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.

Getting Over Religion

Getting over religion is getting out of religious fervour,
and realising what life is all about.

Religion can be either a preparation or a prison. We first have to be in it to know it. It’s no good just criticising religion from the outside because of the way people look or sound. Religion is suitable for a certain type of person. The word ‘religion’ means to bind, but there comes a time when we have to stand on our own feet. Even the Buddha would agree with that.

There’s no talking to religious people because they’re fixed in their religions ideas, and equally, there’s no point in talking to naysayers as they also have their fixed ideas. Both claim to be factual, but they’re both extremes.

The truth of reality is in the seeing.
Anyone can do this, and they don’t have to be religious.

Reality isn’t about how we see through mental bias and fixations. Our reality is the pure seeing that has no need for words or commentaries. Once we are able to see, perceive, just be aware, anything else is a distraction. When we focus on the work in hand, pure consciousness is present.

Spiritual discovery isn’t about how high we can go;
it is a matter of clearing away the pile of mental junk
covering up pure consciousness that is here, now.

The clearer we see,
the lighter we feel.

🙂

Words Are Blunt Tools

The senses cannot be described; they are just experienced. The warmth of the sun, the chirping of birds, the smell of grass, the taste of our spit, the play of air on our skin … all are indescribable.

They are pure experience. There is no need for names.
That which is aware of this pure experience is also indescribable.

Words do not cut the mustard to express indescribable experience.

(When mustard plants were cut by hand with scythes, this required an extremely sharp tool; when these implements were blunt, they would not “cut the mustard”).

Words are a blunt tool.

We Are Errant Beings

We are errant beings, straying from the path.
“What path?”

We all follow a path of some sort – a path of dreams, nightmares or awakening. Even a path of awakening can become a path of dreams and nightmares. 🙂

We stray because we fall in love with the scent of the flowers, the warm breeze, and the exotic names of the insects; this is sentimentality.

Our personal path is our confusion about our reality, and the emotions thus created – it’s not about echoing others’ confusion. Realising the path, the path now comes to us in the form of karma, the results of previous actions which we now work with to eliminate our errant ways.

Instead of errant beings, we become errand beings
– carriers of messages, with the joy of trying to explain something important.

😀

The Audience Is The Show

Entertainment isn’t about the production of a clever story with charismatic actors; it’s about capturing the mind of an audience. The producers watch the effect, for further productions or sequels. 🙂

As long as we are watching the show – be it political, religious, sporty, scientific, comical – we lose ourselves, and are unaware that we are even conscious as we oscillate between vacancy and occupancy.

This is how humanity is controlled, as we are encouraged to identify with a story. All media is about having an audience to spread ‘information’ – even this blog – but we have to actually be aware of what’s going on before we can deal with it and be prepared. If we see nothing to deal with, we’re merely acting out our part.

This world is all about entertainment, distracting the mind at all levels – low brow, high brow … makes no difference, as we all identify with something.

When someone gets tricked, cheated or deceived, we say that they ‘have been had’, meaning they’ve been mistreated or dealt with badly. It’s about having power over others by keeping them at a disadvantage.

If we don’t know we’re being had, we will continue paying for it.
When we know, we are free.

Holding On To The Past

Holding on to the past inhibits experiencing the present.

As long as we identify with the past, we deny the present, and so we continue to behave and think in the same old way. Holding on to any idea detracts and belittles the exact moment now. We can refer to the past, but just as a general reminder as it is only a blunt tool.

Holding on to the past is not enlightening; we may have a wick but no illumination, which is a brightening up of the mind! To deal with the present, we need to be adaptable and accept what present karma brings our way.

Unfortunately, religion dwells on the past; it is supposed to be the light, but all it can do is supply the candles. The light is within all sentient beings, and can only be exposed … now!

What Are You Doing To Your Mind?

Or rather, what is your mind doing to you?
We need to be precise about this.

O

The essence of mind is the emptiness of pure consciousness; this clarity of direct seeing is what we are, but we fill this pure space with fixated ideas which distract and obscure pure vision. Pure vision isn’t something extra extra extraordinary; it’s merely seeing, without the usual commentaries and judgements. Realisation is just that.

Our mind has become our karma, as each moment of reaction compounds the illusion, creating both our behaviour, and the imitation self that deluded consciousness identifies with. We are not the ideas in the mind, precisely because we can see thoughts operating. We are consciousness, pure and simple – we don’t have consciousness. If we had consciousness, what would we be then?

