matt
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Post by matt on Feb 23, 2014 20:40:43 GMT 1
Rigpa Glimpse of the Day,
February 23
Everything that we see around us is seen as it is because we have repeatedly solidified our experience of inner and outer reality in the same way, lifetime after lifetime, and this has led to the mistaken assumption that what we see is objectively real. In fact, as we go further along the spiritual path, we learn how to work directly with our fixed perceptions. All our old concepts of the world or of matter or of even ourselves are purified and dissolved, and an entirely new, what you could call “heavenly” field of vision and perception opens up. As William Blake said:
If the doors of perception were cleansed
Everything would appear . . . as it is, infinite.
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tamara
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Post by tamara on Feb 24, 2014 3:06:33 GMT 1
Yep ``Everything would appear . . . as it is, infinite.`` and much more only that it cannot be described.
I am a bit surprised that Longchenpa`s writing (in my last post) did not draw any responses.
After all this is pretty much all what can be said about `enlightenment` and he does it from his own experience.
Remarkable ... or not ?
Buddha speaking in 1360.
Tamara
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matt
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Post by matt on Feb 25, 2014 1:54:17 GMT 1
I am a bit surprised that Longchenpa`s writing (in my last post) did not draw any responses. Tamara There is a little thumbs up button in the top right corner you can press if you like a post, but have nothing to add to it. So far I seem to be the only one using it.  |
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dan
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Post by dan on Mar 1, 2014 11:18:07 GMT 1
Tamara wrote Hey Tamara, Thanks for sharing the Omniscient Longchenpa teaching. For me, his writing tends to render me speechless and thoughtless  . Reading his words on the screen, my mind are his words*. Makes me want to memorize some of his stuff so I can have it available when the apparent need arises. Ironic, though, as he says: "There is nothing to be known through language or expressed in words." How eloquently he does/doesn't it. * I wanted to edit the grammar, but this feels closer to the meaning. |
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tamara
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Post by tamara on Mar 4, 2014 1:15:41 GMT 1
A wonderful comment, Dan. I did not hear/read much from Longchenpa yet. But every time I do it puts my mind somewhere where it is not very often .....  Tamara |
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matt
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Post by matt on Mar 4, 2014 17:16:56 GMT 1
Yeah, it is an awesome text, I am glad you posted it Tamara. I thought about commenting on his saying, "Be decisive" (with emptiness), which I found very interesting, and that resonated with my own experience of learning to trust emptiness in some ways, but I was reluctant to add any comment to it. It seems to be complete, and like Dan mentions, it leaves my mind quiet. I am having a similar experience with a recently translated Sutra I am reading on the 84000 website. The Akasagarbha Sutra. First time it is available in english, and it is also amazing.
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matt
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Post by matt on Mar 4, 2014 22:05:08 GMT 1
“Whoever is attached to the two views
will later be in a realm of delusion.
Attachment to eternalism and nihilism
is utter delusion about here and there.
“Those who wish to free themselves
completely from both of these views
should meditate on that which is inexpressible,
thereby swiftly attaining the grounds."
--Akasagarbha Sutra, from 84000 website Reading Room, Page 3
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dan
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Post by dan on Mar 10, 2014 7:00:41 GMT 1
"Lust is no living creature, nor sentient person; hate is neither an individual nor a thing. Causes and conditions form phenomena; illusions neither confuse nor act; like a moon in a pool of water, they are unproduced." --Purification of Karmic Obscurations, p13 read.84000.co/#!ReadingRoom/UT22084-062-018/20 |
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tamara
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Post by tamara on Mar 11, 2014 4:02:05 GMT 1
Beautiful Sutra verses……
Matt wrote:
`````I thought about commenting on his saying, "Be decisive" (with emptiness), which I found very interesting, and that resonated with my own experience of learning to trust emptiness in some ways, but I was reluctant to add any comment to it.````
Hmmm, to be decisive is perhaps one step ahead of `to know`.
Rigpa is often translated as `knowledge`, the opposite of `not knowing`/ignorance.
Tamara
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matt
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Post by matt on Mar 11, 2014 22:27:28 GMT 1
"Since this is beyond causality and deliberate effort, be decisive" and the final line "In the indivisible and final realm be decisive in supreme and infinite emptiness." These are examples of what I am referring to. This text is the only time I can remember hearing or reading anyone say, "be decisive in emptiness," and it seems contradictory, given that as he says, "this (realization) is beyond causality and deliberate effort," but it makes sense to me even so. It reminds me of the transition from the generation stages into the completion stages, which I went through between 1998 and 2001. It was a very uncertain time for me, even though I knew how to realize the emptiness of constructs, I was not certain I should, because it dissolves them, and I did not know which ones, if any, were beneficial, and which ones should be dissolved. It was during this period that I really developed the union of wisdom and method, and thereby came to understand that, as my teacher Geshe Wangdak once said, "emptiness is always good," and why that is true. This is a large part of what Longchempa seems to be saying in this poem. Emptiness is a very powerful sword to wield, and knowing that I was very uncertain at first using it. Eventually I learned, through trial and error, analysis and listening closely to my teacher, that what one finds in emptiness is always beneficial to sentient beings, especially if your motivation is enlightenment or the benefit of sentient beings (which are the same motivation), because of what emptiness really is and means. Knowing that, having that confidence, is the essence of union. To me this text is saying this, in no uncertain terms, over and over. it. |
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tamara
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Post by tamara on Mar 12, 2014 15:14:12 GMT 1
The text of Longchenpa is a Dzogchen teaching. In Dzogchen everythings comes down to 3 points: - Recognize one`s nature (so-called Buddha nature, means emptiness) - Be decisive regarding this recognition - Gain confidence in it I heard a teacher say that being decisive means not having any doubt and getting rid of doubt is to understand that even doubt is empty.....  I find the terms `recogniton` and `decisive` a bit misleading and perhaps there will be a better translation into English at some point. Tamara |
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matt
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Post by matt on Mar 12, 2014 17:30:50 GMT 1
One reason decisive fits to me, is conceptual constructs have power, they have momentum, karma. They represent habitual views and ways of relating and reacting to phenomena for a vast array of interdependent beings.
I was trying to quote myself, and ended up deleting a lot of this post. Oh well...
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matt
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Post by matt on Mar 12, 2014 19:34:27 GMT 1
At the same time, I could see where terms like decisive and recognition could be very confusing. This is the problem not only with translation, which is in itself very difficult, but with trying to capture (in language) attitudes and attention that are engaged in a non conceptual fashion. Very difficult indeed, and that is one reason I don't mind talking about a lot of sophisticated Buddhist philosophies and practices on this forum. Buddhism is young enough in the West, that we are still managing to clarify points by doing that, even though it is a somewhat clumsy process. Another complicating factor that I gradually became aware of, is that the four schools describe these Dharma in different ways. And Westerners tend to assume this means they have a different view, but the ultimate view is the same for mature practitioners from each of these schools. So that is one thing I have begun to write about a little, and ALex Berzin does much more specifically and sophisticatedly on his website, that how you describe the process of realizing emptiness is different depending on whether you choose to describe it from the path side, the cause side or the result side. All phenomena have the same ultimate flavor, and Nyingma approach it from the point of view of after that is realized, Sakya describe a kind of mid point, and Gelug describe a transformation which means you have to begin with the relative point of view. So I think that adds to the confusion, until realization your mind will be saying, but wait a minute, that is not how so and so describes it. Once you are familiar with the process*, whatever you call it, all the descriptions make sense, you can see how they are all describing different sides of the same coin. *And even to call it a process, you have to admit there is something that is being purified/transformed, which means you are beginning with a relative view. But relative reality is empty, and Nyingma teachers don't spend much time validating it. They don't want to risk reifying it. So if you understand those differences, it is really helpful to spend time looking at the different approaches, this is one of the best arguments for the Rime approach. That and the fact that it is stupid to let sectarian attitudes kidnap teachings that are in complete agreement about ultimate view and realization. |
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tamara
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Post by tamara on Mar 13, 2014 3:25:32 GMT 1
Matt wrote: ``Oh, that is interesting, I did not know that was a common Dzogchen teaching. `` Actually it is (or formerly was) a secret teaching, given to those who might be ready to understand it. Many so-called secret teachings are readily available on the internet nowadays, so `hitting the essence in 3 words` (garab dorje, commented by patrul Rinpoche), which more or less deals with these 3 points, is out there for everybody. ``I am very confident, based on reading texts, listening to teachings and talking to my teacher and Dzogchen and Mahamudra teachers, that the view is the same once you have it, for all 4 schools.`` Clear Light = Rigpa, according to the Dalai Lama (source: Dzogchen teaching by HH Dalai Lama, 1989 in San Jose, California) One does not hear such statements often, because they might and definitely do spark controversy, initiated by those who do not understand Tamara |
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matt
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Post by matt on Mar 15, 2014 19:41:00 GMT 1
