What Is Right?
‘Right’ comes from the word for straight line, not crooked. In other words, direct, without deviating.
Right: Old English, related to Latin rectus ‘ruled’, from an Indo-European root denoting movement in a straight line.
Once we know what is right or direct, we know when a deviation occurs. The only undeviating right is pure consciousness; it is direct seeing, before it is bent by interpretation. In the first instant of seeing, which is pure consciousness, we are all right – happy!
But then, we try to interpret ourselves, creating ideas, beliefs and assumptions, and so we deviate from just seeing. In knowing what is right, confidence arises, and we have no need to argue with others’ interpretations.
Right seeing is recognising that our right life is our right karma on the right path to enlightenment.
The Lamp That Dispels Darkness
The moment we (pure consciousness) recognise the mind dwelling in a vacant state or preoccupied with memories is the pure light of consciousness. The lamp that dispels darkness.
All self-obsession, fears and hopes are vanquished. Empathetic compassion arises for those who do not see the light of clarity, and still dwell in the figments of their imagination.
There is no true happiness in self-obsession.
There is no self-obsession in the clarity of light.
The more we understand the cause of darkness, the more the light stays on.
Therefore, darkness is our guide.
The Difference Between Dzogchen And Belief
Dzogchen is direct seeing – pure consciousness – non-duality.
Belief is relating – through the mind – duality.
This is why the Buddha said, “Do not take my word for truth; test it for yourself.”
Dzogchen is esoteric – direct.
Belief is – indirect.
The choice is seeing directly or seeing through another’s eyes. We all start in belief because of our environment, but then we may become dissatisfied and start our journey, ascending the levels of personal realisation. As it’s a personal journey, there is no need for proselytising in an attempt to convert others.
To understand and realise Dzogchen or Rigpa, one needs the “pointing out instruction into the nature of consciousness.” It has been given many times on this blog.
Esoteric: understood by a few with specialised knowledge or interest.
Exoteric: understood by the general public.
Fixation Divides People
Religion divides people.
Politics divides people.
Thinking divides people.
Self divides people.
So what unites people?
Unity is what we are – when we let go of our fixations.
The mind cannot unite people as we all think differently, and this is revealed in our words.
It is pure consciousness, present before the mind reveals its words, which unites.
When the ultimate truth of pure consciousness is realised, all fixations that distract serve as a reminder that they are being observed. That is the absolute unity, like a mirror and its reflection: mind is the reflection, while pure consciousness is the mirror.
If we fixate on the reflection (ideas and beliefs), we live in a dark confusion and cannot understand the source of clarity, which is pure consciousness beyond words. Consciousness is not created and does not create – it observes.
Pure consciousness comes first for, without this clarity, we wouldn’t see our thoughts, fixations, beliefs and self in action.
We do not have consciousness;
we are consciousness.
It is not something constructed.
It is eternal.
Fixation obscures clarity and causes division.
Clarity ends fixation and division.
God And Pure Consciousness
It is said that God created … once.
Pure consciousness does not create, but minds create all the time.
To know anything – including God (external) –
there has to be consciousness (internal) present.
Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?
Did God create consciousness?
Consciousness does not create, but mind does.
Consciousness doesn’t believe anything, but mind does.
Consciousness is pure being.
God is being a creator.
If God is pure being, why create?
The mind can create figments of imagination,
when it does not know its essence of pure consciousness.
If we are saying that
God is pure consciousness, and we are pure consciousness,
there is nothing to believe in,
and no disagreement.
If we are saying that mind created God,
that would change human history,
and lead us into a very dark place of confusion and division.
Look at the world now …
Why Are We So Obedient?
We have been encoded and converted into a programme, which accounts for our behaviour.
The feudal system was created in Europe around the 9th century. It was a class system, based on a ruler, an inner circle of land owners, and a military to protect them; it cast everyone into servitude at some level.
The nobility, the clergy, and the peasantry were all bound by a system of manorialism, which is a political, economic and social system by which the peasants of medieval Europe (and other countries) were rendered dependent on their land and on their lord. This is referred to as a “feudal society”.
It was a way of structuring society around relationships that were derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour. The classic definition describes a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations which existed among the warrior nobility, and revolved around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs.
Vassals: a holder of land by feudal tenure on conditions of homage and allegiance; a subordinate position to another
Fief: an estate of land, especially one held on condition of feudal service; a fee. A person’s sphere of operation or control.
This is the forerunner of taxation.
Why do we obey, believe and accept what we are told so easily? We inherited the idea of ‘knowing our place’.
We lack confidence in our own judgements because we don’t have the complete picture of our true reality. Lacking confidence in our potential as we gave our power away, we became reliant on others. Those whom we obey have a picture of their reality and feel entitled, believing the weak serve the strong.
Feeling we have no power, we remain subservient. When we realise our true reality of pure consciousness, our true power of wisdom is revealed.
All humans have the capacity for wisdom,
but also the capacity for cruelty.
Cruelty is not caring about others,
having no concern for their welfare
because our ‘belief’ comes first.
Wisdom is knowing and understanding our true reality
– that we are all equal in pure consciousness –
which is the power and strength of compassion.
In truth, the strong serve the weak.
How Many Been Enlightened In The Past 100 years?
I mean super-duper enlightened, and not just repeating good words.
What if enlightenment wasn’t super-duper, but just a realisation of our essential reality that is pure consciousness obscured by attraction, repulsion and indifference? How many super-duper-miracles-of-old have there been recently? We live on very old stories from books, which people and organisations have then translated and commented on. Maybe it’s all Chinese whispers, where we hear – or mishear – something without experiencing, and pass this on to the next person, and so on; it all becomes more exaggerated … and more holy. It could happen … it’s called rumour and gossip, and causes harm.
