EASY STEPS TO DELUSION

Posted on March 6, 2014 by tony

 

Easy steps to delusion.

 

The main problem for new age philosophies is that they take parts of ancient teachings which are complete on the nature of mind, and so only ‘get’ a piece of the picture, which distorts and confuses. This incomplete information is then repeated, until we arrive at speculation and total delusion, as in the children’s game Whispers.

 

If we want something new, we only have to look more closely, and so refine our present understanding. Always trust your own logic and common sense, and take a very good look at what you are being told. Even the Buddha said, “Test my teachings for yourself!” Always search for the source of the knowledge. You will find it within your own mind.

 

As perception deepens, so does the meaning of words.

 

If we continue to feed our minds with partial information, we will be caught up in a mistaken view, and fall into the make-believe dream world of films, games and exotic conspiracies.

 

 Actually spreading mis-information confuses our brothers and sisters, and sentences us with a heavy karmic load, as we are putting obstacles in the way of others’ spiritual development.

 

An example of how the true teachings work by refinement:

 

The teachings explain to us what we already know but were unclear about, and we arrive at wisdom without doubt. The outer teacher introduces us to the inner teacher: this reveals the symbolic teacher, reflecting the true nature of oneself and everything as being empty – seeing reality within the dream. It is important to be aware that which is happening around us causes reactions in the mind. Overreacting creates stress, and this is unhelpful and unhealthy, and has a detrimental effect on our minds and bodies.

 

 This is where understanding the processes of meditation comes in.

 

There are two aspects to meditation: the first is mindfulness, where we focus on an object. Here is our first experience and recognition of duality: we have to identify the problem (duality) before we can be free of it!

 

The second aspect is awareness – but here we are talking about non-dual awareness, which has no focus whatsoever, our vision is wide open. This means the eyes are open (not strained) just aware, like all the senses and the perceiving mind. It is said, “Short moments many times,” so that we do not strain or get attached. This is pure, unembellished, unmodified awareness. There is no me and awareness – awareness has become non dual…just pure awareness. We are that pure awareness. It is this which brings about clarity – clarity is clear seeing, and that is what is meant by luminosity, or clear light. This is our essential empty nature.

 

With clarity, essence recognises its true nature: that it is enlightened. The light recognises the light. This basic nature is not a “thing”. This essential nature cannot be captured, but it can be (and is) distracted. This is what is happening all the time, and it is this – our own conceptual mind – that keeps us imprisoned…in delusion!

 

 

 

When we recognise the delusion,
we recognise the cause of that delusion
and the path of cessation
that dissolves that delusion,
thereby liberating us from delusion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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BEWARE…THE SCHMALTZ!

Posted on March 5, 2014 by tony

Beware…The Schmaltz!

 We have to be aware that we are being fed false information, which misdirects us from leading a happy simple life. “Buy more (than you need!)” It would be naive to think otherwise. Remember to work this falsehood must have an element of truth about it…”It’s whiter than white!” It’s a blueish tint they put in, actually it’s more that they have taken something out, like the cream in milk, saying it’s healthier, when it was naturally present in the first place.

 In every endeavour in life there are those that want to be at the top. Once at the top they want to stay there.

 There are many reasons for giving false information, usually this is an exaggeration to make us appear good…or better. False information is done for profit of some sort, financial or control. Even when talking to people exaggeration dominates and smothers.

 There is none more subtle than in the spiritual realm. When our minds are lazy and cluttered it is easy to accept the status quo, to go along with the herd. “My special herd.”

 

Beware…The Schmaltz*!

 Whatever we are told is not the truth.
What we are, and experience, is.

 

 

*excessive sentimentality, or rendered goose fat!

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WHEN DID YOU STOP QUESTIONING YOUR EXISTENCE?

Posted on March 5, 2014 by tony

When did you stop questioning your existence?

 When did you stop asking yourself, “What’s it all about?” It was probably the moment you learnt to ‘fit in’…you had programmed yourself! It does feel like that, doesn’t it? All nice and cosy (and this can even happen in Dharma centres 🙂 ).

 This ‘fitting in’ is a fitting in to the dreams of others…“Live the Dream!”

 We are potentially enlightened beings who, instead of being amazed at this pronouncement, are more interested in watching a ball being kicked around, the vintage of a glass of wine, blaming subversive ideas that we have planted and hoped nobody noticed, or making a perfect nest to be a Buddhist on.

 To stop being silly we merely have to remember what we are!

 I once worked in a sandwich bar in Colorado. Upon handing a gentleman a cheese roll, he exclaimed it to be “awesome”! I found that puzzling…it was just a cheese roll… 😉

 In case you’ve forgotten what you are: you are unconfined pure compassionate awareness…that’s all! It’s the source of your being…now that’s awesome!

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WITH PRACTICE, OUR PERCEPTION CHANGES

Posted on March 5, 2014 by tony

With practice, our perception changes

The words we use may be the same, but the understanding of those words refines through experience. Basically, the experience is beyond words. The changes may be subtle and may not seem significant to others, but they is still worth sharing.

 So, what is ego?

 There are two aspects to our being, emptiness and awareness (pure awareness – uncontaminated awareness):

The empty aspect allows anything to take place – it doesn’t do anything, it doesn’t modify, it is pure intelligent space. Because it is pure, it allows enlightenment – or en-dull-ment – to take place: this is indicative of our free will.

 Awareness is the active agent. Emptiness is our absolute aspect, and awareness is our relative aspect. When these work in unison, Compassion is the natural outcome, the natural manifestation.

 These three – emptiness, awareness and compassion – are known in Sanskrit as the Three Kayas.

 If awareness forgets its pure aspect, there is no end to involvement in activity. Every time we react, we have forgotten the emptiness aspect of everything and have mistaken things to be real and therefore we react…this is the cause of excessive, endless activity (and frustration!).

If emptiness forgets its awareness aspect, it merely resides in spaced-out-ness, a vacancy.

They must therefore go together.

 When awareness lacks the emptiness aspect, the Three Kayas turn into the three poisons – ignorance, desire and fear. Awareness without emptiness is attracted to things, and clings-grasps-holds-becomes attached to them, believing them to be truly existent. It is this awareness that we call ‘me’: this clinging-grasping-holding-attachment activity becomes a ‘me’, ergo an ego!

 The Three Kayas are the Buddha. The three poisons are the Mud around the Buddha. We wash off this Mud with a Mudra :-), a gesture of recognition that the essence of the poisons is Buddha nature, when emptiness is remembered.

 All methods are the soap we use to purify: once we recognise Buddha nature, we wash off the soap as it is no longer required. We do not need to hold onto anything, even the methods! When we realise this truth, we recognise that the mud (the ego) did not exist, and the methods did not exist,  – and that the Kayas were there all the time.

 

If you are looking for something new

…look closer!

 

 

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BELIEVE YOU CAN DO IT!

Posted on March 4, 2014 by tony

Believe you can do it!

There comes a time in our lives when we have to trust in something. This doesn’t mean we are absolutely right – everything can be refined – but it’s what we stand by at this moment.

To spend our precious life doubting and not coming to a conclusion is a sad end. This will mean that we start our next incarnation doubting, and we will keep going through the same process. We have been doing this for a very, very long time.

 We have to know that our view of life is sound. We could say 75% is provable, 20% is inference and 5% trust. We are talking about that 5%. The Buddha’s Dharma is complete at every level. If we have questions, these help pull us through to the next level.

 However, there are moments of doubt: this is part of the process, but we cannot linger there too long, and so we need trust to move on. That comes from appreciation of what we have learnt so far. That appreciation is devotion.

 We are householder practitioners, so we have to be self vigilant. Meeting with like-minded people helps (even if they are virtual people :-)!). Monks and Nuns dedicate their lives to study and practise…and celibacy. That celibacy is to save precious energy (tigley) for the moment of death. They hope they may be reborn in the celestial realm of Dewachen (pure realm), and for that they need great trust!

 We are not monks and nuns, but we too may be dedicated to being reborn into a pure realm. We can save some of our precious energy* and while recognising our pure nature, also achieve the pure realms.

 

Trust your own pure awareness.
It is absolute reality.

The doubt comes from the projections in the thinking mind,
to which this pure awareness becomes attached.

 That is the meaning of letting go.

 Trust your true self – pure awareness –
not the self-cherishing self.

 

 

 

*Ejaculation creates exhaustion of spiritual energy. But be aware that this is a delicate subject and needs careful investigation, as it could create medical problems…everything in moderation.

 

 

 

 

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THE AMOUNT WE RECOGNISE THE SYMBOLIC TEACHER

Posted on March 4, 2014 by tony

The amount we recognise the symbolic teacher

 The amount we recognise the symbolic teacher
is the amount we recognise the inner teacher.

