Monday, July 9, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
50 Excellent Questions
1. Have you spent time in silence today, meditating, journaling, praying, or writing morning pages?
2. Have you in the last 10 days called or visited, a grandparent, parent, aunt or uncle?
3. Have you in the last month left an extra large tip for someone?
4. Have you spent time playing, laughing, and smiling in the last three days?
5. Have you planned a vacation or play date with the people closest to you in the last six months?
6. Have you sent a hand written note to someone you take for granted in the last 60 days?
7. Have you looked around and expressed deep gratitude for everything around you in the past week?
8. Have you forgiven yourself for making a mistake or the wrong choice in the last 10 days?
9. Have you forgiven your parents or other care takers for their poor choices in your life time?
10. Have you called an old friend to connect in the last 30 days?
11. Have you sat with a trusted friend/coach/therapist in the last 90 days and poured your heart out?
12. Have you asked for what you want lately?
13. Have you read a book from cover to cover in the last two weeks?
14. Have you looked in someone's eyes and said, "I love you" in the last seven days?
15. Have you paid someone a compliment today?
16. Have you decided what your life will look like five years from now?
17. Have you praised a child or young adult in the last 24 hours?
18. Have you unexpectedly picked up the tab in the last month?
19. Have you stopped to smell a flower in a garden in the last year?
20. Have you been spontaneous in the last five days?
21. Have you spent an afternoon daydreaming in the last 7 days?
22. Have you helped out a neighbor in the last 2 months?
23. Have you sent someone flowers in the last 3 months?
24. Have you surprised someone with a visit in the last 30 days?
25. Have you saved any money since January 1st, 2011?
26. Have you asked for what you wanted today?
27. Have you eaten more vegetables and fruits in the last 24 hours?
28. Have you uncluttered your home in the last year?
29. Have you read a book to a child in the last four months?
30. Have you volunteered your time in the last 90 days?
31. Have you in the last 21 days changed a bad habit?
32. Have you in the last week recognized someone cooperating with you?
33. Have you spent quality time with your loved ones in the last 48 hours?
34. Have you told someone what you will do to improve your relationship in the last 14 days?
35. Have you donated money to a good cause in the last 2 months?
36. Have you made out your will yet?
37. Have you spent a weekend alone in the last year?
38. Have you in the last month really listened to someone?
39. Have you spent time in nature over the last week?
40. Have you spent in the last year a full-day taking a personal inventory of your character defects?
41. Have you disconnected from all electronics for at least 24 hours in the last month?
42. Have you spent time creating something new that has nothing to do with work in the last 4 weeks?
43. Have you expressed your feelings honestly and appropriately to a loved one in the last 5 days?
44. Have you held self-love in your heart in the last 12 hours?
45. Have you released an unhealthy attachment to a person in the last 6 months?
46. Have you expressed compassion to someone in pain in the last 2 weeks?
47. Have you appreciated yourself in the last 24 hours?
48. Have you decided what you want to experience today?
49. Have you experienced joy in the last 24 hours?
50. Have you experienced inner peace in the last 24 hours?
From:
Monday, June 11, 2012
Mania. God.
"It is not a matter if indifference whether one calls something a 'mania' or a 'god'. To serve a mania is detestable and undignified, but to serve a god is full of meaning."
- C.G. Jung
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
Great Towers In The Sky Obstruct The Full Moon Above...
"It is the vice of a vulgar mind to be thrilled by bigness, to think that a thousand square miles are a thousand times more wonderful than one square mile. That is not imagination. No, it kills it..."
– E.M. Forster, Howards End
Friday, June 1, 2012
Seinfeld - Fathers
"All fathers are intimidating. They're intimidating because they are fathers. Once a man has children, for the rest of his life, his attitude is, "To hell with the world, I can make my own people. I'll eat whatever I want. I'll wear whatever I want, and I'll create whoever I want.""
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Thursday, May 31, 2012
A Treatise on Forgiveness by Robert Augustus Masters
Forgiveness is the heart's pardon. Sacred closure.
To forgive is not to excuse or condone, but rather to cease dehumanizing and excluding from our heart our offending other or others.
When we forgive, we neither bypass nor gloss over injury, but instead embrace and embody a perspective in which injury is not given the power to obscure or diminish our compassion.
Although forgiveness might seem to some to be an act of acquiescence or weakness, it is actually an act of great power, for it not only retrieves us from the past, where we are emotionally bound to those whom we won't forgive, but also from the future — where we're similarly bound — thereby bringing us present, undividedly and wholeheartedly present.
Forgiveness is a radical act of love not only for the offending other, but also for oneself. In forgiving someone, we are, in so many words, telling that person, "I no longer am interested or invested in having anything damaging happen to you. No longer am I going to turn the hurt you have done me into an excuse to dehumanize or violate you. Although I may never again have or make contact with you, no longer will I keep you out of my heart, however difficult that might be."
Thus do we disconnect in order to connect at a deeper level.
We then stop feeding our resentment, realizing as we do so that it was actually feeding on us, consuming our energy and attention. Our appetite for vengeance naturally shrinks, like any other shadow, in the light of our forgiveness. Then the courtrooms of our mind are not so readily populated by us — wanting to be right no longer so easily recruits and centers us. We may still get angry, but will be far less likely to infuse it with ill-will or hatred, or let it transmute into aggression. Caring for the other becomes more important than getting even, regardless of the consequences that may be deemed fitting for whatever harm may have been done.
"Love your enemies." This may be the most practical (and marginalized) of all of the teachings of Jesus. Rooted as it is in our capacity to forgive, it cuts through the rigidly dualistic "I" versus "you" or "us" versus "them" mentality that so easily infects and aberrates us. Loving — not necessarily liking, but loving — our enemies is a kind of radical sanity, for in loving them, in wholeheartedly wishing for their freedom from delusion, we are not only ceasing to demonize them, but are also aligning ourselves with their healing. Their healing — our healing.
If our enemies were to find and embody their innate happiness, if they were freed from their suffering, if they were to heal, then they would no longer be motivated or driven to harm us. Is there a more potent and user-friendly catalyst for disarmament than forgiveness?
Implicit in the practice of forgiveness is the willingness to place ourselves — and not just intellectually! — in our offending others' shoes and skin, to the point where they are no longer "other," but rather only us in our less appealing facets.
Forgiveness does not depend upon what the offending other does.
That is, we don't have to wait for that person to make amends. (And, at the same time, it is essential to realize that we do not have to forgive until we are truly ready to do so — to forgive prematurely is of no more use than putting off the forgiveness of which we are capable.) Sometimes we may be so righteously caught up in waiting for and expecting our offending others to make amends or to say that they're sorry, that we don't notice that we are being held hostage by our expectations of them.
If I refuse to forgive you until you "deserve" it, then I am simply punishing you, keeping myself negatively bound to you, or to the storyline with which I associate you.
If I won't forgive you until you have "earned" it, then I am keeping myself, however subtly, a victim of what you've done to me. And, if I am getting something out of staying in my "wounded" role — such as having a "valid" reason for not taking more responsibility for where I'm at in my life — I am likely going to continue to postpone forgiving you.
In the process of forgiving, we may have to, at least some of the time, reframe the harm-doing we have suffered. Perhaps the pain inflicted on us by our offending others has actually been of genuine benefit to us; perhaps we needed to be hurt, disappointed, betrayed, or left; perhaps we needed to learn something that could not be learned without being treated as we were treated by our offending others. This, of course, does not mean that their actions should therefore be condoned or praised, but that they be viewed from a perspective that's not rooted in an eye-for-an-eye morality.
Then we can clearly recognize such harm-doing as part of us. What I condemn in you also exists in me (and in everyone else), and there's no way that it's going to be healed if I persist in treating it as something alien to me.
None of this is to say that forgiveness is an easy practice. For example, the path to forgiveness may initially be — and may need to be — paved with hatred. We may need to feel and fully express our hate for another before we can even approach forgiving that person (as is often the case with those who have been raped). This, however, doesn't mean that we have to literally act out, or even share, such dark feeling with our offending other or others. If we can give our hate sufficiently free rein and voice, and just the space to be, in a safe environment — like that of good psychotherapy — we're not only going to feel, through our rage-releasing, a much needed sense of empowerment, but we're also bound to get to what underlies our hate, so that we can fully feel our hurt and thereby move through it.
And at the heart of that hurt is not more hurt, but a love that cannot help but forgive.
