Seeing, Recognising & Maintaining One's Enlightening Potential

[C T]

there's this: 

 

"To solidify around a thought, word or deed; to identify with, and then become, that thought, word or deed; to be bound up so tightly in notions of “I am” or “I am not”; these are the very causes and conditions out of which the suffering of self-identification inevitably arises." ~ P. Ladakh

 

 

Then i reflected the above with what Ven. Ajahn Chah said:

 

"Actually in my own practice I didn't have a teacher to give as much teachings as all of you get from me. I didn't have many teachers. I ordained in an ordinary village temple and lived in village temples for quite a few years. In my mind I conceived the desire to practice, I wanted to be proficient, I wanted to train. There wasn't anybody giving any teaching in those monasteries but the inspiration to practice arose. I traveled and I looked around. I had ears so I listened, I had eyes so I looked. Whatever I heard people say, I'd tell myself, 'Not sure.' Whatever I saw, I told myself, 'Not sure,' or when the tongue contacted sweet, sour, salty, pleasant or unpleasant flavours, or feelings of comfort or pain arose in the body, I'd tell myself, 'This is not a sure thing'! And so I lived with dhamma."

 

 

 

 

 

One who is aware can renounce attachment to arisings. 

This cuts immediately the causes of contraction. 

 

Contraction is the basis for aversive and negative emotional reactions. 

Where the causes of contractive states are not present, 

Aversion and negativity have no seed. 

 

Maintaining freedom from I-solidification is not that difficult. 

 

Simply allow for things to come as they are, and go as they will. 

 

 

 

 

[manitou]

And yet, if there is a situation wherein we see that we can do something, is it better to let it come and go?  I struggle with this.

 

I note that the third paragraph refers to contraction only - to aversion, and not the opposite, attraction.  Is living a blasé existence the ultimate in attainment?  I don't know the answer to this.  Is there a place for kindness and compassion?  Is there a place to do for others, or does the master let them remain in the karma of their own making, understanding (perhaps with compassion) that they have placed themselves there and are merely living out their karmic remnants?  Or should we be only concerned with our own happiness, leveling out our own karma, seeking bliss for ourselves?  There seems to be an inherent disconnect with what the masters would say, and what we actually run into in mundane living.

 

Or do we merely remain centered in the channel of balance within, and act according to what our own instincts tell us to do at the moment?  And yet not grasp at these actions to be part of our self-identification?  I suspect that this may be the case.

 

To tell ourselves 'Not sure' is wonderful.  I think to tell ourselves 'It's all good" is equally wonderful.  Although it would seem to be the opposite of 'It's all bad', it doesn't feel that way.  Rather, it feels more like total acceptance of that which is.

[C T]

Look into the awakened mind of your own awareness! It has neither form nor color, neither center nor edge. At first, it has no origin but is empty. Next, it has no dwelling place but is empty. At the end, it has no destination but is empty. This emptiness is not made of anything and is clear and cognizant. When you see this and recognize it, you know your natural face. You understand the nature of things. You have then seen the nature of mind, resolved the basic state of reality and cut through doubts about topics of knowledge.

 

This awakened mind of awareness is not made out of any material substance; it is self-existing and inherent in yourself. This is the nature of things that is easy to realize because it is not to be sought for elsewhere. This is the nature of mind that does not consist of a concrete perceiver and something perceived to fixate on. It defies the limitations of permanence and annihilation. In it there is no thing to awaken; the awakened state of enlightenment is your own awareness that is naturally awake. In it there is no thing that goes to the hells; awareness is naturally pure. In it there is no practice to carry out; its nature is naturally cognizant. This great view of the natural state is present in yourself: resolve that it is not to be sought for elsewhere.

 

~ Guru Rinpoche

[manitou]

The moment before reaction occurs.

[Tibetan_Ice]

The moment before reaction occurs.

The moment before conceptualization or mental grasping occur.

[manitou]

Truly, thank you, TI

[C T]

[steve]

Wonderful!

Thanks CT

[Brian]

That's sorta the Mongolian variation of Om Mani Padme Hum, right? Still associated with Avalokitasvara or Guan Yin?

[C T]

That's sorta the Mongolian variation of Om Mani Padme Hum, right? Still associated with Avalokitasvara or Guan Yin?

I think you are right!

[C T]

posted video this morning at 10.44 am. 

 

replied to Brian's post at 10.44 pm.

 

odd

[Brian]

Synchronicities abound.

[manitou]

posted video this morning at 10.44 am. 

 

replied to Brian's post at 10.44 pm.

 

odd

 

 

I've noticed that Brian can cause one to become totally bipolar.

[Brian]

 

I've noticed that Brian can cause one to become totally bipolar.

Just one of the many services I offer...