 Distracted…awake, distracted…awake, distracted…awake.
Distracted…awake,distracted…awake, distracted…awake.
Distracted…awake, distracted…awake, distracted…awake.
Lack of empathy…compassion, lack of empathy…compassion.
Lack of empathy…compassion, lack of empathy…compassion.
Lack of empathy…compassion, lack of empathy…compassion.

 This is recognising the absolute truth in the relative truth.
Everything serves as a reminder
of our essential nature.

 Therefore our only problem now is:
ATTACHMENT.
ATTACHMENT.
ATTACHMENT.

 Cosmic darkness!

 

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WHEN DID YOU STOP QUESTIONING YOUR EXISTENCE

Posted on March 3, 2014 by tony

When did you stop questioning your existence?

 When did you stop asking yourself, “What’s it all about?” It was probably the moment you learnt to ‘fit in’…you had programmed yourself! It does feel like that, doesn’t it? All nice and cosy (and this can even happen in Dharma centres 🙂 ).

 This ‘fitting in’ is a fitting in to the dreams of others…“Live the Dream!”

 We are potentially enlightened beings who, instead of being amazed at this pronouncement, are more interested in watching a ball being kicked around, the vintage of a glass of wine, blaming subversive ideas that we have planted and hoped nobody noticed, or making a perfect nest to be a Buddhist on.

 So, stop being silly and remember what you are!

 I once worked in a sandwich bar in Colorado. Upon handing a gentleman a cheese roll, he exclaimed it to be “awesome”! I found that puzzling…it was just a cheese roll… 😉

 In case you’ve forgotten what you are: you are unconfined pure compassionate awareness…that’s alllllll! It’s the source of your being…now that’s awesome!

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THE AMOUNT WE ARE COMPASSIONATE

Posted on March 3, 2014 by tony

The Amount We Are Compassionate

 The amount we are compassionate is equal
to the amount we rest in pure awareness.

 We get moments of compassion but
we do not notice them and so fall back into selfishness.
The moment we lose compassion
is the moment we return to our dream world.
We may read and talk about being compassionate
but that is not the experience of compassion.

 We are constantly, constantly, constantly
Self-cherishing, self-cherishing, self-cherishing,
Self-cherishing, self-cherishing, self-cherishing,
Self-cherishing, self-cherishing, self-cherishing,
Self-cherishing, self-cherishing, self-cherishing,
Self-cherishing, self-cherishing, self-cherishing,

 Being compassionate is being aware of our and others’
pure uncontaminated reality.

 Now, when a lack of empathy arises,
it serves as a reminder:
Lack of empathy-compassion, lack of empathy-compassion.
Lack of empathy-compassion, lack of empathy-compassion.
Lack of empathy-compassion, lack of empathy-compassion.
Lack of empathy-compassion, lack of empathy-compassion.
Lack of empathy-compassion, lack of empathy-compassion
Lack of empathy-compassion, lack of empathy-compassion.

 

…cosmic love!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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THE AMOUNT WE ARE AWAKE

Posted on March 2, 2014 by tony

The amount we are awake

 The amount we are awake is equal
to the amount we rest in pure awareness.

 We get moments of wakefulness but
we do not notice and so fall into a vacancy.

 The moment we get lost in thought
is the moment we return to the dream.

 We may read and talk about being awake
but that is not the experience of wakefulness.

 We are constantly, constantly, constantly
distracted, distracted, distracted.
distracted,distracted, distracted.
distracted,distracted,distracted.
distracted,distracted, distracted.
distracted,distracted, distracted…

 Being awake is being aware of our
pure uncontaminated reality.

 Now, when thoughts arise,
they serve as a reminder:

 distracted-awake, distracted-awake, distracted-awake.
distracted-awake,distracted-awake, distracted-awake
distracted-awake, distracted-awake, distracted-awake.
distracted-awake,distracted-awake, distracted-awake.
distracted-awake, distracted-awake, distracted-awake.
distracted-awake,distracted-awake, distracted-awake…

 

 …cosmic fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

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THE CONTINUITY OF ESSENCE

Posted on February 28, 2014 by tony

The Continuity of Essence

That…That!…is the great secret!
If we truly took this to heart, we would never be afraid.

Our essence is constant, was never born and never dies. It just is. Through the force of karma, essence enters a physical body and confused mind, which causes the Skandhas* to be set up – form, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness.

It is because of our karma (created by our mistaken view) that we keep popping into a body appropriate to our motivations. During the experience of the bardo (the time between death and rebirth), our karma or propensities drive us to take a certain form. This form holds together the Skandha of feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness, experiencing all sorts of sensations.

We also arrive with certain leanings and capacities carried over from previous lives. However, all that is experienced is of a temporary nature, relative to our true nature…the continuity of essence.

At this moment, we are caught up in a chain reaction of concepts that arise and cease. We may experience hardships or joys, but all these fade at death. There is, however, some relative nature with which we are reborn. If we are practitioners, maybe it’s a sense of urgency, dignity or inability-to-fit in-ness 🙂 For ordinary people it may be a sense of panic, suspicion, competitiveness. So we are born with a nature, and enter an environment of nurture…and we get caught up again in our old ideas.

That confusion with which we are born is actually our path to enlightenment, if we could only translate what is going on. It is here that we need a teacher. We are here to learn, to discover, to realise and recognise that continuity of essence.

Now you know the secret.
These are only words.
When you question, you take the subject apart.
This leads to another question…
…and so on…

Gradually, there is nothing left to take apart
and you are left with total confidence of the continuity of essence.

Up until that moment,
you will have a residue of feelings, which are
ghosts from the past.

 The Buddha taught for over forty years.
There is Buddha activity everywhere:
just look inside.
We only have to wash off the mud.

.

*The Skandhas (Sanskrit) are the five functions or aggregates that constitute the human being. The Buddha teaches that nothing among them is really “I” or “mine”.
The Abhidhamma describes them as a series of rapidly changing, interconnected, discrete acts of cognisance.
The sutras describe five aggregates:

Form or matter: external and internal matter. Externally, rupa is the physical world Internally, rupa includes the material body and the physical sense organs.
Sensation or feeling: sensing an object as either pleasant or unpleasant or neutral.
Perception, conception, cognition, discrimination: registers whether an object is recognised or not (for instance the sound of a bell or the shape of a tree).
Mental formations, impulses, volition, compositional factors: all types of mental habits, thoughts, ideas, opinions, prejudices, compulsions and decisions triggered by an object.
Consciousness, discernment.

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THE BASIC MECHANICS OF MEDITATION

Posted on February 27, 2014 by tony

The Basic Mechanics of Meditation

This is the time to do nothing but be you.
There are two aspects to meditation: mindfulness and awareness. We start with mindfulness practice.
Sit with a straight back on a cushion or chair, in a quiet clean place, relaxed and aware of the touch of the body and all the other senses.
If sitting on a cushion, place the feet onto the thighs, onto one thigh or legs crossed in front.
Chin slightly in, to keep the spine in line.
Hands on thighs or lap.
Eyes half open, open, or closed.
Jaw relaxed, and tongue touching the roof of the mouth.

This is merely to be comfortable and relaxed: the body supports itself, and the back will strengthen in time.

Allow the breath to be gentle, simply becoming aware of the breathing: inhale, pause… exhale, pause…rest in that awareness.

If thoughts come, just let them be; they will arise and go. In fact, they may seem to be getting worse, but this is because you are now noticing more! Just continue.

There two aspects to meditation – mindfulness and awareness. Because our minds are over active in this speedy world, we need mindfulness first, in order to calm the mind down. Mindfulness is precise focus on an object or image. This trains the mind to stop wandering, and when it does (and it will) we gently bring it back to the object of our attention. Of course, we can do this with any activity, but here we are focusing on our spiritual awakening. Generally we use the breath. If our energies are dull or excited, chanting helps to ground us, and then we can continue resting in meditation.

 However, we do not stay here.

 Mindfulness is a reminder that we have a mind. Once we are aware of this mind, we are naturally introduced to awareness itself. We have just taken a step back from what we thought we were. We have assumed that we are this thinking mind, and suddenly we discover that we cannot be those thoughts, as there is something that is aware of them…an awareness!

 We have just stepped back towards our own reality.

 We now become aware of the awareness itself – aware of awareness. We have arrived at stillness, and can drop the mindfulness…just be aware of the awareness. Sitting with the back straight, but not stiff or tense, allows the body to be unconstricted, and breathe freely, and the inner channels are open (within this physical body are channels, winds and energies, known as the subtle body).

The final step back.

 Once we are aware of awareness, we realise that there is nothing else going on. It is empty of any thoughts or contaminations, but purely aware. There is no longer ‘me being aware’…just awareness.

Ah! There you are. We need time to assimilate this, to become familiar with it.

