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.

People Are Out Of Control

When we over-react through emotions, we are out of control.
Emotions are created by our mood and our relationship with others.

Pride is a juicy emotion,
and there are influencers who feed off our pride.
This is how evil collects its companions.

The only defence is the sanctity of the inner stillness of pure consciousness.

There Is A Flaw In Me

Thinking “It’s all about me” is the imperfection.

The flaw is claiming to be a self
which is merely a ghost in the mind.

This me doesn’t actually exist.

Once we realise the flaw, the me drops away
and become flawless consciousness.
The universe is complete in opposites.

This is how realisation works;
you don’t have to be perfect to be perfect.

Never Wake A Sleeping Person

I was told years ago never to wake a sleeping person,
and I’ve wondered about this ever since.

If we talk to a sleeping person,
the response will either be blankness or hostility.

Sleeping people live in vacant or absorbed states
where no communication is possible.

Not Playing With A Full Deck Of Cards

‘Not playing with a full deck of cards’ means that we are not thinking clearly. We use words in a limited way, repeating them day after day like a mantra, which restricts experience.

A full deck of cards is the wholeness of clarity. Until we realise our true reality of pure consciousness, we are merely guessing which cards are missing.

Pottering And Chattering Classes

Potter: occupy oneself in a desultory but pleasant way.

Desultory: lacking a plan, purpose, or enthusiasm: going from one subject to another in a half-hearted way.

Chatter: talk informally about unimportant matters. Also electronic or radio communication, especially between individuals being monitored by a government agency as a result of suspected involvement in terrorist activity.

How did we get this way?
Through fear, we self-censor, to show how well our programming is going.

In Pure Consciousness, Everyone Is Equal

In the eyes of pure consciousness, everyone is equal, meaning that we all have the potential for enlightenment, which is the clarity of being, our original state. As such, we are nothing special.

When consciousness becomes a mind-construct acquired from a book, we might think we’re superior because it says so in the book.

We can spend our life reading the same books, studying the same words over and over again, but never realising their true meaning. Are we reading someone’s translation? A fiction? And is there something left out? How would we know?

It’s far simpler to experience pure consciousness
than to read about it.

Pure consciousness is reading these words without comment.
The words aren’t important; that which reads is our reality.

Our assumptions about the words aren’t important
as they divide us.
That which purely perceives is the ultimate truth
within everyone.

Clearing All Doubt

We want to know about everything.
This addiction never satisfies, and life feels meaningless.

Our desire to know obscures that which already knows – that which is asking the questions. That is the ultimate answer. It doesn’t matter whatever is going on ‘over there’, it’s the effect it’s having here that matters.

“But there is so much hatred over there!” There are always influences in the world that only want to destroy, and to cause a reaction. Be clear about that.

The absolute answer to clarity is pure consciousness – our true being.
Everything else is a perpetual impermanence.

We don’t have to join or belong to anything to realise this.
Merely remain in perpetual pure awareness.

Whatever happens will happen, according to causes – individual and collective.

Do Dharma Practitioners Experience Anger?

Do Dharma practitioners experience anger?
Yes, of course.
Seeing all the injustice and subterfuge in the world, who wouldn’t?

The very moment when anger arises, however, is the moment the mind brightens, and the wisdom of pure perception is present. We don’t react, but we remain alert to Mara’s games.

Mara uses our reactions to ensnare us. This is where a practitioner rests in silent awareness, only reacting if balance can be restored.

The recognition of Mara’s games is the cause for enlightenment, and then Mara goes and plays someone else.

As long as there are sentient beings, there is Mara … and Enlightenment.
The universe is complete in opposites.

How Would You Subjugate The World?

How would you subjugate the world?

What would you do to make everyone obey you
– or even disobey you, in order to obey you by creating conflict?

Build confusion.

Now look at the world.
What do you see?
Confusion has been being built for thousands of years.

Evil doesn’t care how long it takes.
Dharma only takes a moment to be free.

Caught In A Paradigm Of Belief

Once a belief is established in the mind, this infiltrates all experience. If we fight against belief, it’s therefore still governing us. It’s a conundrum that colours the language and jargon we use when we trot out the same old cliches.

Silent awareness is beyond the patterns of world views which promote division and chaos. All our pet theories are merely beliefs we’ve acquired from others.

There is nothing new under any sun.
All the while, consciousness looks on from outside the paradigm.

