Reality 101 (part 4)

There are many representations that symbolize the cosmos as a unified, self-aware creation. Some are as simple as the Yin-Yang halves of polarized, interpenetrating Reality, atomic particles and electromagnetic waves changing into one another. Imagine a pre-Big-Bang “non-universe” as a homogenous electromagnetic field of infinite potential. AUM, the voice of God, creates a local excitation, a ripple, a resonant, standing wave, and a “spacetime continuum bubble” appears within the endless, timeless void field. A universe evolves, yet is no different from the void from which it appeared. Imagine countless universes appearing and disappearing like this, such that Reality is akin to a diaphanous, glittering, shimmering, ten-dimensional field in which holograms are constantly being born and dying.

Each universe can be likened to a hologram generated by splitting a laser beam into two: the “working beam” is reflected off an object and rejoins the “reference beam,” and the interference pattern of the two beams causes a three-dimensional, “standing wave” representation of the object to appear. The “prodigal son,” having experienced the world, rejoins the “father” that has never known physical reality. The pilgrim returns to the table of the Father.

Brains and surroundings condition minds to become addicted to data-processing, unable to rest, and we become prisoners of our little minds, which think there is an ego, a mortal body in need of protection. Our thought process cuts us off from the subtle current that resonates throughout the universe, but the standing wave that is the universe is no different from the Void that gave birth to it, and into which it returns. The Void is the ground of the Alpha-Omega of existence—present before, during and after the life of this universe. All the people, all the planets are part of a seeming explosion through time and space that is more accurately described as an electromagnetic bubble. The movement of energy makes it appear that there are separate things moving around.

It may be helpful to think of consciousness as an electromagnetic phenomenon. Brains are like antennae that perceive the world according to their structure. Even an amoeba, even an atom, is vibrating, resonating, “dancing” to the rhythm of the waves that are constantly being sent to and through the Earth, from the Sun and the center of the galaxy.

One way to reconnect with God is to shift one’s attention from one’s thoughts, emotions and perceptions to the Awareness that underlies all that is perceivable and conceivable—what cannot be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched or thought, is that which gives us the ability to see, hear, smell, taste, touch and think. The way to be free of thoughts and emotions is to remember. Remember that any given thought, emotion, perception or sensation is but a local manifestation of the subject-object state, the ego-state, which is nothing more than a reflection, or a refraction, of Awareness, as real as someone’s reflection in a mirror. The mind itself is a stainless mirror upon which Reality is reflected. The trick is to make this remembrance a habit, to the point that one begins to “rest in Awareness” more often than not. Then a “cognitive light” will begin to glow inside, and one’s preoccupation with the past and/or future will fade. One’s own and others’ life-dramas will become far less important than the experience of feeling one’s connection, one’s non-separation, from the ground of Being. Life’s burdens will fall away, like a heavy load.

The time is always Now—past and future are but imagination, fantasies that only appear in the current moment. It is only clinging to experience, desiring some things and wishing to avoid others (because one believes in a self that is separate from the rest of creation), that causes suffering.

“Understand ‘awareness’ in a verbal sense as an ‘awaring’ inasmuch as this pristine awareness is not only a process (a ‘way’) of understanding, but also a certain manner of seeing which, for all practical purposes, has as its starting point the eye. The eye that ‘sees’ does not exist apart from its cognitive domain; light and eye co-determine each other and what we call the eye is therefore nothing solid, but a dynamic regime. The fundamental forces that form and constitute our concrete being are experienced in terms of luminosities and have in addition to their ‘radiation-dominated’ aspect also a ‘matter-dominated’ aspect and a ‘mixed’ aspect, which means that these forces as vibration patterns come in various observable frequencies.” -Meditation Differently

Mandelbrot-like fractals, foam on the sea of existence, changing details but constant underlying Reality moving/resting, a standing wave of periodic rhythm—AUM, the word that was in the Beginning. As all sounds are fragments of AUM, all images are reflections of the formless form. Change is apparent due to the interaction of fundamental wave-particles that appear according to how they are measured.

