What Is More Important?
What is more important,
our thoughts or the awareness of those thoughts?
One is our original reality, while the other is our interpretation,
which is either a generalisation or a fantasy.
One is the common element that unites us,
while the other divides us.
When we actually realise what is important,
all conflict stops.
What If Enlightenment Isn’t …
What if enlightenment
isn’t
as supernatural as we’re led to believe?
There are stories. We like stories. This isn’t meant to be detrimental to religion, but there is essence in the teachings of compassionate wisdom, and then there are the forms and words.
What if we take away the robes, rituals, culture and words? What’s left? The essence of wisdom.
If we think enlightenment is the otherworldly presented in ritual, this will suggest it’s out of reach at this moment, and only meant for the special few. So we live in hope of becoming special by reading books, going to lectures and retreats, and looking for the door that says ‘Exit’. 🙂
What if enlightenment is just what we are now,
warts and all, but without obsessing?
Just pure consciousness.
Being happy with how things are now
with no hope of anything more
is quite a statement.
Ideas Separate People
It’s obvious that ideas separate people, but we still cling to our ideas.
Why?
It’s a habit, and it’s wilful – this is me, that’s you – so we appear to different, while in essence we’re not. We all hold on to our ideas because of a subtle fear of being misunderstood.
As long as we hold on to ideas – political, religious, scientific, cultural, racial, social – we take sides, and therefore, we see others as not like us, even if they’re interested in the same subjects as us.
What actually unites us is pure awareness, which is always present before our ideas. but which we ignore. It is this subtle ignorance that causes the conflicts in the world.
Once we cling to an idea about life, we fossilise our self image – this is me, that’s you. Realising what we are is an extremely rare event, where we’re always seeing things afresh. There are no mechanical replies. We ask,“What is this reaction ..?”
In realisation, there is a constant assimilation – an absorption and integration in the process of becoming one with whatever appears.
The light of clarity acknowledges the darkness;
the darkness reminds the light of our true reality.
The light is the clarity of pure awareness.
Materialists and Non-Materialists
Materialists are never satisfied.
Non-materialists recognise that there is no satisfaction in materialism.
Materialists are fascinated by matter and the manipulation of matter.
Non-materialists recognise that matter is merely a vehicle.
Materialists want a ‘perfect’ world and are zero-tolerant; they are thus dissatisfied.
Non-materialists know that the world is perfect, and is the cause of enlightenment.
The more materialistic the world becomes, the more dissatisfied people become,
and the more people will realise that happiness isn’t in the materialistic mind.
Existentialism Is A Misnomer
Existentialism: a philosophical theory which emphasises the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.
The misunderstanding here is that it makes us believe we have free will in our own development, when we are actually puppets to others’ ideas. Existentialism is an illusion promoted by pseudo-intellectuals who think but do not look, and so cannot see.
What is free will?
Is it the mind or consciousness?
Exist: from Latin exsistere ‘to come into being’.
What comes into being?
A consciousness governed by emotions of pride, hope and fear…
Our true reality, which is pure consciousness, has the potential of free will only when consciousness realises its true reality, and is no longer governed by others’ thoughts.
It is consciousness that observes the plotting in the mind.
Blaming The Distraction
There is suffering in the world, and we blame the effects but not the actual causes. Nothing just happens; problems are orchestrated by the ‘right elements’ in order to create suffering and produce a desired effect. Why? To control the narrative. We cannot blame nature, so we blame human intervention, but blaming the effect obscures the intention in the cause.
We should never accept whatever we are told as that’s always someone else’s version. The Buddha said, “Don’t take my words for the truth; test them for yourself”. These words were spoken for a very good reason, as adhering to words alone is either misinterpretation or can be used to orchestrate an agenda, whether religious, political or other. If this is true for the Buddha’s words, it’s true for lamas and gurus and philosophers and the presenters of the news – and anyone we meet. They are all echoes.
Orchestra: Latin from Greek orkheisthai, ‘to dance’.
To dance to someone else’s tune.
Don’t even trust your own mind – it’s reverberating with echoes. Trust pure awareness that is without comment, bringing intuition and insight where no words exist.
The blame game is endemic in life. It’s always someone else’s fault. We are not going to put the world right, as so many take sides and become extremists.