Perception Comes Before Deception

Before we judge anything, there has to be pure perception present first. We miss this moment of pure being. We are quick to judge because we judge from memories which obscure pure perception. These memories are a language we use that distorts pure view.

The deception occurs when the word ‘I’ is inserted. It’s claiming an action or an idea. This is the mental disorder we all suffer from when observing through prejudice.

We are pure observation, but we’re not the ‘observer’. The observer come in a moment later. Judgement is our programming to survive just enough to function and be useful, but unfortunately, we never notice that we’ve adopted subjugation to another’s system.

Life is complete in opposites.
It is both deceptive and enlightening.

If we don’t know we are deceived, we’re endarkened and emotional.
If we know we are deceived, we are enlightened, turning emotions into wisdom.

Waking Up

Waking Up To What?

Are we waking up to what is happening in the world, or waking up to what is happening in the mind, diverting conscious awareness?
It is consciousness that wakes up when it realises it has been lulled into a dream state.

Lull: Latin lallare ‘sing to sleep’.

If we are merely waking up to worldly deception and reacting, this is still the dream state, as we argue about the different sides, when it’s one huge theatrical show. Everything is being turned upside down for us to actually see deception; we’re being shown us the deceit, so that we become involved. This is not waking up.

Mara is a deceptive mind,
wanting us all to ‘sing from the same hymn sheet’.

Mara is very clever, too clever for its own boots.
We wake up when we stop believing Mara.

Left Brain, Right Brain, Whole Brain, Half Brain

Too much left-brain-academic-analysis-activity blocks right brain intuition.
Too much right-brain-intuition-insight-instinct blocks the ability to express experience.

They need to work together, but one naturally comes before the other, depending on the type of person we are. We should note that perception (right brain) comes before judgement (left brain).

The Dharma has the same two approaches; we can either start at the beginning, or at the end.

Take the six perfections of generosity, patience, morality, discipline, meditation and transcendent wisdom: we can start with the first five and finally realise the sixth, or be introduced to and realise the sixth, and use the first five to sustain realisation.

We don’t learn from a book: we learn through experience.

You Are Your Own Master

That’s if you want to change,
and stop relying on others.

‘Self’ or ‘I’ is a false reality in the mind maintained by social norms = collective karma. These norms create our identity, our attitude and our behaviour, which inhibits progress.

To realise enlightenment, we must understand how self is constructed.
To do this, we use reverse engineering:
the self is now our instructor.

This instructor shows us (consciousness) what we have been holding on to, obscuring pure perception. Until the moment of full enlightenment, we see that this guide has been steering us in all the wrong directions, making us dependent on social norms.

When we realise this, we are free; we recognise the set-up that up-sets us, and we become the master on the path to enlightenment.

This is the cosmic game of relative reality and ultimate reality.
Realisation is beyond words.

In this way, you can be very pleased with yourself.
😀 😀 😀

Realisation Isn’t About Learning

Realisation of our true reality isn’t achieved by learning a new language, exotic words, or mantras. It is realised through the observation of neuroses in our mind that we cling to and call me.

We are supposed to be homo sapiens (wise beings)
but we act like homo neurotics (foolish beings).

It’s easier to fool people
than to convince them they’ve been fooled.

Realisation occurs the moment this neurosis is observed. We are free in the moment of seeing. In Dharma, we don’t learn ‘this’ and then ‘that’, and achieve enlightenment. Dharma is a personal uncovering of the obsession with ideas that makes us neurotic.

Realisation is personally concluding that we are pure consciousness.
It’s neither religious nor spiritual.
It’s pure knowingness.

Why We Don’t Get It

If we only seek intellectual understanding, we will never find satisfaction. Why not? Because we lack the discipline to experience. We think reading about others’ experience is a shortcut.
It’s not. It’s plagiarism. 🙂

Plagiarism: from latin plagium ‘a kidnapping’.

We need commitment to practise.
Book learning is left brain dominance, which likes words, answers and stories.
Right brain is intuitive spatially aware, knowing without words through direct experience.

As well as mind training, we need brain training. Brain is the hard drive; mind is the software.

The truth of what we are comes before the imposition of words that are someone’s interpretation. We have to constantly remember that there are levels of understanding which have to be verified … by our experience.

The practice is meditation, and seeing how it affects our daily life, and our reactions to others. Do we remain open and kind-hearted, or are we obsessed with ideas and judgements?

When we get it – we know.
Wisdom is knowingness.

