That we are all "Buddha Mind" is true. Many understand this intellectually, but have not felt the touch of "Buddha Mind?"
The touch of that is Satori, it is an "Aha," experience. It is subjective, for there is only One. The touch of that aha is a world of difference from the mere mental knowledge of that.
The aha is a direct knowing, a unitive experience of oneness with Buddha mind though no more in the Buddha Mind than before. With aha, one is no longer just in it, but one with it.
While knowledge about is a beginning, joining is the goal. Understanding with the mind, is just an itch. The bitten will scratch until there is direct knowing.
What seekers are seeking is not just intellectual understanding. They sense that. The true teacher knows that intellectual understanding is not enough.
It may be easy for a teacher to say, "If you would just stop seeking, you would be free." Yet there are thousands who do not search, they don't know, and they do not itch. The student knows that these do not have what is being sought .
Those not seeking may be divided into two camps: those who don't know that seeking exists, and those who have sought and found. The first group doesn't know that they don't know and does't care. The second group knows that that they know.
Students are not searching for those who don't know that they don't know, and never looked. Students are looking for the ones who have sought and found.
Seeking seems to be a precursor to Buddha Mind. Recall that Jesus said, "Seek and you will find." And Nisargadatta said, "Be earnest."
The student is looking for the rare ones who know they know. There is something intuitively felt around those who know that is not experienced around others. In the end having sought, or not sought, all are in Buddha Mind. But some know and experience that, the rest do not.
It is the direct, subjective, unitive experience that establishes the knower. Yet this does not change the fact that those who never sought, and never found, are also in Buddha Mind.
Metaphorically, a fish that doesn't know he lives in water cannot help. The fish that knows he is in water can. Most of us are like fish, not knowing; not knowing what water is. The herd follows itself just fine.
The stragglers, those outside the school, know they are in water, and before they follow the school, they want to know, "What is this water I find myself in?
The blind man and the sighted man see differently, yet both are in the same physical world.
All men are in Buddha Mind. Most function just fine, but few are they that know they are home.
Only the one who has asked will find. Only the one who has found can teach.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
No Mind the Tree
Who or what is now thinking about "No mind?" Do you need to think about "No mind?" Do you get to "No mind," by thinking about "No mind?"
Is a tree, a tree, before you label it? Is it separate from the ground, or just a emanation from the ground? Do Its roots not go deep into the earth, and its branches reach for the sun?
How separate is the tree from the sun, when that which was sun a minute ago is now absorbed in the leaf? Is not the universe joined from sun to tree by streaming ribbons of light? Father sun, mother earth.
Is the leaf separate from the branch, the tree? When it falls, is it separate then? When the ground absorbs it, is it separate then? It sprang from the earth, did it not?
Perhaps we, and trees, are just aspects of the Oneness: fractal appearances in the energy field, particles in the wave of light.
This body is so earth! I cannot live without taking in earth air many times a minute, and earth water every day. So how separate am I?
This body is just one part of the unending flow of light. An unending whole. A picture fractal, a flow, leaving and returning into One.
I cannot be separate except in mind. Is it not my senses, my labeling, my interpretation, that separates? This labeling objectifies, and separates, and personalizes what is one.
Can you see the flow? From sun to tree. From earth to tree. From tree to fruit. From fruit to you. One unending, unrestricted, flow of light, forming this, then that, in one Self reflecting connected stream.
Surrendering to this Oneness is the only way to no mind."
Is a tree, a tree, before you label it? Is it separate from the ground, or just a emanation from the ground? Do Its roots not go deep into the earth, and its branches reach for the sun?
How separate is the tree from the sun, when that which was sun a minute ago is now absorbed in the leaf? Is not the universe joined from sun to tree by streaming ribbons of light? Father sun, mother earth.
Is the leaf separate from the branch, the tree? When it falls, is it separate then? When the ground absorbs it, is it separate then? It sprang from the earth, did it not?
Perhaps we, and trees, are just aspects of the Oneness: fractal appearances in the energy field, particles in the wave of light.
This body is so earth! I cannot live without taking in earth air many times a minute, and earth water every day. So how separate am I?
This body is just one part of the unending flow of light. An unending whole. A picture fractal, a flow, leaving and returning into One.
