Before Talking To The Teacher: Observe Yourself

[Mark Foote]

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

      And the mome raths outgrabe.

[Mark Foote]

On 4/20/2025 at 1:17 PM, Mark Foote said:

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

      And the mome raths outgrabe.
 

 

 

Carroll was a mathematics don at Oxford, so you know he had to talk nonsense once in a while...

Gautama's great insight was that mindfulness of thought is only one of four pins kept up in the air in mindfulness, the other three pins being mindfulness of the body, of the feelings, and of the state of mind. 

 

Gautama described the mindfulness that made up his way of living, both before and after his enlightenment:

 

… Setting mindfulness in front of (oneself), (one) breathes in mindfully and mindfully breathes out.

 

As (one) draws in a long breath (one) knows: A long breath I draw in. [As (one) breathes out a long breath (one) knows: I breathe out a long breath.] As (one) draws in a short breath (one) knows: A short breath I draw in. As (one) breathes out a short breath (one) knows: I breathe out a short breath.

 

Thus (one) makes up (one’s) mind:

 

I shall breathe in, feeling it go through the whole body. Feeling it go through the whole body I shall breath out.

 

Calming down the bodily aggregate I shall breathe in. Calming down the bodily aggregate I shall breathe out. 

 

 

Thus (one) makes up (one’s) mind:

 

Feeling the thrill of zest I shall breathe in. Feeling the thrill of zest I shall breathe out.

 

Feeling the sense of ease I shall breathe in. Feeling the sense of ease I shall breathe out.

 

 

(One) makes up one’s mind:

 

“Aware of all mental factors I shall breathe in. Aware of all mental factors I will breathe out.

 

Calming down the mental factors I shall breathe in. Calming down the mental factors I shall breathe out. 

 

 

Aware of mind I shall breathe in. Aware of mind I shall breathe out.

 

(One) makes up one’s mind:

 

“Gladdening my mind I shall breathe in. Gladdening my mind I shall breathe out.

 

Composing my mind I shall breathe in. Composing my mind I shall breathe out.

 

Detaching my mind I shall breathe in. Detaching my mind I shall breathe out. 

 

 

(One) makes up one’s mind:

 

Contemplating impermanence I shall breathe in. Contemplating impermanence I shall breathe out.

 

Contemplating dispassion I shall breathe in. Contemplating dispassion I shall breathe out.

 

Contemplating cessation I shall breathe in. Contemplating cessation I shall breathe out.

 

Contemplating renunciation I shall breathe in. Contemplating renunciation I shall breathe out.

 

 

(SN 54.1, tr. Pali Text Society vol V pp 275-276)

 

 

My summary:

 

1) Relax the activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation;

 

2) Find a feeling of ease and calm the senses connected with balance, in inhalation and exhalation;

 

3) Appreciate and detach from thought, in inhalation and exhalation;

 

4) Look to the free location of consciousness for the automatic activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation.
 

 

The sense of ease is the ease of automatic activity by virtue of the retention of consciousness with the singular point of "embodied self-location".

 

 

Edited Saturday at 12:28 AM by Mark Foote

[Surya]

On 5.4.2025 at 2:25 PM, johndoe2012 said:

From Namkhai Norbu 

Before talking to the teacher it is better to observe yourself a bit, in that way you might find the answer for yourself. It is better to be one’s own teacher or master rather than assigning this job to someone else. That is why the teacher, and above all a Dzogchen teacher, teaches us to observe ourselves and to discover our own condition, and always asks us all to become responsible for ourselves. Why do teachers ask these things? It is not because they are worried about being bothered, but because they know very well that always turning to one’s teacher is not a solution. The solution lies in observing ourselves and resolving our own problems by ourselves. Then, if we have no way of finding a solution, the teacher can certainly help us. If everyone did this it would be much easier.

 

Two other perspectives:

1

Quote

1.1.4

 

Once, in a holy place in the forest of Naimiṣāraṇya, great sages headed by the sage Śaunaka assembled to perform a great thousand-year sacrifice for the satisfaction of the Lord and His devotees.

 

1.1.5

 

One day, after finishing their morning duties by burning a sacrificial fire and offering a seat of esteem to Śrīla Sūta Gosvāmī, the great sages made inquiries, with great respect, about the following matters.

 

1.1.6

 

The sages said: Respected Sūta Gosvāmī, you are completely free from all vice. You are well versed in all the scriptures famous for religious life, and in the Purāṇas and the histories as well, for you have gone through them under proper guidance and have also explained them.

 

1.1.7

 

Being the eldest learned Vedāntist, O Sūta Gosvāmī, you are acquainted with the knowledge of Vyāsadeva, who is the incarnation of Godhead, and you also know other sages who are fully versed in all kinds of physical and metaphysical knowledge.

 

__________________________________

 

Alright, so today I qouted quite a few more, because I feel each one left on a cliff hanger, so to speak. But I guess the essence is to keep and inquiring mind, asking the right question to the right people with respect. Which is a good lesson indeed.

 

 

2

Quote

Now I go alone, my disciples, You too, go now alone. Thus I want it. Go away from me and resist Zarathustra! And even better: be ashamed of him! Perhaps he deceived you… One pays a teacher badly if one always remains nothing but a pupil. And why do you not want to pluck at my wreath? You revere me; but what if your reverence tumbles one day? Beware lest a statue slay you. You say that you believe in Zarathustra? But what matters Zarathustra? You are my believers – but what matter all believers? You had not yet sought yourselves; and you found me. Thus do all believers; therefore all faith amounts to so little. Now I bid you to lose me and find yourselves; and only then when you have all denied me will I return to you… that I may celebrate the great noon with you.

 

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra