Mandela Effect: An Explanation

The Mandela Effect (ME)  is a global phenomenon in which people observe that their collective recollection of the past does not match that of recorded history. After recently discovering the ME, I was astounded to discover many people had been aware of this phenomenon for over 5 years, while I had not previously heard of it. The implications of it were such that I determined to investigate it more thoroughly and I spent some dedicated time to meditate and reflect on the situation to discern any insights that I might receive. I was also led to discover additional sources of information that all integrated with the theme and premise of this blog that I have been compiling since 2011. 

If you have experienced the ME and have become shaken by the implications of it in your own personal experience, as I was, I have set out below to provide some context for the inquisitive seeker. 

However, I should note that in the process of preparing this material, I have also experienced some very unlikely coincidences that hint strongly at external influence at work and would encourage everyone reading this to reflect on the synchronicities that may be occurring in your own life, whether they are becoming more frequent and overt, and what they may be encouraging, whether you are resisting or rejoicing in these amazing events. 

So sit back and prepare to be a little shaken by what appears to be occurring around us and what the Mandela Effect means for those of us existing at this time. 

Discovering the Mandela Effect

While participating on a Crypto Currency forum, I noted a comment from a fellow subscriber about the Mandela Effect that linked to a video. This was in early December, 2018. In watching that video, my first real exposure to the Mandela Effect was the changed name of the Berenstein Bears, which really shook me. As I explained to my wife, this is not something I could mistake, for as a little kid I loved those books and would look for the titles in book stores and in department stores when shopping with my mother. I had memorised the spelling from a young age and looking for those books is one of my strongest and earliest memories. Yet when I retrieved a book I had received as a gift from my late mother in the early '70's, it was spelled incorrectly as the Berenstain Bears. That was way too weird to ignore and without any other available recourse, it became the focus for successive meditation sessions.

2018 Insight - Timelines merging and consolidating

I spent several meditations focused on identifying the “source and cause” of the ME. In response, I consistently received the insight that the source of the ME is the movement of the Earth into another density, and the cause of the ME is the consolidation of timelines into a single one, merging all existences and experiences as part of this transition. That seemed to indicate that, the Earth was in evolution and it is consolidating all timelines into a single one.

I was perplexed for a few days, then when explaining the challenge of understanding it to someone, I recalled a meditation I had recorded years earlier and sought it out.

2013 Background - Earth has moved to a higher density

I have been a keen meditator for many years and back in 2013 I was presented with an explanation of what was happening with the Earth as I pondered the development and monotony of more wars in the middle east. I have been sporadically maintaining a blog of my meditative insights and recorded the meditation experience and the explanation at that time here: https://embeddedconsciousness.blogspot.com/2013/09/evolve-to-progress.html. In essence it says the Earth "Goddess" has moved into a higher density, with some explanation around what this meant for humanity. It was definite that this was done, there was no going back and described this as a planetary evolution into a new density of existence, much as my recent meditations has described. While my 2013 meditation focused on the separation of discordant energies to filter out the “negative” focused population, my December 2018 meditations identified the consolidations of timelines and integration of experiences to allow it (the Earth) to transition.

Harvesting of experiences

I hesitate to say Harvest, because of the emotional preconceptions associated with the term, but the consolidation of timelines and experiences as a pre-requisite for the Earth to transition between one density and the next, does fit the concept of a harvest. Particularly if one considers the “plurality of worlds” model, where all possibilities are experienced and we exist on multiple concurrent worlds, to facilitate and intimately explore the totality of possible experiences.

Then when one also considers the increase in the active participation of non-physical entities in the events of our time, which is definitely my experience, it brings to mind this quote from the Gospel of Thomas, that I also referenced in 2013:

(73) Jesus said, "The harvest is great but the laborers are few. Beseech the Lord, therefore, to send out laborers to the harvest."

And just like that, directly from the Jesus of the Nag Hammadi Library no less, we are being told to expect "labourers" to participate in the harvest when it comes.

Time-Wave Zero and Experiential Exhaustion

Terrance McKenna, using the ancient Chinese oracle of divination the I Ching, developed a theory called Timewave Zero in which he presents time in terms of the evolution of the Earth through the resonating, fractal compression of “novelty” from the first formation of rock until the ultimate emergence of a global singularity on December 21, 2012, coincident with the conclusion of the Mayan Calendar. McKenna suggests that time is a series of recurring harmonic patterns, demonstrating fractal self-similarity of shorter and shorter periods. In his model, McKenna identified that broad epochal characteristics are condensed to be repeated later in the timeline, but in reduced durations until a flat-line is achieved that he named the Eschaton, or end time.

In viewing this concept from the distant and somewhat objective perspective of our post-2012 experience, it seems to me that the compression of experience into shorter and shorter periods of time, did not so much result in the attainment of infinite novelty, as McKenna posited a few times, but resulted in an ultimate exhaustion of novelty. Or to look at it another way, the ability of the Earth to manifest new experiences through the paradigms of the past, collapsed to zero by December 21, 2012.

It is not too difficult to understand this possibility when observing the unrelenting tightening and policing of societal controls through the totalitarianism of modernity. Globalisation of production, banking, Educational and Governmental policies, the enforcement of debt slavery in developed countries, the enforcement of poverty in under-developed countries. All giving rise to the inexorable elimination of experiential variation across the population. Sitting in traffic, isolated in a cocoon of self-absorption on public transport, exercising, dining, television, movies, shopping, customer service, knowledge workers, tradesmen, etc., life has become a formula of common units of experience that humanity repeats over and over. Educated to the same standards, programmed for the same social norms through a centrally controlled media, effectively thinking the same thoughts. Spontaneity and Joy has been replaced by Competitiveness and Earning. Freedom and Love has been replaced by Fear and Control. It all distils down to an exhaustion of novelty, rather than a compression to infinite novelty as McKenna suggested, and exhaustion of humanities ability to generate new experiences for the cultivation of our planetary host.

Delores Cannon – The New Earth

Following my recent insight meditations in December, I began observing in YouTube searches that videos of Delores Cannon had begun appearing. Not that I was searching for Delores Cannon, but I noticed one title was explaining the New Earth and needless to say, I had a good listen the first chance I got. Here is the video of Delores Cannon discussing the birthing of the New Earth back in 2007.

This video filled in many of the gaps I had over the nature of this transition, bringing together the plurality of worlds, multiple dimensions, the wheel of karma, the metaphysical nature of our experience and the objective and reason for conscious existence. This calls for the meaning of existence to be defined, or the purpose for the world to exist. (Note: At this point in my writing, my daughter, waiting on the other side of the world in an airport in the UK and on Skype with my youngest child, interrupted my typing to show me a book she purchased in Rome two days ago. The title of the book? “Why does the World exist?” … and I am not kidding. The chances of that happening randomly are zero.) Anyway, so it is Delores Cannon who defines the purpose for existence as basically the means for the creator to experience its creation.

Speaking of children, it has been for some years now that I have felt compelled to explained to my youngest child, that contrary to what the schooling system may seek to impart, it is uniqueness that is of the highest value, not conformity. And to realise the highest value from our endeavours we must be authentically ourselves by embracing that which makes us unique. It seems that the Creator also values uniqueness and novelty, to the point of transitioning entire planets into a new existential paradigm once entropy devolves conscious experience into a meaningless cycle of conformity and duplication.

Conclusion

I don’t mean to imply that we might now be living in a make-believe computer generated simulacrum, or that we have all died from a catastrophic fault with the CERN LHC and are now experiencing some type of residual consciousness. Or any such suggestion that dis-empowers you from any action and casts you as an unwitting victim (destined to be trapped in a Groundhog Day of unrelenting repetition, without hope of a personal ascension).

What I mean to suggest is that with the novelty of global experience, on a collective planetary level, having been exhausted, the Earth is now in a process of transition to a new reality. One that takes the integration of all experiences and learnings across all of its dimensions of existence as the basis for a new beginning in a new density.

This brings some great opportunities as well as great challenges. The challenges for us as individuals are in eliminating negative karma and positioning ourselves emotionally and spiritually to move into the New Earth. For those with much work to do, or with little inspiration to shed the old paradigms of Fear and Control, they will have to toil diligently to raise their vibratory levels into their Heart Chakra.

For those finding themselves unfettered from the constraints of past temporal patterns, we may find ourselves in a brand new period of experience. A period where the veil over our awareness of our roles as universal co-creators is peeled back a little, and choosing a life in tune and in phase with the New Earth may be much more clear. For those people making such a choice, we are in a period of wonder, where our spirit guides and helpers are more apparent in our lives, encouraging us to embrace our role as co-creators, to leave the Old Earth behind and embrace the journey into a new density of existence and experience.

The Path toward the New Earth is one of heart centred loving kindness. In which the first step it to embrace, unconditionally the love and compassion for our fellow beings. This I first recorded back in the year 2002 and reproduced as part of this blog here: https://embeddedconsciousness.blogspot.com/2011/11/part-7-task-of-present.html

The rest of this blog has been an evolution of greater explanation of the nature of our reality, the nature of ourselves and a more detailed explanation of The Path (https://embeddedconsciousness.blogspot.com/p/the-an.html) of transformation to conscious co-creators in the next realm of existence.


So, the Mandela Effect appears to be a symptom of Earth shifting into a new vibratory level (density) as it consolidates all timelines, as it harvests the experience of the past density, and sheds all the energies that are not in resonance with the new level of experience. 

The stakes cannot be higher. The Harvest is upon us and as expected, it is nothing like what we have been led to believe.

May you choose an existence with the New Earth of Love, Joy and Spontaneity over the exhausted dead end of Fear, Control and Conformity. May we embrace the journey of transformation and effortlessly move into the next density with our Earth Mother without suffering.

Namaste

Earth Healing Meditation

The meditation described below, is a healing meditation for the Earth and its inhabitants, to assist break it free from the tendrils of oppressive controls and thought forms that have formed across time. These energies have metastasized to limit and constrain the potentials of health, happiness and prosperity for the majority of people in this world and this meditation is focused on dislodging those energies to allow the re-emergence of spontaneity, joy and freedom. In forming the intent to participate in this meditation, we are offering our assistance to the emancipation of life on Earth, through our energies of love and compassion.

This meditation is derived from a meditation that was adopted many years ago when I was maintaining a focus on cultivating loving kindness. At its essence it is a form of Tonglen, breathing in  suffering and exhaling love and joy. It was a time of profound experience in my spiritual practice, and I hope you find it easy to follow and enlightening.

Introduction

This is a visualisation meditation and is in four sequential parts. The first stage is to focus and activate your energy centres and establish our psychic protections. Next we project our awareness. Thirdly we cultivate our sense of love and compassion, applying those energies to healing the Earth. Lastly, we safely return our awareness back to the here and now.

Find a quite comfortable position. If seated in a chair, sit straight up with your feet flat on the floor. Otherwise, arrange yourself as is comfortable while upright. Begin by relaxing and releasing any stress from your body. A little roll of the shoulders, or a turn of the head can help prepare your entry into meditation. Once relaxed, close your eyes and draw your attention inward to your energy centres.

Starting at the root chakra located at the perineum (red), and then moving successively to the sacral chakra located in the lower abdomen (orange), the solar plexus chakra located below the sternum (yellow), then the  heart chakra located between the breasts (green), throat chakra (blue), brow chakra (indigo), to finally the crown/violet chakra, we will repeat the following breathing technique:

• Breathe in for a count of 5 and focus attention on the chakra centre, visualising the colour;
• Hold the breath for a count of 5 and see the colour enhancing and energy being received;
• Breath out for a count of 5 and see the energy spreading out into your auric field.

Centered, charged and protected

As we commence, bring your attention inward. Focus on your root chakra. Try to visualise or see the colour red in your mind's eye and apply the breathing technique. Move your attention to your sacral chakra, visualising the colour orange, and apply the breathing technique.Next, move your attention to your solar plexus chakra, visualising the colour yellow and apply the breathing technique. Again, move your attention to your heart chakra, visualising the colour green, and apply the breathing technique. Move your attention to your throat chakra, visualising the a deep sky blue, and apply the breathing technique. Move your attention to your brow chakra, visualising the colour indigo, and apply the breathing technique. Finally, move your attention to your crown chakra, visualising the colour violet, and apply the breathing technique for the last time.

With each energy centre now activated, visualise a column of white light coming down through your crown chakra. At the same time, drawing up a spiral of red energy through the ground. The upward flowing energy twists upward like a screw, rising to meet the column of white light at a point in your chest. Where the two lines of energy meet, see a bright diamond like spot forms and starts radiating out protective energy into your auric field, creating a sparkling cocoon of white energy that surrounds you and protects you within it. See that energy field complete around you.

Projecting Consciousness

Calling on your Spirit Guides and Guardians, ask them to watch over your body then from your position of protection within your field of light, project your awareness back up through the top of your head, floating upwards within the column of light. Rise up through the top of your head, through all obstacles above you, rising continuously and calmly up, through the atmosphere, you might even notice the ground moving further and further away, but continue rising at a gentle pace without pause. After a time, the sky above you transforms into a bright field of stars as you break free of the atmosphere, rising up toward a comfortable position in space, directly above your position on the ground. Rotate around to turn your gaze back towards the Earth. Large below you, you see a beautiful blue sphere floating in the vastness of the void.

Generating Compassion and Intent

Pause to reflect on how precious she is, a floating oasis in the vastness of space, supporting the life of myriads of beings as they pass through their existence, oblivious to the life giving qualities of their Earth mother. Reach out with your heart and feel the pulse of life occurring below you. You sense many existences; the love of a mother for their children, the confidence of young adults, the electricity of love’s first kiss, the gratitude for assistance in a time of need, and you realise that you are one with the Earth. Then you notice that there is also deep suffering across the world. You feel the hunger of the starving, the terror of the abused, the anguish of a family destroyed by war, the confusion of being betrayed, and the unrelenting torment of perpetual oppression, with people forever working for a life that is continually denied to them. Feeling the compassion for those myriad souls below you, open your heart to the suffering below by focusing on the suffering one who you know dearly. Perhaps it is a loving parent struggling to maintain relevance in the lives of loved ones, or your beautiful and happy child yet to face the challenges of the world, or your caring and supportive partner who you might take for granted. Feel your love for them create a great pressure in your chest and then with a directional push, let that love shine forth from your chest in a beam of golden light that shines down upon the Earth. 

In that moment, you realise you are not alone in your love, and as you shine your love upon the Earth, so too are many other being joined with you, shining their love upon the Earth in a great circle surrounding the entire planet. Taking your place amongst them you complete a circuit of love that now flows through you, linking you each together, amplifying the loving energies you each generate, sustaining your golden projection upon the Earth. As you feel this energy flow through you, you witness a golden grid of light spread out across the Earth. This grid is dislodging old patterns of stagnant energies, shining through and disintegrating the darkest energies that have collected over the planet, and filling the Earth with loving kindness. Allow that energy to flow for as long as you can sustain it, and watch the intensity of the grid increase.

Returning to Temporal Awareness

As you feel the flow of energy reduce, bid your colleagues goodbye and begin to retrace your path back from your position in their company. Floating down you again see the Earth fill your field of view, with ever increasing detail coming into focus. Re-entering the atmosphere, you continue floating back towards your body, through the clouds, back your region, the area you live in, all the way back down until you face your body, exactly where you had left it. Relax and allow your awareness to return to your body and take a few moments to become resettled in, and familiar with your material form. With eyes still closed, thank your spirit guides and guardians for protecting your body and assisting you on your journey. Feeling comfortable and relaxed, slowly open your eyes. As temporal awareness reasserts itself, know that you have shared your love with the Earth mother and helped release her from the stagnating energies that formed an oppressive layer around her through time. 

Thank you for adding your energies to healing the Earth. May the Earth be recovered and restored to full health, such that her peoples may surge forth and realise their fullest potential. May we reflect our compassion and wisdom in perfect awareness and equanimity.

(24) His disciples said to him, "Show us the place where you are, since it is necessary for us to seek it."
He said to them, "Whoever has ears, let him hear. There is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness."

Spirit Guided Meditation

Its been an interesting year so far. From kicking off with a strong commitment to my spiritual practices, to commencing a building project, to some how becoming drawn into crypto currencies, to developing a relationship with a spirit guide, all the while holding down a job and trying to develop a new business. There has certainly been some challenges that, without an enhanced spiritual awareness and ability to take refuge within in it, might have become overwhelming.

I was not able to maintain a daily regimen of meditation beyond the first 3 or 4 months of the year, but I have been able to keep up a semi-regular practice, of perhaps 2 or so times a week. As mentioned, this has been quite consoling at times, and has kept my awareness/vibration at a relatively high level. Not as clear and vibrant as that period from 2011 where I commenced this blog, but still lucid enough to keep on the path (I think!).

Anyway, in meditation this morning I asked whether there was an optimal meditation process for me to follow at this time, and my guide responded with a guided meditation to demonstrate the process. So I thought I should record it to ensure I can repeat it and figured it was good material for sharing here. It was a 3 step process, built on my recently modified meditation entry. The entire process goes like this:

Step 1 - Breath counting and Chakra charging
In a modification to the breath counting method taught at the Monastery, I have combined it with energising my chakra centres. Starting form the base/root/red chakra located at the perineum, and then moving successively to the lower abdomen/sacral/orange chakra, solar plexus/yellow chakra, then the  heart/green chakra, throat/blue chakra, brow/indigo chakra, to finally the crown/violet chakra, repeat the following:

• Breath in for a count of 5 and focus attention of the chakra centre, visualising the colour;
• Hold the breath for a count of 5 and see the colour enhancing and energy being received;
• Breath out for a count of 5 and see the energy spreading out into your auric field.

With energy centres activated, visualise drawing down a column of white light through your crown chakra, while drawing up a spiral of red energy up through the ground. The upward flowing energy wraps around your lower body in a tightening twist like a screw, rising to meet the column of white in your chest. Where the two lines of energy meet, see a bright diamond like spot form and start radiating out protective energy into your auric field, creating a sparkling cocoon of white energy that surrounds you and protects you within it. 

Step 2 - Kundalini raising and Awareness focusing
As I have described before, the next step is to raise ones awareness and focus consciousness at a higher level. This is done through visualisation of a double helix spiral starting at the base of the spine, wrapping around the spine in counter-rotating directions, rising up to the pineal gland in the brain. I focus on two counter-rotating points and visualise them spinning and rising around the outside of my spine, 21 times. I count 21 rotations on the rise from base of spine to finally penetrating my pineal gland, with a column of white light rising within my spine column to also penetrate my pineal gland in a coordination of rising energies. The best image of this I have seen is the Caduceus symbol, reproduced Below.

Caduceus - Kundalini rising (central column) to the Pineal Gland (knob on top) to free one's spirit (wings)

Following this process, and rising the energy up the spinal column, both locates and focuses my awareness along its motion, finally resting at my crown chakra. Arriving there within ones awareness, we move to step 3.

Step 3 - Release all temporal concerns
At this point my spirit guide provided the remainder of the meditation, starting with the instruction to release all of one’s temporal concerns. This I translated as analysing and emptying the mind of all thoughts that enter one's awareness unbidden. These include fears, worries, desires and fantasies that distract from the present moment to drags one's mind back into lower transcendental states. After clearing one’s mind of such temporal concerns, we move to the next step of sustaining it.

Step 4 - Calm abiding
This is the process of continuing to monitor the mind and to release all intrusive thoughts, while you fully immerse yourself within the current moment. Time does not pass while your awareness remains tethered in the ever present moment. Events my flow around you, but with a calmness of mind, one is unmoved, abiding in the now moment. And in true Zen style, the perfection of calm abiding is no calm abiding. That is, to lose the need for exerting any effort to maintain the state through perfecting the technique.

There are a number of methods to focus the mind in calm abiding, and the most common is to rest the mind on an object of concentration, such as an image of a Buddha, a Mandala, or some visualisation object. However, I have taken to focusing on the state of my mind, its excitability or tranquility. What ever the device employed, the objective is to keep the mind clear of intrusive thoughts and to simply observe for longer and longer periods of concentration.

Step 5 - Realise the Bohdi mind
With calm abiding mastered, the realisation that your awareness in the present moment is actually undifferentiated from the universal awareness begins to dawn, and one starts to embrace the Bohdi mind of  perfect wisdom. This is not so much an active mental process, but an expansion of awareness that grows while one is abiding in this state of timelessness. Indeed, one does not need to consciously add anything to this state, lest it all unravel and you find yourself back in the flow of past and future.

The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our
employment of it we must be on our guard against all fullness. How
deep and unfathomable it is, as if it were the Honoured Ancestor of
all things!

We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of
things; we should attemper our brightness, and bring ourselves into
agreement with the obscurity of others. How pure and still the Tao
is, as if it would ever so continue!

I do not know whose son it is. It might appear to have been before
God.
    - Tao Te Ching, verse 4, translated 1891 by James Legge

So that’s it. A version of śamatha meditation to raise one's point of awareness and to train the mind for greater concentration and mindfulness. I guess that is what I need right now. I hope that you might find this process useful and it’s concepts helpful, but do not hesitate to discard it should you not feel that way. I hope not to be a hindrance to any.

May we all realise the Bohdi mind of perfect wisdom eventually.

A new year continues the change

 With the start of the new year I committed to a daily meditation practice & after the first 3 weeks I am becoming aware once again of the depth and fullness of spirit. It is with this regained awareness that, looking back on the past 18 months, I see quite clearly the mental fog that had decended over me while I let material matters preoccupy me. Matters that have amounted to nothing much and stand to be washed away by the flow of life, as words scratched into the sand are washed away by the waves breaking on the shore.

In a stream of consciousness fashion, with a  mind clear of pre-occupations I wrote the following as if an internal voice was speaking words of wisdom to me.

The changing nature of reality forces one to accept the impermanence  of all things, or grow increasingly insane trying to cling to things that no longer exist. Like the ephemeral mist floating upon the water that vanishes at the first rays of the sun, reality changes leaving nothing but memories of what once was.

I still have substantial challenges to face in the immediate future and undoubtedly ongoing, but I am once again realising that it is only through aligning one's actions with spirit (or nature) that anything enduring can be successfully achieved.

The application of one's will and energy can be wasted so easily in the ignorance of a material focus.

Losing the Path

After a few months pursuing business interests with only intermittent attention my spiritual practice, I awoke at 4:00am on the morning of October 30 to rekindle my spiritual pursuit with a period of meditation. It is not that I had ceased all practices, as I did maintain my formal meditation periods at the monastery, but my attachment to business priorities and their related outcomes had put my personal meditation practice down the priority list. 

As it turned out in that early morning period, it was a deep and concentrated meditation where a focus on The Path, from which I had divergent, developed by which my efforts, successes and disappointments, were place back into context through a re-affirmation of Śūnyatā and the importance of working with the principles of causality. 

Immediately after concluding my meditation I documented what I could recall as follows:

 -------

Wisdom lies in the realization of Śūnyatā in all things. The truth of sunyata is evident in the inter-dependent nature of all things. That is, nothing in ones physical existence has any enduring, independent reality. Being void of intrinsic reality, all things are subject to causality, that is, the causes and conditions that make up the inter-dependencies that govern their existence.

Causality infers that the entire creation is subject to dependent origination, that things exist solely due to the causes and conditions that give rise to and support their existence. When conditions become unsupportive and are no longer sustaining all things eventually cease existing, breaking down to the component elements as fuel for causes and conditions that give rise to future creations. This leads to the observation of the 5 stages of existence; birth, growth, abiding, decay and death. 

With the realization that all things are void of any independent existence and will eventually decay and die, the Truth of Suffering is understood.

1. The Truth of Suffering

By living in expectation, hope or desire for things one is ultimately disappointed as all such things are impermanent and pass away. Through this disappointment everyone suffers in varying levels according to the degree of their attachment. From the desire for the latest device to the attachment to material life itself, happiness and satisfaction is only ever temporary while the reality impermanence is ignored.

2. The Truth of the Cause of Suffering

Therefore, attachment to objects, physical or conceptual, mistakenly believed to be enduring, is the cause of one's suffering. Attachments that breed desires that are fueled by one's ignorance of Śūnyatā, causing one to seek one thing after another in an endless cycle of insatiable demand and related disappointments throughout the course of their life.

3. The Truth of the Cessation of Suffering

As the cause of suffering is this fundamental ignorance of reality and the conditions that support suffering are one's attachments, through cultivating the wisdom to perceive the transient and interdependent nature (Śūnyatā) in all things and by eradicating the fertile field of attachment within which suffering occurs, the cessation of suffering should be possible. By displacing ignorant expectations with implicit acceptance and self-centred volatility with the equanimity of loving-kindness and compassion, opportunities for suffering are eliminated.

4. The Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering

Just as all things are subject to the causes and conditions that give rise to and support their existence, all things are subject to destruction through the eradication of those supportive causes and conditions. This principle of causality demonstrates a two-fold path to the cessation of suffering.

• Through cultivating transcendental wisdom, ignorance is eliminated and the cause of suffering reduced; and
• by cultivating the conditions that support equanimity and eradicating the conditions that promote self-centred volatility, greed and anger are replaced with a sense of loving kindness and compassion and the conditions for suffering to occur are diminished.

However, this is no trivial activity and attaining The Path, keeping to The Path and progressing along The Path is the subject of entire religions. Ironically, as religions themselves are subject to causality, progressing through the various stages of existence, one's attachment to religious teachings can also be a cause of suffering as they decay and pass away. Where the teachings become complex and convoluted over time, departing from the original core concepts into divergent dogmatic principles, irrational conformance can create a form of programmed mindlessness as the development of personal wisdom transforms into the practice of collective ignorance. 

In meditation this morning, apart from a re-iteration of the principles of the Four Noble Truths, the insight gained was that progression along The Path was one of incremental refinement as one's perception of reality sharpened as one's practice is matured. This iterative refinement of one's perceptive awareness as one progresses along the path to Perfect Wisdom supports the idea that Wisdom is a spectrum and I intuit as I write this that that spectrum is grouped in bands or levels of awareness. And just as frequency bands of visible light define the primary colours of our visual experience, so too these levels of awareness define the levels of awareness through which one discerns the character of one's experience. 

Of course, not cultivating the causes and conditions for transcendent wisdom removes one from The Path, leaving one to sink back into the mire of ignorance. The proof of one being off The Path is the loss of equanimity, the resurgence of the three poisons (of ignorance, anger and greed) and the re-emergence of various experiences in suffering that were thought to be vanquished.

 -------
 
Only a few days after this meditation and having written the above, I was confronted most dramatically by a resurgence in anger over matters of money. I recall the sense of anger at the time was as a volcano erupting and my rage flowed until it was finished. I have spent the past few days coming to terms with this event and what it means and find that I have a sense of disappointment in myself for not having the awareness to perceive the truth of the issue being Śūnyatā and the result of other factors, and indulging in a selfish expression of anger. 

Re-reading my meditation notes now, this incident of anger and rage demonstrates unequivocally how, by not maintaining the causes or conditions that support my progress along the path to enlightenment, I have allowed ignorance and selfishness to overwhelm me once more. Which again recalls to my mind the biblical quote from the Book of Matthew:

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Matthew Chapter 7

Develop the means to recognize and release attachment wherever it occurs, including releasing attachment to one's self-identity. This naturally establishes a sense of sympathy and loving-kindness toward others as personal desires are eradicated, the interconnectedness of one's existence is appreciated and compassion for all sentient beings is established. Continual practice is iteratively refining and progress is made through existence along The Path.

To Dream the Impossible Dream or realise Śūnyatā?

A few weeks ago I was contemplating on the 4 great Bodhisattva vows while driving through the city, the futility of the effort they demanded and the impossibility of ever being able to fulfil them. The vows as chanted at the end of each Dharma discussion at the monastery are as follows:

1. Countless are sentient beings I vow to liberate;
2. Endless are afflictions I vow to eradicate;
3. Measureless are the Dharmas I vow to master;
4. Supreme is the Buddha way I vow to attain.

I recall wondering at how futile is trying to liberate countless beings, how impossible is attempting to eradicate endless afflictions, how insurmountable is mastering measureless Dharmas!

There are some fundamental problems with unattainable objectives for a rational mind and for a philosophy based on observation and reason. Yet these impossible vows are chanted and the Buddha way is lauded as supreme. Are these vows calling the Buddha and all his followers’ masochists, I pondered? Are they imploring Buddhists to a Quixote like quest for virtue in pursuing an idealised yet unobtainable fantasy? In short, is this a mindless dogma that encourages people to suspend their reason and vow to follow an impossible dream?

Well, there is certainly the appearance of an unreasonable dogma in repeatedly chanting a vow that seems unobtainable, but if we look beyond the appearance and consider the vows in relation to the Buddhist realisation of Śūnyatā then it is possible to perceive an entirely different interpretation. One based not only on reason but also on experiential knowledge.

Śūnyatā is the principle that nothing in phenomenal existence has any intrinsic reality of its own. That is, all of experiential existence is interdependent, that nothing exists on its own and that all things come into being due only to the causes and conditions that precipitate them. Such psycho-physical manifestations initially grow while conditions promote growth, abide while conditions are supportive, decay when conditions deteriorate and then ultimately recede back to become insubstantial when the conditions and causes for their existence are exhausted. We see this lifecycle play out in every aspect of manifest reality: from waves on the ocean, solar flares on the sun, businesses, religions, cultures and societies, past and present biological species, architecture, fashion, fortunes, government welfare programmes, friendships, all of our individual endeavours and most intimately of all, we see this in our own mortality. All things are in a constant state of flux, moving through states of conception, increasing, abiding, decay and death.

Of course we may not perceive the temporal transience of our existence very well and may often work very hard to build and maintain the conditions that support the objects of our focus and attention. In Buddhist terms, the strength of our attention on these objects of desire is indicative of the strength of our attachment to them. This extends from not only the mundane world of everyday existence such as desires for chocolate cake, wealth, power or sex, but also to less material pursuits of wisdom and truth with desires to be charitable and compassionate, eradicate afflictions, to be skilful and aware, or even to achieve Buddhahood. But regardless of the degree or nature of one’s obsession, the intensity of one’s desire, or the exertion of one’s effort in favour of our attachments, inevitably things change and ultimately recede to become insubstantial.

Our inability to clearly perceive, accept and anticipate this inevitable change and inter-dependent nature of all things is what is termed our fundamental ignorance. This ignorance, through our relationships with these objects of our attachment, become the source of all sufferings as our expectations are ultimately revealed as nothing more than empty fantasies built on a deluded interpretation of reality. Even at the heights of one’s triumphs and in the moments of greatest happiness, the inevitable decline back to normalcy or despair lies waiting and any sense of satisfaction achieved is fleeting. Such achievements are potentially even a source of future suffering, as those once attained heights become the causes of dissatisfaction of a normal existence. If you have a background in Buddhist terms, you will identify that we are now discussing the Four Noble Truths, being:

1. The truth of suffering
2. The truth of the origination of suffering
3. The truth of the cessation of suffering
4. The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering

However, this is inevitable, as underpinning the Four Noble Truths as in all of Buddhist principles is the concept of Śūnyatā. Unfortunately, it is difficult to grasp the concept of Śūnyatā without experiencing it and the importance of meditation to cultivate the necessary level of understanding and provide that requisite experience to realise the truth cannot be overestimated. It is quite simply impossible to know the significance of Śūnyatā without developing Samādhi – meditative capability. Nonetheless, it is from a realisation of Śūnyatā that the Four Noble Truths are derived and it should be with a realisation of Śūnyatā that the Four Great Vows are interpreted.

That is, there is no independent thing that exists that can be called a Sentient Being, or an Affliction, or a Dharma, or even a Buddha. All such things are subjective conceptualisations of complex interactions that ultimately pass away and distil down to Śūnyatā - Emptiness. Hence it is said in the Heart Sutra that Form and Emptiness are the same. Not just equivalent, but the same.

“form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form ;
emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form,
the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness.” - Heart Sutra

So to make sense, the Four Great Vows are to be interpreted from the perspective that Form is Emptiness. That the form of the vows are themselves Śūnyatā and are nothing but descriptive concepts of attaining the path and progressing on the way to Buddhahood.

I raised this in discussing at the monastery with my Shifu and confirmed this was indeed a valid approach. The Shifu observed that realising Śūnyatā is obtaining the Path, or the way of the Buddha, where delusions and ignorance are removed. With such a one, expressions of form are more perfect, carrying greater poignancy and purpose and naturally align to the Four Great Vows of the Bodhisattva. Or rather, the Four Great Vows become nothing more than the natural expression of a Bodhisattva, or in Chinese terms, a Sage, as they perfect their wisdom through a life of action without attachment or desire.

Buddha himself describes this in the 3^rd stanza of the Diamond Sutra from which the First Great Vow is derived:

3. All living beings, whether born from eggs, from the womb, from moisture, or spontaneously; whether they have form or do not have form; whether they are aware or unaware, whether they are not aware or not unaware, all living beings will eventually be led by me to the final Nirvana, the final ending of the cycle of birth and death. And when this unfathomable, infinite number of living beings have all been liberated, in truth not even a single being has actually been liberated.

Why Subhuti? Because if a disciple still clings to the arbitrary illusions of form or phenomena such as an ego, a personality, a self, a separate person, or a universal self existing eternally, then that person is not an authentic disciple.

4. Furthermore, Subhuti, in the practice of compassion and charity a disciple should be detached. That is to say, he should practice compassion and charity without regard to appearances, without regard to form, without regard to sound, smell, taste, touch, or any quality of any kind. Subhuti, this is how the disciple should practice compassion and charity. Why? Because practicing compassion and charity without attachment is the way to reaching the Highest Perfect Wisdom, it is the way to becoming a living Buddha. – Diamond Sutra

So in the above, we see the Buddha explaining the first of the Four Great Vows and confirming that the vow contains perspectives of both form and emptiness:

• The Form element – A Bodhisattva should form the concepts of compassion and charity by committing to liberate all sentient beings from the cycle of life and death;
• The Emptiness element – However, in that activity, a Bodhisattva should act without attachment or discriminative thought, realising both the acts and the beings are Śūnyatā.

That is, a Bodhisattva must both realise Śūnyatā and act with compassion towards others, purifying their essence and perfecting their wisdom on the path to Buddhahood. Importantly, to realise Śūnyatā through profound Samādhi is not enough, it is the work of this existence to demonstrate that realisation in the material world through one’s actions.

Yet the element of Emptiness is veiled in the Four Great Vow as chanted, alluded to only in the reference to “the Buddha way” and is easily overlooked. As a result, the Four Great Vows can easily lose significance and meaning, focusing as they appear to on the form of one’s behaviour in striving for impossible objectives. Repetitiously chanting these vows without appreciating the importance of Samādhi to provide a direct, experiential realisation of Śūnyatā, could well be dogmatic and induce a behaviour, that although very meritorious and virtuous, is nonetheless shrouded in ignorance.

Indeed, in stanza 6 of the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha goes on to say, that all the elements of form he conveys are not truths in themselves, but simply a means of conveying a truth and should be released from any dogmatic constraints.

When the Buddha explains these things using such concepts and ideas, people should remember the unreality of all such concepts and ideas. They should recall that in teaching spiritual truths the Buddha always uses these concepts and ideas in the way that a raft is used to cross a river. Once the river has been crossed over, the raft is of no more use, and should be discarded. These arbitrary concepts and ideas about spiritual things need to be explained to us as we seek to attain Enlightenment. However, ultimately these arbitrary conceptions can be discarded. Think Subhuti, isn't it even more obvious that we should also give up our conceptions of non-existent things? – Diamond Sutra (bottom of the 6^th stanza)

Here the Buddha says in very plain terms, that these forms of explanation, the vows and similar devices, are nothing but arbitrary concepts to be discarded once enlightenment is achieved. That is, all the means of explaining the path to attaining enlightenment, including the vows of the Bodhisattva, are concepts only. Used to illuminate the way to be travelled and that these concepts are only for the assistance of the unenlightened. They are nothing but arbitrary irrelevancies for one who has realised Anuttarasamyaksambodhi – the highest perfect wisdom.

Or to paraphrase somewhat and put this back into context of the Four Great Vows: Vowing to emulate the characteristics of a Bodhisattva will help one find the raft. To understand one’s ignorance through developing Samādhi and realising Śūnyatā is stepping onto the raft. To be transported to the further shore, one must remain steadily on the raft while their wisdom is perfected.

Hence, the concepts of unobtainable quantities, such as countless, endless and measureless, that seem to contradict reason in the Four Great Vows, are simply the subjectively conceived indicators of the infinite and unrestrained expression of a Bodhisattva who has transcended all subjective conceptualisation.

This conclusion might appear illusive and difficult to grasp, but as previously explained here, this is simply a fundamental limitation in describing objective reality with subjective language. In the Diamond Sutra again, the Buddha himself details the difficulties of explaining the truth of subjective concepts or objects using subjective language, as opposed to the actual experience of living in an enlightened state.

Tell me, Subhuti. Does a Buddha say to himself, 'I have obtained Perfect Enlightenment.'?

No, lord. There is no such thing as Perfect Enlightenment to obtain. If a Perfectly Enlightened Buddha were to say to himself, 'I am enlightened' he would be admitting there is an individual person, a separate self and personality, and would therefore not be a Perfectly Enlightened Buddha.

Subhuti then said, Most Honoured One! You have said that I, Subhuti, excel amongst thy disciples in knowing the bliss of Enlightenment, in being perfectly content in seclusion, and in being free from all passions. Yet I do not say to myself that I am so, for if I ever thought of myself as such then it would not be true that I escaped ego delusion. I know that in truth there is no Subhuti and therefore Subhuti abides nowhere, that he neither knows nor does he not know bliss, and that he is neither free from nor enslaved by his passions. – Diamond Sutra (bottom of the 9^th stanza)

Therefore, the Vows themselves have a dual purpose for the unenlightened:

1. As a tool to assist develop inspirational commitment to one’s Buddhist practice by exemplifying the virtuous characteristics of a Bodhisattva to emulate; and
2. As an opportunity to peer into the impossible nature of the vows and to transcend the mundane, personalised focus of interpretation by realising the nature of Śūnyatā held within.

The Four Great Vows challenge the individual practitioner to either dream the impossible dream of striving for unattainable objectives or to realise Śūnyatā.

May we each develop our Samādhi and attain the further shore.

Namaste.