Seeing, Recognising & Maintaining One's Enlightening Potential

[manitou]

 

Beginner's mind is filled with possibilities. 

 

Love it. 

 

 

 

It occurs to me that Beginner's Mind is an attainment.

[C T]

"Enlightenment isn’t much more than remembering something long forgotten that’s been with you all along….And while it’s been said that after moments of ecstasy there will still be laundry to do, this is not true about enlightenment. This is because there is no ‘after enlightenment.’ Enlightenment lies beyond any idea of time.

 

Any temporal notions we have about enlightenment come from our dualistic understanding. Like everything else that we can name or describe or conceptualize, [ecstatic moments and blissful states] these don’t last. Something else takes place with enlightenment, however, that’s got nothing to do with ecstasy, and from which you don’t emerge. This is because what is finally realized is that there was no ‘you’ to go into enlightenment in the first place. If there’s some particular thing you can name, pick up, single out, or point to, it’s not enlightenment…It’s not true liberation or freedom of mind….

 

Whatever it is, if it’s separated out from the Whole, it will wither and die. We think there is a particular enduring person here, and then we wonder, ‘Is this person enlightened?’ or ‘Will I ever become enlightened?’ But there is no particular person who becomes enlightened — or who remains deluded for that matter. All such questions are off the mark…in each moment, all is fresh and new."

 

 

~ Roshi Steve Hagen ~

[blue eyed snake]

Your posts are as the cool hand of a mother,

on the cheek of her feverish child

[C T]

~ ANAM THUBTEN RINPOCHE ~

 

 

No matter how much we keep looking for liberation, for enlightenment, we will never find it as long as we are going somewhere to find it, because actually it is here. Life is enlightenment. Life is the sacredness. Life is emptiness and emptiness is life...Manifested is in the unmanifested and unmanifested is in the manifested. This is the great unity.

 

 

 

[manitou]

 

~ ANAM THUBTEN RINPOCHE ~

 

 

No matter how much we keep looking for liberation, for enlightenment, we will never find it as long as we are going somewhere to find it, because actually it is here. Life is enlightenment. Life is the sacredness. Life is emptiness and emptiness is life...Manifested is in the unmanifested and unmanifested is in the manifested. This is the great unity.

 

 

 

 

This makes eminent sense - 'manifested is in the unmanifested and unmanifested is in the manifested.  This is the great unity'. Manifested is past and present.  Unmanifested is future.  All is one, superimposed over each other.  Temporality must be removed to realize the secret of the manifested and the unmanifested.

[C T]

~ Buddhadasa ~ 'Heartwood of the Bodhi Tree: The Buddha's Teaching on Voidness'

 

 

"As for the saying that 'nibbāna is the supreme happiness,' this is an expression in the language of relative truth, a sort of enticing propaganda in the language of ordinary people, used because people are generally infatuated with happiness and want nothing else. So it is necessary to say that nibbāna is happiness, and what’s more, that it’s the best happiness. 

 

Truly speaking, nibbāna is better than happiness, is beyond happiness, because it is void. We shouldn’t speak of it as either happiness or suffering because it lies beyond both the suffering and the happiness commonly known by us. Yet when we speak like this, people don’t understand. So we must say instead, in the conventional language of the worldly, that it is ultimate happiness. This being so, when using the word happiness, we must be careful to use it properly. It is not the happiness that people generally can see or aspire to. It is a different sort of happiness, a completely new meaning of happiness: the state void of every single thing that concocts, proliferates, flows, spins, and changes.

 

Thus, it is truly lovely, truly refreshing, and truly desirable. For if there is still flux and change, constant swaying and rocking, how can there be happiness? The feelings of sensual pleasure that arise from contact with the various sense objects are illusory; they are not ultimate happiness. Common happiness is not the supreme happiness of nibbāna, which is voidness. So in hearing the phrase 'Nibbāna is the supreme happiness,' don’t jump to the conclusion that nibbāna is exactly what you’ve been looking for."

