tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735806083613637800.post2993558352376390321..comments2018-08-13T05:32:38.490-07:00Comments on Reflections on Infinite Space: Verse 3.6 — the end of practiceKen McLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15876529036315470763noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735806083613637800.post-81275311226252254832015-01-28T07:42:26.059-08:002015-01-28T07:42:26.059-08:00One day, Milarepa warned Gampopa that the time had...<br />One day, Milarepa warned Gampopa that the time had come for him to depart.<br /><br />He told Gampopa, "You have received the entire transmission. I have given you all the teachings, as if pouring water from one vase into another. Only 1 pith instruction remains that I haven't taught you. It's very secret."<br /><br />He then accompanied Gampopa to a river, where they were to part. Gampopa made prostrations to take his leave and started across. But Milarepa called him back: "You are a really good disciple. Anyway I will give you this last teaching."<br /><br />Overjoyed, Gampopa prostrated 9 times, then waited for the instructions. Milarepa proceeded to turn around, pull up his robe, showing Gampopa his bottom. "Do you see?"<br /><br />And Gampopa said, "Uh...yes..."<br /><br />"Do you really see?"<br /><br />Gampopa was not sure what he was supposed to see. Milarepa had calluses on his buttocks; they looked as though they were half flesh and half stone.<br /><br />"You see, this is how I reached enlightenment: sitting and meditating. If you want to reach it in this life, make the same effort. This is my final teaching. I have nothing more to add."Bartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735806083613637800.post-62053878173297792222015-01-27T14:58:44.990-08:002015-01-27T14:58:44.990-08:00
Realization consists only
in getting rid of
the ...<br /><br />Realization consists only<br />in getting rid of<br />the false idea<br />that one is not realized.<br /><br />– Ramana Maharshi<br /><br /><br /><br />Nothing can trouble you but your own imagination.<br /><br />– Nisargadatta<br /><br />Michaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735806083613637800.post-19747953360753007002015-01-25T10:16:47.536-08:002015-01-25T10:16:47.536-08:00Dear Michael,
Your words are kind and I feel lik...Dear Michael, <br /><br />Your words are kind and I feel like there`s a kind heart behind them too. And there is a point in what you`re saying, undeniably. <br /><br />Yet I feel you`re missing something from what I wrote, and simplifying the picture far too much. <br /><br />You see, what I meant was that it is the structure and content of Ken`s text that leave me feeling perfectly unqualified and way behind (not that I constantly perceive spiritual practice as a chase after a carrot to be grabbed somewhere there and in the future).<br /><br />Secondly, in my view [[and here I owe much to Ken]] what Buddha did was not discovering he is aware (that even I can do) but realizing this potential fully (which I haven't done yet apart from some glimpses perhaps) by removing blocks that prevented him from experiencing life that way (which requires effort and hard work). <br /><br />Advising me "just relax, you`re already rich" is like telling a man who possesses a parcel of land with a hidden treasure on it "don`t worry, somewhere on your piece of land there is a box that makes you super affluent, you don`t need to work anymore". Oh, is that a fact?<br /><br />Thirdly, ask Ken how many preliminary practices he had to do before he could "just rest". <br /><br />You see, there is work to be done. And then work to be done to let go of the habits of working at something. <br /><br />And I have done some work. Yet when I read (in Ken`s text) how subtle and sophisticated and demanding the views and pratices can get if you want to "just be", I feel (quite rightly, I guess) I`m not there yet, and ah donno much, my Good Buddy!Bartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735806083613637800.post-72033092135036724232015-01-25T06:38:38.035-08:002015-01-25T06:38:38.035-08:00Dear Bart,
What I hear is that you’re struggling ...Dear Bart,<br /><br />What I hear is that you’re struggling with an interpretation of the path and an imposition of difficulty, if not impossibility, upon the attainment of some goal that’s “out there and in the future.”<br /><br />May I humbly suggest that your holding on to all that is the very thing that is getting in your way.<br /><br />For the moment, Bart, let’s have some fun and put all that aside and just rest here, without any concern of having to accomplish anything, without any concern about what any tradition says, without any notion of timetables.<br /><br />What is the point of the spiritual path? What did Buddha discover, after driving himself to the point of death (which he came to realize was ridiculous, wrong-headed and absolutely not necessary)?<br /><br />He discovered that, above all and before anything, right here and now, we are naturally present and aware. This is “The Ground of Being,” to use a fancy term.<br /><br />Bart, are you here? Do you know that you’re here? Of course, it can’t be denied! Then rest in “This” – “This” which is aware and not what we are aware of.<br /><br />“This” is already the case, it’s what we’re born into, it’s our birthright, so the work is already done and nothing can be done or needs to be done to make it so because it already is. So just relax into “This.”<br /><br />That’s what old Jigme is trying say, though I wouldn’t interpret it as some kind of trap or dilemma – rather, it’s an expression of what is. It is paradoxical, and that creates a feeling of dilemma if we’re trying to make sense of "This" through thinking, or if we’re trying to seek "This" as some thing that can be known.<br /><br />“This” can never be known through thought or as some thing. “This” is what knows thought and every thing but is itself without any defining characteristics.<br /><br />It’s not a matter of “it doesn’t matter how much you practice, you won’t make it unless a zillion things come together with some teacher,” as you said. No wonder you feel disheartened!<br /><br />Nothing has to “come together” for you to be naturally present and aware, does it?<br /><br />And whatever doubts and struggles you have, what is it that knows all that?<br /><br />If you’re “practicing with some expectation to attain something,” then you can see why you’re frustrated, because you’re waiting for some thing to happen, rather than resting in natural presence which is not some thing or some happening.<br /><br />You’re turning away from the open simplicity of the present moment and exchanging that for some imagined future payoff, like a carrot on a stick.<br /><br />But just recognize that all of that is just thought, which is happening in the open space of the present moment: awareness itself.<br /><br />Awareness itself is your teacher, the ultimate teacher. No need to go on a teacher hunt.<br /><br />See that we can make a distinction between awareness and what we are aware of, and then let that distinction naturally relax.<br /><br />Just allow everything to be exactly as it is, without resistance or grasping and identification.<br /><br />Relax out of your interpretations that “I don’t have it,” “I need to do lots more,” “This is impossible,” “It’s not here now,” “I need to attain something,” “I need to know something that I don’t know.”<br /><br />Relax and rest in natural ease, Good Buddy!Michaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735806083613637800.post-21756425691928047192015-01-21T16:52:26.582-08:002015-01-21T16:52:26.582-08:00Hi Ken
re: 'how I see the difference' ...
