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True dharma practice is a revolutionary activity, and you can’t do it in a comfortable way. You really have to challenge the whole identity of your life. But the strength that’s asked for is not necessarily the strength of eliminating the impurities of body and mind, or fighting against the defilements of greed, hatred, and delusion, the inner corruptions, though this language is very common in Theravadin, Tibetan, and Zen Buddhism. The strength that’s needed is the courage of heart to remain undefended and open, a willingness to touch the ten-thousand joys and the ten-thousand sorrows from our compassion, the deepest place of our being. This is a different kind of fearlessness, which requires as much or more passion and fire. ~ Jack Kornfield

"It is an unfortunate fact that the bulk of humanity is too limited in its mental vision to weigh with patience and intelligence those isolated phenomena, seen and felt only by a psychologically sensitive few, which lie outside its common experience. Men of broader intellect know that there is no sharp distinction betwixt the real and the unreal; that all things appear as they do only by virtue of the delicate individual physical and mental media through which we are made conscious of them; but the prosaic materialism of the majority condemns as madness the flashes of super-sight which penetrate the common veil of obvious empiricism." ~ h. p. lovecraft the tomb

If you don’t reflect on death and impermanence, There’ll be no way to practise Dharma purely. Practice will remain an aspiration, One that is constantly postponed. And you may feel regret the day that death comes, But by then it’s too late! ~ Chatral Rinpoche

With bodhicitta one enjoys happiness. With bodhicitta one enjoys even sorrow. With bodhicitta one enjoys what is there. With bodhicitta one enjoys even what is not there. It is because of bodhicitta that one gives up the pleasure of meditative concentration, and in order to relieve others of their suffering, goes down to the deepest hell as if into a pleasure park. ~ Khunu Lama Rinpoche

"You understand that all phenomena are false, but this does not help anything. This understanding, that everything is dream-like, illusory, unreal and false should be assimilated in your being. Without taking it to heart it becomes mere platitude. This does not result in enlightenment. "If you think that appearance and emptiness are indivisible, you should be detached from appearances. Are you? If you think that buddhas and sentient beings are indivisible, you should honor and serve sentient beings to the same degree as you would the buddhas. Do you do that? If you think, 'I will have no karmic ripening even if I engage in the ten nonvirtues,' you should be able to accept the ten nonvirtuous actions of others directed towards yourself - even if you yourself are killed. Can you do that? If you think, 'Even if I were to engage in the ten virtues there would be no benefit,' you should not have any sense of joy when you are benefitted by others who are practicing the ten virtues - even if your own life is saved. Do you? Now, go again to a solitary place and let your body remain like a corpse, let your voice remain like that of a mute and let your mind remain like the sky." ~ anonymous

One of my teachers, (to me) the embodiment of Mother Wisdom, once said to me in a very endearing sort of way, "There is no need to try to love others, to get anxious about being kind and to be constantly straining to help others ~ just try your best to remain open, like the sky... in that way, the love, the kindness, the genuine concern thats already in you will simply manifest effortlessly..." Her words came to mind suddenly when i read Steve's post above. Thank you.

When thoughts come while you are meditating, let them come; there’s no need to regard them as your enemies. When they arise, relax in their arising. On the other hand, if they don’t arise, don’t be nervously wondering whether or not they will. Just rest in their absence. If big, well-defined thoughts suddenly appear during your meditation, it is easy to recognize them. But when slight, subtle movements occur, it is hard to realize that they are there until much later. This is what we call namtok wogyu, the undercurrent of mental wandering. This is the thief of your meditation, so it is important for you to keep a close watch. If you can be constantly mindful, both in meditation and afterward, when you are eating, sleeping, walking, or sitting, that’s it – you’ve got it right! ~ Dudjom Rinpoche

All apparent divisions, derived according to perceived attributes, are a conditioned product of the discursive mind. When the discursive mind dissolves inwardly into the empty luminosity of the ground consciousness, so too do all those apparent divisions that it gave rise to. ~ Paramito Ladakh

"If we have a good heart, we experience much happiness and relaxation. We have no reason to feel angry or jealous and we have a very happy mind. When we speak,sweet words come out. Even our face is happy and smiling. At night we go to bed with a happy mind and have a very comfortable sleep, without any worries. Otherwise, if we live our life with a very selfish, ungenerous mind, we think about nothing else except me, me, me: ‘When will I be happy? When will I be free from these problems?’ If our attitude is like this, jealousy and anger arise easily, strongly and repeatedly, so we experience much unhappiness in our life, many ups-and-downs. During the day we have a cold heart and at night we even go to bed with a cold heart and unhappy mind." ~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche, ‘Practicing the Good Heart’

Buddhist teachings can be divided into three parts: sila, samadhi, and prajna: ethical conduct, concentration, and wisdom. Or to put it into the vernacular: clean up your act, concentrate your mind, and use your concentrated mind to investigate reality. ~ Leigh Brasington

Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends on what we look for. What we look for depends on what we think. What we think depends on what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality. ~ David Bohm

Primordial wisdom...

happy to share..

The tendency to concoct tenuous comparisons in time and space, to cling to artificial preferences fabricated from insubstantial clouds of thought, creates all the dissatisfaction that lies outside the immediate peace of just this moment. ~ Paramito Ladakh

I guess Mr Brazier must have hit a wall more than once, and finally gave up, at which point he gained insight into the futility of effort, thereupon, feeling extreme compassion for all fellow beings, uttered the words above, in the hope that others will not need to go thru similar. It is totally valid (for him), coming from his experience, to conclude how he had attained to the truth of selfless awakening.

Although it seems like a nice thought to equate Nirvana with some grand notion of Oneness, God, Tao, Cosmic Consciousness etc., in truth, Nirvana is very humble - this term when used within the context of Buddhism simply means 'to blow out' or 'extinction', like blowing out the flame of a candle, or the complete eradication/extinction of karmic propensities, by which time other grand notions no longer will hold any appeal, and the realizer of this becomes free of and from future afflictive conditions that basically cause him or her to be bound to samsara, or the wheel of becoming. When this becoming is cut at the root, the wheel where the illusion of birth originates and seemingly ends with death ceases to spin, and the potentially endless subsequent rebirths comes to a halt. This is basically the condition of Nirvana. Thus, the craving to become can be extinguished as simply as a once burning candle flame, bright and hot one moment, ceases to be in the next when the flame is blown out. If Nirvana is Cosmic in nature, then the blowing of this one flame (analogous to untamed desires) will also bring cessation to all other flames, individuals who share the same propensities, but such is not the case. For this, the doctrine of the Mahayana postulated the bodhisattva ideal so as to allow practitioners of this tradition the opportunity to strengthen their enlightenment potential (bodhichitta) via the combined realisation of wisdom together with the dynamic force of altruistic work (pure compassion which arise spontaneously from the wisdom understanding selflessness, and likewise, wisdom that realises selflessness would naturally give rise to pure compassion, according to Mahayana thought).

Anyone who lets go of grasping, in the true sense, is a 'Buddhist'. Essentially, thats the gist of it. Whats the point of comparing. The superior path is the one that leads the practitioner to complete exhaustion of grasping and aversion, so that the state of being, when happy, can be wholly happy, and when not happy, is not too affected emotionally. If Taoism or Hinduism or Christianity, or Ba'hai, or Jainism, or Sufism, or any other path can offer that, by all means, go for it. As a Buddhist, if i can see someone flourishing in their chosen path, it will fill me with delight. Greed, jealousy, envy, hatred, anger, and ignorance... these negative emotional states do not recognise creed, colour nor spiritual leanings. We all have to put in the work to neutralise the barbs and the stings resulting from being affected due to certain habits we have developed; by this work, if done correctly, it should then cut the causes at the root and completely remove future repetitions of effects. If Taoism or any path can offer a map towards emotional freedom from these dark arisings, i don't see any reason not to pursue its teaching. *late edit for typo

One is not capable of achieving one’s salvation by one’s own conscious effort. In fact, it is the very realization that one is so incapable that leads to the transformation that constitutes real Buddhist wisdom: namely, the awakening to non-self. ~ David Brazier

"The Buddha’s complete teaching is contained in the Inner Tantras of the Vajrayana. The Inner Tantras are based on and contain the entire Hinayana, Mahayana, and Outer Tantra teachings, and at the same time go beyond them. In his Inner Tantra teachings, the Buddha said the nature of the ego and of all phenomena is empty—this remains the same. In addition the Buddha highlighted the blissful nature of emptiness. The entire universe is the mandala of bliss-emptiness, and every sentient being is also the mandala of bliss-emptiness. Bliss-emptiness is the true and ever-present nature of reality, but we don’t experience it because we cling to and are obscured by our duality conceptions. The Buddha gave many different teachings to free us from duality; these can be summarized as the Visualization Stage and Completion Stage practices. The Visualization Stage practices, which involve concentrating on and actualizing enlightened body, speech, and mind, are Shamatha. The Completion Stage practices are Vipashyana. Although the Visualization and Completion Stages have different names, they’re not separate or distinct from one another. Through Visualization Stage practice we realize bliss, and through Completion Stage practice we realize emptiness. Bliss is emptiness, emptiness is bliss, and realizing their unity as the true nature of everything is enlightenment. It takes a very long time to accomplish this realization through the Hinayana and Mahayana teachings. Yet the Vajrayana teachings of the Buddha, particularly the Inner Tantras, connect us to this enlightened state directly and powerfully, and in very little time we can accomplish this realization. That’s why it’s called Vajrayana, which means 'Diamond Path.'" ~ Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches The Beauty of Awakened Mind: Dzogchen Lineage of the Great Master Shigpo Dudtsi (pg 51)

"Bodhichitta is the foundation of Dzogchen practice. All the Dzogchen masters teach this same thing. Therefore, when you begin any practice session, visualize the objects of refuge in the sky in front of you, and generate love and compassion for all sentient beings. Then take refuge. Bodhichitta and refuge can be a complete practice. If you’re practicing this way, after taking refuge, receive the blessings. Visualize that the objects of refuge dissolve into light, which then dissolves into you. Now meditate on the Dzogchen state. Relax your mind without blocking, grasping, or analyzing thoughts. Be open and awake; let everything come and go without your interfering in any way. Then dedicate the merit." ~ Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches The Beauty of Awakened Mind: Dzogchen Lineage of the Great Master Shigpo Dudtsi (pg 49)

In Vajrayana, practitioners are encouraged to recognise, train, and then stabilise their already-awakened nature. Its not a process of peeling off layers of delusion; its more a process of gaining stability in recognition, and the quickest way to attain that is to strengthen bodhicitta via the consistent practice of shamatha and vipassana, coupled with altruistic action (emulating the enlightened qualities of preceptors, ie buddhas and bodhisattvas) by keeping mindful attention to conduct of body, speech and mind. The layers will then fall away naturally and effortlessly. In the West the tendency to become too analytical of the intricacies of awakening contribute to exertions of enormous effort, often accompanied by strife, heartaches and disappointment due to the emotional strings often attached to such analysis. Such analytical habits are foreign to Easterners, and they find it hard to understand why the West have this habit of making things more complex - if only they learn to adopt and internalise the basic view of seeing phenomena as empty of self, impermanent, and ultimately unsatisfactory, then the question of there being a self that awakens becomes completely meaningless, and therefore nullifies the necessity to mull over such an illusory notion, and instead use the time to do something useful to gain stability in recognising the intrinsic nature of the Great Perfection.

Try to imagine what it's like when this moment of empty cognizance suffused with awareness starts to last for a full hour, unbroken. The very first moment of empty cognizance already has the potential for full omniscience, as well as the potential for compassion and loving kindness - the potential ability to protect and help other beings, as well as to manifest the activity that functions for the welfare of all. All these qualities are present, but not fully manifest. The longer this duration lasts, the more the qualities become visible, actualized. They don't just appear later on, when realization is fully experienced. When the sun rises in the morning, do we have to wait for it to shine for it to be warm and brilliant? Although the noon sun may be stronger than the dawn sun, all of its qualities are present from the very first moment, though they may not be fully manifested. It's the same in this training. What is essential is to train in order to attain stability. Please understand that 'rangjung yeshe', self-existing wakefulness, is primordially endowed with all perfect qualities. The qualities of enlightenment are not a fabrication or a product. They are not a new achievement, an unprecedented new discovery, or something that we achieve. They are present from the very beginning. It's like the unchanging brilliance of the sun shining in the sky. It can be obscured by clouds, but these clouds are neither primordial nor intrinsic to the sky; they are always temporary, momentary. What prevents full realization of our innate nature of self-existing wakefulness is the momentary occurrence of thoughts and fixation. Because this occurrence is momentary, it can be cleared away. It's very important to understand this. ~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