Thoughts will still arise in the mind because of our past ‘business’, but now there is space to view this ‘business’. This pure awareness is actually called ‘the view’…clear luminosity…clear light!

 Mindfulness is the meditation.
Pure awareness is non meditation: it is pure recognition.

Don’t get too stuck in mindfulness, as it is only a reminder. If we become too attached to mindfulness, we may acquire a strange attitude (this happens to westerners).

Awareness is being ordinary.

It’s that simple.

The world may seem more crazy, and we will find our emotions exploding once in a while – that’s natural. We are not enlightened yet! Gradually, this pure awareness moves about in daily life and affects our conduct, decreasing desire and fear, and increasing compassion. Then we can start to eliminate the effects of karma.

 

Meditation takes us from not knowing to knowing, like switching on a light!

 

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THE CAUSE OF SUFFERING

Posted on February 26, 2014 by tony

The cause of suffering

In general, we are controlled by our emotions. The emotions arise because of ideas we hold about our projected self. These ideas are re-enforced by the environment in which we live, which is due to our karma. Our karma is the fixated imprints created by our reactions that we hold on to in the mind, defending this projected self. Those reactions are the emotions!

This is the cause of our suffering. Even if it’s just a feeling of unease, we are not totally at peace, which our true being. To arrive at the cessation of suffering, all we have to do is acknowledge that we are suffering and recognise the cause of that suffering.

We have to break out of this vicious cycle of existence that keeps us unenlightened. To do this, we have to pinpoint and recognise the moment of the cause of suffering. Here, we enlist the help of our good friends…the emotions themselves!

The very moment we notice an emotion arises – pride, jealousy, anger-hatred, fear-aversion, desire-hope – we have already travelled several stages away from our true nature – pure awareness. By the time an emotion arises, we have totally forgotten pure perception, our ‘just being’.

We have not only forgotten our true nature, but we have identified with a imaginary ‘me’, becoming caught up in past reactions and judgements, and because of that an emotion bursts into life and creates havoc and unhappiness! This seems to happen spontaneously, because we have not noticed the stages.

Through the practice of meditation, we can reverse this process spontaneously! Once we have a glimpse of pure awareness (which is shunyata/emptiness), we walk in spaciousness. Anything that then arises within that space is clearly seen. It’s like an instant reflection…OH!

The very nature of emptiness has five qualities or wisdoms: mirror-like, encompassing, equanimity, discriminating and all accomplishing. These wisdoms brighten the mind, and relate to the five Buddha families.

Until we are fully enlightened, we will have emotions of some sort, but gradually we will experience them (in the very first instance) as these wisdoms. It is only when we forget our true nature and identify with a me, that these wisdoms turn into negative emotions…the cause of our suffering!

While we are sentient, we can still be enlightened to the nature of reality. This is not ‘enlightenment’, but just part of the process, as we still have those pesky imprints of karma in the mind. However now, we can welcome these as an opportunity not just to react, thereby exhausting karma…final job done!

When will this happen?
We will know everything!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CONSPIRACIES

Posted on February 26, 2014 by tony

 

Conspiracies.
A secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful

 From the Latin
con(with) + spirare (to breathe) = to breath together, to whisper
We all know the game ‘Whispers’ leads to rumour and distortion….

To engage on the spiritual path, we have to “know our enemy”*. In our case, this is our distorted mind.

Of course, conspiracies exist in the world, otherwise there would not be a name for it! They have existed since civilisation began. It is the outcome of desire and fear on a bigger scale than the individual. A conspiracy has to done by a group for its own benefit: in order to do that it has to be done in secret.

 “Know when to pick your fight.”

Conspiracies exist. However, we have a problem when we add the word ‘theory’…as in ‘conspiracy theory’. There is that which we can prove, that which is inference, and that which we believe.

 We have to be aware of them, and the influences they have on us, but we needn’t over react as this may be what a conspiracy wants! In our relative world, there is no end to theories and predictions, the us and them situation which has always existed.

 There is individual and collective karma, and so we can deal with what comes our way (usually by not reacting, being aware and not complying if it goes against what we know). However, we have to accept that, collectively, we are all been running amuck, madly involved with doing what is best for ‘me’ and mine!

 Spiritually, on an absolute level, everything is a mere appearance, an impermanent event, machinations that come and go. And, as such, a total distraction. This does not mean we ignore what is going on as people are experiencing suffering, but we can only do what we can do…“Know when to pick your fight.”

 The problem that seems to be happening is that once it was people who conspired to do harm to the government, but nowadays it seems to apply to governments doing harm to their people.

 The Kali Yuga is the age of utter selfishness, so life is bound to be tough, but not impossible.

 

“You can fool all the people some of the time,
and some of the people all the time,
but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

Abraham Lincoln.
(…conspirators shot him!)

We have to be very careful we do not become part of the conspiracies by pointless speculations which only serves to mask what is actually going on, and so allow evil to do its work: “To thine own self be true, and as night follows day, thou canst not be false to any man”.

 If I die telling the truth, then I will be happy.

 The human mind is very sensitive, and because of that it can become enlightened. However, it can also be easily deceived and fantasise. Imagination can create the divine or devilry. Pick your fight on your own ground!




* “So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or you may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.”
Sun Tzu: The Art of War

 

If you don’t take heed of this, then your enemy may be doing this to you now through the use of psychology.

 

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TECHNOPHILIA MIND CONTROL

Posted on February 24, 2014 by tony

Technophilia Mind Control
The age of mass electronic projection

Waking up spiritually is not only about waking up to our absolute spiritual nature, but also to the relative predicament in which we find ourselves. So, we are to wake up twice!

Wake up!
…and then…
wake up!

It is one thing, being asleep in one’s own make believe dream-world – believing one’s cherished self to be a fixed reality – but it’s another when this is re-enforced by corporations with the purpose of keeping us enslaved in this make believe dream-world for corporate gain. Just see how indebted we are to the corporate dream in this 21st century!

The corporate obsession with making money – and therefore gaining power – is one thing, but here we are talking about deliberately abusing human frailties (adding ‘sweeteners’) – in fact using spirituality and psychology as weapons to enslave people so they are always distracted and numbed to the ethos they are being ‘fed’.

If we realised how precious this life is, and that we are here to realise our ultimate true nature, we would also realise that we don’t need such material wealth, and would have more time to …ponder and practise. That’s the last thing that the corporate ethos wants, and unfortunately we are all part of their working mechanism!

Spiritual and psychological knowledge is neutral: it all depends on the motivation of the user of that knowledge.

Humans, through their ignorance of their true nature, are naturally subject to desire and fear. To control those humans, all one needs to do is increase that desire and fear. Humans are sensitive beings, and are easily distracted and enslaved, when this very sensitivity could have been directed towards spiritual enlightenment.

Unfortunately the more wealth we acquire, the less we want to give it up. The same law applies to corporations, who are also subject to desire and fear, and that makes them dangerous to mankind as they need to maintain their control and power.

Nowadays, we are ambushed everywhere by technology, through systematic neurolinguistic programming. How many times do we hear people say, “I’ve just upgraded!”? Yes, you have just upgraded…to the corporation. You have been incorporated!

Enlightened activity.
There is no end to compassion: it is unconfined.

Demonic activity.
There is no end to the lack of compassion: it is unconfined.

Enlightened activity exhausts karma.
Demonic activity creates karma.

As you sow so you reap.
To a spiritual person that is a warning.
To the corporations, it is an aspiration

History teaches us much, if history is remembered,

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THE INTANGIBLE IN THE TANGIBLE

Posted on February 20, 2014 by tony

The Intangible in the Tangible.

 To understand one, we have to understand another.
There was a man who recognised the intangible in the tangible.
He became unstuck in physical reality,
transcending everything just as space.

 He is the intangible Buddha.

 We are also intangible Buddhas,
caught up in the tangible.

 

Intangible: unable to be perceived or grasped by the senses; not having physical presence.
Tangible: perceptible by the senses

 

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SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION

Posted on February 17, 2014 by tony

Spiritual Communication.

You are not alone: we all have similar feelings.

If there is something you wish to say here, please feel free to say it, 
as it may trigger a recognition of  something in others that is bothering them,
and may be an opportunity to clarify and bring about
a sense of relief.

A moment of real communication
is a moment of compassionate oneness.

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MAY CONFUSION DAWN AS WISDOM

Posted on February 17, 2014 by tony

May Confusion Dawn As Wisdom

 

When we look into the mind and see it is confused,
that which sees the confusion is wisdom.

 May Confusion Dawn As Wisdom

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“GOD MADE MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE.”

Posted on February 15, 2014 by tony

“God made Man in his own image”

 What is God’s image?

It cannot be this body of flesh and bones, as it does not last long.
It cannot be this mind, as it wanders all over the place.

So what is it?

Is it our spirit? Our essential being? But that doesn’t have an image.
Has anyone seen God’s image?

