Daily Buddhist Verses

• An Eternal Now

  12 Sep 12, 17:55

  无论�到天大的事，也�将它在心中化了。~ 圣开法师
  

• An Eternal Now

  13 Sep 12, 13:49

  "What is a 'seasoned' practitioner? It is someone who knows the teachings because he has listened to them, sometimes for a long time; but even though initially he may have put them into practice, after having some experiences early on he surrenders to complacency, and deceiving himself he becomes convinced that he has 'understood everything'. So he stops at a level of intellectual indifference, relinquishing the sincerity of his practice. Such a person will often say: 'My practice makes progress by itself', or 'I do not need to do anything, I am already in the state of contemplation', whereas in fact his life is nothing but distraction!"

  ~ Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

• An Eternal Now

  13 Sep 12, 13:51

   

  "Too often we think we are there when in fact we are still far away from it. I am certainly not there... but I have read several times that completing the Dzogchen practice takes at least 60 years of practice.

  The most subtle obscurations are the most normal and natural ones to us. So natural that it is transparent  or invisible to us.

  We are all born with the various passions (5 elements manifestations) in different degree. These passions are so natural that we think that we are free of them. Even the natural habit of blocking any thoughts/feelings that are deem as unwholesome is part of the passion... depending on our personality makeup. We may block using fear, anger, pride etc. 

  Many time we treasure the non-dual glimpses so much that we get distracted in all the other times. When dualism takes over, we will not be able to detect it at that moment... because the conditionings are so invisible and natural.

  Just a sharing"

  ~ Simpo

   

  Yes Longchen, what you said is very true  -- The most subtle obscurations are the most normal and natural ones to us. So natural that it is transparent  or invisible to us.

  Because it is difficult to see, that makes its arising precious.  The past few months have been very challenging for my business too but I will take it as a golden opportunity for my practice.  :)

  In whatever case, whenever we are thrown out of non-dual, it is always due to the imaturity of insight of our non-dual and empty nature.  To conciousness, it is always insights that liberates.  Spontaneous perfection is not about the path we adopt, it is that ultimate and thorough insight that allows us to willingly, fearlessly and unreservedly open to whatever that arises; for whatever arises is always to liberate itself when experienced as non-dual and empty awareness.

   

  ~ Thusness

• An Eternal Now

  14 Sep 12, 14:06

  
  For the mind that masters view the emptiness dawns
  In the content seen not even an atom exists
  A seer and seen refined until they're gone
  

  This way of realizing view, it works quite well
  
  When meditation is clear light river flow
  There is no need to confine it to sessions and breaks
  Meditator and object refined until they're gone
  This heart bone of meditation, it beats quite well
  
  When you're sure that conducts work is luminous light
  And you're sure that interdependence is emptiness
  A doer and deed refined until they're gone
  This way of working with conduct, it works quite well
  
  When biased thinking has vanished into space
  No phony facades, eight dharmas, nor hopes and fears,
  A keeper and kept refined until they're gone
  This way of keeping samaya, it works quite well
  
  When you've finally discovered your mind is dharmakaya
  And you're really doing yourself and others good
  A winner and won refined until they're gone
  This way of winning results, it works quite well.
  
  - Milarepa

• An Eternal Now

  16 Sep 12, 21:40

  "The 'coincidence' of awareness and appearances" is that they are precisely identical. Any sense of detachment (or even union), subtle or gross, is a deviation from the view this teaching is meant to establish.

  ~ Kyle Dixon

• An Eternal Now

  18 Sep 12, 14:21

  The five aggregates, monks, are anicca, impermanent; whatever is impermanent, that is dukkha, unsatisfactory; whatever is dukkha, that is without attaa, self. What is without self, that is not mine, that I am not, that is not my self. Thus should it be seen by perfect wisdom (sammappa~n~naaya) as it really is. Who sees by perfect wisdom, as it really is, his mind, not grasping, is detached from taints; he is liberated.
  