[C T]

Just one of the many services I offer...

to even out some of the oddities that abound? 

 

Good

Edited February 6, 2016 by C T

[manitou]

I was really taken with the energetic balance of the artist singing.  Effortless - it reminded me of the Dao where it says the crying of a baby is so strong yet so innocent and devoid of intention.  I'm not sure I've ever seen anything more beautiful.

 

I went to China some years back with a group of photographers.  The last night we were there was New Years Eve, and we were in a  restaurant in the top of a building in Shanghai.   There was a small group playing there, one of the men was playing the same square 'cello' type instrument as in the video.  Our group was all standing at the big windows, looking over the lights of Shanghai.  I walked up to the man playing the instrument and asked if he knew Auld Lang Syne, which of course he didn't understand me.  I hummed the song, and instantaneously he smiled and they started playing the song.

 

At the window, we just all put our arms around each others' waists and swayed to the music, looking out, knowing this would be our last night together.  I was not the only one with tears in my eyes.

[C T]

Here, in the thick darkness of deluded ignorance, there shines a vajra chain of awareness, self-arisen with whatever appears. Within uncontrived vividness, unimpeded through the three times, may we arrive at the capital of nondual great bliss. Think of me, think of me; Guru dharmakaya, think of me.

 

~ Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa

[C T]

Unless you practise dharma according to the dharma, dharma itself becomes the cause of evil rebirths.

 

— Gampopa

[manitou]

 

Unless you practise dharma according to the dharma, dharma itself becomes the cause of evil rebirths.

 

— Gampopa

 

This is to stay in singularity?

 

also, what are the 3 times mentioned in the first one?

Edited February 7, 2016 by manitou

[Seeker of Wisdom]

[...] also, what are the 3 times mentioned in the first one?

 

Past, present, future.

[manitou]

Past, present, future.

Oh, duh.  LOL.

[steve]

"During conception, even the physical substance on which the self is conventionally based - the egg and sperm - belong to someone else, the parents; still you can say that it belongs to the self also. The body comes from someone else, but as soon as the consciousness enters, it's that new person's body, embryo, fetus, or whatever you want to call it, even though prior to that it wasn't. So the physical constituents of the embryo come from two different people; but as soon as the consciousness enters the mixed cell, that cell now belongs to the consciousness."

 

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

[manitou]

 still you can say that it belongs to the self also. 

 

It's like past, present, future.  'Still you can say that it belongs to the self also', because it is the consciousness itself that attracts the body, or the building of the body.  There is the body in retrospect - the moment prior to conception, or the twinkle in the eyes of the parents; the joining of the egg and sperm, the present; and the future body which manifests around the consciousness.

 

And Oroborous continues to eat his tail, here and now.  The karmic remnants, the string of pearls, that is a continuous play, acted out by ourselves, our ancestors, our descendants.

[RigdzinTrinley]

"During conception, even the physical substance on which the self is conventionally based - the egg and sperm - belong to someone else, the parents; still you can say that it belongs to the self also. The body comes from someone else, but as soon as the consciousness enters, it's that new person's body, embryo, fetus, or whatever you want to call it, even though prior to that it wasn't. So the physical constituents of the embryo come from two different people; but as soon as the consciousness enters the mixed cell, that cell now belongs to the consciousness."

 

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

There is this long passage in the BCA of Shantideva that is very much in line with what H.H. is saying.

 

It made me ponder a lot and still does

 

Not only is the basis of our body "other" and not "self" (the mothers ovum and the fathers sperm)

 

Also everything that formed and sustains it is other, the air we breath, the food we eat, liquids we drink etc

 

Everything we cling to as a embodied self is made up of other (I dare say exclusively other)

 

If you want to use this line of conventional reasoning, ultimately self and other are hard to maintain

 

relatively this body we cling to so strongly is composed of other and sustained by other then what usually think of as self - still such clinging

 

(I just experienced the clinging to the body as self while getting a wisdom tooth extracted, what a blood fest - in India no sedatives for that operation just local anaesthesia)

 

Made me once again aware that book learning and intellectual understanding do not equal embodied realisation

Edited February 9, 2016 by RigdzinTrinley

[steve]

I also felt a visceral impact when first reading this quote.

"... but as soon as soon as the consciousness enters the mixed cell, that cell now belongs to the consciousness."

I can't even yet put into words why but the utter truth of this statement reverberates in me.

 

Our body, our world, our thoughts... everything we identify with is so clearly not "ours" for there is nothing we can find that can be said to be "me." And yet how can one really say that anything is not me? Just as I am not this and that, here I am in communion with the experience of everything I encounter so how could "I" be anything else?

 

Words fail me and yet that fundamental paradox of being and not being seems to be captured in this elegant passage.