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.

Simplicity Is Never Thrown By Complexity

When we know our essence of pure, compassionate consciousness, together with the three corresponding poisons of desire, fear and indifference that obscure this essence, we then know everything we need to know, as practitioners.

These prime aspects of life can, of course, be broken down into other elements, and that leads to confusion. Over the centuries, elaborations upon elaborations occurred, and became increasingly complex and distracting.

‘Pure’ means being empty of bias – transcendent wisdom.

‘Compassionate’ means caring – encompassing the five perfections of generosity, patience, morality, discipline and concentration/meditation.

‘Consciousness’ is what we actually are; we are embodied in a human form but forget transcendent wisdom.

Prayer For Today

May the truth be exposed
and recognised.

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

It’s something people either ask,
or use as a statement.

God/Pure Consciousness sees suffering as a conflict in the mind.
The mind and body suffer
while pure consciousness watches.

To say God allows suffering
merely shows an infantile understanding,
because we want someone to blame for our decisions.

When we realise our true essence,
suffering is seen as a residue of past ideas.

The body gets old and sick, and dies,
but all through this, pure consciousness simply watches.

When we ignore our true essence,
we suffer.

Pure consciousness never suffers,
but is sad for those who do.

You Cannot Know God Until You Know Yourself

You cannot know God until you know yourself.
Knowing yourself is to know God.
There is no difference.

Self, Pure Consciousness, God; It’s All The Same

Self Is Pure Consciousness.
Pure consciousness is Self.
And God? Oh my God, we’re God

On a exoteric level, it is claimed that these are different,
and so we are divided.

On the esoteric level, they are the same,
and so we are a unity.

We become what we spend most time with.
Choose wisely.

Talking separates us.
True communication is in the silence of non-verbal, good company.

Silence is Ramana Maharshi’s highest teaching:
the mind is brought to silence.
It is not about doing anything.
It is not reacting mentally to anything.

Note: Self is not the same as my self.
Capitalised Self is original being.
Small character self is a mind construct.

Self = infinite mind.
self = small mind.

Who Rules The World?

You do.

So why is it in such a mess?
You don’t realise that you are the power.

What’s The Point Of Gurus?

What’s the point of Gurus?
What’s the point of spiritual groups?

If we see these questions as negative,
we lack confidence in realisation.

These are valid questions.
The whole point of these questions
is to see how they are answered.

We all have to start somewhere
to know what we are.

When we know what we are,
the world is our oyster,
our teacher.

We can do anything and go anywhere,
because everything and everyone is a reminder
of emptiness and compassion.

The point is now
to help others start their quest
… and then let go.

Acknowledging Evil

If we cannot acknowledge evil, we will never be able to acknowledge truth. How does evil exist, or does it even exist? Throughout human history, this subject has haunted us.

Evil is merely negativity in our mind that creates darkness, due to biased judgement. It is biased because that mind is already prejudiced so that it never sees the light or clarity of truth. Prejudice is the darkness that turns into many levels of evil thought and action, while feeling righteous.

The very moment we acknowledge a sense of heaviness in our mind, we acknowledge the light of truth. Unfortunately, due to habitual behaviour and lack of spiritual practice, that ‘light’ creates virtuous evil-good. We have seen this throughout history.

Seeing isn’t believing. Seeing is knowing and realising how we have been caught and held against our conscience.

When The Story Twists And Turns …
… the reader’s mind twists and turns.

As long as a reader is hooked and addicted, the story will continue.

The truth of any story is the reader, not the story. Who is the reader? Consciousness. What is consciousness? It is the pure state of being, before an observer pokes its nose in. If an observer (self) is present, it has already been captured by the story, and taken sides.

How do we know when an observer has taken over? Consciousness falls into either a state of vacancy (indifference) when what is observed is just a piece of entertainment, or consciousness becomes agitated, reactionary and overpowered.

Pure being does not twist and turn. It just sees, and isn’t led down the garden path. If down the garden path, they deceive you by making you believe something which is not true.

We oppose “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” by not believing everything we read, see or hear, standing back and take an overview to understand the general picture of where a story is leading us. We read between the lines to understand the real or hidden meaning behind the  superficial appearance of something.

When we believe, we become the story.

Sincerity And Boastfulness

Unconditional sincerity or truthfulness is the absence of pretence, deceit, or hypocrisy. If we say we have compassion, this must manifest with the absence of self. To be sincere, we have to be honest and trustworthy.

Smugness is looking pretty.

How to make a Buddha laugh?
Tell them how good you are!

Escaping Chaos And Confusion

People around us are in chaos and confusion because they believe in something or other.

To escape this madness, the answer is simple. That which sees this chaos and confusion is neither in chaos nor confused. Voilà! … there you are! Simple magic. That which just sees is pure consciousness, our original reality.

The real trick is staying free.

😀

You’re Not Making A Fool Of Yourself

You’re not making a fool of yourself;
your self is making a fool of you.

What is ‘self’, and what is ‘you’?
Self is consciousness, identifying with ideas.
You are silenced consciousness that is aware of these identifications.

