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.

How Does Reincarnation Work?

Firstly, we have to get our head around the truth that we are eternal consciousness. One simple example is that, since our birth, consciousness has never changed. This is very significant, but due to our desires which distract us, we forget or ignore this important fact.

We’ve accumulated many fixated ideas throughout this eternal process, and these have become our individual habitual programming. It is this continuity that reinvents itself, moment by moment. We have become predictable – and if we can catch this moment, we arrest this cyclic existence.

Catching this moment is done through the method of meditation. In pure meditation of resting in pure awareness, there is no programming – we’ve dropped out. It is for each individual to recognise the significance of this moment.

Our problem is that, in each moment, we reinvent ourselves. That is reincarnation. It’s what is called the vicious cycle of existence. At death, due to this residue of ideas, we continuously take on a new flesh-suit until we realise our true essence.

Incarnate: Latin incarnat- ‘made flesh’.

Meditation Is Natural Awareness

Meditation is being naturally aware that we are this awareness.
What could be more natural than that? Just b e i n g  a w a r e.

Noting that there is nothing else in the mind is pure awareness, pure consciousness.
What is more natural than just b e i n g  a w a r e?

Our Self Is Fooling Us

We don’t fool ourselves; our self is fooling us.

What we claim to be ‘me’ is a construction of ideas and thoughts in the mind. When consciousness recognises this foolery of imagination, all mind activity becomes our teacher, showing us what we are holding onto, and why.

Self will be with us until we give up this ghost.
🙂

Waking Up To What’s Actually Happening

Waking up to what is happening in the world is not enough. That isn’t actually waking up – it’s still the dream. We have to wake up to what’s happening in our mind that misdirects our reality of consciousness.

As long as we ignore our reactions, we will be forever ensnared by our cleverness. This misdirection is how evil works.

When we think we know what ‘they’ are doing and pontificate about it, we’re still involved, being captured by the show. We remain the audience, as the shadow projections in Plato’s cave.

Meditation is disengaging from this engagement. Dropping all our clever ideas is the way out – and the path to enlightenment.

Enlightenment can never be realised by thinking about it.

There’s much confusion and speculation when the words ‘dimension’ and ‘realm’ are used to refer to spiritual development. These words suggest ‘place’, with length, breadth and height as if there is another reality – somewhere to go to. All the holy-day brochures for spiritual tourists suggest that they’re the ‘place to be’. 🙂

Levels (or yanas), on the other hand, are to do with understanding and realisation, and are an indication of how open and clear we are.

Twisting truth obscures practicality.
Dimensions and realms are ‘somewhere’ else.
Levels are right here, right now.

It’s up to each individual to discern meaning.

The More We Realise

The more we realise, the simpler it all gets.
Is Buddhahood something miraculous, or something ordinary?

Perhaps everything we’re told
is actually the opposite …

Artificial Intelligence Deceives Us

Artificial intelligence deceives us
so that we don’t know what’s real.

Words are artificial intelligence that deceives us
so that we don’t know what’s real.

Words are information that creates an intellectual understanding, but not the experience. This intellectualisation conjures up interpretations and exaggerations that make us lazy. How can words be the truth? Worshipping words distracts pure experience.

Jesus is seen differently by the three theistic religions. Three interpretations – which one is right? From the perspective of a ‘Buddhist’, Jesus was obviously a realised person who knew what our reality is, but his teaching was interpreted to suit certain agendas – sets of words – reflecting the underlying intentions of a particular group.

Agenda: things to do and say, as opposed to what we are already.

Looking Within? … Look Out!

Twisting truth.

We are told to look within to ‘find ourselves’, either as an introspection or to discover our true reality. This is a misguided misunderstanding of the process. That which is within is looking out; it’s conscious awareness, just being aware. In pure conscious awareness, there is nothing to look into as there are no features.

Even when we’re looking at the reactions in the mind, it is still conscious awareness that sees those words and pictures. When that which is within looks out, reacts and is captured by thoughts, this obscures what’s within. This obscuring is our dream state, and it’s important to acknowledge this.

Carl Jung said, “When we look out, we are dreaming. When we look within, we are awake.” When this is observed in practice, however, it is seen to be incorrect. We are that which is looking out, and this is consciousness.

Looking within is counter-productive.
Noticing the reactions and behaviour that obscure looking out is enlightening.
Just seeing is our reality.

Look, see, drop … all attachments.

Reality is not in looking within.
Reality is that which is looking out.

Deliberately Misleading

Life on Earth is deliberately misleading.

Things are meant to go wrong or be delayed so that we can proudly point this out and argue. And things still go wrong all the same; it will never be put right because we live in conflict which keeps it all going. There are systems within systems, temples within temples. This is the maze we’re living in, but it is in finally realising the nature of this amazing maze that liberation occurs.

