Seeing, Recognising & Maintaining One's Enlightening Potential

[C T]

∞ TRALEG KYABGON RINPOCHE ∞

..Knowing this truth is noble..

 

We may discover, as the Buddha tells us, that the lack of substantiality or permanence in all that surrounds us gives rise to unhappiness and pain. This does not mean, however, that the experience of impermanence or non-substantiality is itself suffering or the direct cause of suffering. We misconstrue the Buddha’s message if we think it is the fact that all things are impermanent or non-substantial or without a solid self that generates suffering. These basic facts are not the truth of the origin of suffering. Dukkha is produced not by things themselves or by their insubstantial nature. Rather, our mind has been conditioned by ignorance into thinking that lasting happiness can be obtained through things that are ephemeral and transient.

[C T]

∞ PARAMITO LADAKH ∞

 

^{Non-doing is an act of complete trust in the intrinsic goodness of creative awareness,}

^{which engenders a spontaneous response to the needs of the moment,}

^{rather than a contrived or self-conscious reaction.}

[C T]

This one is for the mothers. The mother tree of Baribrang.

 

When Pema Lingpa’s mother passed away, he cremated her remains close to the cow shed where she had given birth to him. He then took a burnt piece of wood from the cremation pyre, planted it in the ground and made an aspiration that she would be liberated from this samsaric world. “If my mother achieves liberation, may this wood grow into a tree.”

 

The tree that grew out of a burnt wood stood the test of time, witnessed the birth of Bhutan as a nation, it stood as a testament to the love shared between a mother and her child and to the power of her child’s noble aspiration... the tree stands strong today, 500 years after the passing of Pema Lingpa himself.

 

[C T]

∞ LAMA TSULTRIM ALLIONE ∞

 

"Living without the full feminine for so many centuries, we don’t know what it would be like to live within a society where the feminine voice is not repressed, women’s bodies are not distorted, controlled or sold, and where both men and women live with balanced psyches. It’s as if all of humanity has lived with one side of its body atrophied.

 

The return of the feminine may be the most significant development of the new millennium. Although there have been steps to begin this process it would be naïve to think the reintegration is by any means complete. . .  We see that the process of healing the feminine wound has only just begun."

[C T]

∞ KALU RINPOCHE ∞

 

So let’s go back to talk about ourselves. When we call ourselves practitioners, the most important is not about how we practice, it is about how we maintain it. When I say maintain, it is not necessarily about practicing seven days a week, every morning and evening. That’s everybody can do, anybody can do. Just to down with some beautiful incense in a beautiful shrine, just reflect on everyone as a sentient being, and think about compassion to everyone, and so on… To have that kind of attitude when we are alone is very-very-very easy. And of course, that’s how we start as well. But many people have much harder life than that. So when I say maintaining, actually I mean that we should maintain our Dharma quality in life. It means that, if you are a practitioner you should never look for power, you should never look for fame, you should never look for position (most importantly, position). Because I’ve seen many senior practitioners, who are very very good practitioners in the beginning, but then they fall into the illusion of the power and control, position and title, and so on. The moment you want to have a title or a great position is the moment you are lost. You are no longer different from politicians who want to make positions and legacy for themselves.

[manitou]

11 hours ago, C T said:

∞ KALU RINPOCHE ∞

 

So let’s go back to talk about ourselves. When we call ourselves practitioners, the most important is not about how we practice, it is about how we maintain it. When I say maintain, it is not necessarily about practicing seven days a week, every morning and evening. That’s everybody can do, anybody can do. Just to down with some beautiful incense in a beautiful shrine, just reflect on everyone as a sentient being, and think about compassion to everyone, and so on… To have that kind of attitude when we are alone is very-very-very easy. And of course, that’s how we start as well. But many people have much harder life than that. So when I say maintaining, actually I mean that we should maintain our Dharma quality in life. It means that, if you are a practitioner you should never look for power, you should never look for fame, you should never look for position (most importantly, position). Because I’ve seen many senior practitioners, who are very very good practitioners in the beginning, but then they fall into the illusion of the power and control, position and title, and so on. The moment you want to have a title or a great position is the moment you are lost. You are no longer different from politicians who want to make positions and legacy for themselves.