This love is self-radiant, effortlessly ego-transcending, simultaneously innocent and wise. It forgives us our trespasses, our forgettings of the Sacred, our stupidities large and small, and it does so instantaneously. It does not make a problem out of our mistakes. When we allow ourselves to house — and ultimately to be — such love, we do not see errors, but only incarnation's fleshdance in sacred transparency. Which is but the shortest of steps to remembering with our whole being What-Matters-Most.
Sometimes the process of forgiveness may seem to break our heart, but it is only the armoring around our heart that breaks. Or melts. Forgiveness brings us in out of the cold, potently reminding us of who we really are.
When we choose to forgive, we are entering the morality of the Divine. When we choose to forgive, we deepen our intimacy with the Beloved.
Forgiveness is an act of real power. It is the essence of true kindness.
May we all embody it.
To forgive is not to excuse or condone, but rather to cease dehumanizing and excluding from our heart our offending other or others.
When we forgive, we neither bypass nor gloss over injury, but instead embrace and embody a perspective in which injury is not given the power to obscure or diminish our compassion.
Although forgiveness might seem to some to be an act of acquiescence or weakness, it is actually an act of great power, for it not only retrieves us from the past, where we are emotionally bound to those whom we won't forgive, but also from the future — where we're similarly bound — thereby bringing us present, undividedly and wholeheartedly present.
Forgiveness is a radical act of love not only for the offending other, but also for oneself. In forgiving someone, we are, in so many words, telling that person, "I no longer am interested or invested in having anything damaging happen to you. No longer am I going to turn the hurt you have done me into an excuse to dehumanize or violate you. Although I may never again have or make contact with you, no longer will I keep you out of my heart, however difficult that might be."
Thus do we disconnect in order to connect at a deeper level.
We then stop feeding our resentment, realizing as we do so that it was actually feeding on us, consuming our energy and attention. Our appetite for vengeance naturally shrinks, like any other shadow, in the light of our forgiveness. Then the courtrooms of our mind are not so readily populated by us — wanting to be right no longer so easily recruits and centers us. We may still get angry, but will be far less likely to infuse it with ill-will or hatred, or let it transmute into aggression. Caring for the other becomes more important than getting even, regardless of the consequences that may be deemed fitting for whatever harm may have been done.
"Love your enemies." This may be the most practical (and marginalized) of all of the teachings of Jesus. Rooted as it is in our capacity to forgive, it cuts through the rigidly dualistic "I" versus "you" or "us" versus "them" mentality that so easily infects and aberrates us. Loving — not necessarily liking, but loving — our enemies is a kind of radical sanity, for in loving them, in wholeheartedly wishing for their freedom from delusion, we are not only ceasing to demonize them, but are also aligning ourselves with their healing. Their healing — our healing.
If our enemies were to find and embody their innate happiness, if they were freed from their suffering, if they were to heal, then they would no longer be motivated or driven to harm us. Is there a more potent and user-friendly catalyst for disarmament than forgiveness?
Implicit in the practice of forgiveness is the willingness to place ourselves — and not just intellectually! — in our offending others' shoes and skin, to the point where they are no longer "other," but rather only us in our less appealing facets.
Forgiveness does not depend upon what the offending other does.
That is, we don't have to wait for that person to make amends. (And, at the same time, it is essential to realize that we do not have to forgive until we are truly ready to do so — to forgive prematurely is of no more use than putting off the forgiveness of which we are capable.) Sometimes we may be so righteously caught up in waiting for and expecting our offending others to make amends or to say that they're sorry, that we don't notice that we are being held hostage by our expectations of them.
If I refuse to forgive you until you "deserve" it, then I am simply punishing you, keeping myself negatively bound to you, or to the storyline with which I associate you.
If I won't forgive you until you have "earned" it, then I am keeping myself, however subtly, a victim of what you've done to me. And, if I am getting something out of staying in my "wounded" role — such as having a "valid" reason for not taking more responsibility for where I'm at in my life — I am likely going to continue to postpone forgiving you.
In the process of forgiving, we may have to, at least some of the time, reframe the harm-doing we have suffered. Perhaps the pain inflicted on us by our offending others has actually been of genuine benefit to us; perhaps we needed to be hurt, disappointed, betrayed, or left; perhaps we needed to learn something that could not be learned without being treated as we were treated by our offending others. This, of course, does not mean that their actions should therefore be condoned or praised, but that they be viewed from a perspective that's not rooted in an eye-for-an-eye morality.
Then we can clearly recognize such harm-doing as part of us. What I condemn in you also exists in me (and in everyone else), and there's no way that it's going to be healed if I persist in treating it as something alien to me.
None of this is to say that forgiveness is an easy practice. For example, the path to forgiveness may initially be — and may need to be — paved with hatred. We may need to feel and fully express our hate for another before we can even approach forgiving that person (as is often the case with those who have been raped). This, however, doesn't mean that we have to literally act out, or even share, such dark feeling with our offending other or others. If we can give our hate sufficiently free rein and voice, and just the space to be, in a safe environment — like that of good psychotherapy — we're not only going to feel, through our rage-releasing, a much needed sense of empowerment, but we're also bound to get to what underlies our hate, so that we can fully feel our hurt and thereby move through it.
And at the heart of that hurt is not more hurt, but a love that cannot help but forgive.
This love is self-radiant, effortlessly ego-transcending, simultaneously innocent and wise. It forgives us our trespasses, our forgettings of the Sacred, our stupidities large and small, and it does so instantaneously. It does not make a problem out of our mistakes. When we allow ourselves to house — and ultimately to be — such love, we do not see errors, but only incarnation's fleshdance in sacred transparency. Which is but the shortest of steps to remembering with our whole being What-Matters-Most.
Sometimes the process of forgiveness may seem to break our heart, but it is only the armoring around our heart that breaks. Or melts. Forgiveness brings us in out of the cold, potently reminding us of who we really are.
When we choose to forgive, we are entering the morality of the Divine. When we choose to forgive, we deepen our intimacy with the Beloved.
Forgiveness is an act of real power. It is the essence of true kindness.
May we all embody it.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Ritual in Contemplation: Text and Tools in Tantric Buddhism
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Abraham-Hicks. Yeah, I know...
... who'd have thought I'd dig something from their work. But this came up on my Facebook feed today and I thought it was pretty cool.
"Abraham-Hicks has come up with a series of emotions that will help you work from feeling bad to feeling better about what ever you are experiencing. If you find where you are emotionally on the scale, and then try and find thoughts that feel just a tad bit better about it. Small baby steps toward Joy.
This is the scale:
The Emotional Guidance Scale
1. Joy/Appreciation/Empowered/Freedom/Love
2. Passion
3. Enthusiasm/Eagerness/Happiness
4. Positive Expectation/Belief
5. Optimism
6. Hopefulness
7. Contentment
8. Boredom
9. Pessimism
10. Frustration/Irritation/Impatience
11. Overwhelment
12. Disappointment
13. Doubt
14. Worry
15. Blame
16. Discouragement
17. Anger
18. Revenge
19. Hatred/Rage
20. Jealousy
21. Insecurity/Guilt/Unworthiness
22. Fear/Grief/Depression/Despair/Powerlessness
From the book "Ask and It is Given", pg. 114"
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Plato
"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."
- Plato
Monday, May 7, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Gil Hedley on Reich's Orgone Accumulator (also popularised by William Burroughs). Probably my favourite speculative project.
"Wilhelm Reich's "orgone accumulator" was a sort of mini box/closet in which you would sit and enjoy the energy which was passively concentrated within it from the atmosphere outside of it by virtue of its layers of insulative and conductive materials. I believe that the human body in its layers is itself the superlative example of an "orgone accumulator." Our sequenced conductive and insulative tissue layers concentrate energy in our bodies for our use. Whether we yield to or resist this capacity, there really is no end to the resources available to us".
- Gil Hedley.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Poetics of Prayer - Robert Augustus Masters
"Prayer is sacred conversation, even when it is absolutely silent.
In its beginning stages, prayer mostly asks. As it ripens, prayer may still ask, but its primary characteristic is deep, devotional receptivity. So prayer initially has a lot to say, but later on it mostly listens.
Ultimately, prayer becomes what it is requesting, through bringing us into such deep intimacy with what really matters that we're no longer significantly separated from the object of our prayer and are in fact aligned with it even though it hasn't yet physically manifested....
