deci belle

Self-refinement is giving up all hope (which is basically a selfish device), and accepting the good inherent in the situation you find yourself in. Anyone can do that in benign conditions. Who can do that when one's life hangs in the balance? When the situation calls for sticking your neck out because everyone is thinking off with her head, you can just do it— but to do it with grace and power is up to you according to the time (if you possess grace and power). I've seen recreational philosophers on this forum make a show of their controlled exit accompanied by a parting shot to somehow offset the fact that everyone knows their goose is already cooked. I'm not talking about that kind of facetious act. If you know it's your head on the block, then it follows that there is a precise time for this to occur. Unless you are already resting in the highest good according to the potential inherent in the situation itself, you cannot transcend the change. You don't need to know anything to accomplish this. Right now you have no power, no virtue, no place to rest. I'd make that job number one. Find that place to rest, and come from that place in all your endeavors, including this one.

Selflessness is being absorbed into the situation of other— even as other. Selflessness is not being a Mother Teresa, and it's not a matter of getting into someone else's shoes, rather, it's being no one other than what is dictated by the situation according to the time. It's being selfless. Selflessness is appropriating the nature of awareness, of reality, as one's identity in order to adapt effectively, transcendentally, in the course of actual affairs without anyone knowing, or caring— including oneself. One's selflessness is totally natural— supremely natural. This is resting in the highest good, beyond convention. No buddha can approach one here.

I could be wrong, but wasn't Ananda foremost of all the Buddha's disciples in terms of intellectual understanding of the Buddha's teachings?

Realizing that oneself is dead meat is a fabulous place to be. No one owes you an answer. When i say yer screwed, it's a compliment in the context of this thread. Its just at this time that one can see the truth. Now just jump into it completely. There's nothing to add. You don't need a teacher. When yer screwed is the best time to be overwhelmed by reality. Just let it. Make yer day, kid… and smile on the way down.❤

All Vous gets is a curtsie… I gets ze money, cheri~❤ ed note: add disclaimer

The critical aspect of adaption to situations is borne by the inherent pattern of the situation itself. The Art of War states that "victory depends on the enemy" in that conditions conducive to apropriate action in response to developments cannot be manufactured beforehand. One must wait. One must know what is being awaited. One must know the ground of life and death and be situated advantageously unbeknownst to anyone. The word enemy signifies the nature of the situation itself in that one's impersonal adaption depends on its parameters exclusively. This is why I say that one must, in fact, be ultimately vulnerable in order to carry out the subtle operation of the Great Vehicle as a Tathagata in terms of Complete Reality neither ordinary nor holy. The critical juncture of Change is the ground of life and death. The alchemical term is the Aperture of the Mysterious Female. Chapter 16 Attain the climax of emptiness, preserve the utmost quiet: as myriad things act in concert, I thereby observe the return. Return is the critical juncture(s) of all situations, material and immaterial. As in all things, the celestial pattern is expressed as the function of its process. Ego is a valid function, therein lies its value to the organism. It is not a thing. It is empty, utterly attributable to conditions. All created cycles have these critical junctures: the times when the gate and door defining the aperture of the Mysterious Female occur. Chapter 6 The valley spirit not dying is called the Mysterious Female. The opening of the Mysterious Female is called the root of heaven and earth. Continuous, on the brink of existence, to put it into practice its use is not forced. Therefore, it is to be understood that it is, in fact, used. It is also to be understood that its function is the unchanging unified fabricof inconceivability (referred to as gossamer silk in some volumes of the TTC) which is subtly operated in the context of ordinary situations according to the time by those with the power to comprehend its function in order to influence events. These two chapters from the Tao Te Ching do not just refer to mystical experience, as the celestial pattern permeates reality. Adepts arrive at partnership with creation, not subject to its cycles. There is a chapter in the Kuei ku-Tzu called Opening and Closing. Let me clarify a few terms: heaven refers to the inner mind; earth refers to nature, the essential ground of reality; society, man, the sage, refers to a function of human potential. Opening and Closing Let us consider how ancient sages existed between heaven and earth. Being the leaders of others, they watched the opening and closing of yin and yang in order to direct people thereby and knew the doorway of survival and destruction. Assessing the ends and beginnings of all types, they arrived at the principles of human psychology and saw the foresigns of change therein; and kept vigil at the doorway. (italics mine) Therefore the Way by which sages live in the world has always been one; while its transformations, which are endless, each has a specific purpose. Sometimes it is yin, sometimes yang, sometimes yielding, sometimes firm, sometimes open, sometimes closed, sometimes relaxed, sometimes tense. For this reason sages consistently keep watch at the doorway and carefully examine what should precede and what should follow. They assess strategies, measure capabilities, compare strengths and weaknesses of technical skills (of one's own people [self] and that of others'). Assessing objectively and adapting impersonally is sage activity, whether it is accomplished by generals, buddhas, or enlightening beings. In every case, it is accomplished by those whose hearts have the power to take hearts. Sages are not humane; they see all people as straw dogs. The Mysterious Female is not a place; it has no location. It arises naturally in the course of created karmic cycles. It is indicative of the celestial design. Those who see the opening and closing of the gate and door of the Mysterious Female are able to transcend Change while abiding in the midst of its changes. This is enlightening activity. Grain by grain, one gathers the elixir. Occasionally, a bum will momentarily comprehend an aspect of the phenomena of the secret of the celestial mechanism and conclude, "so what". This is what is referred to as knowing without the ability to act on knowledge. If one knows but is unable to act on that knowledge, it is the same as not knowing. This refers to ordinary ignorant people whose personal power is inadequate to use energy. Using it is a matter of amassing the energy to partake of energy. This energy is the nature of the Way and its Power. The power of the Way is another name for Virtue. Virtue is the inherent quality of enlightening being. Awakening to enlightening qualities is the result of self-refinement. What is refined? The human mentality. ed note: create second paragraph; add TTC chapter 6; typo last paragraph

Merciiii, Monsieur P❤ Oh, I got a sheet of paper from a former merchant marine (brit) and a who's who (on account of a li'l 50's pop-chart tune) that has a whole list of what the nature of shit is according to different sects from taoism (shit happens) to… dangs, I can't find it~ it listed about thirty or so religions including Dianetics and Jehova's Witness. Here's some… Existentialism: What is shit anyway? Free Masonry: Our shit's a secret! haha!! Well it isn't just that shit happens, it is the fact that shit is IT. It's all the same shit. People wanna pick and choose their way through it and this is the nature of discrimination. I don't just live with it. Thems stinkin piles is the stuff of wonderous nature, mr P. An' pickin' an choosin' ain't goona findya what's its essence is in terms of the potential that has never issued forth from the primal pooper! I originally wanted to title this thread "Situations". There is simply nothing else to work with. My multifarious expositions and sassy posts concern a critical aspect of transcendent adaption to situations as the shit that eliminates the residue of doing by virtue of nondoing. It LOOKS like shit until the light is turned around. I've been on film sets my whole life. Trust the Gaffer!! The DP will let the Director know when it time to roll. ed note: forgot to curtsie…

hahahhahahhahhahahhahahhahahhahhahahhahahhahahhahha!! I guess yer screwed kid.

Hi Ryan, Where does the idea of oneself being "meant" come from? You don't have to be meant in any way, shape or form. You already are. Right now, it's you, through and through. It's just right now. This meant business is another dead-end. You will get along fine without it.

yawn… vision-boy trying to arrive at a consensus, hmmmmm? Perhaps this one could actually develop some cojones and stand on his own fins before attempting to make a beachhead and conquer ultima thule? Wasn't it two weeks ago you weren't even sure what constituted grasping? Now you're discriminating what's real zen? Learn to breath air first, dear.

The ways of nature are your own eyballs. Nature isn't out there somewhere separate. It's not a matter of petting flea-infested vermin. Saints who don't frighten animals or even ride them are just going through a phase— or not. How many eyeballs to snakes and fishes have? The point is that reality is a pattern that is evidence of the nameless. As such, one would do well to wake up and smell the flowers and learn from everything and nothing without discriminating between self and other in the process. As for the OP, I wouldn't even bother asking. I would ask the original poster to drop the dependence on authority to resist. That's a dead-end.