  — SN 22.45

• An Eternal Now

  1 Oct 12, 22:37

  Changlu Zongze's Zuochanyi:
  
  This one teaching of meditation is our most urgent business. If you do not practice meditation and enter dhy�na, then when it comes down to it, you will be completely at a loss. Therefore, to seek the pearl, we should still the waves; if we disturb the water, it will be hard to get. When the water of meditation is clear, the pearl of the mind will appear of itself. Therefore, the Perfect Enlightenment Sūtra says, ''Unimpeded, immaculate wisdom always arises dependent on meditation." The Lotus Blossom Sūtra says, "In a quiet place, he practices the control of the mind, abiding motionless like Mt. Sumeru." Thus, transcending the profane and surpassing the holy are always contingent on the condition of dhy�na; shedding [this body] while seated and fleeing [this life] while standing are necessarily dependent on the power of sam�dhi. Even if one devotes himself to the practice his entire life, he may still not be in time; how then could one who procrastinates possibly overcome karma? Therefore, an ancient has said, ''Without the power of sam�dhi, you will meekly cower at death's door." Shutting your eyes, you will end your life in vain; and just as you are, you will drift [in saṃs�ra].

• An Eternal Now

  2 Oct 12, 21:39

  ‎

  No Birth, No Base and Union - A Vajra Song of Milarepa

  This article appeared in Bodhi 5-2

  The true nature of appearances is that they've never been born
  If birth seems to happen, it's just clinging, nothing more
  The spinning wheel of existence has neither a base nor a root
  If there is a base or root, that's only a thought

  The true nature of the mind is union, inseparability
  If you separate its aspects, you're hooked on some view
  The sign of the true lamas is that they hold a lineage
  The ones who make stuff up are just being dumb

  The mind's basic reality is like the clear and open sky
  But the dark clouds of thoughts just cover it all up
  So let the lama's pith advice
  Be the wind that blows those clouds away

  Even confused thoughts themselves are clear light that shines so brilliantly
  Experiences so bright like sun and moonlight
  Without any direction, clarity shines timelessly
  You cannot find it, so you can't say what it is

  So many kinds of certainty shine like the stars in the sky
  Whatever arises is the greatest bliss
  Its nature is simplicity, the dharmakaya expanse
  The six dependent appearances are empty naturally

  This natural flow is effortless, there's not a klesha in sight
  Within this basic state, completely relaxed
  Wisdom without fixation abides continuously
  The three kayas inseparable - the greatest miracle!

  
  --from No Birth, No Base and Union, Milarepa

• lee7stc

  4 Oct 12, 00:13

  please see my first blog http://flowerofmankind.wordpress.com
• An Eternal Now

  17 Oct 12, 01:15

  • 

    Kyle Dixon Michael, here is an eloquent exposition of your own position, that no effort can be beneficial, this is a writing attributed to samantabhadra, which is merely the personification of the enlightened state. It is a writing done from the first person perspective of the enlightened state:
    
    "The pure mind, the ubiquitous essence -
    it is spontaneously, originally, perfect;
    so strenuous engagement with the ten techniques
    is unnecessary, superfluous.
    
    My nature is like elemental space
    (that all-applicable simile):
    we exist in pure space, so we need not strive for it;
    we exist as pure space, so space is all our striving;
    and all-creating space transcends any exertion.
    Pure mind, the ubiquitous essence, is like that,
    so transcending all cognitive activity
    I am inscrutable and cannot be cultivated.
    All the ten techniques are likewise transcended,
    so nothing can be done to affect me.
    Those who try to approach me on a causal path,
    desirous of catching a glimpse of my face,
    seeking me through the ten techniques,
    fall straight to earth like a tenderfoot sky-walker,
    tumbling down due to deliberate effort.
    
    I, the supreme source, I am the revelation,
    and transcend every sphere of activity,
    so a view of me cannot be cultivated,
    and the ten techniques are meaningless.
    If you still think that the ten techniques have purpose,
    look at me, and finding nothing to see,
    taking no view, remain at that zero-point.
    Nothing ever separates us from unoriginated simplicity,
    so vows and discipline are redundant;
    the essence is always spontaneously present,
    so any effort to find it is always superfluous;
    self-sprung awareness has never been obscured,
    so gnostic awareness cannot be generated;
    everybody already lives on my level,
    so there is no place to reach through purification;
    I embrace all and everything,
    so there can be no path that leads to me;
    I am forever incapable of dualization,
    so there is never anything to be labeled 'subtle';
    my form embraces everything,
    so there has never been any 'duality';
    I am self-sprung awareness from the very beginning,
    so I can never be nailed down;
    since I am the heart of total presence,
    there is no other source of secret precepts."
    