 

 

 

[C T]

~ KHENPO KATHAR RINPOCHE ~ 

 

Since we basically experience our lives through the filter of our minds, the makeup of our minds will determine the quality of our lives. For instance, when we experience a very gentle, easy mind, we then allow ourselves to feel good about who we are, and the things that we do become enjoyable. We are able to enjoy the food we eat, and our interactions with others are very good. On the other hand, when we have a disturbed mind, a mind of aggression and jealousy, subject to the upheaval of conflicting emotions, we are not able to fully enjoy anything. Even if we are surrounded by the best of things–good companions, good food, and various other luxuries–we cannot enjoy them. In this case, it would not be too farfetched to say that our minds have flipped upside down, because all priorities are completely inverted. While we have the potential to be totally free from deception and to experience genuine love for ourselves and others, we still entertain ourselves with the illusion of limitations. We believe that our only resort is to change the phenomenal world outside of ourselves.

[blue eyed snake]

The cool hand of the mother worked wonders on the feverish child,

after the night her fever was gone and she's out, playing in the backyard.

[manitou]

 

This being so, when using the word happiness, we must be careful to use it properly. It is not the happiness that people generally can see or aspire to. It is a different sort of happiness, a completely new meaning of happiness: the state void of       every single thing that concocts, proliferates, flows, spins, and changes.

 

 

 

It seems to be the complete acceptance of all phenomena, inner and outer.  Acceptance without labeling, without judgment.  Without grasping, without aversion.

 

There are those of us who spent a lifetime feeling guilty about being happy, that we were undeserving.  This phenomena seems to be the final frontier on this front, the final hurdle.  But what allows this new type of 'happiness', the void happiness, is not a selfish happiness.  it is love of life, appreciation of the time that we are allotted here.  Seeing the non-separation of all phenomena and loving the great Mind that is manifesting, has manifested, will manifest.  Acceptance and love.

 

I have glimpses.

[manitou]

 

~ KHENPO KATHAR RINPOCHE ~ 

 

Since we basically experience our lives through the filter of our minds, the makeup of our minds will determine the quality of our lives. For instance, when we experience a very gentle, easy mind, we then allow ourselves to feel good about who we are, and the things that we do become enjoyable. We are able to enjoy the food we eat, and our interactions with others are very good. On the other hand, when we have a disturbed mind, a mind of aggression and jealousy, subject to the upheaval of conflicting emotions, we are not able to fully enjoy anything. Even if we are surrounded by the best of things–good companions, good food, and various other luxuries–we cannot enjoy them. In this case, it would not be too farfetched to say that our minds have flipped upside down, because all priorities are completely inverted. While we have the potential to be totally free from deception and to experience genuine love for ourselves and others, we still entertain ourselves with the illusion of limitations. We believe that our only resort is to change the phenomenal world outside of ourselves.

 

 

And is this not the reward for the discipline of years of meditation?  To have control over our thoughts?  To stop them when they tend to the negative, as negative thoughts will manifest negative phenomena in our lives.  Or to choose to manifest love in our lives, following from loving and non judgmental thoughts.

 

We are the Manifester through the quality of our thoughts, and it is ours to choose the thoughts that we wish to have.  If we have mastered them.

Edited May 8, 2016 by manitou

[C T]

And is this not the reward for the discipline of years of meditation?  To have control over our thoughts?  To stop them when they tend to the negative, as negative thoughts will manifest negative phenomena in our lives.  Or to choose to manifest love in our lives, following from loving and non judgmental thoughts.

 

We are the Manifester through the quality of our thoughts, and it is ours to choose the thoughts that we wish to have.  If we have mastered them.

This is why the masters encouraged me, the laziest of all students, to think less, to analyse even lesser, and practice more.