Silent observation is the way: our path.
Is Enlightenment Simple, Or Out Of Reach?
Enlightenment’s simple.
There is nothing to it!
🙂
If we become stuck with the idea that our true reality is something out of reach, extra special, secret with complicated rituals, we will remain half-hearted about enlightenment, and enthusiastic about the rituals. There is no potential in this – just hope – when we are already what we seek.
It’s religion that has made enlightenment (or wisdom) an elaboration.
We have a choice. Enlightenment is either something to hear about and chant mantras about, or it is right here, right now, spontaneously present, without an off-switch.
How do we know when we’re enlightened? We’re already enlightened, but we ignore it.
Pure consciousness is already present, but obscured either by indifference, or enthusiastic performances. 🙂
Between every thought, there is a gap.
We are this gap.
It’s that simple.
Or we can do more mantras.
How does this seem to you?
The Ancient Teachings Aren’t Ancient
The ancient teachings on the ultimate truth about our reality aren’t ancient, they are timeless. The ultimate truth is here right now, the very essence of all sentient beings. It is the actual meaning of life.
Most choose to ignore the truth that we are, first and foremost, pure consciousness. It’s neither exotic nor mysterious, although we believe it is because of intercessors (those who intervene on our behalf).
We’re all following something; does it free or bind?
Just being is beyond name, fame and gain.
If we think enlightenment is something to understand and think about. we’re facing in the opposite direction. We will never realise happiness until it is unconditional – not subject to conditions.
Enlightenment is just being; it’s not at all interesting. 🙂
Aye, and there’s the rub:
we do not value the blazing splendour,
the bright light of clarity.
We prefer to follow others.
Omniscience – Knowing Everything
An enlightened being is said to be omniscient. What does that mean?
Realisation is obviously not beyond humanity, as all sentient beings have the potential to become enlightened.
It’s also obvious that enlightenment is beyond ordinary, mundane human understanding.
What if everything we’ve been led to believe about omniscience is a fantasy – stories to confuse and make ordinary people feel they’re not good enough?
What if omniscient enlightenment is more straightforward? Nobody walks on water. Nobody flies through the air. Nobody does magic, except magicians who enjoy deceiving others.
What if, to know everything, we merely have to know the simple laws of the infinite universe that everything and everyone unconsciously obey, while realising there are subtler aspects of these laws, seen as a unity of emptiness, cognisance and compassion – pure consciousness itself. What happens under our noses also happens a billion light years away in infinite space – attraction, repulsion and inertia.
When was the last time an ‘enlightened’ being was on earth? There are know-alls who behave as if they know everything, 🙂 what if genuine knowing is much simpler, much purer, and so goes unnoticed.
Omniscience is pure consciousness that does not stray into distraction.
Of course, if you know better, we’d like to hear it 🙂
You Have To Be Very Intelligent
You have to be very intelligent
to realise how stupid you are.
You have therefore transcended your stupidity.
🙂
Never underestimate stupidity;
it is the cause of suffering.
The ‘News’ Creates Emotions
Be very aware when the ‘news’ creates high emotions – it’s meant to.
‘News’ is psychological manipulation to stir up the mind.
This is why the ‘news’ media and the internet bombard us with ‘interesting’ things that attract us, repulse us, or make us remain indifferent, all of which puts us back to sleep, in a dream.
At any moment, we can wake up and remember our true reality, just being spontaneously present.
Belief Is Addiction
Belief is addition, and we are born into addiction.
Ideas are beliefs that we adopt and become addicted to;
these are then considered to be more important than friendship.
We don’t like people who don’t believe what we believe.
It’s belief that separates us.
Our commonality is pure perception,
before our adopted ideas.
Belief makes this a stupid world
where we all walk around in-formation.
🙂
Leaving the Auditorium
We live in a theatre, repeating our script every day, and making our entrances and exits. Karma sees to it that we are always on cue, our signal for reaction. All the while, we misuse the space in which we dwell, unable to break out of character.
Conscious awareness stops all acting by asking, “What am I doing here? How did this awful play come about?” 🙂
Realising our true reality of just being (pure consciousness), we are released from the performance. In other words, we’re free. And we realise we are on our own.