What real prayer seeks is recognized, at least to some degree, to be already found. There is actually no real gap between seeking and sought in bare awareness—it is only in time, only in the manifesting of prayer's requests, that there appears to be such a gap.
Prayer helps bridge the unmanifest and the manifest by creating fertile conditions for bringing potentialities to life. Prayer provides templates, sacred and otherwise, for intentionality. As it matures, prayer's context shifts from petitioning to gratitude. Then prayer does not end with a thank you but is a thank you. It is in the spirit of this that our prayer for our beloved will be most effective. The more we let go of having to have something happen here, the more likely it is to happen. No desperation, no rush, just making haste slowly....
Allow your prayer to expand, deepen, and awaken you. Let your voice, however soft, emanate from your core as much as possible. Let your whole body participate. Be bare-hearted".
- Robert Augustus Masters
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
David Whyte - Crossing the Unknown Sea
"There is a lovely root to the word humiliation - from the latin word
humus, meaning soil or ground. When we are humiliated, we are in
effect returning to the ground of our being.
humus, meaning soil or ground. When we are humiliated, we are in
effect returning to the ground of our being.
Shedding the carapace we have been building so assiduously on the
surface, we must by definition give up exactly what we thought was
necessary to protect us from further harm. The outlaw is the radical,
the one close to the roots of existence. The one who refuses to forget
their humanity and in remembering, helps everyone else remember too.
To die inside, is to rob our outside life of any sense of arrival from
that interior. Our work is to make ourselves visible in the world.
This is the soul's individual journey, and the soul would much rather
fail at its own life than succeed at someone else's."
David Whyte - Crossing the Unknown Sea
Friday, March 30, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
The Five Elements Practice with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Video streaming by Ustream
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche guides a simple meditation practice that can help you to connect intimately with the five natural elements of earth, water, fire, air and space. This webcast was broadcast live at the close of Tenzin Rinpoche's retreat "Connecting With the Living Universe," at the Serenity Ridge Retreat Center in the mountains of central Virginia.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Simply Put
"Harming anyone – yourself or others – to gain happiness is like eating poison to prolong life… you will not achieve what you seek".
- H.H 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje
Sunday, March 11, 2012
David Treleaven - Meditation and Trauma
David Treleaven presents his dissertation defense "Meditation and Trauma: A Hermeneutic Study of Somatic Experiencing and the Western Vipassana Movement."
What if, in following basic mediation instructions one was causing more harm than good? This question arises from the dialog between Buddhism and contemporary trauma theory. In a deceptive twist of evolutionary fate, sustained attention on the body can lead to a dissociative, or freeze response. To explore the impact of this dynamic on contemplative practice, this theoretical dissertation uses Somatic Experiencing (SE), a psychotherapeutic approach to healing trauma, as a hermeneutic lens to explore the merits and the shortcomings of meditation practice for individuals with a history of trauma.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
What if, in following basic mediation instructions one was causing more harm than good? This question arises from the dialog between Buddhism and contemporary trauma theory. In a deceptive twist of evolutionary fate, sustained attention on the body can lead to a dissociative, or freeze response. To explore the impact of this dynamic on contemplative practice, this theoretical dissertation uses Somatic Experiencing (SE), a psychotherapeutic approach to healing trauma, as a hermeneutic lens to explore the merits and the shortcomings of meditation practice for individuals with a history of trauma.
David Treleaven - Meditation and Trauma from East-West Psychology on Vimeo.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Mahabharat Episode 1- With English Subtitles
From the cover - "The Mahabharata is one of the longest epic poems in the world and B. R. Chopra's Mahabharat is one of India's most successful TV series in history and has been repeatedly telecast on TV networks worldwide to phenomenal response. B. R. Chopra's Mahabharat boasted a talented set of starcast including Mukesh Khanna, Nitish Bharadwaj, Roopa Ganguly, Puneet Issar, Gufi Paintal, Gufi Paintal, Pankaj Dheer, Dara Singh & many more. Here are the classic series. Click http://www.rajshri.com/TVShow/Mahabharat-English-Subtitles to watch more TV shows".
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Thursday, March 1, 2012
On Collecting Books
"Even those books that I have not yet opened—unread books are an essential element of a library—were acquired for the further cultivation of a particular admixture of interests and beliefs, and every one of them will have its hour."
- Leon Wieseltier
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Masters on Spiritual Bypassing
"True spirituality is not a high, not a rush, not an altered state. It has been fine to romance it for a while, but our times call for something far more real, grounded, and responsible; something radically alive and naturally integral; something that shakes us to our very core until we stop treating spiritual deepening as something to dabble in here and there. Authentic spirituality is not some little flicker or buzz of knowingness, not a psychedelic blast-through or a mellow hanging-out on some exalted plane of consciousness, not a bubble of immunity, but a vast fire of liberation, an exquisitely fitting crucible and sanctuary, providing both heat and light for the healing and awakening we need.
Most of the time when we're immersed in spiritual bypassing, we like the light but not the heat. And when we're caught up in the grosser forms of spiritual bypassing, we'd usually much rather theorize about the frontiers of consciousness than actually go there, suppressing the fire rather than breathing it even more alive, espousing the ideal of unconditional love but not permitting love to show up in its more challenging, personal dimensions. To do so would be too hot, too scary, and too out-of-control, bringing things to the surface that we have long disowned or suppressed".
— Robert Augustus Masters, "Spiritual Bypassing" (2010)
TAE
"One of Gendlin's primary insights has been to show how what gets explicated is not equal to the implying from which it came. The poem that you MUST soon write is an intricate implying, not the beautiful poem that it will soon help explicate. The poem will come from a very careful attention to the intricate implying you are holding. That intricacy will grow the poem. And that intricacy is also what will have Christopher Alexander say, "oh no…wait…….the way I wrote that somehow excludes so much of such and such…hmmm…." It is a place of great intelligence and place that needs to make new forms in order to come into being. It wants that! Mostly".
- Jeff Falzone, in the TAE portion of The Magellan Courses (http://biffnet.org/tae/)
Kimura on Freedom
"The real essence of freedom is more in what you are free NOT to do than in what you are free to do. It is the freewill-power to refrain, abstain, and withdraw from acting that bestows freedom with its ultimate power—the rational, moral, and spiritual power. Freedom is the state of inner attunement with the highest spiritual principle operative inside human consciousness, while freewill is the self-generative intention originating from the same highest spiritual source. Thus, freedom is a spiritual activity while freewill is a spiritual power. Therefore, the freedom to do without the freedom not to do, perverts freedom to impulsivity and debases autonomy to automaticity.
Freedom can be experienced and understood but cannot be explained or proved. An explanation or proof, to be valid, intrinsically requires an internal logical necessity and explicatory causality, which voids from the system of explanation the very substance of freedom which makes freedom actually freedom. For this reason, those philosophers and scientists who confuse explanations with reality deny the reality of freedom, calling it an illusion. The illusion, however, is their explanation, not freedom. Freedom is possible in reality and only when you are free, you can experience what it means to be human in its full existential potential and evolutionary possibility".
- Yasuhiko Genku Kimura
Roy
"Onto-logical inquiry does not reduce the "subject" of inquiry to an "object" of inquiry; rather it cultivates the mind that receives the "subject of inquiry" as a living center, attuning to the field of its living, radiant being".
- Bonnitta Roy
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Krishnamurti on the observer and the observed
Q: Is there a difference between the observer and the observed?
A: We are so conditioned, so heavily burdened with the past, with all our knowledge, information how can the mind be spontaneous? Can the mind observe its activity without prejudice, which means without images?
When there is a division between the observer and the observed there is conflict but when the observer is theobserved there is no control, no suppression. The self comes to an end. Duality comes to an end. Conflict comes to an end.
This is the greatest meditation to come upon this extraordinary thing for the mind to discover for itself the observer is the observed.
Krishnamurti's 2nd Public Dialogue, Brockwood Park, England, 6th Sept. 1973
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Credo of the Liberal Catholic Church, written by Charles Leadbeater
"We believe that God is Love and Power and Truth and Light; that perfect justice rules the world; that all His sons shall one day reach His Feet, however far they stray. We hold the Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of man; we know that we do serve Him best when best we serve our brother man. So shall His blessing rest upon us and peace for evermore. Amen."
