At one extreme, then, we have the sacred individual—the unique personal ego, separate from both nature and God—defined as such by a society which, almost in the same breath, commands him to be free and commands him to conform. At the other extreme is the coolie, the cog in the industrial-collectivist machine, or the mere "hand" (as the factory worker is often called). If one believes that the personal ego is a natural endowment of all men, as distinct from a social convention, then the lot of the coolie is bleak indeed—for one sees him as a repressed and frustrated person, though his own society may never have defined him as such.
However, there is a third possibility. The individual may be understood neither as an isolated person nor as an expendable, humanoid working-machine. He may be seen, instead, as one particular focal point at which the whole universe expresses itself—as an incarnation of the Self, of the Godhead, or whatever one may choose to call IT. This view retains and, indeed, amplifies our apprehension that the individual is in some way sacred. At the same time it dissolves the paradox of the personal ego, which is to have attained the "precious state" of being a unique person at the price of perpetual anxiety for one's survival. The hallucination of separateness prevents one from seeing that to cherish the ego is to cherish misery. We do not realize that our so-called love and concern for the individual is simply the other face of our own fear of death or rejection. In his exaggerated valuation of
separate identity, the personal ego is sawing off the branch on which he is sitting, and then getting more and more anxious about the coming crash!
Let it be clear, furthermore, that the ego-fiction is in no way essential to the individual, to the total human organism, in fulfilling and expressing his individuality. For every individual is a unique manifestation of the Whole, as every branch is a particular outreaching of the tree. To manifest individuality, every branch must have a sensitive connection with the tree, just as our independently moving and differentiated fingers must have a sensitive connection with the whole
body. The point, which can hardly be repeated too often, is that differentiation is not separation. The head and the feet are different, but not separate, and though man is not connected to the universe by exactly the same physical relation as branch to tree or feet to head, he is nonetheless connected—and by physical relations of fascinating complexity. The death of the individual is not disconnection but simply
withdrawal. The corpse is like a footprint or an echo—the dissolving trace of something which the Self has ceased to do.
If, then, the differentiation of individuals is of great value, on the principle that variety is the spice of life, this value is not going to be enhanced by a self-contradictory definition of individuality. Our society—that is, we ourselves, all of us—is defining the individual with a double-bind, commanding him to be free and separate from the world, which he is not, for otherwise the command would not work. Under the circumstances, it works only in the sense of implanting an illusion of separateness, just as the commands of a hypnotist can create illusions. Thus bamboozled, the individual—instead of fulfilling his unique function in the world—is exhausted and frustrated in efforts to accomplish, self-contradictory goals. Because he is now so largely defined as a separate person caught up in a mindless and alien universe, his principal task is to get one-up on the universe and to conquer nature.
This is palpably absurd, and since the task is never achieved, the individual is taught to live and work for some future in which the impossible will at last happen, if not for him, then at least for his children. We are thus breeding a type of human being incapable of living in the present—that is, of really living.
For unless one is able to live fully in the present, the future is a hoax. There is no point whatever in making plans for a future which you will never be able to enjoy. When your plans mature, you will still be living for some other future beyond. You will never, never be able to sit back with full contentment and say, "Now, I've arrived!" Your entire education has deprived you of this capacity because it was preparing you for the future, instead of showing you how to be alive now. In other words, you have been hypnotized or conditioned by an educational processing-system arranged in grades or steps, supposedly leading to some ultimate Success. First nursery school or kindergarten, then the grades or forms of elementary school, preparing you for the great moment of secondary school! But then more steps, up and up to the coveted goal of the university. Here, if you are clever, you can stay on indefinitely by getting into graduate school and becoming a permanent student. Otherwise, you are headed step by step for the great Outside World of family-raising, business, and profession. Yet graduation day is a very temporary fulfillment, for with your first sales- promotion meeting you are back in the same old system, being urged to make that quota (and if you do, they'll give you a higher quota) and so progress up the ladder to sales manager, vice-president, and, at last,
president of your own show (about forty to forty-five years old). In the meantime, the insurance and investment people have been interesting you in plans for Retirement—that really ultimate goal of being able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of all your labors. But when that day comes, your anxieties and exertions will have left you with a weak heart, false teeth, prostate trouble, sexual impotence, fuzzy eyesight, and a vile digestion.