When I first had personal interviews with Tibetan lamas, I used to ask, “Should I prostrate to you?” Where did I get that idea from? Why do we bow when passing a shrine? So much is hear-say and hear-do. Respect is one thing, but worshipful display that was meant to counteract our pride now actually displays it. It’s all monkey-see, monkey-do.
Thinking that enlightenment is super-duper, we live in hope of something unattainable, and so we’re never good enough; we feel poverty-stricken, when all round us, people are fawning. I’ve done some daft things that counteracted genuine experience.
What if enlightenment was simply knowing what we are, and whatever obscures this knowingness? In this way, we can easily live a happier life, not dependent on memories from days of old.
Do we have to sit in meditation for six years, non-stop?
Meditation is a tool:
when we don’t need it, we put it down.
Smart Meters, Smart Phones, Smart Money, Smart Cars, Smart Roads …
Do you get the feeling we are being smarted?
🙂
Smart: a programmed device, capable of some independent action. Also means a sharp pain.
Ever feel that the walls are closing in … fast?
Or is it all ‘for our convenience’?
Or are we to become even more dependent?
Who’s making up these rules?
What Causes Our Reactions?
Reaction: done again.
If we do not understand the cause of our doing-it-again, we become fixed in our ways of thinking. Why is this so important to understand? Even if we do not know what causes our reactions, others do, and take advantage of this information. There is a psychology out there that can instigate and perpetuate our reactions – when we think we are thinking for ourselves. It is based on our personal likes and dislikes. When we’re indifferent to the cause of our reactions, we can then be swayed one way or another, as our indifference or ignorance is noted.
Such manipulation is deep-rooted, and means that we don’t notice this theme running throughout our history.
Psychology is so refined that we can be made to believe black is white and white is black, that good people are bad and bad people are good, that boys can be girls and girls can be boys, that left is right and right is left. As long as we believe in something – anything – we are caught and held in purgatory, being purged of realising our true nature of pure consciousness and wisdom. It’s the opposite of what we think ‘purifying’ is.
Our minds are constantly being prepared for future discord. Psychologists know about brand awareness, where the brain lights up when presented with an image, before we are even aware of it (and most people haven’t a clue what is happening to them). All uniforms and robes create brand awareness, where we automatically become humble, subservient and worshipful.
What causes our reactions?
Identity.
Togal is realising the spectral appearances in the mind;
it is the gap of sanity seeing through the mind’s illusions.
A reaction to an illusion is the magician’s trade marK.
Mark: a target, a person who is easily deceived or taken advantage of
Whatever you think is happening,
consider the opposite.
Misunderstanding Leads To Speculation
An unenlightened society is, by definition, corrupt.
Misunderstanding leads to speculation and, unfortunately, on to arrogance and narcissism. This is what narcissists do: they constantly move the goalposts and nitpick, maintaining a lack of empathy to ensure that they have every reason to be perpetually dissatisfied with you, or with their life.
They will declare, “Life’s a mystery!” quoting ‘-isms’, which means ‘taking a side with’ or ‘an imitation of’, and is often used to describe philosophies, theories, religions, social and artistic movements and behaviours, in many cases with a grandiose narrative.
Believing in some -ism means accepting without proof. Even Buddhists can do that. 🙂 When a narcissist moves the goal posts, they constantly shift and redefine expectations so that they can never be met. It’s a tactic of manipulation, and a form of gaslighting where others are made to feel worthless. Even spiritual teachers can do that. 🙂
Academic speculation is dry knowledge. We may read something that sounds wonderful, but it doesn’t mean we that realise it personally; it just adds to our speculations, which is a form of gambling, in the hope of gain.
Understanding is a powerful faculty of abstract thought, being sympathetically aware of other people’s feelings and how they came about. This faculty may be used for good or evil – a constant dilemma for human beings.
Confident With Demons
Demons are our own likes and dislikes that are activated when we are presented with what we do or don’t like. Even the Buddha was presented with this dilemma before enlightenment.
The internet has fascinating attractions to activate our demons. We sit there enraged and fuming about the latest topic, so dropping it isn’t easy while we are full-of-it.
Suddenly, we get it –
our reactions are what they want.
Confidence arises when we realise this, and we stop reacting. It’s the same as dealing with any narcissist; narcissists have no empathy and want to be on top – they literally do not care.
Time is irrelevant to evil minds. They pass on the baton religiously, creating opportunities with the help of our gullibility and lack of reasoning. If our path is to enlightenment, we have to acknowledge that there is evil in the world. Once we understand this and stop complaining, we can have empathy for their misunderstanding of reality.
When they know that they can no longer get to us, they move on to someone more susceptible. Demonic minds are not going to suddenly stop, as long as there are unenlightened sentient beings.
As long as we dwell in the relative world, we want to do something about misunderstanding and injustice. From an absolute viewpoint, we remain in compassionate solitude.
The Radicalisation Of the Mind
Radical: change relating to the fundamental nature of something; far-reaching or thorough.
The mind is a faculty which perceives through the senses and store information, observed by unadulterated consciousness. That is what we are – pure consciousness. This is our normality. Through persistent misinformation about our reality, however, our minds are stimulated, and we become radicalised; consciousness adopts a persona, a self, a behaviour.
Unadulterated consciousness is like a baby, innocent but learning to cling to toys (ideas) by believing them to be real, and so consciousness wears a self-identity.
We become radicalised through fashion.
Fashion – ‘to make happen’ – creates excitement, and then fashion – ‘to make happen’ – changes. What we were told was good now becomes bad, and what we were told was bad is now good, thus confusing and dividing society. For example, sexualisation can be moulded/fashioned to excite, and is then demonised.
The vulnerable are left hanging in confusion.
The do-gooders point the finger.
The fashion-makers bank their winnings and gain more power.
The fashioners and influencers radicalise the common mind.