 

So beautiful, and such good advice on merging  Dharma quality into our everyday life.

[C T]

21st century Heart Sutra chanting. So Zen... 

 

 

[C T]

Fondly remembering Thay's precious and comforting words that often shone a light on many a sorrowful night. 

 

 

[manitou]

3 hours ago, C T said:

21st century Heart Sutra chanting. So Zen... 

 

 

 

just WOW!  

[C T]

∞ PATRUL RINPOCHE ∞

Settling the Mind Within Whatever Occurs

An hour-long guided meditation

 

 

[C T]

[C T]

∞ KHENPO SODARGYE ∞ -

The Hundred Syllable Mantra of Vajrasattva 

 

 

 

[C T]

∞ PARAMITO LADAKH ∞ 

 

Mind stands firm in awareness, while the body,

subject to ageing, sickness and death, goes its own way.

 

 

Other's concerns, even their most sincere and well-meaning compassion, should not crush

one's clarity of understanding and purpose, particularly at the time of death.

Edited April 24, 2020 by C T

[C T]

∞ IDIOT COMPASSION ∞ 

 

An interesting & sometimes misunderstood concept within the minds of enough TDB members, and Buddhist practitioners in general. 

 

Being 'nice', or abstaining from truthful self-expression in the face of perceived irrationality, often out of being overly sensitive to peer opinions may not always be the compassionate option. In fact, it's often detrimental to conflict resolution because, in the main, it causes outer and inner impotence of body and speech, and subtle impotence of the 'secret body' or 'truth body'. 

 

Standing by passively, and maintaining a stance about peace and love in the face of oppression or crass speech & behaviour is right attitude/wrong application. Smart compassion can sometimes require the exercise of wrathful options, even if it means making others uncomfortable. This discomfort is their own baggage, and one should never take responsibility for carrying another's psychological baggage, no matter how light they appear. The cultivation of smart compassion is a very lonely endeavour, one reserved for the few with deep resolve and courage enough to be okay under the glare of overwhelming criticism, castigation, and even ostracisation. It is a road less travelled, and one must walk it in full awareness that along the way, friends and companions will excuse themselves as the path increasingly narrows. 

 

 

Quote

 

“Buddhists are supposed to be nice.” How many times have you heard that one? Buddhists are stereotyped as always being pleasant, soft-spoken and calm, and we aren’t always.

 

Many Buddhist teachers have said that being compassionate and being “nice” are two different things. Most of the time, “nice” is mere social convention. It says nothing at all about relating to other people except on a superficial level. Even sociopaths can be nice (I have seen this with my own eyes).  Sometimes the guy who is yelling and throwing furniture around is the one who cares. 

Idiot Compassion

“Idiot compassion” is a term attributed to the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, although he may have borrowed it from the Russian spiritual teacher George Gurdjieff. Idiot compassion can take several forms. The Rinpoche related it to “doing good” as an act of self-gratification.

“Idiot compassion is the highly conceptualized idea that you want to do good to somebody. At this point, good is purely related with pleasure. Idiot compassion also stems from not having enough courage to say no.”

Trungpa’s student Pema Chodron elaborated,

“It refers to something we all do a lot of and call it compassion. In some ways, it’s whats called enabling. It’s the general tendency to give people what they want because you can’t bear to see them suffering. Basically, you’re not giving them what they need. You’re trying to get away from your feeling of I can’t bear to see them suffering. In other words, you’re doing it for yourself. You’re not really doing it for them.”

“Nice” is often a strategy to avoid conflict. But isn’t avoiding conflict a good thing? Not always; there are times when engaging in conflict is compassion. Sometimes the urge to be “nice” is about maintaining a polite and pleasant facade over a situation we don’t want to confront.