All this might have been wonderful if, at every stage, you had been able to play it as a game, finding your work as fascinating as poker, chess, or fishing. But for most of us the day is divided into work-time and play-time, the work consisting largely of tasks which others pay us to do because they are abysmally uninteresting. We therefore work, not for the work's sake, but for money—and money is supposed to get us what we really want in our hours of leisure and play. In the United States even poor people have lots of money compared with the wretched and skinny millions of India, Africa, and China, while our middle and upper classes (or should we say "income groups") are as prosperous as princes. Yet, by and large, they have but slight taste for pleasure. Money alone cannot buy pleasure, though it can help. For enjoyment is an art and a skill for which we have little talent or energy.
Alan Watts ~ The Book on the Taboo against Knowing Who You Are (pp.59-62)
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
Ending Idealism, Restoring Sanity
When this life is perceived to be okay *as it is* then all the abstraction of discontented idealism is revealed as false and discarded. One might say that idealistic philosophies rightly pertain not to the spiritual or inner personal realms but exclusively to the desire for social change and revolution. There is conflict inherent in every moment where the real is rejected in favor of some alternative ideal. The word 'ideal' itself implies a discontentment with the actual, the here and the now. What I project as a future possibility is unreachable unless there be a corresponding experience of wealth or perfection this moment... an inwardly abundant and joyful essence that exists whether anything outwardly manifests or not.
Pleasurable escapes, everything from food binging and television to alcoholism and drug addiction or socialized entertainments, are the response of wanting to be elsewhere and away from reality as it is happening normally. It is a natural response while at the same time a tragic indication of an unenlightened modern workaday industrial age. Technology and the internet, while having their many benefits for humankind and society at large, contribute even further to the escapist tendencies of a consumer society. To seek and find temporary contentment online, at the local bar, a movie or other entertainments available, while okay in itself becomes a primary frustrating factor where contentment with self and reality is concerned.
Religious groups and organizations often have this counter-productive influence as well, however enlightening the company of believers, as this becomes another escape from experiencing directly one's own truth and all that personally stands in the way of it. To identify too much with spiritual groups and their causes is to alienate from all who are not of the same affiliation, and there's a tendency to believe and value the experiences and ideas of others over those of oneself. While many of us rightly desire peace, love, kindness and heaven on earth, the tendency to be displeased with things as they are again becomes a problem in response. The general effect is a split and thus conflict between the conventional religious believer and the rest of humanity, between the constructed artificial socio-religious ideal and actuality. Real life includes all of us universally as beings, not all of us as Buddhists, Jews or Christians... and not as mere recipients of kindness or charity from a given religious affiliation.
The urgent need is to confront the mundane on a very personal individual level, whether one is interested in society and it's manifold creations or not. The joy is in the doing itself, in the very working process that gives meaning to the life of the individual. When ordinary awareness and attention is applied to the everyday, what we call mundane reality and responsibility, it becomes less necessary to focus on the outward problems of the world whose origin is within. If you are doing all you can as an individual, this is enough struggle and the rest of one's energy and ingenuity is then focused on "outside the box" solutions, or just being.
The ground of being becomes the central focus of mindful attention, without attachment to all the externals that come and go. The affirmation: "I AM living this life to the fullest" and not "I will someday".
Keep it Real...
JDZ
Pleasurable escapes, everything from food binging and television to alcoholism and drug addiction or socialized entertainments, are the response of wanting to be elsewhere and away from reality as it is happening normally. It is a natural response while at the same time a tragic indication of an unenlightened modern workaday industrial age. Technology and the internet, while having their many benefits for humankind and society at large, contribute even further to the escapist tendencies of a consumer society. To seek and find temporary contentment online, at the local bar, a movie or other entertainments available, while okay in itself becomes a primary frustrating factor where contentment with self and reality is concerned.
Religious groups and organizations often have this counter-productive influence as well, however enlightening the company of believers, as this becomes another escape from experiencing directly one's own truth and all that personally stands in the way of it. To identify too much with spiritual groups and their causes is to alienate from all who are not of the same affiliation, and there's a tendency to believe and value the experiences and ideas of others over those of oneself. While many of us rightly desire peace, love, kindness and heaven on earth, the tendency to be displeased with things as they are again becomes a problem in response. The general effect is a split and thus conflict between the conventional religious believer and the rest of humanity, between the constructed artificial socio-religious ideal and actuality. Real life includes all of us universally as beings, not all of us as Buddhists, Jews or Christians... and not as mere recipients of kindness or charity from a given religious affiliation.
The urgent need is to confront the mundane on a very personal individual level, whether one is interested in society and it's manifold creations or not. The joy is in the doing itself, in the very working process that gives meaning to the life of the individual. When ordinary awareness and attention is applied to the everyday, what we call mundane reality and responsibility, it becomes less necessary to focus on the outward problems of the world whose origin is within. If you are doing all you can as an individual, this is enough struggle and the rest of one's energy and ingenuity is then focused on "outside the box" solutions, or just being.
