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.

Judgement, And Being Judgemental

One is momentary, while the other is a way of life:
Tony is drunk, or Tony is a drunkard.

In the moment now, we need to judge
whether something is beneficial or harmful.

It is when we hold on to that judgement
that ego becomes established,
and is now our path for life.

Judgement is concerned with whatever is ‘out there’.
Being judgemental is inner obsession
that clouds our clear seeing of whatever is ‘out there’.

Due to reincarnation, all sentient beings
are said to have been our mother.
In this way, an enemy could turn out to be a friend.

How do we know if we are being judgemental?
We can’t let it go …

When we can acknowledge being judgemental,
we are free.

2021: The Year That We All Went Mad

Confusion is rife.

May we realise the source of our confusion.
May we find our way out of confusion.
May confusion dawn as wisdom.

Evil Feeds Off Our Negativity

Evil feeds off our negativity,
and when we are negative,
we are drained of energy.

Positivity is constant harmony,
and we feel energised.

Ultimate positivity is Shunyata – emptiness.
Being empty, evil finds nothing to gain,
nothing to chew over.

An Idea Is Like A Virus

An idea is like a virus; going undetected, it duplicates itself and infects others, corrupting and destroying the whole system. Memes are like that. An idea is placed into a society and is taken up and repeated, becoming a fashion, or cult. Media devotees play their part by religiously following and becoming addicted to influencers.

Idea-viruses become more plausible once other idea-viruses have been established. We need a strong immune system for protection.

How do we detect an inner virus?

In the silence of meditation,
we clearly see the mind repeating itself.
We may feel the virus of doubt or fear;
in seeing this doubt or fear, gain confidence in the seeing.

Recognition and liberation are simultaneous.

Our problem is that we can’t help playing with our virus, and infecting others. That’s how a society runs 😦

The seeing is the truth.
Know your virus, and be happy.
🙂

Self-Realisation Isn’t About Religion

To realise our true nature as distinct from our inner chattering mind,
we merely have to become aware of … just being aware.

Within this clarity of awareness, distractions that carry us away are easily observed.
We don’t have to do or be anything special to be aware.

Once the clarity of awareness is realised, empathy and compassion naturally arise
for those who are too preoccupied to notice awareness.

So what about all the religious rituals and texts that create a culture within a culture?
When we arrive at this question, we apply even more compassion 😀

How do we become enlightened?
We merely have to realise that we are already enlightened, and stay there.

Unless you still want something to do 🙂

Everything Is Complementary

Being complementary is the inseparability of the two truths: relative and ultimate.
The ultimate truth is clear seeing, or pure consciousness.
The relative truth relates to what is seen.

The two truths are like a mirror and its reflections.
We are pure consciousness obscured by the reflections of thoughts.

Once realised, these thoughts become a spontaneous reminder, as appearances and recognition are inseparable.

Everything has its opposite which is complementary; due to one, the other is known – dark/light, hot/cold, smooth/rough, left/right, empty/full, aware/unaware … these may be opposites, but they are inseparable.

If we become separated, we enter into conflict – dark v light, hot v cold, smooth v rough, left v right, empty v full, aware v unaware …

The harmony of relative and ultimate is harmony in diversity. When we humans appreciate this, we arrive at realisation. If we take sides, we remain in contradictions.

Know oneness – no conflict.

Hoax Upon Hoax

We live under two ignorances: the ignorance of our reality, and the maintenance of that ignorance.

As long as we look elsewhere for truth, we will never notice that it is, in fact, truth that is looking. We are truth because truth never changes; pure consciousness never changes, while everything else does. Whatever we are led to believe is against truth and contaminates our mind, which is the tool with which we reason.

In this designed world where we are told what to think, we are never taught about our reality of pure consciousness.

Why is that?

Apart from doing what has to be done to survive, we learn to engage in meaningless chatter and activities designed to conceal the truth. We think that if we have more money than others, we know more. There aren’t levels of realisation; there are levels of hocus-pocus to uncover.

Any answer someone gives us – or any answer we come up with ourselves – is an illusion. To maintain this illusion is delusion – and we are back at the two ignorances. An answer about truth is never the truth; it can only be an assimilation of the truth. That which realises the answer is the answer 🙂 Repeating saying such as, “I am”, implies an understanding of what we are, but this phrase is a hoax as it still refers to a pseudo-identity.

Always remember that the Buddha said, “Do not take my word as truth; see for yourself.” He was very precise about this.

By taking the word for truth, we are applying a hoax upon a hoax. All we need to be reminded of is that we are pure consciousness. Resting there, we see what life is truly all about, and this realisation exposes the hoaxes we encounter.