Knowingness: knowledge or awareness that is secret or known to only a few people.

What is the difference between knowledge and knowingness?
Knowledge can be acquired from reading, taking a class, or practical lessons at work. It is external. Knowingness, on the other hand, is a certainty that comes from experience, contemplation, and reflection.

Knowledge is factual, while knowingness is experiential.

This is what causes conflict in the world
– the spiritual war between belief and realisation.

Words Are Mass Destruction

We see the world through words.
Words brainwash.

There are weapons of mass destruction, and there is talk of mind-altering weapons that can affect the way we think. This is merely a distraction.

The actual weapon that has always been used is words. Words alter minds. While we’re engaged and fascinated by intriguing machines and suggestions that cause stress and panic, we aren’t noticing the effect of words.

You only have to make some people believe or disbelieve something, and that causes a disturbance in the mind which creates conflict.

We see someone and may hope that we can communicate, but once we start talking, differences arise because of words. We avoid each another because of the words we speak.

Before words is consciousness.
Words obscure consciousness.

“But how do we communicate?”
As little as possible.
😀

Sitting in silent awareness,
consciousness controls the words in the mind

Do You Cringe?

Cringe: experience an inward shiver of embarrassment.

Do you cringe at things you said and did in the past?
This is good news! It means you have changed. 🙂
Conversely, if you don’t cringe, no change has occurred.

What is it that cringes?
It is consciousness that remembers how the mind used to think before it woke up.

Cringing is enlightening.
😀

The Universe Is Binary – 0 And 1

Emptiness and materialisation.

Our natural being is empty cognisance – pure consciousness – but due to our ignorance of this absolute reality, we create karma – a mental materialisation which reincarnates to suit that attitude.

We may find that we are born into ‘unfavourable’ conditions; this should not be judged as bad, as it may be just the incarnation we need to accelerate realisation of our original state, as 1 returns to 0.

Throughout our lives, we oscillate between 0 and 1,
but we miss the recognition of 0 because of wanting to be 1.

The universe is complete in opposites.

There Isn’t Just One Way

Each teacher, each guru, each lama emphasises reality in their own way. Every student understands in their own way. Never think that any individual’s teaching is the only way (even though they might think that. :-)) We aren’t all going to become enlightened together – that just doesn’t happen.

It’s important not to feel guilty, and like an outsider because we don’t experience in the same way as others. Unfortunately, most people think their way is the only way. This is what Mara-mind wants us to think. Some teachings may satisfy for a while, and then they become mechanical, and the students become protective, obsessive and closed-in.

Once we get the gist of a teaching, we merely have to test it to see if it works (just like plumbing :-)), which means we are confident and generous of heart. We don’t have to join in with group-adoration.

We haven’t gone off doing our own thing.
We’re not perverting the teaching.

We simply realise what unites everything, and what divides everyone.

There Isn’t Just One Way

Each teacher, each guru, each lama emphasises reality in their own way. Every student understands in their own way. Never think that any individual’s teaching is the only way – even though they might think that. 🙂 We aren’t all going to become enlightened together – that doesn’t happen.

It’s important not to feel guilty or like an outsider because we don’t experience in the same way as others. Unfortunately, most people think their way is the only way. This is what Mara-minds want us to think. Some teachings may satisfy for a while, and then they become mechanical, and the students become protective, obsessive and closed in.

Once we get the gist of a teaching, we merely have to test it to see if it works, which means we become confident and generous of heart.

We haven’t gone off doing our own thing, or perverting the teaching. We just become sky dancers – the joy of emptiness – although, of course, this may be irritating to others who have their own ways. 😀

Buddhas In The Mud

We are all Buddhas, but we are stuck in the mud of concepts – words that muddy perception and obscure the enlightened essence within. This essence isn’t something supernatural as we are led to believe; it is simply natural pure awareness, pure consciousness, pure perception, without the usual commentaries.

Essence isn’t something we learn. It’s what we personally uncover – it’s what we are. Our only problem is that we keep forgetting by being distracted, and organised religions don’t help. In fact, they add to the confusion.

If we focus on others’ interpretations/words about this reality, a form is created, and we then find that we’re following the form/religion instead of realising an open mind of enlightenment.

Actual enlightenment
is constant realisation without distraction.

We are what we are searching for.

Someone said, “Seek, and you will find.”
Once we find, we can stop looking, and just see
… and then drop any claiming.