I cannot be separate except in mind. Is it not my senses, my labeling, my interpretation, that separates? This labeling objectifies, and separates, and personalizes what is one.
Can you see the flow? From sun to tree. From earth to tree. From tree to fruit. From fruit to you. One unending, unrestricted, flow of light, forming this, then that, in one Self reflecting connected stream.
Surrendering to this Oneness is the only way to no mind."
Monday, January 19, 2009
Enlightenment Is Like Thirst
Most in whom awakening is acknowledged will agree that there are universal, fundamental similarities. And there is much acknowledgment that some who attained awakening were corrupted by power.
Some newly awakened rant and rave that there is no such thing as enlightenment, because the awakening exposes the non separateness of the individual. And yet, one easily sees that enlightened words come from one "apparent' person, yet not from the rest of humanity. This makes it rather difficult for the common man to understand.
Perhaps a distinction needs to be made regarding gurus speaking of their impersonal condition, and the person seen speaking. For what is fact for the observer, there is a person there, despite whatever protests the guru may made. Even the guru must admit that there is a body the needs to eat, sleep, and have shelter.
If you define a guru as someone whose always blissed out, whose eyes glow with a faraway look, who doesn't have fear, and leaves ashes on objects he touches, we've certainly lost our way. If we had enough people fall into this condition we'd have a highly dysfunctional society, covered in ash, waiting to die out.
For the rest, for making it clear that although their basic experience is of non separation, impersonal experience, that there is in fact
May years ago I wrote a benchmark of guruship. It was picked up and placed on several major Hindu sites, so it must have had some universal application. You can verify this by clicking on these links. It is below.
Enlightenment experienced in a person cannot stay in the blissed out, ecstatic condition very easily and survive. In the West in particular you can end up in a mental institution, as did Robert Persig, the author of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. He is fine now, enlightened, but certainly not dysfunctional.
Ramana Maharshi didn't speak for several years, and was near death when people started taking care of him. That does happen. But that is not the process for all gurus.
Is enlightenment just an idea, or does it have some basis in fact, in experience. Just like thirst, it can be spoken of, it can be experienced, but can you find it anywhere?
Some newly awakened rant and rave that there is no such thing as enlightenment, because the awakening exposes the non separateness of the individual. And yet, one easily sees that enlightened words come from one "apparent' person, yet not from the rest of humanity. This makes it rather difficult for the common man to understand.
Perhaps a distinction needs to be made regarding gurus speaking of their impersonal condition, and the person seen speaking. For what is fact for the observer, there is a person there, despite whatever protests the guru may made. Even the guru must admit that there is a body the needs to eat, sleep, and have shelter.
If you define a guru as someone whose always blissed out, whose eyes glow with a faraway look, who doesn't have fear, and leaves ashes on objects he touches, we've certainly lost our way. If we had enough people fall into this condition we'd have a highly dysfunctional society, covered in ash, waiting to die out.
For the rest, for making it clear that although their basic experience is of non separation, impersonal experience, that there is in fact
May years ago I wrote a benchmark of guruship. It was picked up and placed on several major Hindu sites, so it must have had some universal application. You can verify this by clicking on these links. It is below.
Enlightenment experienced in a person cannot stay in the blissed out, ecstatic condition very easily and survive. In the West in particular you can end up in a mental institution, as did Robert Persig, the author of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. He is fine now, enlightened, but certainly not dysfunctional.
Ramana Maharshi didn't speak for several years, and was near death when people started taking care of him. That does happen. But that is not the process for all gurus.
Is enlightenment just an idea, or does it have some basis in fact, in experience. Just like thirst, it can be spoken of, it can be experienced, but can you find it anywhere?
Purpose Driven Life
We are often very purpose driven. We set goals, benchmarks, keys for success. This is all based on a judgment system. As you may recall, Jesus asked that we not judge.
As long as we believe that we are an individual, we will have goals, agendas, beliefs to coordinate our lives to. And there is certainly a place for this, especially in the early part of our lives. We need to discover what this body is and how it functions. We need to develop our small self, and come to know our likes, dislikes, and abilities.
If our conditioning has been severe, and unhealthy, therapy may be a good avenue of endeavor, for a while. It's pretty hard to see clearly, to feel clearly, when one is very neurotic. A little cleanup is in order.