mmmmm-k…❤

They might mind when my six white horses dooz poops and raise some dusts!! haha!! I got some nice welcomes there and a passive aggressive pass from chrisd… Their student-teachers need the practice~ hehe. I got an email (not just a PM), from some one saying I can't respond to questions… eh… God knows I don't need the practice! Hhahhahhahahhahhaa!!! evidently I poked vision-boy a good one!! hahahaa!! Ya can't see shit TI!! hahahaaa!! A fcukin waiter? I wait, yup— damn right… waitin ta die in front of this 100 kilo full-dress Panavision cAmeRa!! Wanna tip— (º )( º)? yer can'ts has juss ONE!! ahhahhahaa!! ed note: add some sasses

dogson wrote: Please go as far as you dare with just this. Do not listen to anyone. You understand precisely what this is about. Trust yourself. There is nothing in your question that even touches on entertaining intellectual pursuits. This is a profound approach. May you leave us in the mists of your own wonder.❤

I lifted this from a thread I re-posted two years ago… perhaps it is appropriate here. If you have read it recently, don't tell anyone.❤ People need to see that the realization of enlightened mind is independent of sudden illumination. The nonoccurrence of illusion in one's own unborn awareness due to psychological nonpartiality of orientation in adapting to ordinary circumstances is all there is to enlightening being; this is buddhahood itself— one needn't wait for sudden enlightenment to walk in the footsteps of prior illuminates. Sudden enlightenment is just a result of true harmony with complete reality. Complete reality has no need of enlightenment. Just be completely real, void of bias or inclination and the circumstantial result of impersonal awareness gone, gone, beyond gone …gone beyond— will come of its own accord. This is working with the basic sane energy one was born with to see essence in the midst of mundanity directly in order to turn the killing energy of created cycles into a sea of jewels. The very bedrock will transport itself and oneself along with it, if one is authentically immovable in the essential quality of earth. What is required is stillness within one's own breadth of heart. Compassion isn't good or bad, just impersonally accepting and responding precisely according to circumstances. One may be entitled to basic sanity, but accomplishing complete reality is a matter of matching circumstances in terms of essential nature which leaves nothing to be desired within or without one's own power of receptivity. Acquiescence is a matter of freedom, not submission to externals. Tao is complete, yet creation is sexual. One who's lexicon is the Virtue of the Way uses essence to seek feeling. It is not the fault of the way or enlightening beings if all essence garners is insanity. Enlightening being expects nothing, so what is the norm for worldly beings does not affect enlightened virtue, which is to adapt to conditions as a matter of course. This is not beyond one's own everyday ordinary aware being; it has never been so, nor will it ever be so.

About Me Whether or not I forego conclusions or shower you with heavy hearts if I am here at all It's not for approbation it's not for polite discussion it's not for the social repartee not for friendship or camaraderie nor for sharing understanding or exchanging ideas; I offer no explanation or analysis of Complete Reality. Having gone all the way myself I only point at the source of impersonal awareness so others will know it is the same as their own everyday mind and that the matter of life and death is the crux of awareness; long life and eternal vision must be discovered personally. I have nothing to say to literalists, rationalists, those entertaining recreational philosophy or methodologists clinging to formal practices or doctrines of religious, sexual or social convention except for an occasional bolt of ruthless compassion. If you think you have thoroughgoing understanding of the wonder I will reprove your understanding for you. If I send it back, forget it; you can be sure I do. If there is a thing you consider not yourself it is obvious you do not see the empty kalpa. Even if you do see, the vertical must be dissolved and leveled before you can make use of it. ed note: add the word "for" in the last line of the third paragraph

That's wonderful, karuna!!❤

I'm not provoked.❤

Divining dragons from snakes is ok too!