The ground of being becomes the central focus of mindful attention, without attachment to all the externals that come and go. The affirmation: "I AM living this life to the fullest" and not "I will someday".
Keep it Real...
JDZ
Friday, August 19, 2011
I Am That
"When you know your real nature, the knowledge 'I Am' remains; but that knowledge is unlimited. It is not possible for you to acquire knowledge.. you are knowledge. You are what you are seeking. Your true being arises prior to the arising of any concept. Dive deep within yourself and you will find it simply easily. Go in the direction of 'I Am'."
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
'Long Live Impermanence'
Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh explains that nothing dies; it only changes form--whether it's clouds, corn, or even Jesus.
For someone who is dealing with a painful loss or a personal fear of death but knows nothing about Buddhism or meditative technique, what do you recommend as way to begin to let go of fear and grief?
I think there's a way of training ourselves in order not to become the victim of fear and grief -- that is to look deeply into ourselves and to see that we are made of non-self elements. And when we look around ourselves, we can recognize ourselves in the non-self elements, like a father looking at his children can see himself in his children, can see his continuation in his children. So he is not attached to the idea that his body is the only thing that is him. He's more than his body. He is inside of his body but he is also at the same [time] outside of his body in many elements. And if we have the habit of looking like that, we will not be the victim of our attachment to one form of manifestation, and we will be free. And that freedom makes happiness and peace possible.
Other than meditation, is there any specific practice that can help you come to this understanding?
Yes. The Buddha advised us to bear in mind that everything is impermanent, that nothing has an absolute entity that remains the same. And when we keep that insight in mind, we can see more deeply into the nature of reality, and we will not be locked in the notion that we are only this body, this life span is the only life span we have. In fact, because nothing can be by itself alone, no one can be by himself or herself alone, everyone has to inter-be with every one else. That is why, when you look outside, around you, you can see yourself. And when you look into yourself, you can see the world outside. So that is a training.
I wonder if you'd answer the question you say you like to pose to your Christian friends: "Where was Jesus before he was born?"
In the Christian tradition, people speak of the living Christ, the living Jesus. It means Jesus is not affected by birth and death. So the question can be rephrased, "Where was Jesus after he was born?" Because if you look at that manifestation of his body and you think that Jesus is only that body, you are misled -- Jesus must be much more than that body, that manifestation. So if you can answer that question, you can answer the other question.
It's like when you look at a sheet of paper and look deeply, you can see that the paper is made of trees and sunshine and earth and clouds, and even before the manifestation of the sheet of paper in this present form, you can only see the sheet of paper in the non-paper elements that existed before.
So we should be able to see Jesus Christ even with that manifestation. And before that manifestation, we cannot say that Jesus did not exist because the nature of Jesus is the nature of no birth and no death. And birth and death cannot affect Jesus. If we look like that we have a much deeper understanding of the person, of the nature of the Lord.
Can you explain what you mean by that manifestation? What is being manifested?
Manifestation is showing a presence -- when conditions are sufficient, something manifests itself. And that is not a beginning, that is a continuation also. It's like a beautiful cloud in the sky -- that is a manifestation: before being a cloud, the cloud has been other things like water, vapor, heat and so on. So looking deeply, you can only recognize the presence of the cloud in the non-cloud elements that have been there before that manifestation of the cloud.
You say that without awareness or mindfulness we live like dead people. Can you talk about what you mean by the practice of resurrection?
Usually people have a tendency to be caught in the worries concerning the future or in the regret concerning the past. There is some kind of energy that is pushing them to run and they are not able to establish themselves in the present moment. And that prevents them from getting in touch [with] what is there in the present moment. And life is available
only
in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply. That is why those who are not capable of being there in the present moment, they don't really live their life -- they live like dead people, like the French writer Camus used to say.
That is why if you know the techniques of mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful smiling, you can bring your mind back to your body and you become truly alive at every moment and that can be described as the practice of resurrection. Resurrection can be at every moment for life to be truly possible.
Is that what you're talking about when you say "When you come back to mindfulness and awareness the energy of the Holy Spirit is present in you"?
Yes, when mindfulness is there you are attentive to yourself, you are attentive to other people around you and understanding becomes possible, compassion becomes possible. And that improves the quality of your life and the lives of those around you.
You say that we should not only accept but welcome the notion of impermanence. How is it that impermanence "makes everything possible"?
