as empty essence, are snared by thought,
we ignore our true nature
and so create the illusory appearances of samsara.

When we, as empty essence, recognise thought,
we recognise our true nature (nirvana)
and so are liberated from the illusory appearances of samsara.

We oscillate between samsara and nirvana,
and fail to recognise
the stability of essence.

Thought is ignorance and Dharmakaya.
Like the words on this page,
emptiness and appearance cannot be separated.

 

Good, eh?!

 

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HEALING THE EFFECTS OF EVIL

Posted on June 4, 2014 by tony

Healing the effects of evil

Even though evil is a psychological problem, it is dealt with from a spiritual perspective.

Evil is that which causes harm. The process of protecting ourselves and others, and thereby healing, is by not consenting to outer and inner influences. Very simply, this is achieved by not reacting, and recognising our true nature, we therefore can then recognise anything that intends to obscure this pure nature.

Evil is the accumulation of defilements in the mind: anything that obscures pure vision. If you want to see pure awareness at work, merely look at your own hand: you find that there is nothing to think about. Just observe. It’s that simple. That same pure vision observes all phenomena and concepts within the mind. If we deal with the psychology of the mind with more psychology, we end up with…more psychology. If we deal with it through more philosophy, we end up with more…theories and ideas. Our power rests within our spiritual aspect.

The world around wants us to consent to its fantasies. I know this will sound trite, but our only weapon is love, and the understanding that evil has no inherent existence. This doesn’t mean there are not dark forces, but they can only exist by feeding off the insecurities and emotions that have their origin in a feeling of I, our imagined self.

If we can arrive at a state of trust, then we can proceed. In my garden there are five pheasants and two partridges. These were wild creatures that could only utilise their primitive brains of fight, flight and freeze. Now they peck on our door when it’s time for dinner. Trust has allowed their primitive brains to transcend, and we can sit together in the garden. Once we tame our mind, we can do some useful work, being of benefit to others and transcending squabbles.

Once we recognise the fact that defilements (attitude) can be recognised and identified in our own minds, then they can be transcended and laid to rest. In doing this, we can identify with the feelings of others.

Evil is an illusion in the mind. Healing takes place in the mind. Whether recognition of this can heal our physical situation will depend on the weight of individual and collective karma: in karmic law, no action or re-action goes unnoticed by our own mind. This law of cause and effect applies to both good and harmful actions. This is the cloud that surrounds us, held together by the feeling of “me” (ego). Through practical practice we can learn to work with a mere ego, a mere I.

If someone comes up to us with a present of abuse, and we do not consent to the present by not reacting, the present stays with the presenter.  

Essence is beyond the eight worldly concerns are divided into four pairs of opposites: gain and loss, praise and blame, good reputation and bad reputation, and pleasure and pain.

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BUDDHA WASN’T BUDDHIST – CHRIST WASN’T CHRISTIAN

Posted on June 3, 2014 by tony

Buddha wasn’t Buddhist – Christ wasn’t Christian

Within essence there is
no see-er,
no meditator,
no reference point.

 

 

 

(Buddha was Hindu and Christ was Jewish!)

 

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THE STEPS TO ENLIGHTENMENT

Posted on June 2, 2014 by tony

The Steps to Enlightenment
(getting out of a sticky mess)

First, recognise that the nature of mind is clarity. It is clear.
Second, maintain that clarity, by not clouding clarity with attachments.

Our conduct – which is the continuity of clarity – is the way we maintain a non-stick mind!
Life is a reminder: it teaches us that we can break free of our sticky prison.

When we do not re-act, karma is not produced, and we repay a karmic debt. We clear the attachments.
When all karmic debt is repaid, and we do not stick to anything (even ourselves), we are enlightened.

 

To get rid of the sticky mess,
we use the soap of method.

Then we wash off the method,
and everything is totally clear…
for a moment.

The steps to enlightenment are milli-moments of clarity joining up,
without any stickiness in between.

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WE LEARN AND LEARN LITTLE

Posted on June 1, 2014 by tony

We learn and learn little.

On completing his studies, the wise old master said to the student, “Every situation is an opportunity.”
The student went away with joy on his heart.

Second scenario.

On completing his studies, another student said to the student, “Every situation is an opportunity.”
The student thought, “Who does he think he’s talking to?”

 

Conclusion: We can realise more from other students, than we can from the master!

Drop it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sp3ILaKnkg
…Until the next tree!

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TRUTH NEEDS REPEATING

Posted on May 31, 2014 by tony

Truth need repeating.

The Buddha said,
“Do good
Do no evil
Tame the mind.”
This sounds so ordinary, but is so profound.