 

The longer we stick to a particular set of right practices, they said, the deeper it sinks into our inner mindscape, gradually replacing the old fears, the worn out habitual emotions, the neurotic patterns... allowing us to slowly disperse these unnecessary 'apps' in order to free up the space which has always been there. Not to replace the old with some new 'apps', they said. There is no need to look for and try to possess some new enticing practice or whatever else i think i need to become more 'holy' and fulfilled, because its all just ego distractions, and to go down that route shows clearly i am still under the cloud of delusional clowning about (hah!). [The teacher who said this laughed for a second, then gave me a piercing glance the next] - Noted, i thought to myself. 

 

Just removing the junk is all it takes because that natural space clearing up is already resplendently imbued with wisdom, insight, peace, compassion, fearlessness, spiritual power, and all the other qualities of enlightenment. We simply allow our tired minds to touch that, to rest there - some people do it out of developing and keeping up a disciplined daily practice, while others will also eventually connect with it out of sheer exhaustion from being slapped over and over by old neurotic patterns. Both will take us to the same place, but the latter is a more painful route, and takes a long long time.  

 

[doc benway]

The cool hand of the mother worked wonders on the feverish child,

after the night her fever was gone and she's out, playing in the backyard.

My teacher is always using that analogy of the mother (the space that CT refers to) and the child (us).

That feeing of safety and security in the child is what we feel when we take refuge in that space.

That unconditional love and warmth in the mother for her child (all beings) is what we express as we connect with that space.

[manitou]

This is why the masters encouraged me, the laziest of all students, to think less, to analyse even lesser, and practice more.

 

The longer we stick to a particular set of right practices, they said, the deeper it sinks into our inner mindscape, gradually replacing the old fears, the worn out habitual emotions, the neurotic patterns... allowing us to slowly disperse these unnecessary 'apps' in order to free up the space which has always been there. Not to replace the old with some new 'apps', they said. There is no need to look for and try to possess some new enticing practice or whatever else i think i need to become more 'holy' and fulfilled, because its all just ego distractions, and to go down that route shows clearly i am still under the cloud of delusional clowning about (hah!). [The teacher who said this laughed for a second, then gave me a piercing glance the next] - Noted, i thought to myself. 

 

Just removing the junk is all it takes because that natural space clearing up is already resplendently imbued with wisdom, insight, peace, compassion, fearlessness, spiritual power, and all the other qualities of enlightenment. We simply allow our tired minds to touch that, to rest there - some people do it out of developing and keeping up a disciplined daily practice, while others will also eventually connect with it out of sheer exhaustion from being slapped over and over by old neurotic patterns. Both will take us to the same place, but the latter is a more painful route, and takes a long long time.  

 

 

So incredibly beautiful, CT.  So succinct.

 

And we can only remove the baggage we're capable of removing at any given time.  We can only remove that which we're ready for.  That seems to be a lifetime process - or at least in my own case it is.

 

I love your parallel with the 'apps' - not replacing one app with another.  Yes, that is a product of ego, a desire to 'be holy', for lack of a better term.  And in the desire to 'be holy' is the desire to 'appear holy', which is nothing more than wanting others to think we've arrived.   Still a product of duality. To have to project or manifest appearance is an indication that there is something still lacking, or else there would be no need to project the impression that there isn't anything lacking.

 

There are some masters that can be read over and over - (better to have the physical exposure, but I have had to resort to books and folks like you, Steve, and BES on this forum over the years).  Each and every time we read a master again, our eyes are higher than the last time we read it.  We see something different with every reading that our eyes glazed over before.  I listen to a Deepak and Friends beautifully orchestrated CD of Rumi poems - over and over in my car.  Every time i hear the same stanza, it seems that I pick out something different because I am in a different place.  I understand something at a deeper level than the last time I heard it.

 

What a ride.  I am honored to be in the company of fellow travelers.  I thank the Great Giant Head that I have all of you.  

Edited May 8, 2016 by manitou

[blue eyed snake]

I do so miss the living presence of my teacher,

even though I'm well aware that it just means that i've to walk this part of the path without him.

