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.

Bodhisattva Vow

This the vow to work for the benefit of others is not taken lightly. There are nine levels of bodhisattvas, up to enlightenment. Taking this vow means one’s life will never be the same again.

Bodhisattva Vow

Just as the earth and the other three elements, together with space,
eternally nourish and sustain all beings,
so may I become that source of nourishment and sustenance which
maintains all beings situated throughout space, as long as all have
not attained peace.

When the Sugatas of former times committed themselves to the Bodhicitta,
they gradually established themselves in the practice of a Bodhisattva.

So I too commit myself to the Bodhicitta for the welfare of beings,
and will gradually establish myself in the practice of a Bodhisattva.

Today my birth has become fruitful; my birth as a human is justified.
Today I am born in the Buddha family; I am now a child of the Buddha.

Now I am determined to perform those acts appropriate to my family;
I will not violate the purity of this faultless noble family.

Just as a blind man wandering about comes upon a jewel in a heap of refuse, so, apparently by chance, the Bodhicitta is born in me.

That supreme amrita destroying death.
The inexhaustible hidden treasure relieving the universal poverty.

The supreme cure for calming the universal ill.
The tree which shelters beings weary of wandering the paths of samsara.

The vehicle for all travellers passing over distress.
The moon of mind which cools the heat of desire.

The great sun dispelling the obscurity of ignorance.
The butter made from churning the milk of the Dharma.

The great happiness for those travellers wandering the path of samara,
searching for objects of enjoyment.

In the presence of all the Buddhas, I have invited all the Tathagatas
and all beings as my guests. Devas and Asuras rejoice.

.
.

“Taking the Bodhisattva vow is an expression of settling down and making
ourselves at home in this world. We are not concerned that somebody
is going to attack us or destroy us. We are constantly exposing ourselves
for the benefit of sentient beings. In fact, we are even giving up our ambition
to attain enlightenment in favour of relieving the suffering and difficulties of people.

“Nevertheless, helplessly, we attain enlightenment anyway.
Bodhisattvas and great tathagatas in the past have taken this step,
and we too can do so. It is simply up to us whether we are going to
accept this richness, or reject it and settle for a poverty-stricken mentality.”

-Chogyam Trungpa.

Is The Universe Conscious, Or Is There Consciousness In The Universe?

It’s for the individual to decide.
🙂

There is, however, a third option; the laws of nature.
The laws of nature are both gross and subtle.

The gross are understood by all sentient beings.
The subtle are understood by a few.

The gross laws are attraction, judgement, and indifference = unconscious of the subtle laws of our true reality. When we walk into a room full of people, we see these laws come into action clearly.

The subtle laws are emptiness, cognisance, and compassion = conscious of true reality and the gross laws. When we walk into a room full of people, we just walk into a room.

In gross laws, we take sides = ideas in the mind that start wars.

In subtle laws, we do not take sides = the essence of mind, pure consciousness, cannot start a war.

“But there are injustices in the world,
and I don’t like my neighbour,
I like nature …
I’m not bothered about consciousness!”

There will always be injustice caused by gross sentient beings clinging to their likes and dislikes, indifferent to their and others’ true reality. Once we realise that the essence of mind is pure consciousness, then whatever we do in the world will have that one taste.

If we think that there is a universal consciousness out there which we are part of, how is this manifesting in us? How do we know if consciousness is good? Goodness is clarity, that’s all.

Does the universe care about you?

How I Capture ‘Evil’ Mice

When we know evil’s ways, we are free of their terrorising.

We live in an old property, with wooden cladding over the brickwork. If anything is left leaning against the outside wall, the mice climb up into the cavity between the wood and the bricks and find their way into the house.

Having observed the ways of the mouse, which uses scent in the darkness, I cut a small section of the floorboards in the upstairs bedroom and placed a humane trap in it, laced with peanut butter. All the evil mice make their way to this trap – they can’t help themselves – and in the morning, I take them for walkies.

The evil mice are not getting the better of us, and are a constant reminder not to leave anything leaning against the wall.

In this way we can define the unity of heaven and hell;
we can’t blame the mice for they know not what they do,
but that can remind us of our lazy habits. 🙂

The ways of the evil keep us alert.
😀

Why Do I Talk About Belief So Much?

To engage in anything, we first have to trust or believe that the information may be correct. If we merely go through the routine of belief, we just repeat the information. I’ve spent fifty or so years in ‘spiritual’ practices, and they all depended on belief – I didn’t actually know. Why not? I had become dependent on the teacher, and assumed that I didn’t know enough, so kept going back. The truth is in the Buddha’s words, “Do not take my word for the truth; test it for yourself.” So I did just that, and no longer have to believe!

We all become dependent on the figure-head, and the figure-head encourages the dependency. I’m saying this because I’ve never met anyone with enough empathy or confidence to talk to about belief and actual knowingness. They were all adherents to words and rituals.

Beyond belief – any belief – is pure consciousness, which is exactly what we are. Why would we believe anything when we know what we are? Anything ‘other’ is belief; an illusion.

It is here where we can truly define good and evil.
Why do we believe?

We choose to believe, or are led to believe something.
We don’t want to be the last to believe;
we want to be in the in-crowd,
the inner circle, the ones in the ‘know’.

It’s where the praise and glory is.
This happens in all walks of life.

Delay is the tool of evil because belief delays knowing. Why? Because we are intellectually lazy. We want to appear to know, and we learn all the ‘information’ without actually knowing. Information is flawed when it doesn’t get to the point immediately. Belief is superficial fluff, and it’s unreliable.

Once we know beyond words, we can immediately pick up when something doesn’t smell right. Belief isn’t the complete story, and therefore censorship is at play.

When we collude with a belief, we group-lie, and stand on thin air. This is the death of evidence-based spirituality. The evidence is in actual seeing without bias or comment – just pure consciousness. When pure consciousness is experienced and realised, there are no doubts.

The evidence is here now, but we take no notice/ignore, and continue to chant gossip and bang our drum (louder gossip).

Belief is the first law of ignorance; the belief in an I.
It’s not what we are.

Wake Up Before It’s Too Late

The Global Attempt To Control Humanity
Think it’s not possible?
You and your government will have no choice, no free speech, no voice of objection.

Listen to this short video by Philipp Kruse at the Health and Democracy Conference, 13th September, 2023 EU Parliament Strasbourg regarding new proposals by the WHO:

The imposition of global restrictions.
Impact on countries’ sovereignty and people’s self-determination.
Granting self-authorisation and the ability to impose measures on people.
Total control through monopoly on information.
Violation of the principle of informed consent.
Imposition of diagnostics, assistive products, and gene-based therapies.

The Problem With Being Enthusiastic

The problem with being enthusiastic:
it puts people off.
🙂

People have to come to the realisation of their true reality in their own good time, and that will depend on karma – the result of previous actions and tendencies. It’s better to do this sooner rather than later or we’ll miss the boat, and die in oblivion.

The world is in a very dark place, but some people are actually waking up to this – not by waking up to injustices, as those scenarios are merely accelerators of darkness – but by genuinely asking inner questions, and not just reading and assuming they know ‘something’.

Those who want to control everything
will not like this new-found freedom,
and so will instigate restrictions and censorship.

As the majority complies with these dictates, the situation isn’t going to change any time soon, but those who have eyes to see will not die in oblivion.

The problem with talking about such things to the unaware is that it seems ludicrous, and they go back under the blanket. This isn’t their time. Feeling uncomfortable is subtle suffering, and for some, it’s excruciating. The blankets don’t help; they only muffle. 🙂

Be ready sooner rather than later.
Take a hold of yourself
–  get control of your thoughts and emotions –

The Simpler It Is

Is: being present.

That is what we are.
It has no name;
some call it pure cognisance.

The more we experience being present, the simpler realisation becomes. Teachings are all about this moment that always is, and whatever obscures it. ‘Spirituality’ can spoil it, and meditation can spoil it when we make a big deal out of it.

‘Spirituality’ attached to religion can become pretty complicated, where we do this, and this, and this, and get lost in centuries of comments. We do not find our way back by learning all the comments; we realise the simple essence – that we are what we seek.

In this day and age, we should start by knowing what the end is, otherwise we may follow others’ culture and become caught up in the form, forgetting the essence. Every culture has its form and that is good for stability, but we each have our own culture and language to work with (even though it may seem pretty crazy).