“Out of the indeterminacy that is Being’s resonance a stepped-down version of the original ecstatic intensity comes about by itself. To give an example, just as there are no clouds in the sky itself, yet clouds form incidentally, so also in Being there is no such thing as a stepped-down version of ecstatic intensity, yet such a drop in intensity comes about from what seems to be Being’s resonance with itself as a whole, and in this way the abidingness of Being in its spontaneous thereness has set in…” -Meditation Differently

Think of the mind as moisture, unawareness like the wind, and the various realms and their appearances like clouds. The open sky is like the stainless Awareness (which Buddhists call Buddha-nature). As moisture is inherent in the atmosphere, so is mind, as a cognitive possibility, inherent in Buddha-nature. Deceptive appearances, the result of forgetfulness, gather as clouds driven by the winds of ignorance. Remembrance—Awareness—causes the immediate dissolution of appearances, all of which have voidness as their nature. Out of voidness are they fabricated and into voidness do they return.

“The coming-to-presence of Being’s facticity is a ceaseless auto-luminescence; that of its actuality is a primordial effulgence in the manner of five lumionosities; and that of its resonance is a ‘making-room’, similar to what is done by the sky’s spaciousness. This is what is called Being’s ‘holo-movement’ (Being having risen in its wholeness as a presence out of Being.” -Meditation Differently

Because it is a stepped-down version of an original ecstatic intensity, coming into presence by a momentary flicker, it is objectified and taken to be a Self, due to the mind’s confusion over the difference between Being as such and Being as known. Mental activity—mentation—is the cause of this ‘going astray’ from nirvana into samsara, the existence of which is dependent on an interpolation which is then grasped at. When its true nature is realized, samsara disperses like clouds from the sky.

“Having abandoned samsara, there is no need to search for nirvana…whatever objects appear are to be viewed as mirrors. Since their nature is the clear light of voidness, they reflect the ultimate, while their conventional appearance is left unimpeded…Thus looking at an object, you can see reflected in its voidness your innate Dharmakaya (the unmanifested, inconceivable) and in its appearance your thoughts—the play of Dharmakaya.” -The Natural Great Perfection

“If one does not distinguish between what mentation and pristine awareness are in themselves, the situation is similar to the sun shrouded by masses of clouds so that it is no longer able to shine forth…the objects of the external world have no being of their own.” -Meditation Differently

As everything is being born and dying, all interacting with the environment, it is a simple deduction that nothing exists independently. All is emptiness, voidness within the appearance of constant change. That said, one must not cling to the idea of emptiness. It is very important not to become stuck in a conceptual framework.

“One clings to life although there is nothing to be called life; another clings to death although there is nothing to be called death. In reality, there is nothing to be born; consequently, there is nothing to perish.” -Buddhism and Zen

Rather than think about it, one should simply observe. Keep the mind from judging, do not be led by the senses, and the heart will find peace, writes Laozi. The world and the mind are states of being, while the Supreme pervades all states, but is not a state itself, for it is beyond time and space, mind and matter. The Supreme goes beyond the limitations set by qualifications such as shape and color, good and bad, existing and non-existing, eternalism and nihilism.

“It is this pristine awareness that is in us in its own right that recognizes itself for what it is…as long as sentient beings don’t cultivate creative imagination and strive for realization, their spiritual darkness won’t dissipate and the light will not dawn in them…Dichotomic (binary) thinking arises incidentally like clouds in the sky, and it is through creative imagination that it is dispelled.” -Meditation Differently

Heaven is “up” because God enters through the crown chakra at the top of the brain, which translates electromagnetic waves into the images, thoughts and words that become one’s personal narrative. Before one can glimpse this “higher reality,” one must first have opened the sixth chakra, the third eye of wisdom.

In some representations, the second chakra is symbolized by the lingam and yoni, the male and female organs locked together, because we are born of the flesh. We are baptized in water when sperm and egg unite and spirit enters matter. The fourth chakra, at the level of the heart, is symbolized by a golden lingam and yoni, because we are reborn, psychologically speaking, in the fire of the holy spirit, when it has unlocked this chakra.

