steve Posted July 27, 2014 Tomorrow is Sunday. I'm goona hang out at 12,000 feet and sit on a rock and maybe gaze into space or watch marmots… and then watch a quiet flowing stream of pristine snow-melt come right out of an ancient glacial moraine lined with grass and flowers… eh. heeheehee!!❤❤ Despite the fact that I am trying to live without the burden of hopes and desire... I wish I were there with you! Well, I guess that I am... Wonderful view, no? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deci belle Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) Haha!! I just smile on those pesky hopes and desires.❤❤ Yes, I went and returned. I left home at 6:00 am and reached the cirque as the sun was peeking over the highest point to the east. The sun took its time coming out of the clouds and the mosquitos took their time (with me). Instead of hanging out by the water, I picked my way up through 300m of rock on the inclined talus slope comprised of jumbled-up small, large and monolithic granite formations to a little section of steep solid rock (with biG holds) for about 10m to reach the knife-edged ridge about 150m shy of the highest peak overlooking the alpine cirque. I scampered south away from the peak along a particularly thin section called the Catwalk. I've also crawled on hands and knees during blizzards over that same section with skis strapped to my pack… sometimes clients (I guide) refuse to go across that part (there's a mellower way that traverses a little below the Catwalk). At any rate, thunder rang out once at that point while on the ridge. I got off the steep part of the ridge by 10:30 am. Half way down the mountain, it pealed again. As I reached my car an hour after the 1st rumble, a thunderclap boomed a third time, and as I drove from the trailhead, the mountain was very dark. The drive home was heinous! I had never seen the likes of the downpour. Many cars were pulled off the freeway, but I just left it in 5th gear and kept going even though it was impossible to see on occasion. It ended up raining about 4" over the course of the afternoon where I live! I'm praying for El Niño to bury my mountains with snow this winter!! ed note: add the part about "jumbled-up small, large and monolithic granite formations" in the 2nd paragraph Edited July 28, 2014 by deci belle Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deci belle Posted July 28, 2014 "Those who realize on their own do not need to seek outside. If you insist absolutely that a teacher is necessary in order to attain liberation, that is not right. Why? Because there is a teacher within one's own mind that understands spontaneously. If you create falsehood, confusion, erroneous thought and delusion, then even if a teacher gives you instruction, it cannot help you. If you activate the insight of genuine prajna, in an instant erroneous thoughts all vanish. If you knew your own nature, with one realization you immediately reach buddhahood. Insight sees through inside and out, clearly penetrating, discerning your own original mind. If you know your original mind, you are fundamentally liberated. If you attain liberation, this is prajna samadhi, which is freedom from thought. What is freedom from thought? If you see all things without the mind being affected or attached, this is freedom from thought. Its function pervades everywhere, without being attached anywhere. Just purify the basic mind…" —from the second section of The Sutra of Hui-Neng. Translated by Thomas Clearly 1998. ISBN 1-57062-348-1 Hui-Neng was the 6th Chan patriarch and the last to receive the robe and bowl signifying the seal of transmission imparting the teaching of the direct lineage from Bodhidharma, himself the 27th Venerable teacher of the Supreme Vehicle passed on from Shakyamuni Buddha. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