We are constantly being fooled into identifying with this or that.
Being fooled more than once
means that we can be fooled again and again.

Until enlightenment, self will fool consciousness.

There Are Two Sides To Every Story

Depending on our mindset, we lean towards one side or another – and even when we have taken a side, we find another side presents itself, and so on.

These are the yanas, the levels we transcend until we reach total satisfaction of enlightenment. Our life starts off with us being indoctrinated with mundane thoughts but, with the right motivation, the supramundane dawns.

At certain moments, conflicts arise, and associations do not fit any more; we can no longer conform to expectations, and find that understanding is incomplete (although it may still satisfy others). Our experience and the required conformity no longer match up, fuelled not only by what is implied, but also by what is omitted.

A separation occurs, but it is important to realise that those who think differently are not now the enemy. This is where empathy must come in. We know what effect believing in one side as opposed to another has on our mind. One is not superior to the other: we just have to look at things in a different light in order to complete the picture. Shiva, Buddha, Jesus were not saying different things – they all had light, but their emphasis was unique, and for that moment.

This isn’t merely about having a different opinion. We have genuinely outgrown what we previously adhered to. Those crutches just dropped away, and we now walk with a fresh confidence, and are happy!

Being independent, communication now relies upon seeing other sides to truly be of benefit to others, rather than being concerned with self-aggrandisement.

When we take sides, we alienate one another and become divided. That provides an opportunity for ego to arise, and evil to manifest. ‘Evil’ is ego, clinging to likes and dislikes. Evil is no big deal, but it does exert a hold on us, making us righteous and creating enemies. The more righteous we become, the more annoying we are 🙂

We are all good and evil, light and dark, positive and negative, objective and subjective, confused and wise.

The secret:
We are free in the moment of seeing.
– Tulku Urgyen, a Tibetan master.

Darkness is only possible
by the presence of light.
It’s all one.

When we cling to a side, we miss the whole point.
That’s what evil likes.
😀

A Few Random Thoughts
Random: happening without method or conscious decision.

Be Grateful For Not Being A Perfect Human Being
There is more to us.

We Can Never Find Pure Consciousness
We are that which we seek

Don’t Change Your Mind
Change the way you see.

We Can Never Find A Self
The self is merely make-believe in the mind.

It’s A Relief To Be Happy
Happiness is none other than relief.

Relief: alleviate. From Latin alleviare – ‘lightened’,
from ad- ‘to’ + levare ‘raise’, influenced by levis ‘light’.

Our Temple Of Worship Is Our Mind

Worship: acknowledgement of worth.

The mind is where we contemplate and meditate, creating the template for our life. Our temple is a place to moderate our temper. If we make too much noise, those sounds reverberate and evoke images, memories and emotions.

Our mind is the holy land watched over by consciousness. Thinking that a holy land is somewhere else is turning the atemporal (independent of time) into the temporal (governed by time).

Mind is a place of confusion and enlightenment.
They are one and the same.

When we realise our true worth of pure consciousness,
any emotion is freed in that moment.

Truth Is Before And Beyond Words

Repetition of words rather than direct experience
relies on second hand information,
and trivialises meaning.

Direct experience has no words.

When we let go of all concepts, we see clearly.
Freedom begins when presumptions end
and all associations are dropped.

The words we adopt cast a spell over us,
and a persona is born;
it’s a sort of dressed-up conjuring trick.

Direct experience is naked.

Uncultivated Wakefulness

The hardest thing is dropping our fixations

Through realisation of our innate nature that is the only reality, we notice that we don’t over react or panic as we once did. We stop shouting at the ‘radio’ 😀 Emptiness is standing back so that consciousness sees clearly, and is able to adapt. Then situations can be dealt with in a cool way, rather than getting overheated.

The interesting thing is that the same goes for pleasant situations; we don’t over react. This might sound disconcerting as we may expect to feel elated and happy, but there is just quiet satisfaction in a cool way. The satisfaction drops away as there is always the next moment to deal with.

We may appear to be a cold and unmoving person, but the warmth is there, just not an ostentatious way, not dressed up to impress.

Uncultivated wakefulness isn’t being something that we are not. We are a rich rawness. We have explored our self and let go of any hint of a pretence of being wise.

Result = uncultivated relaxation.
Life can be fruitful;
we just have to arrived at a conclusion sooner rather than later.

Can Spiritual Teachings Have An Opposite Effect?

Spiritual teachers often talk about love, compassion and carefreeness, but this can manifest as an opposite effect. Reality lies in a pure heart, rather than in ideas and theories in the mind.

We have an idea about love, compassion and carefreeness, but that isn’t the reality.

The reality of love, compassion and carefreeness is what we are, and the way in which that is displayed.

When something evolves into a doctrine – a belief that’s held and taught – people become uptight and neurotic, displaying repressed nervousness, irritability or anger; they are unable to give expression to feelings or to empathise with others who may not see the doctrine in the same way.