 

For example, we’ve had a few situations in western Buddhism in which a teacher was taking sexual advantage of students. And sometimes the situation was allowed to continue for some time, even after it became common knowledge, mostly because the other students thought they shouldn’t be judgmental. But sometimes issues need to be addressed, and saying the “safe” or “socially correct” thing so you can be part of the crowd is very far from Right Speech.

 

There is a difference between “judgmental-ism” that tears other people down to build ourselves up, and making a qualitative judgment about a situation or behavior. If “Right Speech” means we’re supposed to stand by smiling while someone kicks a dog or endangers a child, you can have it. Fortunately, that isn’t what it means.

 

However, a lot of us are well conditioned to keep our noses out of other peoples’ activities, and it can be really uncomfortable to speak up. It’s so much easier to shrug things off, avert your eyes, and tell yourself you are not being judgmental. 

 

But those are the times when you really aren’t being judgmental, because it’s not your ego telling you to speak up. If your gut is telling you something needs to be addressed, but you fear doing so because of how other people will react to you, then it’s your ego telling you to stay quiet. If you know something is wrong but have to club your way through an internal wall of conditioning and fear of social censure to speak up, very probably you really need to speak up. And other people need you to speak up, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2020 by C T

[C T]

∞ ERIK PEMA KUNSANG ∞

Resting the mind from being caught up in hope and fear is authentic meditation practice

 

 

(Erik is an accomplished Tibetan translator/interpreter, and illustrious student of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche since the 70s)

[C T]

∞ KARL BRUNNHOLZL ∞ 

 

“As the 8th Karmapa extensively discussed, buddha nature is not just some small core or space that is literally and only located “within” every sentient being. In fact, it is the other way round—our whole existence as sentient beings is in itself the sum of adventitious stains that just float like clouds within the infinite, bright sky of buddha nature, the luminous, open expanse of our mind that has no limits or boundaries. Once these clouds dissolve due to the warm rays of the sun of wisdom shining within this sky, nothing within sentient beings has been freed or improved, but there is just this radiant expanse without any reference points of cloudlike sentient beings or cloud-free buddhas."

[idiot_stimpy]

Quote

The nature of phenomena is nondual,
but each one, in its own state,
is beyond the limits of the mind.
There is no concept that can define
the condition of “what is”
but vision nevertheless manifests:
all is good.
Everything has already been accomplished,
and so, having overcome the sickness of effort,
one finds oneself in the self-perfected state:
this is contemplation.

 

[manitou]

9 hours ago, C T said:

∞ KARL BRUNNHOLZL ∞ 

 

“As the 8th Karmapa extensively discussed, buddha nature is not just some small core or space that is literally and only located “within” every sentient being. In fact, it is the other way round—our whole existence as sentient beings is in itself the sum of adventitious stains that just float like clouds within the infinite, bright sky of buddha nature, the luminous, open expanse of our mind that has no limits or boundaries. Once these clouds dissolve due to the warm rays of the sun of wisdom shining within this sky, nothing within sentient beings has been freed or improved, but there is just this radiant expanse without any reference points of cloudlike sentient beings or cloud-free buddhas."

 

This reminds me that we are like balloons in the sky.  There's no separation of the air inside or outside - it's just contained in a temporary shape of balloon skin.

[C T]

 

∞ H U N G ∞

[C T]

∞ TILOPA TO NAROPA ∞

 

Child, it is not by appearances that you are fettered, but by craving.

[C T]

And the most destructive cravings are the rousing desires associated with moments of well-being, of clarity, of peace, of gaps in confusion and dis-ease, even moments of non-dual experiences of profound ordinariness to remain as one feels them slipping away as the mind slowly begin to wander after a time of retreat or practice, and begin to trick itself into a narrative that then generates a karmic link to habits around the idea that thoughts and emotions that are anti to those other enlightening moments are to be shunned. So one sets about creating (doing/intellectualizing) what is believed to be situations conducive to the re-arising of those former states, and then normalizing these actions as somehow Dharmic. 

