Samatha or “care for another coffee?”

In a previous post I mentioned the difference in the properties and characteristics of a more profound mental state in meditation and contrasted those characteristics against the properties of the "normal" meditative state I had become used to. The difference was of a silky smoothness to the mind versus a rough kind of texture. This morning I delved a little deeper into the nature of this normal meditative mind of mine and found some interesting and significant features.

Firstly some background, because it is always important to understand the conditions and causes that contribute to something like this, as insights like these are not usually achieved without some build up or preparation of the right conditions to provide the scaffold, as it were, to reach for higher truths beyond the mundane, work-a-day experience.

It is the end of 2012, in fact it is the last day of 2012 today and I have been enjoying a few days break from pressures of work while I celebrate Christmas with my family. So I have had some time to dedicate to my meditation practice, or cultivation of Samadhi. In that regard, in addition to private meditations I was fortunate enough to participate in a full day retreat at the Chan monastery 3 days ago which was successive meditation sessions (sitting and walking) throughout the day. I had determined to mix both Samatha (calming) and Vipassana (contemplation, insight) mediation techniques by alternating between the two for each of the sitting meditation sessions. At any rate, I found that while I could focus on an object of contemplation in Vipassana, my mind was extraordinarily distracted in Samatha and I could not abide in emptiness (or no thought) for any length of time at all. I found thoughts arising continually and my mind would readily follow those thoughts before I could intervene to subdue them. However, over the following days I persisted in private practice and this morning I took a bike ride and after a short exercise period, was able to sit on the ground, under a tree and practice some more.

After initially calming my mind through the breathing and chakra focusing techniques I have outlined before, I applied myself to the Samatha practice and after some time was able to abide in no thought. As I did so, I was able to observe the characteristics of my mental state, similarly I suppose to a sailor observing the nature of the water upon which he is sailing. And what I could discern was rather than just a roughness, there was a bubbling kind of nature to what I now think of as the mental substrate. Almost like a foam, similar to the water on the ocean shore where the waves churn the water, mixing air that continually rise to the surface in bubbles of different sizes and pop. That is the nature of the roughness I had previously observed and which I observed again this morning, a bubbling froth of energy that is continuously rising and popping in your mind. Not a static kind of uneven surface, but a dynamic foam that comprises the mental substrate upon which our uninvited thoughts continually rise in our "normal" world of consciousness.

As I sat in this observational state, it occurred to me that smoothing out that mental substrate may provide a deeper experience and that thought seemed to transform things immediately, as the seething mass of mind seemed to reduce to a placid flow, very similar to the silky kind of sensation I had previously experienced. This kind of direct calming of the mind was a new experience, however, and I enjoyed this state for just a short period. As I was coming back to my normal awareness I realised that one's degree of agitation was directly related to how rough or foamy this mental substrate was and that the continually rising thoughts that plagued my meditation retreat a few days ago was precisely due to the state of agitation of this mental substrate.

Similarly to the walking meditations practiced at the monastery, I have turned my bike riding into a meditation where I ride with my hands behind my back, clearing my mind and focusing on the balance and flow of riding upright without grasping the handlebars. This was the manner in which I rode home, to the extent that traffic and conditions allowed. While in this state, it further occurred to me that I had taken to drinking 3 or more cups of coffee each day over the past few weeks and that this artificial stimulation would have had a direct effect on the amount to which the mental substrate was perturbed, and that other stimulants also would perturb the mental substrate in which our mind resides. Writing this now, it also occurs to me that as this mental substrate is observable, it is an artefact of our body and not of our Bodhi mind and so should naturally be expected to be affected by what we do to our body, the foods we feed it, the stimulants we subject it to and the drugs to which we expose it. For the first time in my many years of meditative practice this is the first time I have had a direct sense that diet is an important factor to manifesting our Buddha nature and that it can limit the degree to which we can manifest a higher consciousness.

The degree to which it is important is still unclear, perhaps a vegetarian diet may have some significant benefits to a cultivator of Prajñāpāramitā, but it is clear that stimulants such as coffee perturb the mental substrate and in so doing negatively affect one's ability to develop Samādhi. So whether one has understood the 4 noble truths, the eight fold path or the concept of Śūnyatā, the question of "Samatha or another cup of coffee?" is literally true. It is either one or the other, at least for me.

Best wishes to all for 2013 and I dedicate any merits accrued from writing this article to you who are reading it now.

Namaste.

“The vast sky is not hindered by the floating clouds.”

Since achieving the level of insight into myself and our true nature that has been summarised in previous writings here, circumstances compelled me to refocus my attention and energies back to the material concerns of life as I prepared for an overseas business trip. After a few weeks in that mindset, I suddenly realised in my travels that I had slipped back to old habits and old ways of thinking at the expense of my spiritual practice and prior awareness. I truly felt a sense of loss and reapplied myself to meditation but had lost my insight and could not regain my level of awareness. All through September I tried to re-establish my prior state, struggling to achieve the awareness of myself I had enjoyed, but for all my effort I could not rekindle the spark of my focus. Then on October 3, when changing the date on a calendar of Zen sayings, I read the words written for that day:

"The vast sky is not hindered by the floating clouds."

- Sekito Kisen

Immediately I could sense the profundity of this statement's meaning and again, as if my magic, I felt the ship of my mind begin to turn back on course. The Vast Sky was of course the Bodhi or enlightened mind, and the floating clouds were the changing desires and discriminative thoughts that float through the untamed mind. It reminded me that I was grasping at my previous awareness as if in desperation and was trapped in the discriminative thoughts of differentiating between my current and past state, in effect letting the floating clouds consume and delude me. Or to put it another way, identifying with the clouds rather than the vastness of the sky. As soon as I released that desire for prior attainments, let go of the clouds, my awareness began to rise again.

As I noted in a recent email discussing the near death experience of Dr. Eban Alexander, developing our awareness is like a game of Snakes and Ladders. Development comes in waves of great insight and periods of heightened consciousness, followed by a slide back down into more base concerns if you haven't reached a sufficient level of purification and allow the mundane concerns and material desires of the world overwhelm you. The world is a classroom full of the Snakes that would tempt you on the game board of life, but equally full of the Ladders that will lift you up and propel you forward. It is an easy proposition to understand in these terms, you just can't climb the Ladders to enlightenment without shedding the weight of material desires and concerns. That's not to say one should neglect their responsibilities, on the contrary, it is good to be diligent, but without grasping at the outcome and without letting the floating clouds hinder the vast sky of your risen mind.

