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.

The One Thing To Remember

The one thing to remember; it’s not an enlightened world.

We may be accused of having an ego, of having a self to improve, but we thought that was normal because of the way we were brought up and educated.

Then, one day, we find that this isn’t satisfying as it makes everyone competitive and unpleasant, even Buddhists. 😀 We realised that there were things we said and did that were idiotic because it was the way of things. It’s not all our fault.

Nowadays, we can easily see how we are being manipulated to conform to others’ standards of thinking that are contrary to wellbeing. Unfortunately, most – unwittingly – do conform.

We may think that we think for ourselves,
but what has been placed in our minds?

Is there a fear of us becoming conscious,
with the clarity to be able to reason about our reality?

We live in a world of others’ memories.
which create and maintain karma,
which creates suffering.

First, we have to recognise the suffering of discontent.

We Don’t Realise How Ordinary Realisation Is

Non-duality is nothing but pure awareness.
There is nothing present to be special.

If we take time to appreciate non-dual awareness,
it’s already a duality.

That was – and is – the very cause of ‘self’.

In non-dual awareness, the senses are wide open, but we aren’t making anything special out of non-duality. We are beyond investigation.

The problem with realisation is that organisations blow it out of proportion to the extent that we may have difficulty relating to the complex arrangement of rituals – but still, we fit ourselves in to be on the safe side! 🙂

Realising that we have become dependent on constant reassurance is the moment of release … freedom! There is nothing wrong with a crutch until we no longer need it, otherwise it inhibits free-flow.

All we need to do is work out our karmic debt by dissolving our habitual re-actions through realising the wisdom in negative emotions. Instead of getting upset by following the path of hope, we become fearless.

Ordinary wisdom is just being there without wanting to be special.

We Naturally Know The Dharma – The Teaching

Once realisation into the nature of reality is established, all that glitters no longer attracts – but each distraction is a teaching.

We can pay a lot of money for lamas or gurus to teach us what we already know. The teachings are about recognition, and not about something new. We believe in the teacher precisely because we’ve paid for it. Easily attracted to showy activities and displays designed to attract and impress, we think these mean more.

Don’t be caught by appearances:
they serve as a reminder of that which acknowledges appearances.

This blog is for ordinary people who don’t think of themselves as special. The Buddha was nothing special as he saw everyone as having Buddha nature. Whether we walk in heaven or hell, it’s all the same. It’s the one taste of experience, pleasant or unpleasant, and it’s how we learn.

A miserable life is a good start.
A happy life … why would we start?

A Sense Of Proportion

There are stages or levels to realisation. To simplify, let’s say there are three:
Conventional reality.
Theory/doubt.
Realisation of our true reality.

Usually, we just live in conventional reality. We think like everyone else, with a slight doubt that maybe there is more, but we are not really bothered, and there is no realisation. Gradually, when doubt increases, conventional truth reduces, but still there is no realisation.

Now we reach a stage where, through doubt, we seek a way to understand; we acquire information and form theories, but still there’s no realisation.

And now it gets interesting, when we actually start to practise :-). Our holding on to conventional reality loosens. There is still doubt and theories but, through experience, the feeling that realisation is possible spurs us on.

What was 95% conventional reality, 5% theory/doubt and 0% realisation, has become 10% conventional reality, 89% theory/doubt and 1% realisation.

This rises to 5% conventional reality, 5% theory/doubt and 90% realisation: the balance of 5% conventional reality and 5% theory/doubt is needed to function in society.

(You may decide that the percentages are different).

We can assume that a Buddha is 100% realisation. If we only have 1% realisation in a lifetime, we should consider ourselves fortunate as, in 100 incarnations, we’ll be a Buddha! 🙂

All we have to do is drop exaggerations. If we ask, “Where am I now on this scale?”, the answer lies in how much we can work on our own – with empathy for others – as we have been through the early stages.

Ultimately, we have no sense of proportion as everything is an illusion, and therefore acts as a reminder. This is unity of the two truths of appearance and recognition: conventional reality appears, but is simultaneously recognised by pure consciousness as an illusion.

There Is No Magic In Spiritual Awareness

There is no magic in spiritual awareness.
The magic has already been applied.
Magic is deception;
it is believing something is real when it’s not.