One reason decisive fits to me, is conceptual constructs have power, they have momentum, karma. They represent habitual views and ways of relating and reacting to phenomena for a vast array of interdependent beings. So this may or may not be of interest to you Tamara. It is the kind of thing I know would not be helpful to most beginning meditators, but you have been at it for a while and I know you have a good understanding of dependent arising and emptiness, and are sensitive to a lot of things most people are not aware of. Anyway, this is how I see and intuit energetic constructs working, they are ways in which our energy, which is generated by different forms and levels of consciousness, connect and bind living beings together, and one reason habits are so hard to break is because we are bound together in a lot of different ways. So recently you said in another thread that you have the tendency to get angry at the way things are. What is really fascinating to me, is that tendency could be directly connected to, just as arbitrary examples, say my fear of snakes, or another person's anger at men, or women, or white people, or black people or danf's anger at irrational people. These habits of relating and reacting to other people and situations aren't just personal triggers, in my opinion, they are interconnected patterns of energy that bind sentient beings together. And there are a lot of ways sentient beings are bound to each other through energy and energetic constructs if you perceive phenomena as energy. Usually these constructs are pretty dysfunctional, but they are all empty, which means (in part) that they have beneficial potentials. So I thought, as you work through those issues that trigger anger in your mind, you might appreciate hearing that they can be interconnected to a lot of other beings, because that gives you another way to appreciate that your anger is arising out of dependent causation. So even the thought, "what I am experiencing is interdependent, and empty, therefore transformable, and something I can dedicate to the benefit of others," I think can be very powerful. And you have a good foundation for understanding that and working with it that way. |
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matt
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Post by matt on Mar 15, 2014 20:21:40 GMT 1
Now I am not just talking to Tamara, this is relevant to all of us. Constructs can arise in such a way, that liberal people will be convinced they are right on a set of issues, and conservatives can be equally convinced the opposite is true, and people with one set of views really can not understand how anyone could hold the opposite side of views, so we think they must be crazy or stupid and they make us feel really angry. The same kinds of patterns can work across cultures, so it can seem to us that people from other places are crazy or ignorant, and we look that way to them.
The more we allow ourselves to indulge in those feelings of dismay, judgement and condescension to people with what seems like opposite views or values, the more we are contributing polluted energy to the constructs that bind us to each other in habitual patterns of view and thought, there fore making the constructs stronger and more binding. So just by having strong opinions about issues, even though they are driven by real caring and genuine concern, we can be contributing to not only our own delusion, but to a lot of other people's as well. And that is before we even interact. When we combine those tendencies with unskilful behavior, and really upset people, it just makes the cycle all that more vicious.
So obviously the answer is not to stop caring about issues that affect us all. But this is an excellent example, in my opinion, of why we need to train our minds to be aware of our motivation, and try to be sure it is genuinely compassionate to all beings, and not just driven by anger or aversion or attachment to our views, and why we need to work to cultivate wisdom.
Eventually, the wise compassionate mind within us that is our Buddha nature, will emerge as the strongest component. Eventually we begin to see through the way things appear, into their true nature. So that even negative things, like mental constructs that bind us in negative patterns, can be seen, and seen as empty, allowing their transformation to something beneficial to all beings.
In the mean time, just understanding that our anger arises out of dependent causes, and is empty of self existence, therefor it can be transformed or redirected, and remembering that when we get angry, is really beneficial. You can dedicate anything, if you understand it is empty. It only takes a wish for it to be of benefit to others, and the understanding it can be, that it has that potential. The Sangha has pure vision, they only see the positive potentials, we can rely on them, and dedicate anything, if we have the presence of mind to do so. That practice in itself can become a growing detachment within us.
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matt
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Post by matt on Mar 15, 2014 21:02:43 GMT 1
One way to think of it, is every time we don't react in our habitual ways, we are saving a little energy, and saving energy is moving us closer to realizing emptiness. So having a little bit of self awareness, enough to recognize the habitual trigger, and sense the anger rising, and enough understanding to be able to dedicate it, and have some confidence in enlightened beings being able to take advantage of it, that is a good position to be in. You can make rapid progress with that foundation. Already a negative habit has become a reliable opportunity to progress on the path. And that is enough armor to have a serious impact on how you think and feel about your self. So I would not count how often you get angry. That can be a measure of progress, but what I am talking about is what you do with anger as it is rising. If you know your own triggers, and notice the anger rising, and have enough understanding of the nature of phenomena to dedicate it with some confidence, then you can make rapid progress with that foundation, and feel better about yourself in general. Self confidence that arises out of understanding and practice enhances peace in our mind, health in our self image, and power in our practice. It is a new form of momentum, or karma, in our lives. Sometimes we just need to connect the dots to begin to see the picture. In this case the dots are all the little things we have learned on our path, and the picture is a more realistic view of ourselves. |
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tamara
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Post by tamara on Mar 21, 2014 4:01:39 GMT 1
Good and helpful comments, Matt. As for me, I do not see my getting angry as a problem anymore. It is something that happens and that I deal with in a good way. Certainly I could not say this 10 years ago...., thank you, Buddha, Tamara |
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. Reading his words on the screen, my mind are his words*. Makes me want to memorize some of his stuff so I can have it available when the apparent need arises. Ironic, though, as he says: "There is nothing to be known through language or expressed in words." How eloquently he does/doesn't it. 