The Buddha knew his statement would last for thousands of years, because of its simplicity and profundity. Every individual will understand this at their own level. The more one analyses, the more it refines.

However we are living in an era where the power of words are being weakened, and so we become apathetic. Apathetic: dull, disinterested, but highly emotionally charged.

We are not doing good.
We are doing evil
and not taming the mind.

We are living in a very material world more attracted to things and self image, than the state of our minds. As we can only relate to things and self image, we find no true satisfaction. We spend our precious time living in a group dream, (make that nightmare!). More people than ever are depressed and taking pills of some sort.

Corporations feed and feed off our dullness, disinterest, and confusion. Unfortunately the corporations are full of worker who are confused, dull, disinterest who are engaged to maintain this dreamy state. Everywhere one turns, the world is pouring out misinformation.

This is why repeating truth is so important.
When we are tired of hearing the truth, we are too tired to wake up.

Do good
Do no evil
Tame the mind.
Do good
Do no evil
Tame the mind.
Do good
Do no evil
Tame the mind.
Do good
Do no evil
Tame the mind.
Do good
Do no evil
Tame the mind.
Do good
Do no evil
Tame the mind….!

 

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THE BUDDHA SAID

Posted on May 30, 2014 by tony

The Buddha said: “Do good. Do no evil. Tame the mind”.

The word Buddha comprises of two syllables:
Bud – recognising our awakened nature = Good
dha – purifying defilements in the mind = Evil

Taming the mind is recognising our true nature = Good
and recognising the defilements that overpower us = Evil

While we do not recognise our true nature and have not purified our defilements, we remain as sentient beings, and not enlightened.

Evil causes harm. Good purifies harm.

It’s clear that transferring these ultimate statements into conventional, emotional terms weakens our understanding: we assume that we are good and others are evil. This distracts us from a realistic view what is happening within our own minds, and permits the creation of judgements based upon emotions, which lack the discernment to discriminate between what is ultimately harmful and what is beneficial.

The meaning of evil has been distorted into a moral judgement which obscures our spiritual element.

 

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UNDERSTANDING THE FORMULA

Posted on May 29, 2014 by tony

Understanding the Formula

To understand the answer we have to understand the formula (the process), or the outcome is meaningless.

In the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the ultimate answer is 42, which doesn’t make sense without the correct question.
It’s only those who have studied and asked the right questions that Einstein’s theory of relativity MC2 makes sense.

Similarly, Pure Awareness is a formula and makes no sense unless we practise, experience and ask the right questions. The formula of Pure Awareness is infinitely more powerful than MC2.

MC2 just makes big holes. Pure Awareness destroys everything 🙂

We are Pure Awareness, but we do not notice this because we are not questioning.

 

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MEDITATION WITHOUT COMPASSION

Posted on May 28, 2014 by tony

Meditation without Compassion

The whole point of meditation is the release from suffering, not to make us more efficient at suffering. Corporations are using ‘mindfulness meditation’ for their workers, so that they become more effective…at making money. As a banker once said to me, “If we are making money, others are losing it!”

Meditation is about becoming familiar with your true nature, thereby understanding the true nature of others. From this, compassion naturally arises.

We all have to earn a living, but our conscience knows whether we are doing the right thing or not.
We know when we are becoming obsessive…or do we? 😉

It’s like obsessive exercising – is it done for fitness or for looks? Fitness may not necessarily mean good health: remember, this is a multi-million-pound industry, as is the losing-weight-industry.

You might find Barry Groves website SECOND OPINION interesting:

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/the-exercise-myth-3.html#.U4WOAMalChY

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/carbs-weight-gain.html#.U4Wex8alChY

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/the-exercise-myth.html#.U4Wi2salChY

All this information is in his book TRICK AND TREAT. The food industry tricks us into eating a bad healthy diet (e.g. eat margarine not natural butter) and the the Pharmaceutical industry then treats us with chemicals.

When all we are doing is paying, when all we need is a natural diet.

Now meditation is being perverted into a money making machine. Of course, meditation and exercise will make us feel good, but we still have to watch our attitude towards others.

The true outcome of meditation is love and compassion, and a lasting peace of mind.

 

 

 

 

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EFFORT

Posted on May 27, 2014 by tony

Effort

To realise effortless effort, we have to make effort.
The Buddha said, “Not too tight and not too lose”.

There is a fine line between maintenance and allowing.

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How the world has gone nuts!

Posted on May 26, 2014 by tony

In the Dharma we talk about Samsara (the vicious cycle of existence), but now we know that there are those who profit from Samsara, making life miserable for others causing suffering.