...Hi Ken<br />re: 'how I see the difference' ...<br />My feeling is that ecstatic practices (especially when combined with energy practices) radically change the configuration of both your emotional body and your subtle body, in a way that straight insight practice might not. Perhaps insight practice changes your mental structures in a way that ecstatic practice does not. <br />Let's say Manjushri and Kurukula were having tea together. What sort of conversation might they have? They'd probably have different perspectives about the path, and about life in general. <br /><br />I read this today in the book 'The Radiance Sutras' (by Lorin Roche):<br /><i>Love is particular.<br />When you love someone,<br />The whole world opens up.<br />If you want to know the universe,<br />Dare to love one person. <br /><br />All the secret teachings are right here-<br />Go deeper, and deeper still.<br />The gift of concentration<br />Is the spaciousness that surrounds.<br />Focus illuminates immensity</i><br /><br />Best wishes, <br />Marie R. Mrihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12108365466742911474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735806083613637800.post-19224174453752941382015-01-19T16:27:10.095-08:002015-01-19T16:27:10.095-08:00Dear Mri,
Yes, I agree that dzogchen can be appro...Dear Mri,<br /><br />Yes, I agree that dzogchen can be approached through either ecstasy or insight. I'm curious as to how you see the difference in result.<br /><br />KenKen McLeodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15876529036315470763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735806083613637800.post-36964613843658233892015-01-19T16:25:24.842-08:002015-01-19T16:25:24.842-08:00Dear Bart,
Of course a zillion things have to com...Dear Bart,<br /><br />Of course a zillion things have to come together. A zillion things had to come together for you to be on this earth at all, and, yet, here you are.<br /><br />Your daily practice will, almost certainly, be a good base from which to work. <br /><br />Now, find someone to work with, refine your practice, and see what happens.<br /><br />What do you have to lose?<br /><br />KenKen McLeodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15876529036315470763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735806083613637800.post-72193452940506694042015-01-19T15:48:22.564-08:002015-01-19T15:48:22.564-08:00I appreciate your paragraph on devotion and how it...I appreciate your paragraph on devotion and how it can be pivotal, for some people, on the path of Dzogchen. This to me is one of the interesting things about the Nyingma approach to Dzogchen, which I think can be approached via the path of ‘ecstasy’ or the path of ‘insight’. Is the result different, or the same? I think it’s different. Mrihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12108365466742911474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735806083613637800.post-22379418108710409912015-01-18T09:31:11.149-08:002015-01-18T09:31:11.149-08:00You know, I usually really appreciate and admire t...You know, I usually really appreciate and admire the depth and subtlety and poignancy of the arguments presented - reading about pitfals and being careful about this trap or that trap (and they get ever more sophisticated) gives me some sense of being initiated into some kind of secret knowledge for the ones who know the stuff (or something like that, you know what I mean). I feel kind of priviledged and hopeful that I could do it, even if I needed some more training.<br /><br />However after this one I actually started to feel pretty uneasy. You know, at some point one must draw a line (at least temporarily) regarding things one is going to doubt. Otherwise it`s all just a terrible disheartening havoc. And when I read about the need to be fit, energetic, emotionally and intellectually stimulated, mindful of dullnes and wrong understanding of deviotion, being bound to be pushed towards the unknown by a qualified teacher (or I`ll sure fall prey to my own stupidity)... it`s like Oh-My-God!, I`m not a super man. <br /><br />Looking at this text I get the picture: it doesn`t matter, mate, how much you practice - you just won`t make it unless zillion things come together plus a teacher at the right time to kick you. (Besides, I can`t imagine receiving pointing out instructions of this kind through skype. The teacher, I presume, ought to be close by, and I should already have a very very stable and active attention in place, the teacher then comes closer, says something and whack!, there I open). <br /><br />It`s a pretty dishertening picture considering I practice 75-150 minutes per day. And who is going to tell me if my natural presence is not in fact dullness leading me stealthily towards deeper and deeper depression or suppression. It all seems like "Ah donno much anything"Bartnoreply@blogger.com