 

To read the words of Steve and CT, I hear his voice, they all the same, telling us the same things. Their teachers are rippling out to this forum, there to be read by those who can and want to read. Just now, seeing how Manitou includes me, I realize that my teacher ripples out too. But we do not only need teachers, there are many things for which we need companions . That is something that a teacher does not give, need not give, and, I suspect, cannot give.

 

But without companions, we would not learn our lessons, for me Manitou is teacher, from her I learn many things about myself that i need to learn and, she, or someone like her, is the only one who can teach me that.

 

There are lessons to be learnt at so many levels.

 

And the strange thing is, it all comes around to shedding all the old emotions that always seemed to define us, and the only way out seems to be through suffering and pain.

 

but, i'm so aware that suffering and pain is just of the body and of the mind, it's all old, a story, so why do i still suffer?

 

no need for answering this one, time will teach,

 

BES

 

 

[blue eyed snake]

well, as I can't sleep again, some responses, things of this thread stayed with me

 

My teacher is always using that analogy of the mother (the space that CT refers to) and the child (us).

That feeling of safety and security in the child is what we feel when we take refuge in that space.

That unconditional love and warmth in the mother for her child (all beings) is what we express as we connect with that space.

 

I like that, i wrote the first of these two posts because I felt f***d up and then I read the post of CT, and that opened the way back for me. And indeed, this morning I was in my backyard, enjoying sunshine and being alive in this body.

 

and that is why I like this thread so much, every day it gives me that, it touches me to be aware of ' how it is' does so, mostly, in words that I can understand. Where in general I cannot read things about Buddhism, because of the many terms strange to me, I do not want to learn them, that would bring me even more in my head.

 

But the teacher of my teacher was a buddhist, and that rubbed off on him, and possibly on me 

 

---

But, interestingly, these words just flowed out of my fingers, even though I do not have the association of love and warmth with a mother, I do have that association with a father.

But indeed, there was a time where I could find those ' feelings' in meditation or just being. As I have not been able to meditate for many months it has become more remote, but I do know its there.

 

 

[blue eyed snake]

thank you Ct, the laziest of students

 

 

This is why the masters encouraged me, the laziest of all students, to think less, to analyse even lesser, and practice more.

 

to think less, to analyse even lesser, and practice more....

were not gonna talk about it, you just practice and then you'll know what you want to ask me now....

 

 

The longer we stick to a particular set of right practices, they said, the deeper it sinks into our inner mindscape, gradually replacing the old fears, the worn out habitual emotions, the neurotic patterns... allowing us to slowly disperse these unnecessary 'apps' in order to free up the space which has always been there. Not to replace the old with some new 'apps', they said. There is no need to look for and try to possess some new enticing practice or whatever else i think i need to become more 'holy' and fulfilled, because its all just ego distractions, and to go down that route shows clearly i am still under the cloud of delusional clowning about (hah!). [The teacher who said this laughed for a second, then gave me a piercing glance the next] - Noted, i thought to myself. 

 

If I may, I'd like to add here, the comparison with apps is also used here.

But my teacher also says something like: " do not use the way you use(d) to tackle life to tackle this path" I thought I understood him.... but did not, so, even when you're forewarned, you need to hurt your very own nose to get the lesson.

 

 

Just removing the junk is all it takes because that natural space clearing up is already resplendently imbued with wisdom, insight, peace, compassion, fearlessness, spiritual power, and all the other qualities of enlightenment. We simply allow our tired minds to touch that, to rest there - some people do it out of developing and keeping up a disciplined daily practice, while others will also eventually connect with it out of sheer exhaustion from being slapped over and over by old neurotic patterns. Both will take us to the same place, but the latter is a more painful route, and takes a long long time.  

 

 

yes, oow, that first step was a dilly...

happy I've found some guidance after that

[C T]

[blue eyed snake]

So incredibly beautiful, CT.  So succinct.

 

And we can only remove the baggage we're capable of removing at any given time.  We can only remove that which we're ready for.  That seems to be a lifetime process - or at least in my own case it is.