It is ideas that separates us.

Our mind stores memories, which can be useful for expressing how things are if we see straight. But if these memories take over, we become a repeating machine, and that is precisely how most of us spend our lives. Is that living?

When we say the world is crazy, it really is …
but that craziness can be enlightening.

What if God is just the three laws of the universe? 

What if God is the principle of the infinite universe, and not a being?

God can be understood – or misunderstood – in many ways, either to abuse mankind or to enlighten it. The three laws or formulae or principles of the universe are attraction, repulsion and inertia; these laws control both planets and the behaviour of all sentient beings through desire, aversion and indifference.

These gross laws are what drive us to do insane things such as abuse, creating fear, and stunning people into silence. This is exoteric understanding.

But these laws have inner, esoteric knowledge of emptiness, cognisance and compassion. This is our pure state, but we fall from grace when we forget or ignore our true reality. Emptiness – our uncontaminated origin – is contaminated when we desire. Because we desire, we become judgemental, and when we become judgemental, we lack empathetic compassion.

We all have a choice of what sort of God to follow.

The Dharma Is Do-It-Yourself

We can go to teachings, do retreats, read books, but these comprise generalised statements or concepts obtained by inference, just like a video on plumbing, electrics or bricklaying.

We don’t actually know until we put the idea into practice, where every situation is different. Once we know, we can adapt.

Confusion is not knowing, so we cannot adapt and have to rely on others (which can get quite expensive 🙂 ). What do we do for ourselves? Just be aware. Of course, we’ll say, “I am aware.” That’s the problem; the I is aware, but this is just a memory in the mind about what is seen. Being aware is just being aware, purely aware without concepts.

And we have to do this ourselves. Our true ‘self’ is pure consciousness, but this isn’t a thing that can be identified, as it’s that which is doing the seeing. Not many on this planet get that, as they are only aware of doing some thing, seeing some thing or enjoying some thing.

When the Buddha said,
“Don’t take my word for the truth; see for yourself,” he meant DIY. 🙂

A teacher cannot be aware for you.
The Buddha cannot be aware for you.

So what are we supposed to be doing?
Just be aware; that is absolute truth.

Once we know this,
anything that distracts is not the truth.

“But I have to do things!”
Just be aware while doing them – without emotion, without attachment;
just momentary satisfaction of completion.

De-escalating 

The ability to de-escalate a situation requires insight and wisdom.
The ability to escalate a situation involves politics, manipulation and reaction.

When we exaggerate or elaborate on a situation, we are lost in fault-finding, which creates further conflict. This is the chronological history of humanity, and the cause of mental bondage.

The ability to reduce the intensity of emotions through understanding is the clarity of wisdom. We awaken to the consequences of our actions, and realise that we have no immunity from karma.

De-escalating is keeping our cool.
🙂

The Esoteric

The esoteric isn’t a teaching in a book of ‘mysteries’; it is that which is reading the book.

The suggestion that the mystery of life – the big secret – is something written down, is the exoteric – the usual deception for academic fools (‘fools’ is a bit strong, but these people profess to be the elite).

The esoteric is arriving at the realisation that we are pure consciousness.
For those who think it is ‘the secret’, it is the golden roof.
For those who know, it is the very foundation of reality.

The only reason this can be thought of as ‘secret’ is because it is misunderstood, and seen as something to ponder over. The esoteric is beyond words. It is pure being, in the sense of the uncontaminated spontaneous moment of discovery, without the usual mental deviations.

The outcome of esoteric understanding is a sympathetic realisation of these mental deviations. Deviations are intellectualisations and philosophies that cause confusion and suffering because of the weight of words and terminologies that spread like a pandemic. This dis-ease is the exoteric, meant for the many who see everything as a mystery … and switch off.

The esoteric is our immune system that protects us from foolishness.

“The Kingdom of God (reality) is inside you and all around you.
Not in a mansion of wood and stone.
Split a piece of wood and I (pure consciousness) am there.
Lift a stone and you will find me (pure consciousness).”

Our reality is in the seeing.

Do not rely on words, translations, commentaries, poetry …
… just see.

Evil Is Out To Get You

🙂
It’s not a problem if you know.

We cannot reason with evil as it has a set script. It tries to find our weaknesses, wanting to charm us, and reel us in like a fish on a hook. Why? Evil feeds (gets satisfaction) from winding us up. The more upset we are, the more pride and fear we have, and the more powerful evil becomes. Evil wants to own us – to get one over on us.