    So no, buddhism doesn't advocate a causal path to end suffering, but is surely much more sophisticated when it comes to these teachings than you claim.

    a few seconds ago · Edited · Unlike · 2
• An Eternal Now

  17 Oct 12, 01:16

  Originally posted by lee7stc:

  please see my first blog
  http://flowerofmankind.wordpress.com

  Thanks for sharing

• An Eternal Now

  17 Oct 12, 01:30

  October 13, Thusness wrote to me: “Although you see how precise Theravada teaching is, your current mode of practice should be as direct and uncontrived as possible. When you see nothing behind and magical appearances too are empty, awareness is naturally lucid and free. Views and all elaborations dissolved, mind-body forgotten... just unobstructed awareness. Awareness natural and uncontrived is supreme goal. Top/bottom, inside/outside, always without center and empty (twofold emptiness), then view is fully actualized and all experiences are great liberation.”

• An Eternal Now

  17 Oct 12, 01:51

  deleted

• An Eternal Now

  23 Oct 12, 10:41

  "It is not possible for samsara to come from vidy�." -- Vimalamitra's Aural Lineage
• An Eternal Now

  27 Oct 12, 17:19

  A monk with a mind at peace,
  Gone to an empty place,
  Clearly seeing the dhamma thoroughly—
  His delight is more than human.
  
  — Dhammapada 373
• An Eternal Now

  27 Oct 12, 17:20

  Geoff:

  It’s worthwhile being intellectually honest and vigorous enough to look at how often our motivation is influenced by our beliefs. In the context of practice, first of all, one has be motivated to actually engage in the Buddha’s ethical and contemplative training, and then choose to go for refuge in the three jewels instead of one’s own delusional thoughts and emotions. And as a part of this refuge, one needs to tacitly accept the premise that craving sensual pleasure, craving existence, and craving non-existence is the origin of suffering, in order to be willing to begin to abandon habitual actions, and so on. This is no small thing. Thus, without developing faith and going for refuge in the three jewels there is no connection with the noble eightfold path. SN 48. 44 Pubbakoá¹­á¹­haka Sutta:

  
  “Good, good SÄ�riputta! Those who have not known, seen, understood, realized, and contacted with discernment, they would have to go by faith in others that the faculty of faith ... the faculty of energy ... the faculty of mindfulness ... the faculty of meditative composure ... the faculty of discernment, when developed and cultivated, has the death-free as its ground, the death-free as its destination, the death-free as its final goal.”

   

• An Eternal Now

  29 Oct 12, 17:28

   

  How do you know what is true, moment by moment? How do you release yourself from traps and cages? We release ourselves again and again, in each moment, in this moment of being aware, by attending to our experiencing as it actually is. Each detail that is noticed stands out distinctly as what it is. The sound of a bird; a drop of rain falling on your head; the coolness of the air on your skin; the changing light in the room; the myriad sensations of the body - all of these present themselves just as they are. Each colour and form, each sound, each sensation is telling you what is true. And when we practise this coming back again and again to what is true in each moment, the ways in which we lie to ourselves, inflate and propagate and trick ourselves, stand out clearly.

  In each moment we can choose to open traps and cages. The more that we enter fully into and as this moment the more that they spring open of themselves. When we have entered completely we will see that there has never been anything to entrap us.

  ~ Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho

• An Eternal Now

  9 Nov 12, 02:53

  Water practices and validates water; therefore there is a study of water speaking water. We must bring to realization the path on which the self encounters the self. We must move back and forth along the vital path on which the other studies and fully comprehends the other, and then leap free. ~ Eihei D�gen
• An Eternal Now

  11 Nov 12, 01:48

   

  As Dzogchen teacher Tenzin Wangyal (1997, 29) points out:

  The gap between two thoughts is essence. But if in that gap there is a lack of presence, it becomes ignorance and we experience only a lack of awareness, almost an unconsciousness. If there is presence in the gap, then we experience the dharmakaya [the ultimate].

   

  And 19th Century Dzogchen Master Shambkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol writes:

  Although these two states are similar,
  Insofar as neither is intentional meditation,
  Nonmeditation samadhi that is like a continuous stream
  Is just remaining in a vivid clarity
  That is like a bright, cloudless sky -
  Limitless, pervasive, transparent.

  The other is merely a dull state of mind
  That is nothing in particular:
  A constricted, fragmentary, biased state
  Lacking lucid clarity,
  A vague and hazy stupefaction.

• An Eternal Now

  19 Nov 12, 18:54

  
  Kamma being a form of energy is not found anywhere in this fleeting consciousness or body. Just as mangoes are not stored anywhere in the mango tree but, dependent on certain conditions, they spring into being, so does kamma. Kamma is like wind or fire. It is not stored up anywhere in the Universe but comes into being under certain conditions.