The shock is that everyone is on the stage,
and the audience is the producers 🙂
The wise have left the auditorium.
Happiness is the relief of not having to do this all again.
Making A Mountain Out Of A Mole Hill
Making a mountain out of a mole hill is an exaggerated belief that misinterprets the reality, thus making too much out of minor issues. This is how Mara (demonic mind) subtly works.
The great picture is ‘not two’ – non-duality.
The minor picture is the reminders of ‘me’ and an ‘object’ – duality.
That is where Mara slips in.
There are two approaches to understanding the essence of mind, which is pure consciousness. One is realising the great (Maha) picture, while the other becomes involved in the details (which is a lower vehicle).
The amateur approach is to talk about things, thus complicating everything by creating yet more minor issues.
The other approach is the skilful method of getting the job done smoothly by going with the flow. 🙂
Once We Realise The Truth
Once we realise the truth,
we realise what is a substitute for the truth.
The Thing About Realisation …
The thing about realisation …
it’s spontaneous.
Realisation isn’t a learnt thing that we carry around – one formula which suits all.
Spontaneity is the present moment now, without ideas or judgments, just perception.
In emptiness we are panoramic vision, where we take it all in.
Spontaneity is focusing to see whatever is needed,
then returning to panoramic vision.
Belief is not an aid to truth.
The Pointing Out Instruction And The Realisation
(Previous pointing out instruction at https://buddhainthemud.com/?s=the+pointing+out+instruction)
The way we hear this will depend on our being mentally uncluttered, having the right intention, and being totally confused (which means we aren’t holding on to any ideas. 🙂 )
Maybe it’s a matter of luck, good fortune, right karma that we get it. 🙂
We either get it, allow it to permeate our being or, as happened to me … “Is that all!?” 😀 “Oh, that’s all!” I then spent the next twenty years contemplating it, and the past 11 years writing about it on this blog.
It is we who have to see, and test it. This has nothing to do with religion; after all, the Buddha wasn’t Buddhist.
It’s all about re-cognising what we already know and what we already are, which we have ignored. It’s what we’ve been looking and longing for. We are what we seek. Different people come at this in different ways.
However, we mustn’t be greedy in thinking that this is a short cut, or get angry or disappointed if we find this is too simple. This entire eleven-year-old blog is about the pointing out instruction, but it’s for the reader to relax and live with.
In front of you is space. Whatever takes place in that space, space doesn’t change. We spend our entire lives enthralled by things in space, while ignoring space. Now look at the mind which is trying to figure it all out. Again, we are enthralled by our thoughts and ideas, while ignoring awareness of these thoughts. Awareness of this commotion in the mind doesn’t change. That unchanging awareness is consciousness. It’s what we are. We’re not all the same consciousness, but we can be at one with each another, and in harmony.
Being only aware of things in space or the mind is a materialistic view of life.
Being aware of awareness is the spiritual view of life; this isn’t being religious.
Now the point.
While consciously aware, we come to realise that there is nothing else.
Consciousness is empty of thought; that is pure consciousness.
The true essence of mind is pure consciousness. This is what we are.
In Sanskrit, it is called ‘shunyata’ – emptiness – which is fully aware because of the presence of clarity.
The hallmark of realisation is genuine, unconditional, empathetic compassion for others who do not realise this.
I’ve received this instruction many times, the first about twenty years ago. It is something that increases in value, as we see the ramifications of ignorance of this reality in society.
Rather than believing anyone, it’s all about personal practice of pure seeing.
Realisation Isn’t Complicated
We don’t have to learn special words or special rituals, or acquire mannerisms – ordinary gestures or expressions that become abnormal through exaggeration or repetition. Such behaviour makes us rigid, and separates us from others.
Realisation is knowing our true reality of pure consciousness; we understand how the mind works, and why we behave in the way we do. We become our own therapist. It has nothing to do with religion, or being ‘spiritual’ or clever.
Being spiritual is being consciously aware before we are aware of something in the mind. It’s like the breath; we cannot see it, but we know its presence. In fact, the word ‘spirit’ comes from the Latin for breath – spiritus.
With realisation, we lose the attitude, the act, the spiritual mannerisms which can alienate people.