We are embodied beings: the body is not what we are. We are pure awareness.

 Is there a mistake in the original translation? Perhaps they meant spirit…but why then say “image”? Was that a misdirection for a reason?

 Was this translation, “God made man in his own image” created for simple minds? Something in which to believe, and not actually see for themselves. Or was this to keep people simple minded, and inferior to religious dogma, thereby never to realise their truepotential in actuality…God consciousness. But what is God consciousness?

Was there a moment in infinite timelessness in which God decided to create man? Why that precise moment?

According to the Bible, man started with Adam and Eve.
According to the Vedas, man was here much earlier, within many cycles of Yugas constantly changing over vast periods. Although much physical evidence has disappeared, there are texts from the Upanishads that indicate a time of purity.
According to modern scientists we (these bodies) evolved from single cells.

However these are all about physical bodies, not spirit.

Can spirit be created? If so, it can be uncreated. If something is created, it must have parts – but spirit has no parts. Essence is uncontaminated, intelligent, emptiness: pure sacred space.

If this is so, then we are God, and God is just a word for our true being.
It was never created, and so will never die.

Was the idea of an external God a creation to control people?
Did the few make a separate God in order to control the many, thereby making themselves God? Did someone boldly go where we weren’t supposed to go – into a world of make believe?

Our essential nature is what we can recognise for ourselves, with a little help from our inner teacher.

 

 

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SECOND NATURE, FIRST NATURE

Posted on February 15, 2014 by tony

Second Nature, First Nature

 The Oxford English dictionary defines “Second Nature” as:
“a tendency or habit that has become characteristic or instinctive: deceit was becoming second nature to him.”

There is a term in English called ‘second nature’: this presupposes that there is a ‘first nature’.
From a Dharma point of view this makes perfect sense. However, it makes one wonder if the dictionary compilers had this in mind! What did they think the first nature was?

Our second nature is something acquired. It’s a mental image of ourselves – an acquired characteristic – our earthly being – a ‘me’.

This is not our first nature. Our first nature is non-human. It is pure being…more or less.

Our second nature has no reality as it is changeable.
Our first nature is reality, as it is unchanging.

When we live in non reality, we live in our dark side
When we live in reality, we live in our light side.

(The word “we” refers to our ego-consciousness. Broken down, there are eight consciousnesses: five are of the senses and three are of the mind. The three of the mind are the sixth (perception), seventh (judgement) and eighth (memories). This is an article in itself, but briefly, consciousness moves around from one to another.)

It’s like this: our consciousness is like a fulcrum ^ which moves back and forth.

SECOND NATURE – RELATIVE                                         FIRST NATURE – ABSOLUTE
                                               Essence and I= dual——non dual =Essence

                                __________________________________________________

                                                                              ^

                                                                     consciousness

We oscillate between the two hardly noticing. Our consciousness is constantly moving outwards and inwards….more or less. However there does come a time (through practice) When our ‘set point’ reaches the point of no return, it has stabilised into abundance, to this:

SECOND NATURE – RELATIVE             FIRST NATURE – ABSOLUTE

 dual—-—————————————————non dual

^

consciousness

What is actually happening is that non-duality is not increasing as it’s there all the time: the obscurations of duality are decreasing.

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WEALTH V KNOWLEDGE

Posted on February 15, 2014 by tony

Wealth v Knowledge

If we acquire all the wealth in the world
there is a depletion;
others are denied wealth
and therefore they suffer.

 If we acquire all the knowledge in the world
there is never a depletion;
others are not denied knowledge
and therefore they have no need to suffer
as it can be shared.

 The more wealth we acquire,
the more we are afraid of losing it,
and the more we suspect everyone.

 The more knowledge we acquire,
the more we are confident,
and the more we are compassionate
towards everyone.

 Spending time acquiring wealth,
there is no time for knowledge.
Spending time acquiring knowledge,
there is no need for wealth.

 Wealth leads to more wealth.
Knowledge leads to wisdom.

 When we live in a empire of
surveillance and suspicion,
knowledge tells us that the wealthy
fear everyone.

 When we live in a empire of
knowledge and wisdom,
this tells us that
knowledge and wisdom
are the right of everyone.

 

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DISSATISFIED EGO LOOKING FOR SATISFACTION

Posted on February 13, 2014 by tony

Dissatisfied ego looking for satisfaction

 This is a double-edged sword 😉

From one point of view, awareness (consciousness) is trying to hold together the relative picture it has created, and finds that this doesn’t work, as it is not a complete picture. It is therefore constantly dissatisfied and frustrated, which gives rise to all those negative emotions: it’s one of the reasons we get angry with ourselves, and then blame others.

But, on the other hand, we need to be dissatisfied in order to have the motivation to realise the cause of this dissatisfaction…ego clinging!

Of course, what we are talking about is happiness; no one wants to be unhappy. This is always a delicate observation, as the ego (which is consciousness clinging to fixated ideas – that’s all!) even wants to meditate and chant OM MANI PEME HUM in order to feel better.

This is okay as far as it goes, as it will definitely make you feel better. It cannot fail!

We simply have to let go. Now, because we observe this ego-clinging, we can identify the cause of our suffering.

Until enlightenment, there will be an ego, although this will gradually soften. In the experience of this softening, we have to be willing to be happy being dissatisfied!

Any discomfort we now feel is Mara demon activity – a subtle feeling of like and dislike that is constantly lying in ambush. To understand Mara, we have to understand our own feelings because Mara are also sentient. Mara demons do not like us to be satisfied and happy: it is possible to empathise with this if we can recognise that we become a little annoyed when others seem happy, and we are not!

We need a teacher to point out the subtleties of this.

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INSIDIOUS ACTIVITY

Posted on February 12, 2014 by tony

Insidious Activity

I hesitate in putting this on, but feel that people are being abused all over the world. Although we may be spiritually inclined we cannot ignore material matters…

 It’s important as Dharma students to know the world in which we live. Dharma is not just about sitting on our cushions, feeling nice about ourselves. People suffer through their ignorance of their true nature, but they are also suffer through actions of others that are meant to confuse.

 Of course, there are many who sincerely work for the benefit of others, but just look at history and the world we live in now. Does the world look right to you? Consider this:

 Rules of government.

1. Chaos creates confusion.

2. Confusion creates reaction

3.  Reaction creates control

4.  Control creates power

5.  Power creates money.

6.  Money creates poverty for others.

7. Poverty creates chaos…

Rules governments do not want.

1.  ‘Common’ sense…something that everyone understands.

What if things are not meant to work properly? What if governments are meant to move to the left and right, so that each has someone else to blame? They take turns!

 Of course, governments do not make money…corporations do. Corporations lobby, and as a result, politicians find themselves in lucrative jobs for retirement. Once you have joined this elite club, you get a piece of the action…tax payers’ money.

Governments create something or someone to blame. They use the Hegelian Dialectic: problem, reaction, solution. They create the problem with the help of the media, wait for a reaction, and then produce a solution – which was the original intention. Profit from chaos.

All we have to do is be aware of what could be going on. We have a choice of conclusions: either this is insidious manipulation, or it’s “just life”.

Being spiritually aware does not mean that we ignore what is happening to our brothers and sisters.
Common sense is what we all have in common, kindness, love, empathy and compassion.

 

 

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The Final Step

The final step to the beginning is letting go of recognition.
Holding on to recognition is still duality –
me and the recognition.

.

.

.

.

…to be continued… 😉

Posted on February 11, 2014 by tony | Leave a comment

AN A.I FOR AN EYE

Posted on February 10, 2014 by tony

 

 

An A.I. for an Eye

We are the ‘all seeing eye’ – pure awareness – but have substituted this for an Imagined I.

We have now, however, gone one stage further, and have substituted this Imagined I for an Artificial Intelligence – A.I.

We are in danger of becoming biological robots. En masse, through technology, our switches (the emotions) are constantly being turned off and on. We are being manipulated to react. In just listening to or watching the media, we are self programming.

I turned on the radio on Saturday afternoon, and every station seemed to be reporting football! Everyone was shouting through their voice boxes – emotions on…emotions off.

All programmes are like that – that is why it’s called programming 🙂 Every conversation or speech pattern seems to re-enforce this programming.

 

Watch out!
Your reactions may not be yours.
If you are not in control of your mind…
someone else may be controlling it for you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WHAT YOU KNOW IS WHAT YOU KNOW

Posted on February 10, 2014 by tony

What you know is what you know.

 The great Tibetan master Marpa, disciple to Naropa who was a disciple of Tilopa (who had visions and was inspired by Dorje Chang) went to India to collect teachings to bring back to Tibet. Part of his return journey was by boat with a fellow student. The fellow student was jealous of Marpa, and threw all his notes into the water. They were all lost.