There are systems in the world which are powered by this social control, creating snitches – grumpy bad-humoured people who feel righteous about condemning others. Such behaviour lurks in many conversations.

This oscillation between good and evil / heaven and hell has been the human dilemma for thousands of years. In the first instant of meeting, there is goodness present; it’s natural, but then the mind kicks in with its personal likes and dislikes, and clutters up the atmosphere with confusion.

“Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t.”
That ‘devil’ is in our mind.

Mind Is Memories

Mind is just memories; it’s what we juggle with, affecting our behaviour and causing discontent and suffering. When we obsess about our past, we’re not relating to now.

“So-and-so said this!”
So what?
“Well, the Buddha said this…”
So what?

The point is, what are we doing now? Are we learning anything? Or are we just following what was said in the past, rather than connecting with the moment now? So many families and friendships are destroyed through just a idea.

There are two ways of relating: we can either relate to a situation from memories, so we indulge in more of the same, or we can relate as in a mirror and its reflection, when we see that the reflection isn’t the reality.

The first is relative truth, and this how we usually live, through memories and sentimentality.

The second is absolute truth, where everything that is seen, heard, smelled, tasted or touched is direct perception = pure consciousness, which reminds us that pure consciousness is ever-present.

Thinking Isn’t Knowing

Thinking isn’t knowing;
it’s regurgitating.

When we think, we live in memories,
but what is it that observes these memories?

It is the spontaneous presence of consciousness,
our reality of knowingness itself.

Spiritually-Wise Is Worldly-Wise

‘Spirituality’ isn’t something that has been depicted for thousands of years as being up in the sky with wings. Spirituality is simply consciousness. This is not a vague idea; it is that which is aware. We are consciousness and, being consciously aware, we can deal with whatever the world throws our way, because if we know the truth of our reality, we know what isn’t the truth.

What isn’t our reality is the deceit behind the scenes that obscures it: concepts, beliefs, ideas. If we are unaware of our true nature, we have been deceived, believing our mental state is all that there is. Worldly people are bound up in mental inventions that distract them, not realising that they’re being played for fools.

Politics, religion, our standing in society … these are entertainments to ‘bind’ us to opinions about who is good and who is bad, while the puppet masters see to it that the show goes on.

If we just believe, we can be made to believe anything.
If we fall for this charade we are worldly, but never wise.

When we know what we are,
we no longer have to believe; we are wisdom itself.

When we see both sides at the same time,
they become a unity
– a spontaneous reminder of what is real and what isn’t.

Does Religion Over-Elaborate What Is Natural?

🙂

Consciousness, Conscience, Morals And Behaviour

Our morals don’t mean we are right; they’re about what we decide is right or wrong.

Morals come from the clarity of mind, which comes from the clarity of consciousness (or lack of it) that creates our moral compass, which is the direction we take in life. Morality isn’t about others’ morals – it’s about ours.

Moral Compass.
Morals guide our individual behaviour. Our moral compass is our personal set of beliefs and values regarding right and wrong. Morals aren’t fixed. They may change as we face fresh experiences and gain knowledge to cope with the hardships of life. Everyone’s moral compass is unique.

Conscience guides an individual’s decision-making process. It can be created and modified to justify one’s actions.

Conscience and morals come from the quality of consciousness. Once we know what ultimate truth is, our values and decision-making change; what we saw as good is now poison, and what was poison is now medicine.

The Dharma show us what we are – pure consciousness – but we may not want to know this as we would have to change our fixated views, so we turn away. Having faced our previous predilection which boosted ego, we now see this as our teacher.

The clearer and more direct our view, the more pure consciousness comes to the fore, totally changing our view of life and behaviour. We no longer just follow others’ thinking that they are right; we have to know if they have the ability to control themselves.

Always remember that our morals/mind can be corrupted into believing something that is not true. Beware of smooth/clever operators; a person who achieves social success by manipulating others through a calm, charming and persuasive manner.

It pays to be aware;
we get our sanity back.

The Relief Of Not Being Special

We are all taught to be ‘somebody’, to be something special, to succeed, to win, to better ourselves … to be better than others? This makes life miserable, and we suffer – as do all those around us – by becoming over-excited about our self. Who are we trying to impress in this theatrical-rat-race?

All beings can choose,
as they have an enlightened essenc
inside an illusory identity.

We can lead a life of simplicity,
where we can be what we originally are
– the spontaneous moment, free of anything written down.

PS It’s not easy getting rid of the script.