May we all attain the supreme enlightenment and leave this training ground behind.

 

The Path

Who, What, Where, How, When and Why are the 6 primitive interrogatives for analysing anything and are a path unto themselves where analysis can take over from action and experience. In fact, the old adage of "paralysis by analysis" is always a potential outcome when we are full of doubt and "need" to question things. Never is this more true than in the spiritual quest for self-realisation, however, there is also the necessity to validate concepts and theories so we are not full of beliefs that have no basis or merit.

So we are left asking ourselves, what is this Śūnyatā that Buddhism speaks of, How does one realise it, Where is it, Who can attain it, When can they do so and Why should one want to,? For the rational thinker, these are important questions that need answering if one is contemplating the nature of reality and of their experience in this world. There is nothing more pathetic than espousing beliefs that are born of blind faith, are not able to be independently validated and demand the abrogation of reason and common sense to accept them. So it is good to question and expect rational validation of concepts before adopting them, of course such concepts once adopted are no longer beliefs so much as evident truths. This has been my approach to spirituality; if it is not validated by independent experience then it is doubtful at best and possibly completely wrong. It is for this reason that the title of this blog is a question.

What

Therefore when validation of concepts is achieved it is significant to the spiritual seeker for such occurrences shine a light, as it were, or illuminates a little more of our true nature and reduces our level of ignorance, if only by a little. This has been my experience over the past month, moving into this space of the Bodhi mind during meditation and experiencing more directly this idea of Śūnyatā; that our conditioned and subjective physical experience and ego driven motivations are hollow, empty shells of delusion existing within the unconditioned, egoless nature of ultimate reality, our true nature.

How

I have previously outlined the process I have adopted for entering this state and have found it to be reliable, although in the past few meditations I have undertaken, I have found a degree of subtleness to the process that seems to be important and that is that through focusing my attention or awareness on my chakra centres I do not need to extend any focused effort in visualising colours. Instead the direction of my awareness to the chakra centre seems to generate a hue of the associated colour (Red, Orange, Yellow, etc.) while a sensation attached to my point of focus is felt within the Chakra centre. It's a subtle change from my previous description of the full process but it is an experiential validation of the energy centres, their colours and their hierarchical relationship to spiritual awareness. For it is by sequentially progressing through each of these Chakras that my awareness rises to the Crown and is positioned in the spiritual gateway.

Where

However, with every validation that the process attains an outcome, it seems that other more refined outcomes are possible. So it was yesterday morning when I awoke early and decided to spend some time during the hours before dawn in meditation. Not only did I attain the state of egoless existence, but the nature of that state changed, revealing the coarseness of my previous experiences. It was very humbling actually, realising that everything I had previously achieved was nothing compared to what lay beyond. It was that the nature of my awareness completely altered and the variance to the previous experience was so pronounced that I was quite startled by it and naturally, the state did not last for very long. That change was of a smoothness to my awareness, it was like a silk sheet compared to a rocky surface. Or like the static of an out of tune radio compared to the clarity of it once in tune. I was at once conscious of a fluid smoothness in my awareness and appreciative that my ignorance to this point was almost complete. At once I knew that there was such a level of awareness that was far above our normal consciousness yet it was so close as to be indistinguishable from ourselves in terms of distance and was available right here and right now! Unfortunately sensations of excitement soon filtered through and dropped me back to a more mundane meditative state. But I know where that awareness is, it's always with me I just need more practice to bring it forward into consciousness manifestation.

Who

My normal level of awareness was so clearly and obviously inferior to this sensation of fluidity and subtlety that it is clear that I have a long way to go in this understanding of Śūnyatā, but if I can bridge this gap to gain this experience then it must be available to all who seek it. That is, absolutely anyone can close this gap of ignorance and directly attain this experience of realising Śūnyatā through persistent practice.

When

Of course, this is not to say that realisations and experiences such as this are available immediately to anyone with a cursory interest. On the contrary, it is clear that new levels of awareness and knowing are only attained after prerequisite levels are achieved. So, while our Buddha nature, or fundamental awareness, is with us all the time, realising it comes in degrees through persistent effort. It is called transcendental wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā in Sanskrit) because it transcends the mundane world of ideas and concepts and wisdom grows with understanding and experience. So it is available to everyone when they are able to lose their delusions, fears, doubts and worries, when we are able to give up clinging to the conditioned and embrace the unconditioned, which is when this experience of Prajñāpāramitā is available.

Why

How tragic it is that we are held captive to this material existence and in many cases seem to have even given up our right of personal discernment and critical judgement, being dictated to in what is true and acceptable by external sources of authority, authorities that are themselves corrupted by their own ignorance, greed and anger. In this era of perpetual warfare, of concepts of ubiquitous enemies that demand unlimited and unrestrained security measures, where surveillance and policing have overrun any sense of reasonableness, where governments are demanding greater and greater controls over their citizens, where global financial instabilities threaten our livelihood at any moment, it is little wonder that it is so difficult to have faith in oneself, to even believe that transcendental wisdom is real, let alone that self actualisation is possible. Yet it is precisely because of the failures of this modern, materialistic existence in not being able to fulfil our most basic requirements for self-fulfilment, freedom, which provides motivation for seeking beyond the mundane. In fact, at this time in history we are awash with opportunities for people to begin considerations about the nature of their existence and become motivated to question the status quo, perhaps even to seek "alternative" means for attaining a sense of fulfilment. Of course there is nothing alternative to practices that have been in use since before recorded history and meditation is really the only tool for exploring one's inner landscape. So, if life seems unfulfilling with all of its material benefits, hollow diversions and unrelenting demands, and you are wondering if there is any sense at all in this crazy world that lies outside of you, perhaps it is time to consider that which is inside of you.

(3) Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."