One benefit that may ensue, if therapy is successful, is that we come to clearly see that we can change, and how difficult that is. We may also come to see that which we cannot change, and come to terms with those aspects of ourselves.
Once we have established that we can change, it may dawn on one that who we are is not static. Our bodies may be static in form, but our mind is a program, and programs can change.
If our program, our conditioning, our idea of ourself can change, then who we are as a person is not substantive, but more like ephemeral image. How tightly we hold on to this image may determine how much suffering we bring to our life experience.
With the knowledge of our changing personal self, further insight might become natural. Here comes the great inquiry, "Who am I?" This is the end game.
When the person is examined deeply enough, we may not even call it a who, but a what. What is this thing? And who is looking at it? If this is pursued long enough, the who that you think you are dissolves into an ephemeral, ghostlike thing. You use it to move about the world, and function, but it is no longer who you are.
So, now that you are looking from the outside at the illusory self, and you know that that self is something you see and use, much like any other tool, who are you?
You can only be that Awareness that is looking. It uses your body/mind and all other body/minds for it's own reasons. On what grounds then is the individual self going to have its own purpose driven life? Perhaps only as a soul, with Karma delineating the choices. Still, ultimately, The One.
As long as we believe that we are an individual, we will have goals, agendas, beliefs to coordinate our lives to. And there is certainly a place for this, especially in the early part of our lives. We need to discover what this body is and how it functions. We need to develop our small self, and come to know our likes, dislikes, and abilities.
If our conditioning has been severe, and unhealthy, therapy may be a good avenue of endeavor, for a while. It's pretty hard to see clearly, to feel clearly, when one is very neurotic. A little cleanup is in order.
One benefit that may ensue, if therapy is successful, is that we come to clearly see that we can change, and how difficult that is. We may also come to see that which we cannot change, and come to terms with those aspects of ourselves.
Once we have established that we can change, it may dawn on one that who we are is not static. Our bodies may be static in form, but our mind is a program, and programs can change.
If our program, our conditioning, our idea of ourself can change, then who we are as a person is not substantive, but more like ephemeral image. How tightly we hold on to this image may determine how much suffering we bring to our life experience.
With the knowledge of our changing personal self, further insight might become natural. Here comes the great inquiry, "Who am I?" This is the end game.
When the person is examined deeply enough, we may not even call it a who, but a what. What is this thing? And who is looking at it? If this is pursued long enough, the who that you think you are dissolves into an ephemeral, ghostlike thing. You use it to move about the world, and function, but it is no longer who you are.
So, now that you are looking from the outside at the illusory self, and you know that that self is something you see and use, much like any other tool, who are you?
You can only be that Awareness that is looking. It uses your body/mind and all other body/minds for it's own reasons. On what grounds then is the individual self going to have its own purpose driven life? Perhaps only as a soul, with Karma delineating the choices. Still, ultimately, The One.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The Means is Now
The means is now, and the result is now. There is no future in which the result bears fruit. The result is now, and always is.
"The end justifies the means," is a thoroughly arrogant statement. The results have always been disastrous. In this scenario anything can be justified, and anything justified in this manner will come home to roost.
It seems far more insightful to say that "The means you use become the result." And the result is now, and now, and now. You can't escape the means.
As you go about your day, consider the means. And if love, kindness, and patience, are the means you use, your life will reflect it. Now.
"The end justifies the means," is a thoroughly arrogant statement. The results have always been disastrous. In this scenario anything can be justified, and anything justified in this manner will come home to roost.
It seems far more insightful to say that "The means you use become the result." And the result is now, and now, and now. You can't escape the means.
As you go about your day, consider the means. And if love, kindness, and patience, are the means you use, your life will reflect it. Now.
How to Improve Your Ego
There is one sure way to develop your ego: refuse love. Yes, it is really that simple.
As one matures spiritually and looks back upon one's life, it readily becomes apparent that the simple refusal of love was the simplest, the most expedient way to juice the ego, to bolster it, to make it real.
But, of course, as the years go by one sees all the times love was offered and refused. And what was the purpose of that refusal? Who did you put down in that refusal? Who did you aggrandize? Yourself of course.
The simple practice of observing yourself throughout the day as you refuse love can really open one's eyes. For we are surrounded by love, and only in refusing to see can we avoid it.
So what shall it be today? Love or ego?
As one matures spiritually and looks back upon one's life, it readily becomes apparent that the simple refusal of love was the simplest, the most expedient way to juice the ego, to bolster it, to make it real.
But, of course, as the years go by one sees all the times love was offered and refused. And what was the purpose of that refusal? Who did you put down in that refusal? Who did you aggrandize? Yourself of course.
The simple practice of observing yourself throughout the day as you refuse love can really open one's eyes. For we are surrounded by love, and only in refusing to see can we avoid it.
So what shall it be today? Love or ego?
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The Call of the Future
Since many of us know and feel the call of the future, can we then also deny destiny? I don't think so. Don't get me wrong, the future is not set in stone. The future is a direction, a projectory.
It is Karma that set the directory, the trajectory, and it is only our choices in this lifetime that alter its course. Our direction is like North. There are a lot of paths North, or South, East or West.
All rivers run to the sea. All souls are headed home, we just don't know when. But our previous lives have set the tone, the power, and accuracy of the direction.
And that's where resonance comes in. Our path, our destiny is the result of previous lives, of previous choices. And this determines resonance. For when we enter this world, our level of consciouness is already there. What we resonate with in the Akashic field, the nonlocal, information arena, in which we are all immersed, is already set.
Like a fish in water, we cannot escape the field. It is everywhere present, everywhere available, knowing every thought, every feeling, every act.
The level of our consciousness, like the tuner of a radio, the crystal, set to a certain wavelength, tunes us to and directs us on our path.
The level of our tuner attracts everything in that field. It will bring us habits, attitudes, friends and foes. The resonance with all that matches our notch on the tuner sets our path.
So we bring with us trails of glory, and trails of pain. Our past pushes and our future pulls, and we are the tension, riding on the wave.
Due to the field we see, because that is what we are tuned to, choices arise. And how we choose makes all the difference.
So we don't need to claim free will in it's entirety, nor are we condemned totally to destiny. We are held between the two with loving arms.
For love is giving us the power to choose. It gives us the power to rise, and it will let us fall if we so choose.
In the end, all is as it should be, no more, no less. And there is harmony, but to see it we must really look, with eyes wide open.
It is Karma that set the directory, the trajectory, and it is only our choices in this lifetime that alter its course. Our direction is like North. There are a lot of paths North, or South, East or West.
All rivers run to the sea. All souls are headed home, we just don't know when. But our previous lives have set the tone, the power, and accuracy of the direction.
And that's where resonance comes in. Our path, our destiny is the result of previous lives, of previous choices. And this determines resonance. For when we enter this world, our level of consciouness is already there. What we resonate with in the Akashic field, the nonlocal, information arena, in which we are all immersed, is already set.
Like a fish in water, we cannot escape the field. It is everywhere present, everywhere available, knowing every thought, every feeling, every act.
The level of our consciousness, like the tuner of a radio, the crystal, set to a certain wavelength, tunes us to and directs us on our path.
The level of our tuner attracts everything in that field. It will bring us habits, attitudes, friends and foes. The resonance with all that matches our notch on the tuner sets our path.
So we bring with us trails of glory, and trails of pain. Our past pushes and our future pulls, and we are the tension, riding on the wave.
Due to the field we see, because that is what we are tuned to, choices arise. And how we choose makes all the difference.
So we don't need to claim free will in it's entirety, nor are we condemned totally to destiny. We are held between the two with loving arms.
For love is giving us the power to choose. It gives us the power to rise, and it will let us fall if we so choose.
In the end, all is as it should be, no more, no less. And there is harmony, but to see it we must really look, with eyes wide open.
The Brain Bliss
When I don't have to go to work, and I have a good night's sleep, I often awake with a physical sense of bliss in my brain. I like the feeling of it.
It feels physical. It's as if I feel directly my whole physical brain inside my skull, and the feeling is exquisite. It's peaceful, it's just plain goodness.
This doesn't happen on week days when I wake to the alarm and have to transition into going to work. There is no space in that mode for sleeping in, laying till the body-mind is rested.