For thousands of years, humanity has been led to believe in and accept something or other that doesn’t exist without question, turning attention away from the knowledge within. This deception continues today, and trying to negate the deception about something that doesn’t exist is also part of the deception. 🙂 . The apparatus of this magic is the idea of fear and hope.

The magic is constant ‘re-education’; the media sees to that.
Awareness of pure consciousness is the un-magic-ing of ourselves.

It’s Okay To Disagree

It’s okay to disagree, but we don’t have to argue. We just see things differently, and have different abilities to express our understanding. That’s why there are many traditions. One person’s nourishment is another’s poison, and another’s poison is someone else’s nourishment.

One size does not fit all. There may be only a few people with whom we see eye to eye because our confusion and doubt are similar, and we achieve a sort of harmony – we suffer together (which means empathy).

Rarely are those who ‘get it’ in harmony as they become competitive. There are therefore many traditions.

This all has to be expected until we are enlightened.
Where we don’t ‘get it’ … we are it! 😀

Why Stupid People Think They Are Smart

“The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates.

People who think they are clever, scholastic or smarter than others are merely at the top of a pile of stupidity. Just think – who are they trying to impress?

Ultimate truth is knowing nothing but knowingness itself. From there, we have clarity to see afresh. The answer we then come up with may be conventional because that is appropriate, or unconventional because that too is appropriate.

We now have a choice.

If we just come up with a learnt answer,
then it’s a dead answer.

Stupid people think one pill suits all.
It doesn’t.

Bhakti Yoga And Social Media

What do they have in common?
Devotion leading to addiction.

Bhakti yoga is devotion to a teacher rather than to the teaching, although the guru uses the teachings to maintain the student/teacher relationship. Guru worship or personality worship is promoted, even in Buddhism.

Both bhakti yoga and social media are like circuses with ring masters, performers and a captive audience in an exotic auditorium.

True devotion is a deep appreciation for absolute truth, rather than for the messengers. This is the reason for this blog, so that you know what you are looking for – that you are what you seek – rather than being part of the parade.

Parade: mid 17th century: from French, literally ‘a showing’.

The Buddha said,
“Do not take my word for the truth … test it for yourself.”

Devotion and social media are both pretty juvenile.

Absolute truth has nothing to do with the way we look.
It is about looking, seeing and dropping
– letting go of appearances which are the residue in the mind.

Don’t Just Follow The Science …

… be aware of the science being used!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR4jEvuoF6I

Do We Actually Have Free Will? 2

(This is in answer to a question; incidentally, if a comment doesn’t come up immediately,
it’s because I haven’t been notified to acknowledge it yet.)

Free will: the ability to choose unimpededly.

Firstly, we have to get the order of perception right. Before anything is seen, there first has to be the ability to see – an eye. Eyes just see – they do not know. What is it that sees through the eye? It is consciousness. But because consciousness sees through a haze of mind products/memories, its clear seeing is obscured. This is especially so when we cling to memories. Consciousness doesn’t just see; it interprets through these memories which have become the basis of our understanding. We see no further, and this is the reason why we are dissatisfied and suffer.

This creates a habitual reaction – our version of reality – and it is that which we call free will. Actual free will, however, was a few stages back, not in ordinary consciousness but in pure consciousness, which the final and first observer but which we ignore. This is the basis of what the ancient scriptures call ‘ignorance’, or maybe the origin of sin. 🙂

Choice means making a decision based on our understanding. That isn’t free will; that is doing what we want according to our personal agenda.

There is, however, that which precedes free will, and is present before a choice is made.
That is unimpeded pure consciousness, free of judgements and prior to decisions.

Judgement is done in the mind, due to the level or limitations of our understanding.
If our free will denies others’ free will, this is a misjudgement resulting from an incorrect assessment.

When we can drop the ideas stored in our memory-box-mind, we see without the habitual hinderance of old thoughts (which are usually others’ thoughts). This is achieved through realising that consciousness (where observation comes from) actually has no thoughts. It is that which is unimpeded. When we step outside the door to see whether it’s warm or cool, there is that which is present before the decision is made. That is consciousness.

This is only acknowledged in the clarity of still silence of meditation – silent awareness – where we can realise clearly that we are not our thoughts. We are that which is observing them. Pure consciousness.