The Practice

After considering the 6 analytical dimensions (primitive interrogatives) of seeking Śūnyatā, above, we can establish the conceptual basis for considering and investigating the subject, perhaps even develop a few theories on what is it all about, but it is imperative not to fall into the trap of "paralysis by analysis" or believe you have arrived at a good enough understanding to satisfy your intellectual curiosity and move on to the next fleeting thing that crosses the mind. The only point to contemplating Śūnyatā is to know yourself, your true nature, to understand ultimate reality and to attain enlightenment. This requires meditative practice that develops Prajñāpāramitā and by degrees, brings that experience into this current existence.

(41) Jesus said, "Whoever has something in his hand will receive more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little he has."

But fear not if you cannot commit to the practice or feel no inclination to pursue the subject, your pure awareness, or Bodhi mind, is always with you waiting patiently for you to approach it and seek it out, if not in this life time then in the next. We will all get there in the end.

May we all realise the luminous mind.

What time is it?

What time is it? It's the question of the moment, the ever present, always continuing moment. It's always now.

The time is now and it's always the same time. It's just that we don't realise it, or that we forget … we forget that it's now. We aren't paying attention that it's now. The mind is dwelling in the past or in the future, one concern after the other, one issue after the other, layer upon layer, deeper and deeper, always distracting us from the present moment.

To grasp the present moment, to live in the present moment is the awareness of the Buddha. That's where the Bodhi mind is. It's now. The awareness of now, in that moment … this moment … that's where we find our enlightenment. That's where we lose our ego. That's where all things are reduced to … perfection.

In this now moment, that it where our pure awareness is, that is where we are, but it is not always where our attention is.

If we can rid our mind of all of the disruptive thoughts, all of the pressing concerns, all of the worries and fears … if we can cast aside the complexities of this samsaric world, this fraudulent existence that we are immersed in … we can see reality, we can comprehend ultimate reality and we find that … we find that reality is Śūnyatā, its empty. We find that our existence, our awareness is without condition … is unconditioned … and we attain the supreme enlightenment.

We attain the supreme enlightenment right now. We don't attain it in the past; we don't attain it in the future. We don't achieve the Bodhi mind anywhere else except now.

If we can realise now, if we can … if I can realise now, if I can release all of the grasping desires for this and that, all of my conceptual attachments … I can abide in the moment. That is the challenge. That is the challenge.

But it is not a challenge demanding focused exertion. There is no effort required. The unconditioned needs nothing, is sustained by nothing, is reliant upon nothing, so it is in realising nothing that we succeed. We attain nothing, for there is nothing to be attained. In the present moment, our original mind, our perfect awareness opens like a flower across the field of our consciousness.

What time is it?

 

These are my reflections on a meditation retreat I attended last weekend.

May we cultivate the field of our consciousness so the flower of supreme enlightenment may take root and blossom.

A Mi Tuo Fo.

The Radiant Mind

In the past few meditation sessions I have attended at the Zen Hall of the monastery, I have had a direct encounter with the original awareness, the Bodhi mind, or the luminosity of mind, as the Dalai Lama refers to it in his book A Simple Path (1). The experiences have been somewhat profound in the way in which they have provided a direct experiential validation for much of the Buddhist teaching on Śūnyatā.

When you are able to clear away thoughts of the past and the future, slowly you begin to get a sense of the space between these two. You learn to abide in that present moment. In that space, you begin to glimpse what we call emptiness, and if you can remain in that emptiness for longer and longer periods of time then gradually the nature of consciousness itself, which is the sheer luminosity and natural awareness of mind, will slowly dawn in you. Through repeated practice the period can be lengthened more and more, so that your awareness of the nature of consciousness becomes clearer and clearer.

Dalai Lama (1)

The approach to entering this level of awareness, abiding in this present moment is perhaps of interest to some and I have a strong inclination (dare I say desire?) to share my approach for the benefit of those other meditators who may be interested. Firstly, I must admit that this experience has only been achieved in the Zen Hall during formal meditation with other meditators present and my attempts to achieve it at home have not been successful, although I certainly intend to keep trying. So this is my approach:

1. Arrange your seat and position yourself for maximum comfort in the posture of your choice – This is not an insignificant element and I have recently discovered that by simply adding a second cushion under myself, I am much more comfortable and maintain a better posture while sitting in half-lotus position. Coincidently perhaps, this experience has occurred since making this subtle change.
   
2. Calm your mind – On commencing meditation I find that using the breath counting technique of steadily counting on the in-breathe and releasing on the out-breathe using spherical breathing helps calm my mind, allowing it to release mundane concerns and focus in the present.
   
3. Apply single-pointed concentration – After some minutes of Breathe Counting, I apply my mind on an object of single-pointed concentration. I have used different objects of focus for exercising single-pointedness in the past, from the image of the Buddha, to a concept or question, to following a pre-defined internal landscape; however, in this instance I apply my mind in single-pointed attention on my Chakra Energy Centres. Starting at the Root and then progressing sequentially to the Crown, I visualise the associated colour and energise that Chakra by spinning the energy centre clockwise (for inwardly focused energy flow according to the Right-hand Rule) and trying to see the colour brighten and crystallise. I finish this stage by feeling the flow of energy into and through me, then radiating outwardly into an encompassing sphere or oval of white light that surrounds me. This is a protective seal from negative energies.
   
4. Raise your level of focus – Then following the path of the coiling Kundalini, I let my focus rise up through the central channel of my spine and my energy centre connections to the pineal gland.
   
5. Middle Way Reality Method – Then I apply myself to the middle way reality method. This is really just a fancy title for focusing on nothing at all and dismissing any and all thoughts that enter your awareness, whether through your mind or your senses.
   

From here, it is a matter of extending the period of no-thought until, as the Dalai Lama says above, gradually you become aware of the luminosity of the mind. This is a radiant quality that one senses within one's awareness, like a sense of something shining in your awareness. Once detected, the objective is to abide in this awareness for longer and longer periods of time. This is the nature of mind; mine, yours, everybody, everything. Touching this is experiencing our pure mind, our original awareness, the consciousness that is embedded within the reality of our experience.

However, it is important to realise that this experience of the luminosity of the mind, of the nature of mind, is not a profound realisation in itself. Rebirth in many of the Formless Realms of samsara is considered to result from abiding in such states of clarity. On the other hand, if we know how to use that initial experience of luminosity as a basis, then we can build on it by complementing our meditation with other practices, and in this way it will become truly profound.