It makes one wonder what the modern world and its slavery to time has done to our natural state. J. Krishnamurti got it right when he talked about the violence of every day life. There is a violence to time, an imposition on the natural state.
This waking to physical bliss in the brain is something that just happens. I don't look for it; don't expect it. It just happens, and when it does, I always have a good day. Everything goes slow and easy.
What is it? I don't know.
It feels physical. It's as if I feel directly my whole physical brain inside my skull, and the feeling is exquisite. It's peaceful, it's just plain goodness.
This doesn't happen on week days when I wake to the alarm and have to transition into going to work. There is no space in that mode for sleeping in, laying till the body-mind is rested.
It makes one wonder what the modern world and its slavery to time has done to our natural state. J. Krishnamurti got it right when he talked about the violence of every day life. There is a violence to time, an imposition on the natural state.
This waking to physical bliss in the brain is something that just happens. I don't look for it; don't expect it. It just happens, and when it does, I always have a good day. Everything goes slow and easy.
What is it? I don't know.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
An Inside Job
The search for enlightenment is an inside job. You travel alone, sort of, except that Source is with you all the way. You may never even notice your guardian angels
And you discover that the Zen you get at the top of the mountain is the Zen you brought with you. There is no one at the top or at the bottom to give you accolades.
Satori doesn't last, and the birds don't always sing. And once ambrosia has been tasted, everything else tastes false. Beware, the Ides of March, turn into years.
No one sees what you are doing, knows or cares. Except perhaps the One. There is little to measure, and less and less to know.
Every time you stumble and fall, no one notices. Except perhaps the One. And the way things fall, seems more random than random. But the call doesn't stop.
Be still my heart, be patient. The end is now, and now, and now.
And you discover that the Zen you get at the top of the mountain is the Zen you brought with you. There is no one at the top or at the bottom to give you accolades.
Satori doesn't last, and the birds don't always sing. And once ambrosia has been tasted, everything else tastes false. Beware, the Ides of March, turn into years.
No one sees what you are doing, knows or cares. Except perhaps the One. There is little to measure, and less and less to know.
Every time you stumble and fall, no one notices. Except perhaps the One. And the way things fall, seems more random than random. But the call doesn't stop.
Be still my heart, be patient. The end is now, and now, and now.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Karma and Freedom
Karma does not absolve one from action. Karma delineates the range of choices available, but it does not release one from the responsibility of the choice. Though the range may be limited, your freedom lies in the choices you make.
You may not be free to fly without taking an airplane, but you have the choice to smile at the person boarding with you. You may not be a spiritual genius, but can humbly accept the teaching of one with whom you resonate.
Every step you take is recorded forever in the Akashic field. And every choice for the positive, for the good of mankind, makes your future choices vastly different.
You may start out in a mental desert, devoid of hope, but even there, persistence in the direction of the good, your own, your family's, your neighbor's, points you in the direction out.
Yes, in this embodied form there are limits. But this is temporary, and cyclical. Your future is in your hands, Karma is just the path you trod.
You may not be free to fly without taking an airplane, but you have the choice to smile at the person boarding with you. You may not be a spiritual genius, but can humbly accept the teaching of one with whom you resonate.
Every step you take is recorded forever in the Akashic field. And every choice for the positive, for the good of mankind, makes your future choices vastly different.
You may start out in a mental desert, devoid of hope, but even there, persistence in the direction of the good, your own, your family's, your neighbor's, points you in the direction out.
Yes, in this embodied form there are limits. But this is temporary, and cyclical. Your future is in your hands, Karma is just the path you trod.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Intuiting Home
There is always the scientific debate to arrive at the final answer. However, if the water is in the field next door, you have to leave the field you are in, to get there.
Science will eventually get there, but it will only be after much fussing and fuming, and grinding of teeth. You see, the First Cause is not in the physical world, and cannot be explained by Newtonian, linear thought.
The Theory of Everything ( ToE ) is actually easy to come by. God did it! Substitute for God any term you like, Source, The One, The Force. Scientific reductionism will never explain this first principle.
The first cause will always remain unexplainable by science. The Big Bang is a concept. God is not a concept. Explanations will change, become more sophisticated, but only the truly ignorant will be satisfied.
In the book of Genesis, it says, we are "created in the image of God." The mystics knew this long ago. But science doesn't know its limitations and thus can't see this.