Our life can be simple and quite ordinary in appearance; we still have to eat, repair things, be mindful and care. If we make spirituality special, we complicate life with a veil of dogma that stops us just seeing, listening, tasting … the simple joys of life. Joy is simply clarity which is beyond conventional joy, whether a situation is pleasant or unpleasant,.
Knowing is our first nature.
The one we acquire is our second nature
– and that’s the complicated one.
The Mind Isn’t A Bad Thing
It’s holding on to the thoughts in the mind
that makes us fixated, addicted and in conflict with others.
When we do this, we cannot think or act clearly.
The Satisfaction of Accuracy
We all have different levels of satisfaction
because of different levels of accuracy.
This is why one person’s satisfaction is another’s poison.
That same poison, conversely, is another’s satisfaction.
Negative emotions (poisons) become wisdom.
The more accurate we are, the more we see life differently.
We can go with the flow.
We Grow When We Feel Uncomfortable
We are sensitive creatures living inside a hard shell.
Times of stress signal growth; we evolve through adversity.
If we yearn for a pleasant life,
and have people only say nice things about us,
we cannot grow.
Ego just expands.
Growing up is outliving our past.
Dealing With Vacancy In Meditation
In meditation, it’s easy to fall into a state of vacancy – a not knowing, that creates sleepiness. Merely be aware of that which is aware of this state; that is our true reality.
We can take the same approach when the mind is busy.
In meditation, it’s easy to fall into a state of distraction – a not knowing, that creates a dream state. Merely be aware of that which is aware of this state; that is our true reality.
Both vacancy and busyness are states of stupidity
as we don’t think we have a problem.
This process is for the diligent who are discerning.
Stupid People Don’t Have A Problem
Ignorance is bliss.
🙂
It’s we who have the problem …
that’s if we’ve recognised how stupid we’ve been.
We cannot engage with stupid people, because we will always be talking at cross-purposes or with contrary intentions. Unable to communicate with each other in the quest for happiness, this misunderstanding creates obstacles which leads to tragedy.
This confusion – this failure to communicate – arises because people have different goals.
Does Consciousness Care?
There are those who think consciousness has no morals.
That is Mara at work.
We are consciousness, and there are two aspects to us/consciousness; ordinary, contaminated consciousness and pure, uncontaminated consciousness. This is the proverbial struggle of good and evil which creates conflicts.
Ordinary consciousness is contaminated because it is attached to ideas in the mind governed by the three gross laws of nature – like, dislike and indifference. So we – ordinary consciousness – care about things and people we like, judge things and people we don’t like, or don’t care at all. This is how the ordinary universe works – attraction, repulsion and indifference. It’s the nature of survival: collapse and creation, collapse and creation.
Does pure consciousness, empty of contamination, care?
Meditation is our pure state where there are no such things as caring or not caring; there is merely pure consciousness, pure awareness. But when pure consciousness looks out and sees suffering in all its forms, it cares unconditionally. This is as opposed to ordinary consciousness that chooses through bias what it cares about, which is usually me and mine.
Pure consciousness knows the cause of suffering, and how to alleviate suffering through experience, and so it has empathetic compassion for those who suffer, but is not taken in by false projections. That would be known as grandmother’s compassion – “There, there. Everything will be all right. Trust me.” That is political speak. 🙂
Pure consciousness takes the plaster off,
and sees behind the cause of the effect.
True compassion gets to the heart of the matter.
We Inherit Belief
Belief’s not something we’re born with.
Once we inherit, we think we are normal – while we’re anything but normal. 🙂 The news and social chatter sees to it that the world is one huge, global echo-chamber. Our minds are also echo-chambers, full of ear-worms which jingle away.
Even if what people say is true, we bring it down to its lowest level of ‘we right, they wrong’, thus creating conflict. With circling thoughts, words lose all meaning. When was the last time you heard anything new?
In silent awareness, the echoes stop,
and we are free to see afresh
Even With Proof
Even with proof that we cannot be anything other than pure consciousness – that which is staring at what is staring us in the face 🙂 – we still revert to a habitual way of thinking, due to early traumas of assuming we’re someone ‘special’.
We may think that we’ve never experienced trauma, but all our experiences – both pleasant and unpleasant – have created subtle anxieties, and paint the picture of our life. That’s why this blog emphasises trauma, which is another word for karma or the maintenance of self. This is the vicious cycle of human existence which goes unnoticed.