Dalai Lama (1)

So, while you may be able to achieve this state of awareness, it is not an end in itself, for we have not really achieved anything. We have not attained anything, we have just realised for however a fleeting period, that which we have always had. All we have done is temporarily release the distortions from that original mind that we carry around in our normal life and glimpse the truth that lays beneath our delusions.

However, in catching this glimpse, we do cross a threshold of realisation and that is, there is a fundamental truth to our existence that is not explained by the material obsessions of the modern world and that the teachings of the enlightened masters of our past have actually been trying to tell us something of this truth. In the Diamond Sutra for instance, the Buddha says in verse 18:

Subhuti, I know the mind of every sentient being in all the host of universes, regardless of any modes of thought, conceptions or tendencies. For all modes, conceptions and tendencies of thought are not mind. And yet they are called 'mind'. Why? It is impossible to retain a past thought, to seize a future thought, and even to hold onto a present thought.

Diamond Sutra (2)

Perhaps we can see that by knowing the nature of our own mind in its original radiance, we also know the mind of all sentient beings.

But what is more important, knowing the truth of our existence through this direct personal experience, or realising that those who have walked this path before us have left a trail of breadcrumbs so we may also follow? Both are significant realisations.

How fortunate we are that there is a path to follow that confirms through experience that there is something to be attained spiritually and allows us to reach enlightenment in our own way and in our own time, while all along we grow in awareness that there is in truth, nothing to be attained.

May we all have this experience of the radiant mind.

Namaste.

 

1. Dalai Lama (2000). A Simple Path. 2nd ed. London: Thorsons. p81, originally published as The Four Noble Truths.
   
2. Diamond Sutra, http://embeddedconsciousness.blogspot.com.au/p/diamond-sutra.html
   

I am because I am not

Some background – I have been struggling with the Diamond Sutra [PDF with commentary, Text only] for a few weeks and have been seeking some insight into its meaning and in meditation on Thursday, I received that insight. In focussing on the paradox “I am because I am not” which seems to be at the root of this sutra, I gained some perspective on the unconditioned, original mind that exists at the core of our being. I was not sure how to relate this insight, but this morning I was motivated to speak my thoughts and record them as I drove across the city. What follows is a transcription of that recording.

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“I am because I am not” … What a contradiction, or an apparent contradiction at least. How can something be because it isn’t? How can something exist because it doesn’t exist? That’s not so obvious that the only way someone can exist is through the very fact of our non-existence.

Of course we are talking about our perceived ego identity when we say “I am”. And when we say “I exist because I do not exist”, we are saying that we don’t exist and we are looking at the fundamental lack of any ego identity in the non-existence element of that statement.

So, how can we exist? How do we exist? Well we exist in our awareness. As I was saying to my daughter this morning, what we think of as awareness as we get older … we see ourselves as becoming more and more aware of the world, our role within it and how we operate and relate to individuals and that sort of thing, but in actual fact, that terminology is just completely incorrect and wrong. We’re not INCREASING our awareness at all in that aging process and that development of our roles in society, etc. What we are doing is becoming more and more immersed in … well to put it in Buddhist terms, the fraud of Samsara. So, becoming more and more immersed in the phenomenal world that exists around us to the extent that we identify with that world and our role within that world, the characteristics of that world, all the material, materiality, all the materialism … to the point that we even reject that we might even exist independent of that materialism, that materiality, that phenomenal world of gross matter that we see around us. The cars that we drive, the jobs that we hold, the rent we have to pay, the mortgages that we have to pay … all of that sort of stuff is part of our material world and when we identify with that, when we are immersed in that, we’re not more aware. It doesn’t increase our awareness, it increases our confusion. Because all of these things aren’t fundamentally part of our existence, as we can see from the cultures of the past that didn’t have all of these contrivances. But they do add to our confusion and we identify more and more with, as I said, the fraud of the phenomenal world.

But if we can go back to our original state and our original nature, I think we can see quite clearly … maybe through the eyes of our children,  that … they’re not … are they more aware or less aware than we are? Certainly they’re not as immersed in our culture, not as immersed in the phenomenal world. But they are very aware of their needs, they are very aware of their relationships, they are very aware in the moment that they exist (within) and of course that moment is never ending.  So they are very aware.

Whereas ourselves, as adults, or maturing adults or aging adults, or whatever position we may find ourselves in, have to recognise and agree that we are less aware of the present moment that we exist in, simply because we have all of these other concerns, all these other pressures, all these other … keeping with the Buddhist terminology, delusions.

(traffic incident, beep horn, expresses frustration, then laughs) …like that, very deluded. J

Anyway, that’s what I get for talking while I am driving. So, that’s a little bit about awareness.  So … I haven’t addressed the question of why we don’t exist, we certainly are addressing the question of how we perceive our existence to be.

So, as you can see, “we exist because we don’t exist” is the statement. … Pause ….

OK. So how does our existence depend, or our perceived existence depend on our non-existence? How does our nonexistence give rise to our existence? J

It’s a confusing concept isn’t it. It’s not simple, to be fair. To realise … to go beyond our existence as material beings, identifying with ego body, or the ego mind … excluding our greater nature, our original nature, from definitions of ourselves. But when you step back from your material existence and start to consider who you are and what makes you you, you suddenly realise that … you the observer …. is very different from you the actor, your ego, that element that … that identity that you feel is so real, that exists day to day in your world of stress and worry and hurry. But when you step back and start to consider all the issues, and start to reflect upon yourself as you exist in this phenomenal world …. to try and stick to this Buddhist terminology, the phenomenal world is the world of our material existence … and how you operate within that phenomenal world, you very, very quickly realise that it is actually not you, who are operating in this physical world so much as, you’re the observer and you are able to observe “yourself” operating in the physical world. Although, you may feel that you are influencing some aspects of the choices you might make … through greater contemplation … and again it is only through that greater contemplation, only through that extracting of yourself from the concerns that exist and coming back to our awareness in observating yourself that you are making choices that are truly yours. Otherwise, you’re reacting to the phenomenal world and the choices you think you are making are not really choices so much as the results of the conditions … the prevailing conditions that exist and the circumstances, or the events that cause you, to force you into making decisions and choices. So, the choices that you make are only apparently choice made of your own free will, whereas in reality they’re not really your choices. They’re just an outcome of the nature of this reality that we are experiencing and, of course, the nature of the reality that we are experiencing, as I’ve said previously, is of a fractal, self-referential, recursive nature. So, … its very complex, no doubt, but still its not intrinsically you. You don’t have any separateness in that definition of that nature, of that fractal world.