If things were not impermanent, life would not be possible. Suppose you sow a seed of corn. If the seed of corn is not impermanent, it cannot sprout and become a young plant of corn and you would have no corn to eat. That is why impermanence is very important, crucial for life. That is why instead of complaining about impermanence you have to say "Long live impermanence!"
What would you say to someone, for example, whose child has just died? How should they understand what's happened?
I would say that when conditions are not sufficient, something cannot manifest itself fully. It may be waiting for a few other conditions in order to manifest. And if we keep that in mind and if we are capable of seeing that manifestation in other forms then we don't have to be the victim of despair and fear.
Suppose you are impressed with a particular cloud in the sky. When it is time for that cloud to become the rain you won't see that cloud anymore and you will cry. But if you know that the cloud has been transformed into the rain and the rain is calling you, "Darling, I am here, I'm here," if you have that kind of capacity of recognizing the continuation of that manifestation, you don't have to live in despair and grief. That is why for those who have lost someone who is close to him or to her I advise that they look deeply within and see that the one who was close is still there, somehow, and with the practice of deep looking they can recognize his or her presence very close to him or to her.
Do you ever have doubts about these truths? How do you deal with your own doubts?
Doubt in my tradition is something that is very helpful. Because of doubt you can thirst more and you will get a higher kind of proof.
If our true nature is one of no birth and no death, what are our present lives for? How can we find meaning in the actions that we take?
Our life is a manifestation, and we can very well make that manifestation beautiful and meaningful and have a good influence on other manifestations in the now and in the future. If we know how to create the energy of love, understanding, compassion, and beauty, then we can contribute a lot to the world, influencing positively other manifestations. Because if the manifestations that happen in the present moment are beautiful and good, their continuation in the future will be also good and beautiful.
You say that people of any faith can use these teachings.
Yes.
But most Christians and others profess a faith in an embodied life after death. How can your teaching of no-death/no-self be useful to them?
There is an interesting story I would like to tell you. There is a lady who believed very strongly that if she died she would go to heaven and she would meet her husband, who died at the age of 30. And she said that when she was 70, and I asked her, "When you go to heaven, how old do you expect your husband to be -- 30 or 70? If he's 30 and then you are 70, then that's no match at all!"
So because we are attached to a specific form of manifestation, that is why we suffer. If we are free from that kind of attachment, we can easily recognize ourselves in other people, in different forms of manifestation, and then we don't have to suffer.
Is there anything more you want to add?
I think concerning the question about the presence of Jesus. In the Bible there's a story telling us that there was a disciple of Jesus walking with him but not recognizing him at all -- that is after the crucifixion. And then only when Jesus begins to break the bread do they recognize that the person that had been walking with him is their teacher.
My suggestion is that Jesus is very close, if you have the kind of eyes that is free from attachment and you can recognize him at anytime and anywhere. So the same thing is true with the person who is dear to you. You may have thought that he's no longer there, she's no longer there and you are looking for him or for her elsewhere and in the future. But if you have that kind of eye that we call a "signlessness" you'll be able to recognize him or her right in the here and the now and you will no longer be a victim of fear and grief and despair.
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Buddhism/2002/09/Long-Live-Impermanence.aspx
For someone who is dealing with a painful loss or a personal fear of death but knows nothing about Buddhism or meditative technique, what do you recommend as way to begin to let go of fear and grief?
I think there's a way of training ourselves in order not to become the victim of fear and grief -- that is to look deeply into ourselves and to see that we are made of non-self elements. And when we look around ourselves, we can recognize ourselves in the non-self elements, like a father looking at his children can see himself in his children, can see his continuation in his children. So he is not attached to the idea that his body is the only thing that is him. He's more than his body. He is inside of his body but he is also at the same [time] outside of his body in many elements. And if we have the habit of looking like that, we will not be the victim of our attachment to one form of manifestation, and we will be free. And that freedom makes happiness and peace possible.
Other than meditation, is there any specific practice that can help you come to this understanding?
Yes. The Buddha advised us to bear in mind that everything is impermanent, that nothing has an absolute entity that remains the same. And when we keep that insight in mind, we can see more deeply into the nature of reality, and we will not be locked in the notion that we are only this body, this life span is the only life span we have. In fact, because nothing can be by itself alone, no one can be by himself or herself alone, everyone has to inter-be with every one else. That is why, when you look outside, around you, you can see yourself. And when you look into yourself, you can see the world outside. So that is a training.