When the teaching becomes a doctrine to which we want to belong, we feel vulnerable as that isn’t our complete reality. Lacking in confidence and feeling insecure, we are compelled to return for more teachings, and end up in a vicious cycle of existence, going round in circles hoping that the next retreat will give us the answer 😉

If we become dependent, we lack confidence and remain subtly aggressive. What starts wars? Belief. Love, compassion and carefreeness are in abundance in the presence of true confidence. This is fearlessness and hopelessness, and we can deal with anything.

The Moment Before We Think That We Are Awake

The moment before we go into our old routine, our behaviour, is the moment of ordinary, original, pure experience of pure consciousness. That is the moment when we are awake, before we start relying on memory to name and judge everything. The more familiar we become with this pure moment, the longer we stay awake, which has an effect on the following moment when our reactions and judgements kick in: recognising the moment of pure consciousness loosens those reactions and we are more measured in our responses.

It’s so simple, but we have become so complex.

When we just go straight into our old routine, we miss this moment of pure experience and, instead, delve into our play-world of projections and comments. We lose our peace as our world is full of woes.

We can give this pure moment fancy Latin or Sanskrit or Tibetan names, but ordinary, pure experience is before all those proclamations.
From Latin proclamatio(n-), from proclamare ‘to shout out’.

Shout out? You mean puff ourselves up! 😀

Ordinary, original, pure experience is so much more fun. It’s bright, fresh, inspiring, creative when needed, scary … scary? Scary in a sense of not knowing, but knowingness of pure experience is, itself, present. The moment of all possibilities and potential.

I installed a new shower … hoping it would work … turned the water back on … heard a hissing sound … a moment of confusion … emptiness … fear … can I cope? … knowledge … “That’s water, that is” … “Water inside the wall!” … blankness … emptiness … despair … knowledge … “I’ve put a screw through a pipe!” … resignation … resolve … “Do it again”!

Result: every time I have a shower, I listen, and wonder! 😀

Meditation has the same effect; in a moment, we are awake to all possibilities and potential.
Nothing is fixed, and we are ready to repair.

Compassion Is Compatibility

Compatibility: To be able to exist or occur together without problems or conflict. Able to have a harmonious relationship; well suited. Consistent with another.
From medieval Latin compatibilis, from compati ‘suffer with’.

In order to be compatible, we have to know how another feels, and be able to adjust to their mind, rather than taking them to be an enemy. Everyone has the same pure heart, but their minds are in conflict with the minds of others.

The only way to realise happiness is to be compatible, without irritation, without an idea of how others should be. Everyone is learning at their own rate; even the Buddha couldn’t speed up this process. It is up to each individual to realise their true heart … with a little support from a compatible heart.

We all have compatible hearts.

There is little progress made
if we follow a spiritual path while remaining indifferent,
shunning others because we see them as an irritation.

Through our karmic response,
others are our teacher.

Relaxing In A Troubled Mind

Relaxing a troubled mind in a troubled world.

Sitting quietly watching the breath, consciousness doesn’t follow thoughts or impulses to do things; the feeling to be active will be there but just let that go. You can do it later. This is the discipline of concentration and, in that way, the mind comes to silent, still awareness.

The troubles out there are still awaiting us but, for now, we rest in perfect equanimity. We may even notice that thoughts or the impulse to get up and go are stronger, but this isn’t so. We’re noticing more – we’re more aware, and it may even feel uncomfortable, but this is merely breaking our pattern of behaviour, and ego doesn’t like it. Ego is a word for consciousness clinging to ideas, based around a constructed concept of self. The more we notice, the more we are in control, and the more confident we become, the more inner peace is established.

Gradually, throughout our busy troubled day, we will be reminded of this inner peace – our natural state – and relax. This is the holy place of sanity, heaven, nirvana.

The world around wants us to be busy and involved, intent on blaming and complaining. This is all justifiable, but we cannot make the world better; even Krishna, Jesus and Buddha can’t do that. They can only inspire us to realise our inner world of light and delight. If we all did the same, the world will get better. As it is, we just have to play our little part and not take our troubles so seriously. The only thing we can do is note what is happening and, by doing so, be free.

When we know we are facing the right way, that’s all that is needed to progress towards enlightenment. Our mind is only troubled because the world is troubled, and we are picking trouble up from one another.

Worldly troubles are like a virus:
our job is to spread the virus of inner peace.

Realise inner peace first,
and then our world realises peace.

Inner peace is the light of a candle
passed on to other candles.

It is all light, but each candle
has its own unique display.

Be happy.
Little flames torch 😀 others.

“Health And Safety”

The slogan ‘health and safety’ saw the beginning of project fear, with people losing their ability to use common sense. An assessment of danger had to written up for practically everything we did.

We were bombarded with this phrase, and jobsworths (those who uphold petty rules even at the expense of humanity or common sense) would go around checking that we were do it ‘right’.

Now health and safety is our jailer, with lockdowns, arrests and lockups. “Keep your distance, cover your face, disinfect your hands, follow the arrows … ”

The pressure to conform is overshadowing our common sense, and this has created confusion, chaos and suffering, which has consequences for the future.

Our common sense is pure consciousness,
which is common to all.

When we lose sight of this commonality,
we lose empathy and compassion.