 

well, me thinks, most people never even dream of doing what you're doing and being were you are.

 

I love your parallel with the 'apps' - not replacing one app with another.  Yes, that is a product of ego, a desire to 'be holy', for lack of a better term.  And in the desire to 'be holy' is the desire to 'appear holy', which is nothing more than wanting others to think we've arrived.   Still a product of duality. To have to project or manifest appearance is an indication that there is something still lacking, or else there would be no need to project the impression that there isn't anything lacking.

 

Yes, but the being holy thing is pretty obvious. it sits much deeper, for instance, I feel that i'm doing a good job by tackling my fears and anger. It is a good job, but the thinking about it in this terms, thats is the little Bes, seeking confirmation from the outside, from my mom. Or,( i'm picking up my meditating again. ) " i'm a bad girl because i didn't meditate today" or a good girl because I did.

 

It's all rubbish really.

 

remember a time in the dojo when teacher asked us what gave us the most stress, answers came like, whether I'll keep my job, or illness etc. But when I let the question sink in I answered, the most stress i get from my own thoughts, theyr'e like a horde of hungry flies.

and it's only now, some years later, that I 'get' what i told him then

 

There are some masters that can be read over and over - (better to have the physical exposure, but I have had to resort to books and folks like you, Steve, and BES on this forum over the years).  Each and every time we read a master again, our eyes are higher than the last time we read it.  We see something different with every reading that our eyes glazed over before.  I listen to a Deepak and Friends beautifully orchestrated CD of Rumi poems - over and over in my car.  Every time i hear the same stanza, it seems that I pick out something different because I am in a different place.  I understand something at a deeper level than the last time I heard it.

 

yes, even though I read little, when you've grown a bit, you get the message a little better

 

What a ride.  I am honored to be in the company of fellow travelers.  I thank the Great Giant Head that I have all of you.  

 

me too

[manitou]

I'm finding an interesting bit of growth in the area of peace with the onset of guru yoga, as spoken of in Steve's teacher's book on Dream Yoga.  (Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche - 'The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep').  i had never had exposure to Guru Yoga until reading that book.

 

But not too long ago, I did read the Flower Adornment Sutra, and found a boddhisatva by the name of Flower Glow, whom I greatly identified with for some reason.  I just noted that I had some of his/her qualities on a good day, I felt the connection - which may explain why I spent so long struggling to get through that Sutra.  Flower Glow didn't come along until close to the end.  Comes now Flower Glow.  But not until the end.

 

But I have internalized that entity, and I am allowing him to live within me.  When I am in Awareness during the day and not caught up in the maya of a situation, I feel his presence, I know what he looks like.  He has a man-bun, he wears no shirt, he has drawstring pants and no shoes.  He is so very clear to me.  And he shows up in dreams as a white dragonfly, leading me through a garden or some place.  I wasn't much of a dreamer at all until I cut back on the chemicals, and now they're coming fast and furious.

 

I bring this up because I can see what a useful tool Guru Yoga can be.  Very powerful.  And during this process of chemical elimination from my body, it is making all the difference in the world.  I highly recommend it, BES - a real shortcut, it seems - if there are days when the anxiety gets a little overbearing.

[C T]

Buddhist texts do not exaggerate when they say that our greatest enemy is clinging to a self. Why? We are caught in a situation where mind is incapable of directly experiencing its own essential emptiness, and instead posits a self that must be sustained. We thus develop all the needs and wants that must be gratified in order to maintain such a self. Suffering comes from the endless search to satisfy what cannot be satisfied. "I" leads to "I am" which leads to "I want", and so on.

 

~ Kalu Rinpoche ~ 

[doc benway]

I'm finding an interesting bit of growth in the area of peace with the onset of guru yoga, as spoken of in Steve's teacher's book on Dream Yoga.  (Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche - 'The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep').  i had never had exposure to Guru Yoga until reading that book.

