Human Essence Is Enlightened Consciousness
There is nothing wrong with humans except that we cling to a mind full of ideas, fixating on them. This darkness creates levels of misunderstanding which result in exaggeration, which impedes the pure light of enlightened consciousness.
Once we recognise this procedure, understanding refines
and we ascend the levels.
These levels are the reason why we talk at cross-purposes.
If You Think You Know
If you think you know, it’s just a concept. Knowing about something is not knowing; it’s just an idea.
Samsara/human life is a vicious cycle of confusion compounded by further confusion. It’s the trap in which we humans exist, dependent on others’ ideas to live by. Just look at the world history, full of constant strife and stress.
Actually, this is all a very good starting point to enlightenment
– once we realise the effect of the concocted script we act out daily.
If life was one great state of ‘happiness’, we’d become lotus eaters and wouldn’t bother asking, “Is this actually our reality?”
(In the Odyssey, the Lotus Eaters are mysterious people who live on a small island, and regularly consume lotus plants that cause them to live in a perpetual state of bliss, losing all sense of urgency.)
This was the choice the Buddha had to make when he was Prince Siddartha and he left his father’s opulent palace to go out into the raw world where he saw suffering.
We have to do the same as the Buddha
– realise that we are the lotus in the mud.
We are what we seek
– pure consciousness.
🙂
Sapience Means Wise
We are meant to be wise, and not just clever:
all creatures have to be clever to survive.
Cleverness is knowing about reality.
Wisdom is being the reality.
The Problem Is ‘You’
What’s wrong with you is ‘you’.
When recognised, ‘you’ is the solution.
There is a made-up, imitation ‘you’ constructed on ideas gleaned from our early environment and life experiences, and there’s a real you, which is the pure observation of the fictitious ‘you’. When we recognise this false identity, we become isolated from others who still believe in a ‘me’. 🙂
Madness and sanity are so close; when we recognise our madness, sanity returns.
It’s all about an ‘I’ wanting to know, when knowingness is already present.
The illusion and the reality are a unity.
By virtue of one, the other is known.
Words Are Projections
Words reveal the state of our mind,
and they also reveal the state of consciousness.
If we cling to words, we become blind to experience.
When we are silent,
the mind is clear, consciousness is pure,
and we are what we are.
Better The Devil You Know
Better the devil you know
than the devil you don’t.
Really!
Demons come in many charming disguises.
Be careful what you conjure up!
Charm: control or achieve as if by magic. Middle Englis:incantation or magic spell, from Latin ‘carmen’ – song, verse, incantation.
It Doesn’t Have To Be Like This
We don’t have to become a projection of others’ thoughts.
We can change!
It Only Seems Real
When we encounter pictures, words, conversations … these seem real, but they’re only recording machines. We wake up when we realise that we’ve heard it all before.
Things seem real only because we’ve became used to them, and want them that way. We want to believe the stories, while not knowing whether they’re real, or a simulation.
We wake up when we recognise the script that’s being acted out every day. There is nothing real about our lives; the reality is life itself – consciousness. Pure consciousness is devoid of language, speculation, and fantasy.
Reality is acknowledging the charade.
Charade: an absurd pretence intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance. An act or event that is obviously false, although represented as true.
From French charrado ‘conversation’, from charra ‘chatter’,
Don’t Believe A Word
Words are spells that cast images in the mind,
and we believe in these distractions.
The reality of our natural wisdom is beyond words.
When we drop all our words,
what’s left?
The Naked Truth
The naked truth needs no embellishments.
Truth is that which never changes, and that’s consciousness.
Consciousness is naked because there is nothing covering it,
except our ideas.
Happiness: No Longer Governed By Others’ Thoughts
Once we’re free of collective thinking,
we start to see how collective thinking came about –
by suggestions, which turn into beliefs, and create bewilderment.
Happiness is being free of confusion.
A Sobering Thought
Beings in infinite space billions of light years away from Earth will have the same pure consciousness as us. All creatures are aware, and therefore conscious, and experience feelings. They may have bigger heads, greater minds or microscopic brains, but pure consciousness will be the same (although most beings can only function with a confused consciousness, just like us. 🙂 )
This being so, all creatures in the infinite universe are also governed by attraction, repulsion and indifference which makes them unstable – until they realise their true reality.