To See With Golden Eyes
I entered the eye
and then it could see,
that when I chose life,
life then chose me.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Dogen Zenji
Treading along in this dreamlike, illusory realm,
Without looking for the traces I may have left;
A cuckoo's song beckons me to return home;
Hearing this, I tilt my head to see
Who has told me to turn back;
But do not ask me where I am going,
As I travel in this limitless world,
Where every step I take is my home.
Without looking for the traces I may have left;
A cuckoo's song beckons me to return home;
Hearing this, I tilt my head to see
Who has told me to turn back;
But do not ask me where I am going,
As I travel in this limitless world,
Where every step I take is my home.
- Dogen Zenji
Octavio Paz
"The beloved is already in our being, as thirst and 'otherness.' Being is eroticism. Inspiration is that strange voice that takes man out of himself to be everything that he is, everything that he desires: another body, another being. Beyond, outside of me, in the green and gold thicket, among the tremulous branches, sings the unknown. It calls to me."
- Octavio Paz
Friday, February 17, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Steadfastness and Courage - Charles Wagner
"Steadfastness is the indispensable quality of every man who one day does not wish to be obliged to say: "I have wasted my life."
A man should not incessantly change with every impression of the moment, but should remain steadfast when he has once determined upon what is right. Of what use are the flowers if they do not produce fruits, and of good ideas if they are not transmuted into deeds? We must encourage stability, habituate ourselves to remain constant, and when we are sure that we are right, must fortify ourselves against invasion. Do not let criticisms or attacks disturb you.
Nothing is so difficult as to remain faithful. At each step of the way outside influences are brought to bear upon us to make us deviate or retrograde. And if there were only difficulties from without, it would not matter so much; but there are those from within. Our dispositions vacillate. We promise one thing with the best intentions in the world; but when the time comes to keep it, everything is changed–the circumstances, men, ourselves; and what duty demands of us seems so different from what we had foreseen, that we hesitate. Those who will fulfill on a rainy day a promise which they have made on a sunny one, are few and far between.
And so we go on casting our hearts to the four winds, giving it and taking it back again, breaking with our past, separating ourselves from ourselves, so to speak. And when we look behind, we no longer recognize ourselves. We see ourselves in the days that are past as a stranger, or rather as several strangers.
There is nothing like a steadfast man, one in whom you can have confidence, one who is found at his post, who arrives punctually, and who can be trusted when you rely on him. He is worth his weight in gold. You can take your bearings from him, because he is sure to be where he ought to be, and nowhere else. The majority of individuals, on the contrary, are sure to be anywhere but where they ought to be. You have only to take them into your calculations to be deceived. Some of them are changeable from weakness of character; they cannot resist attacks, insinuations, and, above all, cannot remain faithful to a lost cause. A defeat in their eyes is a demonstration of the fact that their adversary was right and that they were wrong. When they see their side fail, instead of closing up the ranks, they go over to the enemy. These are the men who are always found on the winning side, and not in their hearts would be found the courageous device: Victrix causa diis placuit, sed victa Catoni.
A profound duplicity, a discrepancy between words and deeds, between appearance and reality, a sort of moral dilettantism which makes us according to the hour sincere or hypocritical, brave or cowardly, honest or unscrupulous–this is the disease which consumes us. What moral force can germinate and grow under these conditions? We must again become men who have only one principle, one word, one work, one love; in a word, men with a sense of duty. This is the source of power. And without this there is only the phantom of a man, the unstable sand, and hollow reed which bends beneath every breath. Be faithful; this is the changeless northern star which will guide you through the vicissitudes of life, through doubts and discouragements, and even mistakes".
Charles Wagner, from his 1894 book, Courgage. RT@ArtOFManliness
Invictus - William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Sunday, February 12, 2012
"... if some great idea takes hold of us from outside, we must understand that it takes hold of us only because something in us responds to it and goes out to meet it".
"The personality is seldom, in the beginning, what it will be later on. For this reason the possibility of enlarging it exists, at least during the first half of life. The enlargement may be affected through an accretion from without, by new vital contents finding their way into the personality from outside and being assimilated. In this way a considerable increase in personality may be experienced. We therefore tend to assume that this increase comes only from without, thus justifying the prejudice that one becomes a personality by stuffing into oneself as much as possible from outside. But the more assiduously we follow this recipe, and the more stubbornly we believe that all increase has to come from without, the greater becomes our inner poverty. Therefore, if some great idea takes hold of us from outside, we must understand that it takes hold of us only because something in us responds to it and goes out to meet it. Richness of mind consists in mental receptivity, not in the accumulation of possessions. What comes to us from outside, and, for that matter, everything that rises up from within, can only be made our own if we are capable of an inner amplitude equal to that of the incoming content. Real increase of personality means consciousness of an enlargement that flows from inner sources. Without psychic depth we can never be adequately related to the magnitude of our object. It has therefore been said quite truly that a man grows with the greatness of his task. But he must have within himself the capacity to grow; otherwise even the most difficult task is of no benefit to him. More likely he will be shattered by it".
- Carl Jung
The Power Grid - Nicole Dadone
"... So now, about that fact that the angel needs you as badly as you need them, which brings a tremendous sense of relief to my accounting soul... Without me, my angels float around. They need housing. In the same way it might be difficult, though not impossible, to create great and big things if you were living out of your car, an angel needs a little stability to do their whole creative process inside of. The good news is that their creative process just happens to make me really really smart, so that when I do their bidding people don't laugh and walk away. I believe that they also need a place to express the unbearable weight of their love. It's useless if it doesn't land somewhere, so it may as well be me. And then my job is to find other people willing to receive this thing, so that I too do not get all backed up. Then there is this simple, lovely, electrical line where the current can flow through all of us.
And I ask things of them. I used to think that I was a bother, but no, it is what they are there for and when I do, they get to be great and deliver. One of my angels will text me 20 times a day asking me if I need anything. Not for me, but because that is where she gets to have the voltage come through her. And then I too get to give and feel all generous and good. To receive from and then give to is the natural order of things. One side keeps us humble and the other keeps us generous, and both in a benefitting from necessity kind of way.
Isn't that a lovely system?
When I talk about turning on the power grid, this is what I mean.".
- Nicole Dadone
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Lama Yeshe
"We really need tantra these days because there is a tremendous explosion of delusion and distraction... and we need the atomic energy of inner fire to blast us out of our delusion".
- Lama Yeshe
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
SES Quote
"We would say: the signifier "Emptiness" can only be understood in those who possess the developmental signified that is Prajna, whereupon the actual referent "Emptiness" is directly perceived as the Emptiness of all forms whatsoever, and not the privlaging of one form or concept, such as no-self, over its opposite, such as self. But the referent of the signifier "Emptiness" becomes obvious only upon the awakening of Prajna, and Prajna is not an idea or a theory but an injunction or a paradigm: it begins its practice by categorically rejecting every conceivable category of thought to embrace the Real, or Dharmata. This categorical rejection—the dialectic—creates an opening or clearing in awareness in which the primordial and unobstructed nature of the Real can shine forth non dualistically as the Suchness of all phenomena. And all of those words are nevertheless still signifiers whose actual referents are disclosed only in that "opening" or "clear in," and prior to the discovery of that opening or Emptiness, they are all equally off the mark. Even the phrase, "Emptiness is free of thought concepts" would itself be denied: that's just more words. Where is the actual referent? Where is your Original Face right now?"
—Ken Wilber, Sex Ecology Spirituality, p722
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Prana Divides Itself Into Five Vayus - Swamiji
When kundalini comes outward as Prana, the Prana operates in the body, it divides into five major flows called Vayus. These can be thought of as somewhat like major currents in one of the large oceans of the world, while there may be thousands of smaller currents. These five Vayus are the major currents that contain thousands of smaller currents.
Prana Vayu operates from the heart area, and is an upward flowing energy, having to do with vitalizing life forces.
Apana Vayu operates from the base of the torso, in the rectum area, is a downward flowing energy, and has to do with eliminating or throwing off what is no longer needed.
Samana Vayu operates from the navel area, deals with digestion, and allows the mental discrimination between useful and not useful thoughts.
Udana Vayu operates from the throat and drives exhalation, operating in conjunction with Prana Vayu, which deals with inhalation.
Vyana Vayu operates throughout the whole body, having no particular center, and is a coordinating energy throughout the various systems.
From - http://swamij.com/kundalini-awakening-1.htm
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Prana Vayu operates from the heart area, and is an upward flowing energy, having to do with vitalizing life forces.
Apana Vayu operates from the base of the torso, in the rectum area, is a downward flowing energy, and has to do with eliminating or throwing off what is no longer needed.
Samana Vayu operates from the navel area, deals with digestion, and allows the mental discrimination between useful and not useful thoughts.
Udana Vayu operates from the throat and drives exhalation, operating in conjunction with Prana Vayu, which deals with inhalation.
Vyana Vayu operates throughout the whole body, having no particular center, and is a coordinating energy throughout the various systems.
From - http://swamij.com/kundalini-awakening-1.htm
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Monday, January 23, 2012
Appearance Emptiness
Appearance emptiness
has been the longing
blossoming in all
forevers, all along.
has been the longing
blossoming in all
forevers, all along.
In The Sky, 24/1/12.
Vantage Points and Form/Emptiness Trans-Duality
"... as each new vantage point is recognized along the spectrum of realization, the shallower vantage point are seen through as transparent but they do not cease to exist. That is to say, even as one shifts identity beyond thought, one moves beyond the confusion and obscuration that an exclusive identification with thought causes, but the functionality and apparent existence of thought still remains. In a similar way, from an awakened vantage point of non-dual awareness, each of the lower vantage points (witness, time/space, personality, and thought) remain open and functioning. This means that appearances of subject and object and the whole manifestation of duality in form do not vanish. In fact, the experience of realization is quite the opposite. All lower vantage points are enlivened with the magnificence of realization and seen clearly as an expression of the very nature of reality. A realization that fails to fully manifest the functionality and particular skills of a lower vantage point suffers from a state-stage pathology".
- Dustin DiPerna, in his forthcoming book, Heart of Conscious Evolution: An Advanced Guide to Integral Spiritual Development
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Tilopa’s Ganges Mahamudra Oral Instructions
This afternoon, after begin guided through the first three turns of the dharma wheel, we were given the grace of receiving these unspeakably beautiful instructions, 1001 years after their first oration on the mouth of the Ganges. I've never been pointed to non-dual then awakened space before, and still can't quite make appropriate constructs to convey the gravity of this simple, powerful opportunity and gift from a very skilled master. Heartfelt blessings.
Tilopa’s Ganges Mahamudra Oral Instructions
Translated by Daniel Brown, Ph.D. (c)
1. Out of respect for the lineage, who developed these instructions to counter an ocean of suffering in Samsara, Let me pour this View into your mind, my friends.
2. Although Mahamudra isn’t anything I can really explain. Just let go, and hold this vantage point of mind, without artificial meditation strategies, and freshly [without conceptualization]. Just as space has no substance to it, Likewise, the real nature of the mind, Mahamudra, has no substance that can serve as a support to focus on
3. Cling to nothing as I speak, and there is no doubt, liberation will come. Take this View as if you were looking directly into awareness-itself, like space, in such a way that you aren’t trying to see, because from this vantage point, awareness sees itself by itself. And when all attempts to conceptualize cease, you will attain perfect awakening.
4. Clouds float through space, but don’t go anywhere, or stay anywhere. In the same way conceptualization arises in the mind, but from the vantage point of the real nature of the mind, thought is like waves that become calm.
5. Just as space has no color. It has no form. It has no darkness. No light. It is changeless. Likewise, the real nature of the mind has no color, no form, Nor is it tinged by the darkness of bad, nor the light of virtuous actions.
6. For thousands of aeons, the sun that shines everyday day has never been clouded by darkness. Likewise, the real nature of the mind’s clear-light of awareness has never been clouded by the cycle of Samsara.
7. You’ll probably conceptualize about the mind in so many ways, calling it “empty space’ or ‘clear-light’ but you can’t really explain it in words. This mind is...insubstantial, and words won’t make awakening happen.
8. The real nature of the mind is always right here, beginning less, endless, like vast space that saturates everything! So my dear friends, now stop doing anything to set up your body posture, shut your mouth, be quiet, and don’t think about anything whatsoever.. Simply take this vantage point, as the teaching beyond all practices.
9. The body has no substance, like the hollow inside of a bamboo stalk. And the mind, like space itself, is beyond any intended meditation object. So let go of any artificial strategies of meditating. Let go of meditating. And when this mind reflects itself to itself, right here is Mahamudra awakening.
10. You will not see the clear-light of Mahamudra by chanting mantras, reading the wisdom texts or sutras on emptiness, or by practicing ethical precepts. When the [ordinary] mind [incessantly reacts] by moving away from practices it dislikes and moving toward practices it likes You stay obscured and will not see the clear-light of Mahamudra-awakening.
11. Having ideas about how you routinely keep your vows, trying to conceptualize how you might [awaken], just makes to stray from this truth. This truth is beyond the reactivity of the mind moving away or moving toward anything.. Don’t particularize anything, and whatever seems to arise by itself, immediately becomes calm by itself, and so the mind remains like a still pool of water.
12. Never leave Thatness, but don’t stay in it either, and don’t try to represent it. Simply vow never to leave it, and nothing will obscure the flames [of awakening!]. Beyond the reactivity of the [ordinary] mind moving toward and moving away, not trying to stay, not even trying to see it, then you will see everything there is to see!
13. Conduct an examination-meditation right now on the Truth, and you will become liberated from the prison of Samsara. Then, in you samadhi-meditation, right now, the flames of this Truth will burn up all the bad karma and obscurations. Those who are unable to appreciate this Truth are toss about in the sea of Samsara.
14. Those foolish beings who continuously get caught up in negative states of misery and sorrow. All these sorry folks who wish to be free, need only depend on the teacher’s pointing out instructions.
15. So my friends, everything that exists within Samsara is only the cause of suffering, not the cause of Truth. The essence of this teaching is: to do nothing, other than taking the vantage point of what is the essence of Truth.
16. The King of Views is: Going beyond subject/object duality The King of Meditation is: Holding this vantage point uninterruptedly. The King of Practice is: Do nothing. Do not search for anything. Be without any expectation of gain or fear of failure, and your realization will directly come to fruition.
17. So now move beyond any intended meditation object to the real nature of the mind’s awareness self-illuminating itself to itself. There is no path to walk.... and you are already facing Buddha-mind as your mind. And when you are familiar with what its like meditating in this way, without any intended meditation object, and it is perfect, now you awaken!
18. So my friends, please understand me well. Everything that seems to exist in this world is impermanent, like a mirage or a dream, And as such, mirages and dreams are not the Truth.
19. So at least for now put aside everyday activities, break connection with [ordinary] sensory experience. It only generates more desire and aversion. Dwell in the forests or mountains and meditate. Yet, [above all] stay in this vantage point of non-meditation, and when you don’t try to attain it, you will attain Mahamudra-awakening.
20. The leaves and branches of a tree whither and wilt when its roots are cut. Likewise, cut the roots of the mind, and the leaves and branches of Samsara end.
21. The smallest lamp can eliminate darkness that has accumulated for thousands of eons. Likewise, a singe flame of the clear-light of the mind’s awareness self-illuminating itself to itself, in a single instant, eliminates all the ignorance, obscurations, and defilements, that have accumulated for eons.
22. So my friends, don’t conceptualize this, or you won’t see the Truth that is beyond all conceptualization. Don’t engage in any artificial meditation strategies, or you won’t see the Truth that is beyond all doing. So if you want this Truth, it is beyond all conceptualization and all artificial meditation strategies.
23. Use your sword of emptiness everywhere, and cut to the root, and hold the vantage point freshly. Purify the muddy water of conceptualizing until it becomes clear. Ease up so you let whatever arises come forth in its own right [self-contentedly]. Don’t do anything. Do not make anything happen nor prevent anything from happening.
24. Do not hold onto anything, nor let anything go, and right here, is Mahamudra-awakening, and you are freed from Samsara. All that obscures, even the subtlest propensities cease. The awakened mind, always right here, self-illuminates the storehouse of all potential experience.
25. Complete liberation from all extreme [views]. This is the Supreme View. Wide and deep and limitless. This is the Supreme Meditation. Beyond any intention or cutting anything off. This is the Supreme Practice. Beyond all expectation of outcome or fear of failure, the mind frees itself. This is the Supreme Fruition.
26. At first awakening the mind is like a fast-moving waterfall. Then, it flows gently like the vast Ganges, And finally, it is a great ocean wherein the infant of individual consciousness and the dharmakaya mother consciousness flow into one another.