WE CAN NO LONGER IGNORE THIS!

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THE STAINLESS SPHERE OF NO CIRCUMFERENCE

Posted on May 26, 2014 by tony

The Stainless Sphere of No Circumference

This is mind essence. Pure awareness. Sacred space. It is what we are.
This stainless sacred space embodies, through ignorance, a temporary form as dictated by karma.

Mind essence is pure. Through the bodily senses, we perceive phenomena, which appears in the mind. Therefore, all appearances are first noted in the mind.

If we are aware of our pure nature, these appearances (whether pleasant or unpleasant) appear as energies of light in the first instance. If untouched, these melt into the clear light of pure essence – our clear light of bliss.

If this clear light of bliss becomes attracted to or repelled by external phenomena, it makes illusory appearances seem solid. Essence becomes more attracted to the illusions than to its own nature. Forgetting its own nature, a partial self is created, turning these energies of light into darkness. Through habitual reactions and responses over eons, pure light becomes obscured by our habitual clinging to illusory phenomena.

In an instant, the light can be turned on and all phantoms will disappear. A moment of knowing dispels unknowing. ENLIGHTENMENT IS WHEN THE LIGHT IS PERMANENTLY ON.

We all have different capacities of fluctuating between knowing and not knowing – of the light being turned on and off. And so we live in a flickering world. Our capacity – our flicker rate – will be different in every individual. Our job is to merely recognise. The more we recognise the dark, the more the light is present. It’s simply a matter of not reacting: non-reaction loosens the dark stains created.

The test for this is whether our response has an aftertaste: if we have circling thoughts and fixations, that is merely a partial self clinging (an ego). If the response is stainless, there will be no aftertaste.

The important point to recognise is that these stains are not “bad”. They are merely a recognition of misperception. That recognition is the unity of the two truths, one reflecting the other: recognising the dark is the light itself. Like wetness and water, they cannot be separated.

At this level, there is no good or bad. There is merely misperception or pure perception

We all have an inkling of this truth because we all experience the flicker.

 

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Q. WHAT IS OBSCURING OUR VIEW?

Posted on May 25, 2014 by tony

Q. What is obscuring our view?
A. Wrong view! We are looking the wrong way.

Let’s say ‘mistaken’ view. The problem is that we do not think this is important enough to rectify. We prefer to stick to what we ‘know’.

The Buddha, as a prince, was protected from the realities of ordinary life. Upon leaving the palace, he suddenly witnessed old age, sickness and death = suffering. From this, he saw the cause of suffering: a mistaken view of our true nature, and an identification with an accumulated I.

We have to see and realise this for ourselves. Books, teachings or ‘blogs’ can only hint at the truth, but the truth is in the experience. We have to recognise that the mundane (the familiar) is obscuring the supramundane (the transcendent).

Once we identify and recognise the obscuration, we are free
…until it comes back again. This why we practise.

 

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DEALING WITH KARMA

Posted on May 24, 2014 by tony

Dealing with Karma in our Minds, and the Minds of Others

Although we create our own karma, which results in ingrained concepts in our mind and limits our view, making us a little neurotic (make that ‘very’ 😉 ), we can also consciously or unconsciously create karma in others, by trying to stir them up.

We are all experts in neurolinguistic programming: “No, your bum doesn’t look big in that…any chance of a cup of tea?” This is mild manipulation, but still it’s a desire for selfish gain.

On a more insidious level, when we are trying to provoke someone and disturb their mind and break their inner peace, from a spiritual point of view we are committing an evil act. We have a great responsibility when communicating with others – for our own mind’s sake as well as theirs – as we are constantly reinvesting in our misperception memory bank.

There are many levels at work here. First, we have to be aware that our present reactions were created from our past reactions, and our future reaction will be created by our present reactions, if we do not halt this chain reaction.

Personally I have my old ‘Tony’ reactions, my Dharma reactions, a wish to emulate a compassionate bodhisattva reactions, and concern for a beneficial rebirth reactions*. Each has an effect on my sense of stillness and clarity.

We are not perfect. However, recognising this fact is perfect, as gradually we refine our reactions. The path to enlightenment is dropping all our reactions, although we still need a little ego – a mere I – to function as a human.

Compassion (working for the benefit of others) is our safety net and guide. It takes ‘me’ out of the picture. Devotion has the same effect.

 

 

 

 

*Concern for a better rebirth, is an important factor in our actions. At least we do not want to build up elements less conducive to Dharma practice, where we only concerned with being eaten!