So, hence we can see that it is only a deluded sense of our self with which we identify with … who we are, our bodily vehicle, perhaps, or however you want to consider it … again, it’s a delusion to identify so concretely with the self that you see in the mirror every morning. Is that you, the observer, when you reflect upon your actions … or are you, in fact the observer observing the causes and conditions that are manifested in what you see in the mirror? J

So when you take that perspective, it becomes a little more obvious I suppose, or a little more closer to realising that we might indeed exist, simply because we don’t really exist at all and that identity that we have is confused, to say the least, but nevertheless when we realise that our fundamental nature … when we come back to our original nature, we see that we aren’t the ego identity that we thought we were.

But how is it that we … our non-existence … in fact, is there non-existence? Is there non-existence and if so, how does that non-existence give us our apparent existence? How is it that we exist because we don’t exist? ….

Well, I think we can see that we have no intrinsic, fundamental existence, that the ego identity that we identify with, is not so much us, as a manifestation of the complexities that exist … of the causes and conditions of the world around us that give rise to who we think we are, the role that we play in the ebb and flow of life. J Is that role that we are playing in that ebb and flow of life, is that because of who we are? Or is that just a natural outcome of the nature of things and our awareness is just along for the ride? … I think the latter is closer to the truth. That we see things occur because that is the nature of them and our identity with that occurrence is deluded. We are the observer. ... We are the observer … and that non-existence, that lack of an individual ego identity, that fundamental awareness that exists independent of us … again, of our ego identity, is what gives rise to our ego identity! That is the crux of it. Because our awareness becomes more and more immersed throughout our existence … or in our existence in the phenomenal world, our ego identity grows! J We identify with that, we have a greater sense of “I” and the only way that occurs is because we have awareness in the first place. J

 It is that awareness that exists. J It’s the awareness that gives rise to the ego identity. It’s through … and that is how we realise, or come to identify with the phenomenal world and our [apparent] role within it, so drastically … we feel that "this" is us and we are defined by the boundary of our skin, perhaps. But really we are more than that, much more than that and in fact, you can’t define where the boundary of “you” is, as much as you try. As you expand out, there is no boundary. You know that you radiate electro-magnetic radiation that expands out to infinity, although in ever diminishing intensity. There is no boundary. There’s no boundary going out. Is there any boundary coming in? No! There is no boundary coming in. We know that we are made up of … our skin is made up of cells, likewise our bones are all cellular based, the cells themselves are made up of molecules, the molecules are made up of atoms. They are all smaller and smaller components until we get right down to the fundamental elements of nature and we know that … even in the vacuum, in the spaces between all the molecules and all of the neutrinos and the microscopic, pico-particles that are there … even in that vacuum, where there is no observable material, so to speak, there is an infinite energy density! There is still energy … the vacuum vibrates with energy and that … the Plank constant defines exactly that, as we learn in physics and as Nassim Harramein has clearly illustrated [see post below].There is no definition in the microcosm that we can say is us, there is no definition in the macrocosm of the physical world that we can say is us. The only things that exists is our awareness and our awareness, again, is intrinsically NOT “I”. It is not the “I” of the body. The body doesn’t have an “I”. We have just said we cannot identify any boundaries. J …

So how do we exist? If we only exist through that awareness and that awareness is independent of any physical existence … and so our existence is completely and utterly dependent on the fact of our non-existence. Something to contemplate over your morning coffee, I guess. J Wonderful.

So, we exist because we do not exist. How does that non-existence give rise to our non-existence though? We can say that … we can see that our identity is formed through our awareness of this physical phenomenal world and the role that we appear to play within it, but how does that actually give rise to our existence? How does that awareness give rise to that existence? Well, once again we come back to what makes up this universe that we experience. How is it that it actually manifests at all? And as we have already said within our opening observation [see parts 1 – 7], that awareness or consciousness, that fundamental consciousness is actually a fundamental element to our existence. It is embedded. Consciousness is embedded in this world, embedded in with light that forms everything [materially] and our awareness just grows through complexity, to the point that our identity grows with the organism as it manifests within this reality, this perceived reality of the phenomenal world. And with that, comes self-identity and that self-identity comes with free will, and that free will choice is for continued existence once identity is made, once the point of (self) consciousness and awareness exists and develops, from there with greater and greater, compounding layers of complexity. But underpinning it all is this original, fundamental awareness that permeates everything.

Is it like a sea? A sea of icebergs, perhaps. Where our ego identity is defined by the icebergs and we’ve got an infinite number of icebergs in this vast sea. And yet, when the iceberg melts, when we dissolve all of the apparent definitions of form, we come back to the fundamental elements. That the iceberg is water, made from the vast ocean in which it floats. J And if we look at that ocean as being an ocean of consciousness, then we can see that our ego identity only exists because of our original awareness that is completely independent of our sense of personal self.

However, these words of description are wholly incapable of describing the truth. J We can make analogies, we can draw parallels, we can infer, we can try to explain with concepts, but ultimately these concepts are just concepts. They are not the truth, they are words and they don’t convey the truth. They can’t. They can only represent my ability to explain it. … But they are not themselves the truth that we see, they are not … that is not the … these words are, as I said, wholly incapable in expressing, in conveying the truth of our original, fundamental awareness … the nature of that sea, or the ocean, as opposed to the icebergs that we are, floating in it. J

You can’t explain it, you have to experience it and I don’t presume to say that I have fully experienced it … I don’t, I’ve not … I am confused as much as anyone I suppose, but still …. As I said to my Shifu the other night, “it’s clear, but it’s unclear.” J It’s clear that we exist in a delusion, it’s unclear the nature of that really. We don’t see … how do we see exactly what it is that we are? … it’s impossible with these human eyes, with these constraining concepts of self that exclude everything that we don’t choose to identify with. You can’t begin to realise the nature of the ocean without embracing the ocean and becoming that ocean … and that’s a fundamental reality and I think that’s what many of the enlightened masters of the past have really tried to convey. Your experience of the vastness of consciousness is … it’s a personal one. That enlightened mind, that awakening to the enlightened mind, to the original, fundamental awareness, that’s a personal awakening. No definition, no worldly definition can provide that awakening, that individual melting of the iceberg, if you like. You melt your own iceberg, in that sense. J … and you experience that melting in a personal way. The circumstances of which the iceberg melts is personal, its individual. As the Buddha says, the dharma is a raft, it’s a path, it’s a way to follow, it’s a way to reach the enlightened mind. It’s NOT the definition of enlightenment. J It can’t be. There is no definition. One’s awareness is … one’s awareness of self is deluded, original awareness is pure and clear … and it’s that realisation of that original mind, original consciousness, that embracing of the vastness of the ocean, the merging with the ocean of spirit that is enlightenment. That isn’t defined. It cannot be defined. There is nothing in the phenomenal world that can explain that.