27. For those less intelligent who can’t stay [continuously] in the vantage point of awakened wisdom [once you taste it] You can [once again] stay on the breath, and distill the nectar of awareness with many concentration practices, [and when your concentration is strong again] Above all learn to hold the vantage point of awareness-itself
28. If you take that vantage point as your support, Awakened Wisdom arises, its radiance, its emptiness. Through empowerment, entering samadhi, then insight, [the seeds of] this Awakened Wisdom are gently drawn into the mandala [in your heart], then manifest in various sites in your body, then saturate your entire being. When you don’t grasp for it, Awakened Wisdom arises, its radiance, its emptiness.
29. You will seem ageless and healthy like the waxing moon. You become radiant. You’ll seem to have the strength of a lion, and all the ordinary [positive states] and special powers of a Buddha will flourish.
This is my oral advice to you, my friends, on the essence of Mahamudra awakening. Let it stay uninterruptedly in your heart, and in the hearts of all sentient beings!
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Tilopa’s Ganges Mahamudra Oral Instructions
Translated by Daniel Brown, Ph.D. (c)
1. Out of respect for the lineage, who developed these instructions to counter an ocean of suffering in Samsara, Let me pour this View into your mind, my friends.
2. Although Mahamudra isn’t anything I can really explain. Just let go, and hold this vantage point of mind, without artificial meditation strategies, and freshly [without conceptualization]. Just as space has no substance to it, Likewise, the real nature of the mind, Mahamudra, has no substance that can serve as a support to focus on
3. Cling to nothing as I speak, and there is no doubt, liberation will come. Take this View as if you were looking directly into awareness-itself, like space, in such a way that you aren’t trying to see, because from this vantage point, awareness sees itself by itself. And when all attempts to conceptualize cease, you will attain perfect awakening.
4. Clouds float through space, but don’t go anywhere, or stay anywhere. In the same way conceptualization arises in the mind, but from the vantage point of the real nature of the mind, thought is like waves that become calm.
5. Just as space has no color. It has no form. It has no darkness. No light. It is changeless. Likewise, the real nature of the mind has no color, no form, Nor is it tinged by the darkness of bad, nor the light of virtuous actions.
6. For thousands of aeons, the sun that shines everyday day has never been clouded by darkness. Likewise, the real nature of the mind’s clear-light of awareness has never been clouded by the cycle of Samsara.
7. You’ll probably conceptualize about the mind in so many ways, calling it “empty space’ or ‘clear-light’ but you can’t really explain it in words. This mind is...insubstantial, and words won’t make awakening happen.
8. The real nature of the mind is always right here, beginning less, endless, like vast space that saturates everything! So my dear friends, now stop doing anything to set up your body posture, shut your mouth, be quiet, and don’t think about anything whatsoever.. Simply take this vantage point, as the teaching beyond all practices.
9. The body has no substance, like the hollow inside of a bamboo stalk. And the mind, like space itself, is beyond any intended meditation object. So let go of any artificial strategies of meditating. Let go of meditating. And when this mind reflects itself to itself, right here is Mahamudra awakening.
10. You will not see the clear-light of Mahamudra by chanting mantras, reading the wisdom texts or sutras on emptiness, or by practicing ethical precepts. When the [ordinary] mind [incessantly reacts] by moving away from practices it dislikes and moving toward practices it likes You stay obscured and will not see the clear-light of Mahamudra-awakening.
11. Having ideas about how you routinely keep your vows, trying to conceptualize how you might [awaken], just makes to stray from this truth. This truth is beyond the reactivity of the mind moving away or moving toward anything.. Don’t particularize anything, and whatever seems to arise by itself, immediately becomes calm by itself, and so the mind remains like a still pool of water.
12. Never leave Thatness, but don’t stay in it either, and don’t try to represent it. Simply vow never to leave it, and nothing will obscure the flames [of awakening!]. Beyond the reactivity of the [ordinary] mind moving toward and moving away, not trying to stay, not even trying to see it, then you will see everything there is to see!
13. Conduct an examination-meditation right now on the Truth, and you will become liberated from the prison of Samsara. Then, in you samadhi-meditation, right now, the flames of this Truth will burn up all the bad karma and obscurations. Those who are unable to appreciate this Truth are toss about in the sea of Samsara.
14. Those foolish beings who continuously get caught up in negative states of misery and sorrow. All these sorry folks who wish to be free, need only depend on the teacher’s pointing out instructions.
15. So my friends, everything that exists within Samsara is only the cause of suffering, not the cause of Truth. The essence of this teaching is: to do nothing, other than taking the vantage point of what is the essence of Truth.
16. The King of Views is: Going beyond subject/object duality The King of Meditation is: Holding this vantage point uninterruptedly. The King of Practice is: Do nothing. Do not search for anything. Be without any expectation of gain or fear of failure, and your realization will directly come to fruition.
17. So now move beyond any intended meditation object to the real nature of the mind’s awareness self-illuminating itself to itself. There is no path to walk.... and you are already facing Buddha-mind as your mind. And when you are familiar with what its like meditating in this way, without any intended meditation object, and it is perfect, now you awaken!
18. So my friends, please understand me well. Everything that seems to exist in this world is impermanent, like a mirage or a dream, And as such, mirages and dreams are not the Truth.
19. So at least for now put aside everyday activities, break connection with [ordinary] sensory experience. It only generates more desire and aversion. Dwell in the forests or mountains and meditate. Yet, [above all] stay in this vantage point of non-meditation, and when you don’t try to attain it, you will attain Mahamudra-awakening.
20. The leaves and branches of a tree whither and wilt when its roots are cut. Likewise, cut the roots of the mind, and the leaves and branches of Samsara end.
21. The smallest lamp can eliminate darkness that has accumulated for thousands of eons. Likewise, a singe flame of the clear-light of the mind’s awareness self-illuminating itself to itself, in a single instant, eliminates all the ignorance, obscurations, and defilements, that have accumulated for eons.
22. So my friends, don’t conceptualize this, or you won’t see the Truth that is beyond all conceptualization. Don’t engage in any artificial meditation strategies, or you won’t see the Truth that is beyond all doing. So if you want this Truth, it is beyond all conceptualization and all artificial meditation strategies.
23. Use your sword of emptiness everywhere, and cut to the root, and hold the vantage point freshly. Purify the muddy water of conceptualizing until it becomes clear. Ease up so you let whatever arises come forth in its own right [self-contentedly]. Don’t do anything. Do not make anything happen nor prevent anything from happening.
24. Do not hold onto anything, nor let anything go, and right here, is Mahamudra-awakening, and you are freed from Samsara. All that obscures, even the subtlest propensities cease. The awakened mind, always right here, self-illuminates the storehouse of all potential experience.
25. Complete liberation from all extreme [views]. This is the Supreme View. Wide and deep and limitless. This is the Supreme Meditation. Beyond any intention or cutting anything off. This is the Supreme Practice. Beyond all expectation of outcome or fear of failure, the mind frees itself. This is the Supreme Fruition.
26. At first awakening the mind is like a fast-moving waterfall. Then, it flows gently like the vast Ganges, And finally, it is a great ocean wherein the infant of individual consciousness and the dharmakaya mother consciousness flow into one another.
27. For those less intelligent who can’t stay [continuously] in the vantage point of awakened wisdom [once you taste it] You can [once again] stay on the breath, and distill the nectar of awareness with many concentration practices, [and when your concentration is strong again] Above all learn to hold the vantage point of awareness-itself
28. If you take that vantage point as your support, Awakened Wisdom arises, its radiance, its emptiness. Through empowerment, entering samadhi, then insight, [the seeds of] this Awakened Wisdom are gently drawn into the mandala [in your heart], then manifest in various sites in your body, then saturate your entire being. When you don’t grasp for it, Awakened Wisdom arises, its radiance, its emptiness.
29. You will seem ageless and healthy like the waxing moon. You become radiant. You’ll seem to have the strength of a lion, and all the ordinary [positive states] and special powers of a Buddha will flourish.
This is my oral advice to you, my friends, on the essence of Mahamudra awakening. Let it stay uninterruptedly in your heart, and in the hearts of all sentient beings!
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Friday, January 20, 2012
A Walk in the Hills: A Few Thoughts on Self-Acceptance - Jonathan Young
What a fine day, I thought, for a walk in the hills. The sky is pleasantly warm and clear. The breeze drifting through the trees makes the world seem fresh and new. On an outward level, this stroll is a very small adventure. I pass near some old sheds that were once used for animals, but have been neglected for years. The dark planks have texture and character that are the gifts of the seasons. Further away, some cows graze with what seems like infinite inner peace.