One must realize one’s innate buddha/awakened-nature—every self-based thought creates psychic ripples, karma, that is reflected back, sooner or later. Only when one can think, speak and act selflessly can one’s mind stop creating karma, and allow the karma already accumulated to play itself out. This process clears whatever obstacles there are on the way to harmonic resonane with all there is.

“The thought manifests as the word; the word manifests as the deed; the deed develops into habit; and the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care, and let it spring from love, born out of respect for all beings…He whose appetites are stilled, who is not absorbed in enjoyment, who has perceived void and unconditioned freedom, his path is difficult to understand, like that of birds in the air.” -Dhammapada

“Words, words, words—drizzle and snow.” “Silence—the roar of thunder.” Zen master-disciple exchange

“What is philosophical in Buddhism is no more than a preliminary step toward what is practical in it.” -Soyen Shaku

The mainstream is brainwashed into a preoccupation with gaining something, and moves in a cycle of Pleasure-Depletion. Desires build up until energy is dissipated in food, drink, sex, indulgence in events or activities that offer mutual ego-support and flattery.

“The everyday practice is ordinary life itself…There should be no striving to reach some exalted goal since this conditions awareness, producing something artificial which acts as an obstruction to the free flow of the mind. Meditation is a natural process, not a formal event conditioned by purpose. Never should one consider oneself sinful or worthless but as naturally pure, lacking nothing. Everyday life is like a mandala of which one is the center, free from prejudice from the past and expectations of the future.” -Yogins of Ladakh

Milarepa, the famed saint of Tibet, taught that one should avoid dedicating one’s life to debate, but cultivate dedication to practicing control over one’s mind. At the same time, one should practice generosity, not miserliness; diligence, not laziness; fundamental clarity, not delusion. “I have no desire for wealth or possessions…friends or relations…pleasant conversation…homeland or fixed residence. A lama who stays with a king will become lost. The Seven Royal possessions are: faith; the wisdom of ultimate and relative truth; good conduct; meditation; conscience, to repay the kindnesses of all beings so they eventually reach Buddhahood; diligence, which takes one from self-attachment to selflessness; wisdom, due to learning and contemplation…The ultimate practice is not to consider lethargy and excitability as faults. The ultimate action is to cease to accept and reject. The ultimate discipline is full conviction in one’s mind. The ultimate guru is one’s mind.” -Ten Teachings from the Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa

In other words, praxis is yoga is Tantra is Zen, wherein the practice is the answer: enlightenment, realization. All one must do is practice, in a regular, sustainable, determined and sincere way, until one is practicing more often than not, until one is effortlessly, constantly practicing, and both “meditating” and “not-meditating” assume the same taste.

“He who lives a hundred years, not seeing beginning and end; a life of one day is better if a person sees beginning and end. Even a good person sees evil days, as long as one’s good deed has not ripened, but when one’s good deed has ripened, then does the good person see happy days. Some people are born again; evil-doers go to hell; righteous people go to heaven; those who are free from all worldly desires attain Nirvana.” -Dhammapada

Breaking bad habits and establishing good ones is very important. Reading many scriptures is not—one scripture would suffice—but seeing the multifaceted Supreme from different perspectives, and explained in different ways, can be very helpful.

“Zen meditation is not a physical culture, nor is it a method to gain something material. It is peacefulness and blessedness itself. It is the actualization of Buddha-Dharma…Do not work for emancipation, but allow the work itself to be emancipation…The secret is to live every minute in Zen.” -Buddhism and Zen

One should be able to sustain one’s practice because it has become more interesting than anything else. The practice becomes the center of one’s life, whether or not one changes anything else in one’s daily routine, or one’s job or one’s residence. There are some great souls who live in remote locations, even in huts or caves, in near-total negation of selfhood, in near-total union with God. Is it not worth the price of admission?

