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“The practice of putting others in the center is not simply a crusade to do “good.” It is a practice based on the understanding that our own happiness is inextricably linked with the happiness of others.” ~ Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

THE IMPORTANCE OF PRACTICE AND POTENTIAL HAZARDS "Do not be content with just intellectual comprehension—take the teachings to heart. Recognize the Dzogchen view, and maintain it at all times with mindfulness. Do not succumb to habitual patterns; let all thoughts come and go. See everything as a dream, as a magical display. With this understanding, perform all of your activities with bodhichitta. If you practice like this, you’re on retreat even while you’re working in the big city. There are two stages of practice. The first stage is called the “practitioner chasing meditation.” This means that in the beginning and for a considerable time afterward, a great deal of effort is required. Meditation does not come easily or naturally. Our habitual patterns are still strong, and practice requires continuous acts of will. But if we continue on this path with courage and commitment, we will certainly reach the second stage known as “meditation chasing the practitioner.” At that time, there will no longer be a need for effort—no more, “Oh, now I must meditate.” Now practitioner and practice have merged. Whether we’re walking, talking, sitting, or sleeping, we’ll always be unwaveringly in the meditation state. Even if we try, we won’t leave the meditation state. But until that time comes, we must exercise diligence. We must keep up our practices. We must continue to chase meditation until meditation catches us. While we’re chasing meditation, progress will be made and some realization will come. But if we mistake this for the final attainment and discontinue our practice, whatever realization we have attained will be blown away like a rainbow the moment the stormy winds of habitual patterns return. The teachings say that we must maintain our practice with powerful, hook-like mindfulness until our realization is absolutely stable."" ~ Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches The Beauty of Awakened Mind Dzogchen: Lineage of the Great Master Shigpo Dudtsi (pg 177)

Definition of a Bodhisattva ~ Tai Situ Rinpoche As for some further explanation of the term “bodhisattva”, its definition is very specific. Sometimes “bodhisattva” is misunderstood as simply meaning somebody who has concern for other sentient beings, and who cares for them. Although this is very good, and constitutes one of a bodhisattva’s ways of dealing with others, it does not make a person a bodhisattva. The defining characteristic of a bodhisattva is the development of bodhichitta, the wish to attain enlightenment in order to benefit beings; once this wish has arisen one becomes a bodhisattva. When we like to give people food, clothing, and shelter, this is very good; a bodhisattva should do these things if it is the best he or she can do, but through such actions alone we will not become bodhisattvas. A bodhisattva is someone who is inspired by the aspiration to realize enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. This is bodhichitta, the characteristic of a bodhisattva. To understand this definition is quite important, as it describes somebody who is wise as opposed to someone who is a very good person but not necessarily enlightened. Thus, the definition of who is a bodhisattva is directly related to enlightenment, to buddhahood. The Tibetan expression for bodhichitta is ‘jang chub kyi sem’. Here, ‘jang chub’ means “enlightenment”, and ‘sem’ means “mind”; ‘kyi’ is a particle indicating that “enlightenment” describes a type of “mind”. Thus the phrase means “mind of enlightenment”, or “mind focused on enlightenment”. The word for bodhisattva, ‘jang chub sem pa’, means one who has this ‘jang chub kyi sem’. The word for buddhahood also uses these terms: it is called ‘jang chub kyi go pang’, or “the state of enlightenment”. So all these are interrelated; in this way the term “bodhisattva” is totally connected with enlightenment.

The cat that jumps is not the same cat that lands. ~ julian barbour

_/\_ Guru Rinpoche Om ah hung benza guru Pema siddhi hung https://vimeo.com/95818231

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/altruism/definition The Guru of Altruism: http://www.matthieuricard.org/en/

"Open awareness is not a consciousness and does not have an object in relation to which it is a subject. Thus, naturally enough, reality is not an object of wisdom but wisdom itself. Likewise, open awareness is not simply a knower of empty reality but IS emptiness and reality. It's authenticity comes as much or more because of the kind of subject it is rather than the kind of object whose measure it takes. This emphasis on the subjective state as such is characteristic of Dzogchen (and of many esoteric contemplative traditions). The meaning of the mind of enlightenment not realized by the lower mind can be understood through three signs: clarity (Tibetan: ngang), nature (rang bzhin), and the nonduality (gnyis med) of clarity and emptiness." ~ Anne Carolyn Klein and Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, UNBOUNDED WHOLENESS (2006)

FANTASTIC! http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/accepting-ourselves-is-an-act-of-civil-disobedience-francesca-martinez/ Francesca's story: http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/483736/Comedian-Francesca-Martinez-interview-on-cerebral-palsy

relations (not things) like ancestral mausoleums even bones need warmth

and your glass is dry a fleeting moment in time where paths cross... a dot

Your question was: What is it that is continually creating. The quote implies that when the mind ceases to grasp at things, then nothing is created. Uncreated does not mean nothing exists, it simply means things still arise and cease, but the arising and ceasing is recognised as a continuum. A continuum has no beginning, no middle, and no end, so in essence, something which does not have a beginning, a middle and an end cannot have been created, but what sees a beginning, a middle, and an end, which is then linked to appearances having a solid feel, is the mind.

