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

Advanced Meditation

Advanced meditation?
Drop it. 
Keep on dropping it. 

Meditation is merely a method to remember that we are awareness. Empty awareness. Once we remember, we drop the method as there is absolutely no point in holding on. Once we forget, we apply the method again. Just keep on dropping it.

Usually, in meditation, we feel we are doing something, and at the end of the session, we feel relaxed. “Great! I can give up!” 

That end is the real meditation, so keep on giving up. 🙂

Don’t Love Your Self; Appreciate It

Your self. Your! 
Do you get it

This self is not what you are;
it’s a programme you’ve acquired and believe in.

You are pure consciousness – the very essence of pure mind. 
Self is a construct in the mind. 

You’ve been had, tricked, cheated, deceived, into believing that you are this programme in the mind. (‘Being had’ means getting a person in one’s power, or at a disadvantage.) 

We are encouraged to ‘better’ our self and feel good about our self, when the self is merely a prison guard. This self-programme is what is holding consciousness back from realising its true, enlightened state. 

Appreciating this self is very different. Ultimately, self or ego or I is our personal teacher, showing consciousness what it is holding on to, and the harm this causes.

Self is no big deal; it shows consciousness the illusory obstacles on the path to enlightenment, so appreciate it. 🙂

Making Our Connection

When we open to the possibility of realising absolute truth – and that there is such a thing – we have taken our first steps on our path to enlightenment. We start to express ourselves commensurate to the understanding on that step. 

I once spoke to a translator, saying, “I find the word ’empathy’ more accurate than the word ‘compassion’.” He just replied dismissively, “No, no! We say ‘compassion’.” Some people think one word suits all, and it’s for us to make the connection, and decide whether to stay or move on. At each step, words take on a different meaning so there’s no point in arguing. 🙂

The Buddha’s understanding came from analysing the Vedas, and meditating. He made the connection. 

Teachings on truth are timeless, and are not limited to one being. 
It’s not a matter of joining any particular group; 
it’s about making the connection with our own ultimate reality.

Have They Lost The Plot?

They haven’t lost the plot – we have.
Their plot of corruption is going very well.

The plot is to stop us from knowing what we truly are. When things are going wrong, we complain, gossip, tell-it-like-it-is, while never seeing the big picture. People are controlled by their complaints, and as long as people have something to complain about, they’re fixated.

Things don’t just happen; there is a cause (plan) and effect (the consequences of that plan). Because we’re not devious, it doesn’t mean others aren’t!

The universe is driven by attraction and repulsion. Plotters know that the human mind is controlled by desire and fear. In our confusion, we lose the plot of what has been planned for us. 

Everything external is leading us somewhere. 
Meditation puts an end to being led … 
… or it should. 🙂

If we cannot drop the meditation,
we’re still in the plot

Drop the meditation, and lose the plot.
😀

We Don’t Have To Become A Type

Becoming a type is an act.

So-called ‘spiritual’ people are duped into making a peculiar display of elitism and aloofness, which gives rise to a lack of empathy. This is not spirituality; it’s one-upmanship. 

And it’s an act.

When we realise reality, we deal with what life deals us. We do not become something different – we accept what we are, even though others may not. What we are is pure consciousness wrapped up in a particular karmic package. Even if we acquire an intellectual mantle – a cloak of invisibility to cover ourselves up – that package is still visible.

And it’s an act.

Missing The Point

Missing the point –
the point of awareness.

Awareness is the moment now, but for most people, awareness is captured by thoughts and emotions about the world around them. 

What we think we know creates pride. 
What we miss is the original awareness. 

That is the point of our reality – pure awareness. 
It’s what mystics know.

Nihilism = No Purpose: Eternalism = Creating Purpose

Understanding people.

Nihilism is a philosophical and ethical stance which holds that nothing in the world has any meaning, value, or purpose. Eternalists create their own transitory purpose or meaning.

A nihilist believes that life is meaningless and that the only known truth is the existence of the self. 
An eternalist believes that meaning can be created by the individual.
Because each of these standpoints entails belief, taking offence is inevitable.

People are too rational for their own good, maintaining a conclusion that leads to other conclusions which eventually leads either to nihilism or eternalism.

The Middle Way is not being stuck in either of these extremes – but people are.:-) People may see ’emptiness’ as ‘nothingness’ and, as a result, become cold, or they see the ‘form’ as something to believe in, and therefore become hot.

The Middle Way is awareness before it moves out into a religion or a philosophy. 

What sort of person is in the Middle Way? 

They’re nothing special, and they don’t take offence.
The practice is keeping this in balance – not too tight, and not too loose.

We Come With A Manual

We come with a manual;
it’s called ‘self’ – a karmic instruction programme.

Ordinarily, we hear the word self, and just get on with it,
believing that is all we are.

Realising that this idea of self is what drives us, 
this manual now becomes our guide to enlightenment.

Spiritual Pride

Spiritual pride is the most dangerous of prides. Intellectual pride is pathetic compared to spiritual pride, and physical pride of muscle or wealth is even more so.

Spiritual pride separates us from others as we look down on ‘ordinary humanity. People wanting to be part of that is its power. Certain groups in the world feel very attached to an idea that is handed down, generation after generation, with the driving force of wanting to leave a legacy. 

Evil is religious in its outlook. It wants power, and maintains that power by any and every means. It cares nothing for humanity; humanity is its daily bread through the maintenance of ignorance.

The driving force of evil’s pride is the materialistic belief in ‘awakening’, 
as opposed to the awakening of consciousness.

“My Mind Is Made Up”

Have you made up your mind, 
or has someone made it up for you?

Have you just read something 
and adopted it?

We assume we think for ourselves,
but do we have original thought?

There is no such thing.

Our origin is before thought.
Ever thought about that?
🙂