We all become caught up in radicalisation and are swayed to go one way, to then be driven another. This creates zealots and victims, and both inflict deep wounds.
Being human means being easily addicted to belief because we lack clarity of reality. We learn songs in childhood that pledge allegiance to country and religion, building a foundation for future confusion.
All this either keeps us busy as we become involved, or sends us to sleep with a feeling that it’s “nothing to do with me”. Either way, it turns our attention away from our true reality.
This is world history, and about as enlightening as gaily-coloured carousel, going up and down and round and round, while we fail to notice that we can get off at any time.
Always Consider The Opposite
Consider: there is no such thing as pure consciousness.
What are we left with?
Impure consciousness or impure awareness.
In that case, we would perceive everything
as confused or muddled.
If we see the world as muddled,
how do we know this?
🙂
Truth stands to reason.
The Attainable Chasing The Unattainable
This is the dilemma we are in: there is an ever-present consciousness using the mind to find consciousness. It’s what intellectuals try to do, and they can never come to a conclusion. We are consciousness, uncontaminated by thoughts, while the mind is our tool to express either wisdom or stupidity.
Pure consciousness is perfect satisfaction through understanding, while the mind is perfect dissatisfaction through misunderstanding. Misunderstanding leads to speculation and, unfortunately, more confusion. We don’t realise our simple, natural state of spontaneity and instead, chase an illusion of the attainable, thus making it unattainable.
The purity of consciousness is attainable
through realisation.
Because the purity of consciousness is not recognised,
consciousness attaches to a confused mind
which chases after an illusion of the attainable,
rather than recognising and resting in its natural essence.
Togal
Leaping over
The word ‘Togal’ seems to imply something mysterious, but it’s not. It all depends on the way something is translated; don’t be misled by words.
Togal has been described as ‘visions’ which seems quite complicated (I have text on this matter) but it has to be far simpler as it’s one of the two wings of rigpa (pure consciousness), the other being Trekcho – cutting through. In Trekcho, the moment we notice a thought or emotion about to arise, we cut it at its root, which stops it developing into an emotional display. This needs conscious effort.
Togal is naturally leaping over any appearances. The idea of having visions is nonsense, as this would be identifying – and identifying with – whatever appears. It cannot be that. People do dark retreats, and visions are said to arise; these could be analogous to the death or bardo experience.
There are bardos – gaps or moments in between – in everyday life. When something arises in the mind, it arises within the gap of emptiness. When, through training and experience, this is recognised, we naturally leap over the appearance (emotion) without effort; appearances are illusions within the gap, and nothing to be afraid of. We maintain inner peace and, in this way, we are no longer disturbed by death, or by life.
Is there anything clearer than this?
Misunderstanding All We See
We look and interpret, speculate and judge, and this affects the way we think and behave. It doesn’t matter in what part of the infinite universe a sentient being dwells, it survives by its likes and dislikes, by what attracts it and what repels it. This is what keeps us busy. What we do not recognise, we ignore, and that keeps us in ignorance. We are no different from any ‘alien’ which is just trying to survive, billions of light years away, in a multi-dimensional universe.
Misunderstanding all we see, we remain confused and suffer, believing in what we believe to be real without realising that everything – every idea – is only a temporary fixture which is constantly transforming, and therefore has no permanent reality. Our brains are too small to take this in, so we sit in our dark corner and hold on to our limited ideas, waiting for …?
We misunderstand all we see because we ignore that which sees – consciousness – while stupidly thinking that consciousness is the same as seeing, and that’s all. This is a tremendous misunderstanding, perpetuating ignorance.
We are not the seeing that judges; we are consciousness that sees. It is here where we can still misunderstand the essential nature of consciousness because we are so involved in judging.
It is only in meditation – and dropping the meditation – that consciousness is realised as pure emptiness, uncontaminated by thoughts and judgements of what it sees.
Our original state is pure consciousness beyond thoughts.
The mind cannot understand this, because it’s too small. 🙂
If we refuse to use Occam’s razor and see the simplest solution, and we refuse to meditate and see with an undistracted mind, we will remain in our dark corner, contemplating a roundabout.
No God, No Enlightened Beings?
What if there was no God? No Enlightened beings? After all, they are only characters in books. The books talk about miracles, but has anyone seen them happen? Our problem is that we want to believe. So how do we know anything? Can we know what truth is on our own?
Have we been led by the nose for so long that we are unable to reason for ourselves? There is only one thing that I’ve ever read that shook me; “Do not take my word for truth; test it for yourself.” The Buddha (if he existed) is saying, we should see for ourselves. Whether he said this or not, it’s excellent advice. How else will we know?
But can I even trust myself? This creates an important question; what do we mean by ‘my’ ‘self’? Is this just an expression, or are we talking about two things – something looking at something else ? We cannot be what we see, can we?
I used to believe people because I didn’t know any better. Believing others confused my mind, but it was comforting to just believe – to accept that they were right – but their antics and behaviour were dogmatic, sentimental and unappealing.
Can we start afresh at the beginning now? Certainly. It’s just a matter of trusting seeing. ‘Seeing’ in this context means awareness. But what is it that is aware? We say, “I am”. What is ‘I’ or ‘we’? It’s the observer. Ah, but before we are aware of ‘I’, there is just awareness, just observation, just knowingness without knowing anything. It is that which is observing the ‘self’ in the mind. The mind is a construct (the same as self) and, all the while, awareness is present. Now, that is interesting.
Is awareness a tool for some entity we call ‘me’, or are we that very awareness? It is here that we become confused. Do we need other words? Is there esoteric understanding for the few, and exoteric understanding for the many? Esoteric is actual experience, while exoteric is belief without experience.
When considering awareness, is there anything more than this? Or is awareness a clear sheet with no writing on it? There is awareness staring at these words, and the same awareness is staring at the blank sheet. Awareness doesn’t change; only whatever it looks at changes.