 

But not too long ago, I did read the Flower Adornment Sutra, and found a boddhisatva by the name of Flower Glow, whom I greatly identified with for some reason.  I just noted that I had some of his/her qualities on a good day, I felt the connection - which may explain why I spent so long struggling to get through that Sutra.  Flower Glow didn't come along until close to the end.  Comes now Flower Glow.  But not until the end.

 

But I have internalized that entity, and I am allowing him to live within me.  When I am in Awareness during the day and not caught up in the maya of a situation, I feel his presence, I know what he looks like.  He has a man-bun, he wears no shirt, he has drawstring pants and no shoes.  He is so very clear to me.  And he shows up in dreams as a white dragonfly, leading me through a garden or some place.  I wasn't much of a dreamer at all until I cut back on the chemicals, and now they're coming fast and furious.

 

I bring this up because I can see what a useful tool Guru Yoga can be.  Very powerful.  And during this process of chemical elimination from my body, it is making all the difference in the world.  I highly recommend it, BES - a real shortcut, it seems - if there are days when the anxiety gets a little overbearing.

 

Guru yoga is an amazing practice. 

 

At its most fundamental, the guru is the nature of mind itself.

In a more general sense, the guru should be looked upon as a representation of this nature of mind, an embodiment of all enlightened qualities and characteristics.

 

In the Bön Dzogchen tradition, guru yoga is practiced with an image of Tapihritsa, an important Bön master of the 8th century. In the Buddhist Dzogchen tradition, I believe that Padmasambhava takes that role.

 

Tapihritsa is portrayed as naked, luminous, and surrounded by a rainbow. There is a marvelous prayer/poem known as the Invocation of Tapihritsa that you may find worth reading here. The entire article is a very detailed examination of the prayer which can be found in translation on page 24. 

 

The significance of Tapihritsa's nakedness represents the uncontrived, unelaborated, pure aspects of the natural state. He is luminous representing pure awareness/presence/knowing - rigpa. The rainbow represents the 5 elements which form the basis of all appearances. 

 

My teacher emphasizes that the guru should represent all of the teachers with whom we have had a personal and supportive connection, be they alive, dead, spirit, whatever. In particular, it should represent those teachers that have had a powerful and positive impact on our lives, especially if they have helped us recognize and connect with our inner truth.

[doc benway]

I do so miss the living presence of my teacher,

even though I'm well aware that it just means that i've to walk this part of the path without him.

 

To read the words of Steve and CT, I hear his voice, they all the same, telling us the same things. Their teachers are rippling out to this forum, there to be read by those who can and want to read. Just now, seeing how Manitou includes me, I realize that my teacher ripples out too. But we do not only need teachers, there are many things for which we need companions . That is something that a teacher does not give, need not give, and, I suspect, cannot give.

 

But without companions, we would not learn our lessons, for me Manitou is teacher, from her I learn many things about myself that i need to learn and, she, or someone like her, is the only one who can teach me that.

 

There are lessons to be learnt at so many levels.

 

And the strange thing is, it all comes around to shedding all the old emotions that always seemed to define us, and the only way out seems to be through suffering and pain.

 

but, i'm so aware that suffering and pain is just of the body and of the mind, it's all old, a story, so why do i still suffer?

 

no need for answering this one, time will teach,

 

BES

 

It's interesting to read this. One thing my teacher emphasizes at nearly every retreat is that our primary purpose for being together is simply to "be"    "together"

 

We get so wrapped up in thinking there is more to learn, more to practice, more to do, that we do not spend enough time simply be-ing when we are together, supporting each other, sharing our humanity and warmth, sharing the very joy of simply being.

 

Little by little, I've come to shift my expectations and focus to align more with this mode of be-ing, especially when on retreat, but also in all other areas of life. The richness of interaction with each other when we focus on this subtle point is dramatically enhanced. 