The mind is a library of limited experiences/filters that consciousness sees through. This mind can either be used as a personal entertainment centre, running in circles for personal gain, or to express the qualities of experiencing pure consciousness in empathetic compassion to inspire others to realise their true reality.

At the very least, we do no harm.

Teacher Student Relationship

The teacher is the mind.
The student is consciousness.

The mind shows us all our negative reactions, and why they come about.
It can also express whatever consciousness realises;
our true qualities of empathetic compassion.

An outer teacher is a reminder of the inner teacher.
In this way, everyone becomes our teacher.

The only authority an outer teacher is the authority we give them.
Authority: from Latin auctoritas, from auctor ‘originator, promoter’.

All that glitters … may just glitter. 🙂

How Was Yesterday’s Practice?

“Am I awake?”

Introduce a thought or, when a thought arises, or notice you are in vacancy (such as while watching a film or just sitting, staring) and ask, “Am I awake?” At that moment, you are awake.

Alternate between the two states of being involved (bound in a dream-world) and being awake. That moment of awakening without “much ado about nothing” is pure consciousness.

It’s that simple.

Freedom is being awake, truly awake.
Wisdom is being awake.
Empathy is being awake.
Happiness is being awake.

Happiness is the relief from the suffering of our inner anxiety.

When Are We Awake?

We are only awake when we’re aware of being awake.

Usually, we are occupied in our mind, in a dream state.
The difference between being in this dream state and being awake
is such a subtle distinction that we hardly notice it.

Every time we’re occupied in thought or vacant, we aren’t actually here now.
When we’re awake, we are in neutral, neither occupied nor vacant.

In the moment when we’re asked, “Are you awake?” we are awake,
because it’s an odd question, and pulls us up suddenly.

But then, we go back into wondering,
and return to our dream state of memories.
Being in a dream state, we cannot let go.

Being awake is silent awareness.
We can do all the things we have to do,
but we can let go, and return to wakefulness.

We are actually more awake than we realise,
but it goes unnoticed and undervalued
for something more interesting … me relating to other.

We can only know by testing this.

Dharma Is Beyond Boundaries

One question that destroys all theories.
Is the universe infinite space?

The universe has to be infinite space to contain
one big Bang and one big God.

Experts are people, and people who adopt a concept, and base everything around that concept.

NASA has discovered a system of stars that formed just 390 million years after the Big Bang.
A Big Bang inside what?

The other idea is that God created everything. If the universe is infinite, did God only create one Earth?

From a Dharma perspective, both these views are theories. Neither can consider karma, the natural result of cause and effect – the vicious cycle of eternal existence of constant turmoil.

The laws of nature are attraction, repulsion and inertia in infinite space.
The laws of mind are desire, aversion and ignorance in infinite consciousness.

This only stops when the laws of mind become the laws of wisdom, and enlightenment occurs.

The Truth Cannot Be Told

The absolute truth cannot be told,
written about or spoken,
as it can only be realised through experience.

Absolute truth is beyond words.
Words confuse, but confusion shows the way.

Words are relative truth;
it’s how ignorance relates its confusion.
🙂

Don’t Join Buddhism!

If we merely join something because of someone we know, we have to know what we are doing and why. It’s the reason that I started a blog.

Understand the teaching of the Buddha – any Buddha.
A Buddha is someone who has realised the ultimate nature of reality,
and there have been many of them.

The problems in the world are due to people’s intolerance towards others.
Creating a religion creates boundaries = other traditions and other ‘translations’.

The Buddha realised the Vedic teachings from beyond northern India.
Buddhism is something created after the Buddha’s enlightenment,

Join the realisation!
😀

The me Behind Me

Behind what we think we are is the essence of pure consciousness.

We may think that thoughts are immediate,
but it stands to reason that, before a thought can arise,
there must be an awareness already present.

That – is what it’s all about!
That – is where we start.
That – is where we finish.

Pride Comes Before A Fall

If we’re conceited or self-important,
something will happen to make us look foolish,
and we realise that we are not as special as we think we are.

Whatever we think we know, that in itself reveals partial understanding. We can live a life with pride in what we do and say, but when we’re taken outside our comfort zone, we fall apart, just like everyone else.