And this is expressed in Buddhist writings that I have seen as …. There is nothing … nothing conditioned deserves the unconditioned, nothing conditioned can embrace the unconditioned, nothing conditioned can explain the unconditioned. Things that exist through conditions and causes can’t explain, at all … there is no way, fundamentally it is impossible to explain with any clarity and truth the unconditioned that exists … that which exists unconditionally, without definition. J That fundamental awareness, that original mind, that original awareness … nothing that’s conditioned can explain that. So it’s so true that  in our existence, no words that I can say or others can say can embrace that reality, can embraced the unconditioned, can embrace the truth of our existence.

And so we can see that, just like the iceberg exists because of the ocean, we exist because we don’t exist. We are because we are not. We, you are … I am because I am not. J We start and we end in paradox. Again a fundamental teaching of all the enlightened masters and here we are, again arriving at that very same thing.

Thank you. Namaste. Thank you for the thoughts. Thank you for being able to express these thoughts this way.

And with that I will conclude.

Abstractions and Distortions

The characteristics of all things are nothing more that the cumulative distortions from their original state. With each distortion, we find things changing in character until they become far removed from their original nature.

We see this clearly in the economical world, where concepts of money were once related to the relative scarcity of a finite resource that lent an independent and natural value to it that was objective and clear. In our history we have seen the role of Gold and Silver fulfilling this purpose, having the following innate characteristics that define money[1]:

A medium of exchange:

·         It should have liquidity, and be easily tradeable, with a low spread between the prices to buy and sell, in other words, a low transaction cost.

·         It should be easily transportable; precious metals have a high value to weight ratio. This is why oil, coal, or water are not suitable as money even though they are valuable.

·         It should be durable.   Gold or silver coins are often mixed with 10% copper to improve durability, and coins are made with ridges around the rim to prevent coin shaving or debasement.

A unit of account:

·         It should be divisible into small units without destroying its value; precious metals can be coined from bars, or melted down into bars again, with a low percentage cost.  This is why leather, or live animals are not suitable as money.

·         It should be fungible: that is, one unit or piece must be equivalent to another, which is why diamonds, works of art or real estate are not suitable as money.

·         It must be a specific weight, or measure, or size to be verifiably countable. You must be able to weigh, measure, and count, your unit of account!

A store of value:

·         It should be long lasting, durable, it must not be perishable or subject to decay. This is why food items, expensive spices, or even fine silks or oriental rugs, are not generally suitable as money.

·         It should have a stable value.

·         It should be difficult to counterfeit, and the genuine must be easily recognizable.

A standard of deferred payment:

·         It should be an ultimate extinguisher of debts[2].

However, as Gold and Silver were replaced in circulation by paper depository notes for the same, and then these paper depository notes were replaced by promissory notes, which were replaced by completely irredeemable fiat currency, we can see that the concepts of money have been successively abstracted. With each abstraction was introducing further distortion to the original nature of money to the point that today we find that the currency we hold in our wallets is officially depreciated at a constantly variable rate, it is created at will by central banks as a debt to sovereign nations to be paid for by future generations and it is inflated without limit by the fractional reserve lending of commercial banks and credit card companies. Clearly such actions have destroyed all the original characteristics of money except that of being a Unit of Exchange and that is only maintained under threat of punishment by the taxation and other so called authorities.

To confuse the nature of money even more, those gold and silver coins that are still minted as currency have a nominal exchangeable value printed on them that is so far short of their intrinsic worth as to make the circulation of such as a competitive currency impossible if considered for transactions against the printed paper currency that does circulate.

How bizarre! How is it possible to identify with a currency that doesn’t even fulfil the definition of money?

Obviously, it is possible and it is made possible by degrees, through the progressive changes to the characteristics ascribed to the circulating currency over many decades of time.

In this way we collectively accept such distortions and sink further into a delusional financial existence. Perhaps greed is the motivator that allows such acceptance, as money appears to flow more freely into our hands, due it the ease by which it is created. However, we ultimately are forced to confront the truth that debt based money turns all who use it and rely upon it into the slaves of those who create it. The austerity measures witnessed in Greece, Ireland and other European nations imposed by the ECB and IMF are testimony to this, as these banks seek to preserve the value of the debt that backs their economic regimes.

So there are active participants in the propagation of these monetary distortions and our collective delusion of accepting the use of debt based currency as money. Is this situation reflected also in the delusions we harbour and the distortions from our original nature that we each have?

In the Buddhist context our original nature is the pure universal mind, or our Buddha nature, and it is our compounded distortions in character and our accumulated negative karma over successive lifetimes that define how far we are from being enlightened. In likewise fashion to the vested interests in the money example above, there are many people that are heavily invested into the propagation of our collective existential delusion of the mundane world, including most significantly ourselves.

Should we allow the definitions of the deluded define our existence such that we become enslaved to a paradigm of life that is not even a shadow of our natural estate?

34. Jesus said, "If a blind person leads a blind person, both of them will fall into a hole."

Should we rid ourselves of our distortions and delusional ideals before crashing into the immutable barrier of reality as the European nations are currently doing?

21. Mary said to Jesus, "What are your disciples like?"

He said, "They are like little children living in a field that is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say, 'Give us back our field.' They take off their clothes in front of them in order to give it back to them, and they return their field to them.

For this reason I say, if the owners of a house know that a thief is coming, they will be on guard before the thief arrives and will not let the thief break into their house (their domain) and steal their possessions.

As for you, then, be on guard against the world. Prepare yourselves with great strength, so the robbers can't find a way to get to you, for the trouble you expect will come.

Let there be among you a person who understands.

When the crop ripened, he came quickly carrying a sickle and harvested it. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!"

Clearly I see some strong parallels between the devolution of money in our society and the devolvement of society itself and if you have read the Parts 1 through 7 of this blog you will not be surprised at this. We are, after all, existing in a fractal, self-referential creation within which we see the same patterns repeating everywhere we look, be they geographical, economical, societal, personal or metaphysical.  It is this very quality, that nothing has its own intrinsic, independent existence, which reflects the causality of the phenomenal world and the truth that ultimate reality is Śūnyatā.

May we all find our path back to the original Bohdi mind.

Namaste.

[1] As defined in Wikipedia and expounded by Jason Hommel.

[2] As clearly articulated by Professor Antal Fakete

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Virtual Reality – A Tour of Delusion

I have observed to my children numerous times when they are commenting on their social networking experiences with “friends” who are more active online than in real-life, “their relationship is not with you, but with the computer they are using. They behave differently behind their keyboard than they would in the company of people.”

What better example of Śūnyatā is there than this? Śūnyatā, the lack or emptiness of any intrinsic reality, an experience void of truth and observation of falsehood masquerading as reality. Such is the world we have historically inhabited and yet, since the turning of the new millennium how much more has this modern society embraced these contrivances of technology and dived into the shallow depths of a virtual reality that is even less real than the previous paradigm of experience.

How ironic is it that instead of turning to face the truth of our experience being Śūnyatā, humanity has turned instead to creating another layer of deception. What chance is there to elevate oneself above the cycle of reincarnation when one seeks not escape from their state of delusion and ignorance, but to compound that delusion with even greater levels of mindless banality?

Are we scared to face the truth of our existence? Can we not realise that the dissatisfaction we harbour that drives us to endless chatter on “social media” is a symptom of a distress that needs remedy instead of avoidance?

When wisdom sees Śūnyatā everywhere, surely it is delusion heaped upon delusion to seek substantiation and self-definition in a virtual reality that is more fraudulent than our current experience. Where is our society going and how are we travelling there? Is it to Nirvana on the enlightened mind under our own power, or to endless suffering through mindless attachment to ever changing technology controlled and delivered by others?

I think in all things it is important to remember that where corporate and state interests are involved, “If you are not paying for the service, then you are the product.”

May we all attain Bodhicitta, the mind of perfect enlightenment, cultivating the causes and conditions that will lead us there.

Are freedom and liberty Śūnyatā?

Introduction

This morning I attended another half-day meditation retreat to spend some dedicated time in meditation away from the interruptions and concerns of the mundane world. It has been a struggle of late to commit time to my meditation practice, so when the opportunity arose to get away in a little bit of seclusion I was glad to accept it.

The initial meditation period began like most other in the Chan Buddhist Monastery with chanting the Heart Sutra, before settling down into your sitting posture of choice. I can sit comfortably in a half-lotus position for around three quarters of an hour and chose this posture, with right leg over left, for the first period. I had just settled in, quietening my mind with the breath-counting technique and then focusing my attention on a subject, when a lecture on concepts of freedom was begun over the broadcast system.

The lecture focused on the difference between self-indulgence and real freedom, contrasting the sense of freedom popularised these days as a freedom to do whatever one chooses against the freedom of being liberated from delusion. In typical Buddhist style, the lecture pointed out that the freedom to pursue whatever pleasure one currently desires is certainly a level of freedom, but it is only freedom in the sense that one is still a slave to the desires that motivate you and that no real freedom can exist while allowing the sensory inputs to dictate your desires. And so it was that with the conclusion of this lecture, the first period of seated meditation finished.

As the second meditative period commenced, I was pondering on the significance of one’s liberty and freedom and chose this as my point of attention and contemplation. Once settled and focused, it was not long before thoughts began to stream into my awareness and I felt a certain penetration and clarity of mind on the subject matter. It is always difficult to recall verbatim what was received in meditation and I am usually left with a more or less vague remembrance of what was comprehended. However, what was clear was that my past concepts of liberty and freedom where fundamentally questioned.

Background concepts of freedom

Historically, my political persuasions have varied in the course of time and in my maturity as an adult. From my early 20’s as a student I was very concerned with the rights of those who were unfortunate and needed the support of others so that they may not lack for the conveniences of a modern existence. The responsibility of an all-powerful government to tax and provide welfare on top of essential services to all was what formed my view. A view that would have had me classed as a socialist, until I decided to marry and assumed the responsibilities of providing for first, my wife and then a growing family. It took no time at all in this new reality of increased demands for my views to change and for utopian ideals of a perfectly equitable welfare state to be replaced by the obvious direct benefits of a lower taxing, less intrusive government where a social safety net was important. These reformed views would have classed me as a left-of-centre liberal, were it not for the rise of Global Warming. With achieving a sense of financial security through paying off and owning my home, I could indulge my socialist persuasions with Global Warming concerns and I became a member of the Greens party that felt the moral imperative to tax income earners to subsidise the development of greener, more sustainable industries and technologies, while improving the distribution of wealth for the common good.  This view would have classed me as an environmental communist, but for yet another change in the circumstances of life. At the same time as Climate Gate revelations of fabricated climate change models and data that hinted at a Global Warming conspiracy and the global financial crisis demonstrated the impacts of collusion between banks and governments around the world, new financial constraints quickly enforced themselves to reshape my views yet again. Seeing clearly the dangers of a life dependent on the benevolence the powerful be they Red, Blue or Green in colour, as they ride roughshod over individual rights for popularised collective outcomes while unrelentingly creating new laws to constrict freedoms, create new taxes, reduce wages, sell assets, expose regulated unprotected domestic businesses to competition from unregulated heavily protected foreign organisations, manipulate currency values and interest rates, I have been firmly encamped with the libertarians since 2007.

At its root, the libertarian ideal is for absolute individual responsibility over personal matters, the rule of common law as the means of protecting the rights and properties of the individual and the operation of a small and constrained government where matters of common wealth and interests exist. That is, individual property rights are guaranteed and protected, government is constrained to its role as facilitator in matters of the common good and the sovereignty of the individual is absolute, within the bounds of no injury to others. But is this seemingly fundamental articulation of liberty and freedom also subject to change?

The true significance of liberty and freedom (within the undistorted mind)

No matter what rights one has secured against the tyranny of government and others that would enslave you to their world view, or the financial freedoms that might be achieved with wealth outside of the fiat currency systems of a totalitarian banking industry, one cannot be free while ever delusional thoughts occupy the mind. This was the insight given in meditation.

As I have outlined above, my ideas of the rights of others have changed over the years commensurate with the degree of delusion I have held over the benevolence and omnipotence of government and that the delusion I have had has been a measure of personal desire, financial constraint and populist opinion presented as fact. How trustworthy are any personal concepts of liberty and freedom when they are subject to such variable inputs?

Instead, true freedom comes through observing the limitations imposed on the conception of ideas by these inputs and realising that liberty can only be achieved through the eradication of these delusional thoughts such that a mind of pure consciousness can be attained. In terms of the Heart Sutra, it is in the absence of thought-coverings, the compounding distortions to the original and universal consciousness, that true liberation is attained.

In the absence of thought-coverings he has not been made to tremble,

he has overcome what can upset, and in the end he attains to Nirvana.

Contemplations on the 3 Refuges and 5 Precepts

Having one’s ideas and desires stimulated through the senses is, therefore, the path of delusional thought and while there is a degree of freedom to choose how you fulfil those desires, ultimately you are not in control of the formulation (Causes and Conditions) of that which gives rise to what you think and desire. Hence, your volitional actions arising from such thoughts are subject to the control over your sensory inputs. This realisation reminds me of Aldous Huxley’s “A Brave New World”, in which the actions of the masses are controlled by those that control and stimulate the inputs to their senses, while the masses feel they are free and are repulsed by those that have no such controls over them.

It is in this light that one can perceive the value in the 3 Jewels of Buddhism, where the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are the rocks that stand fast and provide support against the delusions that exist in a world where nothing can be trusted as authentic or true.

-          The Buddha – an example of enlightenment and realisation of the Bodhi mind;

-          The Dharma – the path to enlightenment and ultimate liberation; and

-          The Sangha – the community that will support your quest for liberation.

The 5 Precepts are likewise observed against this backdrop of delusional ideas and erroneous thinking as guiding principles to navigate through a world of shadow in which one’s own ideas cannot be trusted to be dependable and authentic. The precepts are:

-          Refrain from killing;

-          Refrain from stealing;

-          Refrain from sexual misconduct;

-          Refrain from false speech;

-          Refrain from intoxicating substances.

The path to true liberty and freedom (Role of the 3 jewels and 5 precepts)

Moral rules such as the 5 Precepts can now be considered in a wider context than the behavioural constraints imposed by a religious order for the sake of compliance, and their role considered on the path of seeking liberty and freedom from existence in a world where thoughts are delusional. When the causes (events) and conditions (prevailing public sentiments) that shape our thoughts are apt for control by others, are not the very ideas with which we identity and that define us Śūnyatā, devoid of any intrinsic, unconditioned existence?  Are our understandings and concepts of freedom and liberty likewise Śūnyatā?

The meditation that I undertook this morning was profound in this respect. It is only through directly attaining the unconditioned, that state of consciousness embedded in the very fabric of our existence, that we shall know true liberty. To do so requires the elimination of the layers of delusion and erroneous concepts that have been built up during the multitude of existences in this realm and others. Although our Buddha nature is already within us, discovering it is not trivial and demands a serious undertaking. Vowing to take refuge in the 3 Jewels and to follow the 5 Precepts is a way of committing to the Path.

May we all attain the Bodhi mind.

Namaste.

Sunyata and the coming financial collapse

James Rickards in his book Currency Wars, describes the conditions and causes of a collapse in the financial market in this way:

"Following is one scenario...the triggering event happens at the start of trading day in Europe. A Spanish government bond auction fails unexpectedly and Spain is briefly unable to roll over some maturing debt... ...enough to cause a few Dutch pension fund dollar stalwarts to change their mind in favour of gold...the dollar quickly moves outside its previous trading range to hit new lows...stress in the foreign exchange markets immediately transfers to the dollar-based stock, bond and derivatives markets in the same way an earthquake morphs into a tsunami."

Economists and authors have described the underlying instability of complex systems that lay in wait for the triggering event that adds to the built-up of financial stresses in the global economic system, tipping the balance from the status quo into global disintegration and collapse. The proverbial Black-Swan event. This in-turn has caused a number of economic commentators to wheel out the metaphor of an avalanche being triggered by the last snow flake that lands to help explain the concept.

In all these descriptions and metaphors I am struck by the alignment of the Buddhist maxim that nothing arises independently, the concept and topic of this blog known as emptiness or Sunyata. 

Buddhists have long identified that all of observed existence is a result of causes and conditions and nothing exists independently, or in other words, there is no independent origination. A thing occurs (an avalanche), only as a result of causes (the last snow flake to land) and the existent conditions (a build-up of snow). But the Buddhist insight of Sunyata is much more profound, as it is recursive and exhibits the self-similarity that is the hallmark of the fractal nature of the universe. For instance, the causes (falling snow flakes) and conditions (build-up of snow) are themselves the result of their own respective causes and conditions and so on infinitely, demonstrating the interconnectedness and interdependence of all things. This is so significant that the Buddhists maintain that wisdom and enlightenment come from a deep realisation of Sunyata being the nature of our reality and that without that, we are all living in a delusional state that gives rise to Greed, Anger and Ignorance (The Three Poisons).

What’s more, the realisation of Sunyata provides an understanding of the impermanence of all things. That is, the seeds of an object’s destruction are sown into the very creation of the thing itself, as the nature of that destruction is dependent on the causes and conditions of the destruction event, of which the object is a part. This is no better exemplified than the terminal growth of debt being the conditions for the destruction of a debt based global fiat currency system, with the cause that triggers its destruction being a failed auction of sovereign debt (bonds) as described by Rickards.

In any event (literally), we can certainly see the Greed, Anger and Ignorance of our so called leaders, the global bankers and war mongers everywhere as a clear demonstration of their failure to grasp the concept of Sunyata or the nature of avalanches and by definition, their lack of wisdom and their fundamental delusion.

Namaste,

Gino