To even think of God or Enlightened beings, there has to be awareness present first to consider this. In this state of awareness first, it has to be pure awareness.
I’ll leave it there.
You have to come to your own conclusions.
There are signs giving directions:
you just have to know which to take, and why.
Do Not Meditate
Sit, just being aware, but don’t meditate.
Thoughts will arise, but don’t meditate.
Let the thoughts go, but don’t meditate.
Sit, just being aware, but don’t meditate.
Realise you are that awareness, but don’t meditate.
When you forget what you are, meditate.
Once you remember to meditate, don’t meditate.
Meditation spoils it.
The Dharma Is Not In The Words
… it’s definitely not in the words.
Gender Confusion
Why has something so simple become so complicated, and divides people?
What if gender confusion was due to a previous incarnation? Just considering this could clear up what is thought of as a mystery. It could ease our mind and help us understand others, without exploiting confusion.
We all have tendencies (some stronger than others) that are not part of our current environment.
If reincarnation is a reality, we have all been many things.
The point is to deal with life as it is now – traits, warts and all. In this way, we needn’t be surprised or exaggerate, as there is a recognition of a residue causing misunderstanding. As unenlightened beings, we are all subject to fixations in some form or other – being obsessed causes suffering.
I obsessed about feeling wrong in my environment,
until I realised I was in the right place for where I was heading.
🙂
The Life In Our Life
Meditation is understanding and appreciating the life in our life, and that is consciousness. Once we understand this, we drop the meditation on realising we are that consciousness. Looking into this consciousness and finding nothing else, we have arrived at the meaning of life – that we are pure consciousness, undistracted by appearances.
Even though our daily life is cluttered with the past, we stop adding to the clutter, and that is how karma – the result of previous actions – naturally dissipates. A residue will remain until the moment of complete disillusion, where our life is no longer an illusion or a mystery.
If we hear or read about meditation in the ‘media’, it is a watered-down version to the extent that it becomes a mockery, a pseudo-yoga accessory with scented candles and stock photo of a leotarded exponent. This has nothing – absolutely nothing – to do with the meaning of life and mental freedom.
We become disillusioned
when we realise we have adopted a collective view of life
(which never satisfied).
When we realise the meaning of life,
we realise the purpose of life.
New Age Ideas; Close, But …
The New Age movement (part of the new world order) changes people’s beliefs from God into believing in a universal consciousness. It blends ‘religious’, ‘spiritual’ and ‘philosophical’ concepts to maintain a global vagueness and confusion – but it feels ‘good’. We are all one in a commune-ist ideal, a great communal self, but there is something missing.
What is missing is the wisdom of what we actually are, which has nothing to do with any of the above. That wisdom is individual, pure consciousness. It’s not a consciousness trying to unite with big consciousness out there – the great unattainable – and the fact that this external consciousness doesn’t exist is the reason why we never feel good enough. At that level of understanding, we are not ‘all one’, although we’d like to think so. Very clever; it’s changing belief in one thing to belief in something other. As we are brought up with beliefs to worship, a change of idol makes no difference 🙂
In reality, we are only one on an esoteric level where we realise our true reality, but we have been encouraged to divert attention to the exoteric level, which is intended for or likely to be understood by the general public.
The New Age movement is just an alternative name for the Great Reset, and this has infiltrated religions, spiritual groups and society in general. To say this is evil may sound a little harsh, but for an ‘untruth’ to be believable, it has to have an element of truth. After all, they use the same words as the ancient teachings – such as ‘harmony’ and ‘understanding’ – but they only go so far, with many omissions.
How do we recognise this deception? By noting the way people maintain a religiousness about whatever they do, and that becomes their dogma; they merely follow the queue and pay homage.
This creates a watered-down version of absolute truth. It makes truth appear to be achievable in theory, but not in actuality.
Pure consciousness has absolutely nothing to do with religion.
As a side note: when I first attended a Tibetan Buddhist lecture (and probably being on the autistic scale 🙂 ) I said in the meeting, “This seems a bit wet.” I stayed with that lama for another eleven years, learning about Tibetan Buddhism, but never what it was all about; there were just some vague references to Mahamudra … and I finally got kicked out. I then discovered the teachings of Dzogchen, and realised that I had been looking for that all my life (the essence of Mahamudra and Dzogchen are the same, but the approach is different). It was not until I dropped everything that realisation started to develop …
Limited Brain And Expansive Realisation
There can be the experience of one’s brain not keeping up with one’s realisation.
Our brain has links with our early environment and education (or lack of it). This being so, while realisation of our true reality keeps expanding, finding words to describe this seems to be limited and can sound repetitive, but it’s not. Same words, expanded meaning.
Once realisation starts to develop, all aspects of life that once were confusing now join up – “Oh! I see how they got that idea!” This is why we have to investigate for ourselves, as others’ answers may not fit with our experience. Our experience might not be earth-shattering to others, but it is to us.
As they say, “Never judge a book by its cover.”
Never be taken in by robes, buildings or words; those are appearances.
What is the outcome?
The Fact Of Life
If we cannot drop the fixated ideas that we hold about certain people, we are then bound to them. We have to know the difference between pure observation, and being judgemental. Pure observation is just seeing that someone has light hair – there is no judgement involved. It’s a fact. When stepping outside, and before any decision is made about whether it’s warm or cool, there is just pure observation. That moment is pure consciousness, the yoga of one taste.
When we fixate about people or situations, we suffer.
Pure observation is just the fact-truth-reality – life itself.
Anything else is supposition
– a belief held in the mind without proof or certain knowledge –
and is not a fact.
There is only one fact in life,
and that is the pure observation of whatever takes place.
Once Dependent, We Stay Dependent
Dependent: late Middle English from Old French, literally ‘hanging down from’.