The purpose of life
is to transform confusion into clarity.
The Problem Is ‘You’
If you don’t realise our ultimate reality,
you are the problem.
You/I/ego is a self-designation built on collective ideas which creates an illusion of an identity that gets in the way of pure perception. We become so caught up in others’ thoughts that this limits our ability to understand pure perception – the clarity of being.
It’s not all our fault;
we are led to believe that what others say is true
– even the Buddha. 🙂
Resolving That Which Asks The Questions
It’s not the brain or the mind that asks questions; these are merely storage facilities of memories – the hard drive and soft drive of old answers. The questioning comes from consciousness, but we usually rely on those old answers.
The essence of consciousness, when realised, is empty cognisance, pure consciousness.
That is the answer. We are what we seek.
That which asks the questions is the ultimate answer.
The Fool And Infinity
Fools either ignore infinity or cannot comprehend it.
Infinity cannot be imagined,
only realised through infinite consciousness.
What is important is here and now,
not then.
The Truth Of Existence
The essence of a person is pure consciousness but, because of a confused mind, consciousness adopted a form, a projection. We’re doing this right now.
The purpose of life is to remember what we are, rather than to maintain the confusion of what we think we are, where we cannot get to grips with the understanding that we are infinite consciousness in an infinite universe.
We cannot think about infinity;
we can only realise it within infinite consciousness.
A finite mind, full of ideas, cannot fathom an infinite mind.
It is the same with ultimate truth.
We cannot think about ultimate truth;
we can only realise that we are ultimate truth.
Pointlessness
The antidote to pointlessness is gratitude.
This will be different for everyone.
It’s being thankful that something has happened, or hasn’t happened.
Life has great meaning; all we have to do is just see.
Holding on to a feeling of pointlessness is pointless.
Fantasising Versus Realising
When we fantasise, we indulge in daydreaming.
We fantasise about what’s ‘out there’.
When we understand that fantasising is a distraction,
we realise that consciousness is the arbiter of reality,
and we are no longer daydreaming and fantasising.
Philosophy is fantasising; it’s knowing about.
The mind that fantasises is a fantasy.
Pure consciousness is clarity; it’s pure knowing.
The clarity of mind – pure consciousness – is the centre of the infinite universe.
Accumulation Of Merit And Wisdom
Merit = fortunate circumstances.
Wisdom = right understanding.
There are two accumulations – merit and wisdom – which enhance spiritual development through a constancy of resting in pure awareness.
If we have genuine bodhicitta (the way of a Bodhisattva) – an altruistic attitude towards others involving right motivation – this will be the merit that leads to the awakening of wisdom, devoid of all concepts and clinging.
Concepts/Words Cloud The Mind
Pure mind is pure consciousness; it’s the clarity of what we are.
Clarity is beyond words.
It’s that simple.
When consciousness becomes lost in concepts/words, we lose that clarity, and become confused. We, in truth, are beyond words.
When we are lost in concepts, we dwell in a dark place of anger, pride and stupidity.
The moment when we catch this very common occurrence, we are free. It’s that simple.
‘I’ is a concept built on words.
Pure consciousness is beyond words.
It is not a concept;
it’s what we need to know.
Pure Perception Comes Before Words
There are no beliefs in pure perception.
Belief comes from words.
If anyone says, “In the beginning was the word”,
they are not telling the truth.
Pure perception is our ultimate reality.
It’s All About The Quality Of Consciousness
We are consciousness. We are not this mind, full of ideas of gain and fame; that is a fool’s errand, a futile wild-goose chase in an attempt to realise the ultimate truth of our being.
This will only make sense to a practitioner who has resolved to realise reality, rather than being merely a speculator. Realisation is due to the elimination of the levels of fixations about our reality.
Sentient beings do not realise the trap they’re in, which is based on collective ignorance – the belief in what others say.
The more we realise, the more we understand how foolish we have been.
It takes courage and kindness to realise the truth.
Heaven In Hell 2
Heaven is clarity – our awakened state.
Hell is opinions – our dream state.
Clarity: divine splendour.
Opinion: thought, belief.
Hell is a contaminated mind.
Heaven is the pure state of mind.
Heaven In Hell
Hell is constant conflict.
When we realise that conflict has no reality, we are in heaven.
Can heaven and hell be anything else?
Looking For Answers?
Looking for answers?