  ~ K Sri Dhammananda

• An Eternal Now

  24 Nov 12, 02:21

  When the center is dropped and impersonality experienced, the manifold of isness in all manifestation must also be fully experienced. Everything interfuses and interpenetrates to give their very best for a manifestation to take place. The entire universe is giving whatever it has to make a moment of isness possible... Treasure all experiences. All is the One Reality. ~ Thusness, 2007
• An Eternal Now

  24 Nov 12, 16:22

  Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche
  
  

  Quote of the Week
  

  
  

  November 23, 2012 

  Coming or Going?

  When we rub two sticks together that produces a fire that will eventually cease. However, the fire doesn't come from anywhere when it starts to burn the sticks, and it doesn't go anywhere when it dies out. Fire is empty of coming and going.  Similarly, ignorance--clinging to the belief in a self, the mental afflictions, or suffering--does not come from anywhere and does not go anywhere.     We can apply this to our dreams: whatever appears in dreams, be it happiness or suffering, does not come from anywhere and it does not go anywhere.   All phenomena are empty of coming and going.

   

  Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Sun of Wisdom, Shambhala Publications 2003, p. 66. 

   

  Translated by Ari Goldfield (lightly edited for the Weekly Quotes)

• An Eternal Now

  25 Nov 12, 18:54

  Originally posted by An Eternal Now:

  October 13, Thusness wrote to me: “Although you see how precise Theravada teaching is, your current mode of practice should be as direct and uncontrived as possible. When you see nothing behind and magical appearances too are empty, awareness is naturally lucid and free. Views and all elaborations dissolved, mind-body forgotten... just unobstructed awareness. Awareness natural and uncontrived is supreme goal. Top/bottom, inside/outside, always without center and empty (twofold emptiness), then view is fully actualized and all experiences are great liberation.”

   

  Once a student has a personal experience of vidy�, for them a gradual approach is not only unnecessary, but is actually counter-productive.
  
  Once that experience is secured, there isn't much need for a gradual path.
  
  Gradual dzogchen is a contradiction in terms.
  
  ~ Loppon Namdrol

• An Eternal Now

  1 Dec 12, 17:22

  wtompepper wrote:

  No, as I am a Mahayana Buddhist I do not place any stock in concepts like "pratisaṃkhy�nirodha or apratisaṃkhy�nirodha." These are also concepts of an unconditioned state, not subject to impermanence and dependent arising, and so are also a kind of clinging to the idea of a permanent self.

  
  

  Firstly, while the translation of asaṃskṛta as "the unconditioned" is fairly common, it's a rather poor translation that all too easily leads to reification. The term asaṃskṛta refers to a negation of conditioned factors, and the meaning is better conveyed by "not-conditioned." Secondly, for Sautr�ntika commentators, and many mah�y�nika commentators as well, an analytical cessation (pratisaṃkhy�nirodha) is a non-implicative negation (prasajyapratiṣedha), i.e. a negation that doesn't imply the presence of some other entity, and therefore nirv�ṇa simply refers to a cessation that terminates the defilements and fetters that are abandoned by the correct practice of the noble path. It doesn't refer to an entity or state that is substantially existent (dravyasat).

  - Geoff

• An Eternal Now

  1 Dec 12, 23:32

  by Astus » Sat Dec 01, 2012 6:55 pm

  I think it goes like this. From the lowest level of a noble disciple (stream-entrant) enlightened beings follow a clear ethical conduct. A bodhisattva may go out of the boundaries of ethics driven by compassion, however, neither compassion nor the idea of skilful means are an excuse for misbehaviour in any situation (in the story of the ship captain bodhisattva he willingly took upon himself birth in hell as a consequence of murder). Therefore, either the teacher is truly realised and needs no special rules from the community, or the teacher is not enlightened and needs regulations and overview. There is no such thing as a naughty bodhisattva. Enlightened madness is what it is called, madness, therefore it should be treated as such.
  
  The problem with the above traditionalist presentation is its extremity of pure-impure. Keeping up this division in general is useful to some extent, and that's how Buddhism operates in its established form, similarly to any organised religion. There is also the option to leave the whole enlightened-unenlightened question out of the business and see humans as humans. Spiritual attainments should not be organisational factors. In fact, they never are in the monastic structure. It is a Western mistake, a confusion, to think that teachers are necessarily enlightened. There is also a general misunderstanding about what enlightenment is. Abuses will continue as long as good willing teachers and writers fail to reform their presentation of Zen.