‘Hoax’ comes from ‘hocus-pocus’: meaningless talk or activity, typically designed to trick someone or conceal the truth of a situation .

Spirit Guides?

What is conscience? Is conscience personal morality, or is there external guidance? Does our conscience change? Does like attract like?

When everything seems karmically significant, instruction is always at hand.
How do we know the right thing to say at one moment, but not at another?

Whether we feel guided or alone, we attract positive or negative energy, depending on our spirit level 🙂

Maybe we are not alone.
Where there is dark, there is light!

😀

Priests Of News

News is the new religion that binds us to spreading the ‘word’.
Whose word? And is it the complete truth?

Who is telling us the complete truth?

The complete truth – that which completes the picture – is pure cognisance;
seeing without referring.
Any commentaries that come a moment later are second hand, as truth is indescribable.
Commentaries are the absence of complete truth.

If the Buddha said, “Do not believe me; test it for yourself”,
why should we believe anyone else?
Beliefs imprison us.

When we test and realise the truth for ourselves,
that is the complete truth.

Still Wanting Something Better?

Pure consciousness is all we need to know
to solve our problems.

Unable to give this its true value,
we are found wanting.

That which is watching this feeling of inadequacy
is pure consciousness itself.

That which we have been looking for
has always been present.

😀

Swimming In A Sea Of Information, And Drowning In Ignorance

Thus is the fog of humanity’s consciousness, drowning in side issues – and our relationship with spiritual teachings can also be like this.

The essence of teaching is very simple,
and if we truly ‘get it’,
we can then go away and live a fulfilling life.

If we constantly believe that we don’t know enough or aren’t good enough, we become confused and settle for feeling inferior; we’re amazed that others appear to ‘get it’ – but what do they get? The information – but what of the behaviour to go with it?

It’s actually oh-so-simple.
We are pure consciousness and, for that, we do nothing. Anything else is a hindrance to seeing this one truth.

Pure consciousness does not need to have numerous commentaries. It’s what we are. Get used to it, and become familiar with it. Then, see what is subtly destroying this inner peace.

The more times we see that we are distracted,
the less we are distracted.
It’s that simple.

When we can swim, we will never drown in ignorance again,
as ignorance becomes our teacher.

Can Others Out-Think Us?

They’re the ones who make up the games for us to play.
They’re the ones who make up the news for us to believe.
They’re the ones who make up the laws for us to depend on.
They’re the ones who make up the enemy for us to hate.

We can out-think them by dropping
playing, believing, depending and hating.

What makes sense?
Within pure consciousness, conscience is loud and clear.
Conscience is knowing right from wrong, and is a guide for our behaviour.

Only then are we in our right mind
🙂

World Domination? Why Do They Bother?

Being ignorant of true human potential
– enlightenment –
the essence of consciousness moves on,
never knowing its true nature.

Those who think that their family power lives on
ignore the fact that it is just a name.

We have all played many parts in the theatres of action;
when we pass on to the next scene,
our ignorance passes on with us.

We Cannot Say That We Don’t Know

We cannot say that we don’t know.
We all know.

How To Rule: Keep A Crisis Going

As long as we are in crisis, we will remain divided.
Divided, we build walls that maintain the crisis.

Crisis: the turning point of a disease when an important change takes place,
indicating either recovery or death.

Nothing Makes Sense … Or Does It?

Is it always a cock-up?

If we apply conventional thinking,
we come up with conventional answers
which are never insightful.

When we apply Dharma,
we know that everything comes about
through causes and conditions.
Affecting conditions affects the result.
That is insight.

As long as we have a cocked-up mind,
all we will see are cock-ups.

Someone who knows the human condition
of hope, fear and indifference,
has control over humanity.

When we know the wisdoms of these three conditions,
we have control over our self.

Q. How Do I Confirm My True Existence?

A. Who asks the question?

We Can Meditate Without Thinking

We do it all the time, without noticing.
All we have to do is notice.

Have You Been Assimilated?

How do you know you haven’t been assimilated?
Are your thoughts your own,
or are they part of the collective?

The test:
Can you switch off? 

How To Meditate All Day Long, And Not ‘Meditate’

It’s quite simple.
Don’t wander.

Just be at one with any situation.
Trite, but true – unremarkable in a remarkable way.

We go about our day as usual, and experience everything we see, hear, taste, touch and smell – whatever comes our way. The senses are non-conceptual, ie there is no thinking involved. Don’t assume that if we are seeing etc, we are thinking. We’re not. That is a very important point to understand, before we become attached to sensuality, or mentally wander off.