Dependency creates a world of servitude, be it social or religious, where we hang down as trophies. This dependency started thousands of years ago with the introduction of the idea of a heavenly being that is said to have created us. That gave rise to a duality and never a unity, and people created traditions and argued.
Alongside this concept was the view of non-duality – that we are already what we seek – which is pure consciousness, a unity of all appearances without dependency.
One of these views promoted freedom, while the other didn’t.
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
Thou shalt have no other gods before pure consciousness.
Creating believers creates disbelievers, creating division.
A divided society can be controlled.
Pure consciousness cannot be disproved, and so cannot divide.
If you were to control the world, how would you go about it?
If you were to free the world, how would you go about it?
Why is this important?
It affects your life now.
When We Complain, We Hurt Our Brain
Complaining is the opposite to enlightenment.
Complaining: the expression of dissatisfaction or annoyance about something or other.
How toxic is complaining?
A half hour of complaining every day physically damages a person’s brain, according to research from Stanford University. Whether you’re the one griping or you’re the one listening, exposure to negativity peels back neurons in the hippocampus – the part of the brain used for problem solving and cognitive function.
Repeated complaining rewires your brain to make future complaining more likely. Over time, you find it’s easier to be negative than to be positive, regardless of what’s happening around you. Complaining becomes your default behaviour, which changes how people perceive you.
Now imagine a generation encouraged to complain en masse =
a society of hurty brains!
If all we see are obstacles rather than opportunities, then there is no path to liberation. In complaining about simple situations, we exaggerate them, and limit our natural ability to approach problems in a creative way that does not disturb the mind.
What to do about this behaviour?
Anything that gives us annoyance is an opportunity to cut through our usual pattern of behaviour.
Know that your life is your karma – the result of previous reactions. Everything has a cause to create an effect. And yes, we are all born with certain problems and opportunities. Judging what is a problem and what is an opportunity is an extremely subtle process – a seeming problem could be the precursor to enlightenment :-), while an chance to have a wonderful life could create problems. 🙂
First note the effect of complaining on others, and then reflect if we do this same thing more often than not. If we see this in others, it means that we recognise it – and that is significant. We all complain, but the way we deal with it is either to develop empathetic understanding towards self and others, or just continue to complain.
The little things that annoy us are our path.
It’s that simple.
A positive view brings a positive outcome,
for all involved.
Think of all the other habits we have,
and how they too are having a lasting effect!
The eternal universe is governed by attraction, repulsion, and inertia;
evil knows this, so we have to know this.
If we do not see the complete picture,
we are part of the problem … nay, we are the problem!
The DIY Of Enlightenment
Once we realise our true reality, and have not just received information, but actually ‘get it’, we see Dharma everywhere. The ‘news’ is a good example; from an absolute perspective, it is anti-truth and disinformation, but it’s a constant reminder of what is real and what isn’t.
The following is a description of DIY from Wikipedia – only one word has been changed. There are chapters in the bible to which this also applies …
“Do it yourself” (“DIY”) is the method of building, modifying, or repairing the mind by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviours where individuals use raw and semi-raw materials and parts to produce, transform, or reconstruct material possessions, including those drawn from the natural environment.
“DIY behaviour can be triggered by various motivations previously categorised as marketplace motivations (economic benefits, lack of product availability, lack of product quality, need for customisation), and identity enhancement (craftsmanship, empowerment, community seeking, uniqueness).”
Once we have the right motivation and knowledge,
and have not just received information,
life-karma present us with guidelines.
We are purity living in an impure world,
and that is a perfect match.
By knowing one, the other is known;
the mirror and its reflections.
Evil Wants To Control Others
We may think of evil-doers as profoundly immoral and wicked – ‘them over there’ – but evil is much closer to home, in the form of the quality of our morals. What are they based on?
There are levels leading up to the profoundly wicked, where we know from the past that “I was just following orders.” If we do not realise the path we’re following, we may be enabling another’s path – “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
It’s very simple: evil wants to control and feed off others. We can see this in personal relationships. Morals – ideas of right and wrong – are usually concerned with self, and my ideas. We want to be admired, and therefore we can have no empathy in that moment. In other words, it’s narcissism that works on very subtle levels to get its way. We learn this as a child! 🙂
What one person thinks is right and wrong, another doesn’t.
There isn’t one moral judgement;
it varies with understanding and culture.
If something is promoted to restrict our personal life, there is a reason for it, and that is self-serving-itself-first.* When this self-serving comes under the guise of health and safety, it could be a device with an alternative purpose. Merely believing (accepting without proof) everything we are told is why the world is in the state that it is in – and the majority authorises it all by accepting without question.
If our morals are based on our personal likes and dislikes, then our morals are questionable. When we realise our true reality of pure consciousness, our morals have to be of the highest level, otherwise we can use teachings to benefit ourselves and control others.
*The difference between heaven and hell: imagine a long table full of food and people sitting at it.
The only strange thing is the cutlery, which is one metre long. In hell, the diners have difficulty feeding themselves. In heaven, they learn to feed one another.
Practical Buddhism
Practical Buddhism:
pure seeing through the clouds of appearances.
What Is It That Wakes Us Up … Makes Us Conscious?
It is a simple realisation and recognition … “Is that all?” What sounded complicated is now simple.
Words make realisation complicated. The moment when I received the pointing out instruction into the nature of consciousness wasn’t about the ritual (which seemed pointless); it was the stunning awareness that I have been awake along, but thought there was more to it. There is no more – there is less.
I was bloody angry at myself 😀 … then angry at all that over-elaborate behaviour connected to ‘conscious awareness’. Now, life is free of all appearances – I don’t believe a word!
Waking up is no longer being attached to the dream, to the illusions of life to which we cling. It is just being that tells us everything we need to know, rather than the hoo-ha, fuss, hype, much-ado-about -nothing that eternally enthrals followers.