 

 

 

 

 

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TWO THINGS TO UNDERSTAND

Posted on May 22, 2014 by tony

Two Things to Understanding

Two things to understand:
reality, and that which obscures reality.

Recognising our absolute nature
is not really that difficult.
Recognising what is obscuring that absolute nature
is not really that difficult.

Stopping one’s habitual patterning is.
There ‘I’ go again.

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THE DISTORTION OF EVIL PART TWO

Posted on May 20, 2014 by tony

The Distortion of Evil
(dealing with demonic forces)

We have to recognise evil in order to know what we are dealing with. Once an obstacle is recognised, it can no longer causes harm in the mind. However, before recognising the obstacle, we have to identify that which the obstacle is obstructing, as we have been living in the obstacle so long that we hardly notice it any more.

The Four Enlightened Activities are a natural expression of our true nature.

Pacifying
From an enlightened perspective, everything happens within inner peace – inner space. This allows room for anything to occur. Pacifying acknowledges the right of every thing to be, within the illusory world in which sentient beings live. The action of pacifying understands that there are no such things as problems, obstacles or enemies. Aggression arising from ego’s negativity is entirely unnecessary, and only serve to deepen the illusion into delusion…THERE ISN’T A PROBLEM!

Enriching
Enriching allows the clarity of light into a situation, for refinement to take place through an effortless unfolding of spontaneity and capacity. Situations have an abundance of resources, no matter how poverty-stricken they may seem from a conventional point of view…EVERYTHING CAN BE REFINED!

Magnetising
In conventional terms, we try to attract pleasant situations and ward off undesirable situations, and as a result, we can find ourselves disappointed and unfulfilled. The action of magnetising is to remaining centred. Then, whatever is needed is naturally and spontaneously attracted without the intervention of ego – perfect synchronicity…BE AT PEACE!

Destroying
The action of destroying is compassion. It destroys that which needs to be destroyed – the negative energy of ego, which tries to smother situations. Ego wishes to cut off the flow of positive energy, so the action of destroying is aimed at ego’s destructive manipulations…BE A MIRROR.

 

The Distortions of Ego: the Four Demons
Each of the four wisdoms is distorted by the manipulations of ego, which is self-centredness. Everything relates to a me, what ‘I’ want. The ego thinks it’s enlightened. These four demons maintain the concept of a self.

The Demon Action of Pacifying
This imitates genuine pacifying, expressed through a self-serving attitude, in the sense of “TRUST ME”.

The Demon Action of Enriching
Here, ego turns natural growth into its own manipulated world. It wants to possess knowledge for itself, in terms of my wealth, my knowledge, my possessions. “I AM CLEVER.”

The Demon Action of Magnetising
There is an attempt to use attraction to feed our ego with that which we consider to be desirable. Based on this, we develop pride, jealousy, anger, fear etc. “ADMIRE ME.”

The Demon Action of Destroying
We cannot discriminate, and so want to destroy everything: it cannot help itself. As Chogyam Trungpa said, “Ego begins to get inspired in the wrong way, to uproot the whole tree… “I HATE YOU!”

 

All we have to do is recognise.
There is a momentary feeling of pain
as heightened emotions die away,
allowing space for
generosity, patience, discipline, perseverance, meditation and transcendental wisdom
to arise.

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THE DISTORTION OF EVIL

Posted on May 19, 2014 by tony

The Distortion of Evil

(Mundane reality)
(actually, evil has no reality!)
(but still there is reality within the non-reality!)
(This is the Buddhainthedirtyenergy!)

Our essential nature – what we truly are – has wisdom qualities: the three kayas, the five wisdoms and the four activities. These are not things we have to do: they are naturally present in all sentient beings, as we all have an awakened nature (Buddha nature). It’s just there…going unnoticed.

It goes unnoticed because of an ‘I’ fixation. We saw a sun in a reflection, and took the reflection to be the sun. We observed thoughts and took the thoughts to be us. This turned wisdom into negative energy – dirty energy.

We may complain about others’ dirty energy, but that very reaction creates dirty energy. The good news is that dirty energy can be cleaned. There are many methods depending on our capacity, from the application of antidotes to the recognition that the dirt never existed.

Here we have to be very careful. We can assume that the dirt never existed, and believe that that is all we have to know…but we need to observe very closely in order to see ascertain that we may still be holding on to something that never existed! We simply use the method that suits in the moment. It’s like wanting only to rest in pure awareness and not practise watching the breath, because that is too basic and we are beyond that.

But there are times when we should remember the basics: ’tis but a short hop back to pure awareness!
One method is to recognise the four enlightened activities, and observe how they become distorted by a belief in a reflected ‘I’.