I wonder if you'd answer the question you say you like to pose to your Christian friends: "Where was Jesus before he was born?"
In the Christian tradition, people speak of the living Christ, the living Jesus. It means Jesus is not affected by birth and death. So the question can be rephrased, "Where was Jesus after he was born?" Because if you look at that manifestation of his body and you think that Jesus is only that body, you are misled -- Jesus must be much more than that body, that manifestation. So if you can answer that question, you can answer the other question.
It's like when you look at a sheet of paper and look deeply, you can see that the paper is made of trees and sunshine and earth and clouds, and even before the manifestation of the sheet of paper in this present form, you can only see the sheet of paper in the non-paper elements that existed before.
So we should be able to see Jesus Christ even with that manifestation. And before that manifestation, we cannot say that Jesus did not exist because the nature of Jesus is the nature of no birth and no death. And birth and death cannot affect Jesus. If we look like that we have a much deeper understanding of the person, of the nature of the Lord.
Can you explain what you mean by that manifestation? What is being manifested?
Manifestation is showing a presence -- when conditions are sufficient, something manifests itself. And that is not a beginning, that is a continuation also. It's like a beautiful cloud in the sky -- that is a manifestation: before being a cloud, the cloud has been other things like water, vapor, heat and so on. So looking deeply, you can only recognize the presence of the cloud in the non-cloud elements that have been there before that manifestation of the cloud.
You say that without awareness or mindfulness we live like dead people. Can you talk about what you mean by the practice of resurrection?
Usually people have a tendency to be caught in the worries concerning the future or in the regret concerning the past. There is some kind of energy that is pushing them to run and they are not able to establish themselves in the present moment. And that prevents them from getting in touch [with] what is there in the present moment. And life is available
only
in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply. That is why those who are not capable of being there in the present moment, they don't really live their life -- they live like dead people, like the French writer Camus used to say.
That is why if you know the techniques of mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful smiling, you can bring your mind back to your body and you become truly alive at every moment and that can be described as the practice of resurrection. Resurrection can be at every moment for life to be truly possible.
Is that what you're talking about when you say "When you come back to mindfulness and awareness the energy of the Holy Spirit is present in you"?
Yes, when mindfulness is there you are attentive to yourself, you are attentive to other people around you and understanding becomes possible, compassion becomes possible. And that improves the quality of your life and the lives of those around you.
You say that we should not only accept but welcome the notion of impermanence. How is it that impermanence "makes everything possible"?
If things were not impermanent, life would not be possible. Suppose you sow a seed of corn. If the seed of corn is not impermanent, it cannot sprout and become a young plant of corn and you would have no corn to eat. That is why impermanence is very important, crucial for life. That is why instead of complaining about impermanence you have to say "Long live impermanence!"
What would you say to someone, for example, whose child has just died? How should they understand what's happened?
I would say that when conditions are not sufficient, something cannot manifest itself fully. It may be waiting for a few other conditions in order to manifest. And if we keep that in mind and if we are capable of seeing that manifestation in other forms then we don't have to be the victim of despair and fear.
Suppose you are impressed with a particular cloud in the sky. When it is time for that cloud to become the rain you won't see that cloud anymore and you will cry. But if you know that the cloud has been transformed into the rain and the rain is calling you, "Darling, I am here, I'm here," if you have that kind of capacity of recognizing the continuation of that manifestation, you don't have to live in despair and grief. That is why for those who have lost someone who is close to him or to her I advise that they look deeply within and see that the one who was close is still there, somehow, and with the practice of deep looking they can recognize his or her presence very close to him or to her.
Do you ever have doubts about these truths? How do you deal with your own doubts?
Doubt in my tradition is something that is very helpful. Because of doubt you can thirst more and you will get a higher kind of proof.
If our true nature is one of no birth and no death, what are our present lives for? How can we find meaning in the actions that we take?
Our life is a manifestation, and we can very well make that manifestation beautiful and meaningful and have a good influence on other manifestations in the now and in the future. If we know how to create the energy of love, understanding, compassion, and beauty, then we can contribute a lot to the world, influencing positively other manifestations. Because if the manifestations that happen in the present moment are beautiful and good, their continuation in the future will be also good and beautiful.
You say that people of any faith can use these teachings.
Yes.
But most Christians and others profess a faith in an embodied life after death. How can your teaching of no-death/no-self be useful to them?
There is an interesting story I would like to tell you. There is a lady who believed very strongly that if she died she would go to heaven and she would meet her husband, who died at the age of 30. And she said that when she was 70, and I asked her, "When you go to heaven, how old do you expect your husband to be -- 30 or 70? If he's 30 and then you are 70, then that's no match at all!"
