Seeing, Recognising & Maintaining One's Enlightening Potential

[manitou]

 

Edited September 28, 2015 by manitou

[manitou]

Primordial wisdom...

 

 

 

Is that a CD?  I must have it!

 

(double post)

[manitou]

Well, make this a triple post.  Every time I hit the quote button (on your Primordial Wisdom post), the wrong picture pops up.  I'm wondering about the blue one with the character on it.

 

Well, now I'm listening to the other one.   Wow.  Thank you so much.

 

I'll google around and see if I can find these.  What a beautiful wash of refreshment both give to the heart.  Thank you again  _/\ _

 

 

 

P.S. I may have thanked you a little too soon.  As you're no doubt aware of my computer skills, I cannot figure out how to turn off the second one, lol.  I'm trying everything.....oh well, in about 40 minutes I'm going to be very wise.

Edited September 28, 2015 by manitou

[steve]

Is that a CD?  I must have it!

 

(double post)

 

Ask and you shall receive,  I'll send it along with the others... 

[manitou]

Thank you, my friend.  Talk to you folks in a week when I get back from California.  I don't think I'll be online.  

[steve]

Safe travels, dear one

[C T]

Buddhist teachings can be divided into three parts: sila, samadhi, and prajna: ethical conduct, concentration, and wisdom. Or to put it into the vernacular: clean up your act, concentrate your mind, and use your concentrated mind to investigate reality.

 

~ Leigh Brasington

[C T]

"If we have a good heart, we experience much happiness and relaxation. We have no reason to feel angry or jealous and we have a very happy mind. When we speak,sweet words come out. Even our face is happy and smiling. At night we go to bed with a happy mind and have a very comfortable sleep, without any worries.

 

Otherwise, if we live our life with a very selfish, ungenerous mind, we think about nothing else except me, me, me: ‘When will I be happy? When will I be free from these problems?’ If our attitude is like this, jealousy and anger arise easily, strongly and repeatedly, so we experience much unhappiness in our life, many ups-and-downs. During the day we have a cold heart and at night we even go to bed with a cold heart and unhappy mind."

 

~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche, ‘Practicing the Good Heart’

[C T]

All apparent divisions, derived according to perceived attributes, are a conditioned product of the discursive mind. When the discursive mind dissolves inwardly into the empty luminosity of the ground consciousness, so too do all those apparent divisions that it gave rise to. 

 

~ Paramito Ladakh

[C T]

When thoughts come while you are meditating, let them come; there’s no need to regard them as your enemies. When they arise, relax in their arising. On the other hand, if they don’t arise, don’t be nervously wondering whether or not they will. Just rest in their absence. 

If big, well-defined thoughts suddenly appear during your meditation, it is easy to recognize them. But when slight, subtle movements occur, it is hard to realize that they are there until much later. This is what we call namtok wogyu, the undercurrent of mental wandering. This is the thief of your meditation, so it is important for you to keep a close watch. If you can be constantly mindful, both in meditation and afterward, when you are eating, sleeping, walking, or sitting, that’s it – you’ve got it right!

~ Dudjom Rinpoche

 

[C T]

"You understand that all phenomena are false, but this does not help anything. This understanding, that everything is dream-like, illusory, unreal and false should be assimilated in your being. Without taking it to heart it becomes mere platitude. This does not result in enlightenment.

 

"If you think that appearance and emptiness are indivisible, you should be detached from appearances. Are you?

 

If you think that buddhas and sentient beings are indivisible, you should honor and serve sentient beings to the same degree as you would the buddhas. Do you do that?

 

If you think, 'I will have no karmic ripening even if I engage in the ten nonvirtues,' you should be able to accept the ten nonvirtuous actions of others directed towards yourself - even if you yourself are killed. Can you do that?

 

If you think, 'Even if I were to engage in the ten virtues there would be no benefit,' you should not have any sense of joy when you are benefitted by others who are practicing the ten virtues - even if your own life is saved. Do you?

 

Now, go again to a solitary place and let your body remain like a corpse, let your voice remain like that of a mute and let your mind remain like the sky."

 

~ anonymous

[manitou]

 

"If you think that appearance and emptiness are indivisible, you should be detached from appearances. Are you?

 

 

 

 

 

This one hits a woman hard, particularly if you have been an attractive woman all your life.  I have had the good (or bad) fortune of being one, and for a long time the two tracks were separate.  I was on the track of metaphysical realization, in addition to cultivating my inner self, kicked off by the Steps of Recovery 34 years ago.  That process has always continued, it still prevails.

 

But I have this huge turquoise jewelry collection. Big, wonderful, sometimes clunky chunks of turquoise and silver.  I've always loved it, it's what I would collect on our camping travels in the U.S., when we were doing that.  And I've always worn make-up, of course for the purpose of being more attractive.

 

One day, about a year ago, I stopped wearing the jewelry.  I don't know why, suddenly it stopped appealing to me - it seemed like a shallow attempt for attention, and I wondered why I did it.  I stopped wearing make-up.  This is something that I was initially fearful about - it had been a strong part of my (false) identity for a long time.  Seems like a subtle change, but it's actually kind of huge.

 

Funny, this path thing.

[steve]

"You understand that all phenomena are false, but this does not help anything. This understanding, that everything is dream-like, illusory, unreal and false should be assimilated in your being. Without taking it to heart it becomes mere platitude. This does not result in enlightenment.

 

"If you think that appearance and emptiness are indivisible, you should be detached from appearances. Are you?

 

If you think that buddhas and sentient beings are indivisible, you should honor and serve sentient beings to the same degree as you would the buddhas. Do you do that?

 

If you think, 'I will have no karmic ripening even if I engage in the ten nonvirtues,' you should be able to accept the ten nonvirtuous actions of others directed towards yourself - even if you yourself are killed. Can you do that?

 

If you think, 'Even if I were to engage in the ten virtues there would be no benefit,' you should not have any sense of joy when you are benefitted by others who are practicing the ten virtues - even if your own life is saved. Do you?

 

Now, go again to a solitary place and let your body remain like a corpse, let your voice remain like that of a mute and let your mind remain like the sky."

 

~ anonymous

 

I love this, and in some ways it's even better that the author is anonymous. 

[manitou]

It always seems better when the author is anonymous.  The book that changed my entire life was written by an anonymous author - The Impersonal Life - which is the best thing written I've ever seen for developing the I Am consciousness in a way where something was 'added to you', the understanding of what the I Am consciousness means.  

 

It seems like the I Am consciousness is normally found by subtracting things from yourself - our desire for more, our desire to be first in things, our desire to be right, our need to be selfish, etc - but The Impersonal Life approached it from a different angle.

 

I recall being slightly disappointed when I learned the name of the author - Joseph Benner, a Jesuit I believe - the book is published both ways, both with him as author and Anonymously.  Maybe it's the old axiom of 'familiarity breeding contempt', lol.  We'd rather think the book is channeled without any entrance of the personality of the writer at all.  Or at least that's my take on my own 'prejudice'.

 

Which is dumb.

[C T]

With bodhicitta one enjoys happiness. With bodhicitta one enjoys even sorrow. With bodhicitta one enjoys what is there. With bodhicitta one enjoys even what is not there.

 

It is because of bodhicitta that one gives up the pleasure of meditative concentration, and in order to relieve others of their suffering, goes down to the deepest hell as if into a pleasure park.

 

~ Khunu Lama Rinpoche

 

[manitou]

 

 

It is because of bodhicitta that one gives up the pleasure of meditative concentration, and in order to relieve others of their suffering, goes down to the deepest hell as if into a pleasure park.

 

 

 

 

 

Woof!  I've never seen this discussed on this forum before - maybe I've just not been on the right threads.  It's as though the circle has completed itself and then goes further within.