If we read the word ‘Dharmakaya’, we have to translate it into our language, and then experience it as uncontaminated emptiness, or gap … but we don’t need to seek this. We are this already.

Meditation is the method. Once we calm down into simply being, we drop the meditation, only to return to the method when we forget. When we know, we don’t have to keep knowing! 🙂

Samsara (the vicious cycle of existence) is complex.
Nirvana is simply seeing Samsara as a reminder of just seeing – pure cognisance.
In this way, everything is teaching.

Getting It Out Of Our System

Getting what out?
The madness of a fragile me.

It’s the reason why we lack confidence and doubt ourselves. Note that we always say “my self”, but we are not this ‘self’ identity. Since birth, we have been downgraded into obedience to The System through education, fashion, music, news, television, religion, films … all of which become ear worms / mind worms in later life. It’s ‘brand’ awareness. Once we become victims, it’s hard to get the system out of our system.

This is exactly why to meditate
– to experience the suffering of mental torment,
and thereby release it.

“It’s not mental torment! It’s my music!”
We cannot talk to people who are in The System …

Once we realise that we are not this feeble self-construct and that we are, in reality, pure consciousness, the question may arise, “Why do I still feel uneasy?”

This is because of a residue from our past (mind worms), and an expectation that our life should be better. Our karmic gearing still needs to be disengaged; if we don’t understand this, we drop back into lack of confidence and doubt, relying on automatic mode.

We still have to pay bills, repair property, mix with others, have our likes and dislikes, but we no longer doubt our essence, even though all those around us are still competing with one another.

The System is built on bullying/competing, where individuals and small groups who take advantage of the rest, habitually intimidate those whom they perceive as vulnerable. This is how we are subtly confused and divided. Bullying is also called ‘mobbing’, where others will assist to reinforce their system. The System doesn’t like individual free thinkers.

Getting out of The System is understanding The System. But first, we have to acknowledge that we are in it to want to get out. Getting out is accepting that it’s not going to change so we work with it, as it is now our teacher.

The darker the shadows, the brighter the light!

It’s Good To Know

Goodness is just the knowingness of pure consciousness.
It is our natural quality of pure clarity.

This isn’t about how much we know.
It’s about the life force itself
– consciousness –
for without that, nothing would be known.

I was asked, “Why is consciousness good?” We can read too many philosophies and become confused. The pride of competing with others intellectually obscures the unity of knowingness within all of us.

To realise that we don’t know something,
there must be a knowingness present to know this!

It’s that simple.

The Cracks In Evil

Evil has cracks in it.
Goodness is those cracks.

The more we meditate properly,
the wider the cracks.

Meditation Is Seeing Clearly

Ordinary people see with their thoughts and feelings, and so suffer.
Meditation is impartiality, seeing thoughts and feelings and suffering as the path.

Togal, Trekcho, Shunyata, Dharmakaya …

Togal, Trekcho, Shunyata, Dharmakaya …
… all become cliches – overused, and betraying a lack of original experience.

Certain Tibetan or Sanskrit words get special interest, which is very sad as it’s terminology-based as opposed to ordinary, natural experience. Our natural, pure experience can know the meaning beyond words. That is of vital importance, so that we can express experience in our own words for that moment now. This shows empathy and understanding, rather than merely being clever titties.

You know what I mean.

Togal is the gap; trekcho is the moment of the gap; Shunyata is the emptiness of the gap; Dharmakaya is the gap; Dzogchen is the gap; Mahamudra is the gap; Maha ati is the gap …the gap is the clear space observed by pure consciousness where everything takes place.

Repeating words is second-hand reality.
Direct experience is first-hand reality.

The Garden Of No Morals

The middle way is to know both sides, and therefore have full knowledge, free of ignorance. Morals are knowing right from wrong, good from bad, depending on our level of understanding.

If we do not know what is good and what is evil, then we have no morals; even though we may appear to have morals, they are based on our personal likes and dislikes. Confused? It’s meant to confuse.

Why would anyone say, “Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”?
This would mean that we have no morals at all. Why create beings without morals? This isn’t a good place to start, is it?