 

So I will offer that perhaps that is something (companionship) that our teachers can give, provided that we have ears to listen for that subtle instruction. Certainly we can't be together very frequently and we can only expect so much, but it is the quality and meaning of that being together that matters. And for those who practice guru yoga, that can even transcend life and death.

 

is a link to a nice talk he gave on the student-teacher relationship. It's long but some may find it useful.

[C T]

In the Bön Dzogchen tradition, guru yoga is practiced with an image of Tapihritsa, an important Bön master of the 8th century. In the Buddhist Dzogchen tradition, I believe that Padmasambhava takes that role.

Traditionally, i think the Buddhist Dzogchen lineage is said to have been first transmitted from Samantabhadra to the first human master, Garab Dorje, with Vajrasattva as the intermediary.  

 

Padmasambhava is revered by most Vajrayana practitioners, but if im not mistaken, he is only the patron saint of the Nyingma lineage. 

 

Anyway, its just a minute point. This lineage thing is quite complex, but definitely it all traces back to Samantabhadra.

[manitou]

Steve - I am studying with great interest your link to the Tapihrista poem.  I am studying the writing, taking notes, really trying to take it all in.  It will take a little time.

 

I followed your teacher's instructions as to meditating on the figure to Tapihrista, and at the same time I would meditate on the Tibetan white 'A' while lying in bed, in addition to his instructions on the tigles in the chakras.  It was at this point that the white dragonfly showed up in my dreams.  Needless to say, I am currently seeing dragonflies everywhere - on the side of moving vans, in jewelry I obtained from my mother, even in a paperweight she gave me.  My dreams have great clarity now, and interpretation of them seems to come very easily.

 

 I look forward to reading the entire article, word for word.  I look forward to the actual poem (although short, it looks like the commentary on each line will be wonderful).

 

I have a question for you, pertaining to the article.  I note that the Bon practice, which I know is yours, pertains to the medical sciences, whereas the Nyingma school does not.  Do you find that your approach to your patients has changed due to this Bon practice?  Are you more intuitive in your diagnoses?  Is there any way that you are even able to incorporate the two, or are the current Western restrictions just too, well, restricted?  Just curious.

 

And CT or Steve - is there a simple way to describe tantric practice in lieu of this?  On the occasions that Joe and I had tantric sex, wherein we seemed to turn into bodies of light (this was spontaneous and unwished for - it just happened for about a week) - is there any comparison to any of this?  Or is tantric sex and tantric practice two entirely different things?  We could almost 'see' that we were two shining skeletons on a mutual journey, capable of seeing the same phenomena.  Certainly there must be some sort of connection.  Funnily, that was the end of our sex life together.  After that, what was the point??  Truly a gift from somewhere....

[C T]

in my little understanding and personal journey over a very short time, i have come to see Vajrayana tantra as the process by which we take whatever is here and now, usually arising as dualistic notions and habits that we cling to fervently, all the dichotomies that traps us in a vicious circle, chuck all of it into the adamantine furnace of the Dharmadatu. Once softened and malleable, the practitioner uses the necessary Dharma tools (the sadhanas and the rituals etc), much like an alchemist or a goldsmith with her tools, we bring these together and begin to hammer away at an impersonal yet inclusive beingness, bending it, shaping it, burn it again if needs be, all the while tempering it to make it the best we can into a precious, bright ornament worthy of cherishing and displaying without shame or ego.

 

The essence of this is much the same as how in the ordinary world we tend to like showing off the ordinary things that we proudly label as 'ours', things that fascinate us and others on the mundane level. Only difference in Buddhist Tantra is that the angst usually associated with ordinariness, with the dreariness and drudgery of realising our frail nature, the limits and shortcomings of our day to day existence, the little time we have in this body - Tantra teaches that we have the ability to transform such views and turn them into sacred displays and transcended energies in the great mandala of perfected insight.

 

The gradual and intricate assembly of the great mandala (each tantric practitioner has their own), resplendent with palaces for the buddhas and other enlightened deities, filled with precious ornaments and so on, is basically what tantra means to me.