For each of us, this little life is precious I was walking with one of my students just before lunch yesterday and he found this squirrel, its back was broken and we picked it up and we sat with it for a while, trying to figure out what to do with this poor little thing. It wasn’t dead, I couldn’t work out how close to death it was and so what to do? And so I’m thinking, well, there’s part of this poor animal that is going to be in shock by being held by these brutes that it spends its entire life running away from; and part of me is feeling to give it as much love and care as I possibly could. So as I looked deeply at it, it was obviously suffering and yet was so surrendered, there was something so graceful about it in its suffering. He was a young male squirrel in his prime. He may well have just fallen from his tree chasing his young love. Looking at him he seemed perfect. We held this poor little creature and then we thought; well let’s leave it somewhere peaceful so that if it dies it dies in its own environment. And we left it there in the long grass in the shade of a tree and I sent love to it as we meditated later and then I felt ‘Oh gosh, you know, dying alone. The poor thing’. And I thought, ‘have I done the right thing?’ – So I went and told Sati , my wife, who was cooking in the kitchen– and she said, ‘oh no, where is it, where is it?’ So we went and we brought it in and she picked it up and she held it in her hands and looking down at this dear creature in its plight. That is not something going on in your head. That connection to this experience that we are all sharing is not something going on in your head. And there it is, the life of this little thing, the life it has, in peril and it’s going to die. There is nothing you can do to help it but be with it. My first instinct had been to put it in nature in a quiet place so it could be left in peace and having done that I thought, ‘no, be with this little thing,’ and Sati held it, and she went to get, as she does, warm milk, and tried to feed it warm milk on the tip of her finger. And then at one point it’s little hand grabbed her finger, and it opened its eyes one last time…and there was something in its eyes, it was saying, ‘I see you, I’m here with you. You are here with me.’ And as it opened its eyes and passed away there was such an overwhelming feeling that it had been met. Now how can you explain that? You can’t explain it, but you can feel it. Experiences such as this go on at a level far deeper than just our ideas. We know we’re sharing an experience and we feel it deeply even though we haven’t figured it out in our minds. This is ability to be fully in our experience, is something that goes on at the heart level. It is at this level that we are actually connected, and it has nothing to do with our ideas. It is when we start to lose that ability to connect and to feel that we start to lose the essence of what it is to be human. We need to reflect, what might it mean to lose that deep connection to life, because in the rush of life, and the overstimulation that comes with it these days, we all too often don’t have the time or attention to be deeply with the things that are going on around us all the time. As that little animal died in Sati’s arms, of course she felt bereft, stroking it, crying; ‘oh no, don’t die, please don’t die.’ And she sat with it for half and hour hoping that it would open up its little eyes again…and I could feel her pain, and who would want to lose the ability to feel that? And yet… We all too easily do… Burgs

"To get to the essential meaning, it is important not to limit yourself to Shamatha meditation. When you practice Shamatha by itself you have a goal. You are focusing your mind on an object, and trying to stop thoughts. This means that there is effort and grasping in Shamatha. Shamatha is and will always be a duality practice. To realize the nature of your mind, you need a meditation that is based on nondual awareness. This means that you need Vipashyana and Dzogchen meditation. Vipashyana and Dzogchen practice means to be relaxed, casual, and to let go of everything. At the same time, do not be distracted. Shamatha is spontaneously present in good Vipashyana and Dzogchen practice without having to struggle. The moment you’re relaxed and undisturbed by thoughts, you attain the perfect stability and peace of the most advanced Shamatha meditation. You can reach this state at any time—just look at your own mind. The moment you look, there is nothing to see and nothing to hold. Do not look for anything else, just glide along in that state. Of course, a thought will arise. Let it come, let it be, and let it go. Maintain this state, and keep letting go of thoughts when they arise. Turn on your mindfulness radar so that you will not swing back into duality. The great master Shigpo Dudtsi reiterates: when a thought comes up, simply let it go and remain in your present state of awareness. Do not analyze and interpret any thought. By practicing in this way, each and every thought will evaporate into primordial wisdom awareness quite naturally. When you remain relaxed and free, letting thoughts come and go without grasping, you are truly meditating. The Dzogchen Semde text known as Lung Rabsal, the Clear Bright Teaching, says that meditation means “abiding in the natural state,” and that any other kind of meditation is like the husk on corn—just a temporary cover. If you’re not abiding in the natural state, all of your efforts are nothing more than the activities of samsara. The moment you recognize the natural state, samsara collapses and the beautiful, rich qualities of your mind begin to shine. These inherent goodness qualities are collectively known as “great blissfulness.” But if you don’t know how to rest in the natural state, “great blissfulness” is just a name. The Dzogchen teachings explicitly state that people who want to experience great blissfulness as a living reality must stop grasping thoughts, and relax without effort in the natural state. The teachings are quite clear that delusion is not liberated by force, but by letting go." ~ Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches The Beauty of Awakened Mind: Dzogchen Lineage of the Great Master Shigpo Dudtsi (pgs 161-162)