In joining a spiritual group, these traumas can actually get worse because of others’ superiority traumas. 🙂 I’ve heard gurus laugh about students wounds, and the students laugh with them, neither realising that, although these wounds are an illusion, they are the key to our path to enlightenment.
These traumas become teachings
that will continually guide us until enlightenment.
When we work on our own,
we have to be scrupulous in our observation
to the extent that there is no observer judging, just observation.
‘Proper’ people hide their traumas.
Practitioners use them.
How Mundane And Supramundane Work
The mundane and supramundane work in the same way as the exoteric (information for the many) and the esoteric (the truth realised by the few). This is the difference between knowing the truth personally, and accepting whatever we are told as being the truth from translations that are interpretations mixed with culture.
There are stages or levels of understanding. Just because we read something does not mean we know. Let’s say we want to learn about a subject, maybe Buddhism or plumbing. We know nothing and find out things; we then try it, and wow! We become a knower, and enter the supramundane of the initiated. That’s exciting – and it’s here that we have to be very careful not to get carried away, which the mundane effect of becoming obsessed.
There may be a feeling of being special, but that gradually becomes commonplace as we get used to having ‘the knowledge’. As learned experts, we assume a mundane perspective again as we’re stuck in the land of words and names. The supramundane turns into the mundane (the form) and we go no further, becoming Mara’s minions. Mara works in the subtlest of ways, as we are still caught up in desire and oneupmanship.
Believing answers should be black and white is an exoteric level of laziness, as we just go through our routines to feel good. We’re blinkered, having a narrow, mundane outlook.
Realisation is dropping all words and meditational experiences
to ascend the levels.
It is we who have to do the work, by testing the teaching for ourselves, and then testing it again – and it tests us. Every moment is a fresh view.
Mundane And Supramundane Consciousness
Mundane consciousness is attached to ideas in the mind.
Supramundane consciousness is our pure state, before the creation of ideas.
Mundane consciousness cannot see supramundane consciousness, but supramundane consciousness can see mundane consciousness. Some traditions call these self and Self, or me and God.
Mundane can only believe.
Supramundane knows.
Isn’t it strange that there is a word – supramundane, which means transcending or superior to the physical world – yet no one uses it? Someone must have known its meaning :-), but not many people live in the supramundane in this world.
Mundane: from Latin mundus, ‘world’.
To survive as decent human beings,
we must balance the mundane and the supramundane. åç
As few of us understand this, we remain unbalanced.
Inner And Outer Life
Our outer life is knowing about things and people; it’s all very interesting and stimulating.
Interesting: arousing curiosity; holding or catching the attention.
By holding on to fascinating facts, we limit complete understanding by being fixated. We may think that, if we repeat bits of interesting information, people will think we’re interesting. This is the vicious cycle of human conflict.
Our inner life is pure knowingness itself;
it’s not at all interesting.
Meditation is purely resting in cognisant emptiness.
We can never appreciate ultimate reality if we only value outer information. Once we understand, then our life and our karmic propensities become our vehicle that needs no polishing, and life is fulfilling.
The Requirement Of Sanity
Sanity is the ability to reason how this self is constructed, and what is actually observing this process. Insanity is adopting others’ thoughts as the basis of our thinking.
Self is a construct of traumatic insanity, and confusion about these traumas created this illusory self to defend or justify our attitude.
Sanity is our true basis of being – pure consciousness – and not our ideas and desires.
It is up to each individual to decide how much sanity and insanity there is in the world.
Spirituality Without Religion
Spirituality is personal endeavour.
Religion is group guided.
Pure consciousness is our spiritual reality.
Religion is belief in our spiritual reality.
Having experienced suffering, we can empathise with how depressing it is.
Belief in suffering is guessing, which lacks empathy.
There is a big difference between spirituality and religion.
Is Meditation Special?
Special: better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual. From Latin specialis, from species appearance’
When we sit in meditation, do we feel special? No, of course not. If we did, we’d be Mara – an enlightened ego making a show. If we think meditation is special, we don’t realise that the experience is common to all, and that is our original reality of pure consciousness. It’s just being ordinary, as opposed to wanting to be special.