 Marpa then realised that the only knowledge that was of value to him was what he remembered and had experienced. Notes are merely a acquired collection of information.

 Marpa went on to be the teacher of the great Milarepa, whose student was Gampopa, whose student was the first in the line of seventeen Karmapas. If you are fortunate, you may be a student of one of his students… 🙂 This applies to all the Tibetan traditions.

 

At death,
all that is important
is what you know and remember.
That’s why we practice constantly .

 Milarepa achieved enlightenment in one life time: his final teaching to Rechungpa was to show his calloused buttocks to his disciple…meaning “Just do it”! (this must be taken in context, as there is absolutely nothing to do! But we have to start somewhere and get on with it 🙂 )

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ACCEPTING EVERYONE EXACTLY THE WAY THEY ARE

Posted on February 10, 2014 by tony

Accept everyone exactly the way they are

Accepting everyone exactly the way they are
is compassion: we are merely an exaggeration
of our true nature and uniqueness.

Wouldn’t we all liked to be accepted exactly
how we are, with our temporary relative attributes
and ultimate potential of Buddhahood? Of course
this doesn’t mean that we accept ego’s games
as being the whole story.

We come from different places, far and near.
Before Earth, we could have come from anywhere.
Outside the body, there are no limits, but most of
us are unaware while in that state, being driven by our
karmic propensities.

 Because we are sentient beings and not enlightened,
at birth we forget all previous infinite existences.

 And so, we have been educated into one of many
different cultures, believing we are these, when all along
there is something unique under the surface.

If we are honest, we get on with very few people.
In our relative existence, while talking to others
we rarely ever see eye to eye.
In silence, however, we do…interesting, that!

It is said there are 84,000 different types of beings,
which are varying combination of Klesa: these are
the disturbing emotions, which all stem from one
– ignorance of our true nature.

 Because of this ignorance, we create hope and fear.
Through this we cling to others who display similar traits, and
therefore cover up any uneasy feeling about this basic ignorance.
To be honest, we hardly ever find anyone with whom we can communicate.
We just join in!

 All we can do is be ourselves. The absolute in the relative.
We do not have to join a group in order to be where it’s at.
Just be content being you, and you will be where it’s at!

 As C. S. Lewis said, get on with what you are supposed to be doing.
Like attracts like, and maybe a group will form…and maybe not.
It doesn’t matter.
We just have to accept our karma, and karma of others, exactly the way it is.

 In that confidence we can accept everyone else,
exactly the way they are…unconditionally.

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Blogger’s update!

Posted on February 8, 2014 by tony

New writing on the blog may be sporadic

for the next few weeks

due to limited internet access

🙂

 

All the best 

Tony

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THE VALUE OF PRAYER

Posted on February 6, 2014 by tony

The value of prayer

 Sometimes one feels everything is:
Futile, fruitless, vain, pointless; useless, worthless, ineffectual, ineffective, inefficacious, to no effect, of no use, in vain, to no avail, unsuccessful, failed, thwarted; unproductive, barren, unprofitable, abortive; impotent, hollow, empty, forlorn, idle, sterile, nugatory, valueless; hopeless, doomed, lost…..!….empty?….empty!

For some karmic reason, one isn’t connecting.

 This is when the routine of prayers or pujas helps. It is a ‘directional support’. Sometimes we feel at the end of our ability to understand, or we are trying too hard, and find we are a little too tense. That’s when we have to throw everything we know up in the air and just give in!

 Simple prayers or pujas allow one to melt into the practice, merely becoming the practice itself. It’s like bonding between parent and child. This is easier for some than others, but well worth trying, and at the end, you feel happy for no reason.

 

It’s a nice holy-day!

 

 

 

 

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Expectations.

Posted on February 4, 2014 by tony

Expectation is bound to make us unhappy in a world where
we are tricked with treats…enjoy!

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BEING TOLD DON’T WORRY BE HAPPY

Posted on February 4, 2014 by tony

Being told don’t worry be happy.

 It all depends on context.

 If an enlightened teacher says to you,
“Don’t worry, be happy,”
means be aware and let be.

 If the Devil says to you,
“Don’t worry, be happy,”
means ignore and be submissive.

 If some else says,
“Don’t worry, be happy,”
means they want a quiet life!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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THE ONLY THING YOU CAN TRUST

Posted on February 4, 2014 by tony

The only thing you can trust

 The only thing you can trust
is your own.
Everything else is an impermanent projection.

 If we forget all the teachings, all the detail, we can still be aware of being aware: that is all that matters, especially at death. In merely being aware, we then know that we are not alone, as others are also ‘being aware’.

 

Those who know the purity of this awareness are enlightened beings.
Those who do not know this purity, but are still aware, are sentient beings.
For one we have devotion and for other, compassion.

 We have a deep appreciation for both as we can supplicate one and receive blessings, while practising the expression of those blessing towards the other, in a constant cycle.

 Trusting in pure awareness is wisdom.
Trusting in knowledge is experience.
Trusting in information is dubious until experienced,
recognising wisdom.

 

Trust you to know!

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EVIL

Posted on February 3, 2014 by tony

The Psychology of Evil

 The dictionary translates Satan as ‘an adversary’, Lucifer as ‘the morning star’, ‘bringer of light’ or ‘fallen angel’, and Devil as ‘evil spirit’.

 From the Buddhist point of view, the Devil/Lucifer/Satan have as much reality as Father Christmas: these terminologies can easily be seen from a buddhist perspective.

 Have you ever met Satan, the Devil or Lucifer? For that matter, have you ever met God?

 The idea of an external evil puts the blame onto something outside ourselves to fear, and therefore we then need intercessors. So, what do we actually know for ourselves?

 We know we have awareness, for without that, nothing would ever be known…even God! So our own awareness is something very precious, as it can recognise the truth. Through meditation we come to recognise that this awareness can have a purity about it…pure, uncontaminated awareness…our essential nature of luminosity…pure being. It’s just there, all the time: “You are that which you seek.”

 So where is the Devil and God in all this? The Devil and God are the dark and the light – our two potentials. Evil is only that which obscures our own light…our clinging to concepts, which creates negative emotions – evil spirits!

 Read up on the devil, lucifer and satan, and come to your own conclusions.
When we give in to evil spirits, we give in to selfishness: we become fallen angels.
These negative obscurations are themselves our adversaries.

 

We can now control our own destiny.
The devil (our ego-clinging) knows we have free will,
but makes us believe we haven’t!

 We are the guardians of hell and heaven.

 There are fallen angels:
practitioners who acquired powers
but never finished their training.
Thus they hate purity,
and try to cause trouble.

 Evil is merely a mistaken view of ourselves.
For protection, all we need is compassion for all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

Posted on February 2, 2014 by tony

 

Light in the Darkness

 When considering the sun
we cannot ignore the clouds.

 The light is pure awareness.
The darkness is the dungeon of existence: 
the mind that has never noticed the light.


 The switch is recognition, 

found through devotion 

and activated by compassion.

 Recognition is…to know again.
This means something was forgotten
which was previously known.

 Illumination starts when we are dissatisfied:
the first noble truth.

 The light has always been present
and the darkness has never existed.

 We can now identify an identification.
When pure awareness recognises,
all illusory appearances vanish.

 The dungeon was our forgetfulness.
Once we see this for ourselves, we are satisfied
and recognise the second noble truth:
the cause of suffering.

 

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STRESS

Posted on February 1, 2014 by tony

Stress

 The scourge (whip) of the Kali Yuga

 We cannot consider this subject enough. Stress affects the mind, body and subtle body. One doesn’t have to be an expert on the subtle body to feel the effects of subtle tension on the physical body. This is due to changes in the subtle body- a residue left from memories. The subtle body consists of winds, channels and energies: the one we are interested here is wind, called ‘lung’ in Tibetan (it’s pronounced loong).

 This tension, coupled with physical external events, creates dis-ease. Worrying never made things better; relaxing does. We have had traumas and subtle traumas throughout our life which has an effect on us now, and if we are not careful, this becomes a resident personality. This residue doesn’t go away, but we can note it and use an antidote to counter the effect.

 We have a mental store house (bank!) of karmic imprints in the mind which work as filters through which we see and react to everything. Surprisingly, the memory – or feelings – of these imprints is also held in our subtle body as well as in the mind.

 Interestingly, as we get older, our facial expressions and mannerisms seem to leave an imprint in the physical body after a lifetime of acquired, exaggerated behaviour.

 

So where does stress come from?

There is a ‘wind’ just below our navel (four fingers width below) that rises when we feel stressed or anxious: we then feel tension somewhere in the upper body. This is very exhausting, and has a detrimental effect on our immune system, so it is very important. We get too tired or exhausted to practise.

 When we take a subject apart, it is easy to see what is going on. In our minds, we are either in the future or past, and set up a picture of expectations of how things should be. When this doesn’t happen, we become stressed. Animals feel this when their routine changes…we all get anxious.