Five Serviettes I wrote this on four petite serviettes the other day at my café in town… there was one left. Simply awakening is the selfless awakening to buddha-mind beyond the grasping mentality. It is knowledge of non-being’s open awareness constituting impersonal nonoriginated unification. People just fall into this without any intention of doing so as a result of open sincere intent. It is then possible to return and share oneself fully. In the mean-time, they see their own unified mind as the fulfillment of its own desire. Since it is not oneself, not other~ unified mind being the fulfillment of its own desire is the meaning of taking the forward step with open hands meeting situations as arrow-points meet, with no remainder. Unity of primally open “intellect” is the properly incipient nature of one’s perpetually fulfilled desire. “Intellect” is the capacity for fulfillment where there is nothing to fill~ just openness. The attainment is one’s penetrating reversion as the Source. The application of the term “intellect” is the substance of Mind’s open serene clear light. Mind’s function is its intent: ever sensitive and effective. Sincere intent is Mind’s expression of oneself’s impersonal unity functioning through selfless desire passing through situations without lingering, without initiating. The expression of the function is in terms of harmony, selfless harmony~ adapting impersonally and effectively to situations without sticking to appearances; neither seeking praise nor avoiding censure. Affinity is the impersonal knowledge of harmony in terms of the Constant. It is not that there is anything to know… affinity is just the nature of the Constant, which is the application of an angelic harmony that can kill a buddha when it sees a buddha. It cuts right through in an instant with a precision that is equal to its appropriateness in terms of one’s inconceivable matching of potential to conditions not admitting one’s own strength. Not admitting one’s own strength to kill buddhas is the Celestial in action. Its power is due to the clarity of the Constant being the nature of Mind. In one’s own gradual refinement, clarity being the nature of mind, it follows that its clarification is the effective harmony of the heaven and earth of the immaterial body of awareness whose heart is the Center. The Constant is the nature of this Center of open awareness being Mind mastering energy. This is not a matter of energy-work. It is not even energy being other than Mind. It is a description of the mystical source of the impulse of one’s own life, immaterial beyond location. Mind mastering energy being the Center having no location is the real totality of unity. Though it has no location, it is not apart from your pointed nose. There it is! Yet how could it be or have a place? Just this primordial Space with no inside or outside is not beyond this instant occasion. Ignorance of the Constant is energy mastering mind; when conditioned yang peaks, it wanes, and evolution inexorably goes along with a cycle of creation. The 55th Chapter concludes: "When beings climax in power, they wane; this is being unguided. The unguided die early.” They die before they even know it; they die before their time. This is the result of habitual clinging to thoughts unawares.

Hello, Clarity!!❤

These are the words of a provisional teaching. Adepts do not see in terms of the relative. The provisional teaching addresses the need to be aware of being bound by convention, then seeing THAT as nothing other than a cultural or societal relativity. In this sense, whether anything is categorized at all is not even the point of the phrase (if it is analyzed in other than the most shallow sense). Analysis of the Tao Te Ching at all is a fine place to start though. I consider the Classic by Lao Tzu a manual for becoming a wizard, and my analysis is commensurate with that approach. But then, if CloudHands was referring to my OP… hehe, well those words were not necessarily designed to appear beautiful!! Some might consider them effective— at least I would hope so. Others without access to the Dharma-eye are most likely to view my OP as something to resist…❤ ed note: add last two lines

When one opens to the Virtue of Receptivity, there is abiding in not-knowing inasmuch as one doesn't see in terms of the relative. Seeing the relative isn't oneself going along with it. This is the unconventional in terms of ordinary psychology. Seeing loss as loss or otherwise being otherwise as enlightening observation is up to oneself alone. This is because in seeing reality as is, one has no attachment to reality. How much less is one's attachment to illusion? Illusion is one's own subjectivity. Not being subjective is called objectivity in terms of factual observation. This is selflessness in terms of the nonpsychological. Since one doesn't know in terms of acute observation beyond appearances and has no attachment to outcomes in terms of adaption, it isn't a matter of one not knowing illusion— it in fact doesn't exist.

This is in terms of a cycle of yin and yang— not just a far-off glimmer of one's mortality. This is going along with creation and experiencing birth and death in terms of following thought unawares. This is going along with the energy of situations as if they exist— as if oneself exists. This is being a subject bound by mundanity. The teachings of all the authentic traditions make it perfectly clear that one is not to be satisfied with bondage to this. The secret of all the authentic traditions is emancipation from this. Seeing reality as is enables one to recognize potential in the midst of the polluted. There is no where else to find potential. Potential is unrefined elixir. Seeing it is recognizing the real in the midst of the false. Seeing this is gathering this. In terms of the created cycles of yin and yang, where one's life hangs in the balance and most ignoramuses act as if the next breath was guaranteed, one should have a constant subtlety of observation over one's mind at all times in order to recognize the arising of yang. When yang peaks, yin's influence arrives and one should immediately withdraw the fire and store the unrefined elixir nonpsychologically. When the killing energy of the natural yin convergence culminates, one should maintain the subtle concentration and not act prematurely. This is guidance for those who are able to work with essence. BD seems to be one of those… there is nothing to say about it❤ heeheehee!! ed note… add sly remark

ahhahaha!!❤