 

The four enlightened activities and the four distortions.
Our demon activity which obscures our enlightened activity will be presented tomorrow…
that’s if I can summon up a demon…

Oh…I’m already here!;-)

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SELLING OUR SOUL FOR COOKIES

Posted on May 18, 2014 by tony

Selling our Souls for Cookies

We sold our souls for cookies lifetimes ago, by forgetting who we are. (In this context soul is just a euphemism for our essential nature.)

We take our concepts as being real, and because of that we lose sight of reality – that which observes these concepts. Although there is no observer as such, just mere observation, or pure perception.

There are those who believe that they are the accumulation of all their concepts, so the more they have, the prouder they are…“See how many cookies I have!” and so, they are stuck with ‘their’ cookies…a personality.

Maybe this is the difference between modern psychology and Buddhist psychology.

Buddhist psychology says: perception sees cookies…this stimulus goes to our memory bank for recognition…then to our judgement centre for valuing…and then we react. This seems to happen instantaneously, and we are stuck in our sentient loop of life. We do the same things, and say the same things, and when we know someone, we can know most of their responses…before they do. (how the corporations like that!)

However, if we take a step back to be aware of what is going on in the mind, we become aware of the awareness itself. Our true nature. Corporations cannot touch that, but they can distract it, and that application of distraction is the touch of evil, as we are talking about the most precious aspect of human existence.

We can see things from a different perspective, if, instead of merely reacting as programmed by our ‘society’ we choose not to react. We become more spacious. This means we don’t have to be stuck in a fixed personality…a caricature…a type! Most sentient beings sold their souls for cookies incarnations ago…or, to me more precise, forgot all about it because of being attracted to cookies.

We can break out of nature and nurture. We may look and sound the same, but we are different…ask the wife 😉

 

 

 

 

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THE VALUE OF EVIL

Posted on May 17, 2014 by tony

The Value of Evil

From a spiritual point of view, our enemy is our best friend.
Friends tend to agree with the status quo, but enemies want to provoke reaction.

The power of evil is quite mundane, but has the same value as the negative emotions that arise in us – wisdom!

From a spiritual point of view, in the moment of being confronted by aggression, compassion and gratitude arise.

Compassion, because the evil perpetrator is acquiring more bad karma.
Gratitude, because the evil perpetrator is showing us our reactions…“Ah, there is my pride/anger again.”
For a spiritual practitioner, this opportunity is of the greatest value.
For most people, their ‘self’ or ‘ego’ will just retaliate.

Every child is used to be taught by granny, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.”

Reacting is re-acting: it is habitual patterning.
This does not mean we don’t respond, but by not re-acting, space is created and clarity can come to the mind (our inner guru).

There is a great difference between theory and practice and practice makes perfect 😉

The selfish ideas of The New World Order have awoken many. Reacting to them only pulls us into their web. “What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”….as granny used to say!

The value of evil is that it can have the opposite effect to that intended.

 

 

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DELIGHT IN VIRTUE

Posted on May 16, 2014 by tony

Delight in Virtue

Virtue is doing good,
not doing evil,
and taming the mind.

To purify our habitual tendencies,
delight in instruction to purify our habitual tendencies
and delight in virtue.
Then we are spiritual practitioners.

 

“Purify our habitual tendencies” means putting an end to circling thoughts and our use of the word ‘I’ (if possible!).
“Instruction” is enlightened advice.
“Delight in virtue” is to be a spiritual practitioner – a knowledge holder.

If we have agreed to this then we have just taken refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (spiritual community)! Buddhism is perfect, but Buddhists are not, and that why we practise so much!

This world is like a traffic jam, and we are in it, complaining about the traffic jam. All these cars and people, all this pollution, all this impatience…and yet we forget we are part of it. “Well, I’m not involved in wars and killing people!” Ah! But when we blame others, find fault, hate and fear we create a poisonous atmosphere, where others who are less mentally stable can then carry out negative acts. Thus we have helped to create a world of care-less-ness and lack of empathy.

We are all responsible, due to the collective karma we have accumulated. For example, there are many negative activities happening in the world under the guise of “Sustainability”. We, as individuals, can only do what we can with what appears to our minds, be it in solitude, with the family, at work or in our leisure time. We can create the home for either goodness or evil to spread. Both are like a virus.

It’s like playing chess. We can either play to ‘win’ and smash the opponent, or play to understand the game and be relaxed. If our moves succeed…fine, and if the other wins…fine. That is the actual challenge!

