C T

Day of the Dakini: Great Bliss 🔥 The great bliss state is the state of reality – where we actually are, right here and now. It is not some elaborate place far away from where we are. The wonderful thing about the Buddha‘s revelation, the Buddha‘s insight, is that this reality itself is the great bliss state, that which he first called “Nirvana“, the extinction of all suffering, which he came to describe as “bliss void indivisible.“ The extinction of suffering and the achievement of perfect happiness and the reality of perfect happiness is the reality of our world. This was the Buddha‘s good news. This is what he realized under the bodhi tree, where he first became enlightened. The bodhi tree was the original wish-granting gem tree. To find happiness or peace or enlightenment, we do not have to create some artificial world, a world apart from this world. We have to understand the nature of this world. And the nature of this world, when we do understand it, is revealed to us through our understanding, not from some other person just showing us something. Our own understanding reveals the nature of the world to us as the great bliss state of emptiness and openness. The nature of this world is superbliss, intertwined and indivisible. ~ Robert A.F. Thurman

Honey on the Razor’s Edge We have an illusion of being separate from others, the world and even ourselves, all of which we have unconsciously created. When we’re threatened or when life doesn’t please us, we start worrying, we start thinking about a possible solution. And without exception there is no person who doesn’t do this. We dislike being with life as it is because that can include suffering, and that is not acceptable to us. Whether it’s a serious illness or a minor criticism or being lonely or disappointed—that is not acceptable to us. We have no intention of putting up with that or just being that if we can possibly avoid it. We want to fix the problem, solve it, get rid of it. That is when we need to understand the practice of walking the razor’s edge. Spiritual practice is about understanding the razor’s edge and how to work with it. The point at which we need to practice walking the razor’s edge is whenever we begin to be upset (angry, irritated, resentful, jealous). First, we need to know we’re upset. Many people don’t even know that upset is taking place. When we meditate and begin to know our minds and our reactions, we begin to be aware that yes, we are upset. That’s the first step, but it’s not the razor’s edge. We’re still separate, but now we know it. How do we bring our separated life together? To walk the razor’s edge is to do that; we have once again to be what we basically are, which is seeing, touching, hearing, smelling; we have to experience whatever our life is, right this second. If we’re upset we have to experience being upset. If we’re frightened, we have to experience being frightened. If we’re jealous we have to experience being jealous. And such experiencing is physical; it has nothing to do with the thoughts going on about the upset. When we are experiencing nonverbally we are walking the razor’s edge—we are in the present moment. When we walk the edge, the agonizing states of separateness are pulled together, and we experience perhaps not happiness but joy. Understanding the razor’s edge (and not just understanding it, but doing it) is what meditation practice is. The reason it’s difficult is that we don’t want to do it. We know we don’t want to do it. We want to escape from it. If I feel that I’ve been hurt by you, I want to stay with my thoughts about the hurt. I want to increase my separation; it feels good to be consumed by those fiery, self-righteous thoughts. By thinking, I try to avoid feeling the pain. The more sophisticated my practice becomes, the more quickly I see this trap and return to experiencing the pain, the razor’s edge. And where I might once have stayed upset for two years, the upset shrinks to two months, two weeks, two minutes. Eventually I can experience an upset as it happens and stay right on the razor’s edge. And there can be joy in the midst of physical and even emotional pain, it is not a contradiction to say that there can be ease in the midst of even great unease - there can be the taste of honey on the razors edge. Still, it is necessary to acknowledge that most of the time we want nothing to do with that edge; we want to stay separate. We want the sterile satisfaction of wallowing in “I am right.” That’s a poor satisfaction, of course, but still we will usually settle for a diminished life rather than experience life as it is when that seems painful and distasteful. All troublesome relationships at home and work are born of the desire to stay separate. By this strategy we hope to be a separate person who really exists, who is important. When we walk the razor’s edge we’re not important; we’re no-self, embedded in life. This we fear—even though life as no-self is pure joy. Our fear drives us to stay over here in our lonely self-righteousness. The paradox: only in walking the razor’s edge, in experiencing the fear directly, can we know what it is to have no fear. Now I realize we can’t see this all at once or do it all at once. Sometimes we jump onto the razor’s edge and then hop off, like water dropped on a sizzling frying pan. That may be all we can do at first, and that’s fine. But the more we practice, the more comfortable we become there. We find it’s the only place where we are at peace. So many people say, “I want to be at peace.” Yet there may be little understanding of how peace is to be found - Walking the razor’s edge is it. No one wants to hear that. We want somebody who will take our fear away or promise us happiness. No one wants to hear the truth, and we won’t hear it until we are ready to hear it. If enlightenment is not where you are standing, where will you look? Everyday Zen - Excerpts from Charlotte Joko Beck

https://fb.watch/kwxcQbvuGo/?mibextid=NnVzG8

Wesak blessings 🙏🙏🙏 Visited local Thai Buddhist temple to offer prayers and merit

Any bums in Paris?

Must've learnt it from cats.

The red variety I would use to make smoothies. Love the deep colour, and the supposedly enhanced benefit intensely-coloured fruits provide. Because of its rather bland nature, I'd add a teaspoon of honey, teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil (courtesy of Western dragons) and squeeze in a few drops of lemon/lime or calamansi juice.

Naturally....

Rose apples. One of the most common and widely eaten fruit in Southeast Asia. This is a recent harvest from a friend's garden.

Not warming like the stew you mentioned, but according to tcm, mangoes, as with a number of other fruits like longans, lychees, rambutans (to name a few) promote damp heat, which then upsets gut flora.

Most expensive fruit in these parts. Premium ones can cost up to USD 100+ a fruit.

Mangoes galore!

I think you're an f short

How amazing! Sounds weird to most, but a tiny pinch of sea salt on watermelon is surprisingly dulishus! No idea about vodka though, but imagine it must be tipsily satisfying 🤭😅 Similarly, I'd add a pinch or two of salt on pineapple too. Also on some types of mango that are slightly sourish-sweet.

I live in Southeast Asia and there's a huge huge variety of fruits to be had. There are many different types of bananas, mangoes, citrus fruits, pineapples, melons, durians and even papayas. One can almost thrive solely as a fruitarian here. My favs are mangosteens, pineapples, watermelons, durians and soursop. Mangosteens and soursops, according to some sources, are classified as superfruits, supposedly packed with health-enhancing nutrients. As with anything, moderation is key. https://nomadparadise.com/asian-fruits/

"Dance of the evening clouds"

There are many strong and healthy people who die young, while many of the old and sick and feeble live on and on. Not knowing when we’ll die, we need to develop an appreciation and acceptance of what we have, while we have it, rather than continuing to find fault with our experience and constantly seeking to fulfill our desires. ~ Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche

punctuates full stop chapter five's done; let's move on beach party awaits