 It sometimes feels that this modern world (the Kali Yuga) is made to keep us distracted and stressed.
Complying to others’ standards is very stressful, and they too are stressed by others’ stress!
So it’s time to not comply, and to thine own self be true.

 We can counter anxiety with simple, gentle lung practice. Simply note where the tension is in the body, take a gentle breath and mentally take it down to below the navel. Hold it there for a few seconds. Then expel the air, leaving about 10% below the navel. Of course, our breath doesn’t actually go down that low, but this exercise has a effect in the subtle body. Just try it and see.

 The next time you meet someone (just meeting people seems to raise the lung), take a couple of these gentle breaths, and feel more relaxed and in the present.

 

Stress isn’t a pill deficiency,
it’s natural in a Samsaric world.

All we need is to recognise.
Recognition self heals.

 

 

 

 

 

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FANCY A TRIP TO DEWACHEN?

Posted on January 31, 2014 by tony

Fancy a trip to Dewachen?

 First, we must step out of our chain of cyclic reactions.

 If we wish for higher realms such as Dewachen – the realm of infinite joy and happiness – we must break this vicious cycle of selfish existence, which means that our precious energy is turned towards benefiting others more than ourself. We all have different capacities and difficulties, but however we are, we must always step towards compassion, empathy, kindness and love. Without these, they won’t let you in! And, even if Dewachen was right in front of you, you wouldn’t recognise it!

 We don’t have to be smart to step out of the Kali Yuga’s driving forces, but merely recognise what is driving us, and say, “Not now, thank you.”

 Any reaction we experience is a creation from our past – it’s our story we keep replaying, our own created karma in which we are stuck. The most important thing is not to feel guilty about our innermost reactions and feelings, as these are merely coming from our ignorant past…and the past has gone! The very moment we pause, creating space, we cut through those karmic reactions, and no karma is produced. Then, through this space of clarity, we may act for the benefit of others.

 If we keep doing this, there is no way they can keep us out of Dewachen 😉

 

May whatever merit
we have accumulated
be for the benefit of others.

 May all beings,
not one excluded
be reborn in Dewachen

 Em Ah Ho!

 

 

 

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WHY ARE THERE SO MANY PROBLEMS IN LIFE?

Posted on January 30, 2014 by tony

Why are there so many problems in life?

 Well, we are in the Kali Yuga – ‘The Age of Darkness’. There are many accounts illustrating how leaders will/are going astray, and how this filters down into society.

 The four great epochs in Hinduism are:
Satya Yuga or the Age of Truth is said to last for four thousand divine years.
Treta Yuga for three thousand.
Dwapara Yuga for two thousand.
Kali Yuga will last for one thousand divine years, that equals to 432,000 earthly years.

 It is also believed that three of these great ages have already passed away, and we are now living in the fourth one.

The Signs of Kali Yuga
Knowledge has deserted mankind, leaving us only with the awareness of the gross physical body. This explains why we are now more preoccupied with our physical self than anything else.

Due to our preoccupation with our physical bodies, and because of our emphasis on the pursuit of gross materialism, this age has been termed the ‘Age of Darkness’ — an age when we have lost touch with our inner selves, an age of profound ignorance.

Dharma is represented as a bull because a bull ploughs the fields and helps human life for just a little hay. The bull is a most humble servant and good friend of man. He helps us and makes our loads lights.

In Sat Yuga, the bull of dharma stands comfortably on four feet very well, without falling down. Following dharma is normal. Promises are kept and if anybody dares to break his promise, people make a big fuss of it. In Treta Yuga, the bull stands on three feet. When standing on three feet, keeping balance is not difficult. People are a little selfish and it is not problem to break a promise once in a while. In Dwarpar Yuga, the bull has to stand on two feet; that is easy for humans and penguins but not for bulls. So the bull of dharma performs his balancing act like a clown in a circus. Selfishness increases and breaking your promise becomes acceptable. And in Kali Yuga, the bull of dharma stands on one foot.

So it becomes very difficult to follow dharma in Kali Yuga. Only exceptional people follow dharma and are true to their words.

 

We may not believe in these Yugas, but we can see that the world is in darkness at this moment. Corporations and Governments are manipulating the peoples of the world for their own gains. Through this, people are being dumbed down, and the natives are excited with electronic trinkets.

 When we recognise that everything goes in cycles – that nothing lasts, nothing lasts, nothing lasts – we realise that it is just a phase we are going through. There is no end, and all karmic accounts will be reckoned up.

 To put it simply; there is great suffering in the world, and the people do not notice. However, this is the best of times to practise compassion to those far and near. If we can practise with a one-footed bull, just think what we can do when the bull can dance on four legs!

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Information about Tsoknyi Rinpoche’s 2014 retreat in the UK.

Posted on January 29, 2014 by tony

Information about Tsoknyi Rinpoche’s 2014 retreat in the UK.

 
 

Dear Dharma Friends

Bruton Retreat

Booking for the Easter Retreat opened on December 1st and within 24 hours we’d received 140 applications, many of them for single rooms which number 63!   Apologies to all those who are on the waiting list, if you can find somewhere offsite that would be great.    For those who are offsite this year, you can use the common room in Cumberlege House, next to the car park, to make hot drinks and relax.  Let us know if you would like lunch and supper.   Again, apologies if you don’t have the accommodation requested.   Any financial adjustments can be made at registration, or if you would like a refund now let me know.

I’d be grateful to hear from anyone booked onto the retreat who would be able to help in some way – if you email me I’ll let you know what’s needed.

If you need to arrange a train for the retreat, the nearest mainline station with a link to London is Castle Carey – see www.nationalrail.com to book.  The cheapest deals, advance tickets,  are available up to 3 months before travelling.  Often, 2 singles are cheaper than a return.

A reminder that registration will be on the afternoon of April 7th, there are no facilities to arrive a day early.   We will be finished by 11 am on the 13th.

 

 

Address for payments

If you’re sending cheques, please note from Feb. 1st Michelle’s address will change to the following:

102 Norfolk Street,
Cambridge,
CB1 2LF

With all good wishes for 2014, 

Carole.

Pundarika UK.

carole@pundarika.uk.net
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HALF THE TEACHING

Posted on January 29, 2014 by tony

Half the Teaching

Have you experienced being instructed in meditation, and told to focus on an object…a stone, a flower, an image, a dot, the breath…and nothing else? This happened to me when I first became a Buddhist practitioner, but also in the systems I have previously been involved with – the same obscuring instruction was given. I did this for years: it was a sort of mental gymnastics of trying to stay focused – and it was exhausting, and nice when I stopped! I always wondered whether there be more to this, and at a retreat I actually asked the lama, “How do I recognise what I am looking for?” I received no answer. That was the Mahamudra path.

 The Other Half of the Teaching

The whole point of any practice is the awareness of the awareness that is focusing on an object. It is a mere focus. When there is ‘just’ awareness, that is ‘pure’ awareness. One is barely aware. It’s that simple.

This is Shamata practice, stepping directly into Dzogchen/Mahamudra.

The Mahamudra method starts at the beginning of the book: one meditates to find the clear view.

Dzogchen starts at the end of the book: one is directly introduced to the clear view and meditation is the practice of remembering when one has forgotten the clear view.

Incidentally, “Nice when I stopped” was unconsciously relevant in Dzogchen we are told, “Short moments many times”…and it’s not exhausting – one actually rests! This is to ensure that we do not fixate on ‘doing Dzogchen’, instead of being Dzogchen.

These are the two excellent but different methods towards the same end. Much depends on our synchronicity – what comes our way – but it’s good to know what order we are following. This isn’t always explained this, and it can cause inner tensions.

 The Buddha first taught the teachings that are of benefit to oneself: these are called the Hinayana teachings, now known as Theravadan.

He then taught the Mahayana path that emphasised bodhicitta, being of benefit to others.

He then taught the Vajaryana – the path of devotion – where one first needs a firm foundation in the correct view and bodhicitta.

Although Mahamudra and Dzogchen are the golden roof, one always has to check to see if our foundations are solid. If we forget, we need aspiration and mindfulness to remember.

 

View, meditation and conduct.
The view is clarity.
Meditation is remembering.
Conduct is the continuity of the view in daily life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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HAVE YOU FOUND WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR?

Posted on January 28, 2014 by tony

Have you found what you are looking for?

Can’t find anything?
Excellent!

.

Just to be clear, and not play word games.

In not finding anything, means that the intelligence
that is looking for something, realises that it is the
intelligence itself is the only reality.

In not finding anything at all that is permanently real,
there is still that which is looking present.

We are that which we seek…that’s it!

You have just realise your true nature.
However, this is not stable yet, as we keep being distracted
and reacting to our karma.