 

To accompany someone into their own hell - to understand their emotions, their pain, their fear - one has to have truly walked through their own hell.  And once the Dao is found, the One, it's an amazing thing to be 'here and yet not here' in that situation.  Our vision is clear because we are not buying into their fears.  We can be helpful because our home base is Love - the most potent of all dynamics when used in the right way.

 

We can go anywhere as long as we keep one foot on Home Base, our meditative contemplation.   It's actually sort of practicing the Middle Way by bringing a spiritual balance to their situation.

 

Going through death with someone is much the same.  Here and there at the same time.

 

This is rather hard to put into words.

[C T]

If you don’t reflect on death and impermanence,
There’ll be no way to practise Dharma purely.
Practice will remain an aspiration,
One that is constantly postponed.
And you may feel regret the day that death comes,
But by then it’s too late!

 

~ Chatral Rinpoche

 

[C T]

True dharma practice is a revolutionary activity, and you can’t do it in a comfortable way. You really have to challenge the whole identity of your life. But the strength that’s asked for is not necessarily the strength of eliminating the impurities of body and mind, or fighting against the defilements of greed, hatred, and delusion, the inner corruptions, though this language is very common in Theravadin, Tibetan, and Zen Buddhism. The strength that’s needed is the courage of heart to remain undefended and open, a willingness to touch the ten-thousand joys and the ten-thousand sorrows from our compassion, the deepest place of our being. This is a different kind of fearlessness, which requires as much or more passion and fire.

~ Jack Kornfield

[manitou]

 

If you don’t reflect on death and impermanence,

There’ll be no way to practise Dharma purely.

Practice will remain an aspiration,

One that is constantly postponed.

And you may feel regret the day that death comes,

But by then it’s too late!

 

~ Chatral Rinpoche

 

 

 

Tolle says an important thing about death - that the society which does not acknowledge death, the society that hides it - is a very shallow society indeed.  Compare the traditional Japanese or Chinese culture to the American (and maybe European?) society and this can be seen as a truism.  How very shallow we are, our emphasis on material accumulation and searching out quantity rather than quality.

 

I have recently become more aware of death - perhaps because my mother is getting close - perhaps because I am getting older.  In order to bring death close to home, I've recently been looking at my mother, spouse and my pets - knowing that one day these entities will pass.  I've never really looked at it quite this imminently before....actually looking at someone somewhat healthy, and seeing him as though he is dying.  This has made a difference to me - I can look, and feel the ache in my heart, as though they were already gone.

 

An interesting exercise.

[manitou]

True dharma practice is a revolutionary activity, and you can’t do it in a comfortable way. You really have to challenge the whole identity of your life. But the strength that’s asked for is not necessarily the strength of eliminating the impurities of body and mind, or fighting against the defilements of greed, hatred, and delusion, the inner corruptions, though this language is very common in Theravadin, Tibetan, and Zen Buddhism. The strength that’s needed is the courage of heart to remain undefended and open, a willingness to touch the ten-thousand joys and the ten-thousand sorrows from our compassion, the deepest place of our being. This is a different kind of fearlessness, which requires as much or more passion and fire.

 

~ Jack Kornfield

 

 

This reminds me of the 'courage to have the heart of a child'.  To not judge - to accept things and people just as they are.  A child does this, until he unlearns it and the world teaches him judgment and negativity.  When I was younger, I was always afraid of being thought of as naive, for some reason - probably because I skipped a grade in school and was always playing catch-up in my own mind, catching up with the kids in my class who were a year older.  This took me down a nasty path starting in junior high school - but I was afraid that my classmates would think me too young and naive, so I took my actions to the opposite extreme.

 

And fearful to cry, to let someone see my tenderness - which I certainly had but didn't want anyone to see.  It seems to take a lifetime to sort this hardness of heart out.  Courage indeed - and if it weren't for the ravages (and ultimate recovery from) alcoholism, I'd still be painfully pretending that I was big and strong.  LOL.  Being a cop didn't help any.