“You may spend a long time minding for your inner treasure but, the moment you unearth it, you will see its brilliance instantly. Those who insist that you will find only a fragment at a time are like those who would carry out the darkness before lighting a room. You can forget your worries of the past and future to live only in the present moment.” -Buddhism and Zen

“The four Brahma Viharas: Metta (loving kindness and good will), karuna (compassion), Mudita (sympathetic joy), and Upekkha (equanimity of mind). It is no easy thing for a principle to become one’s own unless each day one maintains it and hears it maintained, as well as works it out in life. Until he has purged his own mind from the snares of self, he cannot usefully assist humanity. The three poisons of anger, desire and ignorance, when their essence is seen to be emptiness, are recognized to be the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya (ultimate body, enjoyment/astral body, and physical body). The Buddha taught that there are four attachments: to sensory pleasures and samsara; to a self, which leads to defilements of ignorance, anger, and desire; to form, sensation, recognition, mental events and consciousness; and to death, which brings impermanence and fear.” -Ten Teachings from the Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa

“Anger can be transformed into sharp intelligence, ignorance into calm equanimity, and passion into the warmth of compassion. Whatever the student feels is his biggest failing can be seen as the seed of enlightened mind. Pleasure is generally seen as the enemy of spirituality. Tantra recognizes the powerful energy aroused by desire as an indispensable resource for the spiritual path, and seeks to transform every experience. It is not the experience of pleasure which is the problem, but the grasping and attachment which puts personal gratification before the needs of others. As the Sixth Dalai Lama said, “If one’s thoughts toward the dharma were of the same intensity as those towards love, one would become a Buddha in this very body, in this very life.”

However, without a thorough training in meditation, and without a clear motive to help other people, practicing tantra is dangerous and ultimately self-destructive. Crazy wisdom without enlightened compassion is a dangerous combination.” -Jane Hope & Borin Van Loon, Introducing Buddha

“Some people are like big children, harming others without even seeing it. Staying angry at these fools is like being mad at fire because it burns.” -Buddhacharyavatara

“Tathagata” is used to refer to the Buddha and is often rendered “thus gone,” but it is helpful to remember that “tathata” refers to the essence, or “suchness,” of all things alike: void of independent existence. And yet, I am. As St. Teresa de Jesus says, without first entering ourselves, the very idea of entering heaven is foolish.

“The terms given by science and philosophy are based upon dualistic delusions, no matter what skill there is in discrimination. Do not become enchanted by such expressions as ‘God within’ or ‘I am That’, but experience the Samadhi (absorption) where there is no god, within or without, where there is no this, no that, no I and no you. Then you may use Christian terms freely, if you like, and say, ‘God not in the world is a false God, and the world not in God is unreality’.”

Everyone projects his or her particular, unique world, like a movie projector shining light through the film of memory. Delusions appear because the mind rises and contacts this projected world, confusing its undeniable sense of identity, of existence, with what appears on the movie screen that is this world. Thus the subject-object duality emerges, whereupon delusions, desires and fears reinforce one another, and people look for solutions to their problems in the world of their projections. Yet the screen is unstained, untainted by whatever happens in the course of the movie.

“Use every opportunity to remind yourself that you are in bondage, that whatever happens to you is due to the fact of your bodily existence. Desire, fear, trouble, joy—they cannot appear unless you are there to appear to. Yet, whatever happens points to your existence as a perceiving center. Disregard the pointers and be aware of what they are pointing to. It is quite simple, but needs to be done. What matters is the persistence with which you keep on returning to yourself.” -I AM THAT

In the Dhammapada, said to contain the sayings of the Buddha, it is written, “Attention is living; inattention is dying. The attentive never stop; the inattentive are dead already.”