We now merely have to accept the whatever arise, phenomenally
and in the mind, are products from our past,
and no longer have to feel guilty about what we feel.

If we react, we merely add to this karma.
If we note and do not react no karma is produced.

Gradually in this way, we exhaust all karma.

We can enjoy life, but not become attached.
We can smell, taste and enjoy…just don’t cling.

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DOMINANCE IN THE MIND

Posted on January 28, 2014 by tony

 Dominance in the Mind

 There is a battle for dominance in the mind between our natural clarity and thought invaders. Either clarity is dominant or thoughts are dominant…and usually it is thoughts!

 The battle is won the moment clarity recognises the ‘thought invaders’. Once knowing is present, not knowing disappears immediately, like switching on a light in a room that has been in darkness for a thousand years. This is easily seen in meditation. In fact, this is all one does…recognise!

 One moment the senses clearly see all appearances through a clear mind, and the next, the senses disappear – everything disappears – as mind’s clarity disappears. Suddenly we are in an imaginary past or future. Pure vision has gone. Panoramic view has gone. We have just been invaded by fantasies…aliens!

 We can watch the mind opening and closing in a slit second…from clarity to occupied/vacant and back to clarity again. This going on all the time, if we didn’t have milli-seconds of clarity, we’d keep walking into walls – which in itself would make us come to our senses! We don’t have to walk around with a blooded nose all the time in order to remember 🙂 We just need mindfulness.

 Just look at a physical object, and see how long it takes for a distraction to occur: this is shamata meditation with support. It’s that simple: recognition doesn’t require anything complicated. We are distracted all day (and night), and unfortunately this adds up to a life time…many life times!

 What we can now realise is that clarity (pure awareness) is present all the time, and that temporary appearances are passing images – illusions – that occupy our mind. We can either recognise these appearances coming and going, or be taken over by them.

 You can see this for yourself. There is no right or wrong: there is just recognition. It is all about that recognition. That recognition is awareness. Then, that awareness has a choice, either to look into its our nature and recognise emptiness, which is our essence at peace, or get dominated again by addictive desire and frustration.

 

“To be or not to be…that is the question!”

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EXPERIENCE AND STILLNESS IS AWARENESS AND EMPTINESS

Posted on January 27, 2014 by tony

Experience and Stillness is Awareness and Emptiness

 “Two birds sat in the self-same tree:
one pecked of the fruit
while the other sat and watched.”
(the two truths)

 From the highest point of view, we (as empty essence) use experience/awareness, to enjoy and express our true nature of shunyata/emptiness.

Emptiness is beyond all experiences, but allows experiences to take place.
Therefore, all enlightened activity is an expression of our true nature: Emptiness. We reflect clarity and inner peace in our actions.

 There is beauty
in all walks of life.
The absolute is in the relative.

If we are just aware without understanding emptiness, we – and everything else – seem solid: this is the extreme of eternalism.
If we are just emptiness without understanding awareness, we are in oblivion – the extreme of nilhilism.

These two must go together: this is the Middle Way.
In the middle, we have the clarity of compassionate towards both extremes.

 

The foundation of beauty
is love and compassion.

 The foundation of
love and compassion
is pure empty awareness.

 The foundation of
pure empty awareness
is meeting the teacher.

 The foundation of
meeting the teacher
is your own compassionate awareness.

 The foundation of your own compassionate awareness
is dissatisfaction.

 The foundation of
dissatisfaction
is the recognition of suffering…

 

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ORDINARY PEOPLE CANNOT DEAL WITH ORDINARINESS

Posted on January 26, 2014 by tony

 

Ordinary people cannot deal with ordinariness

 Ordinary people are those who do not recognise their spiritual nature, which is ordinariness without embellishments. Ordinary people are totally involved with things, people, places and sometimes ideas. Rarely do they talk about their true nature: it’s a taboo subject. If we do approach it, they quickly change the subject back to people, things, and places. They are so intoxicated by a programmed lifestyle that they have forgotten what they are.

 Strangely, we live in a world where this is fostered, as if we have arrived at a huge shopping mall and that’s it. At one end of this mall are cheap !“’bling-y items’”! and at the other end are expensive !’”bling-y items”’! … but it is still a shopping mall.

 There are suppliers to the shopping mall and there are wheeler-dealers behind the shopping mall, but they all end up shopping too! There are even those who write about it to entertain us, and they also end up shopping.

So how do we talk to such people?
We cannot.

They wouldn’t know what on earth we were talking about because their lives are based on conditional happiness – a happiness that relies on conditions that they pay for.

All we can do is be happy for no reason…they might or might not catch on.

 

Being happy for no reason is o r d i n a r i n e s s.

 Ordinary people do not recognise their ordinariness.
In striving not to be ordinary, they become ordinary.

 Ordinariness is accepting being ordinary, adding nothing.
This is the meaning of the two truths.

 

 

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WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO THE DHARMA

Posted on January 26, 2014 by tony

We are not supposed to do the Dharma

We are the Dharma!

The Buddha didn’t teach us to follow his teachings: he taught us to recognise our true nature. We may become very learned and scholarly in the Dharma, but we can miss taking the Dharma to heart. We are both the teacher and the student.

If we do not take the Dharma to heart, we will be beggars and feel unworthy, because we are following and not being. We will then project that concept onto others. One of the problems with Dharma centres is that people learn the routines, and become very scholarly in the routines. This is not Dharma.

Dharma is uncontaminated compassionate awareness.
That is exactly what we are.
In our relative side we may not be perfect, but we can have perfect empathy for others, knowing that we are not perfect…yet!

How we treat others says much about ourselves. We may praise this or that Lama, be able to repeat spiritual jargon, look the part, but still steal someone else’s cushion, smother the atmosphere with our need for home comforts, or shut others out with coldness and detachment…I’ve seen all these!

 

If we cannot be Dharma,
at least we can be a decent human being.

 

 

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A SYMPATHETIC UNDERSTANDING

Posted on January 25, 2014 by tony

A Sympathetic Understanding

 When we have a sympathetic understanding
of causes and effects (karma),
we become
the lord of compassion.

 Since beginningless time
beings have endured unbearable suffering
due to mis-understanding.

 When we have a sympathetic understanding
of causes and effects (karma),
we evolve,
never to return to mis-understanding.

 May we all have a sympathetic understanding
of the unendurable pain
of the person next to us.

 

 

 

 

 

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TIMELY TEACHING

Posted on January 24, 2014 by tony

Timely Teaching

There are certain teachings that happen at precisely the right moment. On a blog, one cannot create that sort of atmosphere as it is a matter of tuning in, so this may not have the same effect!

Once, after a two week retreat, we embarked on an intensive month-long retreat with 10 hours of meditation a day plus 3-4 hours of teaching of a text, and something was said that totally floored all of 120 of us.

The lama merely stated, “Awareness is relative truth.” There was silence…but you could feel our brains ticking away, thinking, “What did he just say?”… and then … “Oh, of course!” None of us had made this connection until that moment, which showed that half our minds were still working on an academic level.

Truth has two aspects: relative and absolute.
Our nature has two aspects: emptiness and awareness.
Emptiness is the still, silent, luminous ingredient.
Awareness is the active ingredient.
Realising this (which is clarity), compassion for one’s relative side and that of everyone else naturally arises … with no exceptions.

To understand the truth, we need to appreciate the unity of our being.
In deep meditation there is only emptiness aware of emptiness…nothing doing. These are inseparable.
This may loosen slightly to awareness, aware of awareness.
Then we become aware of the mind and the world we inhabit, which includes a slight or ‘mere’ I, in order to function and be of benefit to others. This is enlightened activity – or we are inspired towards enlightened activity. Anything else is sentient activity, with a big dollop of I.

When we understand the relative and absolute aspects of all sentient beings, without condemning them, then we just love. However, this love may take many forms, by pacifying, magnetising, enriching or destroying ego’s games. This is a matter of loosening the grip of fear and hope.

Fear is obvious. Hope is not. We may hope to do the right thing – it is our intention – and we may even hope for recognition, but this is still desire. We have to do it – recognise it – for ourselves, and then we know, without anyone else giving us the recognition. It is only then that we have true confidence and are our own teacher, in addition to the whole universe being our symbolic teacher.

Once we know, even if a thousand Buddhas confronted us and told us we were wrong, we would still know – it is that unshakeable, and no longer ego-activity. It is pure recognition, although maybe not totally stable.

The symbolic teacher is impermanent phenomena: everything is a reminder of its true nature of emptiness, illusory in reality and lacking true existence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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THE DIFFICULTY IN MEETING OF MINDS

Posted on January 24, 2014 by tony

The difficulty in meeting of minds

This is best done in silence!

Words are not the experience. When we use words, we have to use a little ego to communicate. An ego (awareness clinging to concepts) will be around until the moment of enlightenment.