 

This is a very subtle trap. 

[C T]

Further reflection on Cheshire Cat's comment on the Sex with a Dakini thread regarding the possible scam that dream yoga is: 

 

In a more traditional Vajrayana setting, dream yoga has never been propagated as a stand-alone practice. It requires gradual layering (not sure if this sounds right, but thats the feel of it anyway) where one practice folds seamlessly into another, and another, and so on. Some of the modern approaches available today are, as you say, scams at best. Its even irresponsible and careless to encourage anyone to DIY and experiment with the outcomes. 

 

Milam is impossible to learn from books, just as one cannot learn to cook from reading a recipe manual, or learn to drive from watching a youtube instructional video. Or carry out dicey repairs of any kind, for that matter. One can always make the attempt, sure, but there are potential pitfalls that, fortunately, only an experienced instructor can point out. At its best, a manual will make you the best facsimile there can be, but to attain authentic results, a teacher's guidance is key to mastery. Confidence is vital because one builds the practice from that space. This saves time and energy. 

 

The practice of dream yoga or milam is an excellent one because dreams don't lie. An authentic teacher is useful as he or she will keep the student honest.

 

In Milam, either one is able to actualize a fully pregnant dream mandala ready to bestow realizations, or not. Unless one practices without guidance, delusion can be allayed. If the mandala does not gradually crystallize in one's dreams, to say it does is just dishonest. Instruction manuals don't help much because the 'construction' of a mandala is unique to the individual practitioner. And because of its intricate nature and precise designations of where each pure being 'sits' within the mandala, a teacher will know instantly the maturing level of a practitioner (of milam/dream yoga). The perfection of milam is the assurance that, upon reaching the bardo of dying, there will be no fear because the visions that follow at the onset of the bardo of death will not be different from the bulk of auspicious visions cultivated in dream yoga. 

 

Milam is where the actual power is cultivated, because in the fluid nature of the dream state, one can assume any and all of the qualities of Samantabhadra, & Karmamudra practice is where this power, when accessed propitiously and thru the enlightened activity of the Dakini, enjoins the wisdom nature of Samantabhadri. This entwining of the essences is symbolised by the sun (Samantabhadra) and moon (Samantabhadri) in perfect union. For a female practitioner, its reversed, so milam is where wisdom is cultivated, and the full actualization of the perfection of the path unfolds in karmamudra. 

 

I have no experience or insight with milam as promulgated by other traditions, or whether they employ a similar approach of working with their own mandala-like symbols. If not, then I have no idea how these traditions measure progress with their work. 

[C T]

First, the momentum of your practice will continue into your dreams; then it will continue on through the intermediate states, and on to the next life. 

Edited May 1, 2020 by C T

[manitou]

On 4/14/2020 at 1:03 AM, C T said:

 

If you want to have real quiescent extinction appear before you, you must make a sudden leap within the fires of birth and death, and leap out without moving a hairsbreadth. 

 

 

An odd statement.  What do you consider a real quiescent extinction to be?  I interpret it to be the ability to jump from dual to singularity when observing something - the two ways of understanding it as per the DDJ.  But I've never heard that expression before.  Can you clarify, or what does it mean to you?

 

They are far from realizing that is like a rock pressing down on the grass. Though for a time they become aware that the scene is cut off, nevertheless the root and branches are still there: when will they experience quiescent extinction to the full?

 

And yet an odder statement.  A rock pressing down on the grass?  And then referring to root and branches?   It's there, I'm sure.  I'm just not seeing it.

[manitou]

9 hours ago, C T said:

First, the momentum of your practice will continue into your dreams; then it will continue on through the intermediate states, and on to the next life. 

 

I used to dream a lot.  Now I don't dream at all, haven't for years - unless it is something for a healing, and occasionally I'll get a message of what to do.  If there are no dreams to go to, where would the momentum of a practice end up?