“Don’t bully yourself. Violence will make you hard and rigid. Do not fight with what you take to be obstacles in your way. Just be interested in them, watch them, observe, enquire. Let anything happen, good or bad. But don’t let yourself be submerged by what happens.” -I AM THAT

In other words, one should not find fault with anything, and need not abandon existential commitments, but one must strive assiduously to become aware of the difference between steadiness and restlessness; to consolidate pure experience through a direct feeling; to realize the certitude that comes with such a state of concentration, having become familiar with it; to realize the autonomy of one’s control over steadiness of mind. In the beginning, when one is first observing the constant flow of thoughts, emotions and so on, steadiness of mind can feel like a waterfall rushing over a precipice. With practice, it feels more like a gently flowing river. Finally, when the winds of thought cease to disturb the water of the mind, it feels like a calm lake, and becomes like unto a mirror that perfectly reflects the image of the moon, as alluded to in various traditions.

“Our minds are just waves on the ocean of consciousness. As waves they come and go. As ocean they are infinite and eternal. Know yourself as the ocean of being, the womb of all existence. These are all metaphors, of course; the reality is beyond descriptions. You can know it only by being it.” -I AM THAT

The human body is the vital link between our senses and world of experience, and the Supreme, which is beyond all “states of mind.” Electromagnetic energy flows into the body from the top of the skull, through the body via a system of meridians that correspond to the spine and nervous system, and out of thee body, itself projecting the space that the person believes s/he inhabits. Tantra directs the practitioner to reverse this flow of energy; to recognize that whatever one perceives is no more or less than the pure energy that animates the cosmos; to use the senses to go beyond the senses.

“Non-wavering is to go beyond attachment to pleasing thoughts and feelings and beyond repulsion by unpleasant, depressive or demented thoughts. Non-meditation means freedom from trying to achieve any particular goal or state. One is simply remaining in non-wavering absorption; there is nothing to do.” -Yogins of Ladakh

When familiarity leads to certitude, one realizes that whatever appears to any of the six senses has emerged out of the Void of infinite potential and will dissolve, by itself, back into this vibrant, dynamic nothingness that underlies all existence.

"When this ecstatic intensity has taken over by its having been recognized for what it is, there is no chance for ever again going astray into the disruptiveness of ordinary thinking and one will no longer move away from what creative imagination actually is… By attempting to steady it, it ceases to be alive; by letting it flit, it returns to its purity in what is its rightful dwelling.” -Meditation Differently

There are so-called “holy madmen” in many traditions, such as Tantra (which came from the western Himalayas through the Kashmir Valley and into India), Vajrayana and pre-Buddhist Bonpo of Tibet, Taoism, and Ch’an (Zen) in China, Korea and Japan; Sufism, the esoteric dimension of Islam; and Russian Orthodox Christianity. But holy madmen have existed since time immemorial, for they were the shamans in aboriginal tribal societies. Crazy wisdom, it is said, is “the articulation in life of the realization that the phenomenal world and the transcendental Reality share the same essence.” It is Zen’s “special transmission, outside the scriptures.”

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. A good artist lets his intuition lead him wherever it wants. A good scientist has freed himself of concepts and keeps his mind open to what is. Thus the Master is available to all people and doesn’t reject anyone. He is ready to use all situations and doesn’t waste anything. This is called embodying the light.” -Dhammapada

The “average” mind, interpolating a sharp separation between subject and object, sees perfect enlightenment as a paradoxical condition. The adept exists as the ultimate Being-Consciousness, but appears to inhabit a particular body-mind. In the non-dualist terms of advaita-vedanta, enlightenment is the fulfillment of the two truths: the atman innermost self is identical with the parama-atman transcendental Self; and Brahman, the ultimate Ground, is identical with the cosmos in all its manifestations, including the self.

“What is a good man but a bad man’s teacher? What is a bad man but a good man’s job? If you don’t understand this, you will get lost, however intelligent you are. It is the great secret.” -Dhammapada

The “Upa Guru” is anyone, or any thing, that points out the path or otherwise helps one on the journey. Even one’s enemies are often Upa Gurus, because they wake one up to a hitherto unconscious place, which helps one to free oneself from that place. One learns to honor everyone one meets as one’ teacher.

“Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the best riches; trust is the best of relationships, Nirvana the highest happiness.” -Dhammapada

“When the way is lost, there is goodness. When goodness is lost, there is morality. When morality is lost, there is ritual. Ritual is the husk of faith, the beginning of chaos. When they lose their sense of awe, people turn to religion. When they no longer trust themselves, they begin to depend on authority. Throw away holiness and wisdom, and people will be a hundred times happier. Throw away morality and justice, and people will do the right thing. Throw away industry and profit, and there won’t be any thieves. If these three aren’t enough, just stay at the center of the circle and let things take their course… The mark of a moderate person is freedom from his own ideas. In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present. Can you love people and lead them without imposing your will? Can you deal with the most vital matters by letting events take their course? Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things"?” -Laozi

Upon realization, one still recognizes the body and one’s as yet unpaid karmic debts. But the enlightened being is no longer concerned about them, nor does s/he contract new debts.

“Looking for the maker of this tabernacle, I shall have to run through a course of many births, so long as I do not find it. But now, maker of the tabernacle, thou hast been seen; thou shalt not make up this tabernacle again…the mind, approaching the Eternal, has attained to the extinction of all desires.” -Dhammapada

All distinctions destroyed, the mind-mirror is seen as no different than the dharmakaya. One is free from thoughts, there is no longer a difference between meditation and action, and one’s conduct is free from the distinction of good conduct to be adopted versus bad conduct to be rejected. The Master is unbound by his own or others’ choices, acting without acting (wei wu wei), without purpose.

“Love is the meaning and purpose of duality…The very idea of going beyond the dream is illusory. Why go anywhere? Just realize that you are dreaming a dream called the world, and stop looking for ways out…Your problem is that you like one part of the dream and not another part. Love all, or none of it, and stop complaining. When you have seen the dream as dream, you have done all that needs be done…The self is peace. The mind is disturbance, a ripple in the lake of being.” -I AM THAT

In the “State of Composure,” Samsara and Nirvana are said to have the same flavor, “like the sky.” In the “State of Post-Composure,” one relaxes in a one-flavored experience of the magic play unfolding, without the emergence of intellectual activity. There is no separation from Being’s spontaneity, no fear, and no such thing as linear, irreversible time.

“The immovable center is everywhere, in any situation. Having no place, we cannot be moved from it; we can be, and willingly let ourselves be, pushed about. Motion is found to be commensurate with life. The still center moves as we move, floating upon the placeless, timeless Essence of Mind. Asked ‘What is Tao?’ the master replied, ‘Walk on!’ Every choice is now seen as an attachment that prevents the mind from ‘alighting nowhere’. Thoughts are so many hooks that bind us to the illusion of circumstance. ‘We must stand aloof from circumstances, and on no account allow them to influence the mind’.”

“Here I meditate on emptiness. Sometimes many thoughts arise, and these aid my meditation. This is very good. I have the pleasure of different kinds of meditation experiences, but sometimes when I jump, run or dance, I am even more blissful. Do not have attachment to this life. Many good and bad actions are done for the sake of this life, and this prevents you from properly following the path of Dharma…Do not feel proud about serving the guru or understanding the teachings. Do not associate with ordinary people, which brings the danger of breaking commitments. You need to understand and abandon all these faults.” -Ten Teachings from the Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa

“Know the personal, yet keep to the impersonal: accept the world as it is. If you accept the world, the Tao will be luminous inside you and you will return to your primal self. The world is formed from the void, like utensils from a block of wood. The Master knows the utensils, yet keeps to the block and, thus, can use all things. Do you want to improve teh world? I don’t think it can be done. The world is sacred. It can’t be improved. If you tamper with it, you’ll ruin it. If you treat it like an object, you’ll lose it. Whoever relies on the Tao in governing doesn’t try to force issues or defeat enemies by force of arms. For every force there is a counterforce. Violence, even well-intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself. There is a time for being ahead, a time for being behind, a time for being in motion, a time for being at rest, a time for being in danger. The Master sees things as they are, without trying to control them, letting them go their own way, and residing at the center of the circle.” -Laozi