Look within the mind.
The observation of how it works tells us everything.
The truth is definitely not about adopting answers.
Being Aware In Experience
Being aware in experience is a continual process of non-attachment, therefore there is nothing to let go of. This is our pure state of being.
A confused life is based on opinions about experience,
creating a narrative of ‘my experiences’.
A meditative life is one where we just deal with things,
free of worry.
That is a happy life.
What Is Meditation?
Meditation is remaining pure being
in the midst of experience.
Holding onto memories is poverty.
There is richness in spontaneity.
Pure being never changes in experience.
Be decided rather than undecided.
People Are Ill-Prepared For The Dharma
We may know about the words and the rituals, but Dharma is the remedy to eliminate suffering. We first have to first recognise suffering, not just as a theory. The Dharma is not an academic study or a set of exotic rituals to make us feel different from others.
Once we understand, we are prepared to help those in front of us,
rather than an idea about those far away
Being practical is here and now.
If we use the Dharma to be competitive, that is not Dharma; that is Mara. Demons are not obvious to people – but they are to practitioners who are prepared.
Realising the true Dharma, we become compassionate, as we too have suffered, were depressed and doubted everything and everyone. We know what it’s like to live in the fog of confusion.
We are ill-prepared
if we fall for the exotic, the charismatic,
rather than the need.
‘Exotic’ means foreign. We don’t have to adopt the ways of others; we can support and appreciate a culture, without becoming it. We work with what we have now, in our own environment.
Being prepared is knowing what we’re dealing with,
which is common stupidity.
Empathy recognises when other feel ill at ease.
The Right Time For Dharma
The right time for Dharma is when we experience dis-order with the suffering of negative emotions. Without this, the Dharma is useless as it’s just words. It’s like medicine; there is no point in taking it if we’re not ill. Merely collecting Dharma as information can make us ill at ease.
Dharma has to be practical,
or we’ll become an uncompromising zealot
– which is a dis-ease in itself.
Dharma is the remedy; it’s not a magic pill.
Buddhists, Like Everyone Else, Overdo It
Humans are obsessive, overly-dramatic creatures. We like sensation and spectacle which bypasses our common sense. As humans, we overdo everything because of psychological disorders, such as perfectionism, fear of failure, peer pressure, validation …
When we overdo things, we become extremists, which is the very opposite to the Middle Way. Our common sense is what unites us; the senses of touch, sight, smell, taste and hearing all bring us into the present moment of pure awareness now, before we start pontificating.
There is nothing extreme about common sense and pure awareness.
It’s Obvious When Pointed Out
Clarifying a broken system.
The system we all live in isn’t broken; it’s created and maintained to be that way. There aren’t different ‘political’ parties- it’s one party with opposite facets. Most people are unaware of the big picture as they are too involved in bickering about details, rather than looking at what is actually happening. We just accept cock-up after cock-up as the norm, and it gives people something to be engaged in and complain about.
Things aren’t supposed to work properly. Chaos, confusion and conflict are created, with the intention of occupying the audience in the middle, watching the bouncy ball go back and forth. This is the Mara phenomenon.
Unwitting pundits and journalists give their opinions while ignoring the main theme, which is control of the population – which they are enabling. The main weapon of choice is delay. Delay allows the gate to be closed only when it’s too late.
This play-acting fills people’s minds with trivia – detailed information of little value – which causes further division.
It all started thousands of years ago with reliance on belief,
as opposed to the clarity of direct seeing.
It’s obvious when pointed out.
This is just like pure consciousness which is reading these words,
before the broken system of the mind cuts in.
It’s obvious that that is our original reality.
Distraction And Over-Reaction
This is how the world is … trained.
We as humans, get over-stimulated and carried away; we lose our minds to fascinations. For most of us, this is the process of life, as we’re constantly distracted and over-reacting.
For a practitioner, this cycle of existence is but a reminder to stay loose and centred, happy to be free of the ‘merry-go-round’.
Being free is remaining as pure consciousness.
Meditation is the method.
Has The Cheese Slid Off Your Cracker?
Are we separated from reality?
Of course, we’d all say no.
But do we truly know what reality is?
Asking this very question
will start the process to put the cheese back.
🙂
The Joy And Sorrow Of Realisation
The joy is clarity without being encumbered by opinions and beliefs.