I know how ‘Delight in Virtue’ can sound wet, but it has a tremendous power. I used to think we should confront and fight and expose, but all that does is increase the traffic jam. To delight in virtue is to delight in clarity. That is the winner!

We have to use psychology – spiritual psychology – known as skilful means, to change an unpleasant atmosphere. Going beyond hope and fear is challenging, and it can take us into a place that is psychologically unfamiliar. But that is precisely how we evolve, and step into a finer level of understanding.

Everything is psychological: the way in which we perceive things makes all the difference.

 

To delight in virtue is to rest in pure perception.
To delight in self cherishing is to scream at the traffic.

Go slowly.
Create clarity.
Ensure a sound arrival.

 

 

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PROTECTION

Posted on May 15, 2014 by tony

Protection.

Just to clarify, I am not a teacher, but a student who has spent over 40 years studying the subject of spirituality. Of course, it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

Meditation is a practice in stillness. Protecting is a practice of compassionate activity. We have to know what it is we are protecting, and what we are protecting it from.

Buddhism is a logical, reasonable approach to understanding our light side and our dark side – the devil and god, if you like. Selfishness and selflessness. Misperception and pure perception. This is the difference between the clarity of mind essence and the prison of disturbing, emotional thoughts. We are protecting our mind from infiltration by negative neuroses, as these cloud the mind with self-cherishing emotions. All this is seen clearly in the process of meditation.

Negativity infiltrates all our lives, and it is from this negativity that we are attempting to protect the mind. This negativity has no absolute reality as it is based on a misperception of an imagined I which feels it must protect itself.

When I asked my teacher what to do about demons, my teacher said, “If you practise, they will come. Rest in pure awareness.” Pure awareness is disengagement with all mental activity: once we are free of emotional disturbances – which is knowing how to protect our mind – then we can work for the benefit and protection of others with compassionate clarity.

Buddhism provides a firm foundation to know what is real and what is not real. All truth comes down to this understanding of the nature of absolute reality.

Ego, which is a set of beliefs to which our consciousness clings, hates clarity because clarity shows completeness and is impartial.

Saying this, we all have much to learn 😉

 

 

This is from a text entitled ‘Naturally Liberating Whatever you Meet’ by Khenpo Gangshar.

“It is an unfailing fact that happiness results in virtuous actions, and that suffering results from committing unvirtuous karmic deeds. Therefore, you must first recognise what is virtuous and what is evil…

“…It is the mind that is the most important. The reason for this is that, unless your mind intends to do so, your body cannot do good or evil actions, and nor can your voice express anything good or evil. Your mind is therefore the primary factor. In that way, your mind is like a king, and both your body and speech are its servants.

For instance, when you get angry at your enemy, you must examine whether the primary factor is your mind, or the enemy. When you feel attached to a friend, examine whether your mind or the friend in the primary factor. Examining in this way, you must acknowledge that although the friend and enemy are the circumstances in which your attachment and anger arise, the primary cause is in your own mind. Thus, your mind is most important.

“Once you master your own mind, neither friend nor enemy will be able to benefit you or cause you harm. If you don’t gain control over your mind, attachment and anger will automatically well up, wherever you go, and wherever you stay. You must understand that your mind is the root of all joy and sorrow, good and evil, attachment and anger.”

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QUESTIONS

Posted on May 13, 2014 by tony

I was wondering, if anyone wanted to ask a question, but didn’t want to put a question out in the open. I could create an email address for private questions. If the question is about dharma and not too private, with your permission we put it on the blog, for other benefit.

This doesn’t mean I know everything, but I could look it up for you. This is totally selfish as it inspires me to look deeper! 😉

If any one ‘likes’ this idea, we’ll do it.

buddhainthemud@hotmail.com

 

Tony

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BE TOTALLY CONFUSED

Posted on May 13, 2014 by tony

Be totally confused!

In the last verse in one of Gampopa’s prayers he states:
“May confusion dawn as wisdom.”
That, in a nutshell, is the Buddha’s teaching on the two truths!

Our present state of mind is confusion about our true nature.
Upon investigating that confusion, we discover its true nature – wisdom.

This is because we suddenly realise that that which is investigating
the confusion is the light of wisdom itself.

There you have it.

“But…but…there is still confusion!”
Ah, that is only a residue from the past, caught up in our subtle body
– our feelings – and in our minds – our fixations.
Confusion will come, and we practise letting it go.

There you have it.

“But…but…stuff is still happing to me!”
Ah, that is the playing out of our past karma – the effects of our actions.
In not reacting, our karma is exhausted.

There you have it.