Why the threat of, “… or you shall surely die”? That’s a very strange edict laid down thousands of years ago, to which people still cling. Why? Because it is dressed up in regalia. Take the uniforms away, and all that’s left are polished cliches. In the moment now, we have to search for the words to express an actual experience, rather than repeating from memory.

This piece of scripture sends a mixed message deliberately, so that we will not realise that we have always been free to know what we are; pure consciousness, pure awareness that is able to see clearly.

Knowing right from wrong arises within clear seeing,
and not from blindly obeying even a Buddha.

When we test the truth of morality for ourselves,
we know what the truth is.

Remember, Adam wasn’t an enlightened being. We have to work that out for ourselves. The problem is that, initially, we are innocents = pure consciousness, but innocence can become gullible instead of remaining guileless, without deception.

Knowing Good And Evil Frees Us

Not knowing, we live in a fool’s paradise,
enslaved by extreme apathy.

Not knowing, we are not bothered.
Do you see the whole picture?

We’ve become clever primates, scratching one another’s backs, and hoping for something in return.
All the while, pure conscious awareness – for that is what we are and not the body – is caught up in an illusion of reality. All phenomena is impermanent, while pure consciousness never changes.

What is good and evil?
Goodness is seeing clearly without likes and dislikes; the moment of pure consciousness.
Evil is quite simply being caught up in those likes and dislikes.

To function as wise beings, we test to see if something is good or bad.
In over-indulging, we become evil as we never have enough.

Homo sapiens: wise being … not monkey, see monkey do.

The Power Of Suggestion

A suggestion primes the mind as a foundation for future events, like a hypnotist who comforts and relaxes the mind prior to making a suggestion to a receptive mind. When we are young, we are very susceptible to suggestions, and that is where it starts. Actually, no, it happened to our parents and grandparents … for thousands of years. Suggestions are passed on like memes.

Words or phases are adopted by the mind without actual experience, and we repeat them from our script of cliches. Once the words have settled in, their meaning can be subtly changed and manipulated, and we don’t notice.

Don’t think of this as theoretical – suggestions are in our mind now. If someone pushes our button by, for example, mentioning a name, off we go. This is neurolinguistic programming.

A global non-elected ‘organisation’ that has power over most politicians in the world asks,
“Is climate inaction a human rights violation?” suggesting that stronger steps are ahead of us, if we do not comply with this unelected ‘organisation’. How can this happen? We are sleep-walking while our minds are being manipulated. Every day, our minds our bombarded with words, phrases and names, telling us who to love and who to hate.

The essence of mind of pure awareness,
either notes this charade or doesn’t see it.

Realising this charade is the presence of pure consciousness,
that allows wisdom to sort the wheat from the chaff,
and decide who to trust and who not trust.

The Secret Hacking And Draconian Engineering Of The Mind

How does wickedness work?
Through fear, delay of action, and censorship.
Fight, flight and freeze = the primitive brain.

If we do not share knowledge of our true reality, then it is we who are engaged in censorship. Algorithms and the media send us all over the place with spurious ‘information’. People are losing their minds. If we do not speak up, but endorse midsguided information, the world becomes more confused, and we can only blame ourselves.

Ezekiel 33:4-6:
“4 then if anyone hears the trumpet, but does not heed the warning, and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head.

5 Since they heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves.

6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people, and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.”

Censorship and ignorance have been with us for a very long time. Are our leaders accountable to the people, or to something else? To die and know that we tried to be of benefit to others is a fruitful life. To die and ignore the falsehood played on others – and so be a part of that falsehood – is a fruitless life.

The truth is that we are the very essence of mind, which is pure awareness.
Once we know this, everything falls into place … eureka!

Events do not just happen.
There is inspiration everywhere on our path.
To ignore is to suffer.

Evil In The World

By now, we must know that there is evil in the world, which has been around for a very long time – as long as humans have existed.

Unfortunately, there are many who don’t notice this situation as they think they’re only human. The censorship of knowledge sees to this by affecting our minds through our use of language, so we turn a blind eye to the meaning behind the words.

This is how evil captures consciousness, and turns it away from its reality. Evil is the show, and the show must go on … and on. We are consciousness and, on investigation, we realise that we are pure consciousness.

Evil does not want us to know this: “Do not eat from the tree of knowledge…”

“You may eat freely from every tree of the garden
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil;
for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
– Genesis 2.17