In the first moment of experiencing, pure consciousness is already present, so it’s unremarkable. What is remarkable? Noticing this.

Within pure consciousness, we can still do what we have to do, but thinking isn’t required unless we are considering something. We are just being mindful, and only judge when it is necessary in order to accomplish anything. When our senses are open and clear, we’re guided by conditions.

If we over-judge or over-think something, we are projecting and adding to it, making life more complicated for ourselves. The opposite of being occupied in this way is vacancy or indifference, where we are unaware.

When we become aware of either being occupied by thoughts or being vacant, there is no need to feel guilty as we all do this. In the moment of recognition, we are actually free. That is being mindful, being aware of our likes and dislikes. If judgement is needed, we review, breaking the habitual chain reaction of commenting and judging everything all day long, as many of those judgements are trivial, but still imprison us.

Over-reaction becomes a way of life – and a waste of a life.
Give yourself a break.
Stop wandering.

If we fixate about meditation, that isn’t meditation. That’s expectation, and far too serious in its desire for the remarkable. When we stop obsessing, life becomes fun. It may not seem perfect, but it is – in its own way. We are undoing our own confusion, rather than the confusion of others.

When we meditate without meditating, life opens up in positive ways as we can read between the lines.

Meditation Takes No Time

Time does not exist in meditation.
Time only exists when we are involved in mind and body.

Until we come to rest in timeless awareness beyond memories, we will always be relating to things. That is time-consuming. Our mind habitually asks, “What about this and that?” and off we go, back into time-relating mode. In this way, we lose our sanity. Sanity isn’t about how we think: it’s about how we see before we think.

The result of this precious meditation practice is that we keep our sanity, and don’t become lost in speculations. The uninitiated will react and claim that we have to ‘do things’, using up time. They see non-duality and meditation merely as vacancy because they haven’t tried it – or tried it properly. They cannot get it into their heads that meditation is no big deal; it is simplicity itself.

It is this simplicity that views everything,
and is never carried away.

Once we experience peace of mind,
that glimpse gradually becomes more familiar,
and is recognised as our home.

That is the ultimate sanity.

Enlightenment: A Rude Awakening

A rude awakening:
the surprise of discovering that we are mistaken.

A rude awakening:
Reality isn’t what we think, and never has been.

Thinking in words limits experience.
To get what we want,
we think of consciousness as a tool of perception.

The ancients knew that we are that consciousness
– pure and simple.

The surprise and shock is that we never noticed this.
It’s even more shocking to note
that there are some who want us to remain dormant
– just like them.

Being Aware Of Ego And Egoless-ness

To be absorbed by desires and fears,
or not to be absorbed by desires and fears.

Constant egoless-ness is ultimate enlightenment. This is our natural state. We gain a glimpse of this state in the oneness of non-dual meditation, being one with empty cognisant space where there are no fixations, but just primordial, pure awareness.

As we have bodies to maintain, we need a modicum of ego to survive – a social I – and this makes demands on us, but doesn’t have to require all our effort.

The test of the quality of ego:
How fixated we are about ourselves, and whatever we think about?

Don’t worry if there is a strong feeling of clinging and fixation. The very moment we notice what we’re doing … we are free! If we don’t notice our ego fixations, we merely become more and more upset about everything – and again, not to worry as there is always the possibility of being free in the moment of seeing that this ‘I’ is upset. If we’re not told about this reality, we will just go round in circles.

This brings us to religions.
The word ‘religion’ means to be bound. Being bound creates extreme views, fixations, reactions, dogma, separation and ‘wars’. The point is that even if what we are saying is true, it can become ego-orientated and overwhelming … and fanatical.

Resting in the pure spaciousness of awareness allows others’ emotions to wash over us and fall back to their space, leaving our space untouched. In that moment, our space can become their space, if it is recognised.

To Know That We Don’t Know Is Knowingness Itself

To know that we don’t know
is proof that we do know –
but we don’t realise that we know.
This is why we feel uncomfortable.

We really do know.
We know now.
We have always known.

But we still ignore this knowingness.
Why?

We obsess about facts and, in doing so,
miss the knowingness itself.
This is the great distraction, the deep sleep.

The more that we think we know,
the further we move away from knowingness.

All we have to do is recognise the knowingness
that is ever present;
that knowingness is pure consciousness.

Working within knowingness
keeps everything fresh, simple and relaxed.

People might think, “So what?”
“So what?” is turning over, and going back to sleep.

Knowingness is wakefulness,
seeing the causes of karma.

Spiritual Materialism: Acting Apart

Authentic spirituality is the empathetic study
of the inner psychology of consciousness.