[C T]

[manitou]

A beautiful and gentle video, and stressing the importance of keeping death close to realize the value of life.  To realize life as the journey it is, is such a blessing.  We are travelers through our Dharma - this makes me want to go to a Buddhist temple in Pittsburgh and meditate there.  Thank you, CT.

[C T]

We're constantly surrounded by potential causes of death, and by the news of the dead and dying, yet many people still wander around in denial, thinking to themselves “It can never possibly happen to me - not yet!”

 

However, each moment that passes is yet another moment closer to the end of our precious human life, and we have absolutely no idea how or when death will strike - it really is that uncertain. The only certainty is that it's going to happen.

 

Each passing moment of our life is so precious - Each moment we have a chance to do something that can contribute towards better rebirths in samsara, and even liberation, and enlightenment. So use what precious life that you have left, in a way that you will be able to face death with as few regrets as possible.

 

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

 

[C T]

 

SARAHA

 

 

Behold! Yogis who abide in the immutable nature of nonduality possess not the least desire for accepting or rejecting. Since I neither hold nor discard anything, there is nothing I would tell you, my sons, to do. Just as the "holy grail" (mani) of the mind has no objective substantiality, so the conduct of a yogi is a life devoid of external trappings. Even though we talk of various ways of behaviour, the yogi acts directly out of his perception. And since that is not determined [by external rules or conditions], the yogis conduct is completely free and unconditioned. Like an innocent child, or a crazy person without premeditation, so one should act.

 

Emaho! Mind is like a lotus, growing up out of the mud of Samsara! How ever many are the defilements, it remains unstained. Let food and drink, sensual pleasures, or the afflictions of mind and body, be just as they are. Whatever occurs, there is nothing to do or liberate.

 

In the state of realization's spontaneous display of conduct, upon witnessing the suffering of worldly beings, tears of overwhelming compassion naturally flow forth. Taking on their suffering and giving in return one's own well-being, thus one engages in healing others for their sake. Examining what is, one finds that reality is free from the three constructs of subject, object and medium. Worldly existence is unreal; it is like a dream or a magical illusion. Free of attachment and aversion, the yogi experiences a pure joy devoid of sorrow, and acts like a master of illusion putting on a performance.

 

 

Excerpt from:

The Mahamudra Dohakosa

 

[C T]

Within the Buddhist tradition, one generally distinguishes between two types of meditation. One type is a resting meditation or settling the mind, and the other is an analytical or investigating meditation. Some practitioners think that these two forms of meditation are in opposition to each other, like water and fire. That view implies that if you have one, you cannot have the other. One might think that if you practice analytical meditation, you will not be able to place the mind evenly in absorption meditation, and if you practice absorption meditation, it will exclude the possibility of analytical meditation.
.
It seems that most people actually prefer absorption meditation because they think of analytical meditation as a lot of work. They think, "Oh, analytic meditation is not good because you have to use a lot of effort, you have to read many books, and generally you have to think a lot." It seems that most students would prefer simply to practice a form of resting meditation. Thus, we should ask why there seems to be this preference for resting meditation and so little enthusiasm for engaging in analytical meditation.
.
One reason that meditators may not be so enthusiastic about analytical meditation is that they think thoughts and concepts will increase through engaging in the process of analysis. From books they have read, they have understood that the meaning of meditation is to "be without thoughts." As a result, many people have developed the preconception that meditation should be without any mental activity, whatsoever. They think that the ability to rest or meditate as if one were a stone is a sign of good meditation. When it appears that analytical meditation increases conceptions and thoughts, then their preconception that "good meditation is without thoughts" prevents these meditators from considering analytical meditation to be true meditation. When practicing this type of meditation, one does have the feeling that thoughts are increasing. This is how it apparently is; thoughts do increase, apparently.
.
~ Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen