doc benway

༄༅། །གདམས་པ་རིན་ཆེན་ཕྲེང་མཛེས་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། Beautiful String of Jewels A Heart Advice from Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö to Khandro Tsering Chödrön རྗེ་བླ་མ་རྣམས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། jé lama nam la chaktsal lo Homage to the venerable lamas! ཚེ་མི་རྟག་སྟོན་ཀའི་སྤྲིན་དང་འདྲ། ། tsé mitak tönké trin dang dra This life of ours is fleeting, the same as autumn clouds: དུས་ད་ལྟ་ཡོད་པ་ད་ལྟ་མེད། ། dü danta yöpa danta mé Now we have it—but now it is gone. ལུས་འདི་ནི་ཆུ་ཡི་ཆུ་བུར་བཞིན། ། lü di ni chu yi chubur zhin This body’s like a bubble, floating on a stream, དབུགས་རྒྱུ་བ་རླུང་གསེབ་མར་མེ་མཚུངས། ། uk gyuwa lung seb marmé tsung Our very breathing like a candle in the wind. གྲོགས་བཟང་པོ་ལྷ་བུ་འདྲ་བ་ཡང་། ། drok zangpo lha bu drawa yang Those best friends of ours, they seem like children of the gods, ཤུལ་དུ་བསྐྱུར་ནས་འགྲོགས་དབང་མེད། ། shul du kyur né drok wangmé But once we’ve left them behind, they can never be by our side again. རྒྱུ་ནོར་རྫས་རི་ལྟར་སྤུངས་ཡོད་ཀྱང་། ། gyunor dzé ri tar pung yö kyang We may have stacked up wealth and possessions the size of a mountain, ཁབ་ཙམ་ཞིག་ཁྱེར་བའི་དབང་ནི་མེད། ། khab tsam zhik khyerwé wang nimé But not even a single needle can we carry with us. ཁོ་འཆི་བདག་གཤིན་རྗེ་ཞེས་བྱ་བས། ། kho chidak shinjé zhé jawé He, the one called Yama, Lord of Death, དབང་མ་སྟེར་ཕྱི་མའི་ཡུལ་དུ་ཁྲིད། ། wang ma ter chimé yul du tri Does not let us go, but drags us off into the next life. ལུས་མཛེས་པའི་ལང་ཚོ་བཀྲག་ལ་གསལ། ། lü dzepé langtso trak la sal This body, glowing with youth and beauty, མཚར་སྡུག་གི་མེ་ཏོག་འདྲ་ན་ཡང་། ། tsar duk gi metok dra na yang May look like a lovely flower in bloom, དུས་ནམ་ཞིག་མི་རྟག་སད་ཀྱིས་ཁྱེར། ། dü nam zhik mitak sé kyi khyer But one day the frost of impermanence will destroy it. དགྲ་འཆི་བདག་གཤིན་རྗེ་མཆེ་བ་གཙིགས། ། dra chidak shinjé chewa tsik Our opponent, Yama Lord of Death, bares his fangs ལས་ངན་པའི་ཞགས་པས་དབང་མེད་བསྡམ། ། lé ngenpé zhakpé wangmé dam As he binds us, helpless, with the noose of our negative karma. རྒྱོབ་སོད་ཀྱི་གནམ་ས་གང་བའི་དུས། ། gyob sö kyi nam sa gangwé dü And when heaven and earth fill with cries of “Strike!” and “Kill!”, སྐྱབས་བླ་མ་དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ་ལས་མེད། ། kyab lama könchok sum lemé Then there’s no refuge anywhere, except the lama, the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. དུས་ད་ལྟ་རང་དབང་ཡོད་པའི་དུས། ། dü danta rangwang yöpé dü Now is the time when freedom is still ours, བློ་དམ་པའི་ཆོས་ལ་ཕྱོགས་པས་ན། ། lo dampé chö la chokpé na So if we turn our mind towards the Dharma, ལས་བྱས་པ་དོན་དང་ལྡན་པར་འགྱུར། ། lé jepa dön dangden par gyur Then whatever we do will become truly meaningful. རང་སེམས་འདི་རྟ་རྒོད་དང་འདྲ་བས། ། rang sem di ta gö dang drawé This mind of ours is like a wild horse, ངེས་འབྱུང་ལྕག་གིས་བྲབ་པ་དང་། ། ngejung chak gi drabpa dang So tame it with the whip of renunciation, and ཚེ་འདིར་སྣང་འཁྲུལ་པའི་ཞེན་པ་ཐོངས། ། tsé dir nang trulpé zhenpa tong Give up clinging to the delusory perceptions of this life. འགྲོ་བ་ཀུན་ཕ་མར་ཤེས་བྱས་ནས། ། drowa kün pamar shejé né See all beings as your father and mother, and བྱམས་སྙིང་རྗེ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་གཉིས་བསྒོམ། ། jam nyingjé changchub sem nyi gom Then cultivate love, compassion, and the two bodhicittas, ཐེག་ཆེན་གྱི་བློ་སྦྱོང་འབྱོང་བར་མཛོད། ། tekchen gyi lojong jongwar dzö And perfect the mind training of the Mahāyāna! དྲིན་ཆེ་ལྡན་རྩ་བའི་བླ་མ་དེ། ། drinché den tsawé lama dé Never forget the root lama—and his unrepayable kindness— དུས་ནམ་ཡང་མ་བརྗེད་སྙིང་དབུས་བསྒོམ། ། dü namyang ma jé nying ü gom But meditate on him in the centre of your heart. གསོལ་བཏབ་དང་དབང་བླང་ཐུགས་ཡིད་བསྲེ། ། soltab dang wang lang tuk yi sé Pray to him, receive empowerments, and merge your mind one with his wisdom mind. སེམས་གདོད་ནས་སྐྱེ་མེད་ཆོས་སྐུའི་གཤིས། ། sem döné kyemé chökü shi Mind is primordially unborn, and so by nature dharmakāya; གདངས་རང་བཞིན་འོད་གསལ་འགགས་པ་མེད། ། dang rangzhin ösal gakpamé Its radiant nature is clear light, unceasing; རྩལ་སྣ་ཚོགས་ཤར་བ་སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ། ། tsal natsok sharwa trulpé ku Its display is nirmāṇakāya, arising in manifestations of every kind. དེ་སྐུ་གསུམ་དབྱེར་མེད་ལྷུན་གྱིས་གྲུབ། ། dé ku sum yermé lhün gyi drub These three kāyas are indivisible, spontaneously present. རང་རིག་པའི་གནས་ལུགས་དེ་ཡི་ངང་། ། rangrik pé neluk dé yi ngang Rest in this natural state of rigpa self-awareness: བློས་བཅོས་སླད་མ་བྱེད་ཕྱམ་བརྡལ་ཐོང་། ། lö chö lema jé cham dal tong Don’t let the ordinary mind contrive and spoil it, but release everything, spacious and even. རྣམ་རྟོག་གི་རྗེས་སུ་མ་འབྲང་ཞོག ། namtok gi jesu ma drang zhok Don’t follow rising thoughts; leave them be. གང་སྣང་ཀུན་རང་གྲོལ་འགྲོ་བར་གྱིས། ། gang nang kün rangdrol drowar gyi Let whatever appears unfold and naturally liberate itself. ཐུན་མཚམས་སུ་ཁ་འདོན་བཟླས་བརྗོད་དང་། ། tüntsam sukha dön dejö dang In the breaks between sessions, recite mantras and prayers, and བཟང་སྤྱོད་སོགས་སྨོན་ལམ་ཡང་ཡང་གདབ། ། zangchö sok mönlam yangyang dab Excellent aspirations like The Prayer of Good Action. ཚུལ་དེ་སྐད་གདམས་པའི་ཕྲེང་བ་འདི། ། tsul deké dampé trengwa di And so, this garland of words of advice ཚེ་རིང་གི་དམ་ཆོས་སྒྲོན་མ་ལ། ། tsering gi damchö drönma la For Tsering Chödrön, ‘Long Life, Light of the Supreme Dharma’— བསམ་པ་བཟང་པོས་གདམས་པ་དགེ ། sampa zangpö dampa gé My good heart spoke meritoriously; དགེ་བས་བྱང་ཆུབ་མྱུར་ཐོབ་ཤོག ། gewé changchub nyur tob shok And may that merit bring us swiftly to enlightenment! ཅེས་པའང་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས་པས་སོ། ། by Chökyi Lodrö

Only one way to find out... try! In my opinion, the question should not be "can a Daoist who sticks with the Dao and does wu wei still be a workaholic overachiever?" It is better to ask "can I stick with the Dao and do wu wei still be a workaholic overachiever?' Wu wei is not about doing nothing, it is about our relationship to what we are doing, and whether we align with or go against our inherent nature as a healthy, balanced, and well-adjusted human being, connected to our community and environment. If our relationship to our work is healthy and balanced, I believe we can be very busy and productive, even amass great wealth, and remain well aligned with the natural way. One problem, however, is that being extremely busy and focused on work makes it quite challenging to maintain a healthy balance; not to mention success and wealth have corrupting effects and make it difficult to align with the Way. This is why the sage tends to be more carefree, simple, and flexible. This is why so many practitioners spend time in isolation. To me the words workaholic and overachiever both connote someone that is forced, unnatural, pathologic, and indicative of a dysfunctional pattern of behavior with negative consequences for oneself and others. Forcing ourselves to work in an unnatural and unhealthy manner and position are most certainly not wu wei and not in alignment with the Way. My own life has been an evolving path of looking for balance between a very demanding job, hobbies and outside interests, family, and my spiritual life. I've found that it is not reasonable to expect it all to just fall into place and work out. For me, it has been about trial and error, patience, and self-acceptance; continually adjusting myself to find a balance in any given moment. This often has required compromise, sometimes sacrifice, but from a Daoist perspective I feel that balance and harmony are key concepts. And it changes over time, sometimes profoundly (eg when illness or serious injury strikes, loss, changing interests, change in partners, the birth of a child, loss of a job, etc...). Good luck!

My root teacher offers instructions on zhinè and other basic Bön methods online for free. https://ligminchalearning.com/starting-a-meditation-practice/ Glidewing also offers a paid course with similar content. https://www.glidewing.com/twr/zhine_meditation_home.html There are several books available, here are some - https://ligmincha.org/product/a-tri-dzogchen/ https://ligmincha.org/product/wonders-of-the-natural-mind/?lang=cs https://www.bonstore.org/products/a-tri-dzogchen-by-his-holiness-menri-trizin-33rd-lungtok-tenpai-nyima https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-inner-mirror-a-tri-dzogchen-nyima-dakpa/13258310 https://ligmincha.org/product/pith-instruction-for-a-khrid-rdzogs-chen/ Sun gazing is also a part of the Bön curriculum but it does NOT involve staring directly at the sun. In my opinion, anyone that claims that is possible without damage to the eyes should not be trusted. The gaze is directed below the sun with the eyelids partially lowered during this practice. I do NOT recommend trying this without expert instruction as retinal damage is no joke and irreversible. Sky gazing, dark retreat, and sun gazing are all part of the Bön dzogchen system but they are supplementary practices, not a complete system in and of themselves.

The practice of the 3 Doors -- resting in the nature of mind through connecting with stillness of the body, silence of the inner voices, and spaciousness of the heart-mind. Yes, I've stayed with it for about 12 years now although I am able to shortcut the 3 Doors and simply rest the mind in openness most of the time. Nevertheless, I often return to the 3 Doors practices for myself and in teaching and guiding others. It is simple, direct, and accessible at any time. It can, and should, become a practice not only for sitting on the mat in seclusion but in any circumstance of life. It is the ultimate nourishment as it connects me to the source of my being. It is a refuge that, when enough familiarity is established, can be a source of strength, creativity, and peace in difficult circumstances. No, I tried a variety of things over the years but my current mindset is to stay with what works and go deeper and more consistent, rather than jump around to multiple practices. As I get older, I realize my time on Earth is limited and I don't have a lot of time to fool around. Regarding the topic of lucid dreaming, I practiced Bön dream and sleep yoga for a period of time each and found them very effective. My experience was that I've never had more restful sleep than when lucid dreaming. Arguably, no more energy is expended when lucid in a dream than when buffeted about by the uncontrolled activity of samsaric dreaming. In addition, the part of the practice related to preparing for sleep, sleep hygiene one could say, seems to play a big role in enhancing the quality of sleep and rest.

I'm a Bön practitioner for about 12 years now. Yes, I've never been there but I am familiar with the center. The lama is Geshe Yongdong Losar. I've done an online workshop with him but have not met him in person. By all accounts he is a knowledgable and warm teacher, exemplifying the Bön view, conduct, and fruition. Tratak is a Sanskrit term. In Tibetan the practice is referred to as zhiné which is usually translated as 'calm abiding.' In Bön traditions the object of meditation is generally the Tibetan syllable A, which refers to the dharmakaya. It can be done with anything that one can focus on with the eyes at relatively close range. The practice has a central role in the A Khrid lineage of Bön dzogchen but it is also used in the other Bön dzogchen lineages, Zhangzhung Nyengyüd and Drakpa Korsum, primarily as a tool to facilitate introduction to the nature of mind. Essentially this practice combines shamatha and vipassana into one practice. In the beginning, focusing on the object of meditation allows the mind to settle and the practitioner to gain some degree of control of its activity. Once that has occured, the practitioner is able to look directly at the mind, its activity and content, and begin to distinguish that from the mind's fundamental essence. Once certainty in the distinction between mind and its fundamental essence is achieved, one is said to have been introduced to the nature of mind.

My wife is more of a fan than me but it was a great game and well deserved win. I’ve been a bit of a Vikings fan since childhood and agree a Ravens - Vikings superbowl would be a blast.

I acknowledge I'm posting about the wrong football but I'm really excited to see the Baltimore Ravens win the AFC North division and finish the season as 3rd seed moving in to the NFL playoffs. Tomorrow evening they play their longstanding rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers, in Baltimore for the first elimination round. While I think we have a better team overall than Pittsburgh, we always struggle with them so tomorrow is likely to be a nail biter. Go Ravens!

Grok is a word created by Robert Heinlein in his book Stranger in a Strange Land. It means something like understanding through empathy.

I've often seen that when people challenge spiritual realization or abstruse teachings, they offer up the most extreme examples to make a point. Our minds are quick to go there. Of course, one would need to have an impeccably stable and comprehensive realization to be able to find refuge and humanity in an a prison camp, and yet some people do, and no doubt many don't, and it's not an all or none thing. One day may be more tolerable than another and the practice may help a little or a lot, depending on the circumstances. I've read accounts of Tibetan lamas withstanding horrific conditions for years and decades in Chinese camps, enduring torture and abuse, and coming through relatively unscathed. And of course many never make it out. I've also read accounts of prison guards describing such masters' compassion and being deeply affected by it. I suspect that the vast majority of practitioners, monastic and lay, are not nearly stable or realized enough for their practice to keep them sane and kind under such terrible conditions. But the point I really want to make is that we don't need to resort to horrific conditions and challenges to realize that our view and our practice are not perfect and have limitations. We can see this in our day to day actions, our thoughts and feelings in relation to the most trivial problems and successes, in our times of illness, and especially experiences of loss. At the end of the day, we can see for ourselves to what degree these teachings and practices work, or not, for us. If they work, we can cultivate more and more deeply and if we are committed enough, our refuge will be so strong it can accommodate anything. The sky is always larger and more expansive than anything we can try to fill it with. Our openness, the spaciousness of our heart and mind, can be like the sky, able to accommodate far more than one might imagine, and nevertheless we are certainly going to die. We are transient. This is unavoidable.

Maybe more accurate to say it is my understanding of the rationale of dzogchen practice. Not so much my understanding of nonduality, per se.

I've observed it to be a case of diminishing and dissolving for some teachers and practitioners. To be clear, I'm not referring to anyone here. In Bön teachings this is often identified as a common error on the path of which we should be cognizant, hence the quote from The 21 Nails warning us not to misconstrue the energetic display of the base as somehow deficient. Agreed, it is the mind's nature to reify and grasp. I agree here as well, in part. Beyond the tricky ego, the non-dual experience can be extraordinarily powerful and transformative, as you well know. I think that the profound degree of confidence and certainty that arise from such realization can come across as arrogant and dismissive, particularly for people who don't have a relatable frame of reference. I learned this lesson personally from a close friend who is open and confident enough to be direct with me when I rub him the wrong way. I think this is one of several reasons why some non-dual traditions strongly discourage discussion of the subject outside a closed cohort.

My teacher often refers to the more sophisticated and subtle layers of ego in the advancing practitioner as the "smart ego." It's more wily than the more gross and obvious inner voices. It is endlessly fascinating to become aware of deeper and subtler layers of this onion in practice and in life.

I appreciate you sharing your dream and your interpretation. In my opinion and experience, non-duality is a valid and efficient path for the karmically connected traveler. Your interpretation of your dream clearly has much meaning for you. I think it’s appropriate for you to trust your interpretation and follow your heart and mind in the matter. Nevertheless, your dream has little or no significance for those who connect with a non-dual path and for the path itself, which can never be separate from those following it. From my perspective, there are no limitations inherent in non-dual practice, only in our attempts to treat it conceptually.

Recognizing and accepting that this may go against the grain, even against common sense and against accepted authority, I challenge the idea of non-being as "more ultimate than being." We see this proposal in Daoist and Buddhist circles but I find it problematic. Being and non-being define one another and, for me, it is gratuitous and imaginary to suggest or conceive of one without the other. In my metaphysics they coexist and co-arise, they are intimately and inextricably related. The interplay between the two is ongoing and simultaneous rather than temporally separate or hierarchical. Our understanding and conceptualization is temporal and hierarchical because that is an inherent limitation of our cognizance (see for example, Time's Arrow and Archimedes Point by Huw Price as well as other examinations of the nature of time and its relationship to human experiece) but I think that is a side effect of human embodiment rather than a characteristic of reality. This is an area where I find great interest in the evolving understanding of quantum mechanics and the nature of space-time.

Some interesting stuff in this thread. I personally have not yet tried communicating or querying any AI engines any my feelings and thoughts about its value are complicated and evolving. I would like to comment on a few points about non-duality that came up in your post. I have also found that many proponents of non-dual viewpoints, be they on traditional paths or modern, demonstrate a tendency to grasp at or "understand" non-duality in a way that Buddhism and Bön label as an error of eternalism. In some cases, I think this is a perceived error based on the limitations of verbal communication, in other cases a true error of understanding and practice. Here, even ChatGPT struggles as it would be misleading to refer to non-duality as undivided awareness or even as a transcendence of dualities. I agree that it is accurate to say that some proponents tend to mistakenly endorse diminishing or dissolving the characteristics of Eros and Logos whereas in the non-dual path I've studied and practiced all of these characteristics are appreciated for what they are, manifestations of the infinite potential of life, and embraced as the path itself. In one the most treasured Bön dzogchen teachings it is said in reference to the "mental afflictions" (this refers to characteristics of both Eros and Logos) that Viewing them as deficient is the error. This is obvious to me when reading many posts by people struggling with the study of Buddhism, Madhyamaka in particular, but also other non-dual paths as well. Overemphasis of detachment can lead to nihilistic crisis. Intellectualization can lead to spiritual bypassing and nihilism. The experience of transcendence can lead to counter-productive arrogance. An example of this can be found in the more recent writings of Michael Singer, a non-dual "teacher" who by all accounts had genuine non-dual realization but then had a rude awakening when his "enlightenment" failed him during a health crisis and has now abandoned the path. One of the weaknesses of modern "non-dualism" as a philosophy and practice, is its lack of a comprehensive and time-tested foundation and framework. The power of non-dual experience gives the impression that nothing else is needed, and indeed this may be the case for some, but not all, probably very few in reality. As life goes on with its tests and challenges, we often need more to support us and that can take as many forms as there are individuals. This is where spiritual traditions embracing non-duality that have survived and supported practitioners for millennia have so much to offer us that modern non-dual teachers and hobbyists may not. The non-dual teachings I engage with strongly emphasize the risk of spiritual bypassing and other common errors and obstacles encountered on the non-dual path. After introduction to the nature of mind and associated meditative practices, the most important set of teachings relates to commonly encountered errors and misunderstandings in the view, practice, and conduct. Of note, this path does not often engage in differentiation or balancing of the various characteristics of Eros and Logos or to xing and qing. Rather the entire spectrum of ideation and emotion are seen as the manifestation, or dynamic ornamentation, of the base and the direct realization of this depth and breadth of integration in an active and lived sense is the fruition. In this paradigm, it is the very differentiation of self and other which is the fundamental impediment to integration, so the work is done at this level of differentiation, as opposed to at the level of the multitude of experiences, emotions, and ideas that occur to the source of differentiation, the self. My understanding is that the term non-dual was introduced to avoid the error of Monism/eternalism associated with the terms One or Oneness. Understanding this clearly, the phrase "not one, not two" seems essentially equivalent to "non-dual." On the other hand, there is no question that for some, the term "non-dual" or "non-duality" has become something to grasp at, something conceptual and tangible, that can be a powerful obstacle to genuine understanding and realization. In this sense, the phrase "not one, not two" could be quite valuable, but then again there is nothing preventing this phrase from becoming yet another misunderstood and misused label. Consequently, I avoid discussions of non-dual concepts and theory and prefer to point to the practice itself, which is the view, the meditation, and the conduct. Non-duality as a concept is essentially meaningless and of little value, IMO, much as the word God adds little to any discussion of reality. Conversely, as a practice, both on the cushion and in the activity of life, it is profound and priceless. In my own practice, there is little more important than being aware of the tendency to bypass. This is one of the most critical roles of mindfulness in my spiritual practice. It is all well and good to use meditation to calm and soothe and help provide relief in a controlled environment. In this capacity, meditation is a wonderful balm and most practitioners do not go beyond this level, IME. It is another thing altogether to experience real transformation through meditative practice; this absolutely requires working with our experiences of desire, aversion, and ignorance (or whatever other paradigm you prefer to describe the range of experiences of life) directly and in an ongoing fashion. While I don't share your profound distaste for erroneous aspects of contemporary non-dualism, I can understand and appreciate it. Practicing this type of path myself, I feel more compassion and empathy for the errors than distaste. There is an arrogance and a dismissiveness that can come through that is very off-putting but, for me, it is no worse than similar qualities one sees among adherents of virtually any religious doctrine, or that of trail blazers who are convinced their creation is correct to the exclusion of all others. At least the non-dualists are not trying to pass laws in a secular society based on Bronze Age mythology... there's that. There is no single correct path, IMO. I would go so far as to say there is no single truth, as even the "truth" of non-duality, once expressed in words and concepts, is no longer truth but rather an incomplete description of that which is unimputable. I appreciate you sharing your process and your work with AI. I do find it interesting and revealing. I think it can be used as a tool, much as this site can, for us to look at our own reactivity, our own views, assumptions, and expectations, as a tool for self-investigation and growth. I would be wary of using it in an effort to understand a topic with which I am not intimately familiar as I don't think it is an effective tool for discriminating truth from fiction or useful from useless information. Much like the path and practice under discussion, I think it can easily give a sense of authority and authenticity to the uninitiated that may be misleading. Of more concern, I think it is has the potential for misuse that may prove to be devastating in the near future.