Meditation does not need to be dressed up and adorned; we don’t have to have a special cushion or any paraphernalia. These expensive trappings are something to maintain a culture, a religion, an identity.
There is a saying, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him”, which means that the Buddha is not external: it is actually within – the essence of mind. The word ‘Buddha’ simply means awake and purified of causes and effects, meaning that there is no residue of bias, attitude or reaction left in the mind. It is a liberated mind.
If we think that there is something greater than our own pure consciousness, we would never know it because we would be unable to re-cognise it. The very nature of a Buddha is pure consciousness.
A Buddha is nothing special because a Buddha sees Buddha nature in everyone. We say a Buddha because there have been many Buddhas – awakened beings – only a few come into the public consciousness.
Dharma, Drawing And Everyday Life
There are two modes of being: practice and manifestation.
As an artist, I’m going to start with drawing, as this illustrates the analogy.
There are two reasons to draw; one is to do an accurate, finished drawing, and the other is to prepare with a block-in – putting in the big, accurate light and shadow shapes with no details – ready for working in oil paint, where any accurate drawing will be obliterated and redrawn in paint. For the painting manifestation, an accurate, detailed drawing is unnecessary, although it’s good for practice. Of course, one could fill in a detailed drawing with colour and it would be accurate, but it may lack freshness.
There are two Dharmas. The first is when we learn all the terminologies and rituals; that is the academic and religious way of theories, although this practice isn’t practical in daily life. The other is practical, psychological understanding through experiencing the nature of mind, with all the ego’s quirks resulting in genuine empathetic compassion in our manifestations and interactions with others.
Similarly, there are also two views of everyday life. One is where we play the cultural game, pretending to be polite people and never actually being honest, while the other is constantly seeing, understanding and redrawing a situation to achieve a fresh, spontaneous approach.
The Saddest Thing
The saddest thing is not being able to resolve differences with others.
Even if we do talk, old influences block the way.
This is the saddest thing we have to live with.
Beyond Memory
The more we learn, the more we fill our minds with acquired memories, the cleverer and more special we think we are, and the more we become baffled as we’re fascinated by ourselves.
Memories are that baffle, preventing the spontaneous light of wisdom from evolving.
We – consciousness – are the pure essence of mind, which became obscured by memories.
Our conversations are all about these memories, and that fascinates consciousness. This is the illusion we’ve been under for millennia, and it’s the reason we cannot be spontaneous.
Information changes constantly, due to our fascinations.
The simple truth never changes, however, because consciousness never changes,
and so our essence never changes.
Baffle: late 16th century, from French bafouer ‘to ridicule or deceive’; to prevent the spreading of sound or light.
Fascination: from the Latin ‘fascinum’ (evil spell); first defined as to bewitch.
If we hang on to the past, we remain bewitched.
What is Universal Consciousness?
Is it God, a universal principle, or the laws of nature?
This depends on our level of understanding.
Whatever it is, the idea causes confusion and conflict. We have to ask, does this universal principle have other aspects, both gross and subtle? When we talk about being part of a universal consciousness, which part are we talking about? The gross or the subtle?
When we identify with anything, a duality is created. This is a belief in self and other. Universal principle or consciousness should be visible to all. It is, but we see it as a concept that may give some intellectual comfort, while separating us from others who don’t see it that way.
What we can observe is the three principles or laws of attraction, repulsion and indifference. In human terms: I like, I dislike and I don’t care. In chicken terms: fight, flight or freeze. These are the universal principles that govern every creature’s daily life – and cause constant conflict.
For individuals who can look more closely, these universal laws are subtle wisdoms of emptiness, cognisance and compassion.
Here’s how it works.
The essence of mind is pure consciousness. This is emptiness and cognisance, manifesting, when realised, as empathetic compassion.
The natural state of mind is uncontaminated emptiness, but when we’re attracted to something, desire arises, filling our mind with fixations. It is because of these fixations that consciousness forgets its purity and judges, holding on to these fixated ideas. Because of our fixations, we lack empathetic compassion.
It is ignorance of these subtle laws that causes conflict and confusion to arise, initiated by our demonic Mara activity.
It all depends on which universal consciousness we’re talking about.