So because we are attached to a specific form of manifestation, that is why we suffer. If we are free from that kind of attachment, we can easily recognize ourselves in other people, in different forms of manifestation, and then we don't have to suffer.
Is there anything more you want to add?
I think concerning the question about the presence of Jesus. In the Bible there's a story telling us that there was a disciple of Jesus walking with him but not recognizing him at all -- that is after the crucifixion. And then only when Jesus begins to break the bread do they recognize that the person that had been walking with him is their teacher.
My suggestion is that Jesus is very close, if you have the kind of eyes that is free from attachment and you can recognize him at anytime and anywhere. So the same thing is true with the person who is dear to you. You may have thought that he's no longer there, she's no longer there and you are looking for him or for her elsewhere and in the future. But if you have that kind of eye that we call a "signlessness" you'll be able to recognize him or her right in the here and the now and you will no longer be a victim of fear and grief and despair.
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Buddhism/2002/09/Long-Live-Impermanence.aspx
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
The Ego Hallucination
The root of the matter is the way in which we feel and conceive ourselves as human
beings, our sensation of being alive, of individual existence and identity.
We suffer from a hallucination, from a false and distorted sensation of
our own existence as living organisms. Most of us have the sensation
that "I myself" is a separate center of feeling and action, living inside
and bounded by the physical body—a center which "confronts" an
"external" world of people and things, making contact through the
senses with a universe both alien and strange. Everyday figures of
speech reflect this illusion. "I came into this world." "You must face
reality." "The conquest of nature."
This feeling of being lonely and very temporary visitors in the
universe is in flat contradiction to everything known about man (and all
other living organisms) in the sciences. We do not "come into" this
world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean "waves,"
the universe "peoples." Every individual is an expression of the whole
realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe. This fact is rarely,
if ever, experienced by most individuals. Even those who know it to be
true in theory do not sense or feel it, but continue to be aware of
themselves as isolated "egos" inside bags of skin.
The first result of this illusion is that our attitude to the world
"outside" us is largely hostile. We are forever "conquering" nature,
space, mountains, deserts, bacteria, and insects instead of learning to
cooperate with them in a harmonious order. In America the great
symbols of this conquest are the bulldozer and the rocket—the
instrument that batters the hills into flat tracts for little boxes made of
ticky-tacky and the great phallic projectile that blasts the sky.
(Nonetheless, we have fine architects who know how to fit houses into
hills without ruining the landscape, and astronomers who know that the
earth is already way out in space, and that our first need for exploring
other worlds is sensitive electronic instruments which, like our eyes,
will bring the most distant objects into our own brains.)(1) The hostile
attitude of conquering nature ignores the basic interdependence of all
things and events—that the world beyond the skin is actually an
extension of our own bodies—and will end in destroying the very
environment from which we emerge and upon which our whole life
depends.
The second result of feeling that we are separate minds in an alien,
and mostly stupid, universe is that we have no common sense, no way of
making sense of the world upon which we are agreed in common. It's
just my opinion against yours, and therefore the most aggressive and
violent (and thus insensitive) propagandist makes the decisions. A
muddle of conflicting opinions united by force of propaganda is the
worst possible source of control for a powerful technology.
It might seem, then, that our need is for some genius to invent a new
religion, a philosophy of life and a view of the world, that is plausible
and generally acceptable for the late twentieth century, and through
which every individual can feel that the world as a whole and his own
life in particular have meaning. This, as history has shown repeatedly, is
not enough. Religions are divisive and quarrelsome. They are a form of
the "damned," the true believers from the heretics, the in-group from the
out-group. Even religious liberals play the game of "we're-more tolerant-
than-you." Furthermore, as systems of doctrine, symbolism, and
behavior, religions harden into institutions that must command loyalty,
be defended and kept "pure," and—because all belief is fervent hope,
and thus a cover-up for doubt and uncertainty—religions must make
converts. The more people who agree with us, the less nagging
insecurity about our position. In the end one is committed to being a
Christian or a Buddhist come what may in the form of new knowledge.
New and indigestible ideas have to be wangled into the religious
tradition, however inconsistent with its original doctrines, so that the
believer can still take his stand and assert, "I am first and foremost a
follower of Christ/Mohammed/Buddha, or whomever." Irrevocable
commitment to any religion is not only intellectual suicide; it is positive
unfaith because it closes the mind to any new vision of the world. Faith
is, above all, open-ness—an act of trust in the unknown.