Empowering Yourself?
We have become so daft that we think ’empowering yourself’ is a normal expression. This is acquiring false confidence from a memory bank of mundane ideas in order to become a self-centred comic-book, parading around in the pretence of reality.
It’s not easy to find the words to hit the spot and change our life for the better, rather than merely bolstering up an ego. ‘Empowering yourself’ is just a phrase promoting more selfishness.
To really gain control of our life, we have to investigate what sort of fuel we are running on; self-delusion or wisdom.
What’s wisdom?
Wisdom is knowing what we are, which we’ve forgotten or ignored.
We are uncontaminated consciousness – and nothing else.
How do we realise this?
Look into the mind; do you find a self?
No.
We see film strips of past experiences.
So where is the audience?
It is consciousness – what else can it be?
The projectionist is the collective’s antics.
That knowledge is the wisdom we seek to deal with this comic-book world (and whether it’s a comic-book or a book of the dangerously insane will depend on your point of view …).
What Possessed You?!
Possessed: completely controlled by an evil spirit.
What makes us do or say what we do and say?
Being possessed is holding obsessive ideas in the mind about our self; this governs all our actions where we – pure consciousness – are no longer in charge.
What causes us to be possessed? Desire of some sort. Liking something does no harm, but when it becomes a mindless addiction, we have lost control. When people are possessed, they know not what they do.
Being possessed is being owned by demons/desire. In Buddhism, ‘demon’ is translated as ‘Mara’, and describes when someone is suffering from delusion. Before Siddhartha became the Buddha, he was challenged by Mara, the embodiment of temptation, and overcame it.
It is seeing the delusion that liberates. Mara is our little helper in this. That is our path to overcoming: the light has to recognise the dark, and that is wisdom-unity. If something isn’t going right, don’t blame the situation – overcome it, before it overcomes you. 🙂
Demons come in all shapes and sizes, and can be smooth talkers – a person who gets others to do their bidding by using a slick, gently persuasive, practised or competent manner.
Demons are all over the place!
😀
Always look at the possessions that possess you
– they are your guiding light.
Provoking Thoughts
Provoking thoughts, and cutting through them in an instant.
If we want to know the truth, we have to drop what we think is the truth – our normal. Thinking we know the truth = a belief, and can be provoked. If we realise the truth, then we cannot be provoked; we can only be provoked when our ideas are on shaky ground.
If we want to know the truth, we have to drop what we think is the truth. Thinking the truth = a belief. If we realise the truth, then we cannot be provoked; we can only be provoked when our ideas are on shaky ground.
Thoughts are memories, and a defective reality because this is based on the past. To function, we scan our memory banks for selective information and past experience, and then act on this. As a result, we keep doing and saying the same things, and that creates our fixated obsessions. If that’s what we want, that’s what we get.
We are thick in confusion. Something is needed to cut through this programming, and that is to question ourselves: “Why do I go round in circles?” “Why can’t I break out of this cycle of existence?”
I once asked a psychologist, “How do you help people?” She said, “We return people to their normal state.” But that was why they had a problem in the first place! Samsara is this vicious cycle of existence – “We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to our own way.”
We cannot out-think ourselves, because thinking is the wrong tool. We have to use the faculty of consciousness to escape this duplicity – the state of being double. Consciousness, when realised, is uncontaminated with ideas – that is our true normal.
If we can be provoked, we are still unstable.
We all, like children, have gone astray;
each of us has turned to our own silly way.
We remember being silly sheep … and it was uncomfortable,
and it wasn’t all our fault.
True confidence is generous empathy.
Evidence-Based Truth
We base our lives on others’ stories, which are laundered information. Miracle-stories happened thousands of years ago, but don’t happen now. Interesting … belief is that powerful.
How dare we have doubts?! If we disagree with the official narrative – the projected ‘theme’ – we are cancelled, and lose ‘friends’.
The evidence of absolute truth is within consciousness. Through consciousness, everything may be known. We are pure consciousness; the evidence is for us to see and prove.
As long as we rely on others for our truth, we live in belief … we live a lie. We have to ask the right question, “What am I?”
Experts have their view, but this doesn’t mean it’s your view until you test it, rather than just accepting it lazily, which is a demonic existence. The Buddha was an expert and said, “Do not take my word for truth; test it for yourself.”
Truth has no angle = no corner:
a particular way of approaching or considering an issue or problem.
Truth just sees.
The approach comes later.
The Illuminati’s Secret
We conform to others’ standards too easily, without question.
Why?
Because we have been processed that way for generations.
The secret is; we are already members of the ‘Illuminati’ 🙂
People talk about organisations like the Illuminati (an umbrella name for groups of world influencers) as being some kind of secret. They are there for us to be aware of, like a bogey-man, thus maintaining a mystical separation when there isn’t one.
The secret is that we are already living in a system of the unenlightened, the unilluminated.
We may think we are free to think as we please, but our thinking is many steps behind theirs. We cannot out-think themas they influence and process all our thoughts, working day and night to outsmart us with causes to adopt … smart-news … smart-inventions … upgraded gadgets … changing colours … black to white and white to black. It’s surprising how easily we are duped by fellow enablers who are also unwittingly part of the system.
Have you thought anything original lately – or ever?
We exist in circling thoughts/memories/programming,
constantly fed information to process.
We can, however, outsmart the ‘smart’ through conscious awareness. These many organisations can never control our true being of pure consciousness but they can control our minds, which is why there is a need for ‘interesting’ distractions to fill up our time. As long as we think we are our thoughts and desires, we are trapped.
Throughout history, there have been those who know, those who think they know, and those who do not know.
If we think we know, this reveals we do not know natural knowingness.
All we know is what we have been told.
We are thick … in confusion.
🙂
Meditation is the answer – but not en masse institutionalised yoga-therapy-meditation. Meditation is a private matter for liberation, knowing how and why to drop the meditation.
