Seeing, Recognising & Maintaining One's Enlightening Potential

[Daniel]

@C T

 

In buddhism is there a concept of being attached-to-detachment?  finding the release from sense-pleasure-pleasurable?  abandoning dogma becoming dogmatic?

 

in your opinion are these concepts important for maintaining enlightenment potential?

[C T]

[blue eyed snake]

Bump,

 

I am missing CT

 

anybody knows something about him?

[silent thunder]

He is missed indeed.

Hope you are thriving

@C T

 

 

[Apech]

Hope all is ok with him.

[manitou]

Sometimes ya' just gotta take a little break....

[blue eyed snake]

yes, maybe a long retraite

 

i've had so much learning moments from this thread

 

[Mark Foote]

On 2/26/2023 at 5:07 AM, C T said:

BODHIDHARMA 

 

"... So many are looking for this mind, yet it already animates their bodies. It is theirs, yet they don’t realize it."

That's key for me, the part about "it already animates their bodies". 

 

There can… come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence.
 

(Common Ground)

 

When a presence of mind is retained as the placement of attention shifts, then the natural tendency toward the free placement of attention can draw out thought initial and sustained, and bring on the stages of concentration:
 

… there is no need to depend on teaching. But the most important thing is to practice and realize our true nature… [laughs]. This is, you know, Zen.
 

(Shunryu Suzuki, Tassajara 68-07-24 transcript from shunryusuzuki.com)

 

(Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages)
 

I practice now to experience the free placement of attention as the sole source of activity in the body in the movement of breath, and in my “complicated, difficult” daily life, I look for the mindfulness that allows me to touch on that freedom.

("To Enjoy Our Life", emphasis added)

 

 

Edited January 29, 2024 by Mark Foote

[Mark Foote]

On 5/6/2023 at 11:57 AM, steve said:

Dzogchen could be defined as a way to relax completely. This can be clearly understood from the terms used to denote the state of contemplation, such as "leave it just as it is" (cog bzhag), "cutting loose one's tension" (khregs chod), beyond effort" (rtsol bral), and so on.

Some scholars have classified Dzogchen as a "direct path," comparing it to teachings such as Zen, where this expression is often used. In Dzogchen texts, however, the phrases "direct path" and "nongradual path" (cig car) are never used, because the concept of a "direct path" implies necessarily that there must be, on the one hand, a place from which one departs, and on the other, a place where one arrives.

But in Dzogchen there is a single principle of the state of knowledge, and if one possesses this state one discovers that right from the beginning one is already there where one wants to arrive. For this reason the state is said to be "self-perfected" (lhun grub).

~ Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

from 'Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State'

 

... Famous saying attributed to the Sixth Patriarch's disciple Nan-yüeh Huai-jang (667-744):
 

The [Sixth] Patriarch asked [Nan-yüeh], "Where do you come from?" Nan-yüeh answered, "From Mt. Sung." The Patriarch said, ''What is it that comes like this''' Nan-yueh replied, "To say anything would be wrong." The Patriarch said, "Then is it contingent on practice and verification (hsiu-cheng)?" Nan-yüeh said, "Practice and verification are not nonexistent; they are not to be defiled."

 

("Dogen's Manuals of Zen Meditation", Carl Bielefeldt, p 138)

 

 

 

[Mark Foote]

On 7/12/2023 at 1:34 PM, Cobie said:

.

I liked your post, Cobie, even though I couldn't read it.  I've grown accustomed to your absences, at least I know you're present on the conversation!

 

 

[Cobie]

1 hour ago, Mark Foote said:

I liked your post, Cobie, even though I couldn't read it.  I've grown accustomed to your absences, at least I know you're present on the conversation! 

You’re the best  - you see the usefulness of what’s not there. 
 

DDJ Ch 11 
1. Thirty spokes unite in one hub; 
2. It is precisely where there is nothing, that we find the usefulness of the wheel. 
…
7. Therefore, we regard having something as beneficial; 
8. But having nothing as useful. (Henricks)

 

 

Edited January 29, 2024 by Cobie

[Mark Foote]

On 7/25/2023 at 8:30 AM, Daniel said:

 

... which confirms that everything that exists has an inner-essence which is concealed by the "reflective" surface observed by the senses?