The sorrow is no longer being inspired by others’ opinions and beliefs.
There are very few people without opinions and beliefs.
😀
All Sentient Beings Are Scientists
All sentient beings are scientists;
we have to be to survive.
As humans, we have more and more information available to us – in fact, too much. When we investigate we look through our mind-microscope to see the structure and cause of whatever is observed. Is it good or harmful? But to do this, we need a clean mind, not one with dirty, pre-conceived ideas that cloud our vision. Unfortunately, we usually borrow from others investigations, not realising that they too may have a dirty view. 🙂
All is not what it seems. We’re constantly being worked and manipulated to believe that everything presented to us is reality.
As scientists, we have to see why things are happening on both physical and ethereal plans at the level of consciousness. There are mischievous entities that play with our mind; we meet these every day, and we simply have to be aware of them. Once they’re recognised, they go elsewhere.
A clear mind is a powerful tool.
Meditation cleans the mind.
Negative Comments Say More …
Negative comments say more about the commentator. It’s right to question, but if questioning is used as a weapon, it’s the work of Mara. If we only judge by our own standard of understanding, we’ll never move on.
A question about Chogyam Trungpa arose; who am I to judge such an insightful being who had a profound effect on those who could listen? Years ago, I attended one of his lectures in London, and there was something odd about him. Perhaps he was drunk.
He came on stage and just said, “I’m getting no inspiration from this audience.” He then added, “In meditation, there is no meditator”, and walked out, leaving us all staring. But it had an everlasting effect, for which I’m grateful.
Whether or not he was a drunkard or a womaniser, this didn’t make me a drunkard or a womaniser. His writings are profound, and until we have that level of understanding, how can we judge?
His book, “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism”, really hit home, and is part of the reason why I write this blog.
The Sadness Of Wisdom
Once we realise our true reality, we want to help others to realise this as well. It’s quite simple; we are the spirit of pure awareness, pure consciousness, dwelling in a temporary body. Realising this answers all questions. Unfortunately, most of us are still out for personal gain, which will only end up in sorrow, confusion and conflict.
Wisdom is clarity – divine splendour.
It’s in the dictionary.
🙂
The more we see, the more disturbing human life is, and the more we find compassion challenging. This is the sadness of wisdom. What do we say that might help? Then we realise that it’s up to each individual whether they actually realise the truth of our reality, or just read about it.
Words are never the truth.
Pure consciousness is.
Life is the continuation of consciousness.
Bodhisattva Vow
The right intention.
There are nine levels of bodhisattvas, up to enlightenment. This vow to work for the benefit of others is not to be taken lightly; 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 do I 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 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.
Unless We Practise
Unless we practise, we won’t know what the words mean.
But what do we practise?
We practise being aware of both the habitual patterns in our mind which cause conflict, and that which observes this pattern of behaviour.
We can talk about Madhyamaka, Abhidharma, and this or that Sutra; we can chant text, wave vajras … but if we cannot control our arrogance that destroys genuine kindness, then our practice is useless. When we become academics, we become isolationists to protect ourselves and shun others.
Practice is to practise change.
(Grammar alert: practice is something to do, while practise is actually doing it.)
We Don’t Have To Agree With Teachers
To say that we don’t have to agree with teachers is not to say that they’re wrong, but that their approach may not suit us.
It all depends at what level someone is speaking; something that may be right for one person may feel like hell to another as it’s too restrictive. Of course, we need discipline, but if we’re disciplined already, we can go nuts.
This is why certain eastern practices may not be suitable for westerners. If something works and clarity is the result, then fine, but if we’re pushing ourselves and just going through a comforting routine, then we need to think again.
One pill (or approach) does not suit all.
That way leads to dogma.
The Wisdom Of Transforming Our Emotions
Our emotions, such as pride, anger, jealousy, desire, indifference, or just plain annoyance, control our lives.
We can transform our emotions through reasoning, and direct first-hand experience. Our emotions protect our idea of self when this gets annoyed with anyone who doesn’t validate us or our ideas.
In the first instant of an emotion arising, the mind brightens – something is amiss. That’s it. Pure seeing is the moment of wisdom! That is pure consciousness. If we catch that moment and don’t react, we have transcended the ordinary human behaviour that dwells in the vicious cycle of existence.
That’s how we transform emotions.
It’s call EQ – emotional quotient.