When we drop what we think we know,
pure knowingness is present.
But dropping thoughts isn’t easy,
so that is why we practise meditation; to let go.
Has the world become sillier than ever?
It has always been this way, but we never noticed.
Meditators Can Be Creepy
Meditation isn’t sitting in a vacant state.
Meditation is work, observing distractions and letting go.
Then, life is play.
When meditation works, life is a generous interaction.
If we dwell in a vacant state, we become creepy.
Why is a vacant state creepy?
Because we lose our sense of humanity.
🙂
When meditating properly, we are accessible, and never aloof. If we become aloof … unfriendly … unforthcoming … cool … distant … somewhat austere … conspicuously uninvolved … we’ve got it wrong!
Going, gone, gone, gone beyond is only an internal affair.
We judge what we see. I’ve heard people say, “Meditation makes you a zombie” and “Meditators sit up a pole, detached from life”. I’ve met some who claim to ‘meditate’ but who are offhand, unapproachable and standoffish. This is the reason that I write this blog – so as not to follow the creepy-crawlies 😀 😀 😀
Meditation is work.
Everything else is playing nicely.
The World Is Divided Into Cults
Cult: the imposition of excessive control over members.
The hallmark of a cult (culture) is that we become reliant. We know our place; this isolates us from others, and we ‘vote’ for it. Cults never gives a sucker an even chance – those we vote for are already chosen. This is an abusive relationship that we turn a blind eye to as it may destroy our dream. Aren’t we told to live the dream?
Once we adopt a concept of what life is all about, we go on adopting. This is ignorance and the maintenance of that ignorance – or being confused and maintaining that confusion (known as conceptual and co-emergent ignorance).
Such behaviour causes us great unhappiness, but we cover this up by being enthusiastically busy and entertained, and cannot show true empathy for one another. In other words, this is self-centred narcissism, as we want to be admired, and fail to distinguish the self from external objects – my book, my car, my family, my culture – which is a feature of mental disorder.
What to do about this?
Be aware, and less involved in the dreamscape, like water off a duck’s back. We stop over-reacting and believing this is all real – it’s an illusion playing in our minds.
Recognise the feeling of not being good enough, while hoping it will all get better. It doesn’t :-). There are so many inventive ways of securing our attention …
Play the game only as far as is needed. Those incarcerated (the majority) are still blind to their predicament, amusing themselves in the prison yard and paying for the privilege. They cannot listen, and cannot speak the truth.
We take back control through meditation by clearing our minds of preconceived, distracting ideas, opening up and staying grounded. We are not sitting in vacancy.
Then we watch the ‘magic show’ with detachment.
We All Need A Feeling Of Success
A feeling of success can never be achieved in this relative, conventional world as it relies on the desire to be recognised by others as being successful. If people do not acknowledge us, we seek those who do – and usually, these ‘others’ are doing the very same thing as us. That is the class system.
Success can only come from knowing what we truly are, even in uncomfortable circumstances, and even though others do not recognise it as they’re too busy displaying their own illusions.
Being happy does not mean that we are free of illusions,
but they become temporary phenomena.
We cannot get any happier than that.
😀
Don’t Better Your Self
Don’t better your self:
Be a better person.
How?
Know what you truly already are.
Opening The Door To Demons
Demons lie in ambush, waiting for our emotions (both negative and positive) to arise and then feeding off them. They fuel themselves through our vulnerability of self-preservation. It is we who attract them. Where do demons come from? They are the innate dark side of all sentient beings, and will be present for as long as we identify with something.
First, we identify with a self, then a gender, then race, then class, then group type, then religion, then intelligence, then age … all based on personal likes and dislikes, and ignorance all of these demon-traps.
What to do about demons?
Stop identifying.
Stop over-reacting.
It is strange that we are being encouraged to identify as something and take offence if others do not believe in our ‘special identity’. That’s demons for you. 😀
Demons: nothing to be afraid of as it’s all in the mind.
People: to be taken with a grain of salt to reduce the risk of poisoning 😀
Mind: the expression of trivia or the realisation of experience.
Consciousness: cannot be touched, just distracted.
Pure consciousness: what life is truly all about.
Simple and Simplistic
Simple: easily understood by using a clear mind based on lateral thinking, questioning what and why so that we may realise ‘an’ answer to a situation in the moment now. In Sanskrit, this is called Madhyamika = taking everything away until only the essence is left – or what we recognise as essence.
Simplistic: treating problems without a clear mind, superficially using vertical thinking of learnt answers that do not suit the situation but make it more complex. This is called confusion = adding on everything until there is no possibility of clarity.
Simply see for your self
– not even through a Buddha’s eyes.
Universal Consciousness … Tricky!
Ordinarily consciousness is individual; we are obviously and definitely not all one. But, through training and realisation of our true essence, there is no difference between realised beings; they just express certain qualities in their own way.
The idea that we are universal consciousness holds no water – an argument or narrative that is not logical or reasonable, does not make sense and cannot hold under critical examination. Those who adhere to theories do not have the conduct to support their beliefs as they accept without actual experience.
Ancient teachings may be used to support the idea of universal consciousness, but this can only become a reality when we go beyond ideas and into a silent mind, realised by pure consciousness.
Those who act according to a script are actors.
That’s why the Buddha said, “Do not take my word for the truth; see for yourself.”
There Are Some Daft Ideas Out There
Because people cannot understand reality,
they make it up, and then sell it to others.
This is called belief.
If belief made people content, happy and generous of heart, then belief would be a good thing. But believers are often aggressive, and ostracise those who do not believe.
When people become zealots in their beliefs, they blame others for not believing – it was called blasphemy*, and now it’s hate crime. Everyone is blaming someone else for not believing in their dream. Then we get to the word ‘heresy’: opinions profoundly at odds with what is generally accepted.
