Topic: Buddhist sayings

[Michael]

On the flights they always say, in case of emergency... always fit your own oxygen mask first before helping others.

[erik]

The theme that runs through the levels of Buddhist Refuge is the refuge of no refuge.  Through practice we come to understand that there is no state or object that can give us safety from the neuroses of our own minds; that the only way we can be liberated from conditioned perception and response, and the confusion that arises from our attempts to separate emptiness and form, is to aspire to the enlightened state.  This confidence and Refuge can only remain alive and of use to us through practice  Living the View is Refuge: recognising the frustration and irritation we experience as opportunities for realisation, as much as the joy and love.

[erik]

Buddhism is a statement of our intrinsic goodness; and the possibility of discovering that intrinsic goodness.  This is the simple answer, but complex questions can arise from that.  Giving a simple answer is not always that simple.  When I use the word goodness, I am not using it in the sense of nicey-nicey goodness, or piety, or sanctity, or holiness – ‘goodness’ here relates to complete value. This goodness is the goodness of freshly baked bread; the goodness of seeing a field of sunflowers; the goodness of birth and death; the goodness of being present. There is a basic goodness, a basic sanity with which we can connect. We have that – we simply need to allow ourselves the non-referential space to find it.

[erik]

Enlightenment is our natural state, and so it is not surprising that it manifests from time to time. Unenlightenment is the constant activity with which we engage. We have to work at it all the time. So when life circumstances intervene, in terms of short-circuiting this continual effort, we experience glimpses of realisation. These glimpses can radically change people’s lives, but it is a hit-or-miss affair to hope that life is going to ‘do it for you’ when the time is ripe. You have to cooperate with the sparkling-through of enlightenment by disengaging from referentiality and continuing with presence of awareness.

[erik]

Silent sitting seemed to be the heart of it all – and so I sat every day.  The idea of sitting was intriguing because I'd sat silently since childhood – and had been harangued about it by my father “Why can’t you play like a normal boy?!”  I was always able to sit and stare – without going off into dreams.  I’d just observe the colours and sounds of my environment and allow them to drift in and out of my observation.

It was the idea of silence that eventually led me to Dzogchen as being the heart of everything.

[erik]

Simply allow the given situation to be what it is.  Simply avoid the urge to convert it into something else – that is to say, do not attempt to translate it in terms of an educational process.  Simply see it.  Simply perceive it.  Then simply allow it to abandon itself. 
If you experience something and then allow the experience to abandon itself, you will provide space in which felt-knowledge and phenomena merely take their own course.  Self-abandonment is the yeast in the fermentation process in which mind gives rise to wine – rather than whining.

[Nichi]

Very wise, E.

[erik]

One begins with the accidental nature of what is occurring—and accepts that as the nature of one's current reality. 
We do not have to begin with clarity, because clarity is inherent in every situation.  We simply have to begin with that which presents itself.  This will include our mistakes and the mistakes of others.  It will include errors, omissions, miscalculations, appropriations, misappropriations, faux pas, indiscretions, and oversights...
Clarity is a groundless experience, but one that we can only realise when ground and groundlessness are realised a non-dual.  When we accept confusion as the rich ground from which clarity can be discovered, we can cease being our own enemies.

[erik]

The awakened mind warriors delight in unbounded wealth because their appreciation is unlimited.  Appreciation generates generosity which knows no limits. 
The Vajrayana view of wealth is grounded in the understanding that one owns everything that enters one’s sense fields. We own whatever we appreciate, to the extent that we appreciate it and for the duration that we appreciate it. We do not require personal ownership in order to own. Our ownership does not restrict the ownership of others, because our ownership is simply that of appreciative faculties. This non-possessive, non-controlling absence of tenure is called ‘vajra greed’ or ‘non-dual greed’ – greed on behalf of others. Greed on behalf of all beings is both the maximum possible avarice, and the ultimate expansion of generosity.

[erik]

It is said that meditation isn’t, because it’s not an end in itself.  It is said that getting used to is, because the enlightened state is already there and we simply have to become accustomed to that.  So, meditation is getting used to the enlightened state, cooperating with the enlightened state. What’s important is simply being.  We simply get used to the condition in which thoughts are not present or in which they arise and dissolve. Boredom is actually the threshold of discovery. This is just the point at which something interesting could happen—if we simply continue to sit.

[erik]

Our karma is entirely how we perceive the world – moment by moment. So the ‘law of karma’ is not just law, it is the entire legal system. It ranges from the inception of the legislature to the nature of law enforcement and punishment. Our perception is the legislation and our responses enforce it. We are our own judge, jury, and prosecution. We sentence ourselves, jail ourselves, and execute ourselves. This is the only entirely accurate legal system – but its accuracy only exists within its own frame of reference.

Meditation is our only weapon against this repressive regime and constitutes civil disobedience in the form of ‘passive resistance’. By allowing the development of experiential space through shi-nè – through letting go and letting be – we discover our own intrinsic awareness. The Four Naljors of Dzogchen Sem-dé is one of the ultimate crimes against the ‘law of karma’ and is punishable by enlightenment – the final revolution and overthrow of the legal system.

[erik]

In Tantra, sensation is the path. That means every sensation: hot and cold; pleasure and pain; sharp and blunt; agony and ecstasy; hope and fear; falling in love and having a panic attack. Neither aspect of these polarities are ends in themselves. Tantra is simply, the one taste of all sensation.  To practise Tantra is to ride the energy of duality.

No-one can be called a yogi, yogini, or tantrika, if they cannot experience pleasure and pain – and experience the one taste of the energy that is the ground of both experiences.

[Firestarter]

Ah, but therein lies the danger. "without being conditioned" is precisely what our fellow humans don't like. In fact, they will go to great lengths to extract any such person from their collective. if you want to work with others in this world, there is no other option than to obscure your unconditioned soul. Spontaneity treads on people's precious toes - in many countries you can die for such liberties.

The correct response is much more difficult. You have to have achieved spontaneity through shedding conditioned beliefs and behaviours, but then you have to conceal the freedom of your light, and tiptoe through the identities of those around you - striving to find the cracks through which that light can glimmer.

Why should we? If anything, it is coming to a point and time there is a calling to step forward.

If I had decided to retract all I am. I could not have helped others in any way. Now you did it here, and even were slow to go public. Which I wont question. 1. Somaites would want most private, like blogs but 2. If I had "concealed" my spirituality, I would not have been able to help countless people in my group.

Now yes, we take a risk. I ended up in the hospital. And yes, there are countries where being different spiritually esp, from the collective, can get you killed. And it is not an easy step. For example, as I read online, I took a chance of other employers finding me, if I get a job. Now some may think it cool. But if they are a christian or something, I could get denied a job. BUT I knew that going in, and the calling was bigger than the risk. So far, spirit has made sure I can work and do my thing. So hiding I dont think is a good idea right now. Because if we do, the conscious folks, then that means the unconscious, who will "fall for anything, believe anything" get the loudest mouth, and how they gonna learn unless they encounter some awake folks? So yeaaah now there is a time and place for everything, of course. But I am not going to hide away and be all quiet while people say and do really dumb things. I try to educate and read for folks, someone has to do it, in the times we are in.

[Firestarter]

The only practice that we should perform - is to be our selves. We are perfect the way we are. And we have full integretity, toward teachers and gurus, popes and the rest, that claim that we are not perfect today, as we stand and speak.

That does not mean that we not look for improvement and growth, we are, but that will be with our tail high and on our conditions. Long gone is the Days of the wip and the carrot.

I love Jahn, but if he is perfect, why did he misspell "integrity?"

We are probably born perfect, lose our way, and have to aim for perfection. He also seems to forget:

“He said that I was a man. And like any man I deserved everything that was a man’s lot—joy, pain, sadness and struggle—and that the nature of one’s acts was unimportant as long as one acted as a warrior. Lowering his voice to almost a whisper, he said that if I really felt that my spirit was distorted I should simply fix it—purge it, make it perfect—because there was no other task in our entire lives which was more worthwhile. Not to fix the spirit was to seek death, and that was the same as to seek nothing, since death was going to overtake us regardless of anything. He paused for a long time and then he said with a tone of profound conviction,

“To seek the perfection of the warrior’s spirit is the only task worthy of our manhood.”
― Carlos Castaneda, Journey To Ixtlan

 

[Firestarter]

Having a good heart goes further than anything in terms of empathising with the nondual state. Intellectual elaborations are not important.  Kindness is something you feel – a warmth and expansiveness which flows from our growing openness.  Kindness is our contact, our strongest link with the nondual state.  So much for law and order.  The essence of Buddhism is similar to anarchism.  Not anarchy in the distorted popular sense in which the word is understood—in the sense of dog-eat-dog-chaos—but anarchism in terms of  ‘no external government’.  Anarchism is the naturally manifesting inner government of awareness – unconditioned, present, direct and utterly responsible.

Heh. Look at Juhani talking about "kindness."🤮