It never excludes others.

Is There A Universal Principle Watching Over Us?

Yes.
It’s called karma, which is created by our attitude,
and shows us the way to enlightenment.

Karma is the result of previous actions and reactions; it is this that controls our motivations. Kind and unkind activities both create pleasant and unpleasant situations. We should not cling to either as that creates more karma. Good karma is favourable but has to viewed carefully, as we can fall into making all sorts of claims.

The moment before judgement starts is known as the yoga of one taste. It is, first and foremost, just experience – pure experience, pure consciousness. The decision about whether the experience is pleasant or unpleasant comes a moment after. That is how the universal teacher – the symbolic teacher of all phenomena, karma – guides us. The quality of our existence is always in our own hands.

The universe doesn’t control what happens to us. We do. If we ignore the ice on our path, we will come under the law of gravity. The universal law of karma just sets our scene, and we can either stick to our script, or end the drama.

Whether we want to call the universal principle ‘God’ or ‘pure consciousness’ is up to us, but the work takes place within our own mind and heart.

The three pure, universal principles lie in the wisdom of
emptiness, compassion and consciousness.

The law of karma is created
when we ignore those three principles,
and they transform into desire, fear and indifference.

In this way, karma becomes our teacher,
and leads us back to the three pure principles.

Becoming Too Eclectic

If we wonder what the best approach is, but never settle on any particular one, we may be confusing ourself.

Settle and focus on one view, one system or one method that appeals. Really get into this; see how it feels, and how it relates to other systems. Find the main theme of a system and rest in that. It won’t hurt! If we become too eclectic, we may keep swapping one idea or dream for another.

All systems ultimately dwell in silence. That dwelling in silence is meditation. We only read or listen to inspire and keep us positive.

The summit is perfect understanding of all paths. There are many approaches leading up to this. Our journey is something we undertake, rather than something others have done. Because people do long retreats doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to; our retreat may be dealing with our emotions while living among other people, being a stable, town yogi. As such, we are maintaining inner peace in all this confusion.

The mind will run around in circles but ultimately, there is pure observation that is spontaneously present. We can call that whatever we want although, in reality, it can have no name. If we name it, we are back to relating, referring and fossilising it in duality dogma.

Find a quiet space at home, outside or maybe in a church – a place that is released from worldly vibrations. Rest in mental silence. Be aware of sitting and breathing. Be aware of the space you occupy. Become one with that space. See how that feels. Realise that oneness-of-space feeling is the summit of non-duality, and nothing else.

What If We Believe In God?

If we believe in God, or communicate with those who believe in God, there is no need for separation. We all have a right to choose our path and way of life, which will ultimately lead to the same destination – our destiny.

Making a decision that our path is through God – through God consciousness – can lead to union, oneness, non-duality. It is our birthright to be free to choose what we value and how we value it. When we consider something and come to a conclusion, it’s such a wonderful feeling, with a sense of relief and acceptance.

On an esoteric level, there are no differences.

I don’t know about other countries, but in the UK, there is something called Common Law, or Natural Law. Its main tenet or theme is “Do no harm.” This is very much in keeping with living a good life and finding our way while remaining at peace.

On an exoteric level, “Do no harm” seems straightforward; we may think it means don’t hit someone :-). From an esoteric viewpoint, we do no harm in body, speech … and mind. Don’t even think it! That makes the path both challenging and practical for progress, and exemplifies why the esoteric is for the few.

At the exoteric level, there is reliance on belief, and we jog along, going up and down like everyone else. If, however, we take this teaching to heart, it becomes our way of life – and that is the esoteric level.

Our path is all about gaining confidence. Unshakeable confidence, so unshakeable that it needn’t be defended, and we are never offended. Being offended may cause harm to another’s mind, and this is where generosity, patience, morality, discipline, concentration and wisdom come to the fore.

May belief dawn wisdom.
May confusion dawn as wisdom.
Wisdom is beyond words and names.
Happiness is beyond words and names.

Our Mind Has Become Our Cinema

Our thoughts and emotions are creations in our mind; it is our cinema full of projections that entertains, distracts and lulls us into dreams.

The audience is the essence of mind – pure consciousness.

When pure consciousness clings to these projections, it downgrades into an organ of perception and memories, and our mind becomes captured. Pure consciousness can never be captured – not even by us – because it isn’t a thing created. It just is. It can never be found through searching, as it is that which seeks. This is like the eyes trying to see themselves; they can only be seen in a reflection. If we want to see the quality of our consciousness, we should look into our mind and see whatever it is projecting.