Alan Watts ~ "On the Taboo of Knowing Who You Are (pp.12-14)
beings, our sensation of being alive, of individual existence and identity.
We suffer from a hallucination, from a false and distorted sensation of
our own existence as living organisms. Most of us have the sensation
that "I myself" is a separate center of feeling and action, living inside
and bounded by the physical body—a center which "confronts" an
"external" world of people and things, making contact through the
senses with a universe both alien and strange. Everyday figures of
speech reflect this illusion. "I came into this world." "You must face
reality." "The conquest of nature."
This feeling of being lonely and very temporary visitors in the
universe is in flat contradiction to everything known about man (and all
other living organisms) in the sciences. We do not "come into" this
world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean "waves,"
the universe "peoples." Every individual is an expression of the whole
realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe. This fact is rarely,
if ever, experienced by most individuals. Even those who know it to be
true in theory do not sense or feel it, but continue to be aware of
themselves as isolated "egos" inside bags of skin.
The first result of this illusion is that our attitude to the world
"outside" us is largely hostile. We are forever "conquering" nature,
space, mountains, deserts, bacteria, and insects instead of learning to
cooperate with them in a harmonious order. In America the great
symbols of this conquest are the bulldozer and the rocket—the
instrument that batters the hills into flat tracts for little boxes made of
ticky-tacky and the great phallic projectile that blasts the sky.
(Nonetheless, we have fine architects who know how to fit houses into
hills without ruining the landscape, and astronomers who know that the
earth is already way out in space, and that our first need for exploring
other worlds is sensitive electronic instruments which, like our eyes,
will bring the most distant objects into our own brains.)(1) The hostile
attitude of conquering nature ignores the basic interdependence of all
things and events—that the world beyond the skin is actually an
extension of our own bodies—and will end in destroying the very
environment from which we emerge and upon which our whole life
depends.
The second result of feeling that we are separate minds in an alien,
and mostly stupid, universe is that we have no common sense, no way of
making sense of the world upon which we are agreed in common. It's
just my opinion against yours, and therefore the most aggressive and
violent (and thus insensitive) propagandist makes the decisions. A
muddle of conflicting opinions united by force of propaganda is the
worst possible source of control for a powerful technology.
It might seem, then, that our need is for some genius to invent a new
religion, a philosophy of life and a view of the world, that is plausible
and generally acceptable for the late twentieth century, and through
which every individual can feel that the world as a whole and his own
life in particular have meaning. This, as history has shown repeatedly, is
not enough. Religions are divisive and quarrelsome. They are a form of
the "damned," the true believers from the heretics, the in-group from the
out-group. Even religious liberals play the game of "we're-more tolerant-
than-you." Furthermore, as systems of doctrine, symbolism, and
behavior, religions harden into institutions that must command loyalty,
be defended and kept "pure," and—because all belief is fervent hope,
and thus a cover-up for doubt and uncertainty—religions must make
converts. The more people who agree with us, the less nagging
insecurity about our position. In the end one is committed to being a
Christian or a Buddhist come what may in the form of new knowledge.
New and indigestible ideas have to be wangled into the religious
tradition, however inconsistent with its original doctrines, so that the
believer can still take his stand and assert, "I am first and foremost a
follower of Christ/Mohammed/Buddha, or whomever." Irrevocable
commitment to any religion is not only intellectual suicide; it is positive
unfaith because it closes the mind to any new vision of the world. Faith
is, above all, open-ness—an act of trust in the unknown.
Alan Watts ~ "On the Taboo of Knowing Who You Are (pp.12-14)
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Bardo
In his commentary on the Bardo Thodol, the late Chogyam Trungpa explained that bardo means "gap," or interval of suspension, and that bardo is part of our psychological make-up. Bardo experiences happen to us all the time in life, not just after death. The Bardo Thodol can be read as a guide to life experiences as well as a guide to the time between death and rebirth.
Scholar and translator Francesca Fremantle said that "Originally bardo referred only to the period between one life and the next, and this is still its normal meaning when it is mentioned without any qualification." However, "By refining even further the understanding of the essence of bardo, it can then be applied to every moment of existence. The present moment, the now, is a continual bardo, always suspended between the past and the future." (Fremantle, Luminous Emptiness, 2001, p. 20)
The Bardo Thodol traditionally is read to a dying or dead person, so that he or she may be liberated from the cycle of samsara through hearing. The dead or dying person is guided through encounters in the bardo with wrathful and peaceful deities, beautiful and terrifying, which are to be understood as projections of mind.