My love affair with the beauty of this landscape is not rare. Anyone who visits the coastal hills has to be swept up in the natural grandeur of such a place. As a native Californian, I share in the belief that this is about as close to sublime as we are going to find on this planet.
So, ok, I’m in a good mood. I am appreciating the simple experience of moving the body and how it takes me into a reflective space. There is more than a lovely day to celebrate. I am grateful to live in a part of the world where people are curious. The seekers that are numerous in these parts are kindred spirits. Being in the company of adventurous types is gratifying. Around here, I don’t feel like the only one who is forever poking at difficult questions.
The people that appeal to me are forever discovering new layers of possibility. Their larger adventures are often within. After all, our rich inner lives are what we have to show for how we have invested our energies over the years. Whatever we might accomplish in practical terms is modest, compared with the marvels within. It is as if a life is the task of building an interior castle of ideas, feelings, experiences, and dreams.
On this day as I wind my way through a glen with a small creek, most of my attention is in the private world of thoughts. Bits of conversation float through my mind.
A memory comes of a very successful friend who once asked for ideas on how to live so that, at the end, he would have no regrets. I thought long and hard, then answered that I thought regrets were inevitable. There isn’t time to do everything. There is always some grief about all the good ideas we never get around to developing. I don’t think life has to be perfect to be fulfilling. I suggested that he give some thought to how to handle regrets well, rather than putting too much energy into avoiding them.
These days, I am far more interested in self-acceptance than in further improvements. Seems to me that a good deal of pop psychology is thinly veiled self-rejection. Of course, I want to continue to discover more about life and myself. I just don’t want to miss the quiet knowing that has always been present.
The sun is starting to get low in the trees. The air is growing cooler. At moments like these, I can hear the angels sing.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Emptiness of Self + Emptiness of Phenomena from the Mind Perspective
Two monks were arguing about a flag flapping in the wind. "It's the wind that is really moving," stated the first one. "No, it is the flag that is moving," contended the second. A master, who happened to be walking by, overheard the debate and interrupted them. "Neither the flag nor the wind is moving," he said, "It is mind that moves."
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Simply Wait
You do not need to leave your room.
Remain sitting at the table and listen.
Do not even listen, simply wait.
Do not even wait, be still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice.
It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
- Franz Kafka
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Remain sitting at the table and listen.
Do not even listen, simply wait.
Do not even wait, be still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice.
It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
- Franz Kafka
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Eight Extremes - Nagarjuna - "Find the Middle Way".
Based on dependent origination something occurs, yet
There is no arising nor passing away.
There is no nihilism nor eternalism.
There is no coming nor going.
There are not many nor one event(s).
Whatever tends to be elaborated becomes almost calm again and again.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Nothing Else Matters - John O'Donohue
From you
I don't want anything new
no more gifts
nor the scent of landscapes
rising to fill us,
no bouquets of insight
left by my head
in the tenderness of morning,
I don't want anything new
no more gifts
nor the scent of landscapes
rising to fill us,
no bouquets of insight
left by my head
in the tenderness of morning,
no intoxication
of thoughts that open horizons
where rooms are low,
nor the sever of spring
under the grid of old worlds
that has set on our skin,
nor my favourite blue,
the cobalt
colour of silence.
No.
All I want
is your two hands
pulsing in mine,
the two of us
back in a circle
round our love.
Bowlby
"Attachment theory regards the propensity to make intimate emotional bonds to particular individuals as a basic component of human nature, already present in germinal form in the neonate and continuing through adult life into old age."
- John Bowlby
Five Stages of Prenatal Development - The Sutra Requested by Yakshendra and The Sutra of Entering the Womb.
Five stages of prenatal development (Wyl. mngal gyi gnas skabs lnga) — there are two principal ways of counting the five stages of prenatal development, following lists given in two different sutras, The Sutra Requested by Yakshendra and The Sutra of Entering the Womb.
According to the The Sutra Requested by Yakshendra, the five stages are:
- ‘creamy mass’ (nur nur po),
- ‘quivering mass’ (mer mer po),
- oval mass (nar narpo),
- ‘solidifying’ (trang gyur), and
- ‘with emerging limbs’ (kanglak gyüpa).
According to the The Sutra of Entering the Womb, they are:
- ‘creamy mass’ (nur nurpo),
- ‘quivering mass’ (mer mer po),
- oval mass (nar narpo),
- rounded (gor gor po), and
- ‘with emerging limbs’ (kanglak gyüpa).
A slightly different list, beginning with mer mer po, is given in Gampopa’s Jewel Ornament of Liberation.
The Padmakara Translation Group, in their translation of Words of My Perfect Teacher, give the five as:
- round jelly,
- viscous ellipse,
- thick oblong,
- firm oval, and
- hard round lump.
From the Rigpa Wiki
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Blessings For Those At the Threshold of Manhood - John O'Donohue
As you leave the blurred wood you entered while still a boy,
And light clarifies around your emerging, manly form,
May you discover gradually a natural confidence in your body.
May your new strength be graceful as you learn to carry yourself
With a dignity that is sure, bringing your gestures and expression
Into an easy harmony and rhythm.
May you never feel the need to be coarse, or force yourself;
Rather, may you receive your manhood with grace and mindful ease;
Then, at one with your own elegance, your presence will claim it’s radiance.
May you awaken confidently to the feminine within you,
and learn to integrate the beauty
Of intuition and feeling so that your sensitivity kindles and your heart is trusted.
That you may slowly grow to trust the silence of the masculine
As the home of your stillness.
Though it will be always difficult to find the words for what you feel,
May you find ease in that awkwardness, until gradually from beneath
The gravel of stuttered sounds, the pure flow of you emerges.
Be gentle with yourself, learn to integrate the negative,
Harnessing its force to cross the boundaries
That would confine you.
Love the life of your mind, furnishing it ever with new thought
So that your countenance glows with the joy of being alive.
Be vigilant and true to an inner honor that will not allow
Anger or resentment to make you captive.
Always have the courage to change,
welcoming those voices that call you beyond yourself.
Beyond your work and action, remain faithful to your heart
For you to deepen and grow
Into a man of dignity and nobility.
- John O'Donohue, from his book To Bless the Space Between Us.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
And light clarifies around your emerging, manly form,
May you discover gradually a natural confidence in your body.
May your new strength be graceful as you learn to carry yourself
With a dignity that is sure, bringing your gestures and expression
Into an easy harmony and rhythm.
May you never feel the need to be coarse, or force yourself;
Rather, may you receive your manhood with grace and mindful ease;
Then, at one with your own elegance, your presence will claim it’s radiance.
May you awaken confidently to the feminine within you,
and learn to integrate the beauty
Of intuition and feeling so that your sensitivity kindles and your heart is trusted.
That you may slowly grow to trust the silence of the masculine
As the home of your stillness.
Though it will be always difficult to find the words for what you feel,
May you find ease in that awkwardness, until gradually from beneath
The gravel of stuttered sounds, the pure flow of you emerges.
Be gentle with yourself, learn to integrate the negative,
Harnessing its force to cross the boundaries
That would confine you.
Love the life of your mind, furnishing it ever with new thought
So that your countenance glows with the joy of being alive.
Be vigilant and true to an inner honor that will not allow
Anger or resentment to make you captive.
Always have the courage to change,
welcoming those voices that call you beyond yourself.
Beyond your work and action, remain faithful to your heart
For you to deepen and grow
Into a man of dignity and nobility.
- John O'Donohue, from his book To Bless the Space Between Us.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Another Padmasambhava Invocation, This Time From The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
Imagine the practice unfolding in these three phases:
First, dazzling light, crystal white in color, bursts out from the forehead of the master and enters the energy center in your forehead and fills your whole body. This white light rep-resents the blessing of the body of all the buddhas: It cleanses all the negative karma you have accumulated through negative actions of the body; it purifies the subtle channels of your psycho-physical system; it gives you the blessing of the body of the buddhas; it empowers you for visualization practice; and it opens you to the realization of that compassionate energy of Rigpa, the nature of mind, that is manifesting in everything.