We cannot be spoon-fed.
It’s for each individual to realise the way out.
Enlightenment is a matter of solving the problem.

The answer is not in the words, but in the experience.
“All that glitters is not gold”.
This aphorism states that not everything which looks precious or true turns out to be so.

As long as we adhere to the words, we will never know the meaning.
It’s not about copying down the answer from someone else’s book.
Courage is needed to work on one’s own.
Life is a test.

The Buddha said so:
“Don’t take my words for the truth; test them.”

Becoming Individuated

We think we’re individuals but, in practice, we all respond in a similar fashion. We only become individuated when we no longer think and see in the same way as others.

Individuated: distinguished from others of the same kind; singled out.

As we traverse the levels of understanding, we will find fewer people to relate to. Our path gradually becomes singular.

Singular: in the sense ‘solitary, single’, also ‘beyond the average’.

Until we realise our true reality, we’re just one of the crowd.

A non-individuated person will react.
An individuated person does not re-enact.
🙂

Never-Ending Deception

We live in a world of never-ending deception, due to those who want more than others. We actually wish/vote for deception.

Vote: from Latin votum ‘a vow, a wish’.

Humans are unenlightened beings precisely because of this never-ending plan of deception. The path to realisation is about recognising this charade in which we live.

Once this deception is actually recognised by an individual, the tables are turned and conversation now keeps us alert.

Still Looking For The Supernatural?

We’ve noticed that if terms such as Dzogchen, Trekcho, Togal, Dharmakaya come up on the blog there’s much interest, as if these are somehow thought to be supernatural. The same thing happens with the word ‘God’.

These words all refer to the nature of our reality, which is pure awareness, pure consciousness. There is nothing supernatural or otherworldly about pure awareness.

Supernatural: beyond the laws of nature.
There is nothing beyond the laws of nature.
Pure awareness certainly isn’t – it is natural.

The gross driving forces of nature are attraction and repulsion – “I like this. I don’t like that” – which is the creation of Mara and mystery.

There Is Always Something To Complain About

There will always be something to complain about
in an unenlightened world.

When we recognise this complaining,
we start our path to enlightenment,
gradually understanding why we are suffering.

We’re bound to an idea of self
that complains about others’ selves.
🙂

Words Are Artificial Intelligence

Humans think that we’re superior because we have language, but we usually only speak to pass on programming, talking about what we or others have done or said, when the look or sound of a person tells us much more than words as we pick up their ‘vibes’ (vibration).

True intelligence is intuitive.

The Word Of God … ?

Does God still speak?

In pure consciousness, there are no words, just empty cognisance – an atmosphere of purity. We are that pure consciousness. To say that, in the beginning, was ‘the word’ blinds us. Words are man-made; they are man’s interpretation or deception.

Humanity is controlled and imprisoned by words;
we argue about words and cause stress.

Each sentient being has to realise its innate pure consciousness that is the link with all other beings. This universal consciousness, common to all, isn’t up there somewhere: it is the spark of clarity – divine splendour – which is the essence of all creatures. We all know what is right and what is wrong, but we’re unable to recognise the source of this knowingness because it is what we are.

We’ve been misguided for thousands of years.
Words confuse, and inhibit our natural ability to truly communicate.

True communication is non-verbal.
We pick up the gist (essence) from someone’s atmosphere
– the quality of their energy level –
before they start speaking.

Why We Switch Off From Reality

The quest to understand our true reality – the purpose of life – has been turned off in favour of intellectual consumerism in science, philosophy and religion. And most people don’t even get that far!

Religion comes the closest, but it was turned into a mystery that became the opium of the people long ago. We fall for the colourful displays, the imagery, the paraphernalia, the words in books, the gurus … all of which impede direct seeing.

The purpose of life is to realise
– through direct seeing –
the wisdom of what we are.

The Level Of Confidence

The level of confidence is equal to the level of compassion.
When we are confident, we have no need to be competitive.

The Purpose Of Life

The purpose of life is to realise what we are,
rather than what we can do.

What is are is pure cognisance beyond the functioning of body and mind.
What we do is a pastime for the body and mind.

How Is Consciousness Happiness?

How is consciousness happiness?
Happiness is realising the answer to our reality.

Whatever appears, physically or in the mind, is observed by consciousness.
No consciousness; no point to anything.

When pure observation is taking place – without comment – there is nothing else going on.
That is pure consciousness, our ultimate reality of divine light.
In this, there is no time for an observer, just pure observation.

Why divine? Divine means godlike – beyond mortality.
Everything changes, except consciousness, space and formula (that which creates form).

What created that formula?
Attraction and repulsion – magnetism.

Magnetism: a physical phenomenon produced by the motion of electric charge, which results n attractive and repulsive forces between objects produced by electrons orbiting within the atoms; in most substances, the magnetic effects of different electrons cancel each other out, but in some, such as iron, a net magnetic field can be induced by aligning the atoms.

In an infinite universe, magnetism just is. There is stuff flying through space which becomes attracted to bigger stuff; it wants to repulse, and is thus suspended in orbit. When enough big stuff collides, big bangs occur, and a solar system evolves. Conditions are then conducive for simple organisms to take form; these attract consciouses – and there we are, flying around the infinite universe, looking for a home.

Realising the answer is happiness.
It is we who have to take responsibility for our life,
and where we land up.
🙂

Of course, you can believe in something else…

Becoming Annoyed

We become annoyed, upset or anxious when something happens which we feel isn’t ‘right’, and we might be able to do something about it.

If, however, we see that every thing isn’t right, we can’t do anything about it. We’ve discovered a pattern, and once we can identify this pattern, there’s no problem, as recognising that pattern is the solution.

Even if our protests change one thing, the next pattern is created. A consciously aware person sees the cycle of all things – the pattern of creating hope and fear. Our everyday likes and dislikes reinforce this annoyance. It’s all our own doing.

In realising what’s going on, we can remain stable, happy in knowing that everything that is wrong is only recognised by the light of clarity. The light in the darkness.

This is what matters.

Reality Beyond Words

Our reality of pure consciousness is beyond words and names.
To experience this reality, we meditate, which is a method to come to mental stillness.

Once still, we drop the method, and rest in pure consciousness, pure awareness.
This is the reality of what we are, beyond who we are.

Thoughts will arise; the discipline is not to follow them.

It may seem like the mind is getting worse. It’s not.
We’re just noticing more, which becomes a way of life.

Hell And Paradise

Hell and Paradise are in the same place
– the mind –
right here, right now, and nowhere else.

Paradise is the pure space of cognisance.
Hell is whatever we put into that space.

If we are discontented, we are in Hell.
If we are contented, we are in Paradise.

Hoping for something better is a conjured-up fantasy placed in people’s minds.
We only get out of Hell when we recognise that we allowed ourselves to believe.

Just How Gullible Are People?

Gullible: easily persuaded to believe.

How does this happen?
We are led to believe from birth, and we go on believing.

Let’s Start From The Beginning … Again

It’s the place to be!

We want to be happy, but we aren’t. We seek something better, but we can’t find it. We know there is more to us, but we can’t verbalise this. We are dissatisfied with inappropriate rationalisations.

We’re doing exactly what the Buddha did – asking what is happening. But maybe we shouldn’t jump in too quickly for an answer.

There is a reason why we seek something better as there’s so much that disturbs the mind. It is easy to say that the cause of suffering is an identification with a self, but first we have to recognise what this self is, what holds it together and why it causes suffering.

The idea of self
is a programme running in the mind
that consciousness – our true being – clings to.

It is this idea of self that makes us feel vulnerable. We join a tradition or group and immediately we feel like crap – the dregs of beer. 🙂 This feeling of inferiority makes us desperate to appear as if we’re in the know – maybe even over-enthusiastic, zealots!

The start of our investigation is not about joining others; this only leads to conformity. The problem with jumping into a spiritual tradition is we have to lump it or leave it. We can’t question it, and we have to accept everything it says (which is very fishy). A tradition is something set; change isn’t welcome, and why should it be? We have to test the integrity of the atmosphere.

When people think of spirituality, what do they imagine? A beautiful building, rituals, robes, special words, all of which have nothing to do with their daily life? The work is to realise that enlightenment is in everyday action and reaction, and not in chanting or wishful projections.

When speech is limited or there are things we cannot say, we lose the faculty to express how it is for us. We can no longer can think for ourselves, so we borrow from others – and that turns spirituality into spiritual materialism. Unfortunately, this twist puts us in a conundrum.

Our beginning is pure consciousness,
the moment before we believe others.

To recognise evil’s distraction at work in the world,
we merely have to meditate
to see what consciousness clings to.

Consciousness Gives Purpose To Life

It is essential to recognise consciousness which gives purpose to life. Otherwise, we are just being entertained/distracted by those who don’t want us to recognise our true reality. Why not? Because they would have no control over us. Until we know what we are, we’re controlled through the media.

The inter-net catches more fish every day.

The Power Of Entertainment/Education

Entertainment is the ancient craft of communicating by telling stories, be they in images or words. It is the means by which people pass on their cultural values,

The entertainment industry – which has been adapted to suit any scale, even global – has been developed over thousands of years to hold the attention of an audience.

The Difference Between Mimicry And Understanding

Mimicry: quoting and acting like others.
Understanding: direct, raw experience.

Raw: strong and undisguised, frank and realistic.