“But…but… I like it all the way it is…all is well!”
Ah, then you are not totally confused yet 🙂

 

Just so you’re not confused 😉
“totally confused” refers to not holding onto any cosy concepts whatsoever.

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THE BANALITY OF EVIL

Posted on May 12, 2014 by tony

The Banality of Evil

Evil is an act of deliberately or unwittingly causing harm to others, in body, speech or mind (‘unwittingly’ because at the back of our mind, in our conscience, we know what we are doing but we have gone so far down the road of habitual behaviour that we find it difficult to turn back).

This activity of causing harm is something we are all good at. It can range from making someone feel uncomfortable (where it is the sowing of a seed), to ignoring them, to physical and mental abuse. Evil happens when we lack love: love is recognising our own goodness in others.

Even if we are not the perpetrator, but instigate it or permit others to do the evil, we are just as accountable. Despite the fact that evil-doers may have been ‘brought to account’, a residue of their action leaves an effect….even worse is the intention to leave an effect, which is generally one of fear.

Ignorance is no excuse, as the harm has been done. We are all accountable, and all controlled by fear, which happens in every walk of life: there are assumptions we make about life which put pressure on others. Our behaviour is learnt. We may justify our actions by telling ourselves that we are caring, but behind our actions is a personal agenda – or worse, an unwitting expression of the agenda of others.

Evil is a very subtle business, and we hardly notice its presence.The real danger is when, by merely watching evil, whether in life or on film, we note that we want to retaliate: that is evil welling up inside us!

Of course we have to stop evil. If we approach this on a conventional level (the relative level) we run into many problems, as this is approached though the ego. We need to be able to apply clarity and cool intelligence, otherwise we just make things worse.

In order to have clarity and cool intelligence, we need to go to the absolute level – spirituality.We are talking here about allowing our thoughts and emotions to control us, and thereby control others. Until we know the true nature of our mind – beyond the contents, which are ego-driven – we cannot say that we are free and awake, and beyond manipulation.

“The banality of evil” is a philosophical term, meaning that evil occurs when ordinary individuals are put into corrupt situations which encourage their conformity. The phrase, “the banality of evil” was coined by the philosopher Hannah Arendt, after witnessing the trial of high-ranking Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who seemed, at least to Arendt, to be the most mundane of individuals whose evil acts were driven by the requirements of the state and orders from above.

The Milgram experiment on obedience to figures of authority was a series of social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram. They measured the willingness of study participants to obey a figure of authority who instructed them to perform acts conflicting with their personal conscience. These experiments began in July 1961, three months after the start of the trial of Eichmann.

 

The world is becoming more and more unjust,
and many are closing their eyes to this.
Evil is thus committed by consent.

If we still think we are beyond all this,
we need to think again.
Until we know what is going on in our own minds,
we will never be free of evil. 

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KNOWLEDGE

Posted on May 11, 2014 by tony

Knowledge.

Knowledge is neutral, it is how we use knowledge that matters.
If it is used for selfish gains, we end up in mental turmoil.
If it is used for gaining wisdom, we end up in inner peace.

Selfish gains take no effort,
as we have been doing this for a very long time.

Gaining wisdom takes discipline,
to counteract what we have been doing for a very long time.

We need immobile body, speech and mind to recognise essence clearly.
Essence has been lost in expression (wandering awareness) …we are always doing something!
Even the eyes should be immobile

Meditating in isolation helps to be non distracted.
Break the meditation from time to time or it may become conceptual.
Short moments many times.

Never give up.

 

 

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PROTECTION

Posted on May 10, 2014 by tony

Protection

Protection comes from the Light of Clarity.
Light either clear demons from our mind
or makes us demons run away.
We have both potentials of Light and Dark within us.
This is expressed in our reaction.

The recognition of the Dark
is our own Light.

You see, it’s not all darkness.

 

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PRECIOUS HUMAN BIRTH

Posted on May 9, 2014 by tony

Precious human birth.

There are an incalculable number of sentient beings on this planet. Anything that moves and makes a decision is sentient..having a mind. Therefore has Buddha nature! Some of these beings are human. Most humans spend their lives building nests, gathering food, marking their territory and entertaining themselves. They do not realise that they are the only creatures that have a precious human birth capable of realising their true nature. These are ordinary human beings.

When we realise our spiritual nature, we realise how precious this human birth is. These are fortunate human beings. We can now appreciate that we have been a state of not knowing for so long, that every single sentient being in the entire universe has been our mother! Compassion now arises because we now know that they all have the potential of realising their Buddha nature (awakened nature). Now our view of everyone is different.

 

Don’t let the world make you forget this.

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KNOWLEDGE

Posted on May 9, 2014 by tony

Knowledge.

Knowledge is neutral, it is how we use that knowledge that matters.
If it is used for selfish gains, we end up in mental turmoil.
If it is used for gaining wisdom, we end up in inner peace

 

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THE WORLD NEEDS BODHISATTVAS

Posted on May 8, 2014 by tony

The World Needs Bodhisattvas

Intense passion*
Intense intelligence
Intense compassion

Having a good wish is not enough. We need to take responsibility. A bodhisattva has no doubts, no faint heart, no fears, and has total confidence.

Yesterday, I attended a refresher course on ‘First Aid’ and the use of a defibrillator. In such an emergency situation, we have to know what we are doing, take charge, inspire confidence, and act immediately! People’s lives depend on it: that is how urgent one’s actions are.

A bodhisattva works in exactly the same way. Regardless of the level we are at, we can do something to be of benefit to others. It is only pride that stands in our way. Humanity needs help because it is suffering, just like the person lying on the floor.

New Age pride is not the place for authentic activity, because it thrives on misplaced ‘personal god powers’. We need the ability to cut through our pride, jealousy, fear, hatred and desire by using the energy that these emotions create.

The ideal of the bodhisattva has been in the East for thousands of years: here is a short prayer as an example:

For the sake of all sentient beings,
I intend to attain complete Buddhahood (awakened)
In order to tame the Maras (our inner demons) who create obstacles
I will attain the level of the Victorious Ones (Buddhas)

In the West, we don’t have such concepts in our traditions – but we can start, and this process is already going on among dedicated people. Some are householders, some have completed three year and twelve year retreats – and some are even in life-time retreats. That is dedication.

Unfortunately, new agers hate authentic teachings and teachers, but will cherry pick from them. They have no original ideas, but play at being ‘ascension heroes’. First, we have to be able to control our emotions and squash the idea of a puffed-up self…“I do this” and “I do that”. The new age agenda perverts truth by manipulating a kind heart over to the dark side.

 

This may take many lifetimes for those who are committed.

We are inspired
and that inspiration comes from
‘Goodness knows where’!

 

 

 

*Passion is intense emotions. When view correctly the emotions are seen as wisdom energy. This the working of the the two truths in union. When essence recognises a ‘wrong’, anger arises in the mind. If we have introduced to the true nature of mind, then when anger arise it immediately refers our attention back to essence, by brightening the mind. Then we can use compassion in the situation. This is intense intelligence at work.

If on the other hand our anger only relate to a self (the picture we created of our identity) then this anger become defensive and aggressive, causing harm to our own mind and that of others.

 

 

 

 

 

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THE RIGHT ANSWER MAY NOT BE THE RIGHT ANSWER

Posted on May 7, 2014 by tony

 

The right answer may not be the right answer

Actual experience is not the same as received information. It’s easy to mistake the words for the actual experience. Recognising our mind at work at this moment is what it is all about. We need the theory, but we also need to experience.

When we say ’emptiness’ and ’empty’, we mean it is clear and empty of contaminates. Nonetheless, it still has qualities of purity, awareness and unconfined capacity – the three kayas or wisdoms. It’s not ’empty nothingness’. The mind is clear, and that clarity is mind essence. This can easily be recognised when sitting in stillness: when the stillness looks in on itself, it finds not a vacancy, but the qualities of pure awareness, pure perception.

However, our mind is full of continuous thoughts, so we cannot see the wood for the trees! This is why mindfulness training is so important in recognising the clutter and focusing to stop the agitation, which may lead to awareness meditation, and then pure awareness non-meditation.

Our empty essence is aware, and so it experiences. Emptiness is primordial purity and awareness is spontaneous presence. Tulku Urgyen explains this as Trekcho and Togyal– emptiness and experience.

 

Awareness is the expression of emptiness.
Emptiness is the source of awareness.

It is said that pure perception is Trekcho and Togyal: this is seeing all phenomena as male and female deities, but for the moment, these are only words…! 😉

 

 

An example of the right answer not being the right answer:

At a retreat, the Lama asked a question and went round each one of us for the answer. I can’t tell you how desperate I was (and probably the others also) to get the ‘right’ answer. The actual answer was…seeing my pride in wanting to get the right answer!

 

 

 

 

 

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MAY WE HAVE THE RIGHT INTENTION

Posted on May 7, 2014 by tony

May we have the right intention.
We cannot remind ourselves enough.

 

May all beings find happiness.
May they be free from suffering.
May they realise their true nature.
May they be free from aggression.
May we dedicate all our action and prayers
towards their happiness.

 

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