Second, a stream of ruby red light shines out from the throat of the master into the energy center at your throat, fill-ing your entire body. This red light represents the blessing of the speech of all the buddhas: it cleanses all the negative karma you have accumulated through harmful speech; it purifies the inner air of your psycho-physical system; it gives you the blessing of the speech of the buddhas; it empowers you for mantra practice; and it opens you to the realization of the radiance of the nature of Rigpa.
Third, a stream of shimmering blue light, the color of lapis lazuli, bursts out from the heart of the master into the energy center at your heart, and fills your whole body. This blue light represents the blessing of the mind of the buddhas: It cleanses all the negative karma you have accumulated through negative activity of your mind; it purifies the creative essence, or energy, within your psycho-physical system; it gives you the blessing of the mind of the buddhas; it empowers you for advanced yoga practices; and it opens you to the realization of the primordial purity of the essence of Rigpa.
Know and feel that you are now empowered, through the blessing, with the indestructible body, speech, and mind of Padmasambhava, of all the buddhas.
First, dazzling light, crystal white in color, bursts out from the forehead of the master and enters the energy center in your forehead and fills your whole body. This white light rep-resents the blessing of the body of all the buddhas: It cleanses all the negative karma you have accumulated through negative actions of the body; it purifies the subtle channels of your psycho-physical system; it gives you the blessing of the body of the buddhas; it empowers you for visualization practice; and it opens you to the realization of that compassionate energy of Rigpa, the nature of mind, that is manifesting in everything.
Second, a stream of ruby red light shines out from the throat of the master into the energy center at your throat, fill-ing your entire body. This red light represents the blessing of the speech of all the buddhas: it cleanses all the negative karma you have accumulated through harmful speech; it purifies the inner air of your psycho-physical system; it gives you the blessing of the speech of the buddhas; it empowers you for mantra practice; and it opens you to the realization of the radiance of the nature of Rigpa.
Third, a stream of shimmering blue light, the color of lapis lazuli, bursts out from the heart of the master into the energy center at your heart, and fills your whole body. This blue light represents the blessing of the mind of the buddhas: It cleanses all the negative karma you have accumulated through negative activity of your mind; it purifies the creative essence, or energy, within your psycho-physical system; it gives you the blessing of the mind of the buddhas; it empowers you for advanced yoga practices; and it opens you to the realization of the primordial purity of the essence of Rigpa.
Know and feel that you are now empowered, through the blessing, with the indestructible body, speech, and mind of Padmasambhava, of all the buddhas.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
A Gift from Padmasambhava via my friend Trish
'Now when the bardo of this life is dawning upon me,
I will abandon laziness for which life has no time,
Enter, undistracted, the path of listening and hearing, reflection and contemplation and meditation.
Making perceptions and mind the path, and realise the three kayas, the enlightened mind;
Now that I have once attained a human body,
There is no time on the path for the mind to wander'.
- Padmasambhava
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
I will abandon laziness for which life has no time,
Enter, undistracted, the path of listening and hearing, reflection and contemplation and meditation.
Making perceptions and mind the path, and realise the three kayas, the enlightened mind;
Now that I have once attained a human body,
There is no time on the path for the mind to wander'.
- Padmasambhava
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Om Ah Hum Invocation From Padmasambhava from Awakened Dharmakaya Space
On a lotus, streaming toward me for benevolent means, available at all times, resting life size in front of me, connecting white light Om out of awakened dharmakaya space from his third eye to mine, then connecting red light Ah out of awakened dharmakaya space from his throat chakra to mine, and connecting blue light Hum out of awakened dharmakaya space from his heart to mine.
Then a clear light ball comes from him, to me, down from above and resting in the heart.
An auspicious beginning.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Integral Options Cafe: Introduction to Attachment - Conference Lectures
Integral Options Cafe: Introduction to Attachment - Conference Lectures: The first lecture is useful as an introduction to the basic ideas of attachment theory - too bad the whole conference was not videoed or mad...
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
The Domes
“If I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace”.
― Gaston Bachelard
"These trees are magnificent, but even more magnificent is the sublime and moving space between them, as though with their growth it too increased”.
― Ranier Maria Rilke
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
― Gaston Bachelard
"These trees are magnificent, but even more magnificent is the sublime and moving space between them, as though with their growth it too increased”.
― Ranier Maria Rilke
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Friday, January 13, 2012
Sambhogakāya and The Reward Body
Evidenced in meeting the road of trials with ethical action and assuming karma beyond the proximate self, the Sambhogakāya is the reward-body whereby a bodhisattva completes his vows and becomes a Buddha in this second of Trikayas. Amitabha, Vajrasattva and Manjushri are examples of Buddhas with the Sambhogakaya body. Sambhogakāya is the second mode or aspect of the Trikaya. Sambhogakaya has also been translated as the "deity dimension", "body of bliss" or "astral body". Sambhogakaya refers to the luminous form of clear light the Buddhist practitioner attains upon the reaching the highest dimensions of practice. Conversely, it is also considered one of the primary means by which the Dharmakaya is made manifest. Consequently, the Sambhogakaya encompasses "celestial" Buddhas such as Bhaisajyaguru, etc., as well as advanced bodhisattvas such as Avalokitesvara and Manjusri.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Depictions of Sahasrāra
From ILoveULove
The Celestial Rose, Illustration to Dante's Paradisio.
Trans-Duality in the Mahāyāna Mahāmudrā - Daniel P Brown
"Eventually, when you awaken in the Mahāyāna, you also eradicate reactivity. That is called the liberation component of awakening. It gets rid of all the reactivity and suffering. But in addition to that, which you get in the Mahāyāna, and which you don't find in the earlier Theravadan tradition, is another component which is called the omniscient component of awakening. You have this vast all-at-oneness as a direct experience, and you open up to what are called the Buddha bodies. The buddha bodies are then the basis of operation. It is no longer only within individual consciousness. Your basis of operation is now also the Dharmakāya awareness - that vast ocean of awareness which is the ground of our being. Simultaneous with that, the energy of manifesting anything in existence, across any potential kind of existence, is there at the same time. And simultaneous with that is your individual consciousness, and the content of your individuation consciousness and your personality, and the stuff of your ordinary mind. It's like quadraphonics - it's all there at once".
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.comSalvador Dali - Ascension
Looks conspicuously like Sahasrāra in the background...
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Longing for Recognition: Commentary on the Work of Jessica Benjamin by Judith Butler
"One of the distinctive contributions of her theory is to insist that intersubjectivity is not the same as object relations, and that 'intersubjectivity' adds to object relations the notion of an external Other, one who exceeds the psychic construction of the object in complementary terms. What this means is that whatever the psychic and fantasmatic relation to the object may be, it ought to be understood in terms of the larger dynamic of recognition. the relation to the object is not the same as the relation to the Other, but the relation to the Other provides a framework for understanding the relation to the object. The subject not only forms certain psychic relations to objects, but the subject is formed by and through those psychic relations. Moreover, these various forms are implicitly structured by a struggle for recognition in which the Other does and does not become dissociable from the object which is psychically represented. This struggle is represented by a desire to enter into a communicative practice with the Other in which recognition takes place neither as an event nor a set of events, but as an onging process, one that also poses the psychic risk of destruction. Whereas Hegel refers to a 'negation' as the risk that recognition always runs, Benjamin retains this term to describe the differentiated aspect of rationality: the other is not me, and from this distinction, certain psychic consequences follow....For Benjamin, humans form psychic relations with Others on the basis of a necessary negation, but not all of those relations must be destructive. Whereas the psychic response that seeks to master and dispel that negation is destructive, that destruction is precisely what needs to be worked through in the process of recognition".
Longing for Recognition: Commentary on the Work of Jessica Benjamin by Judith Butler
Reference:
Judith Butler (2010). Longing for Recognition. In Kimberly Hutchings & Tuija Pulkkinen (eds.), Hegel's Philosophy and Feminist Thought: Beyond Antigone? Palgrave Macmillan.
RT @ Trish Nowland
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Longing for Recognition: Commentary on the Work of Jessica Benjamin by Judith Butler
Reference:
Judith Butler (2010). Longing for Recognition. In Kimberly Hutchings & Tuija Pulkkinen (eds.), Hegel's Philosophy and Feminist Thought: Beyond Antigone? Palgrave Macmillan.
RT @ Trish Nowland
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Contact
"One of the reasons many people fundamentally get into relationships is to have someone witness your life with you...an unwitnessed life is a tragedy".
- Ken Wilber
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
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