Partly true - but of course, reading by itself is no harm.
It is that if we cling to any ideas of God when practicing that
is of harm. Like pointing to the moon, no pointers are the moon
itself. What you want is to 'get' the moon itself.
Whatever is transcendental can only be approached through a
direct, intuitive, non-conceptual awareness.
Here's some pointers for those who want to have that direct
experience of the transcendental:
Thusness:
For your first wish, you may need to have an initial glimpse of our
inner most essence. You can try the direct approach by asking
yourself this,
“Without using any languages, ‘I’, ‘me’ or any signs or symbols,
how is ‘I’ experienced?”
AEN:
Yesterday I watched these videos, I think they're very good
and tells you how all symbols and label, such as 'I am my body' is
not the pure experience.
They're good esp part 2. Those interested or practicing self
inquiry may want to watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNOzlHcOEto
(part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaYeAve8aKM
(part 2)
Though I must reiterate what Thusness said:
Of all teachings, no teaching is more important then a direct
‘touch’ of our Buddha essence; but of all dangers, none is more
dangerous than misinterpreting our essence after the
‘touch’.
The ‘touch’ of the pure sense of existence is often
wrongly understood due to our karmic tendencies. Use the
doctrine of Anatta and Emptiness as antidote.
Thusness:
Thanks for the encouragement. I still don't really understand
the concept of 'Anatta' and Emptiness. And my main worry is as
mentioned by you, misinterpreting the Buddha essence after the
'touch'.
Happy Chinese New Year to you!
AEN posted a great site
about what I am trying to convey. Do go through
the videos. I will divide what that are being
discussed in the videos into the method, the view and the
experience for ease of illustration as follows:
1.
The method is
what that is commonly known as self enquiry.
2.
The view
currently we have is dualistic. We see things in
terms of subject/object division.
3.
The experience
can be further divided into the followings:
3.1
A strong individual sense of
identity
3.2
An oceanic experience free
from conceptualization.
This is due to the
practitioner freeing himself from conceptuality, from labels and
symbols. The mind continuous disassociates
itself from all labeling and symbols.
3.3
An oceanic experience
dissolving into everything.
The period of
non-conceptuality is prolonged. Long enough to
dissolve the mind/body ‘symbolic’ bond and therefore inner and
outer division is temporarily suspended.
The experience for 3.2
and 3.3 are transcendental and are precious.
However these experiences are commonly misinterpreted and distorted
by objectifying these experiences into an entity that is “ultimate,
changeless and independent”. The objectified
experience is known as Atman, God or Buddha Nature by the
speaker in the videos. It is known as the
experience of “I AM” with differing degree of intensity of
non-conceptuality. Usually practitioners that
have experienced 3.2 and 3.3 find it difficult to accept the
doctrine of Anatta and Emptiness. The
experiences are too clear, real and blissful to
discard. They are overwhelmed.
Before we go further, why
do you think these experiences are distorted?
It's just my personal advice to anyone truly wanting to connect
with Creator/Source/God, to read less, analyse less,
experience more, feel more. The connection needs to be made
with your heart and mind combined, not your mind alone. A mind
operating without the heart is only good for analysing academic
papers and spiritual articles.
Many writers out there on the Internet and bookstores have no
clue what they are writing or talking about, as they have yet to
experience it for themselves. Even for the few writers who have
experienced themselves and know what they are writing about, many
readers have no clue how to interpret what they are reading. Which
is why the academic debates and battles over existence of
Creator/Source/God is never-ending. At the end of the day, just
believe what one is comfortable with. If one is meant to understand
and experience something, he will be able to, somehow.
Though I'm blunt here, I mean no offence to anyone. Just my
honest sharing. :)
Rainbow Jigsaw of Life