 

Daniel, here's Gautama's description of the final attainment in his concentration, "the cessation of ('determinate thought' in) feeling and perceiving"--check out the "disturbance that remains":
 

…[an individual] comprehends thus, ‘This concentration of mind … is effected and thought out. But whatever is effected and thought out, that is impermanent, it is liable to stopping.’ When [the individual] knows this thus, sees this thus, [their] mind is freed from the canker of sense-pleasures and [their] mind is freed from the canker of becoming and [their] mind is freed from the canker of ignorance. In freedom is the knowledge that [one] is freed and [one] comprehends: “Destroyed is birth, brought to a close the (holy)-faring, done is what was to be done, there is no more of being such or so’. [They] comprehend thus: “The disturbances there might be resulting from the canker of sense-pleasures do not exist here; the disturbances there might be resulting from the canker of becoming do not exist here; the disturbances there might be resulting from the canker of ignorance do not exist here. And there is only this degree of disturbance, that is to say the six sensory fields that, conditioned by life, are grounded on this body itself.”

(MN III 108-109, Pali Text Society Vol III p 151-152)

 

 

Six sensory fields, including the mind.

 

The absence of the three cankers, no mention of any inner essence, no mention of any "doer" of action (action of speech, of the body in inhaling and exhaling, of the mind in feeling and perceiving).

No actor that stands apart, no essence underlying.  The thing itself.

(I always forget that a particular combination of characters, left bracket s right bracket, will cause the Dao Bums mini-editor to score through all succeeding text, sorry about that in the initial post.)

 

 

Edited January 29, 2024 by Mark Foote

[Mark Foote]

On 8/1/2023 at 8:39 AM, Daniel said:

 

In buddhism is there a concept of being attached-to-detachment?  finding the release from sense-pleasure-pleasurable?  abandoning dogma becoming dogmatic?

 

in your opinion are these concepts important for maintaining enlightenment potential?
 

Not-CT-but-rather-MF-sez:  Gautama did speak of monks longing for the states of further-men, for the states of concentration, as a form of suffering.

 

 

[C T]

CHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU RINPOCHE 

 

Karma 

 

“But karma is not in fact a material accumulation, and does not depend on externals; rather its power to condition us depends on the obstacles that impede our knowledge. If we compare our karma and the ignorance that creates it to a dark room, knowledge of the primordial state would be like a lamp, which, when lit in the room, at once causes the darkness to disappear, enlightening everything. In the same way, if one has the presence of the primordial state, one can overcome all hindrances in an instant.” 

 

~ Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State

[C T]

Greetings to all friends, old and new. 

Trust all of you are well, and present. I was absent, though lol 

 

Who has gone thru transformation and changed their handle? Forestofemptiness > Forestofclarity? 

Just curious. And btw, thank you for keeping alive the spirit of this thread, regardless if its part 2, or 3, or 4 ○○○•°○ can't believe it began in 2014 😊

 

Silent Thunder, BES, Apech, Steve, M. Foote, Manitou, Taomeow, and all the rest of the TDB vintagers - thank you for remaining steadfast torch bearers. The world needs more folks like y'all. 

 

May peace guide your every step. 

 

Take care, everyone 🌈💌

 

 

Edited October 10, 2024 by C T

[blue eyed snake]

glad to see you after your absence

[manitou]

Evolutions have continued.  I feel a different presence with your current you.

[silent thunder]

Warm and welcome return Wise Sir!

[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

[Mark Foote]

5 hours ago, doc benway said:

དབུགས་རྒྱུ་བ་རླུང་གསེབ་མར་མེ་མཚུངས། །

uk gyuwa lung seb marmé tsung

Our very breathing like a candle in the wind.

 

Nibbana:

Literally, it means “blowing out” or “becoming extinguished,” as when a flame is blown out or a fire burns out.

(Brittanica, topic "Nirvana-religion")

 

 

A deep breath, birthday persons!