It has nothing to do with an outside entity.
Mental Residue
Residue: a small amount of something that remains after the main part has gone.
We may have come to a conclusion about our reality, and have even got our emotions are under control, but we still feel something isn’t right. This is a residue in the mind from the past – in other words, karma.
Until enlightenment, we won’t feel completely right. 🙂 The thing to remember is that we have changed, and the main part of our dissatisfaction has gone. We should be grateful for that.
Not feeling completely right and so seeing everything as pointless is a misunderstanding of the process. We just have to grin and bear it, accepting a difficult or unpleasant situation without complaining, because we know there’s nothing we can do to make things better.
This residue is the final part of our path.
🙂
There Is No One Right Way
Each of us has our own personal problems, our own individual fixations, our own confusion. That is our path to resolve. The destination will be the same – the realisation that we are pure consciousness – but this is not the same as knowing about the destination.
When we know,
we can answer all our own questions.
Following anyone – even the Buddha – can only be a temporary event. If we fixate on their words, we are adding to our own confusion, and that creates an attitude. Our fixations depend on our environment, and we need to know how those fixations came about.
If we over-react, we merely cause more problems. Actually, seeing this over-reaction is the path – the fast path. When we stop reacting, we have arrived permanently.
Listening to people talk about the path can make us drowsy, and we just hang around with others, but in hanging out as a group, we can be prone to group drowsiness. Think of it as a mountain with many routes to the top; some seem to have an easier path, but that is a misconception, as they may just be enjoying the view. 🙂
It is through true confidence that we can help others find their footing by being confident.
No one is going to say, “Good boy!” or “Good girl!”.
It doesn’t work like that.
Understanding Misunderstanding & Misunderstanding Understanding
When we realise that the world (people) is crazy, everything makes sense. This isn’t some cute saying on a t-shirt; it’s the Buddha’s teaching. Pure consciousness sees that we are governed by our mind’s likes, dislikes and indifferences, which we think is our reality but which causes us suffering. When we see this misunderstanding, we understand and are free … until we forget again. 🙂
If we justify our likes, dislikes and indifferences, we are misunderstanding our understanding.
It is the seeing, and not what is seen, that is the reality.
If we think that we understand this, it’s merely a concept.
Understanding is the silent realisation of how the craziness was formed.
Crazy: late 16th century,in sense of ‘full of cracks’.
Each Generation Is Indoctrinated
Each generation is indoctrinated to rebel against the previous generation or culture. This how the world’s instability is maintained. There is always something ‘old’ to rebel against – a ‘new’ cause – which is the continuous stirring of the pot of chaos and confusion.
Thinking we’re right, and that our view is right and our life is right is Samsara, the vicious cycle of existence. If we’re too quick to be right, we live on a sandcastle with no foundation for any other possibilities.
The Dharma – Correcting Misunderstanding
The Dharma corrects any misunderstanding of reality.
The Dharma is definitely not about just acquiring answers, and then believing or assuming that we know. That is a misunderstanding; the academic way is reliant on words rather than experience, while the religious way is also a misunderstanding as it relies on belief and ritual.
Our mistake is being carried away by words and feelings, which affects our relationships with others. Attachment to either words or rituals is an addiction that brings a lack of kindness, a lack of empathy, a lack of Dharma. This misunderstanding means that we still have a strong self-identity.
Dogma before kindness is not Dharma.
Wisdom is seeing ourself in action – it’s not in a book.
Still Stupid After All These Years
😀
When we think that we know, this is merely a repetition of learnt facts and fossilised ideas. Actual knowing is in the present moment, when we let go of trained thoughts and look again. This is how we progress along our path to enlightenment – or any activity. If we think that we know, we’ve stopped seeing, and are merely projecting, and that may be detrimental to our mental health.
When we know that we’ve been stupid and wilful,
life has so much more potential.
This doesn’t mean that we think others are stupid; that would be stupid. 🙂 It means that we know what it’s like to panic that we don’t know enough.
Empathy and understanding are the opposite to stupidity, showing wisdom towards those who live in their minds.
Suddenly, The Words Make Sense
We have known words all our life. We’ve known about the words because of what others say, but suddenly we know what they mean, and how they work.