"In the Kun-byed rgyal-po, a tantra of Dzogchen, it is said that: 'The Mind is that which creates both Samsara and Nirvana, so one needs to know this King which creates everything!' We say we transmigrate in the impure and illusory vision of Samsara, but in reality, it's just our mind that is transmigrating. And then again, as far as pure Enlightenment is concerned, it's only our own mind, purified, that realizes it. Our mind is the basis of everything, and from our mind everything arises, Samsara and Nirvana, ordinary sentient beings and Enlightened Ones. Consider the way beings transmigrate in the impure vision of Samsara: even though the Essence of the Mind, the true nature of our mind, is totally pure right from the beginning, nevertheless, because pure mind is temporarily obscured by the impurity of ignorance, there is no self-recognition of our own State. Through this lack of self-recognition arise illusory thoughts and actions created by the passions. Thus various negative karmic causes are accumulated and since their maturation as effects is inevitable, one suffers bitterly, transmigrating in the six states of existence. Thus, not recognizing one's own State is the cause of transmigration, and through this cause one becomes the slave of illusions and distractions. Conditioned by the mind, one becomes strongly habituated to illusory actions. And then it's the same as far as pure Enlightenment is concerned; beyond one's own mind there is no dazzling light to come shining in from outside to wake one up. If one recognizes one's own intrinsic State as pure from the beginning and only temporarily obscured by impurities, and if one maintains the presence of this recognition without becoming distracted, then all the impurities dissolve." ~ N. Norbu Rinpoche

The best medicine to get rid of your grief is to will yourself to do something good everyday for other people, even if its just establishing a positive visualisation habit. If you cannot do this now, you will never be able to cut the root of your mental impoverishment. Begin by generating the wish that all beings find happiness and connect with the causes of happiness. If you can maintain this mental poise often throughout the day, even if its just for a couple of minutes each time, i assure you within a short period you will glimpse reinvigoration and things will appear brighter and more promising.

Precisely. Hence the notion of 'samsara' used to explain this 'grasping' nature of the unawakened, dust-covered mind. Its the grasping that cripples the recognition of true mind, not the thoughts as such.

I dont think the true mind (or fundamental nature of the mind), which is essentially like a mirror, can be held responsible for creating anything, just like a mirror does not 'create' images and reflections.

Since thinking is a natural action, there is nothing inherently right or wrong with it. Once the essence of mind is recognised and recognition stabilised, arising thoughts liberate themselves without any doer. Thoughts are self-liberating due to their inherent emptiness. They are ungraspable, like space. It occurs spontaneously in those who have reached stability in mind recognition. But those who don't see mind essence will continue to solidify thoughts on the basis of interdependent origination, going back countless moments and lifetimes, due to habitual karmic accruements from the past mixed with ignorance, resulting naturally as projections, which is then assumed to materialise - this arising immediately becomes conceptualised as 'the future' for those who have not recognised mind essence.

its still all the Tao a statement of convenience where none is needed

interesting article http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b5c16414-265c-11e1-85fb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1hjcyWcWz

At our age we are bound to have met one or two i guess. Assuming slugs have a very simple nervous system, what do you think maintains that system? Well, fish have brains and appear to be more evolved than slugs.. do you think fish have dreams?

Do you know if slugs dream too, MH?

Im just wondering here if animals have a subconscious mind or not... (if im not mistaken you are proposing that the subconscious is like an unseen controller of bodily functions)

When discussing wisdom from the point of view of compassion, the Sanskrit term often used is Bodhicitta, which has been variously translated as "enlightened mind", "the heart of the enlightened state of mind", or simply "awakened heart". Bodhicitta is said to have two aspects, one absolute and one relative. Absolute Bodhicitta is the term applied to whatever state is considered ultimate or fundamental in a given Buddhist tradition - the experience of the groundlessness of Sunyata or the (positively defined) sudden glimpse of the natural awake state itself. Relative Bodhicitta is that fundamental warmth towards the phenomenal world that practitioners report arising from absolute experience and that manifests itself as concern for the welfare of others beyond merely naive compassion. -Francisco J.Varela

Not exceptionally good, but if you have a penchant (and spare time) for a kung-fu movie and Wudang mountain scenery, this might be of interest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DddJix6eHCQ

the way to do it *aha aha i like it thats the way aha *kc & the sunshine band

but words mean nothing reflecting a million suns morning dew at dawn