There are some dangerously daft ideas out there.
People were put to death for not believing – it was called the Inquisition.
“There’s nothing new under the sun.”
If a believer hates us for not believing, where does that hatred lie?
*The word “blasphemy” came from Greek, and also from Old French “blasmer”, from which the English word “blame” came.
Is Consciousness Individual Or Universal?
This is an important question to ask ourselves
– and therefore, the answer will be an individual decision.
🙂
Both views may use the same language, but when it comes to non-duality, the meaning is different.
Let’s say that consciousness is the pure light of clarity/knowledge.
With universal consciousness, we are part of that light with which we can then unite. Is that God, a Teacher or a Yidam?
With individual consciousness, we are already that light – it is the teaching that ignites the flame.
Our choice will be influenced by how we see the conduct of believers/practitioners. Do we want to be like them? Do they inspire us? Are they reliable people, even if we don’t understand them? 🙂
If our hearts and minds are open, that will encompass both views, and won’t upset anyone … or will it?
Be aware that the new age movement has taken on these ideas (as have philosophers throughout the centuries), and the essence of the teachings has been watered down. We are now thought of as ‘shards’ of the universal consciousness …
In the past couple of thousand years, there have been many commentaries on this theme; we have have to recognise which approach suits each of us naturally, and why.
It’s always our individual choice.
Living In An Unrealised World
Living in an unrealised world …
it’s tricky because we play all sorts of tricks in the mind – our little fixations.
Realisation: an act of becoming fully aware.
Much depends on our level of understanding, which gives rise to our degree of empathy in the moment now. Never ever put on an act; reflect the situation, without patronising or going over people’s heads with theories. That’s the tricky bit. Empathy is being one with, neither above nor below.
Realisation is a piece of cake compared to having appropriate conduct. Our conduct is due to our background which creates our karmic propensities, and a major problem in understanding is appreciating another’s background and culture. The words ‘Buddha’ and ‘enlightenment’ mean realisation, and the elimination of all karma.
Writing about this subject can only be a generalisation, as it is in the moment now that the right knowledge is available. The universal principle is that people are driven by hope, fear and indifference. It is these base laws of the universe that govern every sentient being’s intentions, including animals, birds, insects – and every alien possible; any being that can decide to change direction.
But … before any sentient being makes the decision to change direction, pure consciousness or Buddha nature has to be present to be aware of choices. Catching that moment is the wisdom of empathy, and it is from there that we deal with this tricky world.
Striving Is The Opposite To Happiness
Happiness is our natural state. It means that we are content with our lives, and we know what we are doing and why.
We only strive and create stress by trying to keep up with others’ ideas of happiness. That sort of happiness is like Chinese-whispers, where the message becomes changed and exaggerated through mishearing and misunderstanding. Our life may not be perfect in the sense of being all-shiny-and-new, but it’s what we have to work with.
Whatever situation we find ourselves in – pleasant or unpleasant – is due to things that happened in our past, and the way we related to these. Most decisions we make are to do with other people. We strive to impress others, and they strive to impress us – but it never works.
When we swim on our own, we go at our own pace, and relax. When swimming with others, we strive more. The world in which we live wants us to compete, and get better at competing. That is stressful. Is it satisfying? Wanting to be better than others isn’t the path to happiness.
Why aren’t we taught to be happy? We are taught that happiness can be achieved. That is the opposite to realising that we are already happy.
Our unhappiness is due to doubt and confusion. This comes about by two opposing messages: strive and be happy.
Once we know what happiness is – an inner state of pure awareness without confusion – we look at the world, and feel sad that people don’t recognise their inner quality of happiness.
What Does Buddhism Teach?
The word ‘Buddha’ means awakened to our true reality,
and having exhausted all fixed ways of thinking which are the result of past actions.
In other words, to be enlightened.
Do I have to become a Buddhist?
There have been many Buddhas/enlightened ones, and not just in Buddhism.
There were enlightened ones before the Buddha.
Each enlightened one has their own way of expressing this realisation to suit a temperament of that particular time and space in the universe. The teaching adapts. If it does not adapt, it becomes a fixed religion – which can be of benefit to others, but mainly, the path is personal to clear our confusion. If we are not confused, then there is no path (and that can be read both ways!).
Why is everything called an illusion?
Every thing has a temporary status, and is seen second-hand in the mind, where we add and exaggerate, and so lose pure perception of pure consciousness. It is the exaggeration that causes the illusion.
Why should I practise meditation?
We see through personal experience, and realise what we are and what we are not.
Why is Buddhism so exotic in its display?
It’s that particular tradition’s way of expressing and reminding practitioners what they are about.
Are there dangers in Buddhism?
Like any religion or consciousness setup, the form can be more attractive than the essence. We get bound by appearances, when appearances should be regarded as illusions in a mirror; when we are bound to the form, we can become arrogant.
What if I don’t want to be Buddhist or to meditate?
Just question everything until you arrive at that which is doing the questioning.
What if I cannot be bothered?
Then wait for the right bus to come along!
Am I Buddhist?
Still working on that!
There Is No Mental Peace Without Meditation
Mental peace is our true wealth. It is the wealth of emptiness that we can return to when we have lost clarity and become anxious, swallowed up by emotions. It is the source of wisdom and compassion – we just have to remember.
Meditation is very simple: sit in silent awareness, with the senses wide open, without distraction. If the mind wanders, focus on the breath. This clarity of peaceful stillness is the wealth of all the universe.
Returning many times to awareness, we realise that we are that awareness. The experience that there is nothing else but that uncontaminated awareness is therefore proof of its purity or emptiness.
Outer wealth is fool’s gold,
wanting whatever is out there.
Inner wealth already owns the universe.
Whatever is out there, we already have within.
Our true reality is precisely what the universe is all about.
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. 