Buddhist teachings on death and rebirth are not simple to understand. Most of the time when people speak of reincarnation, they mean a process by which a soul, or some essence of one's individual self, survives death and is reborn in a new body. But according to the Buddhist doctrine of anatman, there is no soul or "self" in the sense of a permanent, integral, autonomous being. That being so, how does rebirth function, and what is it that is reborn?
This question is answered somewhat differently by the several schools of Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism teaches of a level of mind that is always with us but so subtle that few ever become aware of it. But in death, or in a state of deep meditation, this level of mind becomes manifest and flows across lives. Metaphorically, this deep mind is compared to light, or a flowing stream, or wind.
This is only the barest of explanations; fully understanding these teachings takes years of study and practice.
There are bardos within within the bardo that correspond to the three bodies of the Trikaya. The Bardo Thodol describes these three bardos between death and rebirth:
1. The bardo of the moment of death
2. The bardo of supreme reality
3. The bardo of becoming
Taking these one at a time:
The bardo of the moment of death. The Bardo Thodol describes a dissolution of the self created by the skandhas and a falling away of external reality. The consciousness that remains experiences the true nature of mind as a dazzling light or luminosity. This is the bardo of dharmakaya, all phenomena unmanifested, free of characteristics and distinctions
The bardo of supreme reality. The Bardo Thodol describes lights of many colors and visions of wrathful and peaceful deities. Those in the bardo are challenged to not be afraid of these visions, which are projections of mind. This is the bardo of sambhogakaya, the reward of spiritual practice.
The bardo of becoming. If the second bardo is experienced with fear, confusion and nonrealization, the bardo of becoming begins. Projections of karma appear that will cause rebirth in one of the Six Realms. This is the bardo of nirmanakaya, the physical body that appears in the world.
http://buddhism.about.com/od/vajrayanabuddhism/a/bardothodol.htm
Scholar and translator Francesca Fremantle said that "Originally bardo referred only to the period between one life and the next, and this is still its normal meaning when it is mentioned without any qualification." However, "By refining even further the understanding of the essence of bardo, it can then be applied to every moment of existence. The present moment, the now, is a continual bardo, always suspended between the past and the future." (Fremantle, Luminous Emptiness, 2001, p. 20)
The Bardo Thodol traditionally is read to a dying or dead person, so that he or she may be liberated from the cycle of samsara through hearing. The dead or dying person is guided through encounters in the bardo with wrathful and peaceful deities, beautiful and terrifying, which are to be understood as projections of mind.
Buddhist teachings on death and rebirth are not simple to understand. Most of the time when people speak of reincarnation, they mean a process by which a soul, or some essence of one's individual self, survives death and is reborn in a new body. But according to the Buddhist doctrine of anatman, there is no soul or "self" in the sense of a permanent, integral, autonomous being. That being so, how does rebirth function, and what is it that is reborn?
This question is answered somewhat differently by the several schools of Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism teaches of a level of mind that is always with us but so subtle that few ever become aware of it. But in death, or in a state of deep meditation, this level of mind becomes manifest and flows across lives. Metaphorically, this deep mind is compared to light, or a flowing stream, or wind.
This is only the barest of explanations; fully understanding these teachings takes years of study and practice.
There are bardos within within the bardo that correspond to the three bodies of the Trikaya. The Bardo Thodol describes these three bardos between death and rebirth:
1. The bardo of the moment of death
2. The bardo of supreme reality
3. The bardo of becoming
Taking these one at a time:
The bardo of the moment of death. The Bardo Thodol describes a dissolution of the self created by the skandhas and a falling away of external reality. The consciousness that remains experiences the true nature of mind as a dazzling light or luminosity. This is the bardo of dharmakaya, all phenomena unmanifested, free of characteristics and distinctions
The bardo of supreme reality. The Bardo Thodol describes lights of many colors and visions of wrathful and peaceful deities. Those in the bardo are challenged to not be afraid of these visions, which are projections of mind. This is the bardo of sambhogakaya, the reward of spiritual practice.
The bardo of becoming. If the second bardo is experienced with fear, confusion and nonrealization, the bardo of becoming begins. Projections of karma appear that will cause rebirth in one of the Six Realms. This is the bardo of nirmanakaya, the physical body that appears in the world.
http://buddhism.about.com/od/vajrayanabuddhism/a/bardothodol.htm
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Take a jump!
"You are that which can never change.. you appear as this body, you appear as this form, you appear as your thoughts and emotions, but you are really the back of it all... That is you, my friend, the Oneness the Source." ~ Burt Harding
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