Why do we suddenly know? Goodness knows – it just happens. All that is needed is the right intention.
What’s the right intention?
Being open to all possibilities and letting go of our traumas and accomplishments – all those interactions with others that made us feel either uncomfortable or superior, and which are still present today. Once we realise what the words mean and recognise the feeling, we don’t need the words, or the attitude.
Traumas – our likes and dislikes, and things we ignore – will be with us until enlightenment.
We all know the word ‘consciousness’ in our own language, but what it ultimately represents is an individual matter.
Don’t take my word for it; it’s about trusting instinct rather than our mind, which has acquired what others say. This instinct is conscience.
Conscience: from Latin conscient- ‘being privy to’, from con- ‘with’ + scire ‘know’.
The Inquisition And Free Speech
An Inquisition was a procedure where the authorities could initiate, investigate and try cases, with the aim of combating heresy, apostasy and blasphemy by disbelievers who were considered to be deviants.
If we don’t see this coming, then we are already self-censoring through small talk, having been manipulated to chat about nothing but trifles. Few, if any of us, truly communicate. Even in modern day spiritual groups, people cannot or do not talk outside the box.
We may join a ‘spiritual’ group because we have questions, and what happens? We adopt their form and speech patterns, and those old questions become shelved at the back our minds.
We are not ruled by enlightened beings; we are just ruled 🙂
Ruled: marked with parallel straight lines.
It is the enlightened who escape this stupidity which is everywhere.
Get The Big Picture
We need to get the big picture before we get into the details.
Essence before form.
When we become wrapped up in rituals, we ignore what it’s all about.
We are pure consciousness. That is the big picture, but this is obscured by distractions. The way we work is down to our individual emphases – whatever we’re concerned about, which is an personal matter – and this is also the reason why there are many traditions.
One’s emphasis may be confusion, doubt, fear, anger, distrust, dissatisfaction … or we just feel miserable. These feelings are what obscure pure seeing – and that is our path.
It could be that we are too keen to be an ‘expert’ in the minutia of details, which may turn out to be trifles.
Trifle: from Old French, truffler ‘to mock, to deceive’.
The big picture is the simplest picture
– not at all complicated, or convoluted with contrivances.
Only Wanting To Hear Good Things
This is especially so with ‘spiritual’ people. When we become dissatisfied with ordinary life, we look for something better, seeking a positive outlook, and to hear only the ‘good’ news.
This is Mara activity, where we have nothing but hope to work with – and, of course, fear of hearing anything negative. This is what gives spirituality a weak name, as it’s not being scientific.
When we know the cause of our problems … (“I don’t have problems!!!”) … we can rest in pure confidence, where we cannot be upset or offended.
The first aspect of the Buddha’s path is to acknowledge that there is suffering. Not many people will admit to this, as they want the shiny, feelgood trinkets. If we cannot admit to dissatisfaction, we can never ever have empathetic compassion for others. And it shows.
This is the reason why I dropped religion, as people who want only the positive see everything else as negative, while failing to understand that the actual essence of negativity is wisdom.
In the very first moment of a negative emotion such as anger, something is clearly seen before we react. That first instant is pure consciousness, and therefore we do not hold on to the anger (which may still arise, or which may be seen as a result of misunderstanding).
True spirituality is psychological evaluation of a situation’s reality. 🙂
How Do We Know If We Are Awake Or Not?
Asking that question is a good start.
🙂
When we are in repeat mode, we are living in the mind’s dogma, and function on a mechanical level, following a dream; certain people are predisposed to certain dreams. Whatever we see going on in the world we’re supposed to see, but there is so much more.
When, without question, we accept all that we see as reality, we are living others’ dreams but don’t realise it. We think of swiping our card or phone as being normal, never noticing that we’ve followed orders. We bow to a shrine, never noticing that we have been subjugated.
We sleep walk.
To wake up, we must dare to ask the question, “Am I awake or not?” That question creates a gap – an emptiness before an answer, allowing consciousness to just be present. That is the moment of pure consciousness. That is wakefulness. There is nothing mechanical about this moment. It is a state of not knowing anything, but of knowingness itself.
Waking up is not about being made aware of some thing; that is the little deception.
Waking up is purely being aware.
Once this is valued, we are never deceived again.
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