For the first time in human history, we are so bombarded with images that, by the age of 16, we know everything – or think we do – while actually experiencing nothing. Our world is just a series of junk films through we live, and these are so exciting that, in actual life, we become easily bored. That is the addiction trap … “What do I do when the series ends?” More will produced for you! Sad, isn’t it?

Experiencing nothing in reality, there is nothing to live for. Our search for relief creates boredom, which is a psychological state experienced when an individual is left without anything in particular to do, is not interested in the nowness of experience, and feels pointless. This modern technological phenomenon has become our cultural dimension. Apathy and depression naturally follow, leaving us under-stimulated and craving relief through more cinema time (‘cinema’ is interchangeable with drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, news … social media … sport … religion … politics …

It makes one wonder what the cause of suicide is.
A feeling of pointlessness?

There is a vital point to life, and this knowledge is being denied.
We are not here because we are an arrangement of chemicals.
We are not made to be cinema-goers.
We are here to realise what we are – in reality.

We are pure consciousness beyond consciousness.

Step outside any cinema projection and blink.
Wake up to all the senses.
Wow! Doesn’t it taste good?

Just Because It Is Written In A ‘Holy’ Book …
… doesn’t make it the actual truth.

The actual truth is in our proven, personal experience.
Words are merely a guide, a reminder; that’s all.

Words have no life of their own; it is we who give them life.
To flog words and whip up a frenzy is ‘flogging a dead horse’.
This is futile diligence.

Believing in words from a book,
we become imprisoned by a war of illusions.

Reality is realised experience.

Unconscious Brain-Washing

This is why we have to ‘get out’ mentally while we can!

From My Dinner With Andre:
This script was written in 1981
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8v_XqFO8Bc

Wally: Well, why…why do you think that is? I mean, why is that, I mean, is it just because people are…are lazy today, or they’re bored? I mean, are we just like bored, spoiled children who’ve just been lying in the bathtub all day just playing with their plastic duck, and now they’re just thinking, “Well, what can I do?”

Andre: Okay. Yes. We’re bored. We’re all bored now. But has it every occurred to you, Wally, that the process that creates this boredom that we see in the world now may very well be a self-perpetuating, unconscious form of brainwashing created by a world totalitarian government based on money? And that all of this is much more dangerous than one thinks. And it’s not just a question of individual survival, Wally, but that somebody who’s bored is asleep? And somebody who’s asleep will not say “no”?

Andre: See, I keep meeting these people, I mean, uh, just a few days ago I met this man whom I greatly admire, he’s a Swedish physicist, Gustav Björnstrand, and he told me that he no longer watches television, he doesn’t read newspapers, and he doesn’t read magazines. He’s completely cut them out of his life because he really does feel that we’re living in some kind of Orwellian nightmare now, and that everything that you hear now contributes to turning you into a robot.

Andre: And when I was at Findhorn, I met this extraordinary English tree expert who had devoted his life to saving trees. Just got back from Washington, lobbying to save the redwoods, he’s 84 years old, and he always travels with a backpack cause he never knows where he’s gonna be tomorrow. And when I met him at Findhorn, he said to me, “Where are you from?” and I said, “New York.” He said, “Ah, New York. Yes, that’s a very interesting place. Do you know a lot of New Yorkers who keep talking about the fact that they want to leave, but never do?” And I said, “Oh, yes.” And he said, “Why do you think they don’t leave?” I gave him different banal theories. He said, “Oh, I don’t think it’s that way at all.”

Andre: He said, “I think that New York is the new model for the new concentration camp, where the camp has been built by the inmates themselves, and the inmates are the guards, and they have this pride in this thing they’ve built. They’ve built their own prison. And so they exist in a state of schizophrenia where they are both guards and prisoners, and as a result, they no longer have, having been lobotomized, the capacity to leave the prison they’ve made or to even see it as a prison.” And then he went into his pocket, and he took out a seed for a tree and he said, “This is a pine tree.” He put it in my hand and he said, “Escape before it’s too late.”

Andre: See, actually, for two or three years now, Chiquita and I have had this very unpleasant feeling that we really should get out. That we really should feel like Jews in Germany in the late thirties. Get out of here. Of course, the problem is where to go, cause it seems quite obvious that the whole world is going in the same direction. See, I think it’s quite possible that the 1960s represented the last burst of the human being before he was extinguished and that this is the beginning of the rest of the future now, and that, from now on there’ll simply be all these robots walking around, feeling nothing, thinking nothing. And there’ll be nobody left almost to remind them that there once was a species called a human being, with feelings and thoughts, and that history and memory are right now being erased, and soon nobody will really remember that life existed on the planet.