We who know meaning is not defined by Newtonian logic, and know that there is more to this world than meets the eye, know God to be eternal. And we intuit that, made in the image of God, we too are eternal.
The ground of being is unmanifest. It is not an object, as all objects are immersed in It. God being unmanifest, so too are we. The only reasons we can even intuit that God is real, is that it is true. And we know this beyond reason, beyond logic, beyond labels.
To know is not to be able to prove. As David Hawkins says, in the non linear domain, truth is knowable, but not provable. Scientific theories can be proven true or false. Not so with the unmanifest.
Karma is complete nonsense to those who have not glimpsed or felt the unmanifest. But once one has taken a step beyond science, beyond logic, into the unknown, one can begin to see that Karma is real.
Karma is not often mentioned in the Jewish Christian traditions. It is, nevertheless implied. And when Karma is acknowledged, much in life that seems absurd, becomes acceptable. Eventually, it is seen as the key that makes the harmony.
The assumption that we are our bodies fades as we get older. All that we cannot explain gets surrendered to God. And the more we surrender, the more peace comes in to blanket us.
This is not to be understood with the mind. In fact it cannot be understood with the mind. And once you have a satori or two, experience mystical union, even for a minute, you are hooked, for there is nothing in the scientific, linear world that will strike you with as much authority.
Because the authority one experiences is not provable, neither is it disprovable. In fact, there is no explaining it. But, once you know that you are eternal spirit, your path is sure.
The part is essential to the whole. The whole is eternal. And we are here, temporarily embodied, only for awhile. Our home is eternal. We only left for awhile to experience this.
The path is narrow, that leads to the goal. You are drawn to it. Even though for much of your life you didn't know what it was that was calling. But the still small voice gets louder, and the peace greater, and the joy brings you home.
Science will eventually get there, but it will only be after much fussing and fuming, and grinding of teeth. You see, the First Cause is not in the physical world, and cannot be explained by Newtonian, linear thought.
The Theory of Everything ( ToE ) is actually easy to come by. God did it! Substitute for God any term you like, Source, The One, The Force. Scientific reductionism will never explain this first principle.
The first cause will always remain unexplainable by science. The Big Bang is a concept. God is not a concept. Explanations will change, become more sophisticated, but only the truly ignorant will be satisfied.
In the book of Genesis, it says, we are "created in the image of God." The mystics knew this long ago. But science doesn't know its limitations and thus can't see this.
We who know meaning is not defined by Newtonian logic, and know that there is more to this world than meets the eye, know God to be eternal. And we intuit that, made in the image of God, we too are eternal.
The ground of being is unmanifest. It is not an object, as all objects are immersed in It. God being unmanifest, so too are we. The only reasons we can even intuit that God is real, is that it is true. And we know this beyond reason, beyond logic, beyond labels.
To know is not to be able to prove. As David Hawkins says, in the non linear domain, truth is knowable, but not provable. Scientific theories can be proven true or false. Not so with the unmanifest.
Karma is complete nonsense to those who have not glimpsed or felt the unmanifest. But once one has taken a step beyond science, beyond logic, into the unknown, one can begin to see that Karma is real.
Karma is not often mentioned in the Jewish Christian traditions. It is, nevertheless implied. And when Karma is acknowledged, much in life that seems absurd, becomes acceptable. Eventually, it is seen as the key that makes the harmony.
The assumption that we are our bodies fades as we get older. All that we cannot explain gets surrendered to God. And the more we surrender, the more peace comes in to blanket us.
This is not to be understood with the mind. In fact it cannot be understood with the mind. And once you have a satori or two, experience mystical union, even for a minute, you are hooked, for there is nothing in the scientific, linear world that will strike you with as much authority.
Because the authority one experiences is not provable, neither is it disprovable. In fact, there is no explaining it. But, once you know that you are eternal spirit, your path is sure.
The part is essential to the whole. The whole is eternal. And we are here, temporarily embodied, only for awhile. Our home is eternal. We only left for awhile to experience this.
The path is narrow, that leads to the goal. You are drawn to it. Even though for much of your life you didn't know what it was that was calling. But the still small voice gets louder, and the peace greater, and the joy brings you home.