Knowing something isn’t the same as pure knowingness – these two are worlds apart.
We can be clever and talented, but still not know what we are.
We can be a simpleton, and know what we are.

When we know what we are, we know what everyone else is.
That is the definition of compassion.

Two Systems: Two Prisons

One totalitarian, and the other, living the dream.
Living the dream? Whose dream?
These states are both prisons.

We may think we have freedom, and are awake. That is the illusion; we are living by others’ standards. The scary thing is that people are being pushed to extremes, which creates understandable but superficial reactions. We may complain, but the extremes are still going ahead. As P.T. Barnum said in the 1800s, “Never give a sucker an even chance” and “There is one born every minute.” That’s what ‘they’ think about us.

We are constantly being primed for our safety on the conveyor-belt of compliance – but is compliance just a symbol of subservience?

Religion is the same. Whatever is said may be true, or it may not. How do we know? It is the knowingness/consciousness that is the truth, rather than whatever consciousness is directed towards. It’s a simple magician’s trick. Ultimately, consciousness, uncontaminated by ideas, is pure consciousness; it is empty cognisance, free of extremes.

Got A Spiritual Problem?

Who you gonna call?
Ghost Busters?

You can’t talk to your teacher, or to other students. Why not? They will merely give you doctrine from that tradition, and their background, but they won’t know your background – you are not a blank sheet. So who you gonna turn to?

The problem is not out there with people, or in our mind. The problem is identifying with people, and whatever is in our mind. Spirituality is merely consciousness. The idea of ascending is just the levels of realisation of pure consciousness, and how long we rest there. It starts with a moment. Gradually, through practice, this moment extends to every moment … more or less. 🙂

Whatever is happening – all the turmoil, doubt and confusion – pure consciousness remains the same. It’s the only spirit we can rely on.

Whatever the problem, it is consciousness – what we truly are – that sees it.
It is not the consciousness of others.

Even though someone may give us good advice,
it is still up to us to recognise it.
😀

Wanting Proof

The proof of truth is a precarious objective these days. It all depends on how we personally read information. Do we work through belief or intuitive experience? I have never met anyone who proves pure consciousness to me but, through the practice of non-dual meditation, there is the realisation that it’s just there, the me beyond me. It has always been there.

The other aspect of realisation is whatever obscures this pure view, and that is fixating on acquired ideas that create karma – our personal belief system! The proof of truth begins with a dissatisfaction in our current approach to life, because we just mimicked everyone else. We went along with our peers – people who sort of think the same way.

Proof of consciousness and the material world go hand in hand.
The mirror and its reflection.

The proof of what is going on in the material world isn’t so easy to assimilate, because of differing views on life itself. Even when confronted with direct knowledge, others cannot or will not see it. Once fixated, it takes a certain practice to unfix ourselves. That practice is non-dual meditation – going beyond the meditation.

In the material world, fear is promoted, so that people do not talk about certain things. Even in families, a certain topic is prohibited, and kept in check. It’s that bad. People have to talk around the subject so as not to upset others. It is that bad. You know the subject that we don’t talk about.

For fifty years, I’ve been following the question, “What is consciousness?”, but never met anyone I totally trusted, because they were all dressed up in a ‘form’ that only spoke about essence, but never had insight into it. The only feeling I got was – “I hope they are right”. 🙂 We only know when we realise – and not on the say-so of others.

There is, however, one person I have been following over the past three years, and that is Dr John Campbell on his youtube channel. If you ever want to see an expert change their view, it’s him. He talks about this subject that he supported and was misled, and then saw what we are not supposed to talk about because, if we do, we get ‘cancelled’ as many have. There are other doctors and professors who think the same way. People have lost their jobs, friends and family due to this subject.

The whole silence around this topic speaks volumes, and indicates how we are manipulated and fixated like the countries with totalitarian-accepting smiles. I don’t come out and mention this because there is vital information on this blog that is for others’ benefit, but it does show how people can be censored, and why secrets are kept.

This is actually a war on the mind and consciousness itself. Having understood this, we can see it in all other areas of life, which have been infiltrated to divide people, going back thousands of years.

The turning point in anyone’s life
lies in one small comment or gesture.

It’s that instant when everything changes –
the moment of realisation or the moment of switching off.
It’s the shock.

Following someone who changes and refines is a very rare event.