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to understand, use, and manage our own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathise with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.
EQ = true intelligence.
Why Are We So Ready To Believe?
Why are we so ready to believe?
Stimulation.
Stimulation:
Encouragement of something to make it develop or become more active.
The action of arousing interest, enthusiasm, or excitement.
The raising of levels of physiological or nervous activity in the body, or any biological system.
From birth, we are over-stimulated by stories, and then news. Once we’re stimulated, we want more, as a result of dopamine addiction. We merely have to watch people ‘engaged’ in life – inside the box, excited to take sides in stories, and limiting their use of language.
This is the same as Plato’s cave dwellers, who believe that the shadow projections on the wall are the only reality, while remaining unaware that they are, in fact, the reality of observation.
Pure consciousness is never stimulated,
while the mind and body are.
Pure consciousness is our true reality – take it back.
Wake up to being worked.
Until We Acknowledge Suffering
Until we acknowledge suffering, we will never realise the truth of suffering, or its cause.
Why not? Because we are either satisfied with how things are now, or we cover up dissatisfaction with form.
Form: a mould of ideas we acquire and live by.
We may talk about suffering and about the cause of suffering, and we may even chant and practice meditation, but if we have merely adopted the form, we’re of no use to anyone.
Until we feel the genuine horrendous-ness of how we exist, we will not look at why there is the suffering of confusion and arrogance in the world. The real cause of suffering is a belief in a self-image created by adopting the behaviour of communities oblivious to any sense of reality. That suffering is anything to which we cling, such as hope.
It is pure consciousness beyond form that acknowledges this charade. This clear light eliminates suffering, because we know the truth, and the cause of suffering.
The simpler the Dharma becomes, the more we recognise the complexities which obscure our true reality.
Simple Evil – Simple Goodness
When we can think for ourselves, we may come to a particular conclusion that others cannot see or don’t agree with. The realisation of our true reality of pure consciousness is simple; we just have to look, see and drop any ideas about it. It’s not at all complicated (even though religions make it so), and there’s no worshipping involved.
Once we know the goodness of clarity,
we know what isn’t clarity.
This simple realisation of knowing goes for evil as well. If goodness is knowing, then evil is not-knowing. This is the difference between the esoteric and the exoteric. Esoteric understanding knows, while exoteric understanding does not; it is only concerned with knowing about, or believing.
The conclusion is that not-knowing is the evil we talk about and which we meet every day; it’s the exoteric information meant for the many, while the esoteric is only realised by the few.
Simply put, evil is not knowing the clarity of pure consciousness.
Evil is believing.
Simply put, goodness is the clarity of pure consciousness.
Goodness is knowing.
We all think that we’re good and that we know when, in reality, we only know about and believe. If we do not – or cannot – recognise our dark side of justifying our confusion, we will remain reactive.
It’s not complicated.
We’ve merely been conditioned.
Karma Is Dharma
Karma is the habitual tendencies
which obscure our true reality.
Karma is Dharma
because it shows us these tendencies.
The purpose of life isn’t complicated.
Resting in pure awareness, there is nothing else.
No worries, no blame, empty of contrivances.
We can go through life in the yoga of one taste
– the direct connection with the senses –
doing whatever needs to be done,
and then dropping it, leaving no aftertaste.
😀
Religion Is Mind Control
Religion is mind control.
Spirituality is mind control.
Just to be clear:
Religion is group-think.
Spirituality is uni-think.
We control our mind by noticing that we are distracted.
Just be aware.
Shattered Ego
Ego is a fragile thing, as it’s easily activated through pride. Ego is Mara activity.
To the wise, however, Mara activity is a good sign, as we acknowledge its presence and remain at peace.
In this way, Mara – the creator of confusion – is our teacher.
Is the Universe An Illusion?
It can be said that the universe is an illusion. All matter comes and goes; it’s never constant, and thus, all things are impermanent.
There are only three unchanging factors: infinite space, awareness of that space, and the formula of attraction and repulsion that causes change on inert matter, and our reaction to it.
If we sped up time for a million years to pass in one second, what would remain? Space, awareness of that space, and the formula for re-creation.
This is realised in the stillness of meditation.
The question may arise, “So what?”
To non-practitioners, this is merely an unimportant idea.
To a genuine practitioner, this changes everything we hold dear.
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. 