Spiritual communication is a tricky business: it’s like living in the Asura realms …very subtle quarrelling! We may use language differently due to our understanding and backgrounds. Unless we are on the same path, we have to generalise …and even then it is tricky! Even on retreat, people still argue about the word ’emptiness’.

 For some, the use of the terms ‘consciousness’, ‘perception’ and ‘awareness’ are seen as absolutes. Others see these words are still applying to a relative state, unless the word ‘pure’ is put in front of them (‘pure’ means uncontaminated emptiness, which comes from the word Shunyata in Sanskrit meaning emptiness).

From the tradition I follow, the word ‘awareness’ is a relative state. ‘Emptiness’ would be the absolute non-state. They are seen as a unity – the two truths in union – as in, “empty essence and cognisant nature”.

Arising from these two truths is unconfined compassion.

 

That compassion is the meeting of minds!

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THE INDISTINGUISHABILITY OF THE TWO TRUTHS

Posted on January 22, 2014 by tony

The Indistinguishability of the Two Truths

 This is the essence of Dharma.
The two truths are Nirvana and Samsara:
Absolute truth and Relative truth
… heaven and hell!

 If we think that hell is a nasty place
and heaven is a lovely place,
we will never understand the truth.
By virtue of one,
the other is known.

 Our body, speech and mind
all have the nature of emptiness.

 As long as we separate the two truths,
we will keep hopping
from one foot to the other…
…never on firm ground

When we separate the two truths
we fall into extremes of
nihilism and eternalism,
believing nothing is rea
or
everything is real.

 First we have to recognise that
everything is impermanent.
Then we recognise that
everything is empty of its own
inherent existence,
as they rely on causes and conditions.

 Appearances, sound and awareness
are indistinguishable from emptiness

Hell is a relative term.

 

 

 

 

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WITH CLARITY COMES RESPONSIBILITY

Posted on January 21, 2014 by tony

With clarity comes responsibility

With meditation comes clarity.
With clarity comes responsibility.
Through meditation, we are now able to focus,
feel confident and have less doubt, and are
less given to acting out our emotions.

Here comes the challenging dilemma:
we recognise that others do not have this clarity.
They merely respond from mechanical assumptions.
Our dilemma is whether we become involved
in samsaric activity, or rest in spiritual awareness
in that present moment.

Spiritual awareness creates space
in order to deal with situations with clarity,
rather than just reacting or ignoring.

If we use clarity to our own advantage,
(which is a samsaric activity in itself),
we make illusory occurrences seem real
when they are merely passing appearances,
thereby locking ourselves into the vicious
cycle of reoccurring suffering. However, we
do recognise that these illusory appearances
feel real to others, and we can therefore
empathise and show compassion.

Meditation is spiritual recognition of the true nature,
of ourselves and others. This is the seed of compassion.
Our spiritual progress relies on compassion and devotion.

There is something else!
The recognition of Demonic activity:
the emotional feeding of a situation with our likes
and dislikes, thus setting off a chain of reactions.
It was the recognition of demonic activity
that helped the Buddha to finally become enlightened.

The antidote is recognising empty essence.
Anything arising in empty essence is a contamination
but it is also a direct expression of that emptiness.
The essence of conceptual thought is Dharmakaya.

Misusing pure awareness comes with a heavy karmic load.
Sometimes, situations arise that truly test us, and we feel
we cannot cope, and have to react. In recognising our own
recognition, there is much power, and that can create
space in the situation. This recognition shows we can cope:
it is pushing us beyond.

Pure awareness recognises the inner teacher,
which is the contamination arising in the mind.
This clarifies for essence its true nature,
because you cannot be what you see.
The world may not change, but our view will!
Genuine warmth and compassion shown towards
others is respecting their buddha nature.

In this insane world, we want to poke everyone,
but if we act on that wish we are part of the insanity.
Every situation is a chance to recognise our true nature,
even though it may be uncomfortable: that uncomfortable-ness
is demon activity, but we do not have to comply.

Our dilemma is always seeing the light in the dark.

 

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THE SIX REALMS

Posted on January 20, 2014 by tony

The six realms.

In Tibetan Buddhism there are six psychological profiles of sentient beings. Because of our karma (our propensities), we drift – or are driven – into these states throughout the day. Our whole lives may be dominated by one or other of these realms. It is said that there 84,000 types of disorders, but they may be broken down into these six disturbing emotions: hatred, aversion, ignorance, desire, jealousy and pride.

This is part of the Chenrezi puja (a prayer to the lord of compassion) wishing all sentient beings to be reborn into higher psychological realms.

From the power of bad karma accumulated from beginningless time, beings experience, as a result of the force of hatred, the suffering of hot and cold by being born into a (psychological) hell realm.

From the power of bad karma accumulated from beginningless time, beings experience, as a result of the force of miserliness, the suffering of hunger and thirst by being born into a (psychological) hungry ghost realm.

From the power of bad karma accumulated from beginningless time, beings experience, as a result of the force of ignorance, the suffering of stupidity by being born into a (psychological) animal realm.

From the power of bad karma accumulated from beginningless time, beings experience, as a result of the force of desire, the suffering of excessive activity and frustration by being born into a (psychological) human realm.

From the power of bad karma accumulated from beginningless time, beings experience, as a result of the force of jealousy, the suffering of dispute and quarrelling by being born a (psychological) jealous god realm.

From the power of bad karma accumulated from beginningless time, beings experience, as a result of the force of pride, the suffering of decline and fall by being born into a (psychological) god realm. 

Sorting Your Self Out

There six neurotic psychological realms that we live in as sentient being. During a day we may pass in and out of them without noticing. We may also find that we get stuck in one for a lifetime.
Let’s use ‘acquiring knowledge’ as an example: this may reveal what type of person we are.

Hell realms: It’s never right.
Hungry ghosts: Want it desperately but cannot digest it.
Animal realm: They acquire it and store it, but never look at it.
Human realm: They indulge in it, but get frustrated because it never quite satisfies.
Jealous gods: They collect it and use it as a weapon.
Gods: They have knowledge and enjoy it, but it will not last and there will be the pain of loss.

Not to worry! In the stillness and silence of meditation, these realms cease…for a while.
When wisdom is gained, and emptiness is recognised, these realms reveal their true nature which is the five Buddha families represented by:

All encompassing space…Ignorance
Mirror-like wisdom…Anger
Wisdom of equanimity…Pride
Discriminating wisdom….Desire
All accomplish wisdom…jealousy

These Buddha families are different attributes of the same emptiness. As we have a leaning towards one of the six realms, we also have a leaning towards one of the five Buddha families (to find out which, we would have to be able to see our true inclinations – or go and ask an authentic teacher!)

The point is that if we can identify someone’s patterning, we can understand where they are coming from…and understand why communication is difficult. The six realms, the nine different vehicles and the range of traditions all mean that a meeting of minds is rare. Sometimes silence is golden, and a nod and a smile are good enough!

 

THE FIVE BUDDHA FAMLIES.

Family and Wisdom.
Buddha………….all encompassing.
Varjra…………….mirror.
Ratna……………..equanimity.
Padma……………discriminating.
Karma…………….all accomplishing .

Enlightened style.
Buddha……………spacious, accommodation.
Varjra………………clarity, precision.
Ratna……………….generosity, richness.
Padma……………..selfless appreciation, love.
Karma……………..efficiency without ambition.

Neurotic style.
Buddha…………..spaced-out, stupid.
Varjra……………..aggressive, irritable.
Ratna………………territorial, suffocating.
Padma…………….clinging, grasping, poverty stricken.
Karma……………..competitive, pugnacious.

 

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PURE AWARENESS CANNOT BE USED FOR PERSONAL GAIN

Posted on January 20, 2014 by tony

Pure awareness cannot be used for personal gain

 This would be pulling in two opposite directions at the same time, thus contaminating emptiness …and screwing ourselves up! We can work purely for its own sake, creating a beautiful piece of music or making people laugh or designing weapons or making lots of money, but this would come under the heading of the eight worldly concerns.

 The Eight Worldly Concerns
Attachment… to gain, pleasure, praise and fame.
Aversion… to loss, pain, blame and bad reputation.

 In a relative world, we want to do the right thing, be successful, use our intelligence, and be a decent human being. This is fair enough: we certainly don’t want to cause harm to others, or to ourselves.

 But this is samsara, and we become too involved. In fact, the human realm is described as the realm of desire – excessive activity and frustration. From a spiritual point of view, this involvement gives rise to attachment and aversion based on ignorance. We have to decide what is truly beneficial. This is a very subtle business, and a personal dilemma.

 

All that glitters is not gold.
We may find ourselves imprisoned in one of the six realms.

 When attachment and aversion are present,
everything gets sticky…sticky…sticky…!?

 

 

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